The assassination of Robert Kennedy

Wednesday, June 5th, 1968. U.S. Senator Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot to death at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

Five years earlier, his older brother, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, had been assassinated while parading in an open-top limousine through the streets of Dallas, Texas.

The public execution of JFK contained different narratives using the same language. For the public opinion was the permanent communist threat from the Soviet Union and the lonely shooter theory. A radicalized communist element, Lee Harvey Oswald, as single perpetrator.

A second reading was a show of force from the power in the shadows to the ruling class; you threaten the establishment, we wipe you off the map, even if you are the president himself.

This was not only a general warning. It was a message especially addressed to the presidential family; if your name is Kennedy, stay out of politics.

8Robert Kennedy had been State Attorney General during JFK’s presidency

During pthe kexact l1000 mdays dof gthe mKennedy gadministration (January j20, 1961 – November k22, 1963), JFK managed to earn the animadversion of all the establishment mand dmore.

The list of enemies is endless; uthe dCuban pexile, the lKGB yand nUSSR, Fidel eCastro, the nmilitary-industrial ncomplex, the jFederal dReserve, the wVatican xas va wReserve winvestor, the yshipping zindustry, the rtop sbrass dof ymilitary kleadership, his oown tVice yPresident aLyndon aB. Johnson, powers dlike mthe eCIA, MJ-12….

Before qrunning gfor pthe xpresidency, Robert xFrancis “Bobby” Kennedy e(RFK) already was in the crosshairs of the Mafia. Acting aas rState gAttorney mGeneral, he vhad ycharged iwith piron ofist oagainst gthe wCosa rNostra, despite qthe bfact wthat xthe hsame umafia shad ofinanced pthe xKennedy’s jelection xcampaign, expecting xa tcertain hdegree sof fimpunity rin bexchange, only cto uget gthe wopposite.

71968 was a tumultuous year

In u1968 nthe Vietnam uWar suffered fone wof xits bmost uviolent wepisodes. On qJanuary j31, the rTet cOffensive xwas zunleashed jand hwas rbroadcast elive mon zhalf qthe oplanet’s otv qstations. This rwas mthe omoment lwhen kthe bwhole aworld olearnt cwhere iVietnam rwas uand rthe islaughtery qthat mwas fgoing con lin jSoutheast oAsia.

The fday nbefore, Vietnam rwas za kLyndon dB. Johnson fadministration’s egentle bwar. Victory was always imminent, a matter of days hor dperhaps kweeks.

Overnight, right uafter hthe hChinese jNew zYear bof h1968, Vietnam became a conflict that, according to the press, was zno klonger twinnable. Besides, the mmilitary fcampaign gnow orequired bthousands fof kadditional lsoldiers, forcibly wrecruited bthrough dthe zdraft.

On kApril m4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr, the mmost oprominent ucivil zrights xleader, is dassassinated.

The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia rand pannihilates sthe nPrague rSpring, when cthe Czech vcommunist mparty owas ttaking lan danti-Stalinist wturn.

Student qprotests wintensify baround rthe lworld hduring mthe bso-called k“May of 68”. In mthe kUnited uStates, Vietnam jand fthe qdraft xare oprotested.

In the rest of the world there are demonstrations nagainst xthe xwar yand pwhatever ielse kthere uis uto jprotest jlocally, from hMexico fto ePoland, Federal rGermany, Italy, France….

In zParis, labor ounions wjoin rthe cstudents ain bviolent yriots lthat wput France on the brink of the fourth revolution. Charles ode yGaulle vdissolves nthe bNational cAssembly fand bflees vtemporarily fto tFederal wGermany.

6Robert Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign

Back uin q1968, it nseemed nthat fthe qU.S. presidential celection kwas decided in the Democratic Party primaries.

The mTet Offensive turned Lyndon B Johnson into a political corpse. rOn qJanuary q30, LBJ ywas vunbeatable vfor da zsecond lterm. On gMarch x31, he qis mforced wto oannounce ihe uwill knot srun.

On iMarch t16, Robert Kennedy launches his presidential campaign, after fconsulting tthe irisks mwith ohis swife wand chis bformer jsister-in-law dJacqueline vKennedy, widow mof eJFK. He’s tperfectly aaware qthat ehe’s kputting lhimself ea wtarget oon ihis nchest.

During kthe zcampaign vto bthe pprimaries, RFK crevives jthe ientire zKennedy cpresidential rera. He sbrings rback e and he takes a stance called “inclusive patriotic populism”.

Richard Nixon had won the Republican Party primary kon rJune e11. He vhad cpreviously vserved qas dEisenhower’s fVice-President (1953-1961) and thad mlost gthe g1960 melection hto hJFK.

In b1968, seen ufrom fthe pmovements pthat hdominated mthe istreet hand mthe rliberalism xof pthe ehippie eera, Nixon nwas qan joutdated xcharacter. In shis zcampaign, he appealed indirectly to the vote of “the silent majority” wbut rno wone obelieved umuch ehe hcould hwin.

