David William Ferrie (March 28, 1918 - February 22, 1967) was a private investigator and pilot who was alleged by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison to have been involved in the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison ( November 20, 1921 - October 21, 1992) &mdash who changed his first name to Jim in the John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18 1939 &ndash November 24 1963 was according to three United States government investigations the assassin of U This is an article about the New Orleans businessman See E Clay Shaw Jr George de Mohrenschildt ( April 17 ( Gregorian calendar) 1911 – March 29, 1977) was a petroleum geologist who befriended Lee The Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC was an activist group set up in New York in April 1960 The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front was founded in May 1960 by anti-Castro Cuban exiles and was initially headquartered in Mexico On March 1, 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested and charged New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw with conspiring Events 37 - Roman Emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana A district attorney (DA is in some US jurisdictions the title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of alleged criminals Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison ( November 20, 1921 - October 21, 1992) &mdash who changed his first name to Jim in the The assassination of John F Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday November 22 1963 in Dallas Texas

Early life

Ferrie was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads A Roman Catholic, Ferrie attended St. Ignatius High School, John Carroll University, St. Saint Ignatius High School is a private Roman Catholic Jesuit high school for young men located in Cleveland Ohio. John Carroll University is a private co-educational Jesuit university in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area in the United States. Mary's Seminary, where he studied for the priesthood, and Baldwin-Wallace College. Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given Religion. Baldwin-Wallace College is a small Liberal arts college in Berea Ohio. He next spent three years at the St. Charles' Seminary in Carthagena, Ohio. He suffered from alopecia areata, a rare skin condition, which results in the loss of body hair and whose severity increases with age. Alopecia areata ( AA) is a condition affecting humans in which hair is lost from areas of the body usually from the Scalp. Later in life, to compensate for his hair loss, Ferrie wore a reddish homemade wig and fake eyebrows. ^[1]

David Ferrie standing outside St. Charles' Seminary in the early 1940s.

In 1944 Ferrie left St. Charles because of "emotional instability. "^[2] He obtained a pilot's license and began teaching aeronautics at Cleveland's Benedictine High School. Aeronautics (from Greek aero which means air or sky and nautis which means sailor i Benedictine High School is a private, Roman Catholic, College preparatory high school for men located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA He was fired from the school for several infractions, including taking boys to a house of prostitution. Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money. ^[3] He then became an insurance inspector and, in 1951, moved to New Orleans where he worked as a pilot for Eastern Air Lines, until losing his job in August 1961, after being arrested twice on morals charges. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana Eastern Air Lines was a major United States Airline that existed from the late 1920s until 1991 ^[4]

Ferrie was involved with the Civil Air Patrol in several ways: He started as a "senior" with the Fifth Cleveland Squadron at Hopkins Airport in 1947. The Civil Air Patrol ( CAP) is the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF ^[5] When he moved to New Orleans, he "transferred" to the New Orleans Cadet Squadron at Lakefront Airport, first as instructor and later as Commander. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana Lakefront Airport is a public Airport located in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. ^[6] After a Ferrie-trained cadet pilot perished in a December 1954 crash, Ferrie's annual re-appointment was declined. He was asked to be a guest lecturer at the smaller squadron at Moisant Airport, and he did so, lecturing from June to September 1955. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, formerly known as Moisant Field, while other names for it are Louis Armstrong International Airport and On July 27, 1955, 15-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald joined this squadron. Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18 1939 &ndash November 24 1963 was according to three United States government investigations the assassin of U ^[7]

In March 1958, a former cadet-turned-commander invited Ferrie back to the New Orleans Cadet Squadron. Ferrie served unofficially for a time and was reinstated as Executive Officer in September 1959. Ferrie quit the squadron in June 1960 after a disagreement during a bivouac. In September 1960, he started his own unofficial squadron, called the Metairie Falcon Cadet Squadron. Metairie (local pronunciations /ˈmɛtəɹi/ /ˈmɛtɹi/ is a Census-designated place (CDP in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States ^[8] An offshoot of this group was the Internal Mobile Security Unit, a group formed for the fight against Fidel Castro's Cuba. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13 1926 is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from December 1959 to December 1976 and then president until The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la Over the years, he used both his official and unofficial squadrons to develop improper relations with boys ranging in age from 14-18, and his August 1961 arrests caused the Falcons to fold.

