Guy Banister
Encyclopedia
William Guy Banister was a career member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and a private investigator. He gained notoriety from the allegations made by New Orleans District Attorney
Jim Garrison
, after Banister's death, that he had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy
. He was an avid anti-communist — member of the Minutemen
, the John Birch Society
, Louisiana Committee on Un-American Activities and publisher of the Louisiana Intelligence Digest. He also supported various anti-Castro
groups in the New Orleans area: "Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front
"; "Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean"; and "Friends of Democratic Cuba
". According to the New Orleans States-Item newspaper, "Guy [Banister] participated in every anti-Communist South and Central American revolution that came along, acting as a key liaison man for the U.S. government-sponsored anti-Communist activities in Latin America."
, the oldest of seven children. After studying at the Louisiana State University
, he joined the Monroe Police Department. According to the Naval Office of Veteran Affairs, Banister served with the Office of Naval Intelligence
during World War II
and maintained contacts after the war.
. He was present at the killing of John Dillinger
. Originally based in Indianapolis
, he later moved to New York City
where he was involved in the investigation of the American Communist Party. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
was impressed by Banister's work and, in 1938, he was promoted to run the FBI unit in Butte, Montana
. He also served in Oklahoma City
, Minneapolis and Chicago
. In Chicago
, he was the Special Agent in Charge for the FBI where one of his associates, Robert Maheu
, was later to serve as liaison between the Central Intelligence Agency
and the Mafia
, regarding the various assassination plots against Fidel Castro
. He retired from the FBI in 1954.
Banister moved to Louisiana
and, in January 1955, became Assistant Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department
, where he was given the task of investigating organized crime
and corruption within the police force. It later emerged that he was also involved in looking at the role that left-wing political activists were playing in the struggle for civil rights
in New Orleans. On the campuses of Tulane University
and Louisiana State University
, he ran a network of informants collecting information on "communist" activities. He submitted reports on his findings to the FBI through contacts.
In March 1957, Banister was suspended after pulling a gun in public in a bar and threatening a waiter. His suspension ended in June of that year. However, when he refused to be transferred to the N.O.P.D.'s Planning Department, he was dismissed from the force.
leaflets, distributed by Lee Harvey Oswald
, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy
.) The "Newman Building" housed militant anti-Castro groups, including the Cuban Revolutionary Council
(October 1961 to February 1962), as well as Sergio Arcacha Smith's Crusade to Free Cuba Committee
. Banister's office was within walking distance of the New Orleans offices of the FBI, CIA, Office of Naval Intelligence
and the Reily Coffee Company
(Lee Harvey Oswald
's employer and a supporter of anti-Castro Cubans).
Banister was implicated in a 1961 raid on a munitions depot in Houma, Louisiana, "...in which various weapons, grenades and ammunition were stolen ... which were reportedly seen stacked in Banister's back room by several witnesses." The New Orleans States-Item newspaper reported that Banister served as a munitions supplier for the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
and continued to deal weapons from his office until 1963.
In 1962, Banister dispatched an associate, Maurice Brooks Gatlin — legal counsel of Banister's "Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean" — to Paris
to deliver a suitcase containing $200,000 for the French OAS. In 1963, Banister and anti-Castro activist David Ferrie
began working for a lawyer named G. Wray Gill
and his client, New Orleans Mafia
boss Carlos Marcello
. This involved attempts to block Marcello's deportation to Guatemala
.
In early 1962, Banister assisted David Ferrie in a dispute with Eastern Airlines regarding "...charges brought [against Ferrie] by the airline and local New Orleans police of crimes against nature
and extortion
." During this period, Ferrie was frequently seen at Banister's office. Banister served as a character witness for Ferrie at his airline pilot's grievance board hearing in the summer of 1963.
was assassinated, Banister and one of his investigators, Jack Martin, were drinking together at the Katzenjammer Bar, located next door to 544 Camp Street, New Orleans. On their return to Banister's office, the two men got into a dispute. Banister believed that Martin had stolen some files and drew his .357 magnum revolver, striking Martin with it several times. During the altercation Martin yelled: "What are you going to do — kill me like you all did Kennedy?" Martin was badly injured and treated at Charity Hospital
.
