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The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Bestselling author, James Earl Ray’s defense attorney, and, later, lawyer for the King family William Pepper reveals who actually killed MLK.
William Pepper was James Earl Ray’s lawyer in the trial for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., and even after Ray’s conviction and death, Pepper continues to adamantly argue Ray’s innocence. This myth-shattering exposé is a revised, updated, and heavily expanded volume of Pepper’s original bestselling and critically acclaimed book Orders to Kill, with twenty-six years of additional research included. The result reveals dramatic new details of the night of the murder, the trial, and why Ray was chosen to take the fall for an evil conspiracy—a government-sanctioned assassination of our nation’s greatest leader. The plan, according to Pepper, was for a team of United States Army Special Forces snipers to kill King, but just as they were taking aim, a backup civilian assassin pulled the trigger.
In The Plot to Kill King, Pepper shares the evidence and testimonies that prove that Ray was a fall guy chosen by those who viewed King as a dangerous revolutionary. His findings make the book one of the most important of our time—the uncensored story of the murder of an American hero that contains disturbing revelations about the obscure inner-workings of our government and how it continues, even today, to obscure the truth.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
William Pepper was James Earl Ray’s lawyer in the trial for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., and even after Ray’s conviction and death, Pepper continues to adamantly argue Ray’s innocence. This myth-shattering exposé is a revised, updated, and heavily expanded volume of Pepper’s original bestselling and critically acclaimed book Orders to Kill, with twenty-six years of additional research included. The result reveals dramatic new details of the night of the murder, the trial, and why Ray was chosen to take the fall for an evil conspiracy—a government-sanctioned assassination of our nation’s greatest leader. The plan, according to Pepper, was for a team of United States Army Special Forces snipers to kill King, but just as they were taking aim, a backup civilian assassin pulled the trigger.
In The Plot to Kill King, Pepper shares the evidence and testimonies that prove that Ray was a fall guy chosen by those who viewed King as a dangerous revolutionary. His findings make the book one of the most important of our time—the uncensored story of the murder of an American hero that contains disturbing revelations about the obscure inner-workings of our government and how it continues, even today, to obscure the truth.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
768 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2016
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September 13, 2020
The term conspiracy theory of course has pejorative connotations. Interestingly though it's only ever used in relation to shady events which take place in western democracies. On mainstream media the reportage of political murders in dictatorship countries deploys none of the same scepticism. I remember when the Russian double agent was attacked in the UK our then prime minister, Teresa May announced she had no doubt Russian military intelligence was involved. She said the attack had clearly been approved at a more senior level. So essentially it's fine to believe in conspiracy theories as long as they don't occur in your own or a politically allied country.
There was a Hollywood film on TV the other night - Shooter - about US government forces carrying out an assassination and setting up a patsy to take the rap. It was a clumsy implausible film on almost every level. However, the concept of the patsy is fascinating. The finding and grooming of some hapless individual and then deploying almost omniscient hidden forces to take over his life. It truly is the stuff of nightmares. James Earl Ray's life would be a compelling narrative for a novel or film. However, whenever Hollywood depicts this scenario the innocent victim always makes it through because we're told ultimately the good guys are always more powerful than the bad guys. I suspect this is baloney. Which is why the American president is little more than a kind of game show host. To all intents and purposes it looks like he's running the show but in truth all the real power is wielded off-stage. Which perhaps goes some way to explaining why Trump always appears so immaturely insecure. He wants to be Putin but doesn't have anywhere near the power of Putin. It also explains why Obama, a super intelligent and well-meaning man, achieved next to nothing in terms of real social or political change. Democracy in most countries is largely dressing; in America where there are so many obscenely rich individuals and corporations, especially so. In America it's like the choice is between Republican and Republican lite. The likes of Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden or Obama aren't going to take those guys on. JFK tried, Robert Kennedy planned to and we all know what happened to them. Whatever you think you might know about those assassinations there's more than enough doubt to make them a plausible threat for any individual running for president.
William Pepper has been investigating the King assassination for 40 years; he was also James Earl Ray's lawyer in a trial created for television when he was found not guilty. I've watched give him a talk on a Youtube video and he seems like a good man, a nice man, a sincere man who reminded me of my old art teacher. There's certainly nothing cranky about him. He essentially argues it was King's growing commitment to ending the war in Vietnam that made him "an enemy of the state" and got him killed. President Johnson once famously said when he was told to end the Vietnam war that he couldn't because too many powerful people were making lots of money from it. That said Dr King was also about to lead a march to Washington with a thousand of the poorest civilians and establish a tent village there.
On the night before he was killed Dr King gave one of his most famous speeches in which he seemed to know he was a marked man.
Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life-longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
What quickly becomes apparent is that official history is often determined by who the authorities in place at the time choose to believe. Therefore, right at the beginning of the King investigation it was decided to believe someone called Charlie Stephens who saw a man fitting Ray's description hurriedly making down the stairs of the rooming house opposite the motel where King was shot. His testimony led to the otherwise baseless belief that the single fatal shot was fired from the bathroom of the rooming house. There were at least four people, including a New York Times journalist, who saw a man in some bushes overlooking the balcony, and also including a taxi driver who got a clear sight of a man emerge from the bushes, jump down from a wall and get into a waiting Memphis police car. This man was found murdered the next morning. The other witnesses were ignored. The man who was believed, it turned out, was so drunk another taxi driver had refused to give him a ride not long before the shot was fired. Then the next morning the bushes were razed to the ground on the orders of the Memphis police - effectively destroying a very plausible crime scene. So four very credible witnesses are ignored; an utterly unreliable witness is believed.
There follow numerous other testimonies contradicting various elements of the official version of events, all of whom Pepper interviews personally. To begin with Pepper is focused on demonstrating Ray's innocence and he does an admirable job. He then begins to turn investigator. Having done a convincing job of outlining what didn't happen he now sets himself the more difficult task of demonstrating what did happen. It should be said that a lot of the evidence he gathers on this score is less convincing, usually because he has only one source. But he's working alone without any help and in the circumstances does a highly laudable job. We hear from the sniper in the rogue military unit known as Alpha 184 who maintains there were two sniper units positioned on high buildings the day of the assassination. The shot itself, we learn, was fired by a local forces team - consisting of Memphis cops and mafia individuals. We hear from a photographer working for the military who was part of a two man team on another overlooking rooftop. He says he has a photograph of the assassin and it wasn't Ray. Pepper is thwarted in his attempts to get hold of a copy of the photo. Eventually, Pepper will meet the man he believes pulled the trigger, a Memphis cop who he names, though without conclusive proof.
By now you're asking yourself lots of questions about the relationship between oral testimony and truth. How much oral testimony do we need for something to become true? No matter how much oral testimony there is it won't become "fact" until it's officially recognised. History, we all know, is written by the victors. Different truths only see the light of day when politics change. Politics in America haven't changed which is why people are presently taking to the streets. There are a lot of people telling a similar story here. They have no reason to lie. In fact it's dangerous for them to come out into the open and speak the truth.
To a large degree our politics determines who and what we believe. We all like to believe our government has our back. It's deeply troubling to discover this might not be true. Some core of our identity is being attacked when confronted with a heinous act done in our name. I remember how ashamed I felt during the Windrush scandal when my government arrested a number of elderly Jamaicans as illegal immigrants. Not only had they been invited to the UK they had also worked and raised families there for half a century. That something so despicable is being done in your name makes you feel dirtied and helpless. One instinct is to shove it aside, excuse it in some way, forget about it.
I began having serious problems with the author's approach when he introduced a new testimony towards the end. It's as if he's become so obsessed with King's death that he's determined to have every single detail clear in his mind, something only possible to an omnipresent deity. There's a kind of hubris at work in him now. Roy Adkins Taylor often sounded to me like some small fry individual desperate to get on the stage of history. Certain elements of his testimony begin to undermine the credibility of the story Pepper has painstakingly constructed. His father was a member of KKK, a fixer for the local mafia boss and a close associate of Hoover's sidekick, Clyde Tolson. (I recently watched a Hollywood film about Hoover and Tolson. It was essentially a kindly affectionate depiction of their loving relationship. There's no allusion to the overt fascism which was their guiding light at all times. I couldn't help imagining our response in the west if the Russians made a similar hallowing film about the head of the KGB with some pin up actor in the starring role (Leonardo di Caprio, absurdly, plays Hoover.) The first piece of information Taylor supplies is that he accompanied his father to the prison where Ray was incarcerated a year before King was killed and handed over a bag of money as a bribe to let Ray escape. This money was supplied by Hoover. But this man's testimony soon begins to get more and more farfetched. He's always incredulously on hand when some monumental frame of history takes place. He apparently overhears a phone conversation when his mum tells the Reverend Jessie Jackson to switch King's room at the motel from a safe ground floor room to an exposed balcony room. (It's true the room was switched at the last minute and apparently by someone in King's organisation.) We're also told Jackson has been a FBI informant since 1960 without any other evidence. We're also told minutes before the shot was fired Jackson looked at his watch and put something in his bag. I'm not sure why Pepper believes these two mundane gestures are evidence of guilt. Pepper seems to want to implicate all King's friends in the plot. We're told the man he was due to have dinner with knocked on his door and then quickly fled as if he too knew exactly what was about to happen; we're told the man King shared a room with, Ralph Abernathy, retreated back into the room at the last minute to put on some aftershave. I've no idea how Pepper could know this. Pepper seems to have some personal dislike of these three associates of King. Certainly, it's a grave and misguided mistake to make such bold inflammatory statements with such flimsy evidence. Pepper here is guilty of what the authorities did to Ray - convicting men on flimsy evidence. Taylor, a fifteen year old kid at the time, also now claims a role in the assassination itself. He delivers a rifle. This is about the fourth rifle in the narrative. And he claims he follows the assassin on his bike when he makes his getaway while his mother waits in a spare getaway car. The more testimony we get from Taylor the more the assassination begins to sound like some amateurish backyard affair, far removed from anything Hoover would be capable of orchestrating.
