Ambush

Captain Kook called down to the engine room, "Snotty, are you ready to transport?"
Snotty replied, "It's all set to go, but I'm not sure it's going to work."
"Okay, Snotty, stand by to transport when I give the word." Blindfolded, a struggling Vicarian sat on one of the transporter pads.
Forty seconds after the Presidential limosine had turned onto Elm Street, Richard Cain got the word over his walkie-talkie, "Station One, fire at will!"
He passed the word to Oswald. Through Oswald's sights, President Kennedy was partially obscured by the branches of a tree.
The instant Captain Kook overheard the order to fire, he cried out, "Snotty, transport!"
"Aye, aye, Captain," replied Snotty, pressing two buttons simultaneously.
In that same instant, Engineer First Class Lewis Smith snatched the blindfold from the Vicarian's eyes. The Vicarian quickly dematerialized. Snotty saw no indication of President Kennedy materializing on the pad next to the disappearing Vicarian.
At ten miles per hour, President Kennedy was a slow-moving target.
Seeing a break in the trees, Oswald squeezed off his first shot.
That was forty-seven seconds after the President's limosine had turned onto Elm Street. The limosine was 143 feet from the sniper's nest. Oswald's first shot deflected off a branch and struck a curb somewhere beyond the President.
Secret Service Agent Bill Greer, President Kennedy's driver, slowed the limousine almost to a stop. He later gave the excuse that it was so he could turn around and see what was wrong. The obvious reason was, of course, to make President Kennedy an easier target.
Governor John Connolly, an experienced hunter, was one of the few people who immediately recognized the sound as gunfire. Most witnesses had thought it was a firecracker going off. Some others thought it was a car backfiring.
Luther Gooch’s mother turned to him and said, "Did you do that?"
Governor Connoly turned in his seat to look behind him.
Some 3.5 seconds after the first shot was fired, Oswald saw another break in the foliage. To save precious seconds, Oswald looked down the open sights of the rifle and squeezed off a second shot.
Oswald's second shot is the most controversial of the shots commonly known to have been fired that day. The sniper's nest was about fifty feet above the street, and President Kennedy's limousine was 165 feet from the sniper's nest. Elm Street declines away from the Texas School Book Depository. Allowing for that decline, the bullet's trajectory was at no more than a ten-degree angle. That's a much lower angle than most people's image of the assassination would have them believe.
A much-relieved President Kennedy materialized on the transporter pad of the Spaceship Lula Belle. "The President is aboard, Captain!" Mr. Snot cried into his intercom.
Captain Kook heaved a sigh of relieve. "Good work, Snotty," he said. "Oswald has just shot the Vicarian and Governor Connolly.
From his vantage point on the bridge, Captain Kook watched the assassination of President Kennedy's double and the shooting of Governor Connolly. Though he knew it was not really President Kennedy, it gave him the same sick feeling of horror that he felt when, as a much younger man, he'd witnessed the murder of an Abraham Lincoln double.
The bullet struck the Vicarian at a speed of over 1,700 feet per second. The shock of the bullet traveling at that speed so close to the spine shattered the tip of the sixth cervical vertebra. This caused a neurological response called "Thorburn's Position.” That is, the Vicarian's hands shot up almost to its throat, and its elbows winged outward. The bullet, now tumbling, exited the Vicarian's throat, nicking its tie. The Vicarian leaned forward, straining against a back brace identical to the one President Kennedy had worn.
Governor Connolly was in the process of turning to look over his right shoulder after having just looked over his right shoulder and not seeing the source of the sound he'd heard 3.5 seconds earlier. The same bullet that had hit the Vicarian now struck Connally in his right shoulder blade, shattered his fifth right rib, deflecting slightly downward, and came out just below his right nipple. The bullet struck his right wrist at a speed of about 900 feet per second, passing through the wrist and deflecting slightly to the left. The pressure of the bullet striking his wrist caused his grip on the Stetson hat in his hand to slightly tighten. The bullet, with its rounded end now facing backward, struck Governor Connolly's left thigh at about 400 feet per second.
In the excitement, even with a punctured lung, Governor Connolly was not yet aware that he had been hit. In the next exhalation of breath after the shooting, his lung collapsed. He found himself unable to inhale. His face turned ashen, and his body collapsed into his the arms of his wife Nellie.
