Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204616 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

"Who Killed The Kennedy's?!?!"
This was one of the very first books on the RFK assasination and still one of the best. Bill Turner was an FBI agent who published other true crime books and Jonn Christian was a former TV reporter. The prose in this volume, while not spectacular, is highly readable, especially relative to other assasination/conspiracy books. (Is it just me, or do a lot of other people feel a sense of total and irreperable fatigue after about 20 pages of your typical JFK assasination book?)

When one considers the bizarre nature of the known objective facts of the RFK assasination and the stakes involved, it is truly amazing so few books are available. Sirhan Sirhan is a true cipher, and nothing in the 'official' story about him allegedly murdering RFK makes any kind of sense. I will not get into the specifics here, as I think this book spells them out quite nicely, and anyone competant in Google can get a good summary of the points anyway on the 'net. (Also, I highly recommend a book from the early 1990's called 'It's a Conspiracy!' by the National Insecurity Counsel, for a very concise version of these points). But consider one this: The LA Police never released the details of their investigation, destoyed hundreds of crime scene photos and a bullet-struck tile at the crime scene (yes, they destroyed a bullet hole at the crime scene!), and shredded hundreds of pages of witness interviews. Instead of a full report, they released a 'Summary'...in 1986!!! (18 years after the event. Hmmm...)

Americans are astoundingly naive regarding assasinations. We are conditioned from grade school onward to think that assasinations are usually committed by a 'lone nut,' when all of human history shows that virtually all of the time, when a nationally prominent political leader is murdered, it is a conspiracy.

When a schmuck like you or I gets murdered, it might be a lone nut, just like it might be a mugger, or a rapist or a jealous lover. You or I might get murdered for a wallet, or a bag of dope, or it could be a random psycho job. But a national leader gets murdered for political purposes. Period.

If Tony Blair of Vladimir Putin got murdered, would you believe it if the cops said it was just a 'lone nut' that did it? Heck no, you would lay all odds that it was conspiracy because that's the way politics work. Yet the U.S. government expects us to believe that kind of thing only happens in other countries. Give me a break!

When RFK was murdered in 1968, there was no specific federal statute against murdering political candidates, so that the whole investigation was controlled by the LAPD and the LADA. Despite the image purveyed by TV's Dragnet, those agencies where famously, famously, corrupt in those days. And there was no federal oversight.

Anyway, Turner and Christian's book is a really good place to get the most important core facts of the RFK assasination. The basic facts of the RFK case are, to put it mildly, completely bizarre and it is obvious that LAPD did a complete cover-up. The authors do not get into much speculation as to why the LAPD did the cover-up or who actually was behind the assasination, and based on my furhter readings, I think those who get into that territory tend to seem rather speculative. I give this book props for not going into that area without good evidence.

A couple points of trivia. In the immediate aftermath of RFK's assasination and once it became obvious that LAPD was covering stuff up, a bunch of RFK's former boosters and some others formed an ad-hoc volunteer group to investigate the whole thing. This group included Robert Vaughn, a largely under-rated actor who played the Man From Uncle on TV. Robert Vaughn was one of many Hollywood types who had supported RFK. Paul LeMat, one of the stars of 'American Graffiti,' was also part of this group, and there is a photo of them included in most editions. It's interesting to look back on that corrupt and violent period in America, and know that a few semi-idealistic Hollywood types were trying to push against the current for a little justice. Nowadays of course the media tries to demonize a star who does that, but that is another story.

Anyway, this ad-hoc group eventually enlisted former FBI agent Bill Turner and TV reporter Jonn Christian, and they did what amounts to the first true public investigation into the RFK assasination. I believe that if you read this book you will be amazed at the facts.

"A" For Effort.....
Full disclosure: This reviewer is an avowed "no single shooter" believer, whether it be JFK, RFK or MLK and is predisposed to look favorably on any effort to shed a conspirational light on any of those tragic events. "The Assassination of RFK" raises all sorts of red flags about the tragic events of that June, 1968 night but fails to close the circle of doubt and deceit. The problem lies in that the authors have given us 3 books in one: It attempts to prove that Sirhan Sirhan was not the sole assassin at the scene. ARFK also tries to demonstrate that Sirhan MAY have been pre-programmed to kill Senator Kennedy in a "Manchurian Candidate" scenario. The most consuming effort herein lies with exposing the egregious effort by LAPD to destroy or withhold items of evidentiary value to a complete investigation AND the steadfast obstinence of the LA courts, justice system and "Establishment" toward reopening or expanding the case. This is a tall order for a work of only 321 pages in fairly large size type. Sadly, the authors Turner and Christian fall short; they certainly raise lots of smoke but do not prove any of the 3 cases outlined above. Another issue with the RFK assassination is that there is nowhere near the amount of "questions" that surround the JFK incident. One wonders what might have transpired had the LA authorities and "Establishment"simply allowed a full and complete investigation to run its' course. But they didn't!! Readers should take pains to read the introduction here. It outlines the eerie publishing history of ARFK. "Someone" did not want this story to see the light of day? Why? Previous reviewer Hildebrand has correctly stated that Americans are naïve concerning assassinations. We owe it to ourselves as a nation to inform ourselves about critical events. Justice may never be done even if we ARE informed, but at least Turner and Christian have tried. For that they deserve our collective gratitude.

Decent Starting Point
The murder of Robert Kennedy has never gotten the attention lavished on the death of his brother, for a variety of reasons. RFK was, after all, not the President, but a Senator and a potential candidate for the Presidency. In addition, his murder appeared, on first glance, to be far more of an open-and-shut case. After all, his alleged assailant, Sirhan Sirhan, stepped forward in a small kitchen pantry and opened fire with some 77 eyewitnesses standing there in the room. You didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out, it would seem...and yet...

Bill Turner and Jonn Christian do an admirable job of bringing out some of the questions that remain about the killing of RFK. I myself would have preferred a somewhat farther-reaching and more distanced view of the events, as opposed to this narrative, which closely follows the actual doings of Turner and Christian as they wade through the increasingly bizarre cast of characters that seemed to be involved in the events that culminated in the Ambassador Hotel. Where is Jim Marrs when you need him?

That being said, there are few books available on the RFK case, so this one gets high marks for effort, if it is not always perfect or even convincing in its execution.