for what it is worth.
forty years ago today, doctor martin luther king, jr. was assassinated in memphis tenn. and james earl ray pleaded guilty to his killing. almost immediately, james earl ray wanted to take back his guilty plea and told a story about how a man named raoul had recruited him and that raoul was the one who actually pulled the trigger. over the years many members of dr. king's family, including his son, came to believe that ray was innocent. no one has ever been able to confirm or discredit ray's claim of a gun running man who had a ranch in mexico and went by the name raoul.
in 1967 i was living in oklahoma city and knew from high school a man named dan bradley. dan was a gun dealer and most of his friends were gun dealers. one day a man was introduced to them and he said he wanted to buy automatic carbines. (a private person could own a carbine, a private person could own the "selector kit" that changed the carbine from semi to full automatic. if you put the kit into the carbine you have commited a misdomeanor but if you put the kit in and sell that rifle you have commited a serious federal felony.) these men kept turning down the offer and the buyer kept raising the price until finally one of the guys sold him some carbines. nothing happened to him and eventually almost all of the men sold this guy automatic carbines. this man took danny down to mexico where he supposedly was going to train central american revolutionists to "overthrow left wing governments". he bought danny a new truck and i believe paid off his house. there were some conversations that i know of where the idea of "uppity niggars" came up and especially dr. king.
danny was going to go to mexico and train people but was arrested at the oklahoma city airport and at the same time the other guys who had sold him weapons were arrested as well. the police in oklahoma city, knowing that i was friends with danny, came to my house to arrest me (me being a known police character at the time) but i escaped and went up to topeka and waited for the heat to die down. in january of 1968 the government dropped all charges against everyone and nothing was ever said about it again. the government spent tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to entrap these guys and then turned right around and dropped the charges.
the man who bought the weapons went by the name of RAOUL. he was an ATF AGENT. everything that james earl ray said about raoul was the same that we saw in action in okc. whether this was a very unusual coincidence or .... i still to this day don't know but i do know that the government was not really trying to bust some gun sellers, it was obvious entrapment. they were looking for something else. the men who got arrested were not criminals, they were family men who owned gun stores. they refused and refused and refused again but when they could make thousands upon thousands of dollars for just a few guns they went along. the government ruined these men and for what? i think that raoul was looking to recruit a killer. what better place to look than oklahoma in the 60's. cities were on fire, blacks were rioting from coast to coast, peace protesters were in the streets as well. the white power structure was afraid of dr. king.
i took this story to spike lee in the 90's...he wasn't interested
i wrote dr. kings wife, carletta (sp) but got no reply.
i wrote his son. got no reply
i have a friend who is a writer in oakland and she took it to the editor of the oakland tribune who said that he would put his two best reporters on it. two days later, he told my friend that the paper was no longer interested in this story.
i have thought about going to cnn with this but, you know what, they will just shine me on as well.
james earl ray was as dumb as dirt. how did he come up with false passports and money and the knowledge to get himself off to spain and then england? how did he get out of memphis that night when everyone and their brother was looking for his mustang?
oh well, life in america. how different would it be today if dr. king had lived? he was maybe the greatest american of my lifetime and so down he went.
jfk realized that vietnam was a mistake and, if we are to believe many reports, was going to pull the troops out before we got in too deep.
bobby kennedy was killed in 68 as well.
richard nixon was elected in 68 and the neo con movement came into being.
oswald said "i am being made a patsy here."
ray said, "i was set up by raoul"
and the last words jack ruby said to the warren commission was, "a new and terrible form of government has taken over our country." (he said that in the dallas jail. he told the warren commission that he would tell them everything but they had to get him out of texas or else he was going to die. they, of course, refused) his full statement was, "the next you hear of me i will be dead and a new and terrible...."
oh well.
am reading JOHN ADAMS. i then read the newspaper. then i cry.
in 1967 i was living in oklahoma city and knew from high school a man named dan bradley. dan was a gun dealer and most of his friends were gun dealers. one day a man was introduced to them and he said he wanted to buy automatic carbines. (a private person could own a carbine, a private person could own the "selector kit" that changed the carbine from semi to full automatic. if you put the kit into the carbine you have commited a misdomeanor but if you put the kit in and sell that rifle you have commited a serious federal felony.) these men kept turning down the offer and the buyer kept raising the price until finally one of the guys sold him some carbines. nothing happened to him and eventually almost all of the men sold this guy automatic carbines. this man took danny down to mexico where he supposedly was going to train central american revolutionists to "overthrow left wing governments". he bought danny a new truck and i believe paid off his house. there were some conversations that i know of where the idea of "uppity niggars" came up and especially dr. king.
danny was going to go to mexico and train people but was arrested at the oklahoma city airport and at the same time the other guys who had sold him weapons were arrested as well. the police in oklahoma city, knowing that i was friends with danny, came to my house to arrest me (me being a known police character at the time) but i escaped and went up to topeka and waited for the heat to die down. in january of 1968 the government dropped all charges against everyone and nothing was ever said about it again. the government spent tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to entrap these guys and then turned right around and dropped the charges.
the man who bought the weapons went by the name of RAOUL. he was an ATF AGENT. everything that james earl ray said about raoul was the same that we saw in action in okc. whether this was a very unusual coincidence or .... i still to this day don't know but i do know that the government was not really trying to bust some gun sellers, it was obvious entrapment. they were looking for something else. the men who got arrested were not criminals, they were family men who owned gun stores. they refused and refused and refused again but when they could make thousands upon thousands of dollars for just a few guns they went along. the government ruined these men and for what? i think that raoul was looking to recruit a killer. what better place to look than oklahoma in the 60's. cities were on fire, blacks were rioting from coast to coast, peace protesters were in the streets as well. the white power structure was afraid of dr. king.
i took this story to spike lee in the 90's...he wasn't interested
i wrote dr. kings wife, carletta (sp) but got no reply.
i wrote his son. got no reply
i have a friend who is a writer in oakland and she took it to the editor of the oakland tribune who said that he would put his two best reporters on it. two days later, he told my friend that the paper was no longer interested in this story.
i have thought about going to cnn with this but, you know what, they will just shine me on as well.
james earl ray was as dumb as dirt. how did he come up with false passports and money and the knowledge to get himself off to spain and then england? how did he get out of memphis that night when everyone and their brother was looking for his mustang?
oh well, life in america. how different would it be today if dr. king had lived? he was maybe the greatest american of my lifetime and so down he went.
jfk realized that vietnam was a mistake and, if we are to believe many reports, was going to pull the troops out before we got in too deep.
bobby kennedy was killed in 68 as well.
richard nixon was elected in 68 and the neo con movement came into being.
oswald said "i am being made a patsy here."
ray said, "i was set up by raoul"
and the last words jack ruby said to the warren commission was, "a new and terrible form of government has taken over our country." (he said that in the dallas jail. he told the warren commission that he would tell them everything but they had to get him out of texas or else he was going to die. they, of course, refused) his full statement was, "the next you hear of me i will be dead and a new and terrible...."
oh well.
am reading JOHN ADAMS. i then read the newspaper. then i cry.
posted by Ron Shock | 6:40 PM
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