Unredacted: The FBI files on John Caesar Grossi (IV)

This is my fourth post on John Caesar Grossi. Grossi, under the name Jack L. Bowen, was listed as a reference on Lee Harvey Oswald’s Dallas Public Library card, a card which helped identify Oswald when he was arrested for the murder of Dallas police officer J. D. Tippet. Hours after his arrest for Tippet’s murder, Oswald was also charged with the murder of President Kennedy.

A reference listed on a library card does not seem a likely candidate for an important figure in the assassination of a President. Yet Grossi is the subject of many FBI files in the JFK Assassination Records Collection (ARC). Two of these files include numerous documents which were withheld in full for over 25 years, until 2017.

Withholding and release of ARC documents is one of the main subjects of this blog, so I took a close look at these files in 2020, and eventually posted several notes on Jack Grossi’s complicated and colorful life.

My first note reviewed FBI case file 43-5359 (hereafter File 1), the earliest FBI file on Grossi in the ARC. It covered Jack’s activities from 1944 (age 16) until 1948 (age 19), when he wound up in a federal prison for impersonating a USN non-com, an imposture he used to write and cash lots of bad checks. The file is a portrait of a young man with a gift for gab and grift, confident in his ability to con everybody he meets.

My second note was an overview of Grossi’s adventures and misadventures from 1948 through 1963. This period reveals the pattern of Jack’s life: find a job, get married, break up, steal a car, go to jail. Repeat. For variation, go to Canada, rob a bank, then go to jail. Continue as before.

My third note went over the material on Jack in Oswald’s FBI HQ file (105-82555). Luck gave Jack a chance to break the cycle of car theft/jail that he had fallen into, putting him in a stable job and marriage for two years. This was the background for Jack’s acquaintance with Lee Oswald.

This stable period ended in August 1963, when Jack’s marriage went on the rocks, and he left his job. The FBI’s attempts to track down Jack and his friends for more questioning on Oswald gives us a picture of Jack, struggling at first to put his marriage back together, then disappearing in a swirl of dubious activities. This chapter from the FBI HQ file on Oswald is closely tied to the first part of the story we are going over today, and I will refer to it frequently as we progress.

This fourth note will review FBI case file 88-30913, the second big FBI file on Grossi in the ARC (hereafter File 2). Like File 1, many pages of File 2 were withheld by the FBI when it was first released in 1995. This material was almost all released in 2017. I will discuss this newly released material at the end of this post.

Before we start on File 2, the reader should also be aware that a note attached to the file inventory says that the file original was destroyed after it was presented to the HSCA. The current file is thus a reconstruction from a working copy.¹

A caution before you begin: Jack Grossi had a wildly complicated life. If you are interested in the details, I strongly suggest first reading my three earlier notes. If your main interest is the JFK assassination, not Jack Grossi, read my third note and skip these other ones.

Case file 88-30913: Jack Grossi, federal fugitive

As we join Jack, he is coming out of one of the few stable, non-prison periods of his life. Paroled unexpectedly in 1961, he returned to Texas and attempted to get back together with his third wife and a son who was born when he was serving time in Canada’s Kingston prison for bank robbery.

he has split up with his fourth wife and quit his job at JCS. He leases a car and spends a lot of time driving up to Canada to see his wife and kid.

He was apparently interested in setting up some kind of import export company, wheeling and dealing from Mexico to Texas to Canada, but this has not worked out so well. He has been applying to various photography and advertising agencies, worked for a brief period at an insurance company doing who knows what. His attempt to keep the marriage going seems to have sputtered, and his money seems to be running low.

All of this is trivial, however. As the last entry in the Oswald file suggested, Jack finds himself in a precarious position. To find out why, read on.

Serial 1
File 2 opens with Serial 1, a simple one page document that announces Jack is now a federal fugitive, a warrant having been issued by the U.S. Commissioner in Dallas on July 14, 1964.²

Serial 2
This document is the real beginning of the file. Dated 16 July 1964, it details Jack’s rapid fall from grace.³ As we saw in my third note, Jack leased a Pontiac Grand Prix (on 9 August 1963) from Continental Leasing via his friend Eddie Reddell. His first and only payment on the lease was a “hot check”. After trying to find Jack for a couple of months, Continental reports Jack and the missing car to the Dallas Auto Theft Squad.

Jack is indicted for Theft by False Pretense by a Dallas grand jury on 23 March 1964, and a state arrest warrant is issued. Dallas Sheriff Bill Decker notifies the FBI on 10 July that he can’t find Jack in Texas and believes he has fled the state. On 13 July the FBI Dallas office presents the case to AUSA Cabaniss, who agrees to charge Jack with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP). SA Anderton presents the complaint to US Commissioner Hill and gets a federal warrant for Jack’s arrest.

Let us pause here to think about this. How many times has Jack done something like this before? Looking back at the second post of this series, we find that he did something similar in 1949 and spent 25 months in El Reno USP for it. He did it again in 1952 and spent 34 months in Leavenworth for it. So this is the third time Jack has illegally acquired someone’s car and absconded across a state line.

As we saw above, when Dallas interviewed Pauline Allen, a friend of Jack, they learned that Jack was using Allen’s credit card to finance his travels. Serial 2 gives some details of where and when he used it, tracing Jack across the U.S. and up into Canada. The card was finally recovered in California on 3/10. The last use was in Alberta, Canada, and Jack was driving a red Cadillac with a license plate that turned out to have been stolen from a car in Washington state.

The day after the federal arrest warrant is issued, a new informant appears in the Dallas FBI office with lots of info about Jack. The informant name is redacted in the 1995 version of serial 2, but the 1998 version shows that he is Robert Robertson, a former coworker of Jack, still employed at JCS. Robertson is in frequent contact with Jack’s wife Pat, who is now teaching Latin at a high school in Ontario.

