Matt Crumpton

Jul 16, 202416 min read

Ep 52: Oswald In New Orleans (Part 7)

Updated: Aug 20, 2024

Thus far, we’ve covered many of the documents, witness interviews, and trial transcripts from when district attorney, Jim Garrison, prosecuted New Orleans businessman, Clay Shaw, for conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy.[i] This prosecution was the focus of Oliver Stone’s iconic film, JFK, where Garrison, was played by Kevin Costner and Shaw was played by Tommy Lee Jones. The Clay Shaw trial is packed with information and subplots, probably enough to cover thirty episodes. But for now, in the interest of keeping it high level, we are going to cover the greatest hits of the Shaw trial in one episode today.

If you want to learn more about the trial and the investigation, there are many books that focus on it. On the Warren Report critic side, I recommend Destiny Betrayed by James DiEugenio and A Farewell to Justice by Joan Mellen. For a first hand account, there’s also Garrison’s own book about the case called On the Trail of Assassins. To get the Warren Report defender viewpoint, I recommend On The Trail of Delusion by Fred Litwin. As far as other podcasts, my friend Jeff Crudele, has a great series of about 30 episodes on the Garrison case on his show - JFK: The Enduring Secret.

In this episode, we attempt to answer the big questions about Garrison’s case: what started it? Who was Clay Shaw? Was he the same person as Clay Bertrand? What was Garrison’s theory of the case? And was Garrison able to establish the facts that he set out to prove?

The Genesis of the Case

On November 25, 1963, the Monday after the assassination and the day after Jack Ruby killed Oswald, Jim Garrison learned about the allegations made by Jack Martin, after he had been pistol whipped by Guy Banister (which we covered in Episode 48).[ii] Those allegations, which made their way to Garrison’s assistant DA, Herman Kohlman, included that David Ferrie was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, specifically as the getaway pilot.[iii]

Garrison then sent an investigator to Ferrie’s house, where he found two young men waiting for Ferrie to return. There was a large map of Cuba on the wall, army rifles, and mice that were apparently being used by Ferrie for medical research.[iv] The two guys at Ferrie’s house said that he left for Texas in his car after the assassination on November 22nd. Garrison brought Ferrie in for questioning. Ferrie denied ever knowing Oswald (which we know is false given the all of the Civil Air Patrol witnesses).

Ferrie told Garrison that the reason he left New Orleans on November 22nd was so that he and his two friends could go ice skating in Houston.[v] Ferrie was accompanied by Alvin Beauboeuf and Melvin Coffee. They drove the 400 mile trip from New Orleans to Houston, where they checked in to a motel on the night of the 22nd and then went ice skating the next day, on November 23rd.[vi]

According to Chuck Rolland, the owner of the skating rink, Ferrie spent most of the time near a payphone and he did not see Ferrie do any ice skating.[vii] Ferrie, on the other hand, told the FBI that he did go ice skating. The trio then went to Galveston, a coastal town about an hour from Houston and stayed at the Driftwood Motel for one night. It’s unclear what the point of the Galveston trip was because they checked in at 11pm and checked out at 10am the next morning.[viii]Then, they made their way back to New Orleans.

Author Fred Litwin interviewed Al Beauboeuf in 2020. He told Litwin that it was his idea to go ice skating on the day of the assassination, and that they chose to go to Houston because there was no ice skating rink in New Orleans and a road trip sounded fun.[ix]

Jim Garrison, did not find anything that directly connected Ferrie to the assassination. But he didn’t believe Ferrie’s story about the sudden ice skating trip on the day Kennedy was killed. Garrison then detained Ferrie until he could be questioned by the FBI. Garrison was confident that the FBI would do a thorough good faith investigation and left the matter with them.

Who Was Clay Shaw?

Clay Shaw was born in Kentwood, Louisiana. He eventually attended Columbia University, before enlisting in the army during World War II, where he served honorably in France and Belgium. In the army, Shaw was responsible for coordinating the activities of intelligence and counterintelligence groups.[x] When he returned from the war, he helped start the International Trade Mart in New Orleans which promoted international trade.

