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The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination
November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the tragedy that has haunted America ever since. For the first time, this concise and compelling book pierces the veil of secrecy to fully document the small, tightly-held conspiracy that killed President John F. Kennedy. It explains why he was murdered, and how it was done in a way that forced many records to remain secret for almost fifty years.
The Hidden History of JFK’s Assassination draws on exclusive interviews with more than two dozen associates of John and Robert Kennedy, in addition to former FBI, Secret Service, military intelligence, and Congressional personnel, who provided critical first-hand information. The book also uses government files—including the detailed FBI confession of notorious Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello—to simply and clearly reveal exactly who killed JFK. Using information never published before, the book uses Marcello’s own words to his closest associates to describe the plot. His confession is also backed up by a wealth of independent documentation.
This book builds on the work of the last Congressional committee to investigate JFK’s murder, which concluded that JFK ‘was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy,” and that godfathers [“Santo] Trafficante [and Carlos] Marcello had the motive, means, and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy.” However, it also draws on exclusive files and information not available to Congress, that have only emerged in recent years, to fully explain for the first time how Marcello and Trafficante committed—and got away with—the crime of the 20th century.
Some of the book’s revelations will be dramatized in the upcoming Warner Brothers film Legacy of Secrecy , produced by and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which also stars Robert De Niro as Carlos Marcello.
The Hidden History of JFK’s Assassination is the definitive account of the crime and the secrecy which has surrounded it.
The Hidden History of JFK’s Assassination draws on exclusive interviews with more than two dozen associates of John and Robert Kennedy, in addition to former FBI, Secret Service, military intelligence, and Congressional personnel, who provided critical first-hand information. The book also uses government files—including the detailed FBI confession of notorious Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello—to simply and clearly reveal exactly who killed JFK. Using information never published before, the book uses Marcello’s own words to his closest associates to describe the plot. His confession is also backed up by a wealth of independent documentation.
This book builds on the work of the last Congressional committee to investigate JFK’s murder, which concluded that JFK ‘was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy,” and that godfathers [“Santo] Trafficante [and Carlos] Marcello had the motive, means, and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy.” However, it also draws on exclusive files and information not available to Congress, that have only emerged in recent years, to fully explain for the first time how Marcello and Trafficante committed—and got away with—the crime of the 20th century.
Some of the book’s revelations will be dramatized in the upcoming Warner Brothers film Legacy of Secrecy , produced by and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which also stars Robert De Niro as Carlos Marcello.
The Hidden History of JFK’s Assassination is the definitive account of the crime and the secrecy which has surrounded it.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
431 people are currently reading
1316 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
November 22, 2013
Pretty amazing stuff. Surely a must-read for anyone interested in the assassination of JFK. Even though it can be a relatively tedious read at times, and while I may not wholeheartedly agree with the conclusion that's reached in this book, it was a great read nevertheless. I learned A LOT of stuff I had absolutely NO idea about. There's a lot to take away from this one. I definitely recommend it.
December 8, 2017
This book was highly recommended. I found it a difficult read given all the detail given. However, the author builds a strong case as to who really killed John Kennedy. If you are interested in the Kennedy assassination, then this is your nook.
December 30, 2014
As a student of the JFK assassination I've read a myriad of books related to the subject. This is the best one yet Meticulously research and logically presented. Evidence to back up all his theories. You gotta read this one. It answers the question "who killed JFK and why?"
December 5, 2013
The author puts forth this book (not his first on the subject) as being better suited to the general reader. While much of the book is still dense in its details and while the author has a bad habit of repeating bits over and over (perhaps he thinks that makes it more palatable), I would recommend this to anyone who has ever had the slightest interest in the JFK assassination.
Waldron goes about presenting his case that the Mafia murdered JFK in a way that not many conspiracy theorists have (in my limited experience.)( He does not take the accepted view and say, "this is why it could not have happened," but instead takes his premise and says, "here is the evidence that this is what happened."
The main thing that puzzles me about this book is why it is not talked about more. Waldron really piles on the evidence by way of documents, recorded confessions, photographs - many only made available in the last few years - and presents a very, very strong case.
I'm sure the more versed experts on the topic could poke some holes, but I'm not sure what they'd be and I for one would like to know.
Waldron goes about presenting his case that the Mafia murdered JFK in a way that not many conspiracy theorists have (in my limited experience.)( He does not take the accepted view and say, "this is why it could not have happened," but instead takes his premise and says, "here is the evidence that this is what happened."