Robertson tells Dallas the names of several associates of Jack. Some were interviewed as part of the Oswald inquiry, but it is not clear if the Dallas SAs working on Jack’s case are aware of it. Robertson has some new names too, including Dr. Tracy from Kingston Ontario, and Sam Di Bella from Long Island NY, who Robertson says took a trip with him and Jack to California in 1962. The remainder of serial 2 lays out a list of people to contact based on Jack’s old file and Robertson’s new info.⁴

Following serial 2 are two unnumbered administrative memos from August that include various identification information for Jack, most of it familiar from File 1.⁵

Serial 3
This document includes a cover memo which adds several of Jack’s aliases to the case caption, followed by a 9/4 airtel to HQ from the SAC in Albany.⁶ The airtel gives the result of inquiries made by Albany at the request of Dallas (way back on July 16). Much of the information is repetition, but Albany did talk to Jack’s Canadian wife Pat and found out that Dr. Tracy, mentioned in document two, taught inmates at Kingston prison, including Jack. Pat supplies the name of another such benefactor, Vern Ready, and informs Albany that she gave a tax refund check of $400 for Jack to his friend Cecil Chernik. Albany informs HQ that the Ontario PD suggests putting out an APB for the red Cadillac Jack is now driving, and arranging interviews of Tracy, Ready and Chernik.

Following this doc is another unnumbered administrative memo informing the Identification Division of the newly-added aliases.⁷

Serial 4
This doc is another airtel, transmitted 9-15-64.⁸ The airtel is from the NY office, and is addressed to the Director, with a copy going to Boston.⁹ The airtel describes two interviews of Salvatore Di Bella, aka Sam, a Grossi acquaintance first mentioned in Serial 2. NY interviewed Di Bella on August 4 and Sept 3.

Di Bella, it turns out, met Jack in the Atlanta USP where Sam was serving a term for bank robbery. The two worked in the prison engineer’s office and became friends. Jack got out before Di Bella and even paid a visit to Di Bella’s mother. Di Bella was released in 1962 and Jack later visited him while working at JCS, so Sam is semi-up to date on Jack’s circumstances. He remembers a “Jack Robinson” accompanied Grossi on one of these visits. This may have actually been Robert Robertson, Jack’s co-worker from JCS, who in fact mentions Di Bella in Serial 2.

Sam denies that he took a trip to California with Robertson and Jack. That would be a violation of his probation. He knows Jack has been travelling back and forth to Canada to visit his wife Pat. He vaguely recalls that Jack belonged to the Playboy Club.

On his second interview, Di Bella mentions Frank Rumney, a fellow inmate at Atlanta, who was also at one point an associate of Jack. Sam says they are no longer friends, but Rumney may know Jack’s whereabouts. This is not likely. We met Rumney in my last note on Jack, where we found that he had tried to convince the FBI in 1961 that Jack was a deranged bank robber who had been planning a heist as soon as he was released from Atlanta.

Sam also comes up with a couple of phone numbers for Jack, including WH8-8997, the number listed for Jack on Oswald’s library card. Sam is confused however, assigning this number to Grossi’s mother-in-law in Canada. He also comes up with a phone number he had for Jack when he called from a hotel in Boston. The NY SAs advise Sam of the provisions of the Harboring Statute and take their leave. They check with Sam’s PO (parole officer), who says he has no reason to think Sam ever broke parole to visit California. He promises to let them know if Sam mentions Jack again.

The airtel closes with a list of leads to follow up, including a request to Boston to check the hotel number, recontacting Sam’s PO, checking the phone numbers, and recontacting Robertson.

Serial 5
This is the first of a series of reports from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The suggestion that the RCMP might check on Jack’s Canadian connections is found as early as serial 2, and the RCMP ultimately produced over a half dozen reports on Jack; more accurately, on people in Canada who might have had contact with Jack, with the focus on Pat, her friends, and her family. All of these reports were accompanied by memos from the FBI legal attache (legat) in Ottawa to HQ. The memo makes it clear the info is from Ottawa, but the name of the liaison agency, the RCMP, is withheld in the 1995-1998 releases, and was not made public until 2017. The reports themselves were all withheld in full until 2017. I will have more to say about these at the end of this post (if it ever ends!)

The memo for this report is dated 10/23/64, but the report itself is based on an interview that took place 10/14.¹⁰

J. H. Webster of the London, Ontario Detachment of the RCMP summarizes his interview of Vern Ready, mentioned in Serial 3. Ready knew Grossi as Jack Bowen. they first met when Jack married Pat. Pat was then a teacher at the Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, where Ready was the Principal. Ready and his family were quite close to Pat, so it was very natural to meet Pat’s new husband. This must have been in 1961-62. Ready met Jack again in October 1963, when Jack and Pat paid a visit. He met Jack a third time in July 1964. Jack was then driving the Pontiac he had acquired from Continental Leasing. He was looking for information about Pat, because he wanted to “get things settled” between them. Soon after, Ready moved to London Ontario, where he is now assistant dean of education at U. of Western Ontario. Although he has moved, he is confident Jack can find him if he wants to, and volunteers to notify the RCMP if Jack visits again. Pat recently contacted him and she mentioned that Jack has not been in touch, and she has no idea of his whereabouts.

Serial 6
This is the longest doc in the file and comes in multiple releases.¹¹ Written by Dallas SA Anderton, and dated 10/22, it begins with a new case title, expanded with what is probably the longest list of Jack’s many aliases, running onto a second page because there are about 30 of them! Page A also includes a list of references, including a couple of letters that are no longer in the file, such as letters from Dallas to Albany and Kansas City. It also includes a list of who is getting a copy of the report, again running over to cover page b, a total of 22 copies.

