James Files
Encyclopedia
James Earl Files is allegedly a former Central Intelligence Agency
/Mafia
hit man who claims to have been the grassy knoll shooter in Dealey Plaza
on the morning of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
.
, Alabama
, on January 24, 1942. His older sister, Mary Pearl Files, was born at the same farmhouse in 1936. Files states that he used the name "Sutton" until 1963. The Sutton/Files family moved to Melrose Park, Illinois
, in the late 1940s, where he grew up in an Italian neighborhood. He was labeled as a "juvenile delinquent" by the local police chief, bought his first car at age 14 and rode motorcycles and raced stock cars when he was in his early to mid-20s.
Files states that he joined the U.S. Army in 1959, entered the 82nd Airborne Division and was sent to Laos
as part of Operation White Star
. Files says he did intelligence work and that he was among the first U.S. covert combat troops sent into Laos in 1959.
(FBI) and private investigative agencies have been unable to find any trace of his military records. In 1995, however, John C. Grady, the official historian of the 82nd Airborne and the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
, claims to have located Files' U.S. Army serial number and a Veterans Administration
claim number in an "inactive" file at a remote regional VA office and through the VA computer in St. Louis
.
After an 18-month search, Grady verified that Files had indeed entered the U.S. Army in 1959 and went into the 82nd Airborne before being sent to Laos on July 10, 1959. One year later, in early 1996, Grady checked the service record of Files again. No records were found, and all files under the name "James E. Files" were marked "no further information available." This needs to be called into question, as Files stated in an 1994 interview that his legal name until 1963 was 'James Sutton', and not 'James Files'. If this is true, then the army would not have any record of "James E. Files".
for allegedly killing two of his own men to "save face" with the Laotian Army. Files also claims that it was at this time he was rescued and recruited by CIA agent David Atlee Phillips
, although no solid evidence of this is known to exist. It was also through David Atlee Phillips that Files claims to have met Lee Harvey Oswald
(Phillips was Oswald’s controller, according to Files). Files says that Phillips gave Files the early model Remington XP-100
“Fireball” that was used to deliver the headshot (more alleged info here). Very little is known about Files' involvement in the CIA.
Files was chosen to drive for Charles Nicoletti
in late 1961 or early 1962 and eventually became a "favorite" of Nicoletti. He also claims to have done several “hit jobs” for Nicoletti prior to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
, and to have impressed Nicoletti on several occasions with his firearms skills. He claims that Mafia
vehicles had custom interior features, like fold-down rear seats and removable side door panels, which would be used to hide weapons.
According to Wim Dankbaar’s site, several eyewitnesses have reported seeing Files and Charles Nicoletti
together:
1. Incarcerated Mafia
assassin Leonard Patrick
has testified that James Files was associated with the Chicago
mob and Charles Nicoletti
.
2. A former CIA-U.S. Army intelligence officer who was stationed in Florida
in 1963 has also identified James E. Files as being involved with the JM/WAVE
CIA covert headquarters in Miami during the early 1960s.
3. CIA contract pilot William Robert Plumlee
("Tosh" Plumlee) recalls a "young hitter from Chicago, who got into trouble down in Mexico and had to be bailed out by Frank Sturgis
of the CIA."
4. The garage owner (where Files was once employed) stated that Nicoletti would only let Files "touch" or work on Nicoletti’s personal vehicles.
5. Two of Files' Chicago
"buddies" recall Files and Nicoletti as "being very close.”
Through a lengthy interview, taped in 2003, Files gave the following account of the chain of events that occurred in the assassination of John F. Kennedy
:
One evening in the spring of 1963, Files was playing a pinball machine when Mr. Nicoletti approached him and said they were going to go for a drive. During that drive, Mr. Nicoletti revealed a plan to assassinate President John F. Kennedy
. This plan had come from collaboration between the CIA and the Chicago
Mob boss Sam Giancana
, and the job had been delegated to Mr. Nicoletti. In the months leading up to the assassination, several locations were considered, including Chicago. Ultimately, Dallas, Texas
, had been chosen as the location of the hit.