The main thing that puzzles me about this book is why it is not talked about more. Waldron really piles on the evidence by way of documents, recorded confessions, photographs - many only made available in the last few years - and presents a very, very strong case.
I'm sure the more versed experts on the topic could poke some holes, but I'm not sure what they'd be and I for one would like to know.
May 20, 2020
Look. I read this because my 8 year old son gave it to me for Christmas. He picked it out for me because we had recently visited the JFK Presidential library in Boston. While I’m not big on conspiracies this was pretty convincing. I enjoyed learning more about the Italian Mafia (one of my favorite subjects) and the CIA plot to kill Castro in the 60s. However there was way too much detail on hypotheticals and supposedly botched attempts on JFK’s life. I had to skip chunks of the book because I didn’t care. Overall pretty interesting.
March 16, 2020
Conventional wisdom holds that conspiracies eventually fall apart, because when more than two people are involved in criminal activity, one eventually talks. In this book about the JFK assassination, you may see the above conventional wisdom as exceptio probat reglum - the exception proves the rule. If the killing of the president was a conspiracy, with seeming cover from Fidel Castro in Cuba, then with all the conspirators dead, there's no one to tell the tale.
Yet Lamar Waldron tells the tale: Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante Jr. seems to have coat-tailed involvement in attempts to kill Castro with a real target of the boy president in Chicago, Tampa and Dallas.
As a kid, I remember playing a game with my neighbor, and fighting over who got to play the role of Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby. Of course, both were tragic deaths in the end. And tragic pawns in the overall goal of finding a new boss for Robert F. Kennedy so he would no longer be able to parry and frustrate The Mob.
Yet Lamar Waldron tells the tale: Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante Jr. seems to have coat-tailed involvement in attempts to kill Castro with a real target of the boy president in Chicago, Tampa and Dallas.
As a kid, I remember playing a game with my neighbor, and fighting over who got to play the role of Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby. Of course, both were tragic deaths in the end. And tragic pawns in the overall goal of finding a new boss for Robert F. Kennedy so he would no longer be able to parry and frustrate The Mob.
February 10, 2019
Though I am impressed at the sheer amount of work and information that Lamar Waldron provides in The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination, and while he has pretty clearly lain out the most compelling and likely networks of both cause and activity related to JFK's murder, I found his writing and presentation styles in this book to be opaque and somewhat pedestrian. As a result, I felt that much of this read was a slog, and it was only sheer tenacity that got me through to the end, rather than the enjoyment of the contents.
Not only is the subject matter plausible, most of it is gallingly obvious once it is all spread out like a detective's white board, and for that Waldron's work should be lauded – especially when held against other specious tell-alls within the massive stable of literature on the JFK assassination. I regret, though, that a white board was not actually included with the text, as it would have made the dense, meandering connections and poor organization which mar the book far more intelligible to the reader. Perhaps that is one of the effects of paring down the author's previous, more extensive works into this one, and removing all footnotes in the name of accessibility. More likely it is an issue of Waldron being a fine investigative researcher but a limited writer. Between his choice of retaining contractions, amateurish sentence construction, constant repetition of information, and pervasive use of "however," Hidden History loses much of the punch that it promises over and over again within the text itself.
I was annoyed by the repeated sales pitches for Waldron's other works throughout the book, which crop up in introduction, body, and conclusion (complete with references to the trade paperbacks being stocked with information the older editions lack), as well as frequent first-person references to his own interviews, discoveries, and triumphs in the archives. Leaving these out would not only provide more room for relevant information, but also would preserve the continuity of the narrative without breaking the spell of the story that he is attempting to tell. What is left, though, is a frantic explosion of sometimes staccato information, with chapters feeling like they were originally written to be self-contained website essays. Data and thesis are often reiterated between chapters, with space dedicated to explaining people and operations which have already been explained. It would have been far more effective to have a simple list of dramatis personae and key for acronyms to help readers gain familiarity with the most important players in the study.
Even with these issues, the premise of Waldron's book is sound and intriguing – so much so that it has certainly shaped my understanding of the most likely "truths" behind what really happened in November 1963. In other words: I believe him, at least until better or more compelling information becomes available. Yet there are still some pockets of ambiguity that could use some ironing out. For instance, Waldron's assessment of Oswald is all over the place, and he never really commits to explaining the would-be assassin's actual place in the scheme. Perhaps this is simply because the most obvious patsy in this crime was manipulated so well by multiple parties that his position cannot actually be verified. Other characters are left floating in similar positions, including Guy Banister, Clay Shaw, and David Ferrie.
