Final_Judgment

[258] Final Judgment 319
It was this same Robert Maheu (misspelled as "Mayhew" by Kirkwood)
who was assisting Phelan in the attempt to scuttle the Garrison
investigation—an investigation that would, if pursued to the ultimate, have
exposed the very CIA-organized crime conspiracy against Castro that also
implicated many of those involved in the JFK assassination itself.
In Chapter 11 we examined Maheu's involvement with the CIA and such
organized crime figures as Johnny Rosselli, Sam Giancana and Meyer Lansky
lieutenant Santo Trafficante in detail.
It will also be recalled that the aforementioned Desert Inn (by this time the
property of billionaire Howard Hughes) was initially established by
Meyer Lansky's trusted associate, Morris Dalitz, whose activities and
strange connections we examined in Chapter 10 and Chapter 15.
So it was that the CIA did have its collaborators in key positions to
undermine the Jim Garrison investigation.
GARRISON & MARCELLO
Some of Garrison's more creative foes in the media cleverly came up with
a new way to discredit the New Orleans prosecutor. Instead of really seeking
the truth about the JFK murder, they said, Garrison was, in fact, trying to
cover it up. Garrison—so they said—was a willing tool of Mafia chieftain
Carlos Marcello.
By pointing his finger in the direction of the CIA, the Garrison critics
claimed, the D.A. was trying to take the heat of suspicion off Carlos
Marcello who, they said, was the more likely suspect.
This claim is illogical at best. If Garrison were deliberately trying to
cover up any Marcello connections—if any—to the assassination
conspiracy, he was going about it in the wrong way.
(It was in Chapter 10 where we learned of the campaign against
Garrison led by Life magazine's Richard Billings, who promoted the
Garrison-Marcello scenario. It was Billings, of course, who later served as a
top advisor to the House Assassinations Committee which pointed the
finger of blame for the JFK assassination on "The Mafia,"—and Marcello
in particular. )
If Garrison was trying to protect Marcello, the last person that he
should have picked on was David Ferrie, the Mafia kingpin's sometimepersonal
pilot and occasional legal researcher. Ferrie himself was standing
alongside Marcello in a federal courtroom in New Orleans at the very
moment JFK was shot.
By first inquiring into Ferrie's activities, Garrison was practically
walking right into Marcello's office itself. This fact alone nullifies the
creative (but very much flawed) "Mafia cover-up" critique of Garrison that
continues to hang over Garrison's memory to this day. Yet, those who
push the theory that "The Mafia Killed JFK" ignore this fact.
Evidently the people of New Orleans didn't buy the Establishment's
heavy-handed assault on Garrison. He won re-election to the district
attorney's office, despite—or perhaps precisely because of—the media