Ferrie seemed to have a mixed bag of philosophical and political views. He claimed to be a liberal on civil rights issues. However, he was "rabidly anti-Communist," often criticizing previous U. S. Presidential administrations for what he perceived as their "sell-outs" to communism. ^[9] When Castro opposed Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, Ferrie initially supported him, but Ferrie became convinced that Castro was a Communist by the summer of 1959. General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (fulˈxensjo βaˈtista i salˈdiβar January 16, 1901 &ndash August 6, 1973) was a Cuban Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based According to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Ferrie ". The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations was established in 1976 to investigate the John F . . found an outlet for his political fanaticism in the anti-Castro movement. " By early 1961, Ferrie was working with right-wing Cuban exile Sergio Arcacha Smith, head of the CIA-backed Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front in New Orleans. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front was founded in May 1960 by anti-Castro Cuban exiles and was initially headquartered in Mexico Ferrie soon became Arcacha Smith's "eager partner in counterrevolutionary activities. " Both were involved in a raid in late 1961 on a munitions depot in Houma, Louisiana, ". . . in which various weapons, grenades and ammunition were stolen. "^[10][11]

Ferrie often spoke to business and civic groups on political issues. In July 1961, Ferrie gave an anti-Kennedy speech before the New Orleans chapter of the Military Order of World Wars, in which "his topic was the Presidential administration and the Bay of Pigs fiasco. "^[12] In his speech, Ferrie attacked President Kennedy for refusing to provide air support to the Bay of Pigs invasion force of Cuban exiles. ^[13] Ferrie's tirade against Kennedy was so offensive that he was asked to leave the podium. ^[14] Ferrie admitted to the FBI, after the assassination, that when speaking about Kennedy, he may have used the expression: "He ought to be shot. " Ferrie insisted, however, that these words were just "an off-hand or colloquial expression. "^[15]

In the early 1960s, Ferrie became acquainted with Guy Banister, a former FBI agent, right-wing political activist, segregationist, and private investigator. In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities A private investigator or private detective (often shortened to PI or private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake Banister also worked with Ferrie associate, Sergio Arcacha Smith. In early 1962, both Banister and Arcacha Smith maintained offices in the Newman Building at the corner address of 544 Camp Street / 531 Lafayette Street, New Orleans. ^[16]

In February 1962, Banister assisted Ferrie in his dispute with Eastern Airlines regarding ". . . charges brought [against Ferrie] by the airline and local New Orleans police of crimes against nature and extortion. " During this period, Ferrie was often seen at Banister's office. ^[17] Banister testified to Ferrie's "good character" at an airline pilot's grievance board hearing in the summer of 1963. ^[18][19]

According to several witnesses, Ferrie and Banister also worked together in the fall of 1963 for lawyer G. Wray Gill, on behalf of Gill's client, New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello, in an attempt to block Marcello's deportation to Guatemala. George Wray Gill Sr ( 1907 - 4 October, 1972) was an American Lawyer born in Crowley Louisiana. The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian Criminal Secret society which is believed to have first developed in the mid-19th century Carlos Marcello (b February 6, 1910 &ndash March 3, 1993) was a New Orleans Mobster who became the boss of the Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest ^[20] On a related matter, the House Select Committee on Assassinations stated that "An unconfirmed Border Patrol report of February 1962 alleges that Ferrie was the pilot who flew Carlos Marcello back into the United States from Guatemala after he had been deported in April 1961 as part of the U. The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations was established in 1976 to investigate the John F S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy's crackdown on organized crime. "^[21] Another report, this one by the FBI, ". . . indicated Marcello offered [Ferrie associate Sergio] Arcacha Smith a deal whereby Marcello would make a substantial donation to the [anti-Castro] movement in return for concessions in Cuba after Castro's overthrow. "^[22]

