From - Wed Sep 16 17:29:47 1998 From: 6489mcadamsj@vms.csd.mu.edu (John McAdams) Newsgroups: alt.assassination.jfk Approved: jmcadams@execpc.com Subject: Martello on Canal Street Fracas Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 04:28:20 GMT Message-ID: <35fdeab4.5874869@mcadams.posc.mu.edu> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.11/32.235 NNTP-Posting-Host: 169.207.133.73 Lines: 69 Path: mcadams.posc.mu.edu!169.207.133.73 Conspiracy books will cite New Orleans police officer Francis Martello, claiming he believed that the confrontation between Oswald and the anti-Castro Cubans on Canal Street was somehow "set up," or "staged." Supposedly this shows that Oswald was *in league* with the anti-Castro Cubans. As the following Warren Commission testimony from Martello makes clear, Martello believed no such thing: ----------------------------- Mr. LIEBELER. Did you consider whether Oswald was prone to violence or was a violent kind of person? Mr. MARTELLO. No, sir; I did not, for the simple reason that when he had made the friendship of the people with the anti-Castro groups in the city and offered them assistance, and when they saw him on Canal Street with pro-Castro signs they became insulting and abusive to the point of becoming violent toward him, and he never reacted to the action that was being directed toward him. Mr. LIEBELER. These anti-Castro characters attempted to provoke Oswald into some kind of physical conflict, did they not, as a matter of fact? Mr. MARTELLO. That is correct, sir. 60 Page 61 Mr. LIEBELER. And he didn't respond? Mr. MARTELLO. That is correct, sir. [discussion about disposition of the case clipped] Mr. LIEBELER. When you subsequently heard that Oswald had been arrested in connection with the assassination, were you surprised? Mr. MARTELLO. Yes, sir; I was, I was very much surprised. Mr. LIEBELER. Would you tell us---- Mr. MARTELLO. Because he did not give me the impression of being a violent individual. He was a very passive type of an individual. Mr. LIEBELER. You have had experience with other pickets here in New Orleans on several questions, and have you run into people who demonstrated a passivity in the face of provocation before? Mr. MARTELLO. Yes, sir. Mr. LIEBELER. Did Oswald appear to be this kind of person? Mr. MARTELLO. Yes, sir; he did, with one extension of the incident with the Cubans. Although he was passive in his demonstration, he seemed to have set them up, so to speak, to create an incident, but when the incident occurred he remained absolutely peaceful and gentle. Mr. LIEBELER. You just didn't think at the time you heard that Oswald had been arrested in connection with the assassination that he would have been capable of performing that act? Or did you have an opinion on that question? Mr. MARTELLO. Well, as far as being capable of an act, I guess everybody is capable of an act, but as far as ever dreaming or thinking that Oswald would do what it is alleged that he has done, I would bet my head on a chopping block that he wouldn't do it. --------------------------- So Martello, instead of believing that Oswald was in cahoots with the Cubans, believed that he "set them up." .John The Kennedy Assassination Home Page http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm