The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination

This book is the latest from Lamar Waldron on the JFK assassination.
There are some new revelations in this book based on recently released files and documents.

What Mr. Waldron does very well compared to other authors on this subject is supply many reasons why various officials and government agencies withheld so much useful information for so long.

Among the most intriguing aspects of this book are things like:

Mafia connections to law enforcement.
Confessions later in life by some of the participants. Especially Carlos Marcellos wiretapped conversations in prison.
Nixon's ties to the mafia and his involvement in plans to assassinate Castro that predate Kennedy's election.
The on-going CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro that were kept hidden from JFK and RFK by Richard Helms.

The author also clears up some false information and myths.

I rate this book in the company of books like:
Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK
Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Contract on America: The Mafia Murder of President John F. Kennedy

This is a throughly researched book and one of the best on the subject that I have read. I highly recommend it!

I have a library of books about the Kennedy Assassination dating back to the fist editions of Mark Lane's paperback release in the 60's on up to the more recent authors varied and sundry investigations of pieces of the story. This is by far the best researched and most comprehensive and understandable explanation tying all the pieces together. I have the paperback version of the Kingfish book about Marcello,and it was very revealing on its own at the time of issue. Lamar Waldron has filled in all the blanks with documentation missing from that original partial story. All of the pieces, the LBJ connection, Warren Commission failures, planting, alteration, and misrepresentation of facts make sense with this global view of the crime. The on going Cuban connections which have been revealed in pieces, the CIA involvement pre and post assassination, the false leads planted to throw off the legions of investigators, and the ultimate purpose for all of the parties are well and thoroughly explained. I have read Mr. Waldron's Legacy of Secrets, and the Hidden History of Watergate in their entirety. Both tomes contain the fine print details for those who want them to check for themselves, with over a third of each book containing detailed footnotes and sources. This work stands out for its thoroughness yet does not get bogged down in minutia that many have complained about in his past endeavors.

I really believe that if you are truly interested in the Kennedy Assassination history, this is the only book you need to buy. It reads very well, and you will understand the depth of the conspiracy, who did what when and where. You will also come away with an understaning of good and evil motives of those who helped obscure the facts from the American public for 50 years. It is clear that while there were many participannts in the cover-up of the facts, that most did so believing the effort was patriotic and intended to prevent a nuclear war with Russia. While some of the evidence still remains buried in the archives, and won't be released for another 25 years; this meticulous effort by Lamar Waldron has shone the light on many documents unwittingly released or pried out by FOIA requests. Together they provide a clear xray/ultrasound picture of the operation which was the Kennedy Assassination. The full fleshed out picture will have to wait, but from these details and analysis anyone can understand what really happened and why. I hope that this book is read by the many Americans who have been misled by the media coverup. I also am excited to learn that the story will soon be a major motion picture with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Deniro. Hopefully that will lead to a final congressional investigation with a revelation of the rest of the story so woefully given by the Church Committee created in response to Oliver Stone's jaded film JFK. It was the cry of American citizens awakened by the film that forced action. I hope the same is true for the coming film. After all, we know there are many low information voters out there who will never read a book like this, but who may be reached through the movie theater!!

Bravo! Congratulations to Lamar Waldron for 50 years of dedicated efforts to reveal the facts.

I can't finish this book. I can't get through the first chapter. The author is too busy patting themselves on the back with how novel, smart, and amazing this book is to say anything of substance. The preface/authors note did the same thing. Why? Waste of my time; I'll find another book by someone who actually touches on the subject matter within the first page or five.

I have read hundreds of JFK books. I wan't to believe there was a conspiracy to kill JFK. The official facts lean toward a conspiracy. But the story is complex. And almost all of the JFK assassination books - while compelling - still leave the lawyer in me not convinced. I want the truth and I want it verified. Every JFK conspiracy book leaves me wanting.

This book is the most compelling narrative I have ever read. It makes total sense. it provides a lens to view other conflicting/complimentary JFK assassination works, with one over-arching theory, that is the most plausible narrative ever written.

First, though a disclaimer. And its why I make a distinction between a narrative and conclusive evidence. The author doesn't provide the same kind of footnotes that other serious works have used. Even when the author makes certain claims others have made - he doesn't bother to provide the same footnotes of the other authors. Whether that is because of the publisher or the author I don't know.