Allegations of involvement in the Kennedy assassination

On the afternoon of November 22, 1963 — the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the day Marcello was acquitted in his deportation case — New Orleans private investigator Guy Banister and one of his employees, Jack Martin, were drinking together at a local bar. Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Jack Martin can refer to any of the following people Jack Martin, a former ice hockey player in the National Hockey League Jack On their return to Banister's office, the two men got into a heated argument. According to Martin, Banister said something to which Martin replied, "What are you going to do — kill me like you all did Kennedy?" Banister drew his . 357 magnum revolver and pistol-whipped Martin several times. Pistol-whipping is the act of physically striking a person with the barrel or stock of a Handgun. Martin was badly injured and an ambulance was called, which carried Martin to Charity Hospital. Charity Hospital is one of two Teaching hospitals which are part of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (MCLNO. ^{[23] [24]}

In the ensuing days, Jack Martin told reporters and authorities that David Ferrie may have been involved in the assassination. Martin told the New Orleans police that Ferrie ". . . was supposed to have been the getaway pilot in the assassination. "^[25] He said that Ferrie had threatened Kennedy's life, even outlining plans to kill him, and that Ferrie may have taught Oswald how to use a rifle with a telescopic sight. Martin also claimed that Ferrie had known Lee Harvey Oswald from their days in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol, and that he had seen a photograph, at Ferrie's home, of Oswald in a Civil Air Patrol group. Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18 1939 &ndash November 24 1963 was according to three United States government investigations the assassin of U ^[26]

Martin's accusations soon got back to David Ferrie who contacted several of his former Civil Air Patrol associates. Former cadet Roy McCoy told the FBI that ". . . Ferrie had come by looking for photographs of the cadets to see if Oswald was pictured in any photos of Ferrie's squadron. "^[27]

Jack Martin also told bail bondsman, Hardy Davis, that he had heard on television that David Ferrie's New Orleans library card had been found in Oswald possession when he was arrested in Dallas. A bail bond agent, or bondsman is any person or corporation which will act as a Surety and pledge money or property as Bail for the appearance of a criminal Davis reported this to Ferrie's employer, the lawyer G. Wray Gill. George Wray Gill Sr ( 1907 - 4 October, 1972) was an American Lawyer born in Crowley Louisiana. ^[28] (In fact, no such library card was found among Oswald's possessions. )^[29] Ferrie subsequently visited both Oswald’s former New Orleans landlady and a former neighbor about this report. ^[30] Ferrie was able to produce his library card for FBI agents who interviewed him on November 27, 1963. ^[31]

Martin also claimed that Ferrie had driven from New Orleans to Texas on the night of the assassination. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. (In fact, Ferrie and two friends drove 350 miles to the Winterland Skating Rink in Houston, about 240 miles from Dallas, that evening. ) Ferrie said that ". . . he had been considering for some time the feasibility and possibility of opening an ice skating rink in New Orleans" and wanted to gather information on the ice rink business. "He stated that he introduced himself to [rink manager] Chuck Rolland and spoke with him at length concerning the cost of installation and operation of the rink. "^[32] However, Rolland said that he never spoke to Ferrie about running an ice rink. Rolland said that Ferrie had spent his time at the rink's pay phone, making and receiving calls. )^[33][34]