Clay Shaw first appeared on the radar of the CIA on December 13, 1948 when his name was on a document in relation to a trade exhibit at the International Trade Mart by the Czechoslovakian government.[xi] The next year, Shaw was briefed by the CIA before leaving on a 3 month tour of Latin America. When he returned, he provided the CIA with information on Peru, Nicaragua, and Argentina.[xii] In 1952, Shaw gave the CIA’s Foreign Documents Division a directory of German companies doing international business.[xiii]

The public relations director at the International Trade Mart from 1952 to 1955 was David Baldwin. According to a May 24, 1967 memorandum from Bill Martin to Jim Garrison, Baldwin was a covert agent of the CIA. The memo says QUOTE “It was told to me that, during his employment at the Trade Mart, DAVID BALDWIN succeeded in recruiting CLAY SHAW for C.I.A. operations, or, conversely, that CLAY SHAW had already been recruited by the C.I.A. by the time of BALDWIN's employment, and that his employment of BALDWIN was suggested or sponsored by the C.I.A.”[xiv]

A CIA memo of August 9, 1955 says that an unnamed person and Clay Shaw would be willing to attend a trade exhibition in Czechoslovokia, QUOTE “as a CIA observer, but ostensibly of course as the representative of [redacted] or the International Trade Mart as the case may be, provided the expense could be borne by CIA.” The memo then called Shaw a QUOTE “valued source[] of this office.”[xv] A May 25, 1956 CIA memo says QUOTE “If we can furnish Mr. Shaw with the names and addresses of producers of mercury in Spain and Italy, he is quite willing to write letters of inquiry to them on World Trade Development Department letterheads, in an attempt to ascertain for us the extent of the Spanish and Italian stocks on hand.”[xvi]

Former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA, Victor Marchetti, retired from the Agency in 1969 and became a prominent critic.[xvii] In 1973, via press release, Marchetti made some showstopping statements about Clay Shaw, including that Shaw was a paid contact for the CIA, that David Ferrie was a confirmed CIA operative, and that Marchetti sat in on meetings where high level CIA officials expressed interest in helping Shaw, and concern that Shaw’s CIA relationship may be uncovered.[xviii]

None of this information proves that Shaw was involved in the JFK Assassination. But, it does conclusively establish that Clay Shaw was a reliable, frequently used, and effective CIA asset.

Shaw’s Associations

Apparently, Clay Shaw knew Guy Banister and frequently visited his office. Tommy Baumler, who worked for Banister infiltrating college Leftist groups, said that Shaw and Banister were close and that Shaw, Banister, and Naval Intelligence Officer Guy Johnson QUOTE “made up the intelligence apparatus in New Orleans.”[xix] Joe Newbrough, who also worked in Banister’s office recalled being asked by Banister to get Clay Shaw on the phone, and when he did, Banister told him to give the phone to David Ferrie, who was also in the office.[xx]

At his trial, Clay Shaw denied being associated in any way with David Ferrie. But aside from the witnesses who saw Shaw with David Ferrie in Clinton and Jackson, there are others who saw the men together.

FBI Informant and owner of the Habana Bar in New Orleans, Orest Pena, said that he saw Ferrie and Shaw together on many occasions.[xxi] Jules Kimble told Jim Garrison that he once took a plane trip with Shaw that Ferrie piloted from New Orleans to Montreal. David Logan said that he was introduced to Shaw by David Ferrie, and that he later had a relationship with Shaw.

Nicholas and Matilda Tadin met with David Ferrie at the airport because they wanted Ferrie to give their son flying lessons. When they arrived, they saw Ferrie walking out of the hangar and talking to Clay Shaw, who Nicholas Tadin already knew, and recognized as the director of the International Trade Mart.[xxii]

Clay Shaw’s attorneys commissioned a report by the Wackenhut detective agency. In that report, Sandra Anderson, a secretary for attorney G. Wray Gill, said that she had seen a photo of Shaw and David Ferrie together.[xxiii]

Shaw’s former secretary at the International Trade Mart, Aura Lee, said that she had seen David Ferrie enter clay Shaw’s office at the Trade Mart several times. It happened so often that she thought Ferrie had privileged entry to his office.[xxiv] Woodrow Hardy, who was overseeing Shaw’s French Quarter real estate, went to Shaw’s house to talk about renovations. Hardy had worked for Shaw so long that he had a key to the house and let himself in. According to what Hardy told his lawyer, when he entered the house he saw Shaw talking to David Ferrie and Lee Harvey Oswald. Shaw, then got up and escorted Hardy out of the house, making it clear that it was not a good time for him to be there.[xxv]

According to Lillian Murrett, Oswald’s aunt who he stayed with when he first arrived in New Orleans, Clay Shaw came to her door asking for Lee in late September of 1963, after Lee had left New Orleans.[xxvi]

