I looked up some stuff on Sirhan. He is still alive, in prison for life, and has been repeatedly denied parole. There is little doubt that he is guilty, as there were multiple close range eye witnesses placing him as a shooter, but there is dobut on whether or not he was the only shooter. When the police searched his home, they found multiple notebooks in Sirhan's handwriting saying things like "RFK must die." He has never been mentioned in reference to a possible JFK assassination theory.

Yes, I believe that Sirhan is still alive and imprisoned. I recall that he was recently denied again on an application for parole.

No, I am not aware of his ever having been mentioned as possibly having been involved in the JFK assassination, and I think it highly unlikely that he was since he was only nineteen years old at the time.

However, there has been some speculation about the RFK murder and Sirhan's role in it which, for some reason, has managed to stay under the radar for the more than 37 years since the event itself.

I would guess that there are very few people who are even aware of the fact that the case against Sirhan is anything but open and shut, and that theories abound involving misconduct by the FBI and/or the LAPD, and the suppression, outright disappearance, concealment, and/or tainting of evidence.

At least that's what I remember from the two books I read on the subject several years ago, both paperbacks:

The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: New Revelations On The Conspiracy and Cover-Up, by Philip H. Melanson (1991; S.P.I. Books, New York,); and

Shadow Play: The Untold Story Of The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination, by William Klaber abd Philip H. Melanson (1997; St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York).

(I guess this Melanson must be one of the experts in the field).

I don't remember much more in the way of detail other than the above (and I needed to read the books back covers and stuff to recall even that much ), but I do recall that there was also some business about a missing door frame from the area in which RFK was shot, in which the number of bullet holes or something would have provided proof that there was more than one gunman, and some other proof that there were eleven shots fired in total and Sirhan's gun only held eight rounds.

I also just did a quick googling of "Sirhan Sirhan", and there's a ton of stuff out there, altho I didn't look at any of it.

Maybe you'd like to, Goombah, and report back.

Edit: My aologies for the redundancy with MMTH's post. I started writing mine, and then stopped in the middle to look for the two books, which I had trouble finding.

With regards to Sirhan Sirhan and the conspiracy against RFK, I highly recommend David Scheim's aforementioned Contract on America, which explores both the Kennedy murders, and Dr. Martin Luther King's as well, if I remember correctly (I don't own this book, but my local library has a copy which I'm wearing out).

Scheim, if I recall, does provide evidence that the shooter was one of the guards/officers behind RFK at the time. He has pictures to aid the theories, which help immensely. I highly recommend this book.

I have the Scheim book, but I haven't read it since I first bought it, when the Stone film came out.

I remember he made a good case for Mafia involvement in the JFK killing, but I don't remember anything in there about RFK.

I'll have to take another look at it.

(Couple of minutes later.....)

OK, I looked. I have a paperback version (1988; Zebra Books, NY), and there seems to be only 15 pages or so on RFK (pp 318-332).

Also, on two pages of RFK photos (but one cute pic of Jack Ruby with a couple of his strippers )

Maybe you have a later edition with more on RFK in it?

If you are interested in the RFK assassination, BTW, the two books I mentioned in my earlier post above were both pretty good.

Also, another decent one that I have on the Mafia involvement in the JFK assassination is The Kennedy Contract: The Mafia Plot To Assassinate The President, by John H. Davis (1993; Harper Paperbacks, NY).

This one (according to the back cover; again, it's been a while ) is based on the "allegations and revelations" of former Santo Trafficante (and Jimmy Hoffa) attorney Frank Rangano, who also was supposed to be a "friend" of Carlos Marcello.

As I said, I don't own the book, but perhaps it is a later edition. It was hardcover. After searching Amazon.com, it appears the edition I'm referencing is the 1992 hardcover. But I thought that there was much more than 15 pages about RFK (perhaps I'm muddling sources).

John H. Davis (I think that's who you mean) is a good Kennedy historian imho, as I've already mentioned, and is related to Jackie Kennedy.

