Widely accepted, yes. But there is a wrinkle in the Odio story--one that many researchers, apparently, have chosen to ignore. It is a wrinkle that, on the face of it at least, casts doubt on Odio's credibility.
Many readers are no doubt familiar with the Silvia Odio story, but a short refresher is still in order. [1] Briefly, Silvia Odio was the daughter of a prominent anti-Castro activist who was jailed in Castro's Cuba. In September of 1963 she was living in Dallas when three men, whom she did not know, came to her apartment out of the blue one evening. They told her they too were involved in the anti-Castro movement and wanted her help. Two of the men, Odio later said, appeared to be Cuban or Mexican, and identified themselves by their "war names," Leopoldo and Angelo (or Angel). The third was an American introduced as Leon Oswald.
Uneasy with these men, Silvia Odio declined any involvement with them, and sent them away. A day or two later, Leopoldo called her on the phone and, among other things, said that Leon Oswald was a former marine, a crack shot--and that he thought President Kennedy should be assassinated.
After the President was indeed slain, Silvia Odio was horrified to recognize Lee Harvey Oswald as the same "Leon Oswald" who had been outside her apartment. This identification was corroborated by her sister Annie who also saw and spoke with the three strangers.
Silvia Odio gave this story to the Warren Commission. But the Commission decided she was mistaken in her identification of Oswald, in part because Oswald was, by the Commission's reckoning, in Mexico City at the time Odio said she was visited. [2]
This story--the conventional "Odio incident"--is explosive enough, tying Oswald to the idea of killing Kennedy several months before it happened. Sylvia Meagher called it "the proof of the plot." Anthony Summers said it represents "the strongest human evidence." And Gaeton Fonzi, who investigated this episode for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, wrote that "the Odio incident absolutely cries conspiracy."
But there is a part of the Odio story that has not received nearly the attention the preceding story has received. It's a part of the story that is, potentially, equally important. According to this part of the story, which is based on information supplied by one Lucille Connell, Silvia Odio was acquainted with Lee Oswald, and moreover thought very highly of him. Connell's information was given to the FBI just one week after the assassination, on November 29, 1963, and the FBI's report on it was published by the Warren Commission, although Connell herself was not called to testify.
As far as I can determine, no leading assassination critic has analyzed the Connell version of events in any published work. In Deep Politics, Peter Dale Scott describes it--but only in passing. He writes: "I shall repeat the [Oswald-Odio] story as it was originally communicated to the FBI, not by Odio herself, but by her social worker, Lucille Connell.
"According to Connell, Odio told her six days after the assassination
that she knew Lee Harvey Oswald, and that he had made some talks to small groups of Cuban refugees in Dallas in the past. Odio stated she considered Oswald brilliant and clever, and that he had captivated the groups to whom he spoke...A call had been made in recent months by a Cuban associate of hers to an unknown source in New Orleans, Louisiana, requesting information on Lee Harvey Oswald...Oswald was considered by that source in New Orleans to be a `double agent.' The source stated Oswald was probably trying to infiltrate the Dallas Cuban group, and that he should not be trusted." [3]The FBI report quoted above further states that "Connell knew of no connection between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald." And it adds that Connell, through Odio, had met a man identified to her only as "Mr. Martin," who "Odio stated had tried to obtain guns for the Cuban people in their contemplated overthrow of Castro sometime ago." That is, Connell linked Silvia Odio to anti-Castro gunrunners.
After a separate interview with Silvia Odio, FBI agents wrote that she
emphatically denied that she had ever told Mrs. C.L. Connell that Lee Harvey Oswald had made talks to small groups of Cuban refugees in Dallas. She similarly denied knowledge of ever telling Mrs. Connell that a Cuban associate of hers had called anyone in New Orleans regarding Oswald, in which this Cuban friend had been advised that Oswald was a double agent...In reply to a question as to why Mrs. Connell would attribute such a statement to her, Miss Odio stated that "You would have to be a woman to understand." She stated that Mrs. Connell and she had been friends, but due to personal reasons, they had had a falling out. [4]The Commission asked Silvia Odio about Connell's charges when she testified before them in 1964, but she insisted there was nothing to them.
Mr. Liebeler. Did you tell Mrs. Connell that you had seen Oswald at some anti-Castro meetings, and that he had made some talks to these groups of refugees, and that he was very brilliant and clever and captivated the people to whom he had spoken?And here the matter seemed to die.
Mrs. Odio. No.