Shaw v. Bertrand

Remember Attorney Dean Andrews? He’s the lawyer who said that Oswald told him he was being paid by someone to hand out Fair Play for Cuba Flyers. Andrews told the Warren Commission that while he was being treated for Pneumonia, he received a phone call in his hospital room from Clay Bertrand. Bertrand asked Andrews to go to Dallas to defend Lee Harvey Oswald. This call happened on the day of the assassination or the day after.[xxvii] Andrews said that he thought Bertrand had previously referred work to him, including Lee Harvey Oswald.[xxviii]

The argument against this incident being valid is that Andrews was heavily sedated in the hospital. However, Andrews confirmed that the time of the call was around dinner, at 5pm. Whereas, the time of his sedation was at 8pm. Andrews called his secretary, Eva Springer, about the potential legal representation. Springer corroborated that phone call.[xxix]Andrews then called attorney Monk Zeldon, to see if he would help him represent Oswald. This is when Andrews found out that Oswald had just been shot.[xxx]

Garrison met with Andrews for lunch in early 1967 and asked him Clay Bertrand’s true identity. Andrews said he didn’t know what Bertrand looked like. Garrison pressured Andrews to tell the truth or to face perjury charges, to which Andrews replied that if he revealed the identity of Clay Bertrand, QUOTE “It’s goodbye Dean Andrews… I mean like a bullet in my head.”[xxxi] Andrews may have had good reason to be worried. He told the Warren Commission that, after the assassination, his office was broken into and rifled through.[xxxii]

In the Shaw trial, Andrews told the Grand Jury that Bertrand was actually a man named Eugene Davis, who was Andrews friend. Davis denied through an affidavit that he was Bertrand. But, then at trial, Andrews said that Bertrand was a figment of his imagination who did not exist at all. This led to Garrison prosecuting Andrews for perjury.

When Dr. Jacob Kety was interviewed by Jim Garrison’s investigators, he said that he did not know Clay Shaw. But, he claimed that a friend of his named Greg Donnelly did. When Dr. Kety was explaining this he said QUOTE “Yeah, he knew Clay Bertrand, uh, no, LaVergne, his name was, he’d known him for years.”[xxxiii] Clay Shaw’s middle name wasLaVernge. But, that’s quite a coincidence if Dr. Kety misspoke and happened to say Bertrand when he meant LaVergne.

Jessie Parker, a hostess at the Eastern Airlines VIP Room at the New Orleans airport, said that a man signed in to the register in December of 1966 under the name Clay Bertrand, and that man met the description of Clay Shaw. However, Parker’s testimony varies on details, like whether or not the Venezuelans who were with Bertrand also signed the book. Additionally, the man who signed the guest book immediately before Clay Bertrand, Arthur Davis, said that he knew Clay Shaw, and that he did not see Clay Shaw in the Eastern Airlines VIP Room.[xxxiv]

Thomas Breitner claims that he met Clay Shaw around the time of the assassination at UC-Berkley, which is consistent with Shaw’s known travel schedule. Breitner also claims that Shaw introduced himself as Clay Bertram. But, he didn’t add that fact until the third time he spoke to Garrison’s office.[xxxv]

Aaron Kohn from the Metropolitan Crime Commission and FBI Informant Joe Oster, who used to work for Guy Banister, both told the FBI that Clay Shaw was Clay Betrand. But, Kohn apparently didn’t have any independent corroboration and Oster failed to mention Bertrand in his first statement.[xxxvi]

Probably the strongest evidence that Shaw was Clay Bertrand is that the police officer who filled out the booking sheet for Shaw wrote that Shaw’s Alias was Clay Bertrand. Patrolman Aloysius Habighorst said that he asked Shaw the standard questions on the booking sheet and Shaw responded with Clay Bertrand when asked if he had any aliases.[xxxvii] Clay Shaw later denied that he said that he used an alias. The officer who was closest to Shaw and Habighorst at the time the booking sheet was being filled out, Sergeant Jonas Butzman, said that, he did not hear Shaw say anything about having an alias. Butzman gave conflicting statements about whether or not he was able to hear the interaction between Shaw and Habighorst.[xxxviii]

It is not crystal clear that Clay Shaw was Clay Bertrand. But there are enough witnesses for me to believe that Bertrand most likely was Clay Shaw, including most notably, the booking officer who documented Bertrand on the booking sheet in the alias section.

