RFK assassination information
It's that sad, horrid time of year again, the time of year when I'm reminded we need to do all we can to protect and support people who try to do good in the world, because there will always be those who feel the need to rob us of them.
40 years ago next week, just after Midnight on June 5, the morning after California's June 4th primary, Senator Robert Kennedy finished his victory speech, exited behind the stage and entered the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel en route to the Colonial Room.
Kennedy wanted to spend a moment with the print press media. The radio microphones and TV cameras had had their time with him, and he wanted to go thank the grunts who sat behind typewriters - remember typewriters? - banging out stories about the campaign, his chances for the Democratic nomination, the hope he offered (or the threat he represented, depending on their point of view). Kennedy usually made a point of speaking to these journalists, and tonight would be no different.
Until it was.
The pantry was only lightly crowded as he entered. Most of the crowd was behind him. He walked through the swinging doors, heading East through the pantry. He stopped to shake hands with some kitchen workers.
Vincent DiPierro watched in wonder. He was very excited to be there. His father, who worked there, called and told him to get down there so he could meet Kennedy.
Vince noticed a girl in a white dress with dark polka dots with a "good figure" interacting with a young man with dark, curly hair. He thought she was holding him as he balanced on a tray stand. But as Kennedy stepped forward, the curly headed man stepped down from the tray stand and circled behind hotel maitre d' Karl Uecker, who was just grabbing Kennedy's right hand with his left to pull him forward.
Suddenly a hand reached in front of Uecker. The sound of balloons popping. A blue flash. Kennedy on the ground, and Paul Schrade collapsed behind him. A lone tie, belonging to the security guard Thane Eugene Cesar who had been holding Kennedy's right elbow, lay stretched out next to Kennedy on the ground.
Two men and a girl in a polka dot dress ran out as Sirhan stepped forward to fire. One of the men ran out separately from the other two. People gave chase, yelling, "Stop him!" "He's got a gun!"
At the back of the hotel, a young Mexican-American woman named Sandy Serrano was relaxing, until a dark haired man and girl flew out. "We shot him. We shot him," the girl in the polka dot dress said. Serrano asked in disbelief, "Who did you shoot?" "We shot Kennedy!" the girl said, as she ran past with her companion and disappeared into the darkness.
Screams. Wailing. Kennedy's been shot. He's been shot. Oh God. Oh no. Not again. Grief descended over the country and beyond like a thick black shroud. Hope was buried for many years.
Martin Luther King had just been shot as he exited his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Four and a half years earlier, Robert's brother John had been assassinated in Dallas.
All that blood. All that horror. All that loss. And now, with Bobby, it was almost too much to bear, for many.
The country fell apart. People who had protested the war as a unit fractured. Some gave up. Others turned to drugs for escape. Still others marched on, their hair increasingly long, their voices increasingly harsh.
Our vote was taken from us. Goodness was taken from us. Liberalism was taken from us. Our country was taken from us.
And we were told this was all due to random acts of lone assassins. Some knew better. Some didn't want to know better. And all too many didn't know better. And how could they?
The Warren Commission information was still largely under wraps, published in part in an obscure set of 26 volumes.
The files from the FBI's investigation of King were still secret.
The LAPD's "Special Unit Senator" files were kept from the public for 20 years.
All the evidence was withheld from public view.
Imagine if, just a few weeks after the assassination, people had learned that not only did at least three others witness the girl in the polka dot dress saying "We shot him" to the Mexican girl - but that over twenty witnesses saw a suspicious girl in a polka dot dress, often in the company of a guy who looked like Sirhan.
Imagine if, just says after the assassination, the police said to the public, wait a minute. We know at least 12 bullets were fired in the pantry, so we're looking for additional suspects, since Sirhan's gun can only hold eight.
Imagine if, just hours after the assassination, the police told us that a second suspect had been handcuffed at the hotel and brought in for questioning because several people thought he'd been escaping with a gun in a rolled up poster.
Imagine if the system had worked.
Wouldn't it have been appropriate if Sirhan had a lawyer who wasn't facing disbarment at the time he represented him? A lawyer who, upon learning the police had messed up the labeling of the bullets, wouldn't have just stipulated that the evidence was whatever the police said it was? A lawyer who, upon learning that the shots came from an inch behind Kennedy, based on the autopsy evidence, realized that his client couldn't have killed Kennedy, since he had been some three feet in front of Kennedy? A lawyer that wouldn't have stipulated to his client's guilt before the evidence had even come in?