Likewise, I found it difficult to parse one of the author's key explanations for the governmental cover-up of JFK's murder. Waldron stresses the absolute necessity for US officials to prevent conflict with the USSR as the main reason why Mafia, CIA, and Cuban ties were not divulged after the assassination. Any retaliation for aggression by Castro or other US military action against Cuba, the Soviet proxy in the Western Hemisphere, Waldron leans on, would be met with the possibility of nuclear war. Yet JFK and RFK were secretly plotting a coup attempt near the time of the President's death, which he explains would have been seen as somehow more "acceptable" by Soviet authorities, as long as US intervention was requested by internal Cuban dissidents. In charge of these plots in Cuba was Juan Almeida, conspiratorial attache to the Kennedy administration, whom all agencies of the US government bent over backward to protect through the entire assassination fiasco and even into the late aughts. Yet both the CIA and FBI are eviscerated by Waldron, who asserts they did everything in their power to cover up facts and withhold evidence about Kennedy's death, including eliminating key witnesses and falsifying information. Was Almeida's safety really that important to numerous government agencies? Were they actually protecting Almeida or the US connection to him – or was it the CIA and Mafia's ties to murder of Kennedy that was actually being preserved by not divulging Almeida's identity? Who was in who's pocket? Who had dirt on whom? I have no idea, because Waldron is not particularly clear on any of it. He probably knows, but he just can't write it out concisely. Alternatively, maybe I'm just not getting it.
Considering that this nearly 500-page beast of an investigative monograph is Waldron's truncated, "more accessible" version of 2008's Legacy of Secrecy, one can only imagine what was left out here, other than detailed footnotes and a full bibliography. I am just not willing to find out by subjecting myself to his more expansive works, mostly because I don't think I could take it. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
Not only is the subject matter plausible, most of it is gallingly obvious once it is all spread out like a detective's white board, and for that Waldron's work should be lauded – especially when held against other specious tell-alls within the massive stable of literature on the JFK assassination. I regret, though, that a white board was not actually included with the text, as it would have made the dense, meandering connections and poor organization which mar the book far more intelligible to the reader. Perhaps that is one of the effects of paring down the author's previous, more extensive works into this one, and removing all footnotes in the name of accessibility. More likely it is an issue of Waldron being a fine investigative researcher but a limited writer. Between his choice of retaining contractions, amateurish sentence construction, constant repetition of information, and pervasive use of "however," Hidden History loses much of the punch that it promises over and over again within the text itself.
I was annoyed by the repeated sales pitches for Waldron's other works throughout the book, which crop up in introduction, body, and conclusion (complete with references to the trade paperbacks being stocked with information the older editions lack), as well as frequent first-person references to his own interviews, discoveries, and triumphs in the archives. Leaving these out would not only provide more room for relevant information, but also would preserve the continuity of the narrative without breaking the spell of the story that he is attempting to tell. What is left, though, is a frantic explosion of sometimes staccato information, with chapters feeling like they were originally written to be self-contained website essays. Data and thesis are often reiterated between chapters, with space dedicated to explaining people and operations which have already been explained. It would have been far more effective to have a simple list of dramatis personae and key for acronyms to help readers gain familiarity with the most important players in the study.
Even with these issues, the premise of Waldron's book is sound and intriguing – so much so that it has certainly shaped my understanding of the most likely "truths" behind what really happened in November 1963. In other words: I believe him, at least until better or more compelling information becomes available. Yet there are still some pockets of ambiguity that could use some ironing out. For instance, Waldron's assessment of Oswald is all over the place, and he never really commits to explaining the would-be assassin's actual place in the scheme. Perhaps this is simply because the most obvious patsy in this crime was manipulated so well by multiple parties that his position cannot actually be verified. Other characters are left floating in similar positions, including Guy Banister, Clay Shaw, and David Ferrie.