The author also generously uses private conversations with government principles and supporting players. There is no way to footnote private conversations. The author seems honest enough. But its impossible to corroborate private conversations.

The main new foundation of the book are the following: a confidential FBI 1980s program wiring conversations by Carlos Marcello in prison where he admits his guilt, a JFK-RFK plot to work with Castro's number three official (army chief of staff behind Fidel and Raul Castro) to overthrow the Castro regime scheduled on December 1, 1963 and Carlos Marcello being in court waiting on a verdict on November 23rd with David Ferrie sitting next to him.

That's the keystone of how to view various actions before and after the assassination. Douglass's "The Unthinkable" citing the same high powered rifle in a tall building with a patsy in Chicago, Tampa and Dallas. Three public events/chances before November 23rd and December 1st. RFK - also well-documented - being distraught after JFK being assassinated. A conspiracy would point to Castro and blowback on him. The well-documented moving of JFK's body from Dallas to Washington. It was Dave Powers and Kenny O'Donnell that fought for the change in venue. RFK than controlled the JFK autopsy (and kept his brothers brain from the national archives) to cover up a conspiracy so it would not blowback on him.

It explains why the CIA. FBI, and the Warren Commission covered up the conspiracy. First as a defensive reaction to not have to invade Cuba and start a potential WWIII; and to protect classified documents well into the future to protect Castro's number 3 who died in 2009.

He also - using the 26 volumes of the Warren Commission - exposes that the members knew there was a conspiracy but were mandated to white-wash their report to not start World War III.

Nixon - who was friendly with the MOB and participated in early CIA-MOB plots - using the same cast of characters (E, Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis) to break into the Watergate HQ of the DNC.to find any incriminating files that would kill his reelection efforts.

JFK's need to deal with Cuba - once and for all - before his reelection campaign. But doing so by cutting the Mafia out of reclaiming their influence and revenue-making capability in casinos. But while he used a tight knit group of planners, still involved elements of the CIA, who leaked the plans to the MOB, giving the MOB a way to get RFK off their backs by killing JFK (using foreign sharp shooters) knowing that the country would fear WWIII and knowing that going after the killers (the MOB) couldn't happen because of the blowback.

Jack Ruby, who didn't own the Carousel Club (it was owned by Marcello) , skimmed off profits and owed a small fortune in back taxes. He was summoned to Marcello, fearing for his life, and told to use the Dallas police (friends of Ruby) to kill Oswald or do it himself. An offer he couldn't refuse. Then using Belli (MOB influence) to "defend" Ruby in such as matter that, instead of being convicted of a crime of passion with a two year sentence, was convicted of premeditated murder resulting in a death penalty; thus eliminating him form talking.

This is just a small sampling of disparate events that the author is able to weave into one believable narrative.

The book is highly satisfying. And it might be right. And as you read it you will feel that everything now makes sense. But by not using research footnotes and using so many private conversation; when you sleep on the book (I read it over the weekend) the reader's euphoria is ultimately diminished.

Regardless of the merits of the theory presented the book is not a good read. From the very first page it pushes its main contention (Carlos Marcello was the mastermind behind the JFK assassination) way too hard, presenting "so and so told so and so" kind of evidence as undeniable proof. The main "new" revelation of a purported confession from Marcello to an informant in prison is simply a one paragraph note sent to the FBI listing four of five words from the mafia boss to some informant he was talking to on the prison yard. Everything else is simply a rehash of the many conspiracy theories going around. It seems more like an attempt to create some hype around a coming Hollywood movie rather than serious journalistic work.

The book is full of assertions that are marketed as "undeniable proof" of the Mafia dunit theory. It is perfectly possible the Mafia had some, or a lot, of involvement in the JFK assassination, nevertheless the author for all his claims of exhaustive research does not come anywhere to proving his case. The most disappointing aspect is that for all the author's efforts to market the book as the ultimate work on the JFK assassination I have most of the many theories that have been circulating around for years recombined in a very confusing way to serve the authors initial theory. In my uneducated opinion it is very possible there was some kind of plot behind the assassination therefore I was certainly looking for a journalist giving some credible (I understand that 50 years later undeniable proof is something unrealistic to ask for) evidence that there was a conspiracy behind LHO. This book , if anything, seems to be another text to mix up with all those theories flying around feeding the conspiracy industry. For the reader tempted by the comforts, or satisfying dis-comforts, conspiracy theories offer it will be another book to read looking for the "I knew it moment" moment, for readers looking for rigorous research work I recommend to take a pass.

