Raymond Lee Harvey

Last updated

Raymond Lee Harvey (born 1944/1945) is an Ohio-born unemployed American drifter. He was arrested by the Secret Service after being found carrying a starter pistol with blank rounds, ten minutes before President Jimmy Carter was to give a speech at the Civic Center Mall in Los Angeles on May 5, 1979.

Contents

Background

Harvey claimed that he was part of a four-man operation to assassinate the president, after having been approached by three Latino men staying at the Alan Hotel who gave him a starter pistol, and asked him to shoot it into the ground to create a diversion, so they could then shoot the president from their hotel room during the distraction. [1] According to Harvey, he fired seven blank rounds from the starter pistol on the hotel roof on the night of May 4, to test how much noise it would make. He then spent the night in a room taken by one of the men, whom he knew as "Julio", but who was later identified as a 21-year-old illegal Mexican alien who gave the name Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz. [2] At the time of his arrest, Harvey had eight spent rounds in his pocket, as well as 70 unspent blank rounds for the gun. [3]

Although he had a history of mental illness, [2] and his claims were originally dismissed as "a tale spun by an intoxicated man," [4] Harvey's claims were investigated by police, who found a room in the Alan Hotel, containing a shotgun case and three unspent rounds of ammunition, and booked for the night under the name "Umberto Camacho," the name of an alleged conspirator given by Ortiz. The occupant had checked out of the hotel room the day of the alleged assassination attempt. [2]

Aftermath

Harvey was jailed on a $50,000 bond, given his transient status, and Ortiz was alternately reported as being held on a $100,000 bond as a material witness [2] or held on a $50,000 bond being charged with burglary from a car. [3] Charges against the pair were ultimately dismissed for a lack of evidence. [5]

His age at the time of the event has been alternately given as 34 [6] or 35. [2]

The names "Lee Harvey" and "Osvaldo" (Osvaldo is the Spanish equivalent to "Oswald") drew comparisons to Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy. This led conspiracy theorists to claim that the incident was set up to scare Carter into submission. [7] [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Ruby</span> Murderer of Lee Harvey Oswald (1911–1967)

Jack Leon Ruby was an American nightclub owner who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby shot and mortally wounded Oswald on live television in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters and was immediately arrested. In a trial, Ruby was found guilty and sentenced to death. The conviction was appealed, and he was to be granted a new trial, but Ruby became ill, was diagnosed with cancer, and died of a pulmonary embolism on January 3, 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Harvey Oswald</span> Assassin of John F. Kennedy (1939–1963)

Lee Harvey Oswald was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Commission</span> U.S. commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the Kennedy assassination

The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through Executive Order 11130 on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy that had taken place on November 22, 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Sturgis</span> One of five Watergate burglars whose capture led to the end of Richard Nixons presidency

Frank Anthony Sturgis, born Frank Angelo Fiorini, was one of the five Watergate burglars whose capture led to the end of the presidency of Richard Nixon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. D. Tippit</span> American police officer (1924–1963)

J. D. Tippit was an American World War II U.S. Army veteran and police officer who served as an 11-year veteran with the Dallas Police Department. About 45 minutes after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Tippit was shot and killed in a residential neighborhood in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was initially arrested for the murder of Tippit and was subsequently charged for killing Kennedy. Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, two days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States House Select Committee on Assassinations</span> Former assassination investigation committee

The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was established in 1976 to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and 1968, respectively. The HSCA completed its investigation in 1978 and issued its final report the following year, which concluded that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. In addition to now-discredited acoustic analysis of a police channel dictabelt recording, the HSCA also commissioned numerous other scientific studies of assassination-related evidence that corroborate the Warren Commission's findings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marina Oswald Porter</span> Widow of Lee Harvey Oswald

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter is a Russian and American woman who was the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. She married Oswald during his temporary defection to the Soviet Union and emigrated to the United States with him. After the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Oswald's murder, she testified against Oswald for the Warren Commission and remarried. She became an American citizen and ultimately came to believe her husband was innocent.

Ruth Hyde Paine is a friend of Marina Oswald, who was living with her at the time of the JFK assassination. According to four government investigations, Lee Harvey Oswald stored the 6.5 mm caliber Carcano rifle that he used to assassinate U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Ruth Paine's garage, unbeknownst to her and her husband, Michael Paine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ferrie</span> American who was accused of involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy

David William Ferrie was an American pilot who was alleged by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison to have been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Garrison also alleged that Ferrie knew Lee Harvey Oswald. Ferrie denied any involvement in a conspiracy and said he never knew Oswald.