And Frank Ragano, yes, that old chestnut. He's the one who comes up with the quotes from Marcello like "we should've killed Bobby, not Johnny" and "take the stone out of my shoe," both in Italian which I can't remember right now.

Yeah, Davis. I don't know why I typed Davies.

I'm just looking through that book.....Where it lists his other stuff it says he also wrote Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Never heard of that one, though. You?

No interrogation records were kept for those arrested at Dealey Plaza, or for Oswald.

JFK's corpse left Dallas wrapped in a sheet inside an ornamental bronze casket. It arrived at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington in a body bag inside a plain casket.


While the President's autopsy was underway at Bethesda Naval Hospital, federal agents removed the X-rays of the body from custody of the examining doctors. Though the X-rays undoubtedly would have been valuable in determining trajectories of the bullets hitting the President, and thus the shooter's location, they are neither published nor alluded to in the Warren Report.


The pristine condition of "the magic bullet" suggests it was planted.

Phillip Willis took a series of 12 photos of Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was shot, in the minutes before and after the assassination. Mr. Willis' photos and testimony before the Commission appear in the report. He was not questioned about the eighth photo, a shot of the Book Depository entrance shortly after the shooting. As Willis later pointed out, one of the men in the photo "looks so much like (Jack Ruby), it's pitiful". F.B.I. agents questioning Willis agreed with him that the man bore a powerful resemblance to Ruby. When Willis mentioned this to the Commission, no interest was shown. When the photo was published in the Warren Report, a considerable part of the Ruby lookalike's face had been cropped away.


Many more witnesses have died than would normally be expected, many in mysterious circumstances:


Gary Underhill, a CIA agent who claimed the CIA was involved in the JFK assassination, died of a gun shot to the head in May 1964. H is death was ruled a suicide.

Guy Banister, a former FBl agent and acquaintance of Oswald, died of an apparent heart attack in June 1964. Files containing information on his anti-Castro activities were missing by the time authorities reached his office.

Mary Meyer, a mistress of JFK's during the White House years and the estranged wife of CIA veteran Cord Meyer, was murdered in October 1964 in a park in Washington, DC. Cord Meyer was a fishing companion of CIA counter-intelligence chief, James Jesus Angleton, who seized Meyer's diary after her death.

Rose Cheramie, a prostitute and striptease dancer in Ruby's Dallas nightclub, died in a Texas hit-and-run accident in September 1965. Two days before the assassination, she told police in Louisiana she overheard two Latin men plotting to kill the president.

Dorothy Kilgallen, a prominent columnist and TV personality, was ruled a suicide by drug overdose in November 1965. She had just completed a lengthy interview of Ruby in prison and told friends privately that she was about to "break" the JFK case.

David Ferrie, a militant anti-Castroite and associate of Oswald and Banister, died of an apparent brain embolism in February 1967. He was just about to be arraigned for conspiracy in the JFK assassination by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, whose investigation convinced him that the CIA was involved.

Eladio Del Valle, a friend and political comrade of Ferrie's, was shot at close range the day after Ferrie's death. Garrison had been trying to find Del Valle for questioning.


Don Cardi

See, here's the problem, DC, and I'm not looking for an argument here because we're on the same side:

I have read or heard all of the following things that you mention.

And as I said in another post, we don't really know the truth of any of this stuff.

We don't know who started the coverup and when, whether or not it's still in effect, and, most importantly, of all of the conspiracy theories and points like you make below that are out there, we don't know which are true and which are false, deliberately planted by the conspirators to mislead us or throw us off the track.

For example:

No interrogation records were kept for those arrested at Dealey Plaza, or for Oswald.

Do we know that for a fact. Isn't it possible that records were kept, and then covered up or destroyed?

JFK's corpse left Dallas wrapped in a sheet inside an ornamental bronze casket. It arrived at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington in a body bag inside a plain casket.

See David Lipton's book, Best Evidence. Eyewitness accounts differ wildly. Which do we believe and which are erroneous, and which are deliberately false?