Likewise, I found it difficult to parse one of the author's key explanations for the governmental cover-up of JFK's murder. Waldron stresses the absolute necessity for US officials to prevent conflict with the USSR as the main reason why Mafia, CIA, and Cuban ties were not divulged after the assassination. Any retaliation for aggression by Castro or other US military action against Cuba, the Soviet proxy in the Western Hemisphere, Waldron leans on, would be met with the possibility of nuclear war. Yet JFK and RFK were secretly plotting a coup attempt near the time of the President's death, which he explains would have been seen as somehow more "acceptable" by Soviet authorities, as long as US intervention was requested by internal Cuban dissidents. In charge of these plots in Cuba was Juan Almeida, conspiratorial attache to the Kennedy administration, whom all agencies of the US government bent over backward to protect through the entire assassination fiasco and even into the late aughts. Yet both the CIA and FBI are eviscerated by Waldron, who asserts they did everything in their power to cover up facts and withhold evidence about Kennedy's death, including eliminating key witnesses and falsifying information. Was Almeida's safety really that important to numerous government agencies? Were they actually protecting Almeida or the US connection to him – or was it the CIA and Mafia's ties to murder of Kennedy that was actually being preserved by not divulging Almeida's identity? Who was in who's pocket? Who had dirt on whom? I have no idea, because Waldron is not particularly clear on any of it. He probably knows, but he just can't write it out concisely. Alternatively, maybe I'm just not getting it.
Considering that this nearly 500-page beast of an investigative monograph is Waldron's truncated, "more accessible" version of 2008's Legacy of Secrecy, one can only imagine what was left out here, other than detailed footnotes and a full bibliography. I am just not willing to find out by subjecting myself to his more expansive works, mostly because I don't think I could take it. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
July 18, 2018
It seems completely plausible that mob godfather Carlos Marcello could've been a major player in the plot to kill Kennedy, especially when Waldron goes into Marcello's history with RFK and the notion of cutting off the head (JFK) and not the tail (his brother and Attorney General), but the book also seems sluggish and repetitive at times, like Waldron wants to bolster a point, but belabors it instead.
February 25, 2014
Excellent book! I found it well written, insightful and very informative. Highly recommended if you are curious about the Kennedy assassination.
Received this book from Counterpoint Press via Goodreads First-Read.
Received this book from Counterpoint Press via Goodreads First-Read.
June 19, 2014
As one who was in elementary school when Kennedy was killed, I've read many books and seen many documentaries on the event. This book gives strong and credible evidence of a conspiracy, and it was captivating from beginning to end.
January 30, 2015
Good book. Well researched. I gave it four stars because it could have been shorter. I felt like he repeatedly himself a bit.
December 29, 2021
Interesting and infuriating.
March 16, 2025
Powerful, wealthy crime lord Carlos Marcello planned to kill JKF to get back at him and (mostly) RFK for their persecution of Marcello, particularly the kidnapping-like deportation to Central America. This was done with cooperation of CIA associates, who had already collaborated with the mob on assassination plots.
That is the convincing conclusion arrived at here from some of the millions of pages so far released by the government as well as the author's own investigations and other published works.
Identified as red herring are any clues that the "patsy" Oswald was a leftist/Marxist, etc.
Fall guy Oswald was framed as both a Marxist and a pawn in the JFK plot to overthrown Castro with the help of highly placed Almeida. In the telling here, this goes as far as the Hoffa disappearance. That is linked by Hoffa being the liaison between the Mafia and the CIA for Castro assassination plots, etc. That whole sphere of cooperation gave the Marcello organization a blueprint and resources to try and take out JFK from an upper story sniper with a scoped rifle, earlier in Chicago and Tampa.
Marcello's confession on all this was obtained as part of a previously-unknown FBI sting operation targeting Marcello, code-named CAMTEX and I take it this scholarship and interpretation will be the basis of David Mamet's upcoming JFK Film Assassination.
There is the feeling I get here is that we supposed to believe at least some of the CIA itself was taken in, thinking the Mafia wouldn't misbehave to this level. Indeed, that explains how David Atlee Phillips would allow himself to be seen with Oswald in public in Dallas not longer before the assassination. He didn't know enough to know that Oswald would later be framed for the assassination. So, maybe not even aware it was about to go down.
- "The man who wanted JFK killed", from Trained to Kill: The Inside Story of CIA Plots against Castro, Kennedy, and Che by Antonio Veciana
Apparently he and maybe other CIA were in Dallas that fateful day, though. Apparently also there were no Secret Service agents in the city not on the motorcade when the shooting occurred, But, multiple witnesses met people around the grassy knoll etc. identifying them as such including with identification able to convince police. Well, that implies conspiracy. In that conspiracy, who actually fired the effectual shows. Here the finger is pointed at Bernard Barker as one of the shooters.
- Spartacus Educational
Regardless, I don't think any of this means there was not accidental shooting by the SS themselves. See JFK: The Smoking Gun.
That is the convincing conclusion arrived at here from some of the millions of pages so far released by the government as well as the author's own investigations and other published works.
Identified as red herring are any clues that the "patsy" Oswald was a leftist/Marxist, etc.