* * *

What became known as "the magic bullet" and "the pristine bullet" and Warren Commission Exhibit 399 was neither magical nor pristine. It was slightly bent and slightly flattened, and it had lost some of its original weight. The average weight of a 6.5mm Carcano bullet is 161.2 grains, and the weight of such a bullet can vary from that average by more than three grains. If the "magic bullet's" original weight had been 164.2 grains, then CE 399 had lost six grains of its original weight.
* * *
Films and photographs of the assassination indicated that most of the Secret Service agents' reactions were extraordinarily slow. A night of cold drinks and hot women provided by Jack Ruby might explain it. The age of some of the agents might also have explained it. Only thing is, Clint Hill had some of the fastest reactions of all the agents, yet he was the second oldest Secret Service Agent with the motorcade, and he was among the few who had partied all night. Some of the younger agents who did not attend the party had some of the slowest reactions.
For all practical purposes, then, Jack Ruby's plan to dull their senses with a sleepless night of liquor and sex was a failure.
* * *
The Presidential limousine was moving farther and farther away from the sniper's nest and closer and closer to the grassy knoll. As far as the conspirators could see, their intended victim had not yet sustained a fatal injury. "All stations, fire at will!" a voice crackled over the walkie-talkies. Richard Cain and Roscoe White relayed the order to Oswald and Lambchops.
About six seconds after the second shot was fired, President Kennedy's car was 111 feet from the grassy knoll. Lambchops' finger tightened on the trigger of his rifle. Ensign Jackass, watching helplessly, heard the rifle's loud report. Amid the smoke bursting from the rifle barrel, Ensign Jackass also saw a flag emblazoned with the word: "BANG!"
Larry, Moe and Curly Joe laughed uproariously at Lambchop's sight gag. Ensign Jackass heaved a sigh of relief and realization. Now he knew why no bullet had been recovered from the grassy knoll shot. He also knew how the grassy knoll shooter could have missed the entire motorcade. Furthermore, it explained how several witnesses, such as railroad supervisor Sam Holland could have seen a puff of smoke coming from the grassy knoll, even though modern rifles are smokeless.
Railroad worker Lee Bowers, Jr., saw the "flash of light or smoke or something" come from Lambchops' gun behind the picket fence. Jean Hill, who was standing across the street from the grassy knoll, was sure she had seen "a gunman or a sheep or something" behind the picket fence. A retired Dallas police officer named Malcolm Summers thought he had heard a shot from behind the picket fence and ran up the knoll to find the shooter. Ed Hoffman witnessed what happened next on the grassy knoll.
As the grassy knoll hit team began escaping from the scene, White and Tippit cursed Lambchops. "How could you be so stupid?" White demanded. "We came here to kill the President, not to make people laugh."
"Well, what did you expect?" Lambchops protested. "I'm a hand puppet. All I know how to do is make people laugh."
White threw the rifle to Tippit, who disassembled it and put it into a brakeman's tool bag. As he stashed the tool bag into the trunk of a waiting car, Tippit shook his head and grumbled, "That's the last time I'm going on a job like this with a hand puppet."
Lambchops, White and Tippit climbed into the car and drove away. Horowitz, Feinstein and Di Rita ran toward the railyards, hoping to hide in an empty boxcar.
* * *
In the sniper's perch, Oswald was 266 feet from the Presidential limousine. A fraction of a second after Lambchop's rifle sounded, Oswald fired his third and final shot.
The bullet struck the Vicarian in the occipital (rear) of the skull, close to the paretal (side) area. For an instant, the Vicarian's head was violently jerked forward, as its head exploded. Its brain no longer responsive to previous impulses, the Vicarian relaxed its Thorburn's Position. Just as suddenly, the Vicarian ceased to strain against the back brace, causing the brace to pull the Vicarian backward and to the left.
Arnold Rowland looked up and saw Lee Harvey Oswald step back from his perch. Someone resembling Oswald is seen in one of the many photographs taken that day and later made available to the public. In another photograph, five year-old Luther Gooch may be seen chasing a stray cat.

