James Files

James Earl Files (born January 24, 1942) is an American prisoner at the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois who stated in a 1994 interview that he was the "grassy knoll shooter" in the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. Files has subsequently been interviewed by others and discussed in various books pertaining to the assassination and related conspiracy theories. In 1994, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was quoted as having investigated File's allegation and found it "not to be credible".

Background

An "anonymous FBI source", later identified as Zack Shelton, has been reported by some researchers as having told Joe West, a private investigator in Houston, in the early 1990s about an inmate in an Illinois penitentiary who might have information about the Kennedy assassination. After West's death, his files were taken over by his friend, Houston television producer Bob Vernon. West's work was reported to have led Vernon to Files, serving a long prison sentence in Illinois for the attempted murder of a police officer.

Early life

James E. Files was born in a small country farmhouse just outside Oakman, Alabama, on January 24, 1942. His older sister, Mary Pearl Files, was born at the same farmhouse in 1936. Files claims he used the name "Sutton" until 1963. The Sutton/Files family moved to Melrose Park, Illinois, in the late 1940s, where he grew up in an Italian neighborhood. Labeled as a "juvenile delinquent" by the local police chief, he bought his first car at age 14, rode motorcycles, and raced stock cars when he was in his early to mid-20s. Files says he enlisted the U.S. Army in 1959. He claims he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and sent to Laos as part of Operation White Star. He allegedly did intelligence work and was among the first U.S. covert combat troops sent to Laos in 1959.

Military service

There is much debate over Files' military service claims. According to Wim Dankbaar’s site, Files stated that his military service records were erased by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which is why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and private investigative agencies have been unable to find them. In 1995, however, John C. Grady, the official historian of the 82nd Airborne and the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, said he had located Files' U.S. Army serial number and a Veterans Administration claim number in an "inactive" file at a remote regional VA office and through the VA computer in St. Louis. After an 18-month search, Grady verified that Files had indeed enlisted in the U.S. Army when he said and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne shortly before being sent to Laos on July 10, 1959. One year later, Grady checked Files' service record again. This time nothing could be found, and all records for "James E. Files" were marked "no further information available." However, this conflicts with Files' statement in 1994 that his legal name until 1963 was 'James Sutton', not 'James Files'. If this is true, the Army might well not have any record of a "James E. Files".

CIA connection

After 14 months in military service, Files claims, he was scheduled to be court-martialed at Ft. Meade, Maryland for allegedly killing two of his own men to "save face" with the Laotian Army. Files also claims that it was at this time he was rescued and recruited by CIA agent David Atlee Phillips, although no solid evidence of this is known to exist. It was also through David Atlee Phillips that Files claims to have met Lee Harvey Oswald (Phillips was Oswald’s controller, according to Files). Files says that Phillips gave Files the early model Remington XP-100 “Fireball” that was used to deliver the headshot that killed John F. Kennedy (more alleged info here). Very little is known about Files' involvement in the CIA.

Ties to the Mafia

In a 1994 interview, Files gave his account of how he came to be involved in organized crime:

“Well, I first became... it's a strange way to start out... but I was racing stock cars and driving at a local track and Mr. Nicoletti had taken a shine to my driving and he'd watched me on several occasions and he had asked me once if I would drive him one evening. I took him out and test drove his car that we'd just picked up a brand new Ford... and he was pretty well pleased with my driving and from then on I became more like an assigned driver to him and I did several drivings for him on different jobs that he did.”

Files was chosen to drive for Charles Nicoletti in late 1961 or early 1962 and eventually became a "favorite" of Nicoletti. He also claims to have done several “hit jobs” for Nicoletti prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, impressing Nicoletti with his firearms skills. He claims the Mafia vehicles had custom interior features, such as fold-down rear seats and removable side door panels which could be used to hide weapons.

According to Wim Dankbaar’s site, several eyewitnesses have reported seeing Files and Charles Nicoletti together:

1. Incarcerated Mafia assassin Leonard Patrick testified that James Files was associated with the Chicago mob and Charles Nicoletti.
2. A former CIA-U.S. Army intelligence officer who was stationed in Florida in 1963 has also identified James E. Files as being involved with the JM/WAVE CIA covert headquarters in Miami during the early 1960s.
3. CIA contract pilot William Robert Plumlee ("Tosh" Plumlee) recalls a "young hitter from Chicago who got into trouble down in Mexico and had to be bailed out by Frank Sturgis of the CIA."
4. The garage owner (where Files was once employed) states that Nicoletti would allow only Files to "touch" or work on Nicoletti’s personal vehicles.
5. Two of Files' Chicago "buddies" recall Files and Nicoletti as "being very close.”

Claims of involvement in JFK assassination

The wooden fence on the grassy knoll, where Files claims to have made his shot.

Through a lengthy interview, taped in 2003, Files gave the following account of the chain of events that occurred in the assassination of John F. Kennedy:

One evening in the spring of 1963, Files was playing a pinball machine when Nicoletti approached him and said they were going to go for a drive. During the drive, Nicoletti told him about a plan to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. The assassination was a collaboration between the CIA and Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana, with the job being delegated to Nicoletti. In the months leading up to the assassination, several locations were considered, including Chicago. Ultimately, Dallas, Texas, was chosen for the hit.

