From: HudsonTom@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 10:47:39 -0400 Subject: Updated FILES CONFESSION REVIEW The following is a slightly corrected version of the review that I posted here several weeks ago. The weapon is a FIREBALL and not a FIREBRAND, which was also mentioned as one of the weapons Files owned. Also I state that Files was Nicoletti's bodyguard, which was not mentioned in the previous version. And of greater importance, upon examining the video again, and after speaking with Bob Vernon, its producer, for about an hour, it is clear that Files claimed that Oswald helped him out and came to his hotel and drove him around - at least two times. Previously, I gave the wrong impression that Oswald stayed at the hotel with Files that whole week. If you listen to the video you can see how this impression could be presumed, though it is not literally the case that it was said. So I have corrected that. CONFESSIONS OF AN ASSASSIN Interview with James E. Files at Joliet State Prison, 3/22/94 I HR 21 MIN, MPI Home Video, 1996 $19.98 from 800-777-2223 This video will be discussed thoroughly by researchers because it contains so many specific explanations of the JFK assassination methods. James E. Files (born James Sutton, January 1942) was recruited by CIA controlling officer David Atlee Philips, who assigned him to work with radical Cuban exiles and clandestine operations. Files was approached by the CIA upon his return from Laos where he had served in the 82nd U. S. Airborne Special Operations. Files had Mob ties since his childhood, having been raised in Chicago in an Italian neighborhood where he later worked for mobster Charles Nicoletti,as his driver and bodyguard. Files had been introduced to Lee Oswald in early 1963 by David Atlee Philips, the CIA officer who controlled both men, Files and Oswald. The two contract employees ran guns to anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans and the town of Clinton. Files personally knew Frank Sturgis, Eugene (James) Braden and Antonio Veciana. Files knew much about Richard Helms and several other big players in the intelligence community, though he never met Allen Dulles. He says that he was never told by any CIA man that the CIA wanted Kennedy killed or that they were going to kill him. It would have been uncharacteristic for them to have said they would kill anybody, for after all, Files was not a member of the CIA, himself. Files said he knows many in intelligence, however, who knew ahead of time of the planned murder. The JFK assassination was initially planned for Chicago, but people in Chicago did not like that idea so when Kennedy decided to go to Dallas, the plans were shifted there. Files says that in the Mob and in the CIA curiosity kills the cat, in other words, no one asks anyone else's business for fear of being blamed if the crimes are discovered. To be one of the few who knows a crime plan when subsequently that crime is discovered and punished can be fatal. The Chicago mobster Charles Nicoletti told Files that JFK would be hit about six months prior to November 22, 1963. Files had trained several CIA operatives at the No Name Key (Assassin's Ridge) in the Everglades for the Bay of Pigs operation. Files further said that Kennedy was universally disliked in the Secret Service, the CIA and at the Pentagon and in other government agencies in general and in particular after the Bay of Pigs failure. He is chagrined that Kennedy is spoken of as the beloved president when no one, even in his own cabinet, in truth, actually like him then. Johnny Roselli was a liaison man between the Mob and the CIA, whereas the soft spoken close friend of Files, Charles Nicoletti was only rarely so involved. It was David Atlee Philips who introduced Files to Roselli and not his Mafia employer Nicoletti. Files was instructed to drive his Burgundy 1963 Chevrolet car to Dallas one week before the murder, taking many guns. He stayed in Mesquite, Texas then notified Nicoletti. The next day Lee Oswald arrived at his hotel room and during the week drove him around the Dallas area at least two times (he says LHO was a good driver, very smart, soft-spoken and could not have killed Kennedy) and showed him all the particulars of Dealey Plaza and the layout of an escape route should he ever need to flee the area. It was Mr. Files' impression that Oswald and he both knew why they were examining Dealey Plaza, though the name of Kennedy was never mentioned. Oswald took Files to a field to the Southeast of Mesquite where he fired the weapons and "calibrated the scopes on anything that might be needed." Files says he was not told that he was in Mesquite to kill Kennedy. All he knew was that he was to deliver weapons and to help in the murder of JFK in any way he could. It was only at 10:30 AM on November 22nd that Charles Nicoletti asked Files how he felt about backing him up in the hit. He would only have to shoot, he was told, if it became extremely necessary. Files said he would be extremely honored to back Nicoletti up. Nicoletti then asked him where he thought the best place to stand would be and Files said he would stand by the stockade fence where he could pass himself off as a railroad worker. Then both men agreed that Nicoletti should fire from the Dal-Tex building. On November 22, the morning of the assassination, Files picked up John Roselli at the Dallas Cabana Hotel shortly after 7 AM then drove to a Fort Worth pancake house restaurant where he watched and guarded a meeting between Roselli and Jack Ruby. Ruby handed over a 5 x 9 envelope which they later opened in the car. It contained fake Secret Service IDs and a map of the motorcade route. Roselli noted that the map proved that a change had been made in the motorcade route making a zig-zag off of Main Street. Files then drove Roselli back to the Dallas Cabana Hotel and went to his room. He then met his beloved and adored boss, Charles Nicoletti, and both men went to Dealey Plaza around 10 AM and walked all over the area. The morning was drizzly raining and somewhat cool. At 11:10 AM the morning of the murder, standing on the knoll, Nicoletti asked Files what weapon he