Legacy of Secrecy (101 page)

that included his home, savings, stocks, property, and all assets—not

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really enough for him to have easily paid $50,000 himself (plus a finder’s

fee for Kauffmann). On the other hand, Milteer and his Atlanta White

Citizens’ Council partners, who included an attorney, did have “a lot of

money” and needed someone “to kill Martin Luther King,” preferably

a hit man who couldn’t be traced to their Atlanta clique.8

As for why Sutherland’s associate approached Byers, the HSCA said

that if Byers didn’t want to accept the contract himself, Sutherland and

Kauffmann felt Byers “could have established contact with people will-

ing to accept the offer.” Byers had no connection with any racist organi-

zation, but Phillip Melanson described him as a “St. Louis underworld

figure.” In fact, Byers’s brother-in-law was John Paul Spica, then serving

time at Missouri State Prison in Jefferson City for a contract murder—the

same inmate whom James Earl Ray admitted he “got to know” and who

had “heavy mob connections.”9

Sutherland’s associate Kauffmann had his own ties to that particular

prison. In addition to his business ventures, which included owning

a motel, the HSCA found that “in 1967 and 1968 . . . Kauffmann sold

over 1 million pills illegally to undercover Federal agents [and] some

of the illegal pills were delivered to the Missouri State Penitentiary

in Jefferson City . . . where James Earl Ray was incarcerated.” As we

documented earlier, Ray used and sold amphetamines in the prison.

The HSCA received reports naming a prison doctor as being “involved

with Mr. Kauffmann in the distribution of amphetamines in the prison.”

They also found that “while Ray was pushing a food cart in the prison

hospital, John Paul Spica, in fact, worked [for the suspected doctor] in

the same hospital.”10

Sutherland’s associate, Kauffmann, engaged in a wide range of crimi-

nal activity in the St. Louis area, according to the HSCA. In addition to

“dealing in drugs,” he accepted “stolen property in exchange for room

rent [and was] running a prostitution ring out of [his] motel.” After

a “Federal narcotics agent was [discovered] talking to an informant

about Kauffmann,” the “agent was ambushed and shot.” The scope of

Kauffmann’s criminal activity indicates that he would have had some

contact with the local Mafia, but there is no indication that the St. Louis

Mafia itself was involved in the offer to Byers. At the time, St. Louis

Mafia attorney Morris Shenker was busy representing Jimmy Hoffa and

trying to help with Carlos Marcello’s Spring Hoffa effort.11

It seems as if Sutherland was trying to reach out to the underworld

through Kauffmann.12 Sutherland’s wife testified that her husband

and Kauffmann were not close, and given Kauffmann’s criminal back-

ground, it appears that Sutherland was simply paying Kauffmann to

find a hit man. The HSCA interviewed a sheriff’s informant who lived

at Kauffmann’s motel in 1967, who said he heard about “a standing offer

to murder Dr. King.” The informant testified that “if they were hard up

for money, somebody would say, ‘Well, we can always make $20,000 or

$30,000 for killing Martin Luther King . . . for John.’”13

Sutherland didn’t find a hit man. According to the HSCA, Byers

turned down the contract without seriously considering it, and Kauff-

mann was soon “arrested and convicted for the manufacture and sale

of amphetamines.” The HSCA interviewed two other attorneys, one a

judge, who testified that Byers had told them about the offer after King’s

death. The HSCA “uncovered enough evidence to be convinced that the

Byers allegation was essentially truthful.”

Though the HSCA documented four ways that James Earl Ray could

have heard about the $50,000 Sutherland contract on King, including

associates of Sutherland who knew one of Ray’s brothers, they were

unable to confirm any of them. They also couldn’t find who was really

putting up the money for the hit or any evidence that Sutherland’s con-

tract was put into operation. If James Earl Ray did hear about the con-

tract in prison, there is no evidence Ray ever contacted Sutherland or

Kauffmann, something the HSCA tried very hard to find.14

Our new information, unavailable to the HSCA, suggests a new pos-

sibility: that Sutherland’s “secret Southern organization [with] a lot of

money” might have been Milteer’s Atlanta clique, or affiliated with it.

Word could have been passed to St. Louis Citizens’ Council member

Sutherland from an Atlanta Citizens’ Council member, such as Milt-

eer or his partners. Word could also have traveled to Sutherland via

Milteer’s work for Stoner’s NSRP. It might, or might not, be relevant

that St. Louis had two large General Motors plants at the time, similar to

the one where Milteer, Spake, and their two Atlanta associates collected

money each week.

Sutherland’s use of the criminal Kauffmann to reach “underworld

figure” Byers was an attempt to offer a contract on King to the mob. If

there was a connection between Milteer’s group and the St. Louis offer,

which we think is likely, then using Sutherland as a cutout didn’t work.

A more direct approach was needed, and the next time the underworld

was contacted for a hit man to shoot King, it would be at a much higher

level.

The next well-documented 1967 murder contract on King was offered

shortly after the St. Louis offer, and has a direct connection to Atlanta;

many of the following FBI files are quoted here for the first time. Just

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before the April 1967 release of an inmate at the federal prison in Leaven-

worth, Kansas, FBI files say the man was told about a $100,000 contract

on the life of Martin Luther King. The inmate, whose name (as well as his

associates’) is still withheld by the FBI, had been in Leavenworth since

July 1965. A fellow prisoner, a former “Mississippi bootlegger [who]

worked [with the inmate] in the shoe factory at Leavenworth, [learned

the inmate] was going to Atlanta,” so he told the inmate about the con-

tract on King.15

The former bootlegger told the inmate “that $100,000 had been offered

by the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi . . . to be paid to

anyone who would kill Martin Luther King.” Specifically, the bootleg-

ger told the inmate “that if, after his arrival at Atlanta, he could find out

Martin Luther King’s travel route and itinerary, he could earn $100,000

for himself.”16

The inmate later told the FBI that the former bootlegger “instructed

him to contact” a female associate at a certain company in Jackson, Mis-

sissippi, regarding the contract. The bootlegger told the inmate he cor-

responded with her and would tell her that the inmate “was ‘okay.’”