As for the shooting at General Walker’s home, Banister belonged to the same white supremacist circles as General Walker, and associates of the two had been at a white supremacist conference in New Orleans just four days before someone shot into Walker’s home. Any role Oswald had in that incident was probably at Banister’s behest, an effort to plant evidence that would make Oswald look murderously violent after he was arrested for JFK’s assassination.
...historians and researchers have shown that all the “Castro killed JFK” CIA reports were either debunked and/or can be traced back to the mob bosses and their CIA associates who later confessed their roles in JFK’s murder
Fall guy Oswald was framed as both a Marxist and a pawn in the JFK plot to overthrown Castro with the help of highly placed Almeida. In the telling here, this goes as far as the Hoffa disappearance. That is linked by Hoffa being the liaison between the Mafia and the CIA for Castro assassination plots, etc. That whole sphere of cooperation gave the Marcello organization a blueprint and resources to try and take out JFK from an upper story sniper with a scoped rifle, earlier in Chicago and Tampa.
Marcello's confession on all this was obtained as part of a previously-unknown FBI sting operation targeting Marcello, code-named CAMTEX and I take it this scholarship and interpretation will be the basis of David Mamet's upcoming JFK Film Assassination.
There is the feeling I get here is that we supposed to believe at least some of the CIA itself was taken in, thinking the Mafia wouldn't misbehave to this level. Indeed, that explains how David Atlee Phillips would allow himself to be seen with Oswald in public in Dallas not longer before the assassination. He didn't know enough to know that Oswald would later be framed for the assassination. So, maybe not even aware it was about to go down.
I have been written about. I have been questioned. My book, "Trained to Kill," is the first time I tell the story for myself. The whole story.
Why now? In the past, I knew that Castro, and others, wouldn’t hesitate to do away with their enemies by putting a bomb under their car. I was well aware of what could happen as I traveled with my wife and children. Now I’m old. My wife is gone. My children are grown. I have survived cancer and a heart attack. Now I can reveal the truth about my double life.
My name is Antonio Veciana. I am an accountant by training, a banker and a businessman by trade. Some call me a patriot. Some call me a terrorist. Only one knew I was a spy, with a single mission—destroy Castro. My CIA handler, the man I knew as Maurice Bishop. The man whom congressional investigators later identified as master spy David Atlee Phillips. The man whom I saw meeting with Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas.
- "The man who wanted JFK killed", from Trained to Kill: The Inside Story of CIA Plots against Castro, Kennedy, and Che by Antonio Veciana
Apparently he and maybe other CIA were in Dallas that fateful day, though. Apparently also there were no Secret Service agents in the city not on the motorcade when the shooting occurred, But, multiple witnesses met people around the grassy knoll etc. identifying them as such including with identification able to convince police. Well, that implies conspiracy. In that conspiracy, who actually fired the effectual shows. Here the finger is pointed at Bernard Barker as one of the shooters.
Conspiracy theorists have long implicated Barker in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy... his name was often discussed by American conspiracy theorists as having played a role in the assassination of John F Kennedy, allegedly in revenge for his failure fully to support the Bay of Pigs invasion.
- Spartacus Educational
Regardless, I don't think any of this means there was not accidental shooting by the SS themselves. See JFK: The Smoking Gun.
December 9, 2025
The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination by Lamar Waldron, delves into the decades old government cover-up of classified documents shedding light on the killing of President Kennedy in 1963. The author has accessed and studied the classified information as it was slowly released over the past 50 years, and personally interviewed countless government officials and sources with direct knowledge of events behind and leading up to the JFK assassination. Waldron believes in a broader plot or conspiracy behind the assassination rather than the lone gunman conclusion advocated by the Warren Commission, ie: Lee Harvey Oswald, who was charged with the murder of JFK.
The author begins by sharing evidence that many reliable witnesses were pressured by the FBI to change their statements from seeing shots come from the grassy knoll, rather than the Texas School Book Depository in order to fit the lone gunman narrative; as well as offering critical analysis refuting the single bullet theory. Waldron also recounts many, many other eyewitness accounts which point to a wider network of operatives involved in the JFK assassination, and were discounted or hushed by government agencies. Thousands of pages of critical information about Oswald and Jack Ruby who was allied with the mafia and an FBI informant, and the related and relevance of the CIA-Mafia plots against Cuba were kept from the commission. Lamar Waldron then delves into the lives of Mafia bosses Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante, why they hated the Kennedys and that they were behind the planning of the assassination. Information about the FBI’s 1985-6 undercover CAMTEX operation involving Marcello and his taped confession were sadly not released for public viewing until 2008. The audio has still not been released.