would use. Files said he wanted to use a specially made Remington Fireball XP-100 pistol. It fired 222 caliber shells, which were an exaggerated and expanded high velocity 22 shell. It was, said Files, the most elite gun ever manufactured and was given to him by his CIA controller, David Atlee Philips for earlier assassination jobs. It was used twice before Kennedy. To shoot Kennedy, he used a 222 shell with a Mercury load in it designed to fragmentate. The pistol was easy to conceal and could be carried in a briefcase. Shortly before noon they went back to the Chevrolet car and Files took a briefcase out with the gun inside. He wore his jacket turned inside out to show a plaid pattern, then went back to the railroad yard, secured the briefcase and looked things over, even walking down the knoll. As the Kennedy limousine approached Dealey Plaza, Files went back up to the fence area, approximately 15 feet from the end of it, to the briefcase and waited until the limo turned onto Elm Street. Then Files took out his Firebrand. He heard shots being fired from behind. He assumed it was Nicoletti in the Dal-Tex building for he knew Roselli and Nicoletti were there and Roselli did not have a weapon. He remembers the shots ringing out. But they were going for a head shot and Files was not sure whether Kennedy was hit. He says he saw the body lurch, then he saw the body lurch again, a second time, then he heard a shot that missed Kennedy. He was keeping Kennedy in the scope of the Fireball and when he got to the point where he thought it would be the last field of fire, Files zeroed in to the left side [from his view] of the President's head. He figured it was the last chance for a shot in the head. So he fired a round, but Nicoletti had fired approximately at the same time, just a fraction of a second ahead of him. the shot throwing Kennedy's head forward, which caused Files "to miss Kennedy's left eye" [from the observer's view] and Files' shot to Kennedy's right temple threw Kennedy's head backwards. Files saw the brain matter exit the rear of the head and go back out of the limousine. He estimates from much experience in assassinations that about 60% of the back of the President's head was blown off. Files said he was feeling cocky and proud and as a signature of his calling card bit the shell to leave teeth marks on it and left it standing on the fence. A stupid thing to do, he says. Files put the Remington Fireball into the briefcase, pulled his jacket off and reversed it so that the plaid was inside and a grey suit type color was on the outside again. He put a cap on his head and walked calmly away carrying the briefcase. He walked to the edge of the stockade fence, did not walk down the steps, but walked across the grass to the dead end street that ends by the parking lot. Then he went to his 1963 Burgundy Chevrolet car by the parking lot. Nicoletti was already in the right front seat and Roselli in the back. He put the briefcase under the steering wheel and they drove away to a gas station where a car was waiting for the two mobsters. Files went back to his Mesquite hotel room, slept the night, and drove to Illinois in the morning as instructed. Files had not asked for any money, but was thrilled to do any favors for Charles Nicoletti, whom he thought was a god. He idolized this man. Eventually he was paid $30,000, but that was a month later, and he had to ask what it was for when he received it. As they left Dealey Plaza, Nicoletti told Mr. Files that he had unnecessarily shot too soon, for there was supposed to be no shots from the front! It is an interesting question as to why the original plan was to have no frontal shots, if possible. Interestingly, Johnny Roselli had been flown to Dallas just prior to the assassination by the CIA on a Military Air Transport Service plane going to Fort Worth. Further, Files states that minutes before the assassination when he was looking around Dealey Plaza he saw many CIA people there. He has said that it was like "old home week." Files friend, Frank Sturgis (whom he believes did not plan the assassination) and Eugene (James) Braden were hanging around within short range of him as he fired at Kennedy. Earlier Files had seen Jack Ruby in the same knoll area. Also, Mr. Files says that two men with Secret Service ID turned two policemen away right from the knoll right after the shots but that he has no idea who they were or who planned this. Files says that he knows who killed David Ferrie and also that he met with the true killer of officer Tippit right after Tippit was killed. This man is still alive and was originally hired to kill Oswald, Files says. James E. Files looks like a twin of Marlon Brando in his role as Godfather in the movie The Godfather. You will surely make this visual association when watching Files talk for over 1 hour. The white hair, the distinguished, intelligent face with puffy cheeks, and the deliberate, measured speech - there is a resemblance. Mr. Files states that Sam Giancana who would have ordered Nicoletti to execute the JFK murder would not by himself have had the authority to authorize it. Giancana was second in command at that time under Anthony Accardo who would of necessity have had to approve any such operation. Files knows nothing of any shooters from the Book Depository, and says he was unable to distinguish the source of the gunshots he heard as there was so much echo at the time and he was concentrating on fulfilling his job there. But Mr. Files says that the government of the United States often kills people. It is nothing for them to kill their own citizens, he says. Files refuses to give a number to the times he has assassinated people. He says it is not relevant to the JFK assassination. Files further says that he is speaking out now only because of his deep admiration and respect for Joe West. Files says that Mr. West was one of the finest men he ever met in his life and he would do anything for him. Files says that he will never give out information that will put anyone in prison. He can speak of Roselli, Giancana and Nicoletti because they are dead. 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