At this point, Files had not been considered as a shooter in the coming assassination. He was assigned only as an aide to Mr. Nicoletti in weapon arrangements and to survey the location. A week before the assassination, Files drove into Dallas and stayed at the Lamplighter Motel in Mesquite, Dallas, where he called Mr. Nicoletti as well as David Atlee Phillips
(who he claims was his “controller”). He claims that the next morning Lee Harvey Oswald
(who shared the same “controller”) showed up at the hotel. Over the next five days, Files and Oswald spent the days together (a picture, which Files says was taken by Oswald, can be found here). Files claims that he and Oswald went to an empty field to test fire the weapons and calibrate the scopes that were to be used on President Kennedy, and that Oswald was picking up the shells as Files fired them. He also claims that he and Oswald never spoke of the assassination the entire time.
Two days before the assassination, Mr. Nicoletti arrived in Dallas and told Files that Johnny Roselli had flown in as part of a CIA abort team to call off the hit, but said that he was going ahead with the hit anyway. He then asked Files, since Johnny Roselli would no longer be the other assassin, if Files would like to be a backup shooter, to which Files agreed. Files states this is how he became the other gunman.
When Files had volunteered as the backup shooter, he was given specific guidelines by Mr. Nicoletti:
1. He was not to fire unless absolutely necessary
2. He was not to harm Jacqueline Kennedy
3. They were going for a headshot, and he was to fire only if there had been no headshot
Following these guidelines, Files chose to use a 1962 prototype bolt-action Remington XP-100
“Fireball” given to him by CIA agent David Atlee Phillips. The location he chose for cover was the infamous “grassy knoll”. He states that he was wearing a “reversible” jacket to look like a railway worker, and that he kept the Remington XP-100 “Fireball”, as well as specially-made “mercury rounds” in a small suitcase.
Files states that he had loaded a special wax-tipped mercury round into the Remington XP-100 “Fireball”, and waited in the rail yard for President Kennedy. When President Kennedy came into view, he claims that he was aiming for President Kennedy’s right eye in his scope when he was coming down Elm St. When shots started, he began counting the shots as misses, and had to take the shot as instructed if no headshot had been made. When no headshot had been made, he claims he took his shot, and that his shot was the fatal bullet that took President Kennedy’s life. Afterwards, he packed the gun in the suitcase, bit the shell casing, left it sitting on the stockade fence, and walked away. He claims that he walked to an arranged meeting place (a car garage) where Charles Nicoletti and Johnny Roselli were waiting for him. Files drove them to a gas station to drop them off, and he drove back to Chicago.
-1994: Interview with Bob Vernon
-2003: Interview with Jim Marrs & Wim Dankbaar
During these two interviews, Files has made the following statements:
, Robert Groden, David Scheim, John R. Craig, Gary Shaw, Barr McClellan, Dick Russell and Fabian Escalante give credence to his confession. Critics have pointed to claims that he has changed his story on numerous occasions, the historical inaccuracy of some of his claims, and inaccurate descriptions of the gun he says he used.
Files at one point was close to being featured in an NBC documentary, but the deal fell through when NBC decided to check out his story, and hired Edward Epstein to vet it.
However, James Files, in a letter he wrote to Mrs. Pamela Ray, a person with whom he developed a close relationship, said:
Dutch JFK researcher Wim Dankbaar also counters the claims. Dankbaar also published a phone conversation with Faith Files, ex-wife of Files, who corroborated a number of claims, disputed by others.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
/Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
hit man who claims to have been the grassy knoll shooter in Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza , in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas, Texas , is the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
on the morning of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
.
Background
James E. Files was born in a small country farmhouse just outside OakmanOakman, Alabama
Oakman is a town in Walker County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 944.-Geography:Oakman is located at .According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, on January 24, 1942. His older sister, Mary Pearl Files, was born at the same farmhouse in 1936. Files states that he used the name "Sutton" until 1963. The Sutton/Files family moved to Melrose Park, Illinois
Melrose Park, Illinois
Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a "near-in" suburb of Chicago. The population was 23,171 at the 2000 census. Melrose Park has long been home to a large Italian-American population, though now it is majority Mexican-American. It was the home of Kiddieland...