I am grateful to this writer for a thorough and thoughtful presentation of an incredible amount of material, full of denial, diversion, deceit, by so many players, both private and official. I appreciate this fearless look at much that is and was unpopular and
not "good for the country". Of course, it doesn't change the horror of the events, but it does make me feel that I
was correct in feeling that the 'official report' never revealed the truth.

Lamar Waldron brings forth the culmination of decades worth of excellent research with this truly definitive account of how and why the 35th President of the United States was murdered in Dallas fifty years ago. This streamlined book completes this brilliant historian's study of the crime of the century.

Unlike the recent mountains of books from the standard "establishment" sources who are still (!) pushing the insulting conclusions of the 1964 Warren Commission(Gerald Posner,Vince Bugliosi,Bill O'Reilly,etc), and the wacky hucksters who routinely push transparently ridiculous theories about the case, Waldron has now proven himself as the pre-eminent historian of this case. His meticulously-detailed research has clearly set him apart from the pack.

And why is it so hard for some to believe this evidence?! Waldron convincing outlines the truth:
how Oswald, the military-intelligence fake Russian defector and 'pseudo-Communist' was managed into creating a purposefully-obvious trail of fake domestic US pro-Castro activities by his CIA and mafia-connected handlers Guy Bannister and David Ferrie. Oswald was exactly the "perfect Patsy" for Carlos Marcello,Santo Trafficante, and Johnny Roselli to use as their fall guy for the assassination precisely because the godfathers knew that the US government would conceal any effort to expose Oswald's true identity as a long-time US intelligence asset. Pinning the crime on Oswald to deflect attention, they then had him quickly killed by Marcello's bag man Jack Ruby, standard procedure in these type of hits.

For a long time I thougt the truth in this case would never be exposed; with this latest Waldron tour-de-force, I believe that the fullness of time has changed that calculation. Here in this book is the irrefutable evidence: Waldron's amazing new evidence proves beyond any doubt that Marcello and co-horts were indeed the evil materminds who had the motive, the means and the clear opportunity and did pull off the assassination of our President.

Read this book! You will never have to read any other JFK assassination book, because the story is all here, it is all proven and is all true!

I was expecting more. This is pretty much a rehash of pieces of other books. I think a lot of what is put forward in a definitive way is speculation, and much is clearly true based on evidence, but the author doesn't separate the two very well. I'm one of those who think that LBJ was instrumental in setting up the hit, while being deliberately ignorant on many of the operational details worked out by Cliff Carter, Ed Clark and others - plausible deniability. In any event, I think Waldron lets LBJ off too easily.

I have only just started to read this book but can tell you that it cuts through the dense fog of the Kennedy assassination like no other book before it and focuses concisely like a laser beam on the most likely scenario in a way that will leave you utterly convinced. Highly recommended. Good for both "beginners" and long term researchers alike.

Sigh. More diversionary "mob did it" stuff from Mr. Waldron, who apparently STILL hasn't given up on the bizarre (and patently untrue) notion that JFK/RFK planned an invasion of Cuba for December 1, 1963 (based solely on CONTINGENCY plans drawn up by the Pentagon with no input or even knowledge by President Kennedy), a theory which has been thoroughly discredited by many credible researchers (see, eg, Jim DiEugenio and the CTKA website). As one who has suffered through the bloated and essentially unreadable Legacy Of Secrecy & Ultimate Sacrifice books Waldron previously foisted on the JFK critical community, only to find there is NO "there" there, I can only hope I may at least spare some other readers from this chore.

Bottom-line, the Mob did not conceive nor implement the JFK assassination, nor could the Mob have instituted and maintained the coverup of this crime for nigh on 50 years now. At most, organized crime may have supplied "mechanics" (ie, shooters) but that's it. One must look elsewhere for factual culpability, something Waldron manifestly fails to do.

In fact, it is my opinion that books like Waldron's are part and parcel of said coverup. If you are interested in the truth of 1963 coup d'état, and not just some distracting "shiny keys" like the Waldron tomes, please seek out "False Mystery" by Vincent Salandria, "Inside The ARRB" by Doug Horne, and "JFK & The Unspeakable" by James W. Douglass while you still have a good chance of locating them at a reasonable cost.