The narrative now gets still more implausible. We're told a doctor suffocated the mortally wounded Dr King with a pillow in the hospital. This on the sole evidence of the son of a hospital worker. It felt here as if Pepper was intent on discrediting his own book. Why would anyone include such hammy melodrama into a serious narrative without at least expressing some scepticism himself? Maybe it even happened but unless you have watertight evidence leave it out. There's finally the testimony of a Memphis cop at the morgue who says Ralph Abernathy had a big grin on his face when he touched the face of Dr King's corpse in the coffin. Again, it's preposterous to include this piece of gossip in the book. I'm not sure why Pepper is so determined to implicate King's friends. It's almost like he too might be working for the FBI, ultimately ridiculing what otherwise had strong elements of being a credible thesis.
The author then takes umbrage at every other account of the assassination and the complicity of the mainstream media in supporting the official version. But he begins repeating himself. This book needed a better editor. I understand Pepper has grown accustomed to the world not listening to him and why his instinct would be to keep ramming home the same evidence but it doesn't make for a professional book. I felt like he was shouting at me. His tone was over-emotional. He convinced me Ray didn't kill Dr Martin Luther King. (King's wife and children don't believe it either and they met Ray; neither did they find him in any way racist which was the explanation of his motive for killing Dr King. It has to be said however that Ray's story isn't entirely credible. Though not as complex as Oswald, he isn't a straightforward individual. Neither is it entirely clear why he originally pleaded guilty - something to do with money and his brother.) The author didn't though convince me King's death happened the way he has it. There's never only one version of any truth which is why when Trump accuses the media of spreading fake news he's not lying, he's telling one version of the truth. This book doesn't prove without reasonable doubt that this was a state sponsored assassination. Though the likelihood of this being the case in my mind is at about 98%. Especially when you think Robert Kennedy was killed a couple of months later supposedly by another wholly unconvincing lone nutjob. It's suspicious that all three of these loners (four if you factor in John Lennon's killer) targeted individuals intent on ending the Vietnam war which was making huge amounts of money for some very powerful people. Mainstream media has shown no interest in investigating the significant flaws in the official explanations of any of the three American assassinations in the 1960s which were watershed moments in American history. Nor the flaws in the official 9/11 report come to that. In the UK we learned how the so-called liberal left wing media aren't in reality as left-wing as they purport to be when they were faced with the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister and joined the right wing press in setting out to discredit him. Democracy is fine as long as it changes nothing. It's an understandable credo, a wholly rational response to the volatile and catastrophic politics of the 1930s.
Ultimately, this is the kind of book that makes you feel most of us are nobody people in a world run by a few very rich and powerful individuals. And it's only when people come together as a unified voice for change that we acquire power as demonstrated in Belorussia and in America at the moment with the black lives matter marches, both of which replicate and honour what Dr Martin Luther King fought for with such inspiring dignity and eloquence.
There was a Hollywood film on TV the other night - Shooter - about US government forces carrying out an assassination and setting up a patsy to take the rap. It was a clumsy implausible film on almost every level. However, the concept of the patsy is fascinating. The finding and grooming of some hapless individual and then deploying almost omniscient hidden forces to take over his life. It truly is the stuff of nightmares. James Earl Ray's life would be a compelling narrative for a novel or film. However, whenever Hollywood depicts this scenario the innocent victim always makes it through because we're told ultimately the good guys are always more powerful than the bad guys. I suspect this is baloney. Which is why the American president is little more than a kind of game show host. To all intents and purposes it looks like he's running the show but in truth all the real power is wielded off-stage. Which perhaps goes some way to explaining why Trump always appears so immaturely insecure. He wants to be Putin but doesn't have anywhere near the power of Putin. It also explains why Obama, a super intelligent and well-meaning man, achieved next to nothing in terms of real social or political change. Democracy in most countries is largely dressing; in America where there are so many obscenely rich individuals and corporations, especially so. In America it's like the choice is between Republican and Republican lite. The likes of Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden or Obama aren't going to take those guys on. JFK tried, Robert Kennedy planned to and we all know what happened to them. Whatever you think you might know about those assassinations there's more than enough doubt to make them a plausible threat for any individual running for president.
