Final_Judgment

[180] Final Judgment 241
scheduled to be retried for his murder of the alleged assassin. As a
consequence, any final determination of just what role Ruby played in the
JFK assassination scenario became another mystery in an endless series of
mysteries. Jack Ruby could never tell what he knew.
This was not the end of Melvin Belli's role in the JFK controversy,
however. As pioneer JFK assassination investigator Mark Lane noted in his
second book on the assassination, A Citizen's Dissent, Belli emerged as one
of the leading defenders of the official Warren Commission version of the
assassination.
According to Lane, ABC-TV's Les Crane show wanted to stage a debate
between Lane and Belli. "I was less sanguine, for, although I was confident
in my knowledge of the facts, Belli's almost legendary oratorical
accomplishments had preceded him to the East coast." 492
Lane points out that he subsequently received a call from the producer
telling him that the debate was canceled. According to the producer: "It's
the ABC brass. They have just said no. Period. They say you have the facts
and the affidavits and that would just confuse the audience." 493 But the show
itself was not, in fact, canceled—only the debate between the well-informed
Lane and Belli.
"It's just that we can't have you on." Lane was told. There's going to
be a debate anyway. We're getting Oswald's mother." 494 Lane summarized
the situation in this way: "And so it came to pass that the first network
broadcast presenting both sides of the controversy found splendiferous
Melvin Belli, conqueror of a thousand juries, opposed by a poorly educated
widow. Mrs. Oswald's visceral responses were meritorious, but her lack of
command over the facts, together with Belli's bully tactics, reduced the
program to the low level of entertainment that the network apparently
sought." 495
After some negotiations, Belli finally agreed to debate on stage under one
condition--that both wear tuxedoes. There would be three debates. It was during
the first debate, in San Francisco, that Belli came on stage, wearing a cape over
his tuxedo, and in his concluding remarks made his final judgment on the JFK
assassination conspiracy. He declared "If we cannot trust the FBI, the CIA
and Earl Warren, then God pity us. " 496
However, the Establishment media did not see fit to publicize the
circumstances of this debate, despite the fact, as Lane points out, that Belli
himself is somewhat of a celebrity. As Lane noted: "In San Francisco, if
Belli's office is burglarized or if he agrees to represent a topless dancer, he is
on the front page of the newspapers and may be seen repeatedly on
television screens. Perhaps those assembled that evening constituted the
largest paying audience to witness a debate in many years in San Francisco.
Yet not one word appeared in any of the three daily newspapers the morning
after the debate." 497
MEDIA COVER-UP