The truth IS indeed 'out there', but one has to know where to look. None of Waldron's books help in this quest, quite the opposite in fact, and that's a shame as we approach the 50th anniversary of the "election" of 1963.

Great book on a subject that many have suspected but could not definitively prove - Mafia killed JFK. Waldron weaves this history in a logical and seamless fashion. Amazing how all of the plans were right under the noses of some many high placed officials and the lies that were told and leverage held by the mafia over the CIA and others.

Anyone with a facination of the JFK assassination needs to read this book and add it to their library. Waldron debunks so many "theories" by many so called subject matter experts with clear and concise evidence. Interviews, memos and all the recently declassified information makes perfect sense regarding who, how, why JFK was killed as well as who and how those involved got away with it.

This book does in my opinion require a great deal of concentration and careful reading of each word - lest the reader lose track of the trail. The book can be a bit confusing at times in that Waldron uses alot of acronyms and I fund my self referring back several pages or chapters to see what they stood for again.

Read this book - amazing what offcials in high offices can do in secrecy and conspiracy & it would be laughable how the mafia infiltrated the Cuban kill Castro plans - had their motive not been a terrible and horrific american tragedy.

This book makes a substantial case, showing that JFK was assassinated as a result of orders of New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello. Transcripts of FBI secret recordings of Marcello, confessing to the plot, are published here for the first time. Documentation of meetings between Marcello, Oswald, and Jack Ruby are documented. This book blows away the Oswald Lone Gunman theory. It shows that Oswald was involved, but was not the gunman. It documents involvement of Dallas mob don Joseph Campisi, and shows that the gunmen were hidden before and after the shooting at Campisi's Egyptian Room Restaurant, at which I dine frequently. Well-researched, and well-worth the time it takes to read this one.

This is an excellent book and well written. The factual, well-researched information provides a great deal proof that Oswald was not the killer. It is must read for anyone who interested in the JFK assassination and the government's cover up of the killing of a beloved president. While, at times, the details are overwhelming, it does prove the levels of corruption in our government. No wonder that our country experienced the 1960s and 70s. Anyone who was alive during this time knew there was a cover-up with the assassination. It was a mafia hit but I could not figure out why the Warren Commission chose to ignore many eye-witness accounts. Now, it finally makes sense.

Finally, a book that tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I worked for Louisiana's oldest weekly newspaper in the late 1970s. There, I conducted a series of interviews with Jim Garrison and members of his staff. During those sessions, it became clear to me very quickly that the New Orleans District Attorney never planned to put Clay Shaw on trial. He knew Shaw had nothing to do with the assassination. Shaw was simply an associate of some of those involved. Garrison started out uncovering the connections between David Ferrie, Oswald, and others. His investigation was ongoing but incomplete when word leaked to the press what he was doing, focusing the eyes of the world on New Orleans. Everyone waiting to see where Garrison's investigation would lead.

Weeks later, Garrison's trail led to the mastermind of the assassination. However, that mastermind was someone he knew well, someone who owned most politicians in Louisiana, someone who could have Garrison's family killed with a simple phone call. Garrison had two choices. Expose Carlos Marcello or find a patsy of his own. That patsy was Clay Shaw.

All that I've explained above is not found in Waldron's book, but his book completely supports all that I have described. That's how I know his book recounts the truth. He's taken the puzzle pieces myself and others have collected these many years and managed to fill in the gaps with recently released government documents. If you honestly want to know the who, what, whens, wheres, and whys of the Kennedy assassination, read this book.

Likewise, some day you'll learn why Marilyn Monroe flew out of Florida to Cuba the month before she died. And you'll recall that she spent the weekend before she died at the mob-owned Cal-Neva lodge the weekend before she died. You may also learn how Chicago Boss Sam Giancana and his goons tortured Monroe in her room and how Frank Sinatra's pilot took her back to Los Angeles in tears. That week, Marilyn Monroe died. Her last visitor was someone she thought was her friend, a Hollywood mobster named Johnny Roselli--a name prominent in Waldron's book.

Learning all of this, perhaps supplemented with the back stories of the countless other witnesses who've died, you will finally have all of the pieces of the puzzle that is the JFK assassination.

Waldron's latest volume on the JFK assassination is a very good read. It provides fascinating information of Marcello's power in the Gulf region.