William Pepper has been investigating the King assassination for 40 years; he was also James Earl Ray's lawyer in a trial created for television when he was found not guilty. I've watched give him a talk on a Youtube video and he seems like a good man, a nice man, a sincere man who reminded me of my old art teacher. There's certainly nothing cranky about him. He essentially argues it was King's growing commitment to ending the war in Vietnam that made him "an enemy of the state" and got him killed. President Johnson once famously said when he was told to end the Vietnam war that he couldn't because too many powerful people were making lots of money from it. That said Dr King was also about to lead a march to Washington with a thousand of the poorest civilians and establish a tent village there.
On the night before he was killed Dr King gave one of his most famous speeches in which he seemed to know he was a marked man.
Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life-longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
What quickly becomes apparent is that official history is often determined by who the authorities in place at the time choose to believe. Therefore, right at the beginning of the King investigation it was decided to believe someone called Charlie Stephens who saw a man fitting Ray's description hurriedly making down the stairs of the rooming house opposite the motel where King was shot. His testimony led to the otherwise baseless belief that the single fatal shot was fired from the bathroom of the rooming house. There were at least four people, including a New York Times journalist, who saw a man in some bushes overlooking the balcony, and also including a taxi driver who got a clear sight of a man emerge from the bushes, jump down from a wall and get into a waiting Memphis police car. This man was found murdered the next morning. The other witnesses were ignored. The man who was believed, it turned out, was so drunk another taxi driver had refused to give him a ride not long before the shot was fired. Then the next morning the bushes were razed to the ground on the orders of the Memphis police - effectively destroying a very plausible crime scene. So four very credible witnesses are ignored; an utterly unreliable witness is believed.
There follow numerous other testimonies contradicting various elements of the official version of events, all of whom Pepper interviews personally. To begin with Pepper is focused on demonstrating Ray's innocence and he does an admirable job. He then begins to turn investigator. Having done a convincing job of outlining what didn't happen he now sets himself the more difficult task of demonstrating what did happen. It should be said that a lot of the evidence he gathers on this score is less convincing, usually because he has only one source. But he's working alone without any help and in the circumstances does a highly laudable job. We hear from the sniper in the rogue military unit known as Alpha 184 who maintains there were two sniper units positioned on high buildings the day of the assassination. The shot itself, we learn, was fired by a local forces team - consisting of Memphis cops and mafia individuals. We hear from a photographer working for the military who was part of a two man team on another overlooking rooftop. He says he has a photograph of the assassin and it wasn't Ray. Pepper is thwarted in his attempts to get hold of a copy of the photo. Eventually, Pepper will meet the man he believes pulled the trigger, a Memphis cop who he names, though without conclusive proof.
By now you're asking yourself lots of questions about the relationship between oral testimony and truth. How much oral testimony do we need for something to become true? No matter how much oral testimony there is it won't become "fact" until it's officially recognised. History, we all know, is written by the victors. Different truths only see the light of day when politics change. Politics in America haven't changed which is why people are presently taking to the streets. There are a lot of people telling a similar story here. They have no reason to lie. In fact it's dangerous for them to come out into the open and speak the truth.
To a large degree our politics determines who and what we believe. We all like to believe our government has our back. It's deeply troubling to discover this might not be true. Some core of our identity is being attacked when confronted with a heinous act done in our name. I remember how ashamed I felt during the Windrush scandal when my government arrested a number of elderly Jamaicans as illegal immigrants. Not only had they been invited to the UK they had also worked and raised families there for half a century. That something so despicable is being done in your name makes you feel dirtied and helpless. One instinct is to shove it aside, excuse it in some way, forget about it.