Garrison’s Case

Jim Garrison, having been a former FBI agent himself, left the investigation up to the Bureau because he trusted the institution. While he kept up with the case, and even wrote a few memos about it in 1965 and 1966, the catalyst for Garrison to pursue the Kennedy Assassination in his own backyard was when he sat next to Louisiana Senator Russell Long on an airplane. Long shared aspects of the case with Garrison that he didn’t know about. (CITE) This led Garrison to read the Warren Report volumes and books written by critics.

At the beginning, Garrison’s prime suspect was David Ferrie. However, the focus shifted to Clay Shaw after Ferrie turned up dead, just as the case was getting started. Ferrie died on February 22, 1967, about one week after the news of Garrison’s investigation became public.[xxxix] Ferrie’s death was ruled due to natural causes by the coroner, who determined that Ferrie died of an aneurysm.

Ferrie’s death remains mysterious because, aside from the timing, two documents were found at his apartment that made it look like it could have been a suicide: a will and a note that hinted at Ferrie leaving this world. Garrison said that he wouldn’t rule out murder. Lou Ivon, a Garrison investigator, said that Ferrie called him the day after the story of Garrison’s investigation broke. Ferrie told Ivon QUOTE “You know what this news story does to me? Don’t you? I’m a dead man. From here on, believe me, I’m a dead man.”[xl]

Perry Russo

Ultimately, Garrison’s theory of the case against Shaw was based on testimony from 25 year old insurance salesman, Perry Russo.[xli] Russo testified at the trial that in September of 1963, he was at a party at David Ferrie’s house that was also attended by a man named Clem Bertrand, who Russo identified at trial as Clay Shaw, and a man introduced to him as “Leon Oswald,” who Russo could not identify as Lee Harvey Oswald until facial hair was added by an artist, at which time Russo did say Leon Oswald was Lee Harvey Oswald. [xlii]

Russo knew Ferrie well. He testified that Ferrie had been to his house about a dozen times and that he had been to Ferrie’s apartment thirty or forty times.[xliii] Russo claimed that, after everyone else, including Peterson, had left the party, he was still there. And he overheard Ferrie, Shaw, and Oswald talk about killing President Kennedy, including QUOTE “the triangulation of crossfire,” as well as planned alibis for the participants.[xliv]

Russo said that Ferrie and Shaw said it was important for them to be in the public eye when the shooting happened. Ferrie said that he would be in Hammond, Louisiana and Shaw said he would be on a business trip to the West Coast. On the day of the assassination, Ferrie traveled to Houston, but he did stop in Hammond on the way back. Clay Shaw was scheduled to give a speech on the West Coast, in San Francisco.[xlv]

Sodium Pentothal and Sciambra’s Bad Notetaking

Jim Garrison says in his book that he wanted to confirm the veracity of what Russo was saying, but he knew that lie detector tests were not reliable. So, Garrison chose to use hypnosis and Sodium Pentothal, which was administered to Russo under close medical supervision.[xlvi] Garrison also pointed out that this practice was completely legit. The two practitioners were both QUOTE “evaluated by the three judge panel as qualified experts on truth verification by Sodium Pentothal and hypnosis.[xlvii]

Sodium Pentothal is a barbiturate that slows down your higher level thinking. The drug can effectively work as a truth serum. But, there is major caveat: when you’re under the influence, you are extremely open to the suggestions of others, which means there is a chance you can just be telling the questioner what they want to hear.[xlviii]

The biggest issue with Perry Russo’s story is the documentation supporting it. In a memo dated February 27, 1967, assistant New Orleans DA Andrew Sciambra memorialized his interview with Perry Russo in Baton Rouge. The memo basically says that Russo knew Ferrie. Ferrie knew Cubans and trained in jungle warfare, [xlix] and that Ferrie had been talking about killing the president and how easy it would be. Notably absent from Sciambra’s first memo, was any mention of seeing Leon Oswald or Clay Bertrand. The only character in the first story is David Ferrie.[l]

Russo was then given Sodium Pentothal, and, mentioned Clay Bertrand and Leon Oswald, whom he said had messy hair and a beard. He also talked about Ferrie, Oswald, and Bertrand discussing about killing Kennedy, which is what the final story ended up being.

Assistant DA Sciambra didn’t capture any of the key points of Russo’s tantalizing claim in his first memo. He just had the David Ferrie parts. He says that Russo did say those things, he just didn’t include them in the original memo because he was focused on finishing the memo about the Sodium Pentothal treatment first.