Over the next few days, Martin told authorities and reporters that Banister and anti-Castro activist David Ferrie
had been involved in the assassination. He claimed that Ferrie knew Oswald from their days in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol
, and that Ferrie might have taught Oswald how to use a rifle with a telescopic sight. Martin also claimed that Banister had often been in the company of Ferrie, and that Ferrie drove to Texas on the day of Kennedy's assassination, to serve as a getaway pilot for the assassins.
Witnesses interviewed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations "... indicate Banister was aware of Oswald and his Fair Play for Cuba Committee
before the assassination."
Banister's secretary, Delphine Roberts, told author Anthony Summers
that Oswald "...seemed to be on familiar terms with Banister and with [Banister's] office." Roberts said, "As I understood it, he had the use of an office on the second floor, above the main office where we worked.... Then, several times, Mr. Banister brought me upstairs, and in the office above I saw various writings stuck up on the wall pertaining to Cuba. There were various leaflets up there pertaining to Fair Play for Cuba.'" The House Select Committee on Assassinations investigated Roberts' claims and said that "...the reliability of her statements could not be determined."
The alleged activities of Banister, Ferrie and Oswald reached New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison
who, by late 1966, had become very interested in the New Orleans aspects of the assassination. In December 1966, Garrison interviewed Martin about these activities. Martin claimed that Banister, Ferrie and a group of anti-Castro Cuban exiles were involved in operations against Castro's Cuba that included gun running and burglarized armories.
As Garrison continued his investigation, he became convinced that a group of right-wing activists, including Banister, Ferrie and Clay Shaw
, were involved in a conspiracy
with elements of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) to kill Kennedy. Garrison would later claim that the motive for the assassination was anger over Kennedy's attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam. Garrison also believed that Banister, Shaw, and Ferrie had conspired to set up Oswald as a patsy in the JFK assassination.
ous. A black reporter, Louis E. Lomax, investigating the possible connection of Banister to the assassinations of Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
, died in a car accident shortly after signing a contract to help with a movie about the assassination of Malcolm X.
on June 6, 1964 just prior to the closing of the Warren Commission
investigation into the assassination. Investigators had intended to question him regarding the following topics: "CIA", "Ammunition and Arms", "Civil rights program of JFK", "Fair Play for Cuba Committee
" and "The International Trade Mart
". Banister's files went missing after his death. Later, New Orleans Assistant District Attorney Andrew Sciambra interviewed Banister's widow. She told him that she saw some Fair Play for Cuba leaflets in Banister's office when she went there after his death.
's 1991 movie JFK
, in which he is portrayed by Edward Asner. He is also central to the plot of Don DeLillo
's novel Libra
. Guy Banister appears as a character in James Ellroy
's 1995 novel American Tabloid
and its sequel The Cold Six Thousand
. In American Tabloid, Banister organizes John Kennedy's assassination, which is based on Ward Littell's original plan. Littell is one of the story's main characters. In The Cold Six Thousand, Guy Banister is murdered by Chuck Rogers
under orders from Carlos Marcello
. Chuck tells Pete Bondurant, a main character, how he used excess digitalis
and jokes Carlos gave the job to Chuck instead of Pete because he wanted to give Pete a break.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and a private investigator. He gained notoriety from the allegations made by New Orleans District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
, after Banister's death, that he had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
. He was an avid anti-communist — member of the Minutemen
Minutemen (anti-Communist organization)
The Minutemen was a militant anti-Communist organization formed in the United States in the early 1960s. The founder and head of the right-wing group was Robert Bolivar DePugh, a biochemist from Norborne, Missouri. The Minutemen believed that Communism would soon take over all of America. The group...
, the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, Louisiana Committee on Un-American Activities and publisher of the Louisiana Intelligence Digest. He also supported various anti-Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
groups in the New Orleans area: "Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front
Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front
The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front was founded in May 1960 by anti-Castro Cuban exiles and was initially headquartered in Mexico. It was known in Spanish as the Frente Revolucionario Democratico and was composed of five major anti-Castro groups...
"; "Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean"; and "Friends of Democratic Cuba
Friends of Democratic Cuba
Friends of Democratic Cuba was formed on January 6, 1961 to serve as the fund-raising arm of anti-Castro activist Sergio Arcacha Smith's New Orleans' branch of the Cuban Revolutionary Council...