Waldron draws in Nixon as the White House coordinator of the 1958-'60 plan to eliminate Castro. Nixon's close ties to the
Mob allowed him to bring in the Mob godfathers in what became the Bay of Pigs invasion. The original invasion plan was to include the elimination (murder) of Fidel, which Nixon approved.

Waldron's detailed summary of Marcello's prison confessions, recorded by FBI, are illuminating, and are productive in focusing on the mob's role in the Dealey Plaza murder.

What is not covered is why the FBI, the White House, and Justice Dept. kept these recordings, files secret for over 20 years; and what can be done about the confessions in a legal court.

The weakest part of Waldron's scenario is the conclusion that the multi-decade federal coverup, continuing to this day, was the result of keeping secret the plan for a second invasion of Cuba in Dec. 1963. As many of the national security elite have argued, the Dec. invasion plan, using a double agent within Castro's military command, was a contingency plan.....a plan that needed to be developed, but was not on"go" to be implemented in Dec. 1963.

And what purpose is served now to continue to keep this plan secret; and cover-up the conspiracy in Dallas?

And Waldron argues that Marcello and Trafficante were the masterminds. But he ignores the possible role of LBJ in the assassination planning. Did Marcello control LBJ?

Roger Stone's new book, the best selling The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, offers the alternative.
Marcello had power in Texas, but the overall plan reached much higher.

I heard Billo opine the other day - as if he were the summit of all knowledge when it comes to JFK's killing - that there was absolutely NO evidence of a conspiracy and that Lee Oswald was the sole and only assassin. Bill O'Reilly, Vince Bugliosi, Gerald Posner and others of their blinkered ilk should rethink their hearty embrace of the Warren Report verdict. There was a Fox News special on the assassination last night hosted by Bill Hemmer. I knew Bill O'Reilly was going to be one of the talking heads so I though the whole hour-long show would just back-up the conclusions one of their top news anchor's promulgated in his co-authored book on the JFK murder. I was surprised when new evidence was offered indicating the presence of a second shooter - and also that the special addressed some of the findings found in Lamar Waldron's THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION.

To anyone out there who still thinks JFK was killed by a lone nut and nothing more, read this book. It is compelling and convincing - moreso than a great number of conspiracy books out there. I recall many, many years ago reading some tripe that Kennedy secretly conspired with Oswald to kill him because he was already dying from Addison's Disease and sought a martyr's end. Another nutty take on the case had Jackie fire the fatal shot from a gun hidden in the flowers she was holding - this because of her husband's myriad infidelities. Of course there is the misfire from one of the secret agents running behind the Lincoln limo - and the supposed wink given LBJ on board Air Force One has helped lead to a number of books detailing him as the mastermind of the murder. Ollie Stone's Vietnam-induced vision of the reason for killing Kennedy is also popular and possible but also problematic. Remember when Oswald was dug up and DNA-ed because there was the whisper that the real Oswald did not come back from the USSR? It goes on and on - and with some of what is out there, no wonder that many eyebrows are raised. I just finished reading a book about extraterrestrials living and working amongst us - so I half expect to one day see a book arguing that Oswald was an alien getting instructions not from Mother Russia, but from his Mother Ship from another world!

But this book is different. The thing about it is...it makes much more sense than most conspiracy theories. 1979's House Committee conclusion was that "JFK was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy." The Committee also found that the Mafia godfathers - Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante - "had the motive, means, and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy." Carlos Marcello himself - during a sting operation - admitted to the crime and provided details. But it isn't just the admittance of one Mafia godfather that is detailed in this exceptional book. No, the whole tangled web of the Mob, Cuba, Castro, the CIA, the FBI, Oswald, Kennedy, you name it - the whole web is meticulously re-spun within the pages of this book - and the probable spider at the web's center is not LBJ or Castro or Oswald or the CIA and FBI, no, the big black spider is...the Mafia. Add to the mix Oswald's Kafkaesque hit by mob-affiliated Jack Ruby and the pieces just fall into place and fit. And even if, by book's end, one doesn't buy Lamar Waldron's main thesis, the very fact that there were proven assassination plots in November 1963 in Chicago, Tampa and finally Dallas - all cities that were sticky frame threads to the all-reaching spider's web of the Mafia - should prove the case for conspiracy to all but the most close-minded. Unless, of course, "Lone Nut" Lee was leap-frogging from city to city all by his lonesome looking for the best time and place for his lucky shot with his 'magic bullet.'