I began having serious problems with the author's approach when he introduced a new testimony towards the end. It's as if he's become so obsessed with King's death that he's determined to have every single detail clear in his mind, something only possible to an omnipresent deity. There's a kind of hubris at work in him now. Roy Adkins Taylor often sounded to me like some small fry individual desperate to get on the stage of history. Certain elements of his testimony begin to undermine the credibility of the story Pepper has painstakingly constructed. His father was a member of KKK, a fixer for the local mafia boss and a close associate of Hoover's sidekick, Clyde Tolson. (I recently watched a Hollywood film about Hoover and Tolson. It was essentially a kindly affectionate depiction of their loving relationship. There's no allusion to the overt fascism which was their guiding light at all times. I couldn't help imagining our response in the west if the Russians made a similar hallowing film about the head of the KGB with some pin up actor in the starring role (Leonardo di Caprio, absurdly, plays Hoover.) The first piece of information Taylor supplies is that he accompanied his father to the prison where Ray was incarcerated a year before King was killed and handed over a bag of money as a bribe to let Ray escape. This money was supplied by Hoover. But this man's testimony soon begins to get more and more farfetched. He's always incredulously on hand when some monumental frame of history takes place. He apparently overhears a phone conversation when his mum tells the Reverend Jessie Jackson to switch King's room at the motel from a safe ground floor room to an exposed balcony room. (It's true the room was switched at the last minute and apparently by someone in King's organisation.) We're also told Jackson has been a FBI informant since 1960 without any other evidence. We're also told minutes before the shot was fired Jackson looked at his watch and put something in his bag. I'm not sure why Pepper believes these two mundane gestures are evidence of guilt. Pepper seems to want to implicate all King's friends in the plot. We're told the man he was due to have dinner with knocked on his door and then quickly fled as if he too knew exactly what was about to happen; we're told the man King shared a room with, Ralph Abernathy, retreated back into the room at the last minute to put on some aftershave. I've no idea how Pepper could know this. Pepper seems to have some personal dislike of these three associates of King. Certainly, it's a grave and misguided mistake to make such bold inflammatory statements with such flimsy evidence. Pepper here is guilty of what the authorities did to Ray - convicting men on flimsy evidence. Taylor, a fifteen year old kid at the time, also now claims a role in the assassination itself. He delivers a rifle. This is about the fourth rifle in the narrative. And he claims he follows the assassin on his bike when he makes his getaway while his mother waits in a spare getaway car. The more testimony we get from Taylor the more the assassination begins to sound like some amateurish backyard affair, far removed from anything Hoover would be capable of orchestrating.
The narrative now gets still more implausible. We're told a doctor suffocated the mortally wounded Dr King with a pillow in the hospital. This on the sole evidence of the son of a hospital worker. It felt here as if Pepper was intent on discrediting his own book. Why would anyone include such hammy melodrama into a serious narrative without at least expressing some scepticism himself? Maybe it even happened but unless you have watertight evidence leave it out. There's finally the testimony of a Memphis cop at the morgue who says Ralph Abernathy had a big grin on his face when he touched the face of Dr King's corpse in the coffin. Again, it's preposterous to include this piece of gossip in the book. I'm not sure why Pepper is so determined to implicate King's friends. It's almost like he too might be working for the FBI, ultimately ridiculing what otherwise had strong elements of being a credible thesis.
The author then takes umbrage at every other account of the assassination and the complicity of the mainstream media in supporting the official version. But he begins repeating himself. This book needed a better editor. I understand Pepper has grown accustomed to the world not listening to him and why his instinct would be to keep ramming home the same evidence but it doesn't make for a professional book. I felt like he was shouting at me. His tone was over-emotional. He convinced me Ray didn't kill Dr Martin Luther King. (King's wife and children don't believe it either and they met Ray; neither did they find him in any way racist which was the explanation of his motive for killing Dr King. It has to be said however that Ray's story isn't entirely credible. Though not as complex as Oswald, he isn't a straightforward individual. Neither is it entirely clear why he originally pleaded guilty - something to do with money and his brother.) The author didn't though convince me King's death happened the way he has it. There's never only one version of any truth which is why when Trump accuses the media of spreading fake news he's not lying, he's telling one version of the truth. This book doesn't prove without reasonable doubt that this was a state sponsored assassination. Though the likelihood of this being the case in my mind is at about 98%. Especially when you think Robert Kennedy was killed a couple of months later supposedly by another wholly unconvincing lone nutjob. It's suspicious that all three of these loners (four if you factor in John Lennon's killer) targeted individuals intent on ending the Vietnam war which was making huge amounts of money for some very powerful people. Mainstream media has shown no interest in investigating the significant flaws in the official explanations of any of the three American assassinations in the 1960s which were watershed moments in American history. Nor the flaws in the official 9/11 report come to that. In the UK we learned how the so-called liberal left wing media aren't in reality as left-wing as they purport to be when they were faced with the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister and joined the right wing press in setting out to discredit him. Democracy is fine as long as it changes nothing. It's an understandable credo, a wholly rational response to the volatile and catastrophic politics of the 1930s.
Ultimately, this is the kind of book that makes you feel most of us are nobody people in a world run by a few very rich and powerful individuals. And it's only when people come together as a unified voice for change that we acquire power as demonstrated in Belorussia and in America at the moment with the black lives matter marches, both of which replicate and honour what Dr Martin Luther King fought for with such inspiring dignity and eloquence.
August 16, 2016
A powerful and disturbing look at one of our country’s darkest events.