". According to the New Orleans States-Item newspaper, "Guy [Banister] participated in every anti-Communist South and Central American revolution that came along, acting as a key liaison man for the U.S. government-sponsored anti-Communist activities in Latin America."
Early life
Banister was born in Monroe, LouisianaMonroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
, the oldest of seven children. After studying at the Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, he joined the Monroe Police Department. According to the Naval Office of Veteran Affairs, Banister served with the Office of Naval Intelligence
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in the United States Navy in 1882. ONI was established to "seek out and report" on the advancements in other nations' navies. Its headquarters are at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and maintained contacts after the war.
Law enforcement career
In 1934, Banister joined the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. He was present at the killing of John Dillinger
John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
. Originally based in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, he later moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he was involved in the investigation of the American Communist Party. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
was impressed by Banister's work and, in 1938, he was promoted to run the FBI unit in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
. He also served in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, Minneapolis and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. In Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, he was the Special Agent in Charge for the FBI where one of his associates, Robert Maheu
Robert Maheu
Robert Aime Maheu was an American businessman and lawyer, who worked for the FBI, CIA and as the chief executive of Nevada operations for the industrialist Howard Hughes.-Biography:...
, was later to serve as liaison between the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, regarding the various assassination plots against Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
. He retired from the FBI in 1954.
Banister moved to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and, in January 1955, became Assistant Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department
New Orleans Police Department
The New Orleans Police Department has primary responsibility for law enforcement in New Orleans, Louisiana. The department's jurisdiction covers all of Orleans Parish, while the city is divided into eight police districts....
, where he was given the task of investigating organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
and corruption within the police force. It later emerged that he was also involved in looking at the role that left-wing political activists were playing in the struggle for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in New Orleans. On the campuses of Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
and Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, he ran a network of informants collecting information on "communist" activities. He submitted reports on his findings to the FBI through contacts.
In March 1957, Banister was suspended after pulling a gun in public in a bar and threatening a waiter. His suspension ended in June of that year. However, when he refused to be transferred to the N.O.P.D.'s Planning Department, he was dismissed from the force.
Private Investigation, Cuba, Oswald, Marcello
After leaving the New Orleans Police Department, Banister established his own private detective agency, "Guy Banister Associates, Inc." at "434 Balter Building". In early 1962, Banister moved his office to "531 Lafayette Street" on the ground floor of the "Newman Building". Around the corner but located in the same building, with a different entrance, was the address "544 Camp Street". (The address "544 Camp Street" would later be found stamped on one of the Fair Play for Cuba CommitteeFair Play for Cuba Committee
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee was an activist group set up in New York in April 1960. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots support for the Cuban Revolution against attacks by the United States government, once Fidel Castro began openly admitting his commitment to Marxism and began the...
leaflets, distributed by Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.) The "Newman Building" housed militant anti-Castro groups, including the Cuban Revolutionary Council
Cuban Revolutionary Council
The Cuban Revolutionary Council was a group formed, with CIA assistance, three weeks before the April 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion to "coordinate and direct" the activities of another group known as the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front. Both groups were composed of Cuban exiles dedicated to...
(October 1961 to February 1962), as well as Sergio Arcacha Smith's Crusade to Free Cuba Committee
Crusade to Free Cuba Committee
The Crusade to Free Cuba Committee was founded in December 1961 by anti-Castro Cuban exile Sergio Arcacha Smith to raise funds and support for the CIA-backed Cuban Revolutionary Council, a group formerly known as the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front....
. Banister's office was within walking distance of the New Orleans offices of the FBI, CIA, Office of Naval Intelligence
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in the United States Navy in 1882. ONI was established to "seek out and report" on the advancements in other nations' navies. Its headquarters are at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland...
and the Reily Coffee Company
Reily Foods Company
Reily Foods Company is the primary division of the independently held Wm. B. Reily & Company Inc., specializing in the processing, packaging and distribution of food and beverage products...
(Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
's employer and a supporter of anti-Castro Cubans).
Banister was implicated in a 1961 raid on a munitions depot in Houma, Louisiana, "...in which various weapons, grenades and ammunition were stolen ... which were reportedly seen stacked in Banister's back room by several witnesses." The New Orleans States-Item newspaper reported that Banister served as a munitions supplier for the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
and continued to deal weapons from his office until 1963.