James Phelan wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and worked on the Garrison case as an investigator, before later turning on Garrison and actively working against him. Phelan summarized the argument against the credibility of Sciambra’s memos this way, QUOTE: “They would have us believe that Sciambra located a witness to a conspiracy to commit the crime of the century, that Sciambra took notes on a three hour interview during which Russo spelled out a sensationally detailed story, that he then returned to New Orleans… and wrote a 3500 word memo in which he managed to leave out all the relevant testimony, and then he burned his original notes.”[li]

For what its worth, both Sciambra and Russo say that they discussed the party at Ferrie’s house with Bertrand and Oswald and the crossfire conversation during that first three hour interview.[lii] Also, the search warrant says QUOTE “said confidential informant while under sodium pentothal verified, corroborated, and reaffirmed his earlier statements.” The word re-affirmed suggests that Russo did make the more controversial statements the first time.[liii] But, it’s hard to reconcile how the main point didn’t make it in the first memo.

Other Issues with Russo

There are other reasons to question Russo’s testimony.

According to Russo, Garrison granted favors to him before the trial, including contacting the Governor, and asking him to call the Chancellor at LSU to reinstate a friend of Russo’s who had been kicked out. Russo also claimed that Garrison helped his friend avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War by participating in a scheme to create false criminal charges, which did, in fact, allow Russo’s friend to avoid being drafted.[liv]

Also, Russo’s friend, Lefty Peterson, spoke to Clay Shaw’s lawyers and told them that he did attend a party at David Ferrie’s apartment with Russo. But, he didn’t see Oswald or Shaw.[lv]

Additionally, There’s the idea that the story on it’s face is implausible. As Sylvia Meagher put it, QUOTE “I can scarcely believe that three conspirators negotiated a plan to assassinate President Kennedy in the presence of a fourth person, whom they left at liberty to inform on them whenever the spirit moved him…”[lvi]

Conclusion

For me, I would not be able to find that Clay Shaw was a conspirator in the murder of President Kennedy when presented with this evidence. My take on the Perry Russo story is that he did know David Ferrie. He probably went to a party at Ferrie’s house where Ferrie was freaking out about wanting to kill Kennedy. But, I just don’t think it is sufficiently established that Oswald and Shaw were there and had that conversation.

As far as Garrison’s motives, I believe he was responding to the evidence that he saw in front of him. As noted in this episode, Garrison was not perfect by any means. But, I also don’t believe that he was out to destroy Clay Shaw. I think he thought Shaw was guilty. I also don’t think Garrison was trying to help his career. He had opportunities for career advancement if he would let go of the case. But, his career was wrecked because of it.

While I don’t believe he proved what he set out to prove – and neither did a unanimous jury by the way, I do think that the Garrison case, combined with all of the information we covered over these last several episodes establishes the following:

- Clay Shaw, Lee Harvey Oswald, and probably David Ferrie did take a trip to Clinton and Jackson, Louisiana, which raises questions about how they knew each other and what they were doing. And there is strong evidence that Ferrie knew Shaw.

- It is highly likely that Clay Bertrand was Clay Shaw, who was a frequent contact of the CIA. And most likely, Shaw did call Dean Andrews to represent Oswald. There is no reason for Andrews to make that story up.

- David Ferrie worked closely with Guy Banister (who maintained ties with J. Edgar Hoover), and with Sergio Arcacha Smith (who led a CIA sponsored Cuban exile group). He was also the personal pilot for mafia boss Carlos Marcello and an investigator for Marcello’s lawyer. Many of the details of these bona fide connections to the Mafia, Cuban Exiles, and intelligence agencies through David Ferrie vanished with Ferrie’s death, which was just a few days after the Garrison investigation was announced and after Ferrie, himself, predicted it.

NEXT TIME ON SOLVING JFK: We’ll have our first of two recap and rebuttals for the Oswald in New Orleans episodes.

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Clay_Shaw

[ii] DiEugenio at 175.

[iii] Jim Garrison, On the Trail of Assassins, at 7.

[iv] Id.

[v] Id. at 8.

[vi] https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/david-ferrie-s-strange-ice-skating-trip-part-two

[vii] https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/david-ferrie-s-strange-ice-skating-trip-part-one

[viii] https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10702#relPageId=93

[ix] https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/my-interview-with-al-beauboeuf

[x] Armstrong at 150.

[xi] CIA Information Report, 12/13/48; Armstrong at 150.