The Dallas County District Attorney's Office has announced
the discovery of a trove of documents relating to the assassination
of John Kennedy.
Among the documents is an alleged transcript of a conversation
between Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, planning the assassination
together on behalf of the Mafia. This document has aroused the
greatest amount of interest but has also been described as "highly
suspect."
Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins explained at a news
conference on Monday morning that the documents were found in
a safe about a year ago -- soon after he took office -- and
that his staff have been examining and cataloging them ever
since. Previous DA's had decided not to reveal the information,
but Watkins said his administration is devoted to openness and
felt it was "too important to keep secret."
"It will open up the debate as to whether there was a
conspiracy to assassinate the president," Watkins stated.
Ruby, the owner of a Dallas burlesque club, shot Oswald while
he was in police custody two days after the November 22, 1963
assassination. The transcript has Oswald telling Ruby, "the
[Mafia] boys in Chicago want to get rid of the Attorney General
[Robert Kennedy]. ... There is a way to get rid of him without
killing him. ... I can shoot his brother."
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The curator of a Dallas museum devoted to the assassination
has pointed out that Oswald is known to have been elsewhere
on October 4, the alleged date of the conversation. The safe
also contained a 1967 contract with the then-district attorney
for a movie about the assassination, and the DA's assistant
has suggested that the transcript was part of a proposed movie
script.
This video is from Fox's Fox News Live, broadcast February
18, 2008.