* * *

"Great work!" Nicoletti said to Oswald. At that same instant, Captain Kook was congratulating Snotty with the same words. Oswald handed his rifle to Nicoletti, who took it by the sling. Nicoletti said to him, "You hurry on down to the lunch room. We'll get things cleaned up here and take the rifle with us."
The instant Oswald disappeared into the stairwell, Richard Cain laughed, "We did it! Can you believe how gullible he is?" Nicoletti held out his hands, palms facing upward; Cain slapped Nicoletti's palms with his own. Nicoletti then slapped Cain's palms in a similar manner. For a moment, shaking each other's hands, they laughingly danced in a circle.
Still giddy with delight, Nicoletti said, "I'll get the getaway car. You know what you have to do. And don't forget to take off your glasses when you go outside for me to pick you up."
Nicoletti dashed down the stairs to get the Nash Rambler parked near the depository. Cain placed Oswald's Mannlischer-Carcano between two boxes near the exit. That made it look as though Oswald had clumsily tried to hide the rifle on his way out. Then he ran down the stairs and left by the back exit.
A witness saw Cain, who at that distance somewhat resembled Oswald, come out of the depository by the rear exit, hesitate for a few minutes, then dash down the street toward the freeway. Cain was wearing the same white shirt the gunman had been seen wearing minutes earlier. Soon after Cain had been seen exiting the depository, Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig saw Cain climb into Ruth Payne's Nash Rambler station wagon. The car then speeded away.
A minute after the shooting, Dallas Police Officer Marrion Baker entered the depository and met Roy Truly, the man in charge of the depository. Thirty seconds later, they encountered Oswald drinking a Coca Cola on the second floor. To Baker, Oswald appeared to be "calm, collected, not out of breath."
Truly thought that Oswald "didn't seem to be excited or overly afraid or anything." Oswald finished his Coke and left the building by the front entrance.
Immediately outside, Oswald was approached by a man who flashed his identification and asked if there was a telephone he could use. Oswald later said he thought the man was a Secret Service agent. He gave the man directions and continued to his boarding house.
The "Secret Service agent,” as it turned out, was an NBC News reporter named Robert McNeil. He was the same Robert McNeil who would later co-host the McNeil-Lerher News Hour. This author is still investigating Robert McNeil to determine what connection, if any, he had had to the plot to kill President Kennedy.
* * *
Both of the conspirators who had been in the Dal-Tex Building were arrested and taken to the Dallas County Sheriff's Department for questioning. They were soon released with no record of their arrests, interrogation and release. The name of one remained unknown until you read this book. The other was known to be a California businessman named Jim Braden. Seven years later, a producer for NNXT, a Los Angeles-based affiliate of CBS-TV discovered that Braden was Eugene Hale Brading, a courier and liaison man for such Mafiosi as Mayer Lansky and Carlos Marcello. His rap sheet showed thirty-five arrests, with convictions for burglary, bookmaking and embezzlement. Noyes also learned that Brading had spent the night at the Cabana Hotel.
The Cabana Hotel owned by Jimmy Hoffa's Teamsters Union. On top of that, Jack Ruby was known to have visited the Cabana Hotel only a few hours after the assassination.
The Three Stooges were arrested when they were found in an open boxcar behind the grassy knoll, but they were later released. Another man found in the Dal-Tex Building was arrested but soon released. A thirty-one year-old man was also arrested but was re-arrested a week later. No record of their arrests was made. Even more shocking, despite the suspected Cuban and Mafia connection to the assassination, thousands of people with Spanish or Italian surnames known to be in Dallas that day were not even questioned!
Within minutes of the assassination, Dallas police officers J. D. Tippit and Roscoe White were sent to Earlene Roberts's rooming house, where Oswald then lived, to kill Oswald. Oswald had returned to the rooming house for a change of clothing and a pistol.
When Tippit and White confronted Oswald, Tippit hesitated at the crucial moment. This allowed Oswald to fire a few warning shots and escape. For his failure to carry out the mob's orders, Tippit was killed by White.
At that moment, Oswald must have realized that he would soon be killed or arrested. If arrested, he faced either the death penalty or life in prison. Since the Dallas County Jail did not have a theater, Oswald decided that this was probably his last chance to take in a movie.