Last week I set out the 20 main points of the Warren Commission (hereafter WC) testimony of Chief Jesse Curry of the Dallas Police Department (hereafter DPD) regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (hereafter JFK) and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald (hereafter LHO) on his watch at the DPD in 1963. Today I will offer my opinion about the hidden meaning of those 20 points.
1. As the driver of the lead car in the JFK motorcade, Chief Curry (and his accomplices, Sheriff Bill Decker, and Dallas Secret Service agent, Forrest Sorrels) led the JFK motorcade through the killing floor of Dealey Plaza.
2. Curry said that the Washington DC Secret Service had approved the motorcade route. The agents of the Washington DC testified that they trusted the Dallas Police Department to identify the most expedient route.
3. Curry claims he himself, personally, had little to do with planning the JFK motorcade route. That is irrelevant, since I will argue that Jesse Curry was a loyal member of the *group* that planned the route, regardless of the precise degree of Curry’s personal participation. Further, as one of the highest-ranking officials in Dallas, it is profoundly unlikely that Jesse Curry would be ignorant of the pervasive armed presence of Dallas County officers in Dealey Plaza.
4. Curry claimed that he saw nothing unusual about the Texas School Book Depository (hereafter TSBD) when they passed it. Yet at precisely that time, we have three civilian WC witnesses who claimed that they saw guns protruding from the upper floors of the TSBD. In my opinion, Curry knew very well that shots from Dallas Police and Deputies would come from three corners of Dealey Plaza, and that LHO had already been framed in New Orleans and Mexico City as the patsy.
5. When Curry heard the shots, he got on the police radio with Sheriff Decker to ask more officers to come to the railroad yard behind the picket fence to help. That was a mandatory presentation to the public. Most civilian witnesses testified that they recalled shots from the picket fence area. But rushing to look behind the picket fence revealed nothing other than Dallas Police and Deputies. In 1963, the public would never suspect the Dallas Police or Deputies of any wrongdoing.
6. Curry and Decker sped to Parkland Hospital to monitor the success of the assassins’ bullets.
7. Curry boasted that he remained close by Vice President LBJ and helped to enlist a Judge to formalize LBJ’s swearing-in, which Curry attended. Curry appears in photos of that event.
8. After the ceremony, Chief Curry and Major Cabell lingered at Love Field, watching LBJ's airplane take off for Washington DC. It was a big moment. Curry and Cabell remained there in Love Field for about an hour, recalling the victories of the day, and trusting the DPD to complete all steps of the plot.
9. Curry arrived back at DPD Headquarters at about 3:15 where he found LHO in the custody of Captain Will Fritz. Curry, Decker and Fritz had hoped that LHO would have been shot dead in the streets of Dallas by JD Tippit. This was a wrinkle in their plans; but at least LHO was in custody now, being held as a cop-killer. A new plan would have to be forged in a hurry.
10. Actually, it was customary in Dallas for any prisoner at City Jail to be transferred to County Jail within 24 hours, or released on bail. Yet Sheriff Bill Decker refused to take LHO. Decker and his Deputies had done their part -- they had obtained the rifle of LHO, and from 12:30 PM to 1:10 PM, had constructed a one-ton “sniper’s nest” on the 6th floor of the TSBD. (The 130-pound LHO could never have constructed that "nest" by himself from 12 PM to 12:30 PM.) So, it was now up to the Dallas Police to deal with LHO. Jesse Curry needed more time. Thus, Curry testified that it was “customary” to let the Homicide Captain decide when to send a prisoner to County Jail.
11. Curry says he spent the rest of the day fielding the News Media. We know that Curry spent a lot of time with the News Media – but nobody can produce a solid 10 hours of news footage of Curry. Rather, Curry also spent time with his accomplices among the Dallas Police. This would include the trainee, Roscoe White. (Roscoe's son Ricky would testify in 1990 that his father confessed to participation in killing both Tippit and JFK). Curry's goal was to find a hit man to kill LHO while he was in DPD custody. Probably Roscoe White was the one who recommended Jack Ruby for the hit, since Roscoe knew Jack Ruby very well. Roscoe’s wife, Geneva, had worked for Jack Ruby at the Carousel Club.