There are still thousands of government documents regarding the assassination being kept secret from the public. Why? The Marcello tapes detailing the hit on JFK that he says he ordered are still withheld from the public. Why? Anyone who still believes there was no conspiracy to kill Kennedy is simply fooling themselves. Willfully focusing on Oswald as the one and only spider is deleteriously ignoring the existence of the spider's web itself. As nature shows, without the all-important web, the spider cannot capture and kill its prey. In making Oswald the spider, the Warren Report neglected to study the intricate nature and structure of the web. Lamar Waldron's book meticulously describes the bridge and frame threads, the auxiliary and capture spirals and anchor points of the truly monstrous web that ensnared and killed our President fifty short years ago. "Living is easy with eyes closed" - so sang another gunshot victim. Read this book and your eyes will be opened.

The author does a great job in clearing away the foliage of cover ups to show how much is actually there for us to see, at the same time letting us know the answer as much as he can in those sources. It also is great to know that the truth is still there in the files hidden away, and in hope that in the near future those holding them will be forced to release them, for the good of our country's future indeed.

Disappointing. Waldron concludes--over some 800 pages--that the Mob did it, thus omiting huge "pieces of the puzzle. This book goes on and on...like a broken record...with his simplistic conclusion. After a couple of hours fighting it, I finally donated the volume to the local Goodwill outlet. This book is anything but..the Real Deal. Do yourself a big favor and pick up much better books like "High Treason," "Six Seconds in Dallas," "Bloody Treason," "Accessories after the Fact," "Crossfire" and "Best Evidence." Yes, I did purchase the book...and this is a legitimate review. No axe to grind or other B.S. ; )

This is a very frustrating book. Much of the material is condensed from his prior books but the new material is plagued by general references to "FBI documents" or "CIA documents" without sourcing to the specific document. The author explains he was not providing footnotes in the interest of keeping the book length down and suggests reader can look up quotes and other references by using google, or reference one of the author's earlier books. So to read this shorter book, the reader is required to continually interrupt reading this book to go on the internet or try to locate a source from another book. If you are a reader who is interested in evaluating the generalized allegations and statements in this book by examining the original source material, good luck. You will spend needless hours chasing down the references. Better off spending your time and money on another book.

The author did not effectively explain the death of Tippett and relationship to the assassination along with lax security and who was responsible. It is hard to believe the CIA, secret service and LBJ's involvement.

You will find no speculation, rumors and wild guesses in this account of the JFK assassination. Waldron makes his well documented case right away and supports it with facts only. Whenever he is unsure or there is any reason for doubt, he is upright about it. Waldron remains modest throughout the book, adding to his credibility. This book should be part of the curriculum of every American student. This is the most important story in recent American history and the best book ever written on the subject.

This book contains the best critique of the 'single bullet theory' I have read to date. Chapter 2 critiques the SBT and chapter 16 critiques the Bethesda autopsy. Both chapters are outstanding - logical and succinct. The remainder of the book is not quite as readable due to its length. However it is an outstanding piece of research. It contains great depth of background material on organized crime figures and their grievances against the Kennedys. Frankly the Kennedy brothers took deadly chances in getting tough with the mob.Two other books on the same subject I highly recommend are 'Who Really Killed Kennedy?' by Robert Ries and "It's Time For The Truth" by Charles Hurlburt. Both of these books are outstanding. Readers interested in this topic may also wish to google Robert Morningstar's article "The Ultimate JFK Secret". The truth on the JFK assassination has gradually emerged, fortunately, thanks to researchers and authors such as these.

I have read every book on the two major high profile murders in the twentieth century: John Kennedy and Pope John Paul I. Concerning the murder of the thirty-three day pope 'The Vatican Murders' is the tops. Concerning JFK this book is the tops!

Having read LEGACY OF SECRECY and ULTIMATE SACRIFICE by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann, plus the myriad other tomes about the assassination over a span of nearly 30 years, I can say these authors finally have uncovered the truth about not only why John Kennedy was killed and by whom, but why events turned and so many officials acted as they did in the aftermath of the assassination. Waldron's newest book on the assassination is equally impressive.