On November 25, Jack Martin was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Martin told the FBI that Ferrie may have hypnotized Oswald into assassinating Kennedy. Hypnosis is often thought to be a wakeful state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility with diminished peripheral awareness The FBI considered Martin's evidence unreliable. Nevertheless, FBI agents interviewed Ferrie twice about Martin's allegations. ^[35] Ferrie claimed that in June 1963, he had been involved in an altercation with Martin, in which he had thrown Martin out of the office of lawyer G. Wray Gill. ^[36] The FBI also interviewed about twenty other people in connection with Martin's allegations. The FBI said that it was unable to develop a substantial case against Ferrie. (An inquiry by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, conducted a decade and a half later, concluded that the FBI's ". The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations was established in 1976 to investigate the John F . . overall investigation of the 544 Camp Street issue at the time of the assassination was not thorough. ")^[37]

David Ferrie (second from left) and Lee Harvey Oswald (far right) in a group photo of the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol in 1955 (click to enlarge)

Some of this information reached Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans, who had become increasingly interested in the assassination after a chance meeting with Louisiana Senator Russell Long in late 1966. Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison ( November 20, 1921 - October 21, 1992) &mdash who changed his first name to Jim in the The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Russell Billiu Long ( November 3, 1918 – May 9, 2003) was an American politician who served in the United States Senate Garrison said that Senator Long told him: "Those fellows on the Warren Commission were dead wrong. There's no way in the world that one man could have shot up John Kennedy that way. "^[38]

In December 1966, Garrison interviewed Jack Martin. Martin claimed that during the summer of 1963, David Ferrie, Guy Banister, and a group of anti-Castro Cuban exiles were involved in operations against Castro's Cuba that included gun running activities and burglarized armories. ^[39] Garrison would later write: "The Banister apparatus . . . was part of a supply line that ran along the Dallas--New Orleans--Miami corridor. These supplies consisted of arms and explosives for use against Castro's Cuba. "^[40]

According to Guy Banister's personal secretary, Delphine Roberts, David Ferrie was a frequent visitor to the 544 Camp Street address of Guy Banister. She remembered Ferrie as "one of the agents. " "Many times when he came into the office he used the private office behind Banister's, and I was told he was doing private work. I believed his work was somehow connected with the CIA rather than the FBI. . . "^[41] The House Select Committee on Assassinations investigated Roberts' claims and said that "because of contradictions in Roberts' statements to the committee and lack of independent corroboration of many of her statements, the reliability of her statements could not be determined. The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations was established in 1976 to investigate the John F "^[42]

As Garrison continued his investigation, he became convinced that a group of right-wing activists, including Ferrie, Banister, and Clay Shaw, were involved in a conspiracy with elements of the CIA to kill John F. This is an article about the New Orleans businessman See E Clay Shaw Jr Kennedy. Garrison would later claim that the motive for the assassination was anger over Kennedy's attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially ^[43][44] Garrison also believed that Shaw, Banister, and Ferrie had conspired to set up Oswald as a patsy in the JFK assassination. ^[45][46]

Death and aftermath

On February 22, 1967, less than a week after the New Orleans States-Item broke the story of Garrison's investigation, Ferrie was found dead in his apartment. The New Orleans coroner officially reported that the cause of death was a Berry Aneurysm. A coroner is an official responsible for investigating deaths particularly some of those happening under unusual circumstances and determining the cause of death A cerebral hemorrhage (or intracerebral hemorrhage, ICH) is a subtype of Intracranial hemorrhage that occurs within the Brain tissue itself Two unsigned typed letters were found: The first, found in a pile of papers, was a screed about the justice system, beginning with "To leave this life is, for me, a sweet prospect. "^[47] The second note was written to Al Beauboeuf, Ferrie's friend. ^[48] (The coroner's "natural causes" explanation for Ferrie's death contradicts the suicide explanation. Regarding this Garrison said, "I suppose it could just be a weird coincidence that the night Ferrie penned two suicide notes, he died of natural causes. "^[49] Both notes were undated. ) Garrison suspected that Ferrie had been murdered despite Ferrie's notes and the coroner's report to the contrary. The day the newspaper story first ran, Garrison aide Lou Ivon stated that Ferrie telephoned him to say: "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. . . . "^[50] On March 1, 1967, Garrison arrested and charged Clay Shaw with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy. This is an article about the New Orleans businessman See E Clay Shaw Jr

