Final_Judgment

[178] Final Judgment 239
Orleans in the fall of 1963, in the weeks immediately preceding the
assassination. During this same period in late 1963, David Ferrie was
working for Mafia leader Carlos Marcello on the same floor . . . in the same
building . . . just down the hall from Braden—in Room 1707. 482
[Fensterwald notes further that Noyes has found additional evidence that
Braden once listed his address as Room 1706—right next to Ferrie! In
Chapter 11 we examined the role of CIA contract agent David Ferrie and his
connection to the JFK assassination conspiracy in some detail. The evidence
cited by Fensterwald only draws the circle more closely.)
That one of Meyer Lansky's chief couriers would be in Dallas and
moving in Ruby's sphere of operations is evidence that the fine hand of
Meyer Lansky himself was in motion in Dallas and, more than likely, this
is a direct link between Lansky and Ruby.
According to Lansky's West Coast henchman, Mickey Cohen (Ruby's role
model) couriers such as Braden were very important in the Lansky Syndicate:
"Important messages never came by phone. Anything to do with a hit, a
gambling operation, to go somewhere or to see somebody, was by courier.
See, we worried about wiretaps thirty years ago. Even money was only
transacted person to person. If anybody had money coming or going, you
put a man on a plane." 483
Another Lansky associate, Michael Milan, has also written of the
importance of mob couriers and the need for secrecy. "Whenever he came to
a sitdown, Mr. Lansky always had his percentage figured out in advance. He
kept it all in his head, too." 484
There is evidence, however, that Ruby and Braden did indeed have a very
close connection. Lansky's courier Jim Braden was also a "friend" 485 of
Lansky's Mexico City representative, "Happy" Meltzer," whom we met
earlier in this chapter as the head of a drug-smuggling operation in which
Ruby was evidently involved.
Obviously, Lansky's courier, Jim Braden, may have indeed been
bringing a message from Lansky to Ruby. But whatever his role in Dallas,
there's no question but that he was there for a purpose. This was not a case of
coincidence, but indeed, conspiracy. All of this, taken together, suggests, as
we have said, that the Lansky-Ruby connection is much deeper than might
be perceived and far more than some "crime solvers" would have us realize.
What is especially interesting, further, is an additional Lansky connection to
Ruby that surfaced after the assassination of JFK and after the murder of Lee
Harvey Oswald.
MELVIN BELLI COMES TO TOWN
In Chapter 13 we examined the strange—and little known role—of Meyer
Lansky's West Coast henchman, Mickey Cohen, in the JFK assassination
conspiracy. Cohen—himself a longtime Ruby associate and the Dallas
mobster's role model—was obviously a key figure in the network of
conspiracy. It was Cohen's longtime friend—and attorney—Melvin Belli who
stepped forward as Jack Ruby's defense attorney.