The remainder of the report cover pages set out a lengthy series of leads for the various recipients: Atlanta, find Frank Rumney and see if he knows where Jack is. Albany, contact Jack’s wife Pat again to see if she has developed additional information on her husband. Chicago, check with Playboy Club to see if Jack has visited any of their establishments. Also check Jack’s Chicago PD file from 1947 for further information. Kingston NY, locate and interview Eugene Sciutto, supposedly a music store owner who was a friend of Jack. Yonkers NY, check the Holiday Inn there to see if Jack ever checked in under his true name or one of his 30 aliases. NYC office, check with Sam di Bella’s PO again. Check the Bamboo Bar in Brooklyn. Check the Hotel Martinique where Jack was interviewed in December 1963 about Oswald. Los Angeles, find out the condition of the Pontiac Grand Prix Jack is charged with stealing, which was discovered abandoned in L.A. on 9/3/64 (!) Find out if anyone saw Jack dump it there.

Dallas, recontact Jack’s ex-wife Fleta Ryder to see if she has developed further information on her no-good ex-husband. Check with Charlie Moore of the Dallas Auto Theft Squad. Check with Jack’s ex-girlfriend Pauline Allen to see if she has developed further information on her no-good ex-boyfriend. Report any further reports from FBI Legat in Ottawa. Try to find Hope Moss, another possible ex-girlfriend of Jack.

On the informant/administrative side (cover page D), an informant whose name was withheld in the 1995 release of the report tells Dallas that the WH8 phone number was changed to an unlisted number and reassigned to a Mrs. SF. The 1998 release releases the informant name, a guy at SW Bell Telephone. The report also discusses another informant with name and info blacked out (page E). This paragraph was finally released in 2017 and the informant turns out to be Frank Rumney, who was an Atlanta PCI. It gives an account of Rumney’s slander of Jack vis a vis his bank-robbing plans. This was discussed in my second note on Jack. Then follows a lengthy review of Jack’s U.S. prison career since 1953, ending with a description of Jack. All of this was also discussed in my second note. The last of the cover pages, page G, summarizes the information Dallas received from Jack’s former JCS co-worker, Robert Robertson, already noted above under serial 2, and names of possible Jack associates supplied by Robertson.

Page P. (page 1 of the report) summarizes how Jack was charged with UFAP and became the subject of a federal warrant. Page 2 details Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker’s complaint that Jack got a car from Continental Leasing using a bad check (Theft by False Pretense) and then left Texas. Pages 2 and 3 also describe where and when Jack bought gas using Pauline Allen’s credit card, mostly in California or Canada.

Page 3 notes that by March 1964 Jack was also driving a red Cadillac with license plate CEB 966. This license place (but not the Caddy) was stolen from Elvin Turner in Washington state. On July 15, the day after the federal warrant was issued, Eddie, Pauline, and Hope Moss were informed of the warrant. Provisions of the Harboring Statute were also explained to them. So much for those former associates of Jack. As our story progresses, it becomes clear that Jack’s circle of friends shrinks rapidly with each FBI visit or interview. If they were still friends, that is, after Jack drove off with their leased car, or ran up 1000 dollar tabs on their credit cards.

Dallas is also looking for Jack’s mom under her new name of Mrs. JC, Jack’s sister, now Mrs. E. and Jack’s brother, apparently living in Clifton NJ. Page 4 details an interview with Mrs. De Franco, who tells the FBI Jack’s mom is living in Passaic NJ. Phone calls are not returned, so SAs Lyons and Harvey pay a visit to Mr. and Mrs. JC, who explain in detail what a bum Jack is. They let him stay at the house after his release from prison and Jack rewarded them by ransacking the house and absconding with their money, clothes, and even their bedsheets. Not interested in seeing him again. His brother is dead. No we won’t give you addresses so you can hassle other family members, forget it. Lyons and Harvey observe that Jack’s mom “appeared to be very angry with the subject.” Very observant, Watson.

The first half of Page 5 describes efforts to check whether Jack’s mom was really in a mental hospital (they have heard this from Mrs. De Franco, and from Jack’s wife Pat as well). The bottom half of page 5 and most of page 6 are still withheld under section 10(a)(1) of the JFK Act. I strongly suspect that this is more juvenile information either on Jack or, perhaps, on his sister or brother. If the latter, that would explain why it is still withheld. Almost all of the juvenile information on Jack has been released, as I mentioned in my first note on File 1.

Page 7 has the FBI checking Jack’s USP records in Atlanta. This yields two more names to run down. They then contact the Long Beach California PD to run down William Phillips, a name they got from Robertson of JCS. Officer Burkle politely informs them that unless they have more info, no way he’s going to try and run down every William Phillips in California.

They check the Long Beach Retail Merchants Credit Association, who also inform them that the possibility of identifying the correct Phillips is almost impossible. LBRMCA suggest getting some more information on Phillips first. The Feds then check on Elliot Shapiro in L.A. (a name they got from Atlanta) but the address is wrong, random guesses at the correct address do not pan out, and ES is not listed in the L.A. phone directory.

Page 8 is a flash from the past. On 8/26-28/64 (the dates may be off here), Dallas pays a visit to Mrs. Homer Ryder and her daughter Fleta. Fleta is Jack’s ex-wife, now re-married, and Mrs. Ryder is Jack’s ex-mother-in-law. Neither has heard from Jack in over a year (Fleta and Jack divorced in 1961). Dallas reads them the provisions of the Harboring Statute just in case.

We move further into the past when SA Wilson visits Borger Texas at the beginning of August. Wilson is searching for MK, another of Jack’s ex-wives (the one before Fleta). This is a cold trail; MK and Jack were probably married in 1951 and divorced by 1953 (see my previous note on Jack for more). Dallas has an old address, but no one there ever heard of MK, or Mrs. Grossi, either. Checked the credit bureau, checked the Borger phone books for the last four years, checked with Janice at the Borger Sheriff’s Office. No one has ever heard of MK, formerly Mrs. G.