I began The Plot to Kill King with a certain amount of skepticism but heard the author interviewed on the radio and thought it worth reading. By the midpoint of the book the depth of research and investigative reporting swayed me to think otherwise and by the end of TPTKK, although I was not utterly convinced as to every aspect of the conspiracy (the St. Joseph’s Hospital section was not as well supported IMO) there was no doubt in my mind that MLK’s murder was not the effort of the hapless James Earl Ray, but a plotted assassination by multiple levels of government, the military, organized crime, and various law enforcement agencies. I shudder to think of how many people were involved that we don’t know about. Also disturbing are the implications of Jesse Jackson in the MLK murder, and connections of the one of the characters to Jack Ruby.
Next time you take comfort in the fact that you don’t live in some third world country where threats to the powers that be are dealt with by death squads, read this book. Why the MLK assassination has not been reinvestigated is mystifying and shameful to a country that claims to be a leader in democracy and free speech. Every American should read this book.
I began The Plot to Kill King with a certain amount of skepticism but heard the author interviewed on the radio and thought it worth reading. By the midpoint of the book the depth of research and investigative reporting swayed me to think otherwise and by the end of TPTKK, although I was not utterly convinced as to every aspect of the conspiracy (the St. Joseph’s Hospital section was not as well supported IMO) there was no doubt in my mind that MLK’s murder was not the effort of the hapless James Earl Ray, but a plotted assassination by multiple levels of government, the military, organized crime, and various law enforcement agencies. I shudder to think of how many people were involved that we don’t know about. Also disturbing are the implications of Jesse Jackson in the MLK murder, and connections of the one of the characters to Jack Ruby.
Next time you take comfort in the fact that you don’t live in some third world country where threats to the powers that be are dealt with by death squads, read this book. Why the MLK assassination has not been reinvestigated is mystifying and shameful to a country that claims to be a leader in democracy and free speech. Every American should read this book.
June 24, 2020
I was prompted to read this book after reading Coretta Scott King's autobiography. She mentioned how she was convinced that James Earl Ray was not her husband's killer and that there was a bigger conspiracy at work. Pepper dedicated nearly 40 years investigating this. The results are dizzying and spellbinding.
I listened on audible, but I think it's worth buying a hardcopy for the sake of his summary of his findings alone.
I listened on audible, but I think it's worth buying a hardcopy for the sake of his summary of his findings alone.
August 19, 2023
No, I haven't actually read the book.
But, from the blurbs, I can tell it's a conspiracy theory lie.
So sue me.
Edit: Oh, lawyers who use the "Esq." at the end of their names I expect in advance to be full of high-grade bullshit and no disappointment there.
But, from the blurbs, I can tell it's a conspiracy theory lie.
So sue me.
Edit: Oh, lawyers who use the "Esq." at the end of their names I expect in advance to be full of high-grade bullshit and no disappointment there.
June 20, 2022
Audible.com 13 hours 53 min. Narrated by Noah Michael Levine (A)
I really want to give this book 5 stars because, if the reader can suspend prejudices about conspiracy theories, one might just find enlightenment about Bill Pepper's conviction that James Earl Ray was innocent of killing Dr. Martin Luther King.
This is the third book lawyer William Pepper has written on the subject of Dr. King's assassination and his final book. He is now 83 years old and and has outlived most the people responsible for King's death and the travesty of justice in the false conviction of James Earl Ray for the deed. Yes, the book is repetitious, but the writer includes much closely related information that won't be found elsewhere.
It is good to know that Coretta Scott King and her children found hope through the work of this determined lawyer after their courageous husband and father was murdered. They had no peace with the conviction of a patsy while the real planners and killers went free. The King's were convinced of James Rays innocence. If he wasn't the killer, who was and why? This book takes the reader through the quest of one man's lifetime mission of fining the answer. Along the way, the author learns much more than he ever expected!
This is one case where the audio book is probably better than the hard copy.
I really want to give this book 5 stars because, if the reader can suspend prejudices about conspiracy theories, one might just find enlightenment about Bill Pepper's conviction that James Earl Ray was innocent of killing Dr. Martin Luther King.
This is the third book lawyer William Pepper has written on the subject of Dr. King's assassination and his final book. He is now 83 years old and and has outlived most the people responsible for King's death and the travesty of justice in the false conviction of James Earl Ray for the deed. Yes, the book is repetitious, but the writer includes much closely related information that won't be found elsewhere.
It is good to know that Coretta Scott King and her children found hope through the work of this determined lawyer after their courageous husband and father was murdered. They had no peace with the conviction of a patsy while the real planners and killers went free. The King's were convinced of James Rays innocence. If he wasn't the killer, who was and why? This book takes the reader through the quest of one man's lifetime mission of fining the answer. Along the way, the author learns much more than he ever expected!