, in the late 1940s, where he grew up in an Italian neighborhood. He was labeled as a "juvenile delinquent" by the local police chief, bought his first car at age 14 and rode motorcycles and raced stock cars when he was in his early to mid-20s.
Files states that he joined the U.S. Army in 1959, entered the 82nd Airborne Division and was sent to Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
as part of Operation White Star
Operation White Star
Operation White Star was the code name for a United States military advisory mission to Laos during the first years of the Second Indochina War, which would eventually become known in the United States as the Vietnam War...
. Files says he did intelligence work and that he was among the first U.S. covert combat troops sent into Laos in 1959.
Military service
There is much debate over Files' military service. According to Wim Dankbaar’s site, Files has stated that his military service records have been erased by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and that this is why the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) and private investigative agencies have been unable to find any trace of his military records. In 1995, however, John C. Grady, the official historian of the 82nd Airborne and the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment is one of four infantry regiments of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army.Activated in 1942, the regiment participated in the campaigns of Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, Holland and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II...
, claims to have located Files' U.S. Army serial number and a Veterans Administration
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
claim number in an "inactive" file at a remote regional VA office and through the VA computer in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
.
After an 18-month search, Grady verified that Files had indeed entered the U.S. Army in 1959 and went into the 82nd Airborne before being sent to Laos on July 10, 1959. One year later, in early 1996, Grady checked the service record of Files again. No records were found, and all files under the name "James E. Files" were marked "no further information available." This needs to be called into question, as Files stated in an 1994 interview that his legal name until 1963 was 'James Sutton', and not 'James Files'. If this is true, then the army would not have any record of "James E. Files".
CIA connection
After 14 months in military service, Files claims, he was scheduled to be court-martialed at Ft. Meade, MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
for allegedly killing two of his own men to "save face" with the Laotian Army. Files also claims that it was at this time he was rescued and recruited by CIA agent David Atlee Phillips
David Atlee Phillips
David Atlee Phillips was a Central Intelligence Agency officer for 25 years, one of a handful of people to receive the Career Intelligence Medal. He rose to become the CIA's chief of all operations in the Western hemisphere...
, although no solid evidence of this is known to exist. It was also through David Atlee Phillips that Files claims to have met Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
(Phillips was Oswald’s controller, according to Files). Files says that Phillips gave Files the early model Remington XP-100
Remington XP-100
The Remington XP-100 is a bolt action pistol produced by Remington Arms from 1963 to 1998. The XP-100 was one of the first handguns designed for long range shooting, and introduced the .221 Remington Fireball , which is still the fastest handgun cartridge ever produced by a major ammunition maker...
“Fireball” that was used to deliver the headshot (more alleged info here). Very little is known about Files' involvement in the CIA.
Ties to the Mafia
In a 1994 interview, Files gives his account on how he had gotten involved in organized crime:
“Well, I first became... it's a strange way to start out... but I was racing stock cars and driving at a local track and Mr. Nicoletti had taken a shine to my driving and he'd watched me on several occasions and he had asked me once if I would drive him one evening. I took him out and test drove his car that we'd just picked up a brand new Ford...and he was pretty well pleased with my driving and from then on I became more like an assigned driver to him and I did several drivings for him on different jobs that he did.”
Files was chosen to drive for Charles Nicoletti
Charles Nicoletti
Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, also known as "The Typewriter" "Chuckie Typewriter" , was a top Chicago Outfit hitman under Outfit boss Sam "Mooney" Giancana before and after Giancana's rise and fall.-Early years:...
in late 1961 or early 1962 and eventually became a "favorite" of Nicoletti. He also claims to have done several “hit jobs” for Nicoletti prior to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, and to have impressed Nicoletti on several occasions with his firearms skills. He claims that Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
vehicles had custom interior features, like fold-down rear seats and removable side door panels, which would be used to hide weapons.
According to Wim Dankbaar’s site, several eyewitnesses have reported seeing Files and Charles Nicoletti
Charles Nicoletti
Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, also known as "The Typewriter" "Chuckie Typewriter" , was a top Chicago Outfit hitman under Outfit boss Sam "Mooney" Giancana before and after Giancana's rise and fall.-Early years:...
together:
1. Incarcerated Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
assassin Leonard Patrick
Leonard Patrick
Leonard "Lenny" Patrick was an American mobster, a member of the Chicago Outfit involved in bookmaking and extortion and later a government informant.Emigrating with his family from England...
has testified that James Files was associated with the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
mob and Charles Nicoletti
Charles Nicoletti
Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, also known as "The Typewriter" "Chuckie Typewriter" , was a top Chicago Outfit hitman under Outfit boss Sam "Mooney" Giancana before and after Giancana's rise and fall.-Early years:...