The FBI later determined that the bootlegger “had written often to” the

woman in Jackson, “had received seven visits from [her, and] planned

to work with [her] in the real estate business upon his release from

Leavenworth.”17

The Leavenworth inmate was apparently released on schedule in

April, but by June 2, 1967, he was “an inmate of the county jail, Sherman,

Texas.” While there, he told an FBI agent about the contract on King. The

FBI conducted a cursory investigation of the allegation over the next two

months, including interviewing the woman in Jackson, who admitted

writing to the Mississippi bootlegger in prison but denied any connec-

tion with the Klan. When the FBI interviewed her again a year later, after

King’s death, she had a new excuse to account for talk of the $100,000

contract, claiming she was just speculating, and that the bootlegger must

have “taken her casual statement seriously.”18

The heavily censored FBI files don’t say why the former Leavenworth

inmate was in a Texas country jail, or whether telling the FBI about the

King contract had anything to do with his release. But by the late fall

of 1967, the former inmate was on parole while “living and working

in the Atlanta, Georgia, area” as he had originally planned. As he later

described to the FBI, the former inmate said that “around the first or

second of December, 1967,” as “he was leaving the Federal Building in

Atlanta after having made his regular contact with his [parole] officer,

he was hailed on the steps of the Federal Building by an individual

unknown to him.” The individual was described as “a white male,

age 30–35, 5’10”, 165–170 pounds, blond hair, cut medium short, and

slightly wavy. . . . He was extremely well dressed in obviously expensive

clothes.”19

After getting the parolee’s attention, “this person asked [by name] if

he was” the former inmate who had been at Leavenworth, “and when

he replied in the affirmative, this individual stated he had a message for

him from” the still imprisoned Mississippi bootlegger who had revealed

the “$100,000 [contract to] kill Martin Luther King.” According to the

FBI, “the person accosting [the parolee] on the steps of the Atlanta Fed-

eral Building” in a threatening tone said that “apparently somebody had

done some talking.” The former inmate realized that was a “reference

to” his revelations to the FBI about the King murder contract. Having

spent time in Leavenworth, the parolee knew the penalty for being a

snitch, especially about a murder contract. The irony was that he was

literally only steps away from federal authorities—but in those less

security-conscious days, they were all inside the building and would be

of little help if the mysterious man wanted him to take a ride.20

Before the frightened parolee could respond to the man’s accusation,

a friend “who had [driven the parolee] to the Federal Building called

to him, from across the street.” At the friend’s call, “the unknown indi-

vidual immediately walked away.” He was apparently worried that the

former inmate’s friend “might be an FBI agent or police officer,” and he

“did not desire that his identity be learned.”21 The parolee was no doubt

relieved by his friend’s sudden appearance, and the threatening man’s

quick departure.22

Though out of immediate danger, “the more [the parolee] thought

about this incident, the more alarmed he became. . . . He considered

revealing [the] above facts to his parole officer at Atlanta but . . . he did

not trust his parole officer too much and was afraid his parole might

be revoked automatically. He also considered contacting the FBI office

in Atlanta but decided against this.” The parolee said he was worried

because “the Ku Klux Klan was reportedly strong in that area [and] it

was his understanding that [a] Deputy United States Marshal . . . who

went to work about the time he started reporting to his parole officer at

Atlanta, was supposed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan.”23

Fearing “for his life [the parolee fled] Atlanta shortly thereafter” and

moved to Tampa, Florida, with his wife. He remained there, working,

for the next eight months. He finally turned himself in to the FBI in early

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August 1968 (four months after King’s murder) because he was worried

about his wife, who had become pregnant.24

The matter of the $100,000 contract and the threatening confrontation

on the federal courthouse steps in Atlanta raise troubling questions.

Who was the well-dressed man, and how did he learn that the parolee

had told the FBI about the King contract? How did the man know the

parolee would be leaving the courthouse at that particular time? Had the

former inmate been tailed, or did the man (or his associates) have a con-

tact who was privy to information about the FBI and federal parolees?

It makes little sense for the man to have risked confronting the parolee

at the federal courthouse in Atlanta about a matter that the FBI had

investigated and dropped four months earlier—unless the King murder

contract was still an active issue. Given that the threatening man was

“well dressed in obviously expensive clothes” and the public nature

of the confrontation, the encounter was likely meant only to scare the

parolee, in which case it succeeded. As for the mystery man, his age

doesn’t match that of Milteer, Spake, or their attorney partner, who were

all older; a description of the dentist member of their clique isn’t avail-

able. The parolee’s description of the mystery man might indicate that

he was dressed a step above the usual attorneys and bureaucrats at the

Federal Building. If the parolee was suggesting that the man looked

wealthy, he could have been describing some of Milteer’s associates

in the Atlanta White Citizens’ Council. If the description was meant to

imply that the man was a flashy dresser in expensive clothes, he could

have been pointing to Atlanta nightclub operators and gamblers tied to

the Dixie Mafia, at least one of whom was linked to Carlos Marcello.25

James Earl Ray would be in New Orleans, allegedly meeting with