This book was my first read on this fascinating and disturbing subject matter. It is perhaps too detailed with the names of the innumerable interconnected people and programs that were involved in the conspiracy. The narrative is very informative, and the depth of detail and the myriad of connections is fascinating; but some of the connecting the dots of people and places is speculative and conjecture in my opinion. However, there is a LOT of solid information and revelatory reading here. Finally, I found the chapter dealing with the timeline breakdown for the day of the assassination; ( which recounts all the major important moments of that fateful day ), to be absolutely fascinating and intriguing.
The author begins by sharing evidence that many reliable witnesses were pressured by the FBI to change their statements from seeing shots come from the grassy knoll, rather than the Texas School Book Depository in order to fit the lone gunman narrative; as well as offering critical analysis refuting the single bullet theory. Waldron also recounts many, many other eyewitness accounts which point to a wider network of operatives involved in the JFK assassination, and were discounted or hushed by government agencies. Thousands of pages of critical information about Oswald and Jack Ruby who was allied with the mafia and an FBI informant, and the related and relevance of the CIA-Mafia plots against Cuba were kept from the commission. Lamar Waldron then delves into the lives of Mafia bosses Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante, why they hated the Kennedys and that they were behind the planning of the assassination. Information about the FBI’s 1985-6 undercover CAMTEX operation involving Marcello and his taped confession were sadly not released for public viewing until 2008. The audio has still not been released.
This book was my first read on this fascinating and disturbing subject matter. It is perhaps too detailed with the names of the innumerable interconnected people and programs that were involved in the conspiracy. The narrative is very informative, and the depth of detail and the myriad of connections is fascinating; but some of the connecting the dots of people and places is speculative and conjecture in my opinion. However, there is a LOT of solid information and revelatory reading here. Finally, I found the chapter dealing with the timeline breakdown for the day of the assassination; ( which recounts all the major important moments of that fateful day ), to be absolutely fascinating and intriguing.
November 29, 2023
On the fence
I picked this book up on sale since I am a big admirer of President Kennedy, and I've studied the assassination a lot. I originally believed there was a conspiracy with several gunmen. Over the years, I've come away from that, believing that there were not several gunmen and that there was only 3 shots from the Texas Schoolbook Depository.
It's hard to believe that Kennedy was assassinated for no real reason, that it was just a lone gunman, so I still believe that there was a conspiracy.
There's too many coincidences and many things that don't add up, so there is definitely a feeling of some cover up, which would dictate that there has to be a conspiracy. But it may not be for reasons that most assume.
Having the cover up by the government to protect citizens rather than exposing the truth is one reason for coincidences and cover up.
This book does a good job and laying out a possible story for who, what, where, when, and why of the assassination. It explains how it could have been covered up and why, and it's probably the best possible truth as it explains those discrepancies and things that don't add up.
Having said that, I don't agree with the multiple gunmen or how specifically the assassination unfolded in this account. It seems a bit far fetched without nothing being caught as a smoking gun.
Furthermore, there are some assumptions made, and while plausible, they are still just that - assumptions. If you believe them and only them, you loose the ability to consider alternatives.
This book still made me consider the assassination by the Mob to be one of the better possibilities but its not closed it as the final story.
I feel even if additional records come out and prove The mob did it, I doubt there will be exact details and that we will never know how exactly it happened.
I would recommend this book to assassination researchers with the caveat of having an open mind.
I picked this book up on sale since I am a big admirer of President Kennedy, and I've studied the assassination a lot. I originally believed there was a conspiracy with several gunmen. Over the years, I've come away from that, believing that there were not several gunmen and that there was only 3 shots from the Texas Schoolbook Depository.
It's hard to believe that Kennedy was assassinated for no real reason, that it was just a lone gunman, so I still believe that there was a conspiracy.
There's too many coincidences and many things that don't add up, so there is definitely a feeling of some cover up, which would dictate that there has to be a conspiracy. But it may not be for reasons that most assume.
Having the cover up by the government to protect citizens rather than exposing the truth is one reason for coincidences and cover up.
This book does a good job and laying out a possible story for who, what, where, when, and why of the assassination. It explains how it could have been covered up and why, and it's probably the best possible truth as it explains those discrepancies and things that don't add up.
Having said that, I don't agree with the multiple gunmen or how specifically the assassination unfolded in this account. It seems a bit far fetched without nothing being caught as a smoking gun.