In 1962, Banister dispatched an associate, Maurice Brooks Gatlin — legal counsel of Banister's "Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean" — to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to deliver a suitcase containing $200,000 for the French OAS. In 1963, Banister and anti-Castro activist David Ferrie
David Ferrie
David William Ferrie was a pilot who was alleged to have been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison later claimed to have proven Ferrie's involvement and that he knew Lee Harvey Oswald. Ferrie denied such involvement.-Early...
began working for a lawyer named G. Wray Gill
G. Wray Gill
George Wray Gill, Sr. was an American lawyer born in Crowley, Louisiana. He graduated Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans in June 1927. He became a prominent attorney in that city as part of the firm Gill, Bernstein, Schreiber and Gill in Room 1707 of the Pere* Marquette Building at 150...
and his client, New Orleans Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss Carlos Marcello
Carlos Marcello
Carlos "The Little Man" Marcello was a Sicilian-American mafioso who became the boss of the New Orleans crime family during the 1940s and held this position for the next 30 years.-Early life:...
. This involved attempts to block Marcello's deportation to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
.
In early 1962, Banister assisted David Ferrie in a dispute with Eastern Airlines regarding "...charges brought [against Ferrie] by the airline and local New Orleans police of crimes against nature
Crimes Against Nature
Crimes Against Nature : How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy is a book written in 2004 by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr....
and extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
." During this period, Ferrie was frequently seen at Banister's office. Banister served as a character witness for Ferrie at his airline pilot's grievance board hearing in the summer of 1963.
JFK Assassination
On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, the day that President John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
was assassinated, Banister and one of his investigators, Jack Martin, were drinking together at the Katzenjammer Bar, located next door to 544 Camp Street, New Orleans. On their return to Banister's office, the two men got into a dispute. Banister believed that Martin had stolen some files and drew his .357 magnum revolver, striking Martin with it several times. During the altercation Martin yelled: "What are you going to do — kill me like you all did Kennedy?" Martin was badly injured and treated at Charity Hospital
Charity Hospital
Charity Hospital was one of two teaching hospitals which were part of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans . Three weeks after the events of Hurricane Katrina, then Governor Kathleen Blanco said that Charity Hospital would not reopen, even though the military had scrubbed the building to...
.
Over the next few days, Martin told authorities and reporters that Banister and anti-Castro activist David Ferrie
David Ferrie
David William Ferrie was a pilot who was alleged to have been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison later claimed to have proven Ferrie's involvement and that he knew Lee Harvey Oswald. Ferrie denied such involvement.-Early...
had been involved in the assassination. He claimed that Ferrie knew Oswald from their days in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol
Civil Air Patrol
Civil Air Patrol is a Congressionally chartered, federally supported, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force . CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded membership that includes people from all backgrounds, lifestyles, and...
, and that Ferrie might have taught Oswald how to use a rifle with a telescopic sight. Martin also claimed that Banister had often been in the company of Ferrie, and that Ferrie drove to Texas on the day of Kennedy's assassination, to serve as a getaway pilot for the assassins.
Witnesses interviewed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations "... indicate Banister was aware of Oswald and his Fair Play for Cuba Committee
Fair Play for Cuba Committee
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee was an activist group set up in New York in April 1960. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots support for the Cuban Revolution against attacks by the United States government, once Fidel Castro began openly admitting his commitment to Marxism and began the...
before the assassination."
Banister's secretary, Delphine Roberts, told author Anthony Summers
Anthony Summers
Anthony Bruce Summers is the non-fiction author of seven best-selling investigative books. He is an Irish citizen, and has been working for some twenty years with Robbyn Swan, who is now his co-author and fifth wife...
that Oswald "...seemed to be on familiar terms with Banister and with [Banister's] office." Roberts said, "As I understood it, he had the use of an office on the second floor, above the main office where we worked.... Then, several times, Mr. Banister brought me upstairs, and in the office above I saw various writings stuck up on the wall pertaining to Cuba. There were various leaflets up there pertaining to Fair Play for Cuba.'" The House Select Committee on Assassinations investigated Roberts' claims and said that "...the reliability of her statements could not be determined."