.
2. A former CIA-U.S. Army intelligence officer who was stationed in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in 1963 has also identified James E. Files as being involved with the JM/WAVE
JMWAVE
JMWAVE or JM/WAVE or JM WAVE was the codename for a major secret United States covert operations and intelligence gathering station operated by the CIA from 1961 until 1968...
CIA covert headquarters in Miami during the early 1960s.
3. CIA contract pilot William Robert Plumlee
William Robert Plumlee
William Robert Plumlee in Panama City, Florida is an American pilot who worked for the CIA. He was known as "Tosh" and also as William H. "Buck" Pearson.-Military service:...
("Tosh" Plumlee) recalls a "young hitter from Chicago, who got into trouble down in Mexico and had to be bailed out by Frank Sturgis
Frank Sturgis
Frank Anthony Sturgis , born Frank Angelo Fiorini, was one of the Watergate burglars.-Early Life and Military Service:...
of the CIA."
4. The garage owner (where Files was once employed) stated that Nicoletti would only let Files "touch" or work on Nicoletti’s personal vehicles.
5. Two of Files' Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
"buddies" recall Files and Nicoletti as "being very close.”
Claims of involvement in JFK assassination
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
:
One evening in the spring of 1963, Files was playing a pinball machine when Mr. Nicoletti approached him and said they were going to go for a drive. During that drive, Mr. Nicoletti revealed a plan to assassinate President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. This plan had come from collaboration between the CIA and the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Mob boss Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana
Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...
, and the job had been delegated to Mr. Nicoletti. In the months leading up to the assassination, several locations were considered, including Chicago. Ultimately, Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, had been chosen as the location of the hit.
At this point, Files had not been considered as a shooter in the coming assassination. He was assigned only as an aide to Mr. Nicoletti in weapon arrangements and to survey the location. A week before the assassination, Files drove into Dallas and stayed at the Lamplighter Motel in Mesquite, Dallas, where he called Mr. Nicoletti as well as David Atlee Phillips
David Atlee Phillips
David Atlee Phillips was a Central Intelligence Agency officer for 25 years, one of a handful of people to receive the Career Intelligence Medal. He rose to become the CIA's chief of all operations in the Western hemisphere...
(who he claims was his “controller”). He claims that the next morning Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
(who shared the same “controller”) showed up at the hotel. Over the next five days, Files and Oswald spent the days together (a picture, which Files says was taken by Oswald, can be found here). Files claims that he and Oswald went to an empty field to test fire the weapons and calibrate the scopes that were to be used on President Kennedy, and that Oswald was picking up the shells as Files fired them. He also claims that he and Oswald never spoke of the assassination the entire time.
Two days before the assassination, Mr. Nicoletti arrived in Dallas and told Files that Johnny Roselli had flown in as part of a CIA abort team to call off the hit, but said that he was going ahead with the hit anyway. He then asked Files, since Johnny Roselli would no longer be the other assassin, if Files would like to be a backup shooter, to which Files agreed. Files states this is how he became the other gunman.
When Files had volunteered as the backup shooter, he was given specific guidelines by Mr. Nicoletti:
1. He was not to fire unless absolutely necessary
2. He was not to harm Jacqueline Kennedy
3. They were going for a headshot, and he was to fire only if there had been no headshot
Following these guidelines, Files chose to use a 1962 prototype bolt-action Remington XP-100
Remington XP-100
The Remington XP-100 is a bolt action pistol produced by Remington Arms from 1963 to 1998. The XP-100 was one of the first handguns designed for long range shooting, and introduced the .221 Remington Fireball , which is still the fastest handgun cartridge ever produced by a major ammunition maker...