Page 9 illustrates the chronological quirks of serial 6, which now hops back to an early August 64 visit by SA Hall to Mrs. Homer, where we get a lot more detail about Jack and Fleta (discussed in my previous note on Jack). We then zoom up to early October, when SA Hall visits Pauline Allen again, the third, maybe fourth (maybe fifth!) time Dallas has talked to her. Pauline has learned more of Jack’s cheating ways, and suggests SA Hall talk to Jack Harris from Continental Leasing, who tracked down a woman named Juanita, yet another of Jack’s now ex-girlfriends.

Page 9 over on to page 10, SA Anderton, the agent in charge of Jack’s case, now decides to interview Ms. SF, who wound up with Jack’s former Oak Cliff phone number! Cheez. The incredibly zealous Anderton even shows her Jack’s picture. Never saw this guy before, never heard of his ex-wife Fleta, says SF, a 65-yo white female, nurse in Dallas for 25 years. Just got this new phone number after moving recently, not another ex-Jack-girlfriend.

Skipping back to 9/24 on page 10, we get yet another interview with Fleta, who remarks, interestingly, that Jack is probably up in Canada; that is where he always goes when the FBI is looking for him (!) Just for luck, Anderton asks if Fleta knows of Jack’s Playboy Club membership. Didn’t know there was a Playboy Club in Dallas, she replies. Anderton later checks and sure enough, no Playboy Club in Dallas. Another busted lead it seems (but see below).

Fleta will be happy to contact the FBI if she ever sees Jack again. She is now making installment payments for a stereo which Jack absconded with when he left in March 64 (!)

Page 10 ends with a description of the recovery of Continental Leasing’s Pontiac on 9/3/64, found on Van Ness St. in L.A., with a different license plate than the one reported. No evidence in it. Sorry, SA Anderton. L.A. advises car impounded by CHP, still in running condition at the Temple Street garage. Dallas informs Continental Leasing, which seems to be a family business. Car belongs to Scott Walker, his sister Helen answers the phone and says she’ll make a run to L.A. and pick it up for Scott.

What I want to know is how did they find out the abandoned car on Van Ness was the vehicle Jack absconded with. And — what’s that? Stop looking for Jack now? What do you think the FBI is — a lost and found service?

Page 11 reports on SA Price’s July 64 interview with Elvin Turner. Elvin’s son Wallace drove their 63 Ford to a movie in Oroville WA, where he unwittingly donated the Ford license plate to Jack’s red Cadillac. Junior thought some other car had accidentally scraped the plate off his Ford, but nope, it was light-fingered Jack, looking for tags for his Caddy. Only got the front one though.

On page 12, SA Schoonover spends a day in early September talking to Mr. Hawkins, former owner of the tags that were on the Pontiac when CHP picked it up in L.A. Turns out Hawkins got new plates in April 64, Jack must have picked up the old plates sometime after that and stuck them on the Pontiac.

We continue with Investigative Clerk (IC) Bill Rohr’s trip to KC, where he attempts to dig up Jack’s records from Leavenworth USP. These are now at Danbury FCI (the Leavenworth file is available online, see my previous note on Jack).

At the bottom of page 12 we meet SA Michelsen who is looking for Jacqueline Glass. Page 13 shows us that Jacqueline Glass is Jacqueline Holmes, mentioned all the way back in serial 2 as a lead to check out. JH was almost certainly yet another ex-Jack-girlfriend. She served as a mail drop for Jack way back in 1956, but severed all times with him after she got married. No idea where Jack is.

Most of page 13, all of page 14, and half of page 15 are a repetition of the interviews with Sam Di Bella and with Sam’s PO which we read in serial 4.

Page 15 bottom is SA Thiel interviewing the manager of Holiday Inn, Framingham Mass. This seems to be a follow up of Sam’s claim that Jack called him from there. No record of Jack staying at his Inn, doesn’t recognize Jack’s picture, doesn’t know the number Jack allegedly called from. After more digging, Thiel suggests possibly the number is a scrambled version of the number for the Yonkers Holiday Inn.

Page 16 is completely redacted in the 1995 and 1996 versions of serial 6, and completely released in the 2017 version. It records SA Markham’s visit to Kingston Penitentiary on 7/30/64, where Warden Richmond showed him Jack’s file. This, it turns out, was the source of the contact info for several of the August and September interviews we have read, including the Ryders in Texas and Jack’s family in NJ. This is a very interesting page, discussed in detail in my previous post on Jack.

Pages 17-18 reports on SA Markham’s interview with Jack’s Canadian wife Pat (Markham was accompanied by Detective Cooper of the Kingston PD). This is a more complete account of the interview described above in Serial 3, and it gives some important details on Jack and Pat’s marriage and split. This was discussed in my second note on Jack and I’ll come back to this below.

Pat knows about Jack’s ex- Fleta and her circumstances. She also explains who Dr. Tracy and Dr. Ready are; Tracy is at the Dept of Classics at McMaster U. and taught Jack in prison. Pat doesn’t say so, but it may have been through Tracy that she met Jack. Ready is Pat’s old boss as we saw from serial 5 above and a very close friend. Pat’s statement on Tracy and Ready is short on many details.

Finally, Pat tells SA Markham that she will be teaching at a new school starting in September, but until then is living at her old address (which Jack knows). As a last thought, she mentions one Eugene Sciutto who runs a music shop in Hudson NY. Sciutto, she tells the interviewers, was someone Jack knew as a young man and is not one of Jack’s underworld associates.

