Quote:It was in 1967 that Prouty discovered one of the most explosive proofs of CIA involvement, buried within a series of six photos snapped within minutes of the assassination. The infamous photos show three 'tramps' arrested behind the grassy knoll being marching through Dealey Plaza by two uniformed officers. The three men remain a mystery-no arrest records were made and no names were taken. For years it was speculated that two were CIA agents E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis, who would later gain notoriety for their part in the Watergate break in.

"What caught my eye right away was the fact that some other person is in the first photo walking in the opposite direction." says Prouty, singling out one particular shot. "Here he is, during one of the most important events in our history, casually walking past two police with guns and the tramps, not even looking at what could've been the killers of the President. This is all within 30 minutes or less after the assassination. It's unbelievable. And note that these tramps have not been handcuffed either, and a civilian is allowed to walk within inches of them."

Then Prouty looked even more closely at the photo. "I was stunned to realize that this unconcerned bystander was none other than my long-time friend and associate Ed Lansdale."

"Right away, since he was there, I just knew that he must be concerned with the cover story. That was his gift…his specialty."

Gen. Edward G. Lansdale was a celebrated CIA man who masterminded various assassination plots for the CIA and was heavily involved in Vietnam. He was CIA, but worked under the cover of an air force colonel. He and Prouty had worked closely together for several years before his resignation ("a paper resignation to comply with his CIA 'cover' assignment") in October 1963. At the time of the assassination, Lansdale was supposed to be visiting his son in San Antonio, but a claim check found in his personal papers places him at a hotel used by the presidential entourage the night before the assassination.

"I personally have no doubt that the photo is of Lansdale," affirms Prouty. "I knew him from 1952 in the Philippines to the time of his death. He was one of my neighbors."

Prouty sent copies of the photos to a friend - another high-ranking Kennedy-era officer who also knew Lansdale.

"The two policemen are carrying shotguns, not rifles," the friend wrote back. "Their caps are different (one a white chinstrap, one black). One has a Dallas Police shoulder patch, one does not, and their caps differ from that of another police officer in photo four. Reasonable conclusion -- they are either reservists or phoneys. And as you know, city cops don't have anything to do with sheriff's offices."

"And as to photo No. 1 - That is a picture of Ed Lansdale! The haircut, the stoop, the twisted left hand, the large class ring. It's Lansdale. What in the world was he doing there? Has anyone asked him?"

Prouty says he wasn't surprised when he realized Lansdale was in Dallas for the assassination -- he was there to make sure nothing went wrong.

"He was there like the orchestra leader, coordinating these things." Prouty says Lansdale "He's a 'producer' and the best one there was."

"He worked for years to overthrow the president of the Philippines - he did it almost all by himself."

That's not the only bombshell Prouty dropped over the course of numerous meetings and conversations in Washington. Look closely at the famous Zapruder film of the assassination, and standing alongside the motorcade on Elm Street is an unidentified man holding up an open, black umbrella, even though the weather is sunny and warm. He is standing in front and to the right of Kennedy's car at the moment Kennedy was struck in the throat. Prouty asserts that was no ordinary umbrella, and again finds evidence of Lansdale.

Prouty remembers Lansdale introducing him to a man in 1961 or '62 who had invented a new weapon ideal for clandestine operations: silent rocket-propelled darts, only a few centimeters long and fired from a tube no longer than a milk shake straw. After an impressive demonstration in which the man imbedded a dart in Prouty's office wall, Prouty arranged for research money. Within months, the CIA had adapted the device for many uses - including hiding it in an umbrella.

"When the umbrella was closed, nothing showed. When it was open, the bearer would hold it over his head and on the center rod of the umbrella there was a small wire-like piece that was his end of the sighting mechanism, as he sighted toward the object with one umbrella rib-tip directly in line. The nylon dart - just one - was located in a small tube that was aligned with the sighting mechanism."

Prouty says he never thought of the weapon again until shortly after the assassination. "I knew the rules of Presidential protection and I knew that no one along the parade route was ever permitted to open an umbrella as the President's car went by. They let that happen. Why this omission? Why that umbrella? And when you watch the Zapruder film, you can see the man slowly rotating the umbrella as he lines up his shot as the car approaches."

David Guyatt Wrote:Charlie, I was always intrigued by Prouty's assertion that Lansdale was captured in the frame of one of the photographs of the three tramps arrested in Dealey Plaza.

I feel sure it is sheer coincidence that the organization that Ferdinand Marcos created around himself to launder all the WWII plunder was known as the "Umbrella".

Charles Drago Wrote:You're not wrong, David.

The "other" picture, championed as a Lansdale identifier by Prouty and others, always has been less than, well, convincing for me.

This new one, however -- and it has been around for years as the subject of analyses of the tramps and of the TSBD doorway on the right border -- resonates.

Peter Lemkin Wrote:Charles, can you post the full photo that comes from?