Imagine transparency, honesty, and justice.
Imagine a world you don't live in.
People in power, especially power obtained dishonestly, sometimes act in the most heinous of ways to preserve that power. They will threaten, bribe, hurt, maim, and kill if necessary. They will cover up for each other.
Unless they are named Scott McClellan, and bless him for doing the right thing, albeit a bit late. Bless all those who come forward, at risk to themselves, to pass along whatever truth they know.
The only reason we know what we do now about the Kennedy and King assassinations is that a lot of brave people told what they knew when there was still time to act on that knowledge. That takes guts, and my hat is way off to the brave witnesses who came forward.
My hat is also off to the researchers who smelled a rat, and refused to believe the false trail laid down so thoroughly for them in the mainstream media.
Because we're in a major anniversary year, there are a couple of outstanding conferences coming up. If you live near Los Angeles or Pittsburgh, come learn about the assassinations of the sixties. And come meet me! I love to meet readers of Real History. You are an amazing group. I treasure the people I've met over the years through our collective curiosity on these matters. You are my heroes.
The Coalition for Political Assassinations is putting on its conference June 6-8. The speaker list is amazing:
Robert Joling and Philip Van Praag, co-authors of An Open and Shut Case
William Pepper, Sirhan's current attorney
Ted Charach, the maker of the film "The Second Gun"
Bill Turner, former FBI agent and an extraordinary writer on this case
Paul Schrade - felled by a bullet himself the night Robert Kennedy was killed
Mark Sobel - filmmaker with a recent (and award-winning) documentary on RFK
Shane O'Sullivan - documentary filmaker on the RFK assassination
Michael Calder - author of JFK v CIA
Summer Reese - lawyer and associate of Larry Teeter's, Sirhan's former attorney
Lisa Pease - co-author and co-editor of The Assassinations
I just finished speaking on Black Op Radio tonight about the RFK case. Len Osanic has created a truly extraordinary archive of interviews on covert history which you can download (if recent) or order (if you waited too long). I'll be on another radio show back East next week. I'm told my appearance on The Discovery Channel's "Conspiracy Files" show has recently aired again. I've been filmed for four documentaries in the past couple of years and queried for a fifth. There's a lot of heat on this case, finally.
And this fall, there's going to be an AMAZING conference at Duquesne University, sponsored by the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law and the Duquesne University School of Law. So if you can't make it to Los Angeles June 6-8, come to "Making Sense of the Sixties / A national symposium on the assassinations and political legacies of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy" in Pittsburgh, PA October 3-5.
The speaker list for that event includes:
Gary Aguilar, Physician; independent JFK assassination researcher
Michael M. Baden, Chair, Forensic Pathology Panel, U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)
James DiEugenio, Author, Destiny Betrayed and co-author/co-editor of The Assassinations
Robert J. Joling, Co-author, An Open & Shut Case; former trial attorney and judge; past-president, American Academy of Forensic Sciences
Robert Blair Kaiser, Author, R.F.K. Must Die; member, Sirhan Sirhan defense team
James Lesar, Former defense attorney for James Earl Ray; F.O.I.A. attorney
Lisa Pease, Co-author/co-editor of The Assassinations
William Pepper, counsel for Sirhan Sirhan; former counsel for James Earl Ray
David Talbot, Author, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
Robert K. Tanenbaum, Author, attorney and former Deputy Chief Counsel, HSCA
Philip Van Praag, Co-author, An Open & Shut Case; audio expert and independent RFK assassination researcher
Cyril H. Wecht, Member, HSCA Forensic Pathology Panel; witness, Commission on CIA Activities within the United States
Don't stop questioning. Don't sell your soul to join the guys on the lucrative, but wrong, side of this case. Have some decency. Care.
Thanks.
Additional information
Sirhan now says, "I am innocent." - A short summary of the RFK assassination issues.
Sirhan and the RFK Assassination Part I: The Grand Illusion - Evidence of conspiracy.
Sirhan and the RFK Assassination Part II: Rubik's Cube - Possible conspirators.
40 years ago next week, just after Midnight on June 5, the morning after California's June 4th primary, Senator Robert Kennedy finished his victory speech, exited behind the stage and entered the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel en route to the Colonial Room.