Pages 19-22 are a copy of Jack’s FBI Identification form and primarily give a detailed statement of when and where he was fingerprinted, under what name and number, when he was arrested or received, what he was charged with, and his “disposition” (released, transferred, etc.) The first three entries are redacted in the 1995 and 1998 releases of Serial 6, but we know from File 1 that these were cases where Jack was fingerprinted as a juvenile. Don’t know why these were not released in 2017.

Page 23, the final page of this massive compilation, is a physical description of Jack. It also lists all the real and fake birthdates and birthplaces Jack has given during his career, along with some exceedingly old contact info, going back as far as 1944.

Serial 7
This is the another report from the RCMP, dated 10/29/64.¹² Supt. Martin of the Criminal Investigation Branch interviewed Cecil Chernick, a friend of Jack whom Pat G. mentioned in July 30 interview.

Cecil met Jack in Kingston Prison, and has seen him twice since he (Cecil) was released in 1957. Yes, he got a check from Pat which he forwarded to Jack at Daytona Beach General Delivery. The last time Cecil saw Jack was about two months ago (July-August) in Toronto. Jack was driving a maroon Grand Prix and said he was on his way to visit Pat in Ottawa.

No, Cecil will not advise the RCMP if he sees Jack again. He declines to inform on anyone, but he can honestly say he does not know where Jack is now. This polite, firm refusal sets Cecil apart from everyone else in Jack’s story.

Serial 8
This is the another report from the RCMP, dated 10/21/64.¹³ Supt. Martin interviewed Dr. Tracy, Jack’s old benefactor from his stay at Kingston. Tracy has not seen Jack since his release (actually his transfer to Danbury FCI) from Kingston in 1960. He recalls that another former prison inmate, Ralph Parks, had corresponded with Jack after Mr. G. returned to the States.

Tracy also talked to Pat on 8/29, and learned that Jack stayed at the Bruce MacDonald Motor Hotel that summer, and left in such a rush that he forgot to pay his very large phone bill.

Serial 9
Serial 9 consists of three docs: two dated 12/17/64 and one dated 12/23.¹⁴ The first doc is a memo from Albany to HQ, asking them to forward a letter head memo to the Ottawa Legat. The Albany memo references a November letter from Albany to Dallas, no longer in the file. This earlier letter set out a lead to follow up, requesting a check on the long-distance phone calls Jack’s wife Pat made in Kingston.

The next paragraph in the memo is redacted in the 1995 release, but released in 2017. This paragraph tells us that SA Markham got a list of the Pat’s long distance calls from July to October 1964, from Kingston Detective Cooper. One call was to Dallas, the rest were to Canadian numbers. The second page of this memo asks Dallas to check the Dallas number Pat called, and indicates that Buffalo will check the Canadian numbers in Ontario. How will they do this? Via a letter head memo (LHM), which gives the numbers to the FBI legal attache (Legat) in Ottawa and requests the Canadian liaison services (RCMP) to find out who the numbers belong to.

Doc 2 is the HQ memo transferring the LHM to the Ottawa Legat, Moss Innes, on December 23. The sentence in this mentioning the list of phone numbers to check was also redacted, and only released in 2017.

Doc 3 is the LHM itself, listing 13 long distance calls made from July 12 (to Dallas), to October 11 (to Renfrew Canada). The LHM is dated 12/17, clearly written at the same time as the Albany cover memo to HQ. As one might imagine, this doc was withheld in full until November 2017.

Serial 10
This doc is another long compilation written by Dallas SA Anderton, dated 12/29/64.¹⁵ Unlike Serial 6, however, we have already seen most of the material in this doc, so my summary will be much shorter.

Coverpages A and B show that yet another 22 copies of this report were sent out. This is followed by another long list of leads for other offices to check. Page C redacts two of these in the 1995 and 1998 releases; the 2017 release shows that these were the FBI request to the Kingston PD for Pat G.’s phone records, and the arrangement to have the RCMP check long distances calls to other cities in Canada. The name and number of PCI Frank Rumney were also redacted.

Moving on to page D. Atlanta, please find and interview [Frank R]. New Orleans, please check the Playboy Club to see if Jack is there. Yonkers, please check the Holiday Inn to see if Jack is there. A request to Hudson NY was redacted in the 1995 file version, the 1998 release shows they want Hudson to keep in touch with Jack’s “friend” Gene Sciutto (see below). Dallas, keep contact with Jack’s ex- Fleta. Also will you please get out there and find Jack’s friend Harold Van Buren (also see below). Also his “friend” Hope Moss? If you don’t make some progress, we will have to start thinking about issuing an IO (Identification Order).

It took a bit of digging to find out that an IO is one of the FBI “Wanted” posters you can still see in U.S. post offices. A wanted poster for running off with a leased car; no fisticuffs used, no firearms involved, stolen with a simple bad check. Dallas just doesn’t like Jack, that’s my conclusion.

Of course, Dallas is also under pressure from HQ, as SA Anderton makes clear: “It is noted that the date of this report exceeds slightly over 45 days since last report, but this case has been kept current and has been given continuous attention.” Like the RCMP, the FBI always get their man. If you don’t, time to try another occupation, says J. Edgar.

Page E is the “administrative page” which lists all the informants used. RCMP were redacted from the 1995-1998 releases. 2017 restores them. Two Dallas informants were also redacted earlier, and restored in the final release. They didn’t know anything about Jack either.

Page 1 “Synopsis” highlights the failure of various locales to locate Jack, but notes Gene Sciutto did tell us something (we’ll meet him on page 3). The details begin with Jack’s ex-, Fleta. It took them three times before they could find her this time (December 1964), I deduce she is thoroughly sick of G-men calling every couple of weeks to see if she has “developed information” on Jack. To make sure she is thoroughly annoyed at Jack, they explain to her the provisions of the Harboring Statues for the third or fourth time.

