Chief Curry's admission of being bullied into lying by the FBI
From: bhart@cyberramp.net (Michael Parks)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk
Subject: First Reports, NYT, 9-2-75
Date: 7 Jul 1997 08:16:03 GMT
First Reports, The New York Times, 9-2-75
All emphasis is my own........Michael Parks
Start quote
DALLAS EX-POLICE CHIEF ALLEGES AN FBI COVER-UP ON OSWALD
HOUSTON, Sept. 1 (UPI)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dallas police covered up
until spring, 1964, a conversation indicating that the bureau had know
that Lee Harvey Oswald was a threat to President Kennedy, The Houston
Chronicle reported today.
The newspaper also reported that the Warren Commission, which
investigated the assassination of the President on Nov. 22, 1963, did
not fully check into the alleged conversation when the commission
learned of it in May, 1963.
J. E. Curry, the Dallas Police Chief at the time, informed Chief
Justice of the United States Earl Warren of the FBI's reported prior
knowledge in a registered letter. The Chronicle printed a copy in
today's edition.
Chief Curry, who retired in 1964, wrote:
"On that date (Nov. 22), before newsmen, I stated that I had
received information that the FBI knew Oswald's presence in Dallas
and that the Dallas Police Department had no information on Oswald in its
files. This statement was based on the report of Lieutenant (Jack) Revill."
IN WRITING FOR CURRY
Three hours after President Kennedy was killed, Lieut. Revill said he
encountered an FBI agent, James Hosty, in the basement of the Dallas
City Hall. Mr. Hosty told him the bureau had known that Oswald could
be a threat to the President, Mr. Revill said in a statement. He eventually
repeated his assertion to the Warren Commission, which was headed by
Chief Justice Warren.
After being reached by the Chronicle, Lieutenant Revill reportedly
stood by his statement.
"It (the meeting) happened," he said. "I know it happened, and Hosty
knows it happened."
Lieutenant Revill said he had returned to the police department and
had written down Mr. Hosty's remark, for Chief Curry, who then told
newsmen that the bureau had known of Oswald's presence in Dallas.
In the registered letter to Chief Justice Warren, Chief Curry wrote:
"Within a few minutes of my statement to the press, I received a
telephone call from Mr. Gordon Shanklin, special agent in charge of
the Dallas office of the FBI, in which Mr. Shanklin stated that THE
BUREAU WAS EXTREMELY DESIROUS THAT I RETRACT MY STATE-
MENT TO THE PRESS. I then appeared before the press again and
retracted my statement......."
Chief Curry also told Lieutenant Revill to keep silent about the
information, according to the police chief's letter to the Chief Justice.
Chief Curry reportedly told The Chronicle: "There's no doubt in
my mind that his agent told my agent (Lieutenant Revill) what he did."
If the bureau had told him about Oswald, Chief Curry said, "I'd have
had somebody sitting on him." He is said to have added that he would
now have acted differently.
"I probably would have (revealed Lieutenant Revill's whole statement)
even though I'd know it would make the FBI mad because I had confidence
in my lieutenant that gave me the information and it was checked out
and found to be true," The Chronicle quoted him as saying.
Mr. Hosty is now an FBI agent in Kansas City.
'CAN'T SAY ANYTHING'
"I'm still with the bureau," Mr. Hosty told The Chronicle. "I like
my job; I can't say anything about anything."
MR. SHANKLIN, NOW A LAWYER IN DALLAS, DENIED HAVING ASKED
CHIEF CURRY TO SUPPRESS THE INFORMATION.
"I may have called Curry about one thing or another," he was quoted
as saying, "but I don't remember calling him to tell him to suppress
anything. I don't know what he's talking about." The Chronicle said a
copy of Lieutenant Revill's statement and other statements indicating
a five-month cover-up of his statement were on record in the Texas
State Archives in Austin, Tex., as part of an inquiry on the assassination
made by the Texas Court on Inquiry.
Chief Curry retired from the force in 1964.
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