In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations stated in its Final Report that Oswald — who had been living in New Orleans in the summer of 1963 — had established contact with anti-Castro Cubans^[51]and "apparently" with American anti-Castro activist, David Ferrie. The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations was established in 1976 to investigate the John F ^[52] The Committee also found "credible and significant" the testimony of six witnesses who placed Oswald and Ferrie in Clinton, Louisiana, in September 1963. Clinton is a town in and the Parish seat of East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. ^[53] One of the witnesses was Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chairman Corrie Collins. Collins identified a photograph of David Ferrie at the trial of Clay Shaw, saying, ". . . but the most outstanding thing about him [Ferrie] was his eyebrows and his hair. They didn't seem real, in other words, they were unnatural, didn't seem as if they were real hair. "^[54] A later release of witness statements taken by Garrison's investigators in 1967, unavailable to the HSCA, showed contradictions in the witnesses' testimony given in 1969 and 1978. ^[55]

In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations stated that available records ". . . lent substantial credence to the possibility that Oswald and [David] Ferrie had been involved in the same [Civil Air Patrol] C. A. P. unit during the same period of time. "^[56] Committee investigators found six witnesses who said that Oswald had been present at Civil Air Patrol meetings headed by David Ferrie. ^[57][58]

In 1993, the PBS television program Frontline obtained a group photograph, taken eight years before the assassination, that showed Oswald and Ferrie at a cookout with other Civil Air Patrol cadets. ^[59] However, as Frontline executive producer Michael Sullivan said, "one should be cautious in ascribing its meaning. The photograph does give much support to the eyewitnesses who say they saw Ferrie and Oswald together in the C. A. P. , and it makes Ferrie's denials that he ever knew Oswald less credible. But it does not prove that the two men were with each other in 1963, nor that they were involved in a conspiracy to kill the president. "^[60]

In 1978, William Gaudet, a 20-year CIA informant who had worked out of an office at the International Trade Mart in New Orleans, told investigator Anthony Summers that Ferrie "was with Oswald," although Gaudet did not state where or when, or whether he knew this directly or by hearsay. Anthony Bruce Summers ( 3 December, 1942) is an author producer and journalist in the United Kingdom Gaudet also said, "Another vital person is Sergio Arcacha Smith. I know he knew Oswald and knows more about the Kennnedy affair than he ever admitted. ^[61]

The former Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA, Victor Marchetti, has claimed that David Ferrie was connected to the CIA. Victor Marchetti ( 1930 -) is a former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a prominent Paleoconservative Marchetti told author Anthony Summers that ". Anthony Bruce Summers ( 3 December, 1942) is an author producer and journalist in the United Kingdom . . he observed consternation on the part of then CIA Director Richard Helms and other senior officials when Ferrie's name was first publicly linked with the assassination in 1967. Richard McGarrah Helms ( March 30, 1913 &ndash October 23, 2002) was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI from 1966 to 1973 " Marchetti said that he asked a CIA colleage about this who told him that "Ferrie had been a contract agent to the Agency in the early sixties and had been involved in some of the Cuban activities. "^[62][63]

Fictional portrayals

Ferrie was portrayed by actor Joe Pesci in the Oliver Stone film JFK (1991), and by Tobin Bell in the film Ruby (1992). Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci (born February 9, 1943) is an Academy Award -winning American Actor, Comedian, Singer William Oliver Stone (born 15 September) is an American Film director and Screenwriter. JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. The film was released on December 20 1991 Tobin Bell (born August 7 1942) is an American film and television Actor. Ruby is a film released in the United States on March 27, 1992, about Jack Ruby, the Dallas Texas nightclub owner who

See also

• Trial of Clay Shaw

References

External links

• Photo gallery of David Ferrie
• The Mystery of David Ferrie