Page 2 records a conversation with Pauline Allen on November 6. Dallas has now visited her at least half a dozen times, and she seems to show just a hint of impatience. She has developed no information whatsoever regarding Jack. She now recalls that he used to know one Harold Van Buren, a traveling salesman working for a fashion company out of Chicago. Maybe he’s at the Merchandise Mart. Try him guys. They do, but he’s out on the road during the fall season.

More attempts to call Hope Moss, but her phone number is disconnected and current phone directories do not list her. Another busted lead.

Now its New York’s turn. Sam Di Bella’s PO, Bill Guerra, has been paying attention to Sam. Bob Robertson (Serial 2) said he took a trip with Jack and Sam, but Sam denied it (parole violation, don’t you know). Guerra even checked with Sam’s boss, and he was NOT absent from work at any time. Bill thinks Sam is being honest.

Page 3 next gives us New York reports dated Oct 1 on Mr. McConnace, owner of the Bamboo Bar in Brooklyn, where Di Bella and Jack once bopped in for a beer. He knows Sammy, but doesn’t recognize the guy in the picture. Maybe they came in when Connace wasn’t there. Hotel Martinique manager Jim Mulcahy checks the hotel register all the way back to spring of 1964 (cheez!) but doesn’t find Jack Bowen, Jack Grossi or any of Jack’s 28 other aliases.

The bottom of page 3 is redacted in the 1995 release. The 1998 version releases this material, and we find Eugene Sciutto, proprietor of the Federal Magazine Shop in Hudson NY. Gene was a lead provided by Pat Grossi, all the way back in July 30. Pat believed Gene was someone Jack knew as a young man, not one of his underworld associates. This is not true. He met Jack in Danbury FCI, or so he advised SA Eisele when the FBI finally interviewed him in October.

Sciutto immediately earns our distrust, however, when he says he met Jack at Danbury in 1962, when Jack was actually working at JCS. Unreliable Gene says that Jack stopped by his house a year ago driving a Cadillac convertible and accompanied by an unidentified man. Two weeks later Jack stopped by in a Cadillac sedan, driving from Buffalo to Texas. No, I don’t remember the color, but the woman with him was blonde.

Yes, I know Jack is sometimes Bowen and sometimes Grossi. Yes, I know he has a Canadian wife Pat who teaches high school in Kingston. I also know I got a letter in February of this year from the US Attorney in Dallas asking where Jack was. Slick Jack had listed himself as a half partner in Gene’s magazine shop and was involved in “some sort of financial case.”¹⁶ Ask me what I don’t know. I don’t know where Jack is. Eisele reads Gene the Harboring Statute and tells him to call the New York office if he receives any information regarding Jack.

As you might suspect, we have not heard the last of unreliable Gene. Three days later, on page 4, he calls the New York office and tells them Jack called. He’s going to Boston to visit friends, taking Route 20 to the Boston Turnpike. The NY office informs the NY State Police, who calls the Mass. State Police, but wily Jack somehow slips through all their fingers.

The rest of page 4 is from Chicago. Tony Roma at the Playboy Club office tells SAs Kinzer and McDonough that Jack is indeed a key carrying member of the club. Applied 6/22/1963 using the name Jack Leslie Bowen. Wily Jack’s club card address is 1835 Stevens Forest (not 1916 as on the Oswald library card) and phone number is WH8-8907 (not WH8-8997 as on the Oswald library card). Dallas does not have a Playboy Club, but …

[turn to page 5] New York and New Orleans do, and Jack charged a total of $254.47 at these clubs in October, November and December 1963, and written off as a bad debt in August 64. Tony would be happy to write to all Clubs, asking them to be on the lookout for any party using Jack’s key club membership.

On October 13 we have Investigative Clerk Dibbern checking records at the Chicago Credit Bureau. On the 14th we have IC Palbicke checking records at the CPD’s Bureau of Records and Communications. No trace of Jack anywhere.

The bottom of page 5 is redacted in 1995-1998, released in 2017. This is Supt. Martin’s report on Dr. Tracy, here attributed to “a confidential source abroad”.

Page 6 is J. H. Webster’s report on Vern Ready, also attributed to “a confidential source abroad.”

The top of page 7 is Supt. Martin’s interview with Cecil Chernik, again attributed to a CSA. The bottom half of page 7 is a new interview with Pat G. SA Markham recontacted her on 10/26/64. Jack sent their son a birthday in September. No, she can’t find it now. The message on the card did not say where Jack was. It was postmarked in Toronto, probably forwarded by Cecil. Why? Because Jack doesn’t know anyone else in Toronto.

Continuing on page 8, Pat is not particularly happy to talk to Markham again. She “emphatically denied having received any other type of communication” from Jack and tells him the note on the birthday card “only was of a sentimental nature to her two year old son.”

She does, however, now recall that Jack might have dated one Pauline in Dallas. Bob Robinson might furnish info on this female. She also heard from a friend in Dallas, Doris Phelps, who hangs out with Robinson, that Jack “has been going with this woman” and in fact utilized her credit card to make gasoline purchases.

She also recalls the story of Jack calling from the Bruce MacDonald Hotel, mentioned above. He might have used the name Simmons there, but she’s not sure of that.

Finally, she suggests checking out Harold Van Buren in Dallas. Van Buren has been a sort of foster father to Jack since he was a young man.¹⁷ A disappointed Markham ends the interview, and his report, noting that Pat “has failed to develop information which would indicate Jack is in Ontario.”

The top of page 9 is Boston reporting. SA Thiele talks to Sergeant Belliview of Mass. State Police on 10/27/64. Belliview reaffirms that they watched the Turnpike as New York requested, but didn’t spot Jack. Thiele also contacts M Kemble of the Hotel Protective Associate the next day, requesting her to circularize all Boston area hotels, sending out a letter describing check and a request to contact FBI if they see him. When Boston recontacts Kemble on Nov. 4, however, she has not heard back from anyone.