So who killed JFK? It wasn't LBJ. It wasn't some "rogue element" in the CIA or the military. It wasn't Castro. It wasn't Khrushchev. It wasn't the Secret Service agent with a machine gun, and it CERTAINLY wasn't Lee Harvey Oswald. Without naming the actual killers - something that will in all probability never be ascertained - Waldron and Hartmann document how New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello had the means, motive and the opportunity to "remove the stone from his shoe," that is, to kill JFK and ease the pressure JFK's brother Bobby was exerting on the Mob in his role as Attorney General. Critics squawk that if there had been a conspiracy, no one could have kept their yap shut for so many years about their involvement. Well, one who couldn't stay quiet was Marcello himself, whose confidential bragging to his cellmate/informant that he was the one responsible for Kennedy's demise is amply documented.

What new information authors Waldron and Hartmann bring to the research table includes revelations about how the Kennedy brothers and operatives in the Cuban government were planning a secret coup to topple Castro, and made contingency plans to deflect and otherwise suppress evidence in case Castro or Cuban agents would retaliate by killing an American ambassador or other official outside the country. The Kennedys knew the American people would demand an invasion of Cuba if they learned Castro had killed a diplomat or other government operative. Tensions between the US and the USSR were at all-time highs, and an American-led military invasion of Cuba merely months after the Cuban Missile Crisis would certainly have brought the Russians into the fray. The Kennedys could not take that risk.

The Kennedy brothers' plan was to make certain that even if an American was killed by Castro, the crime scene evidence would quickly be whisked to a secure military base or hospital, where an autopsy and collateral information provided to the media could be controlled, and a "patsy" or "lone-gun assassin" persona would be concocted to take the blame. Because they had to protect at all costs the individuals in Cuba with whom they were covertly planning the coup, the Kennedys would do what they had to do to keep the focus off of Castro, even if he indeed was responsible.

When the Mob was approached by the CIA to help remove Castro in the late 1950s, "Operation Mongoose" was hatched. Ironically, after Kennedy took office and tapped Bobby to be Attorney General, the government they now were leading was in cahoots with the very criminals they had been investigating during the McClellan hearings. Bobby ordered an end to the Mob's involvement, but Richard Helms of the CIA kept it going behind the scenes. Wise guys like Vegas/LA mobster Johnny Rosselli were still in the loop, and eventually learned about the Kennedys' contingency plans to cover up an attempted or successful assassination of Americans by Castro. Once the Mob realized that the American government would go all out to protect secret assets and intelligence plans, they began scheming for the time when a low-level intelligence operative named Oswald could be framed for killing Kennedy. And if the investigators got a little too close for comfort, the mobsters would simply dribble out coded threats via their media contacts about the secret plans to kill Castro and who we had in Cuba to make it happen. As a result, the official government tale is that Oswald, acting alone, killed Kennedy. To emphasize the need to keep the story simple, even if it were untrue, 'twas LBJ himself who put the clamp on Chief justice Earl Warren to head up a blue ribbon investigative committee to deflect scrutiny of Mob involvement, spare American intelligence from unwanted exposure and "prevent World War III."

This is certainly not a breezy read, but the reasons people acted as they did will become clear as you plow through the densely documents chapters. Thanks to the dedicated research and writing of Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann, Americans who seek the truth about the Kennedy assassination will finally have their "Aha moment." I highly recommend this book.

This fellow, Waldron, has such a left-wing agenda that he never even mentions the very likely culpability of LBJ in JFK's murder! All of the most reputable assassination authors believe LBJ had a major role in the murder of JFK. But, since LBJ became such a liberal icon after all of his cIvil rights and socialist-type legislation in the 60s, the lefties won't touch his likely guilt and culpability with a ten-foot pole! Johnson had motive, means and opportunity, more than anyone else, and had he not pushed this assassination through, he would have been dropped from the 1964 democrat ticket, and ended up in prison! That's how close it came, with all the Billie S. Estes/Bobby Baker stuff falling apart around Johnson. He was one of the most corrupt, evil men in US history!

Of course, it is possible that Marcello and the other mafia-types had a role in the murder, but that sure doesn't mean that ONLY them and a faction within the CIA completed the heinous, horrible deed! His book is boring, he is boring, and it was so bad that I couldn't even finish it, although I struggled through almost half of it.....don't waste your money! Read one by Marrs, Lane, Groden (brilliant guy, I met and talked with him in Dallas a few years ago), or even Corsi, and you will surely get a lot closer to the truth!