Cast of characters

James E. Files

CIA operative and mafia hitman. He claims he fired the fatal headshot at JFK from behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll. Identifies Chicago mobsters/CIA operatives Charles Nicoletti and Johnny Roselli as the other members of his “hitteam”. Nicoletti was with Roselli and fired from the Daltex building opposite of the Texas School Book Depository. James Files was Nicoletti’s protegé, driver and bodyguard. Files was asked to serve as the backup shooter, in case Nicoletti would not kill JFK. Originally he had only been ordered to drive weapons to Dallas, testfire them and check out escape routes from Dealey Plaza. Files states that Roselli was afraid to shoot as he had come to Dallas with last minute instructions from the CIA to abort the assassination.

Files claims the contract to kill JFK came from Chicago crime bosses Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana. Giancana was a prime target of Robert Kennedy’s campaign against organized crime . He felt deeply doublecrossed by the Kennedy’s after he had rigged votes in Illinois, securing JFK ‘s election to the presidency. Giancana had ample documented dealings with the CIA, and was one of the key figures in the foiled CIA/Mafia plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. Files says Giancana could not have engineered the assassination on his own, let alone the subsequent cover-up. He also implicates the CIA, particularly his CIA controller David Atlee Phillips, who sent Lee Harvey Oswald to Files’ motel to show Files the area. Files spent time with Lee Harvey Oswald the week prior to the assassination. He says Lee Harvey Oswald did not fire a shot. Files met with Roselli and Nicoletti on the early morning of the assassination but does not know how they arrived in Dallas. Giancana, Roselli and Nicoletti were murdered in the 1970’s shortly before they had had been scheduled to testify for a government commitee investigating the assassination of JFK.

Files further claims he left the shell casing of the bullet he fired on Dealey Plaza after he had bitten down on it. This was a habit of him for he liked the feel of a warm bullet and the taste of gun powder. In 1987 a .222 caliber shell casing was found with a metal detector on the grassy knoll, buried 3 inches in the ground. When Files was informed of this, he said that if it was his shell, the open end would be oval for he had put his teeth in it. As the casing had indeed an indentation of which nobody had known the cause, the casing was then examined by noted orthodontologists who verified that the indent had been caused by human teeth.


Chauncey Marvin Holt

CIA operative and mafia associate. Deceased in 1997. Worked for mafia bosses Meyer Lansky and Peter Licavoli. He testifies that he drove with Charles Nicoletti to Dallas from the Grace Ranch in Arizona. The Grace Ranch was owned by Peter Licavoli, serving as a base for CIA operations, drugs and gun smuggling. Holt was also carrying forged secret service badges and lapel pins to Dallas, on orders of his CIA contact Philip Twombly. Holt delivered the lapel pins and badges to Homer Echevarria. He also delivered handguns and ID’s to Charles Harrelson on the parking lot of Dealey Plaza behind the grassy knoll. Harrelson is a convicted hitman, currently serving a life sentence for the murder of judge Woods in 1979. He is also the father of actor Woody Harrelson. After the assassination Holt, Harrelson and Charles Rogers were apprehended from a boxcar in the railroad yard and detained by the Dallas Police. They were released the same afternoon. While they were escorted over Dealey Plaza, seven pictures were taken by press photographers. These pictures became known in history as “the three tramps”. Holt relates that during the Warren Commission, he and other CIA operatives involved in the Kennedy assassination, stayed in a luxurous CIA safehouse in Acapulco, owned by attorneys Frank Belcher and Joseph Ball. Ball served as senior counsel on the Warren Commision. The family of Holt has ample documentation to prove his story up to the written instructions of his CIA superiors and correspondence with Lansky and Licavoli.

Holt did not know James Files.


Robert “Tosh” Plumlee

CIA contract pilot for covert operations. Claims he flew Johnny Roselli from Miami to Dallas on a CIA supported flight, on a mission to abort the assassination. Plumlee was with CIA operative “Sergio” on the south side of Dealey Plaza, looking for possible assassins, when JFK was killed. He and Sergio realized they had failed their mission and exited from the Plaza.