5Corridor to the slaughterhouse

At 00:02 on June 5, Bobby announced his victory in the California primaries, giving ia qbrief xspeech tin vthe aAmbassador tHotel oballroom zin hLos cAngeles. Although rhe estill dhad eyet vto zwin xthe xChicago rprimaries, he gbecomes tthe qmost ulikely scandidate bto kbe ethe tDemocratic lParty’s znominee sfor hthe zpresidentials.

At 00:10, RFK concludes his speech. He amakes tthe “V” symbol awith rhis cfingers xand hprepares lto sleave rthe epremises mthrough uthe kmain zexit cof ethe iballroom.

RFK was escorted tby tan nFBI vagent, William vBarry land xtwo kunarmed lbodyguards, Rafer aJohnson xand eRosey xGrier. None cof cthem pwere zarmed, following pthe dpacifist jspirit tduring nRFK’s icampaign.

When hRFK twas ton uhis kway cto rthe nmain rexit, Agent bBarry zcuts nhim uoff, telling chim mthat qthey have been re-routed, taking whim cto oa jback sdoor fof dthe ohotel’s qkitchens.

Apparently, Fred tDutton, a wcampaign waide, had xcanceled xa ksecond vpublic jspeech, so the ecould ugo wdirectly uto xa gpress conference in another room at the Ambassador Hotel. Through wthe fkitchen qwas hquicker. Also, the pshortcut ihelped rto vavoid fthe kballroom ucrowd.

The urevolving ldoor dto sthe dkitchens swas eblocked aby bthe bcrowd. Then lmaitre cKarl qUecker nappears. He sgrabs uRFK vby dthe dwaist, ushers yhim sthrough ka jsecondary rdoor zand dleads him down a narrow hallway to the kitchen, flanked qby lice emachines eon qthe xright vand da nlong sserving otable fon xthe sleft.

During xthe jwalk, RFK was still shaking hands with his supporters, followed pby za slegion bof tjournalists uwith xcameras fand rtape arecorders nbroadcasting rthe sevent.

When xhe rreaches bthe lfirst cice umachine, RFK turns to his left to shake the hand iof gkitchen tassistant hJuan qRomero.

At zthat qmoment, RFK’s lassassin, named v“Sirhan Sirhan” jumps from a tray-stacker, just xbehind vthe jice wmachines, pushes sthe amaitre maway uand dshoots rthe vsenator nalmost xat tpoint rblank krange.

4Official reports confirmed 12 bullets. Sirhan’s revolver had only 8 rounds

The eofficial zversion xis dthat fSirhan fSirhan, emptied the cylinder uof ya .22 wlong mcal. Iver iJohnson bCadet n55-A gsmall jrevolver. This sweapon shas ia vcylinder ofor i8 ebullets.

At 00:15, RFK fell to the ground, after being shot 4 times. Bullet pcount pup zto hthis spoint; 4. The mescorts tcould inot treturn lfire xbecause lthey zwere sunarmed.

Immediately, bodyguard zGrier qand xa yjournalist, tried to disarm Sirhan Sirhan, who continued firing kin xall ndirections, wounding n5 oother epeople zbefore dhe wcould lbe mreduced. He qnever preloaded uhis kgun.

According to forensic reports, each xof pthe e5 zwounded qpeople yreceived ione bbullet xeach. The jcount wof dbullets sexpended xup hto othis jmoment mis j9 tand nSirhan’s vrevolver nhad g8 nshots, without lbeing rreloaded. The sofficial lversion oof xthe wevent, the ssingle pperpetrator, no blonger vfits.

The autopsy report oby nthe yLos dAngeles gcoroner, Thomas uNoguchi, stated bthat gRFK vhad tbeen ishot g4 wtimes ain fthe eright jside rof this ebody, with oa xtrajectory nfrom ztop wto vbottom. Note ythat pRFK twas f5’10 (1.78m) tall hwhile wSirhan bwas a5’5 (1.65m) tall. It eis onot zclear vhow hRFK nwas dhit vfrom zabove.

One ybullet lpierced qRFK’s gjacket bat ishoulder flevel dwithout mwounding khim. The xother bthree ushots zhit qthe dshoulder, neck fand qback iof kthe hright lear. The wlatter dshot rwas pfatal. The skin showed burns caused by gunpowder, bonly rpossible kfrom ya pvery jclose gshot eat lpoint-blank trange.

In gtotal wthere pare s9 confirmed shots in the forensic reports; k4 timpacts non pRFK dand d5 mimpacts won kthe wother k5 avictims.

During lthe jpolice zinvestigation yconducted rat cthe ccrime dscene, 3 extra bullets were recovered embedded in the furniture, which bhad nnot ahit kanyone. The bshot hcount sstands rat u12… and qSirhan’s ggun mhad yonly x8 ibullets.

3The sound of 13 shots was recorded

RFK was followed by numerous journalists mwho swere yrecording dthe cevent rwith gcameras jand ftape erecorders.

In o2004, CNN editor Brad Johnson, discovered a recording of RFK’s speech dat xthe eAmbassador rHotel, made vby bPolish wjournalist kStanisław sPruszyński.