This is one case where the audio book is probably better than the hard copy.
March 17, 2019
Having previously read Pepper's 'Act of State', which I rated as a five star probe into the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., far more incisive and truthful than other publications that I have read on this subject. Like the jury in the King family civil case against Loyd Jowers & others, I did not take long to reach my verdict on the evidence presented in this case.
'The Plot to Kill King' is William F. Pepper's third and final book that completes almost forty years of his investigations and his defence of the patsy, James Earl Ray. As the sub-title states, this book presents as near to the truth behind the assassination that we are ever likely to attain. The paperback version was published in 2018.
The only reason that I could not reach five stars this time was due to my previous reading of 'Act of State'. Yes, this book does contain investigative data that has been sourced since Pepper's previous publication, but most of 'TPTKK' repeats facts that I have been previously aware of. The author provides a comprehensive history of his involvement with King, both before and after his killing in Memphis in 1968. In a book that comprises over seven hundred pages, the details of the plot and Pepper's discoveries are covered in the first three hundred, and these pages contain a fair amount of repetition. The latter four hundred pages hold the fifteen appendices A-O.
For anyone with little knowledge of this tragic case from the 1960's, this book is highly recommended, and will blow away the outright falsities and lies propagated through mass media and the rubbish published by the likes of Posner, Sides, Hancock/Wexler.
Plaudits to Skyhorse Publishing for bringing this mammoth work to the public.
'The Plot to Kill King' is William F. Pepper's third and final book that completes almost forty years of his investigations and his defence of the patsy, James Earl Ray. As the sub-title states, this book presents as near to the truth behind the assassination that we are ever likely to attain. The paperback version was published in 2018.
The only reason that I could not reach five stars this time was due to my previous reading of 'Act of State'. Yes, this book does contain investigative data that has been sourced since Pepper's previous publication, but most of 'TPTKK' repeats facts that I have been previously aware of. The author provides a comprehensive history of his involvement with King, both before and after his killing in Memphis in 1968. In a book that comprises over seven hundred pages, the details of the plot and Pepper's discoveries are covered in the first three hundred, and these pages contain a fair amount of repetition. The latter four hundred pages hold the fifteen appendices A-O.
For anyone with little knowledge of this tragic case from the 1960's, this book is highly recommended, and will blow away the outright falsities and lies propagated through mass media and the rubbish published by the likes of Posner, Sides, Hancock/Wexler.
Plaudits to Skyhorse Publishing for bringing this mammoth work to the public.
June 11, 2022
Hard information to accept, not because it is unbelievable, but because it it totally believable. How naive we have been...
March 28, 2019
An important book from the King's family lawyer. I wish this was more thoroughly edited, included more infographics and references. Despite a clear tone, there is a lot of repetition, no referencing (other than to his own appendices) and, although understandable considering the nature of the crime and commitment to the cause, overly emotional/pleading at times, that ironically detracts from a sense of authority. I prefer Jim Garrison's style, as an investigating prosecutor turned author, for example. You can be incredulous, entirely disheartened, even, but this shouldn't fall into sermonizing or self-pity.
Whatever you believe- its screamingly telling how little coverage his efforts receive(d) in the MSM.
Whatever you believe- its screamingly telling how little coverage his efforts receive(d) in the MSM.
September 27, 2017
This is scary stuff. A very well researched book, with detailed information about the assassination of Martin Luther King. Lots of information. The author interviewed many, many witnesses and people who wAs involved, o knew people involved in the murder. All of gave about the same information, the same names. Saw or heard the same. Different from the official story. And all those involved, from the lowest of the low, to it seems, the top of the government. Scary!!! And unfair.
November 14, 2021
There was so much about the King killing which was questionable to begin with, but Pepper blows that wide open and makes the obvious become undeniable. What I love about this book is that the author is usually up front as to where he's filling in gaps and where he's citing what is known (or what is implicitly true if witness testimony is accurate). There is a lot of this case you can research and verify from other sources, that even if the author were fabricating other information or if he was wrong about some of the gaps he filled in, you know two things: 1) Ray almost certainly didn't kill King - and if he did, it wasn't alone, and 2) there was a bigger conspiracy going on with the government, and maybe the mafia.
We already know from a number of public documents that the FBI tapped King, viewed him as a threat, and tried to get him to commit suicide (thanks COINTELPRO!). Why wouldn't they help him bite the bullet after he refused to do it himself?
We already know from a number of public documents that the FBI tapped King, viewed him as a threat, and tried to get him to commit suicide (thanks COINTELPRO!). Why wouldn't they help him bite the bullet after he refused to do it himself?