Files was not to be a gunman in the assassination. He was to assist Nicoletti in weapon arrangements and survey the location. A week before the assassination, Files drove into Dallas and stayed at the Lamplighter Motel in Mesquite, Dallas, where he called Nicoletti and David Atlee Phillips (who he claims was his “controller”). Files says the next morning Lee Harvey Oswald (who shared the same “controller”) came to the hotel. Over the next five days, Files and Oswald stayed together (a photo, which Files claims was taken by Oswald, can be found here). Files says he and Oswald went to an empty field to test fire the weapons and calibrate the scopes that were to be used. Oswald was picking up the shells as Files fired them. Files also claims he and Oswald never spoke of the assassination the entire time.

Two days before the assassination, Nicoletti arrived in Dallas and told Files that Johnny Roselli had flown in as part of a CIA abort team to call off the hit. However, Nicoletti said he was going ahead with the murder anyway. Since Roselli would no longer be the second assassin, he asked Files to be a backup gunman. Files accepted it. Files claims this is why he was the other gunman.

When Files accepted to be the backup shooter, he was given specific guidelines:

1. He was not to fire unless absolutely necessary.
2. He was not to harm Jacqueline Kennedy.
3. They were going for a headshot, and he was to fire only if there had been no headshot.

Files chose to use a 1962 prototype bolt-action Remington XP-100 “Fireball”, given to him by CIA agent David Atlee Phillips. The location he selected was the now infamous “grassy knoll”. He states he was wearing a “reversible” jacket to look like a railway worker and kept the Remington XP-100 “Fireball”, as well as specially-made “mercury rounds”, in a small suitcase.

Files says he loaded a special wax-tipped mercury round into the “Fireball”, and waited in the rail yard for President Kennedy. When President Kennedy came into view, he aimed for the President’s right eye as he was being driven down Elm Street. When the gunfire started, he decided the shots had missed. Since no shot had struck the President's head, he fired himself, and his was the fatal bullet. Files returned the weapon to his suitcase, bit the shell casing, left it sitting on the stockade fence, and walked away. He says he walked to an arranged meeting place, where Nicoletti and Johnny Roselli were waiting for him. Files drove them to a gas station and dropped them off. Then he drove alone back to Chicago.

Files's statements & claims

Files has been taped in two interviews:

-1994: Interview with Bob Vernon

-2003: Interview with Jim Marrs & Wim Dankbaar

During these interviews, Files made the following claims:

• His real name is James Sutton, which he changed to James Files in 1963.

• He was employed as an agent in the CIA after his discharge from the Army.

• He knew Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination.

• Lee Harvey Oswald did not fire any weapon during the assassination.

• It was Charles Nicoletti who fired from the Dal-Tex building.

• Jack Ruby was in Dealey Plaza during the assassination.

• Johnny Roselli flew to Dallas as part of a CIA “abort team” to call off the planned assassination.

• On the morning of the assassination, Files met Johnny Roselli and Charles Nicoletti.

• Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill Officer J.D. Tippit.

• Files bit the shell case from the fatal bullet left it on the grassy knoll (more alleged info here, and here).

• His shot and Nicoletti’s hit President Kennedy’s head within a split second of each other.

• Files's shot was a custom-made wax-tipped mercury-filled round.

• He and Oswald spent several days together before the assassination.

• He had never admitted his involvement until 1994.

• He never voluntarily gave his story, until after the FBI abandoned him.

Critical analysis

Files' claims have caused heated debates among JFK assassination researchers, even between those who firmly believe a conspiracy existed. Noted JFK researchers such as Jim Marrs, Robert Groden, David Scheim, John R. Craig, Gary Shaw, Barr McClellan, Dick Russell and Fabian Escalante give credence to Files' confession. However, critics claim he has changed his story on numerous occasions. They question the historical accuracy of some of his claims, plus inaccurate descriptions of the weapon he says he used.

Files at one point was close to being featured in an NBC documentary, but the deal fell through when NBC hired Edward Epstein to verify it.

In brief, NBC retained me as a consultant for their planned story on Files. I hired the detective firm of Jules Kroll. JK established from telephone records Files was in Chicago, not Dallas, on November 22, 1963. We then placed a call to Files from Dick Clark's office (DC was producer), and I interviewed Files about Kroll findings. He said he had a twin brother, who no one knew about, and whom he met shortly before November 22, and who he murdered after November 22. He said it was his twin brother in hospital with his wife, not him. His wife, however, said there was no twin, and Kroll confirmed there was no twin. My view then and now is that Files invented the story for the money it would earn him.

However, Files, in a letter he wrote to Mrs. Pamela Ray, a person he developed a close relationship with, said:

"The Kroll Agency tried everything they could to discredit me. One story they put out was that I couldn't have been in Dallas that day, as my wife was giving birth to our daughter that day. When I was asked about it, I said yes, I was at the hospital that day. But that means Kennedy was not assassinated until September 26, 1966. I said that is the day my daughter was born, go check the hospital records. That ended that."

Dutch JFK researcher Wim Dankbaar also counters the criticism. Dankbaar published a phone conversation with Faith Files, Files' former wife, who corroborated a number of claims that have been disputed by others.

References

• The Top Ten Reasons The Jim Files' Story Needs Help
• Researcher Wim Dankbaar’s site
• Information regarding Operation White Star
• The Assassin From Blockbuster Video (The James Files "Confession")
• Files researcher: Wim Dankbaar
• Poems by James Files
• Artwork by James Files
• http://www.manuscriptservice.com/Headstamp/
• Bob Vernon's Letter