20-07-2013, 04:33 PM
An important part of Phlelan's rendition about his encounter with Russo in Baton Rouge was his asking him when he first mentioned the name of Clem Bertrand. For instance, Phelan told James Kirkwood that in Baton Rouge, Russo did not say anything about Clay Shaw as Bertrand, nor did he mention the gathering at Ferrie's home.[i] As the reader can see from the citation above, Russo did mention the gathering in a Baton Rouge newspaper. But further, there was a third party with Phelan when he went to see Russo for the first time after Garrison let him read Andrew Sciambra's memorandum about his Baton Rouge interview with Russo. The man's name was Matt Herron. Herron was a photographer for various large circulation magazines, including the Post. Like the con artist he was, Phelan always clearly insinuated that it was no use talking to Herron, since Herron would back up his version of the encounter. That is, Herron also heard Russo say that the first time he had mentioned Bertrand at the gathering was in New Orleans.[ii] In fact, in a phone conversation with me, Phelan actually said that Herron had lost faith in Garrison after this.[iii] Therefore, no one thought it was worth the trouble to find Herron. Even though he would be the deciding vote in the matter. Because Sciambra and Russo disagreed with what Phelan had written about this.[iv] In fact, Phelan actually told Kirkwood that after they left Russo's house, he told Herron to recall what Russo had just said since "…someday you're going to be in court on this and I'm going to have to tell this story and you're my witness."[URL="https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/#_edn5"][v]
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Many years later, after all these documents impeaching Phelan's credibility had now been exposed to the light of day, I decided that if Phelan was willing to lie about such important matters as cooperating with the FBI and FDA, and turning over documents to them in advance of an article, then would it not be consistent that he would also lie about Matt Herron? That is, to camouflage his own story by discouraging anyone from communicating with the man. After all, contrary to what Phelan told Kirkwood, Herron was not called as a witness for the defense at Shaw's trial to bolster Phelan's version of his encounter with Russo. So I decided to look up Mr. Herron. I talked to him on two occasions. On both occasions, he told me that Russo had told them that he mentioned Bertrand in Baton Rouge. And further, that Russo's statements on this were very strong in 1967. Because of this, Herron was surprised when he read Russo's testimony at the Shaw trial. He felt that, for whatever reason, it was now diluted.[vi] If you are counting, this is now three lies to three different people that Phelan told.
[i] Kirkwood, pgs. 161-73.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Author's 1993 phone interview with James Phelan.
[iv] Davy, pgs.121-22.
[v] Op cit., Kirkwood.
[vi] E mail message from Matt Herron in 2009.
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Many years later, after all these documents impeaching Phelan's credibility had now been exposed to the light of day, I decided that if Phelan was willing to lie about such important matters as cooperating with the FBI and FDA, and turning over documents to them in advance of an article, then would it not be consistent that he would also lie about Matt Herron? That is, to camouflage his own story by discouraging anyone from communicating with the man. After all, contrary to what Phelan told Kirkwood, Herron was not called as a witness for the defense at Shaw's trial to bolster Phelan's version of his encounter with Russo. So I decided to look up Mr. Herron. I talked to him on two occasions. On both occasions, he told me that Russo had told them that he mentioned Bertrand in Baton Rouge. And further, that Russo's statements on this were very strong in 1967. Because of this, Herron was surprised when he read Russo's testimony at the Shaw trial. He felt that, for whatever reason, it was now diluted.[vi] If you are counting, this is now three lies to three different people that Phelan told.
[i] Kirkwood, pgs. 161-73.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Author's 1993 phone interview with James Phelan.
[iv] Davy, pgs.121-22.
[v] Op cit., Kirkwood.
[vi] E mail message from Matt Herron in 2009.