Furthermore, there are some assumptions made, and while plausible, they are still just that - assumptions. If you believe them and only them, you loose the ability to consider alternatives.
This book still made me consider the assassination by the Mob to be one of the better possibilities but its not closed it as the final story.
I feel even if additional records come out and prove The mob did it, I doubt there will be exact details and that we will never know how exactly it happened.
I would recommend this book to assassination researchers with the caveat of having an open mind.
March 11, 2023
A good read for those interested in learning more details about the JFK murder in Dallas. He says that it was Marcelo and Trafficantes plot and also goes into great detail about CIA Mob plots to kill Castro and connections of various of these plots with anti Castro forces. BUT he doesn’t include the CIA agents or any government agency or anti Castro forces to be part of the plot against Kennedy even though most of the CIA agents had something to do with Castro murder plots or Oswald. He explains the coverup and secrecy to avoid embarrassment and protect a Cuban official who was part of anti Castro plots. He also blames it on avoiding a confrontation with Soviet Union if they knew of the anti Castro murder plots and regime change. I would still recommend this book. Lots of detail but I just can’t believe that with all the evidence of CIA agents in contact with the mob, anti Castro Cubans and even Oswald that he dismisses anyone other than Marcello, Trafficante and Ruby. What I find just as alarming is why RFK who was the Attorney General was conducting foreign covert policy and with no respect for law domestic or international to make it worse.
March 2, 2024
As clear and cogent an account of the JFK assassination as you're likely to find.
It's not the best written. Try Not In Your Lifetime by Anthony Summers instead.
It's not the best book about the Warren Commission, Oswald's defection and Soviet years, the magic bullet, the botched JFK autopsy, or the CIA/FBI involvement in the conspiracy. Several other books cover those areas better.
It's not the best book about Carlos Marcello. Try Mafia Kingfish by John H. Davis.
But Waldron's book came later, so it's more comprehensive, and it complements the Davis book well. Waldron had access to documents the FBI and CIA denied to Davis. It's the only book I've read with details of three remarkably similar Mafia plots to assassinate JFK in Chicago, Tampa, and Dallas in late 1963. Read both Mafia Kingfish and this and you'll be convinced that Marcello killed JFK.
Did rogue elements of the CIA help Marcello kill JFK? Waldron doesn't probe that angle too deeply, but from the evidence presented here and elsewhere, it certainly seems likely. In fact, by the book's end it seems difficult to tell the Mafia and the CIA apart. They're both criminal organizations acting outside of government control.
It's not the best written. Try Not In Your Lifetime by Anthony Summers instead.
It's not the best book about the Warren Commission, Oswald's defection and Soviet years, the magic bullet, the botched JFK autopsy, or the CIA/FBI involvement in the conspiracy. Several other books cover those areas better.
It's not the best book about Carlos Marcello. Try Mafia Kingfish by John H. Davis.
But Waldron's book came later, so it's more comprehensive, and it complements the Davis book well. Waldron had access to documents the FBI and CIA denied to Davis. It's the only book I've read with details of three remarkably similar Mafia plots to assassinate JFK in Chicago, Tampa, and Dallas in late 1963. Read both Mafia Kingfish and this and you'll be convinced that Marcello killed JFK.
Did rogue elements of the CIA help Marcello kill JFK? Waldron doesn't probe that angle too deeply, but from the evidence presented here and elsewhere, it certainly seems likely. In fact, by the book's end it seems difficult to tell the Mafia and the CIA apart. They're both criminal organizations acting outside of government control.
January 11, 2017
A disturbing yet compelling book about the true details of the Kennedy assassination. It's amazing how much our government hid and told us lies about this crime of the century and why the CIA had a stake in hiding it. Not all of the information has been declassified yet, but the amount of work that went into compiling this book is staggering. Some of the details were released in the 1990s, some in the early 2000s. Before his death, Carlos Marcello the godfather in Louisiana confessed "Yeah I had the son-of-a bitch killed." Santo Trafficante in Florida and Sam Giancana in Chicago also had a hand in this crime. It was satisfying to read the details of this crime but haunting on the effect it had on Robert Kennedy and that ultimately the same thing happened to RFK. While all the details aren't available even now, enoough is known to say who ordered this Mafia hit.
November 7, 2017
An interesting book drawing on a number of recently released files, but I remain unconvinced of the central thesis Waldron espouses. There is a great deal of reliance on quotes from generally unreliable sources (mob figures and the like) and some of the detail is mind-numbing. That being said, I found this to be a more concise and readable tract than some of Waldron's earlier works on the subject.