Plumlee does not know James Files.


Joe West

Private investigator from Houston, Texas, who located James Files in Joliet prison in 1992, acting on a lead of FBI agent Zack Shelton. West was preparing a lawsuit to exhume the body of JFK in order to prove a conspiracy. West had already uncovered evidence that Johnny Roselli and Charles Nicoletti had been involved in the assassination. Initially Files denied any knowledge of the JFK assassination, but West slowly developed a relationship with Files through personal visits and correspondence. Files ultimately agreed to tell what he knew in court on the condition that he would get immunity. West made efforts to arrange this with the help of Houston criminal attorney Don Ervin, who agreed to represent Files. During this time West suffered a heart attack and needed surgery in february of 1993. He passed away after complications from the operation. With his death, the lawsuit also died. Files believes that West’s death was not natural and claims to have been informed of this by a source he does not wish to identify. West died, not knowing that Files had been the gunman on the grassy knoll. As Files had started to like Joe West, he felt indebted to West and his memory, but it took 13 more months before associates of West succeeded to persuade Files to tell his story on videotape om March 22 1994.


Zack Shelton

Retired FBI agent from Beamont, Texas. Worked 28 years for the FBI. Served on organized crime task forces of Kansas City and Chicago. As such he was familiar with the names of Nicoletti and Roselli. When Shelton read about West’s investigation in a local newspaper, mentioning Nicoletti and Roselli, his curiosity was peaked as he himself had always suspected involvement of the Chicago mob in the JFK assassination. He contacted Joe West to arrange a meeting. During this meeting Shelton told West about James Files. In 1979 Shelton had worked a case on James Files, involving a chop shop operation of stolen cars from Illinois, being sold in Texas. Files was eventually sent to prison for this crime. While debriefing an FBI informant, the informant made mention to Shelton of an odd remark Files had made while driving over Dealey Plaza. The alledged remark had been to the effect that “if the people really knew what happened here, they wouldn’t be able to handle it.” As this information has nothing to do with the case, Shelton did not act on it, but it stuck in his mind for over a decade untill he met with Joe West. Upon his retirement in 1998, Shelton agreed to pick up the investigation where Joe West had left it. With the financial backing of a dutch businessman, Shelton called upon and recieved the assistance of a number of his retired FBI collegues.


Joe Granata

Former member of the Chicago crime family and close associate of Charles Nicoletti. Now a reliable FBI informant in the witness protection program. Located by investigator Zack Shelton after being tipped by a collegue FBI agent, Granata verified that Nicoletti confided to him that he (Nicoletti) , Marshall Caifano, Johnny Roselli and James Files were the hitteam on Dealey Plaza. “We blew his brains out”.


Michael Corbitt

Corrupted former Chicago police officer and courier for Sam Giancana. Deceased in 2004. Authored a recent book “Double deal” about his life. Testifies that Marshall Caifano bragged to him that he was in Dealey Plaza “when history was made”.


John Rademacher

Lawn service man who found the shell casing on the grassy knoll in 1987.


James W. Sibert

World War II veteran and Retired FBI agent. Was present at the autopsy of JFK in Bethesda to take notes and make a report for the FBI. After being contacted by Zack Shelton, Sibert testifies, at age 84 and for the first time on camera, of shocking tampering with the medical evidence by the highest elected officials. Sibert states that the wounds that he saw are not consistent with JFK’s wounds described in the Warren Report. He tells that Warren Commision member and former president Gerald Ford, authorized a change in his report, raising JFK ‘s back wound by 5 inches to make it consistent with Arlen Specter’s infamous “single bullet theory”. The case of the lone-assassin-scenario against Lee Harvey Oswald is based on this implausible theory. Sibert further states that Specter, now a senator of Pensylvania, lied when he advised the Warren Commission that Sibert had not made notes or issued a report. Sibert’s report is in the Warren Report and describes the wounds as he saw them. A large gaping exit wound, the size of an orange, was visible in the back of JFK’s head, indicating a bullet from the front. This is grossly inconsistent with the official autopsy photograhps, that show in intact back of the head, indicating retouching and fakery of these photographs.