The alleged activities of Banister, Ferrie and Oswald reached New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
who, by late 1966, had become very interested in the New Orleans aspects of the assassination. In December 1966, Garrison interviewed Martin about these activities. Martin claimed that Banister, Ferrie and a group of anti-Castro Cuban exiles were involved in operations against Castro's Cuba that included gun running and burglarized armories.
As Garrison continued his investigation, he became convinced that a group of right-wing activists, including Banister, Ferrie and Clay Shaw
Clay Shaw
Clay Laverne Shaw was a businessman in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the only person prosecuted in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was found not guilty.-Biography:...
, were involved in a conspiracy
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
with elements of the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) to kill Kennedy. Garrison would later claim that the motive for the assassination was anger over Kennedy's attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam. Garrison also believed that Banister, Shaw, and Ferrie had conspired to set up Oswald as a patsy in the JFK assassination.
Post JFK
Banister's publication, the Louisiana Intelligence Digest, maintained that the civil rights movement was part of an international communist conspiracy and therefore treasonTreason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
ous. A black reporter, Louis E. Lomax, investigating the possible connection of Banister to the assassinations of Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, died in a car accident shortly after signing a contract to help with a movie about the assassination of Malcolm X.
Death
Banister officially died of coronary thrombosisCoronary thrombosis
Coronary thrombosis is a form of thrombosis affecting the coronary circulation. It is associated with stenosis subsequent to clotting. The condition is considered as a type of ischaemic heart disease.It can lead to a myocardial infarction...
on June 6, 1964 just prior to the closing of the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
investigation into the assassination. Investigators had intended to question him regarding the following topics: "CIA", "Ammunition and Arms", "Civil rights program of JFK", "Fair Play for Cuba Committee
Fair Play for Cuba Committee
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee was an activist group set up in New York in April 1960. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots support for the Cuban Revolution against attacks by the United States government, once Fidel Castro began openly admitting his commitment to Marxism and began the...
" and "The International Trade Mart
International Trade Mart
The International Trade Mart is an organization promoting international trade and the Port of New Orleans.The World Trade Mart was chartered in 1945, first opened its doors in 1948, and in 1985, merged with International House to form the World Trade Center New Orleans, a private, non-profit...
". Banister's files went missing after his death. Later, New Orleans Assistant District Attorney Andrew Sciambra interviewed Banister's widow. She told him that she saw some Fair Play for Cuba leaflets in Banister's office when she went there after his death.
Fictional portrayals
Banister also is a character in Oliver StoneOliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's 1991 movie JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
, in which he is portrayed by Edward Asner. He is also central to the plot of Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
's novel Libra
Libra (novel)
Libra is a novel written by Don DeLillo. It focuses on the life of Lee Harvey Oswald and offers a speculative account of the events that shaped the assassination of President John F...
. Guy Banister appears as a character in James Ellroy
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
's 1995 novel American Tabloid
American Tabloid
American Tabloid is a 1995 novel by James Ellroy. The novel chronicles three rogue American law enforcement officers from November 22, 1958 through November 22, 1963. Each becomes entangled in a web of interconnecting associations between the FBI, CIA, and the Mafia, which eventually leads to their...
and its sequel The Cold Six Thousand
The Cold Six Thousand
The Cold Six Thousand is a 2001 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the first sequel to American Tabloid in the Underworld USA Trilogy and continues many of the earlier novel's characters and plotlines...
. In American Tabloid, Banister organizes John Kennedy's assassination, which is based on Ward Littell's original plan. Littell is one of the story's main characters. In The Cold Six Thousand, Guy Banister is murdered by Chuck Rogers
Charles Rogers (murder suspect)
Charles Rogers, was a United States geologist, pilot, and suspected murderer....
under orders from Carlos Marcello
Carlos Marcello
Carlos "The Little Man" Marcello was a Sicilian-American mafioso who became the boss of the New Orleans crime family during the 1940s and held this position for the next 30 years.-Early life:...
. Chuck tells Pete Bondurant, a main character, how he used excess digitalis
Digitalis
Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennials, shrubs, and biennials that are commonly called foxgloves. This genus was traditionally placed in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae, but recent reviews of phylogenetic research have placed it in the much enlarged family...
and jokes Carlos gave the job to Chuck instead of Pete because he wanted to give Pete a break.
External link
- Who was Guy Banister? at www.jfk-online.com