July 31, 2017
This tells the story of the 1999 civil trial the Pepper prosecuted against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators" on behalf of the King Family to try to get the truth about Martin Luther King Jr's death in the public eye. The conspiracy that this book puts forward is vast and widespread involving the army, FBI, mafia, King's confidants and a variety of individuals and organizations with many witnesses disappearing and/or coming forward years later. This book seems like more of a defense of James Earl Ray (which requires a reasonable doubt) than anything else, and while it is very passionate it gets way to repetitive to be too persuasive, but it serves to get Pepper's theories out there which is his main goal. I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaways.
July 25, 2022
an excellent and thorough review of the evidence surrounding the death of martin luther king jr. readable and precise with understanding of the wider historical concept. addresses myths and challenges alternate views to reflect the true nature of the conspiracy. reiterates key points which can be repetitive but keeps you aware of important facts
April 3, 2023
The book was good, insightful.
I almost didn’t listen to the book because of the prologue. The author spends a good portion of the prologue and parts of the book, mentioning how he was not consulted for a documentary or a different book in regards to dr. Martin Kurt her king jr. the author whines about this numerous times throughout the book.
I almost didn’t listen to the book because of the prologue. The author spends a good portion of the prologue and parts of the book, mentioning how he was not consulted for a documentary or a different book in regards to dr. Martin Kurt her king jr. the author whines about this numerous times throughout the book.
April 23, 2023
The best, most comprehensive work and best sourcing to The Case of Dr King's murder. He makes heavy assertions and follows them up with quality lead. Completely changes the weak given narrative we've been dreadfully spoon-fed our entire lives. There's reason to believe the correlations made here by Dr Pepper.
September 10, 2018
A really intriguing book
I did not know much a Martin Luther King Jr., but I read this book and it seems really unlikely that James Earl Ray was anything other than a party manipulated by J. Edgar Hoover and some mysterious character named Raul.
I did not know much a Martin Luther King Jr., but I read this book and it seems really unlikely that James Earl Ray was anything other than a party manipulated by J. Edgar Hoover and some mysterious character named Raul.
April 9, 2022
I can tell the author went really in depth when doing his research in preparation for the book. It was a really interesting read, I enjoyed it. I learned more about the MLK assassination from this book than I have ever learned before.
July 9, 2018
Meh. Didn't enjoy it. Very blurry line between fact and conspiracy theory.
December 4, 2019
Very involved to the point that I’ve started skipping...but still very interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2020
Food for thought.
May 26, 2021
Provides information about James Earl Ray that was never revealed by the police and the government. Also brings to question the role of key government officials.
December 28, 2021
Eye opening read.
March 17, 2022
Great book, the author backed up all his claims with very detailed information.
June 12, 2022
Conspiracy theory. FBI, mob, military, mayor, KKK, doctors, Masons, other black leaders, prison warden, police, firemen and probably many others — print media conspired to frame James Earl Ray.
June 26, 2022
This book was very informative and makes you rethink all the events and things you know about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
August 19, 2022
READ THIS BOOK!
November 14, 2019
This is a must read book. It is filled with information about the King assassination that I'm sure you have never heard before. I definitely learned a lot about the case that I never knew. I have heard William Pepper interviewed several times over the years on the Black Op Radio podcast. The man genuinely has been seeking the truth in this case and has spent a large portion of his life researching it. William Pepper is by far the most knowledgeable person on the subject. If someone knows more then they were probably part of the plot. I have no desire to spoil anything so I won't comment on some of the new information revealed here. But this book is so well done that more than half the book is footnotes. There are photos, depositions and much, much more. Thanks Bill for your uncompromising pursuit of truth.
April 8, 2017
Eye Opening Read
Dr. Pepper does an awesome job detailing his research of the assassination of an extraordinary human being. While I am not a conspiracy theorist, I do believe without a shadow of a doubt that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by people/groups way beyond the accused James Earl Ray. I could easily envision that assassination occurring just as Dr. Pepper details it in The Plot to Kill King. While somewhat repetitive in the details, the book makes the strongest case I have read yet for what I have always believed to be a conspiracy.
Dr. Pepper does an awesome job detailing his research of the assassination of an extraordinary human being. While I am not a conspiracy theorist, I do believe without a shadow of a doubt that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by people/groups way beyond the accused James Earl Ray. I could easily envision that assassination occurring just as Dr. Pepper details it in The Plot to Kill King. While somewhat repetitive in the details, the book makes the strongest case I have read yet for what I have always believed to be a conspiracy.
October 14, 2018
This was an ok read but it just dragged on and on. I ended up hating that I started reading it after it got really repetitive in some parts.
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