David W. Mantik

Physician with two PhD’s at the faculty of Loma Linda University Medical Center in the department of Radiation Medicin. Has made an extensive study of the medical evidence, the autopsy photographs and X-rays. Mantik tells of the evidence that he found for two simutaneous shots in JFK’s head, one from behind and one from the front in the right temple. This opposses the official conclusion that JFK was only hit once in the head from behind and refutes the theory that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. He further details the evidence for doctoring the autopsy photographs and X rays, in order to hide the shot from the front. Mantik discusses the witnesses he interviewed, who have seen two sets of photographs, one set showing the real wounds, the other set altered to hide these wounds.


Lt. Colonel Daniel Marvin (retired)

Retired member of the Special Forces (the Geen Berets). Served in Vietnam as commander of a Special Forces team. Received classified CIA training in 1964 at Fort Bragg in assassinations and counter-intelligence. Was asked by the CIA to terminate Navy Commander Bruce William Pitzer, on the grounds that Pitzer was about “to furnish state secrets to the enemy”. Marvin refused the assignment on the grounds that it had to be done in Bethesda on american soil, while he was trained for operations overseas. Almost 30 years later, in 1993 while watching a Kennedy documentary, Marvin discovered that Pitzer had been a photograph technician, present at Kennedy’s autopsy in Bethesda. Pitzer had been found dead in his navy office in 1965, his death being ruled a suicide. Marvin contacted Pitzer’s widow and learned that his family never believed in suicide and that Pitzer’s wife had been intimidated by Navy officials not to talk about the case, at the risk of losing her pension. Marvin also made contact with Dennis David, a friend of Pitzer who told him that Pitzer had shown him photographs and film of Kennedy’s autopsy, depicting a small bullet hole in JFK’s right temple and a large exit wound in the back of the head. In the conviction that the “state secrets” were the undoctored autopsy photographs and “the enemy ” was the American public, Marvin has since faught a crusade to expose the real cause of Pitzer’s death.


Lois Gibson

Renowned forensic artist and facial expert for the Houston Police Department. Was recently awarded with a 2004 entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for solving the most crimes from composite sketches. Is also skilled in rebuilding a face from a human skull. Lois Gibson has made a study of the photographs of “the three tramps” and concludes with certainty that the individuals are Chauncey Holt, Charles Rogers, and Charles Harrelson. In her own words, she “bets the farm on it”. Her findings are presented in a narrative slide presentation.


Michael Wacks

Retired FBI agent. Worked on organized crime in New Orleans. Was one of two undercover agents in the Brilab surveillance sting that sent New Orleans mafia boss Carlos Marcello to jail. Marcello was a partner of Sam Giancana and has long been suspected in the conspiracy to kill JFK and setting up Lee Harvey Oswald as the patsy through Guy Banister, a retired FBI agent relocated from Chicago to New Orleans. Banister is the character played by Ed Asner in Oliver Stone’s movie JFK. The address stamped on Oswald pro Castro pamphlets for the “Fair Play for Cuba Committee”, was the same address as Banister’s offices. Marcello is on record making death threats to the Kennedy’s and informing confidants of his plans to kill JFK, in order to stop the heat from Robert Kennedy. Marcello had been deported to Guatemala as an undesired alien by Robert Kennedy. Wacks tells of Marcello’s outbursts of hatred towards the Kennedy brothers. Banister was found dead in his office in 1964. His office was sealed off as a crime scene, but his death was quickly ruled a suicide.


Richard Stilling

Retired FB Agent. Former supervisor of Zack Shelton. Vowes for Zack’s impeccable record and integrity. Emphasizes the validity of the new evidence Shelton has uncovered, as well as the need to re-open the JFK investigation based on this evidence. Becomes emotional with the realisation that his former boss J. Edgar Hoover covered up the greatest crime of his time.


