JFK Page #17

MARTIN:

Never touched me.

JIM:

Yet on November 22, 1963 - the day

of the President's murder - our police

report says he pistol-whipped you

with a .357 Magnum.

(Martin's eyes are

fixed on Jim)

But the police report says you had

an argument over the phone bill.

Here, take a look at it.

(Martin looks at the

report)

Now, does a simple argument over

phone bills sound like a believable

explanation to you?

SUDDEN FLASHBACK to the night of the pistol-whipping. The

camera shows Banister laying Martin's head open / the beating

the humiliation.

MARTIN:

(shaking his head

slowly, dreamily)

No, it involved more than that.

Bill looks at Jim.

JIM:

How much more?

MARTIN:

(waits)

I don't know if I should talk about

this.

JIM:

Well, I'd ask Guy - we were friendly,

you know - heart attack, wasn't it?

MARTIN:

If you buy what you read in the paper.

JIM:

You have other information?

MARTIN:

I didn't say that. All I know is he

died suddenly just before the Warren

Report came out.

JIM:

Why did Guy beat you, Jack?

MARTIN:

Well, I guess now that Guy's dead,

it don't really matter... it was

about the people hanging around the

office that summer. I wasn't really

part of the operation, you know. I

was handling the private-eye work

for Guy when that came in - not much

did - but that's why I was there...

it was a nuthouse. There were all

these Cubans coming and going. They

all looked alike to me.

FLASHBACK to Banister's office in 1963. There are Cubans in

battle fatigues and combat boots; duffle bags are lying

around. David Ferrie, in fatigues, directs the Cubans as

they carry crates of ammunition and weapons into a back room.

Martin observes from another desk.

MARTIN:

Dave Ferrie - you know about him?

JIM (V.O.)

Was he there often?

MARTIN (V.O.)

Often? He practically lived there.

It was real cloak and dagger stuff.

They called it Operation Mongoose.

The idea was to train all these Cuban

exiles for another invasion of Cuba.

Banister's office was part of a supply

line that ran from Dallas, through

New Orleans to Miami, stockpiling

arms and explosives.

Still in 1963, we see the exterior of Banister's office. A

dozen Cubans follow Ferrie downstairs into the street, and

pile into several cars, duffels thrown in with them. Ferrie

drives the lead car.

JIM (V.O.)

All this right under the noses of

the intelligence community in

Lafayette Square?

We see the cars cross the long Lake Pontchartrain Bridge and

enter a remote guerrilla training camp. Bayou and jungle

are all around.

MARTIN (V.O.)

Sure. Everybody knew everybody. It

was a network. They were working

for the CIA - pilots, black operations

guys, civilians, military - everybody

in those days was running guns

somewhere... Fort Jefferson, Bayou

Bluff, Morgan City... McAllen, Texas

was a big gun-running operation.

At the guerrilla training camp at Lake Pontchartrain in 1963,

we see scenes of basic training - shooting, obstacle courses,

callisthenics - led by Ferrie and other trainers. Scattered

among the Cubans are several white American mercenaries. We

catch a glimpse of Oswald and glimpses of several other men

we will see again, in sprinklings.

JIM (V.O.)

Where is Banister in all this?

MARTIN (V.O.)

Banister was running his camp north

of Lake Pontchartrain. Ferrie handled

a lot of the training. There was a

shooting range and a lot of tropical

terrain like in Cuba. A few Americans

got trained, too. Nazi types.

Mercenaries. But Ferrie was the

craziest.

It's night at the training camp. FBI agents race up in cars

in the middle of the night, swarming over the camp, rounding

up the trainees.

MARTIN:

Anyway, late summer the party ended.

Kennedy didn't want another Bay of

Pigs mess, so he ordered the FBI to

shut down the camps and confiscate

the napalm and the C-4. There were

a buncha Cubans and a couple Americans

arrested, only you didn't read about

it in the papers. Just the weapons

got mentioned... 'cause the first

ones behind bars would've been

Banister and Ferrie, but I think the

G-men were just going through the

motions for Washington. Their hearts

were with their old FBI buddy

Banister.

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