Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
I grew up in west Texas and a friend of LBJ's, Billie Sol Estes, lived nearby in Pecos. There were several businessmen in my hometown who knew that that Estes was a crook and when he attempted to get loans from banks there he was turned down.
"Among Estes’ legacies: the allegation that Lyndon Johnson orchestrated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
While the charge is unproven, oft-repeated (most recently by Republican political consultant Roger Stone), and oft-rejected, there is no doubt that Estes was friends with LBJ and knew his way around a criminal conspiracy. Even the obituary writers at the New York Times saw fit to report his claims about LBJ and JFK.
As his multi-million dollar empire began to fall apart in 1962, the well-connected Estes became a political liability to the Kennedy administration. President Kennedy himself had to publicly say that the Justice Dept. would get to the bottom of the Estes shenanigans.
Yet, as investigators dug into his labyrinthine schemes, they ended up dead — seven of them in fact; the majority dubiously ruled to be suicide. One victim’s “suicide” included five shots from a bolt action rifle.
In the early 1980s, after serving four years for tax fraud, Estes told Justice Dept. officials that not only did some his ill-gotten proceeds go to LBJ, but that LBJ ordered the investigator murders to avoid being connected to the kickbacks. Estes also said that he knew that LBJ orchestrated the JFK assassination, pointing to LBJ henchman Malcolm Wallace as a triggerman in both the investigator and the JFK killings.
In 1951, Wallace narrowly avoided execution — getting instead a suspended sentence — for a murder he committed in Texas. In 1998 assassination investigator Walt Brown claimed that a mystery fingerprint taken from a box in the 6th Floor “sniper’s den” matched Wallace’s."
There is much more to this story. It is clear that the shots which killed JFK came from the front. It is also clear that there was a conspiracy after the fact to cover up the evidence by someone high up in the government.
It is also true that LBJ had the most to gain from the assassination because he was going to get dumped as the VP on the ticket in the next Presidental election. It was no coincidence that the assassination happened in Dallas as LBJ was previously one of the Senators from Texas.
Even Jackie Kennedy was convinced that LBJ was behind the assassination.
"Among Estes’ legacies: the allegation that Lyndon Johnson orchestrated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
While the charge is unproven, oft-repeated (most recently by Republican political consultant Roger Stone), and oft-rejected, there is no doubt that Estes was friends with LBJ and knew his way around a criminal conspiracy. Even the obituary writers at the New York Times saw fit to report his claims about LBJ and JFK.
As his multi-million dollar empire began to fall apart in 1962, the well-connected Estes became a political liability to the Kennedy administration. President Kennedy himself had to publicly say that the Justice Dept. would get to the bottom of the Estes shenanigans.
Yet, as investigators dug into his labyrinthine schemes, they ended up dead — seven of them in fact; the majority dubiously ruled to be suicide. One victim’s “suicide” included five shots from a bolt action rifle.
In the early 1980s, after serving four years for tax fraud, Estes told Justice Dept. officials that not only did some his ill-gotten proceeds go to LBJ, but that LBJ ordered the investigator murders to avoid being connected to the kickbacks. Estes also said that he knew that LBJ orchestrated the JFK assassination, pointing to LBJ henchman Malcolm Wallace as a triggerman in both the investigator and the JFK killings.
In 1951, Wallace narrowly avoided execution — getting instead a suspended sentence — for a murder he committed in Texas. In 1998 assassination investigator Walt Brown claimed that a mystery fingerprint taken from a box in the 6th Floor “sniper’s den” matched Wallace’s."
There is much more to this story. It is clear that the shots which killed JFK came from the front. It is also clear that there was a conspiracy after the fact to cover up the evidence by someone high up in the government.
It is also true that LBJ had the most to gain from the assassination because he was going to get dumped as the VP on the ticket in the next Presidental election. It was no coincidence that the assassination happened in Dallas as LBJ was previously one of the Senators from Texas.
Even Jackie Kennedy was convinced that LBJ was behind the assassination.