David Scheim

Author of the book “Contract on America”. Investigated the role of Organized Crime in the murder of JFK or over ten years. Details the organized crime connections, denied by the Warren Commission, of Oswald’s assassin Jack Ruby. Particularly his ties with Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante, who was the mafia boss of Florida and Cuban operations before the mob was ousted by Fidel Castro. All three mobsters are now known to have collaborated with the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro, and all three mobsters were targeted with indictments of Robert Kennedy. Both the CIA and these mafia bosses had their own reasons to reconquer Cuba and hate JFK. Scheim also describes the cover-up by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the reasons for his hatred for the Kennedy brothers, and his compromising friendships with Lyndon Johnson and crime bosses such as Frank Costello from New York, whose protegé was Carlos Marcello.


J. Bartell

Former CIA contract agent and close associate of Chauncey Holt. Verifies he was recruited by Holt and worked with him on many CIA sanctioned assignments, mainly contract murders overseas, and that Holt had close ties with organized crime. Shows emotion when talking about the memory of his former friend.


Jim Marrs

Renowned investigative journalist, a.o. for the Dallas Morning News, and author of the book “Crossfire”, on which Oliver Stone based his movie JFK. Marrs has studied the JFK assassination since the day it happened and is considered one the greatest experts on the case. Together with Zack Shelton, Jim Marrs is the host for the program and explains the many violations of a proper and truthfull investigation by the Warren Commission, willfully neglected and altered evidence, as well as its predetermined conclusion to convict Oswald as the sole assassin.


John Craig

Author of the book “The man on the grassy knoll”. Conducted an investigation into the life of CIA operative Charles Rogers, who was one of “the three tramps” detained in Dealey Plaza by the Dallas Police, together with Chauncey Holt en Charles Harrelson. Rogers vanished from the face of the earth in 1965 after murdering both his parents, disecting the bodies into pieces and putting them in the freezer. The shocking “ice box murders” were headline news in Houston. If Rogers is still alive, he would be 86 now. Rogers is still being sought as the prime suspect in this unsolved murder case. John Craig verifies that his investigation indicates that Chauncey Holt was also involved in the events of Dallas.


James Fetzer

Professor at University of Minnesota in Duluth. JFK researcher and author of “Assassination Science” and “Murder in Dealey Plaza”. Explains the procedures and prejudice of the Warren Commission. Demolishes the single bullet theory at the hand of the Commission’s own evidence.


Karyn Harcourt Holt

Daughter of Chauncey Holt. Tells that her father asked her to tape his story shortly before he died, because he felt the american public had a right to know the truth and to vindicate Lee Harvey Oswald. “This is not for me , this is not for you, this is for the american public and my little grandaughter out there”.


Jack Rivell

Dallas Police lieutenant at the time of the assassination. Tells that after the assassination he escorted Dallas mayor Earle Cabell on a flight to Washington DC, where they gathered in the house of the mayor’s brother, general Charles Cabell. Charles Cabell had been the second man in the CIA and was fired by JFK after the Bay of Pigs, along with CIA director Allen Dulles, who was later appointed to the Warren Commission by Lyndon Johnson. Charles Cabell had openly called JFK a traitor. As mayor of Dallas, his brother was in charge of the security for Kennedy’s visit and the motorcade route. Rivell recalls that on the day of JFK’s funeral, Cabell’s house was filled with high profile people and three stripe generals who watched the funeral on television in an upbeat atmosphere.


Tony Godinez

Former warden of Staville prison, Illinois, where James Files is incarcerated for attempted murder of a police officer. Godinez has interviewed James Files more than anyone else. He has found his story about JFK meticulously detailed and consistent over the years, and he has never been able to catch Files in a lie or fabrication, no matter how hard he tried. He tells that James Files never bragged about the JFK assassination, and that the only emotion that Files displayed about it, was frustration that he missed his target by a few inches as he was aiming for Kennedy’s right eye. Godinez states that Files was well respected in prison, that he had no fear for other inmates, most of whom are black, but that he requested to be in protective custody. Asked for the reason, Files explained he felt safer that way from retaliation by a government agency.


Robert Tanenbaum

Chief counsel for the House Select Commmittee on Assassinations. Resigned when he found the Committee was not designed to find the truth. One of the reasons for his disgust was the the Committee’s refusal to recall David Atlee Phillips, as many staff members found he had committed perjury in his original testimony.