JFK Lancer Material: The Pistol Whipping of Jack Martin
Please note that this is a living document that I will update with links as I find more in my research. This post will be used during my speech at the JFK Lancer Conference.
Much conspiratorial hay is made from the pistol-whipping of Jack Martin, and like many, I had made several assumptions about the story. For many, it’s the first detail they come across when hearing Guy Banister’s name tied to the JFK Assassination. Many versions of the story exist, but the most dramatic culminates with Martin shouting at Guy, “What are you going to do – kill me like you all did Kennedy?”
It’s likely you assumed, as I did, that Martin’s dramatic declaration was part of the story from the moment it was first reported. I had assumed the accusation was in the police report, or Martin’s other reports, but it was not. Tracking how Martin’s and Delphine Roberts’ stories changed reveals a pattern that sheds new light on Guy Banister’s story.
Witness and Investigation Facts
NOTE TO VIEWERS: If something is marked “FIND CITE,” it means I’ve read it, but am still seeking the cite.
The Evolution of Pistol-Whipping Claims
Jack Martin’s Claims
Spartacus Educational also wrote up a summary on Martin with primary and secondary sources defined.
Bill Simpich, through the Mary Ferrell Foundation, created a list of documents regarding Martin in the order of their creation as opposed to their order of release, which is enormously helpful in seeing how the story unfolded in real time.
The pistol-whipping occurred the day of the assassination, and when it was reported to the NOPD, the police report did not contain any mention of the accusation regarding Kennedy’s assassination.
Fred Litwin has already done an enormous amount of digging on the pistol whipping of Jack Martin, the event that allegedly led to Jack Martin accusing Guy Banister of killing JFK. His blog post can be found here.
Martin contacted the New Orleans D.A.’s office with claims about Oswald being trained by Ferrie, and later told the Secret Service and FBI that he concocted the reports.
Note: I’m still seeking agency original report to see exactly what was said. The FBI references the letter itself here.
Martin wrote the FAA and FBI with accusations about an accusations against a telephone operator, as well asking favors in regards to his wife on November 25th.
Original letters found here.
The authorities did not find him credible.
Carlos Quiroga reported that Martin threatened to kill him, which his wife backed up. FIND CITE
The earliest description of the pistol-whipping incident that contained the claim about him accusing Guy of involvement in the assassination was in 1977.
Martin provided a history of his claims during an investigation for criminal libel charges against David Lewis, as well as a criminal fraud probe against Jim Garrison in Louisiana, with no mention of the pistol-whipping.
The FBI received a copy of the libel charges out of concern that Martin had FBI documents, but they declined to investigate.
Martin called the FBI in 1967 and claimed to not be an admirer of Garrison, and further made claims about the methods of Garrison’s investigators.
Martin appeared at and FBI office and accused the Teamsters of killing both JFK and RFK.
Martin also tried report events that he deemed as important as the Watergate scandal.
Delphine Roberts’ Claims
Delphine Roberts’ claims about the pistol whipping start here.
In this interview, which I cannot find the date for, she claimed that Martin hit Guy first after Guy caught him behind the rail in his files.
She claims in this interview that she and Guy checked to see if Martin grabbed the “file” on Oswald. Other interviews make no mention of any file on Oswald. FIND CITE
Red Flags
Red Flag: Martin’s Criminal History
JFK Online documents an Martin’s incredibly checkered past, if he is indeed Edward Suggs.
To my knowledge, his name was indeed originally Edward Suggs, but I understand from conversations with other researchers that this may not be certain. The FBI added Suggs as an alias for Martin, however.
A report from the Garrison Commission notes that Martin’s high school teacher claimed that not only did Martin have an extensive criminal background, his father was part of Bonnie and Clyde’s gang.
It’s also alleged that Martin and Ferrie drunkenly confessed to plotting to kill JFK in 1961, but I’ve been so far unable to find the documentation on that claim.
A complaint was lodged claiming that Martin represented himself as an investigator for the government in 1961.
A witness in the FBI report about the 11/25 letters believed that Martin dominated his wife, which could indicate domestic violence.