The John F. Kennedy assassination rifle is the long-barrelled firearm that was used to assassinate John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trial of Clay Shaw</span> Kennedy assassination conspiracy trial

On March 1, 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested and charged New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy, with the help of Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie, and others. On January 29, 1969, Shaw was brought to trial in Orleans Parish Criminal Court on these charges. On March 1, 1969, a jury took less than an hour to find Shaw not guilty. It remains the only trial to be brought for the assassination of President Kennedy.

The John F. Kennedy assassination and the subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it have been discussed, referenced, or recreated in popular culture numerous times.

<i>Reclaiming History</i> 2007 book by Vincent Bugliosi

Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy is a book by attorney Vincent Bugliosi that analyzes the events surrounding the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, focusing on the lives of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby. He drew from many sources, including the Warren Report. Bugliosi argues that the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Oswald acted alone in shooting Kennedy is correct. The book won the 2008 Edgar Award for the Best Fact Crime category. Bugliosi explored the issues at length; the book is 1,632 pages. It was published with an accompanying CD-ROM containing an additional 1,000+ pages of footnotes. He analyzed both the assassination itself and the rise of the conspiracy theories about the event in the following years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend</span> Urban legend

There are many claimed coincidences with the assassinations of U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy's assassinations and these have become a piece of American folklore. The list of coincidences appeared in the mainstream American press in 1964, a year after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, having appeared prior to that in the GOP Congressional Committee Newsletter. In the 1970s, Martin Gardner examined the list in an article in Scientific American, pointing out that several of the claimed coincidences were based on misinformation. Gardner's version of the list contained 16 items; many subsequent versions have circulated much longer lists.

Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald is a 1993 American biographical drama television film directed by Robert Dornhelm and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Picardo, and Frank Whaley. It tells the story of Marina Oswald, the widow of Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

The CIA Kennedy assassination is a prominent John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory. According to ABC News, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is represented in nearly every theory that involves American conspirators. The secretive nature of the CIA, and the conjecture surrounding the high-profile political assassinations in the United States during the 1960s, has made the CIA a plausible suspect for some who believe in a conspiracy. Conspiracy theorists have ascribed various motives for CIA involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy, including Kennedy's firing of CIA director Allen Dulles, Kennedy's refusal to provide air support to the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy's plan to cut the agency's budget by 20 percent, and the belief that the president was weak on communism.

James Patrick Hosty Jr. was an American FBI agent known for unofficially investigating Lee Harvey Oswald in the months before the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Hosty later testified before the Warren Commission, and came to believe Oswald shot Kennedy in coordination with an agent of the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories</span> Conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of JFK

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, spawned numerous conspiracy theories. These theories allege the involvement of the CIA, the Mafia, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, the KGB, or some combination of these individuals and entities. Some conspiracy theories have alleged a coverup by parts of the federal government, such as the original FBI investigators, the Warren Commission, or the CIA. Former Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi estimated that a total of 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people had been accused at one time or another in various conspiracy scenarios.

Silvia Odio del Torro is a Cuban-American who provided testimony to the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy that Lee Harvey Oswald was one of three strangers who visited her Dallas, Texas apartment in September 1963 to solicit money for the anti-Castro counterrevolutionary group JURE.

References

  1. ↑ "The Plot to Kill Carter." Newsweek 21 May 1979.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Skid Row Plot: A scheme to kill Carter?" Time 21 May 1979.
  3. 1 2 "Alleged Carter death plot: man charged." Sydney Morning Herald 10 May 1979.
  4. ↑ UPI (May 12, 1979). "Reported Carter-Assassination Plot Given Credibility by New Evidence; Arrest Despite Disbelief". New York Times . p. 19.
  5. ↑ Harvey / Carter Assassination Plot CBS News broadcast from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive
  6. ↑ "Carter Plot Alleged". Sydney Morning Herald. May 9, 1979.
  7. ↑ Carter Assassination Attempt - TinWiki.org
  8. ↑ Lee Harvey and Osvaldo Conspiracy | AlienZoo.com
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.