“Fireball” given to him by CIA agent David Atlee Phillips. The location he chose for cover was the infamous “grassy knoll”. He states that he was wearing a “reversible” jacket to look like a railway worker, and that he kept the Remington XP-100 “Fireball”, as well as specially-made “mercury rounds” in a small suitcase.
Files states that he had loaded a special wax-tipped mercury round into the Remington XP-100 “Fireball”, and waited in the rail yard for President Kennedy. When President Kennedy came into view, he claims that he was aiming for President Kennedy’s right eye in his scope when he was coming down Elm St. When shots started, he began counting the shots as misses, and had to take the shot as instructed if no headshot had been made. When no headshot had been made, he claims he took his shot, and that his shot was the fatal bullet that took President Kennedy’s life. Afterwards, he packed the gun in the suitcase, bit the shell casing, left it sitting on the stockade fence, and walked away. He claims that he walked to an arranged meeting place (a car garage) where Charles Nicoletti and Johnny Roselli were waiting for him. Files drove them to a gas station to drop them off, and he drove back to Chicago.
Files's statements & claims
Files has been taped in two interviews:-1994: Interview with Bob Vernon
-2003: Interview with Jim Marrs & Wim Dankbaar
During these two interviews, Files has made the following statements:
- His real name is James Sutton, which he changed to James Files in 1963
- He had been employed as an agent in the CIA following his discharge from the military
- He had known Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination
- Lee Harvey Oswald did not fire any rifle during the assassination
- The other shooter was Charles Nicoletti, who was firing from the Dal-Tex building
- Jack Ruby was in Dealey Plaza during the assassination
- Johnny Roselli flew to Dallas as part of a CIA “abort team” to call off the assassination
- On the morning of the assassination he met with Johnny Roselli and Charles Nicoletti
- Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill Officer J.D. Tippit
- He bit a gun shell casing & left it on the grassy knoll following the fatal shot (more alleged info here, and here)
- His shot and Nicoletti’s shot hit President Kennedy’s head within a split second of each other
- His shot was a custom-made wax-tipped mercury-filled round
- He & Oswald spent a few days together prior to the assassination
- He never confessed his involvement until 1994
- He did not voluntarily give his story, until the FBI gave him up
Critical views
Files' claims have created heated debates among JFK assassination researchers, even between those who firmly believe in a conspiracy. Noted JFK researchers such as Jim MarrsJim Marrs
Jim Marrs is an American former newspaper journalist and New York Times best-selling author of books and articles on a wide range of alleged cover ups and conspiracies. Marrs is a prominent figure in the JFK conspiracy press and his book Crossfire was a source for Oliver Stone's film JFK...
, Robert Groden, David Scheim, John R. Craig, Gary Shaw, Barr McClellan, Dick Russell and Fabian Escalante give credence to his confession. Critics have pointed to claims that he has changed his story on numerous occasions, the historical inaccuracy of some of his claims, and inaccurate descriptions of the gun he says he used.
Files at one point was close to being featured in an NBC documentary, but the deal fell through when NBC decided to check out his story, and hired Edward Epstein to vet it.
In brief, NBC retained me as a consultant for their planned story on Files. I hired the detective firm of Jules Kroll. JK established from telephone records Files was in Chicago, not Dallas, on November 22, 1963. We then placed a call to Files from Dick Clark's office (DC was producer), and I interviewed Files about Kroll findings. He said he had a twin brother, who no one knew about, and whom he met shortly before November 22, and who he murdered after November 22. He said it was his twin brother in hospital with his wife, not him. His wife, however, said there was no twin, and Kroll confirmed there was no twin. My view then and now is that Files invented the story for the money it would earn him.
However, James Files, in a letter he wrote to Mrs. Pamela Ray, a person with whom he developed a close relationship, said:
"The Kroll Agency tried everything they could to discredit me. One story they put out was that I couldn't have been in Dallas that day, as my wife was giving birth to our daughter that day. When I was asked about it, I said yes, I was at the hospital that day. But that means Kennedy was not assassinated until September 26, 1966. I said that is the day my daughter was born, go check the hospital records. That ended that."
Dutch JFK researcher Wim Dankbaar also counters the claims. Dankbaar also published a phone conversation with Faith Files, ex-wife of Files, who corroborated a number of claims, disputed by others.