The bottom of page 9 we have two items. The first is redacted in 1995-1998, released in 2017. Another RCMP report, but we haven’t seen this one before. Dated Nov. 24, it reports an Oct. 21 interview with Ralph Parks, an ex-con whom Dr. Tracy remembered corresponding with Jack. Parks is now back in prison, but he remembers getting a Christmas card from Jack and Pat in 1963. He wrote back to Jack sometime in April, the address was somewhere on Stevens Forest Drive in Dallas, but never heard back.

The second item is redacted in 1995, released in 1998. It’s another tip from Jack’s associate Gene Sciutto. Sciutto contacted the NY office on 11/12. Jack called Sciutto on 11/6 and said he was coming to visit. He called back at 1am and said he would come the next day instead, but he didn’t show then either. [page 10] On the phone, Jack told him he was traveling with his girlfriend in her Cadillac. Still in the art business, and heading back to Texas again.

Page 10, last item in the report, is an 11/9/64 interview with the manager of the New York City Playboy Club. He has received the stop on Jack’s membership from Chicago, and will check for further information. NY recontacts Mr. Kirwan on 11/26 and he reports that they sent all their records on freeloading Jack Bowen to Chicago, nothing to report here. Nope don’t recognize the guy in the picture, I’ll be sure to contact you if I see him.

Jack and Pat: some thoughts

I now pause to try and make sense of a very confused story.¹⁸ Jack met Pat while he was in Kingston Penitentiary for bank robbery. Pat was a teacher at KCVI. She may have taught inmates at Kingston, perhaps through an outreach program with Dr. Tracy in the Classics Department of McMaster University. After Jack was paroled from Kingston, the Canadians, who called Jack a “habitual criminal”, sent him back to the States, where he was wanted for parole violations. He spent a short period in Danbury USP, then in Atlanta USP, then was transferred back to Texas and released in September or October 1960, to the surprise of the FBI. As I noted in another post, Jack tried to rebuild a non-criminal life in Dallas. His wife and son (who was born while Jack was in Kingston) took him back for a while, but it did not work out and they divorced in October 1961.

Meanwhile Jack, a talented artist, had found a job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, a Dallas typography company in August 1961 as assistant art director. Jack must have kept in touch with Pat, and there must have been more than a spark there, because they were married in December 1961. We don’t know anything about their married life, but they had a son in September 1962, so it couldn’t have been too bad. By November or December 1962, Pat was working in the Dallas Public Library, which explains in part why Jack knew about sponsoring people, like his JCS coworker Lee Harvey Oswald, for library cards.

By June 1963, Jack was joining the Playboy Club and hanging out at the Stork Club in Dallas with people like Max Cherry. This was probably a bad sign for his marriage to high school Latin teacher Pat.

Serial 11
This doc is a four page form requesting the Bureau to issue an ID Order (Wanted poster) for Jack.¹⁹

Serial 12
Serial 12 is another memo from Ottawa.²⁰ The Mounties have discovered that two of the numbers Pat called belong to her sister and brother in Toronto. CIB reports that her sister has no information to offer at this time, but will cooperate if circumstances permit. Her brother is unaware of Jack’s present whereabouts.

Serial 13
Serial 13 is a one-page memo from Buffalo.²¹ It provides an example of the dance of the three veils: referred in 1995, foreign (liaison) in 1998, we finally get to see what’s behind the veil in 2017. It turns out to be Corporal JM of the RCMP “O” detachment. With Cpl. JM reporting, Buffalo advises the Director, we need not investigate further.

Serial 14
This serial is a one page airtel to Newark from the Director.²² We are ready to issue a wanted poster for Jack. Hurry up and check his birth record. Pronto.

Serial 15
Another memo and report from Ottawa, dated 2/2/65.²³ “O” detachment reporting, we have identified another phone number on Pat’s long distance bill. This one is EE, Pat’s older sister. EE and her late husband met Jack in 1963, and had a very poor opinion of him, but put up with him since he was Pat’s husband. EE now openly states her dislike for Jack and will assist the Mounties any way she can. Investigation continues.

Serial 16
Another memo and report from Ottawa, dated 2/5/65.²⁴ “A” detachment reporting, we have talked to Lloyd Trull, a close friend of Pat. Pat is living in Kingston with her son and her mom, teaching at a local school. She has confided that she would divorce perfidious Jack if she only knew where he was. By coincidence, Pat lives next door to William Tatton, a former classification officer at Kingston Penitentiary, who actually remembers Jack. Tatton has not seen any cars with U.S. plates near Pat’s house, but will keep an eye out. “A” detachment discreetly avoids making enquiries at Pat’s school since Mr. Trull has told him that Pat is talking about her fugitive ex to people at the office. Mr. Trull has been a good friend to “A” detachment, so they will follow his request.

Serial 17
This serial is a letterhead memo from Albany for the Director, dated 2/8/65.²⁵ Resourceful Albany has acquired more numbers from Pat’s phone bill. Please forward these to Legat, Ottawa, for checking, and send a copy to Dallas so they know we’re not just sitting on our butts up here.

Serial 18
2/8 Airtel for the Director from Newark.²⁶ The lady at the Paterson Health Department can’t find any John Caesar Grossi in their birth records.