Red Flag: Other Erratic Claims
Roberts previously claimed that she had seen Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro demonstrating on Canal Street. FIND CITE
Martin also accused the Teamsters and Jimmy Hoffa of the assassination. FIND CITE
Red Flag: Mental Health History
Delphine Roberts was seen as “a nut” FIND CITE
Roberts’ campaign ad was a 6 page diatribe, and she pushed her southern bonafides and white supremicist ideologies as a preface to a 1977 interview. (Link above under her claims.)
Jack Martin had been hospitalized previously in the 1950’s.
Cite above in the declination of investigation by the FBI.
Another report on Martin describes him as a psychopathic personality.
This list, numbers 15-the end, details the many reports that Martin made to the FBI from 1968 to his death, including rambling letters to Richard Nixon and leaders at the FBI. It should be noted that Martin had recordings the FBI was concerned about.
Red Flag: Mirroring Behaviors in Interviews in Both Martin and Roberts
This source extensively documents the erratic behavior and credibility problems reported regarding Jack Martin. From the JFK Online source:
“Jim Garrison's onetime chief investigator, Pershing Gervais, describes Martin as "absolutely crazy."(18) According to Gervais, Martin "had a way of breathing up stories and being very positive about things. He would concoct things about someone and then he would talk to that someone" and construct a story "that would kind of jibe" with whatever new information he received. When asked about Martin's reliability, Gervais laughs and said, "He couldn't be reliable if he intended to be."(19)”
This is a behavior that signals to me that Martin is doing what can be called mirroring, meaning he changes his responses to align to the expectations of whomever is speaking. The same link extensively documents how little even Jim Garrison’s investigators believed Jack Martin, as well as others around him.
Delphine Roberts’ story changed according to who she was talking to. FIND CITES
Roberts began claiming to Brengel the day after the assassination that Oswald had been in the agency many times, despite Brengel never having seen him.
Red Flag: Wide Gap in How Relationship is Defined
Witness descriptions of Guy/Jack’s relationship don’t match what Martin described as a fatherly relationship. (Guy was fairly tight-lipped about these issues.)
Mrs. Decker, one of Guy’s secretaries reported that Guy had told her to be afraid of Jack Martin, which starkly contrasts Martin’s claim in the police report that Guy was like a father to him in the police report.
Follow up with Fred’s findings about Martin telling tales to Mary about Delphine, may not have been welcome at the agency.
Delphine Roberts told Mary Helen Brengel that Roberts bragged about how Guy was going to leave Mary and marry her. This assertion appears from no other witness that I can find. FIND CITES
Red Flag: Claims Shifted After Garrison Prosecution of Clay Shaw Began
A large number of the witnesses in the Clay Shaw trial were brought in by Martin. FIND CITE
Story evolved even more in Garrison’s books.
Garrison portrayed Guy as an unwitting accomplice in his Playboy interview, but in his book quote (link above), he features Jack Martin claiming Guy is the center of the conspiracy.
Red Flag: Cognitive Distortions
While hypermentalization describes a subject’s exaggerated response to social cues, propinquity, a concept coined by Jim Garrison, is simply hypermentalization with more steps.
Mary Helen Brengel said that Delphine Roberts told her that Guy was going to leave Mary Wortham Banister and marry her. We have this, to my knowledge, only Delphine’s word for this. FIND CITE.
Histrionics
Roberts made her politics her entire personality. (See above regarding her ad from when she ran for office.). Nearly every interview involves her describing her politics, which were quite extreme and held a large number of conspiracy theories.
Everything involving Roberts was quite extreme and highly dramatic, including the meeting she had with Anthony Summers in which her attorney pulled a gun, and she demanded pay for her story. FIND CITE
Some researchers interpret his erratic behavior as being fear-based, but the patterns of behavior noted for decades before he’d have reason to be afraid of getting caught up in the assassination investigation speak more to a different cause. I cannot diagnose anyone with anything, but through academic study and unfortunate personal experience, I can say that behaviors including lying, mirroring, and grandiosity more imply his behavior being driven by something like a Cluster B disorder rather than straight fear.
These behaviors found an attentive audience in Jim Garrison, whose motivations are another post all together.
This creates a major problem for any of Martin’s report, as any or all of them could be made within the dynamic of Martin telling the interviewer not only what the interviewer wanted to hear, but what would serve Martin’s best interests. In my opinion, his motive likely wasn’t fear, but instead was based on attention-seeking, avoiding accountability, revenge, or all of the above.