Kennedy wanted to spend a moment with the print press media. The radio microphones and TV cameras had had their time with him, and he wanted to go thank the grunts who sat behind typewriters - remember typewriters? - banging out stories about the campaign, his chances for the Democratic nomination, the hope he offered (or the threat he represented, depending on their point of view). Kennedy usually made a point of speaking to these journalists, and tonight would be no different.
Until it was.
The pantry was only lightly crowded as he entered. Most of the crowd was behind him. He walked through the swinging doors, heading East through the pantry. He stopped to shake hands with some kitchen workers.
Vincent DiPierro watched in wonder. He was very excited to be there. His father, who worked there, called and told him to get down there so he could meet Kennedy.
Vince noticed a girl in a white dress with dark polka dots with a "good figure" interacting with a young man with dark, curly hair. He thought she was holding him as he balanced on a tray stand. But as Kennedy stepped forward, the curly headed man stepped down from the tray stand and circled behind hotel maitre d' Karl Uecker, who was just grabbing Kennedy's right hand with his left to pull him forward.
Suddenly a hand reached in front of Uecker. The sound of balloons popping. A blue flash. Kennedy on the ground, and Paul Schrade collapsed behind him. A lone tie, belonging to the security guard Thane Eugene Cesar who had been holding Kennedy's right elbow, lay stretched out next to Kennedy on the ground.
Two men and a girl in a polka dot dress ran out as Sirhan stepped forward to fire. One of the men ran out separately from the other two. People gave chase, yelling, "Stop him!" "He's got a gun!"
At the back of the hotel, a young Mexican-American woman named Sandy Serrano was relaxing, until a dark haired man and girl flew out. "We shot him. We shot him," the girl in the polka dot dress said. Serrano asked in disbelief, "Who did you shoot?" "We shot Kennedy!" the girl said, as she ran past with her companion and disappeared into the darkness.
Screams. Wailing. Kennedy's been shot. He's been shot. Oh God. Oh no. Not again. Grief descended over the country and beyond like a thick black shroud. Hope was buried for many years.
Martin Luther King had just been shot as he exited his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Four and a half years earlier, Robert's brother John had been assassinated in Dallas.
All that blood. All that horror. All that loss. And now, with Bobby, it was almost too much to bear, for many.
The country fell apart. People who had protested the war as a unit fractured. Some gave up. Others turned to drugs for escape. Still others marched on, their hair increasingly long, their voices increasingly harsh.
Our vote was taken from us. Goodness was taken from us. Liberalism was taken from us. Our country was taken from us.
And we were told this was all due to random acts of lone assassins. Some knew better. Some didn't want to know better. And all too many didn't know better. And how could they?
The Warren Commission information was still largely under wraps, published in part in an obscure set of 26 volumes.
The files from the FBI's investigation of King were still secret.
The LAPD's "Special Unit Senator" files were kept from the public for 20 years.
All the evidence was withheld from public view.
Imagine if, just a few weeks after the assassination, people had learned that not only did at least three others witness the girl in the polka dot dress saying "We shot him" to the Mexican girl - but that over twenty witnesses saw a suspicious girl in a polka dot dress, often in the company of a guy who looked like Sirhan.
Imagine if, just says after the assassination, the police said to the public, wait a minute. We know at least 12 bullets were fired in the pantry, so we're looking for additional suspects, since Sirhan's gun can only hold eight.
Imagine if, just hours after the assassination, the police told us that a second suspect had been handcuffed at the hotel and brought in for questioning because several people thought he'd been escaping with a gun in a rolled up poster.
Imagine if the system had worked.
Wouldn't it have been appropriate if Sirhan had a lawyer who wasn't facing disbarment at the time he represented him? A lawyer who, upon learning the police had messed up the labeling of the bullets, wouldn't have just stipulated that the evidence was whatever the police said it was? A lawyer who, upon learning that the shots came from an inch behind Kennedy, based on the autopsy evidence, realized that his client couldn't have killed Kennedy, since he had been some three feet in front of Kennedy? A lawyer that wouldn't have stipulated to his client's guilt before the evidence had even come in?
Imagine transparency, honesty, and justice.
Imagine a world you don't live in.
People in power, especially power obtained dishonestly, sometimes act in the most heinous of ways to preserve that power. They will threaten, bribe, hurt, maim, and kill if necessary. They will cover up for each other.
Unless they are named Scott McClellan, and bless him for doing the right thing, albeit a bit late. Bless all those who come forward, at risk to themselves, to pass along whatever truth they know.