Serial 19
2/17 report from Anderton in Dallas.²⁷

Unnumbered documents
³⁵

Serial 26
³⁶

Unnumbered documents
³⁷

Unnumbered documents
⁴⁴

Documents 34-35
⁴⁵

Serial 36
⁴⁶

Serial 37
⁴⁷

Conclusion

Yada yada

Footnotes

1
The Mary Ferrell Foundation copy of the inventory for this version of 88-30913 is available here
2
This document is 88-30913-1, released as ARC record 124-10213-10233. The ARC record sheet describes this as a “fugitive card.” .
3
This is FBI 88-30913-2, processed as ARC 124-10213-10234. The 1995 release of the document is available here. This release provides most of the text. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 17 November 2017 release here, which release the names of informants and “foreign agencies”.
4
Note that contact/Liaison details with Canadian agencies were redacted from this document. These details were released only in 2017. This happens frequently throughout the file. I have seen commentary online about the numerous redactions in Jack’s files. These redactions are all released now and we can see exactly what was concealed: 1) several documents were Jack’s juvenile criminal record; 2) several documents reveal informant names and what they told the investigating agents; 3) numerous documents discuss liaison with Canadian authorities. These are frequent because Jack was in Canada trying to work things out with his wife Pat. There are no surprises in any of this.
5
These docs include FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 2, released as ARC 124-10213-10281 and FBI 88-30913-2ND NR 2, released as ARC 124-10213-10282. Note that a lot of this information, such as birthdates and employment, is wrong. Jack lied about various phases of his career, and the FBI knew it. It repeats this information here because these are things Jack has claimed, which may be useful for people trying to figure out who he is. See my first post on Jack for more details.
6
FBI 88-30913-3, released as ARC 124-10213-10283 This link is to the 1995 release of the document at MFF, which provides most of the text. There is also a 17 November 2017 release here, which releases information on liaison with Canadian agencies.
7
FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 3, released as ARC 124-10213-10235
8
FBI 88-30913-4, released as ARC 124-10213-10236. This link is to the 1995 release of the document, which provides most of the text. There is also a 1998 release here
9
Apparently there was an earlier airtel to Dallas which is not in the file.
10
FBI 88-30913-5, released as ARC 124-10213-10237. The link is to the original 1995 release, which was only the memo. There is a 1998 release of the memo here, and a 17 November 2017 release in full of the memo and report here
11
FBI file 88-30913-6, released as ARC record 124-10213-10238 There is also a 1998 release here, and a 17 November 2017 release here
12
FBI 88-30913-7, released as ARC record 124-10213-10239. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 17 November 2017 release here.
13
FBI 88-30913-8, released as ARC 124-10213-10240. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 17 November 2017 release here.
14
FBI 88-30913-9, released as ARC 124-10213-10241. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 17 November 2017 release here.
15
FBI 88-30913-10, released as ARC 124-10213-10242. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here , and a 17 November 2017 release here.
16
No, we’re never going to hear about this again. Sorry.
17
Jack and Van Buren go back over twenty years. Their relation is discussed in my second note on Jack.
18
I am leaving out a lot of details here that come from my previous two posts on Jack.
19
FBI file 88-30913-11, released as ARC record 124-10213-10243
20
FBI 88-30913-12, released as ARC 124-10213-10244. This is the 1995 release of the document, which provides most of the text. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 17 November 2017 release here
21
FBI 88-30913-13, released as ARC 124-10213-10245, and here, and here
22
FBI 88-30913-14, released as ARC 124-10213-10246
23
FBI 88-30913-15, released as ARC 124-10213-10247. and here and here
24
FBI 88-30913-16, released as ARC 124-10213-10248. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 2017 release here
25
FBI 88-30913-17, released as ARC 124-10213-10249. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here
26
FBI 88-30913-18, released as ARC 124-10213-10250
27
FBI file 88-30913-19, released as ARC record 124-10213-10251. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 2017 release here.
28
FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 19, released as ARC 124-10213-10252
29
FBI file 88-30913-20, released as ARC record 124-10213-10253. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 2017 release here.
30
FBI 88-30913-21, released as ARC 124-10213-10254
31
FBI 88-30913-22, released as ARC 124-10213-10255
32
FBI 88-30913-23, released as ARC 124-10213-10256. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 2017 release here.
33
FBI file 88-30913-24, released as ARC record 124-10213-10257. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 2017 release here.
34
FBI 88-30913-25, released as ARC 124-10213-10258
35
FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 25, 2ND NR 25, 3RD NR 25, released as ARC 124-10213-10259. FBI 88-30913-25X, released as ARC record 124-10213-10260. FBI 88-30913-25X, released as ARC record 124-10213-10260
36
FBI file 88-30913-26, released as ARC record 124-10213-10261. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here, and a 2017 release here
37
FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 26, 2ND NR 26, released as ARC record 124-10213-10262. FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 27, released as ARC 124-10213-10263. FBI 88-30913-2ND NR 27, released as ARC 124-10213-10264. FBI 88-30913-3RD NR 27, released as ARC 124-10213-10265. FBI 88-30913-4TH NR 27, released as ARC 124-10213-10266
38
FBI 88-30913-27, released as ARC 124-10213-10267. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here
39
FBI 88-30913-28, 29, released as ARC 124-10213-10268. This link is the 1995 release. There is also 1 2998 release here
40
FBI 88-30913-30, released as ARC 124-10213-10269. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here.
41
FBI 88-30913-31, released as ARC 124-10213-10270. This link is the 1995 release. There is also a 1998 release here.
42
FBI file 88-30913-32, released as ARC record 124-10213-10271
43
FBI file 88-30913-33, released as ARC record 124-10213-10272
44
FBI 88-30913-1ST NR 33, 2ND NR 33, released as ARC 124-10213-10273. FBI 88-30913-3RD NR 33, released as ARC 124-10213-10274
45
FBI file 88-30913-34, 35, released as ARC record 124-10213-10275
46
FBI file 88-30913-36, released as ARC record 124-10213-10276
47
FBI file 88-30913-37, released as ARC record 124-10213-10277

jfkarc.info

Notes on the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection

Unredacted: The FBI files on John Caesar Grossi (IV)

Case file 88-30913: Jack Grossi, federal fugitive

Jack and Pat: some thoughts

Conclusion

Footnotes