KGB spooks, mob ties & a strange call to UK newspaper…could Trump’s release of ‘FINAL 3%’ of JFK files reveal the truth?
NEW glimpses into John F Kennedy’s assassination could be revealed as the final sealed files on his death are set to be declassified.
Fascination surrounding that fateful day more than 60 years ago remains as great as ever as wannabe sleuths hope to find out the full truth.
Only a few thousand of the millions of government records have yet to be fully released – but could shed more light on what happened on November 22, 1963.
Just days after his inauguration, Donald Trump ordered the final documents be released, saying it is in the interest of the American people.
JFK was shot in the head and neck by Lee Harvey Oswald, 24, whilst travelling in an open-top car parade in Dallas, Texas.
But conspiracy theories about his assassination from mob hits to CIA plots have remained rife as the public guess at what might be contained in the secret files.
Sensational details were revealed in 2017 when a tranche of documents were revealed – including Oswald’s meeting with a KGB agent and a mystery phone call to a British newspaper.
Experts have warned the drop of the final documents will likely not contain any earth-shattering revelations that would change the accepted version of events.
But they may still reveal fresh details surrounding JFK’s assassination and the circumstances around it.
Larry J. Sabato, author of The Kennedy Half-Century, told NBC: “There’s always the possibility that something would slip through that would be the tiny tip of a much larger iceberg that would be revealing.
“That’s what researchers look for. Now, odds are you won’t find that but it is possible that it’s there.”
It is understood just three per cent of records surrounding the assassination remain shielded from the public.
But the fact up to 4,000 documents remain partly or completely redacted has further fuelled speculation that US Government agencies are involved in a cover-up.
Officials have argued they have been kept back because they contain details of people who are still alive or have information and locations of intelligence offices.
Some documents in the collection may never be released, including tax returns that weren’t subject to the 2017 disclosure requirement.
Other files have been destroyed over the decades.
The files released in 2017 told of Oswald’s meeting with a KGB agent responsible for assassinations two months before JFK was killed.
One bombshell document said that the FBI knew about the meeting between Oswald and the KGB spy.
The files also revealed how a reporter at Cambridge News told cops he received a chilling call just 25 minutes before Kennedy was shot.
Documents told how the caller told the reporter to call the American Embassy in London for “some big news” before hanging up.
Gerald Posner, who wrote Case Closed about JFK’s death, believes the remaining documents could reveal information about mafia and CIA plots against Fidel Castro.
Oswald – who had developed a strong attachment to Cuba and its president – visited the Cuban embassy in Mexico City just weeks before shooting JFK dead.
He wanted to get a visa to immigrate to Cuba, but was frustrated when he couldn’t get one straight away.
Mr Posner told NBC: “There are some files that are still sealed about the mafia and CIA plots against Fidel Castro – and I’d like to know more about that.
“There’s a document in there on Mexican intelligence – information was gathered on Oswald when he visited Mexico City only six weeks before the assassination.
“And it might disclose the extent to which the CIA knew how unbalanced Oswald was and they didn’t tell the FBI.
“So there could be some embarrassing things in here, it’ll be interesting for history.
“But I don’t think there will be a smoking gun document that will turn the case on its head and say here’s who killed Kennedy, it was really part of the secret government and here are the people involved.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Mr Posner has dismissed claims there could have been a second shooter – but said questions remain over Oswald’s motives.
He said: “There no question at all that Oswald was the assassin that day.
“So the only question is did he do it for himself or did he do it as part of a plot. That’s always the toughest question.
JFK's assassination explained
JFK was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963 as he travelled in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza.
Three shots were fired, two of which hit him in the neck and head.
Half an hour after the shots were fired, the 35th president of the United States was pronounced dead.
Oswald, a 24-year-old self-proclaimed Marxist, was soon arrested in a nearby cinema after police hunted the killer of one of their fellow officers.
He denied shooting anybody, claiming to reporters that he was a “patsy”.
Later he was accused of shooting the president dead with his $21 mail-order rifle from a window of the sixth floor of a nearby school textbook warehouse.
Two days after the assassination and his arrest, Oswald was being escorted from Dallas Police Headquarters to county prison.
As he was taken out in front of the world’s media, Jack Ruby stepped forward and shot him dead.
Ruby was later found guilty of murder.
The Warren Commission in 1964 reported that Oswald had been the lone gunman, and another congressional probe in 1979 found no evidence to support the theory that the CIA had been involved.
But some say this was a cover-up.
Conspiracy theories include a CIA plot, a mafia-hit job, and a covert operation by Vice President Lyndon Johnson.
“I’ve looked a those connections to see did he do it for the CIA, did he do it for the Russians, did he do it to impress Castro because he wanted to get to Cuba – there are all of those possibilities.
“But in the end, what’s missing is proof and evidence. And it’s not going to be sitting there in a file that’s been sitting in the National Archives for all of these decades.”
Speculation about the role of the mob remains rampant and amateur sleuths hope documents will reveal more.
Some armchair detectives have claimed the FBI and Lyndon Johnson – who succeeded JFK as president – covered up the mob’s involvement in the assassination.
Others have suggested high-level government officials were involved in the plot to kill JFK.
Oswald, a self-proclaimed Marxist, was accused of shooting JFK from the window of the sixth floor of a nearby school textbook warehouse.
He was shot dead by local club owner Jack Ruby in the Dallas police station.
Ruby – who had connections to the mob in the 1940s – claimed he had simply acted out of grief and denied any involvement in a conspiracy.
Explosive JFK files released in 2017 revealed Oswald and his killer Ruby met in the weeks before JFK was assassinated.
The pair were seen together at Florida’s Key West airport in 1963 and were overheard speaking in code about “Big Bird”, according to the documents.
Whether soon to be released documents will reveal any more details is unclear – but could trigger fresh conspiracy theories, and fuel well-known ones.