12. Dallas Police contacted Jack Ruby that evening and brought him inside the Dallas Police Station around midnight. Jesse Curry claimed that the News Media pressured him to let them see LHO at midnight, to “prove that LHO was not being maltreated.” Curry set up a midnight press conference to give the press access to LHO, but his men also let Jack Ruby into that press conference, and Ruby was probably supposed to kill LHO at that time. Instead, Ruby backed out – but not before correcting D.A. Henry Wade’s incorrect guess about what FPCC meant. Ruby knew that FPCC stood for "Fair Play for Cuba Committee." This was the very essence of the New Orleans and Mexico City framing of LHO as a Communist and thus as a patsy in the JFK assassination. This suggests to me that Dallas Police plotters had kept Jack Ruby informed about many details.
13. Although Jesse Curry had expected quick action – and did not want LHO to give any lengthy interviews, or really to answer any questions at all – some reporters did sneak some questions in. This was the first time that LHO learned that he was being considered as the JFK assassin. LHO said, "The first thing I heard about it was when the newspaper reporters in the hall asked me that question." That was it – Jesse Curry had to pull LHO back into a jail cell, and come up with a new plan.
14. All day Saturday Will Fritz kept interrogating Oswald and wasn’t ready to send him to County Jail. This means that all day Saturday, Jesse Curry and his accomplice policemen worked on Jack Ruby to convince him that he should kill LHO, mafia style, with a handgun, up-close. Most likely they promised Ruby that he would be a hero in Dallas, and probably a hero coast to coast. Most likely they promised Ruby that the court would quickly find him innocent and set him free; or at most, slap him on the wrist. After all, LHO was also a cop-killer.
15. Curry finally obtained agreement that Jack Ruby would cooperate on Sunday morning. He and Fritz worked out the minor details. The basement parking garage of the Dallas Police Department would be the place, and Sunday morning would be the time.
16. Sheriff Bill Decker steadfastly refused to bring LHO to County Jail on the customary date and time, or any date or time. LHO was strictly Curry’s problem.
17. Curry and Fritz made detail arrangements very early Sunday morning. To accommodate Sheriff Decker’s refusal to come and get LHO, they claimed that Fritz chose to escort LHO to County Jail.
18. Curry had already hired an armored car for the job, as Decker would have done – but Fritz had no use for it. Jesse Curry’s story is that they decided to use the armored car as a decoy in the convoy, but really, they came up with a special use for it – it would be an excuse to explain how Jack Ruby sneaked past the guards.
19. Curry claims that the armored car got in the way, so that Officer Roy Vaughn, who was guarding the Main Street ramp, abandoned his post briefly to direct that traffic. It was at that moment, Curry claims, that Jack Ruby sneaked into the DPD basement and hid behind some newsmen.
20. Actually, the plan was mostly finalized on Saturday. Jack Ruby would assassinate LHO in the Dallas Police garage, as LHO was escorted from Captain Fritz’s office to the police car that Curry and Fritz had planned. Observers have long noted that when LHO was brought into the Dallas Police Station on Friday, he was surrounded by a human shield – however – when LHO was escorted out of the elevator on Sunday, there was no human shield. There were two officers on either side of LHO, and Captain Fritz walked five paces ahead of them. One of the two officers testified that he had expected the transfer car to be parked closer to the elevator -- at the very spot where LHO was killed. Instead, it was ten paces away. None of that was accidental. Curry blamed the confusion of the international News Media at the Dallas Police Station for the sloppy handling of LHO. Actually – everything went smoothly according to their second plan.
There's my opinion of the real facts behind the cursory WC testimony provided by Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry about the JFK assassination and the murder of LHO in his custody. Contrary to public opinion, there were no major blunders by the Dallas Police. On the contrary – everything was carefully controlled.