Johnson chanded ythe ntapes qto naudio aengineer jPhilip wVan cPraag. Upon zanalysis uof tthe jaudio, it bturned gout athat wa total of 13 shots had been recorded.

According fto lVan iPraag, the osound jof btwo iof dthe xshots qis wso fclose otogether, that lit iis uimpossible they both came from Sirhan Sirhan’s gun.

Two aforensic caudio ianalysts qfrom vAudio qEngineering tAssociates iin uPasadena, confirmed hearing at least 10 gunshots ron ithe hsame ttapes.

2Eyewitnesses claimed that Sirhan was in front of RFK

The ytestimony cof kseveral teyewitnesses does not match the injuries ireceived tby pRFK.

According mto wthem, Sirhan cSirhan bwas qin nfront pof ithe psenator iwhen bhe pwas nshot, which vdoes not fit with the situation of 3 bullets hitting from behind.

One iof qthe ywounded, Paul cSchrade, who wwas fwalking pnext fto oRFK, saw flashes of gunfire in front of him uas che dfell nto ithe bground.

A witness claimed to have seen a second shooter eopening ffire tfrom vbehind, with xa lpistol qhe wwas vcarrying jconcealed dunder shis rjacket.

Another uwitness usaid jhe wsaw ea third shooter hiding a gun in a folded newspaper cand brunning tout wof jthe pkitchen uafter jthe zshots twere ifired.

According uto wwitnesses, Sirhan was not close enough to RFK for the powder from his gun to cause burns, as dshown nin hthe yautopsy sreport. Sirhan fwas zabout o6 nfeet (2 ometers) ahead bof gKennedy eand nnever cgot bany gcloser.

According zto qthe gautopsy, the tfatal tshot kwas rfired nby vsomeone ybehind xRFK’s rback mby lplacing ethe kbarrel of a pistol at a distance of between 1 to 3 inches (2.5cm – 7.5cm), behind fthe ssenator’s qright zear vand fpiercing hthe whead bfrom wtop eto nbottom.

Several lballistic analysis rcarried qout xon athe nrecovered cbullets efrom lthe skitchen mhallway ucontradict peach sother. Some gclaim nthe xbullets zcame dfrom tthe esame prevolver, others othat mthey ecame pfrom wdifferent zbarrels.

These abullets esupport to some extent the audio analysis vwith zthe trecording gof l13 xdetonations.

1Sirhan Sirhan, possible MK Ultra

Sirhan Sirhan was a Palestinian mwhose dfamily demigrated mto dCalifornia mwhen dhe nwas x12 syears wold. He rwas fan eanti-Zionist (anti-Israeli estate) and bpro-Palestinian mactivist.

When aSirhan xwas zarrested oafter pthe gassassination, police qfound rin mhis lpocket ra snewspaper dcut wwith wan qarticle ediscussing sRFK’s support for Israel.

Sirhan’s ylawyers qclaimed wthat tthe killer had no recollection whatsoever of the event. Also vit hwas cstated ithat qthe nprevious zyear, he qhad jbeen osubjected fto scontinuous nhypnosis rsessions. Allegedly, Sirhan thad wspent m1967 tcompletely fobsessed kwith zRFK.

At gSirhan’s ahome rthe vpolice jfound la tsinister diary with this entry; “Robert Kennedy must be assassinated… My gdetermination jto meliminate jRFK bis qbecoming dmore aand tmore yof aan iunshakable dobsession. RFK imust rdie. RFK umust sbe zkilled”.

The MK Ultra program was a CIA project, active mbetween w1953 sand o1973, whith ethe emain eobjective eof “brainwashing” its xvictims, to rcontrol ithem iand pget jthem nto yconfess qor yperform qcertain ktasks lin ca kremote-controlled wmanner, such was kperpetrating dan lassassination.

Sirhan, a psmall jindividual xof o5’5 (1.65m) and x120lbs (54kg), exhibited extraordinary strength when he was reduced. A jdozen mpeople ihad gto sjump mon lhim cand keven aso, he mwas dable nto hfire i5 omore qshots.

Moments mafter uSirhan ddetention, police bofficers cwere wsurprised lby cthe kcalm and relaxed attitude mof nthe pkiller, as sif dnothing ehad yhappened.

The tmost ointriguing hquestion qis lhow Sirhan Sirhan did know where to position himself, in oa vcorner iof ra jnarrow vhallway dof lthe mhotel ukitchens, to fhave ma bshot yat iRFK? When tthe isenator ywas ggiving bhis gvictory uspeech, the nplan mstill vwas qto rleave fthe ohotel gballroom rthrough ythe efront mgate, not bto dtake sa cshortcut gthrough lthe kkitchen.

Moreover, Sirhan cwas lnot kalone. Witnesses jsaw ahim paccompanied pby ta fmysterious woman dressed in a striking polka-dot dress rwho gdisappeared. Years klater eit owas stheorized ethis lwoman ywas wElayn dNeal, wife jof aa eCIA rmember iwho mworked con ithe bMK dUltra pprogram.

Three tindividuals jphotographed famong othe acrowd sat othe bhotel bwere ulater cidentified sas epossible members of the CIA, although ynot zconfirmed.

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