August 10, 2019
I would recommended this book to anyone who even is a little bit curious about the JFK assassination, this opens up about the many different conspiracy theories around the assassination. But I do have to admit I had some trouble reading it given all the intense details. The overall craft and structure of this novel is well written, the author creates a very strong case into the killing of JFK. The author uses many documents in order to get his point across.
August 19, 2021
Maybe I'm the only person who had trouble finishing this because this book has so many great reviews. I agree with a lot of people that there are a ton of people to keep track of, and if you aren't familiar with all of their names, it can get confusing very easily.
I didn't like that a lot of the book was conspiracy, with a lot of fact thrown in. Hopefully, I can come back to this book to re-read it, but probably not for a long while.
I didn't like that a lot of the book was conspiracy, with a lot of fact thrown in. Hopefully, I can come back to this book to re-read it, but probably not for a long while.
March 29, 2024
5 stars, despite some repetitiveness. The detail and documentation is compelling. The conclusions are dismaying, scary, disturbing -- even more so in the current (2024) political climate where behind-the-scenes intimidation seems so likely and the existential threat level to judges, jurors, witnesses is not unlikely. This book digs deep and cites evidence, and I like that when the author's assertions are more speculative, they are acknowledged as such.
March 12, 2018
I was a junior in high school, sitting in Latin class, when the brother teaching the class began reciting the rosary. Then we were told president Kennedy has been assassinated. I lived that history and to this day still try to make sense of it. I can't, but this book gives me much to ponder. It's incredibly dense and you get overwhelmed by facts, assumptions, theories and speculation.
July 18, 2018
This explains book explains a lot:
- The Who and Why of Nov. 22, 1963
- The How and Why of longstanding cover-up thereafter.
I've read a fair amount, including the full Warren Commission Report, Case Closed, etc. I recommend skipping all that and reading this book for definitive answers and explanations.
September 22, 2019
As close as we will ever get
Probably the closest we will ever get in writing of what happened on that day in November in 63. The truth needs to be out there for the people to see. So what if it embarrass the FBI, CIA oR ONI. I haven't trusted in years. Most people who had a knowledge of the plan are now dead.
Good read.
Probably the closest we will ever get in writing of what happened on that day in November in 63. The truth needs to be out there for the people to see. So what if it embarrass the FBI, CIA oR ONI. I haven't trusted in years. Most people who had a knowledge of the plan are now dead.
Good read.
February 2, 2020
Did the mob kill JFK?
Kind of long winded over and over repeating the scenario of Marcello Trafficante assassination plot to kill JFK. Although the book goes into great detail and seems to have the facts it's still hard to me to absolutely believe the mob did it alone. Maybe someday we will all know the absolute truth.
Kind of long winded over and over repeating the scenario of Marcello Trafficante assassination plot to kill JFK. Although the book goes into great detail and seems to have the facts it's still hard to me to absolutely believe the mob did it alone. Maybe someday we will all know the absolute truth.
September 1, 2023
There is a great deal of information going on in this book. I had to re-listen to some of it because there are so many names to keep track of. I learned some interesting things about that time period and what was happening in the world of politics. This probably should be read instead of listened to, for me anyway but it would have taken me quite a while.
January 5, 2020
A little like wading through mud
This book takes a long time to get through. There's a lot of footnotes and the need to check facts on the internet. He makes a compelling case, but isn't 100% there.
This book takes a long time to get through. There's a lot of footnotes and the need to check facts on the internet. He makes a compelling case, but isn't 100% there.
July 8, 2020
Most up to date
Firmly puts in place a very large piece of the puzzle: concludes that the assasignation was CIA and Mafia driven.
Others knew.
Others were actively involved in the cover up.
An out of control CIA is a clear and present danger to our democracy.
Firmly puts in place a very large piece of the puzzle: concludes that the assasignation was CIA and Mafia driven.
Others knew.
Others were actively involved in the cover up.
An out of control CIA is a clear and present danger to our democracy.
August 22, 2020
Eye opening
This book details how JFK was murdered in Dallas Texas by many more than one man. Supported by exhaustive research. The mob-CIA conspiracy that killed Kennedy and the cover-up by the Warren Commission for “the sake of the country”
This book details how JFK was murdered in Dallas Texas by many more than one man. Supported by exhaustive research. The mob-CIA conspiracy that killed Kennedy and the cover-up by the Warren Commission for “the sake of the country”
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