While the President's autopsy was underway at Bethesda Naval Hospital, federal agents removed the X-rays of the body from custody of the examining doctors. Though the X-rays undoubtedly would have been valuable in determining trajectories of the bullets hitting the President, and thus the shooter's location, they are neither published nor alluded to in the Warren Report.

Except for the fact that the x-rays are not alluded to in the WC Report, how do we know if the rest of the above is fact?

I've read several differing accounts about what actually happened at the autopsy itself

And I've seen several different versions in different books of the autopsy photos, and the books say "This or that one is fake" and "this or that one is authentic."

How do we know the real photos from the fakes? Because some author says so? How do we know what his motives are?

Phillip Willis took a series of 12 photos of Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was shot, in the minutes before and after the assassination. Mr. Willis' photos and testimony before the Commission appear in the report. He was not questioned about the eighth photo, a shot of the Book Depository entrance shortly after the shooting. As Willis later pointed out, one of the men in the photo "looks so much like (Jack Ruby), it's pitiful". F.B.I. agents questioning Willis agreed with him that the man bore a powerful resemblance to Ruby. When Willis mentioned this to the Commission, no interest was shown. When the photo was published in the Warren Report, a considerable part of the Ruby lookalike's face had been cropped away.

I never heard that one before, but do we know that whole story to be true?

And if it is, it wouldn't surprise me. The WC's lack of interest in anything that did not support their "lone nut" theory is legendary. There are scores of similar examples.

Many more witnesses have died than would normally be expected, many in mysterious circumstances:

(List of names & circumstances)

And there are literally dozens more.

I don't disagree with you at all here. Personally, I believe that all these conspiracy theories were purposely put out there, by those who may have been behind the plot to have Kennedy killed, to cause much confusion and in the hope that the truth gets buried under all these different ideas and stories.

I really don't think that we'll ever know the truth. At least in our lifetime.


Don Cardi

Let's see (off the top of my head and probably not as fluent as PLaw/DC, and, trying not to get repetitive of what's been posted):

JFK's Dallas route was changed at the last minute (Don't know the streets, but they were originally scheduled to take a different route)??? And what's the deal with the car slowing down as the shots rang out?

Oswald, who was reported to be an "average" shooter at best hits his moving target with a faulty gun. Lucky shot?

Oswald is interviewed and from I've read there were "tape recorded" interviews. It turns out that they are lost, misplaced, stolen. (remember Oswald's famous line, "I'm just a patsy?") I'm thinking he must have explained that during his interrogation. Did any official who may have been in the interrogation address what he meant by that? I assume there were written notes as well. Both the tape and notes disappear?

Ruby wanting to testify and denied the opportunity

Also, the car JFK was killed in was taken and/or cleaned out and repaired. Wouldn't even an amature know not to tamper with evidence? Although, let me add that just yesterday while researching this subject, I read that Connelly had his suit he was wearing cleaned the next day. Not to imply at all that he was involved, but it would seem he would at least ask authorities before doing so. It many have answered, I don't know, something about the "magic bullet" no?

Oswald amazingly, and seemingly so easily murdered two days later by Jack Ruby.

In the book, "Murder In Dealy Plaza" which deals much in the forensics and autopsy, one of the original "first" doctors in the emergency room claimed the photos in the WC report of the wound to the head was not the wound he saw before being kicked out of the emergency room. He claims the entire back of the Presidents head was blown off, and the autopsy pics in the WC showed only a small hole. Is he lying? His explanation does coincide with the reports (and we see it on film) that Jackie crawled to the back of limo to retrieve part of her husband's brain. Although I've heard that explained as, "she was trying to alert the Secret Service.

All the "coincidences" that PLaw & DC mentioned are unbelieveable. The many many witnesses who died suddenly in itself is questionable. I would love ot see this solved in my lifetime, but the more time that goes by the less I think it will happen. And, like I think PLaw said, even if we hear the "truth" at last, will we still doubt? It'd have to be pretty damn convincing I think.

TIS