The only reason we know what we do now about the Kennedy and King assassinations is that a lot of brave people told what they knew when there was still time to act on that knowledge. That takes guts, and my hat is way off to the brave witnesses who came forward.
My hat is also off to the researchers who smelled a rat, and refused to believe the false trail laid down so thoroughly for them in the mainstream media.
Because we're in a major anniversary year, there are a couple of outstanding conferences coming up. If you live near Los Angeles or Pittsburgh, come learn about the assassinations of the sixties. And come meet me! I love to meet readers of Real History. You are an amazing group. I treasure the people I've met over the years through our collective curiosity on these matters. You are my heroes.
The Coalition for Political Assassinations is putting on its conference June 6-8. The speaker list is amazing:
Robert Joling and Philip Van Praag, co-authors of An Open and Shut Case
William Pepper, Sirhan's current attorney
Ted Charach, the maker of the film "The Second Gun"
Bill Turner, former FBI agent and an extraordinary writer on this case
Paul Schrade - felled by a bullet himself the night Robert Kennedy was killed
Mark Sobel - filmmaker with a recent (and award-winning) documentary on RFK
Shane O'Sullivan - documentary filmaker on the RFK assassination
Michael Calder - author of JFK v CIA
Summer Reese - lawyer and associate of Larry Teeter's, Sirhan's former attorney
Lisa Pease - co-author and co-editor of The Assassinations
I just finished speaking on Black Op Radio tonight about the RFK case. Len Osanic has created a truly extraordinary archive of interviews on covert history which you can download (if recent) or order (if you waited too long). I'll be on another radio show back East next week. I'm told my appearance on The Discovery Channel's "Conspiracy Files" show has recently aired again. I've been filmed for four documentaries in the past couple of years and queried for a fifth. There's a lot of heat on this case, finally.
And this fall, there's going to be an AMAZING conference at Duquesne University, sponsored by the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law and the Duquesne University School of Law. So if you can't make it to Los Angeles June 6-8, come to "Making Sense of the Sixties / A national symposium on the assassinations and political legacies of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy" in Pittsburgh, PA October 3-5.
The speaker list for that event includes:
Gary Aguilar, Physician; independent JFK assassination researcher
Michael M. Baden, Chair, Forensic Pathology Panel, U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)
James DiEugenio, Author, Destiny Betrayed and co-author/co-editor of The Assassinations
Robert J. Joling, Co-author, An Open & Shut Case; former trial attorney and judge; past-president, American Academy of Forensic Sciences
Robert Blair Kaiser, Author, R.F.K. Must Die; member, Sirhan Sirhan defense team
James Lesar, Former defense attorney for James Earl Ray; F.O.I.A. attorney
Lisa Pease, Co-author/co-editor of The Assassinations
William Pepper, counsel for Sirhan Sirhan; former counsel for James Earl Ray
David Talbot, Author, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
Robert K. Tanenbaum, Author, attorney and former Deputy Chief Counsel, HSCA
Philip Van Praag, Co-author, An Open & Shut Case; audio expert and independent RFK assassination researcher
Cyril H. Wecht, Member, HSCA Forensic Pathology Panel; witness, Commission on CIA Activities within the United States
Don't stop questioning. Don't sell your soul to join the guys on the lucrative, but wrong, side of this case. Have some decency. Care.
Thanks.
Additional information
Sirhan now says, "I am innocent." - A short summary of the RFK assassination issues.
Sirhan and the RFK Assassination Part I: The Grand Illusion - Evidence of conspiracy.
Sirhan and the RFK Assassination Part II: Rubik's Cube - Possible conspirators.
posted by Real History Lisa at 8:30 PM - Permanent Link -
4 Comments:
Good summary of the scene. Here is more information gathered from a different POV. It is the first two of a series of articles on this tragedy. The second link is very interesting as it focuses on the probable trigger-man Thane Eugene Cesar. Information shared is information multiplied!
Part 1: http://tinyurl.com/3lkkem
Part 2: http://tinyurl.com/3gweap
I would also recommend the dvd "Evidence of Revision" available on Amazon here:
http://tinyurl.com/5j7kju
It is a wealth of information.
Great information. I posted about Bobby Kennedy over at daddyBstrong.blogspot.com I talked about some of the striking parallels between Barack and Bobby. As you no doubt know, there is quite a bit of unspoken concern about his safety. Thanks again for the info.
That was a very good episode of Black Op Radio...thanks, Lisa!
nice post
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