Mr. Liebeler. Are you sure you never told her that?
Mrs. Odio. No.
Mr. Liebeler. Have you ever seen Oswald at any meetings?
Mrs. Odio. Never. [5]
Just who was Lucille Connell? Even that isn't very clear. Peter Dale Scott referred to her only as Odio's "social worker." Gaeton Fonzi said she was a "socially connected clubwoman...who was active in the Cuban Refugee Center and the Mental Health Association." And in her testimony before the Warren Commission, Silvia Odio said only that Connell "belonged to the mental health [sic] and at the time she had helped the Cuban group some because they had money..."
Prior to Dr. Scott, no conspiracy author had ever mentioned the Lucille Connell allegations, as far as I can tell--not even to discredit them. In The Last Investigation, Gaeton Fonzi refers to Connell only insofar as she seems to have been instrumental in Silvia Odio's decision to move to Dallas. Sylvia Meagher, in Accessories After the Fact, mentions the same FBI report quoted by Dr. Scott, but says only that "a woman friend in whom Mrs. Odio had confided" told the FBI about Odio's mysterious visitors. Meagher fails to note Connell's other charges. Even Gerald Posner let the Connell issue slide in Case Closed, mentioning it only to suggest Silvia Odio may have told conflicting stories. Never mind the questions the Connell version raises.
Fair Play had an opportunity to direct a question about this to Gaeton Fonzi. It was Fonzi who wrote that Odio's story "absolutely cries conspiracy," and that "I have no hesitation in declaring the Kennedy assassination a conspiracy based strictly on Silvia Odio's consistently credible testimony and, more important, the fact that our investigation proved it true." He has probably studied the Odio affair as thoroughly as anyone, through his work with the HSCA and subsequent investigation.
Mr. Fonzi was to be interviewed by the South Florida Researcher's Group, which had solicited questions from the research community. The essentials of what I have come to think of as the Odio/Connell mystery were written up and submitted on behalf of Fair Play magazine; the interview was conducted on October 8, 1994.
Q. What does Connell's earlier story say about Silvia Odio's credibility?This is not as thorough an answer as I hoped for when the questions were submitted in late August. Still unanswered are the specific allegations made by Lucille Connell thirty-one years ago. Was Silvia Odio questioned about these allegations? At this point I do not know. However, Mr. Fonzi did state during his October 8 interview, "This is a question, as I think I mentioned earlier, that I have, I think I have, specific answers to in the files. And I haven't had a chance to review the files." Fair Play is following up this matter and will report on it again in a future issue.Fonzi: I'll tell you this now off the top of my head. I spent an awful lot of time, of course, with Silvia Odio, questioning and re-questioning her. Not only myself, but other investigators and attorneys for the Committee. And came to the conclusion that she is totally credible. And not only did I come to this conclusion, but the attorneys questioning her and other investigators, and the Committee, said [so] in its report.
Q. Have you questioned Odio about Connell's claim? Has Connell's story been investigated and refuted beyond Odio's own denials?
Fonzi: Now as far as, again off the top of my head, when I talked to Connell. I talked to her a few times also. I had a difficult time getting her to corroborate what was in the FBI reports, as far as what she said earlier. And I have to admit that I was suspicious of Connell in terms of her activities. I mean, she was a volunteer for this Cuban refugee agency...The relationship between Silvia Odio and Connell deteriorated tremendously prior to the Oswald [incident], what I call the Oswald incident, as a result of Mrs. Connell specifically wanting to infiltrate herself into Silvia Odio's total life. Knowing what Silvia was doing every minute. That was according to Silvia Odio herself. And that's why they had a falling out. Mrs. Connell did not initially know Silvia Odio, but was introduced to her by her sister Sarita who had come to Dallas earlier and who Mrs. Connell had befriended. I can say in answer to the question specifically, that regardless of the contradictions that Mrs. Connell herself put forth in terms of Silvia Odio's testimony. All the evidence that we came up [with] went towards Silvia Odio's credibility.
Did Odio and Oswald know each other? Was Odio connected to individuals who considered Oswald a "double agent" who "should not be trusted"? Was Connell part of some as-yet unidentified disinformation campaign? Or is there some other explanation? Has Connell's story been investigated beyond Odio's own denials?
These questions are not answerable at this stage. While Mr. Fonzi casts doubt on Lucille Connell's credibility, the charges she made in 1963 remain unanswered and scarcely noticed--one of the many ongoing mysteries in the assassination of President Kennedy.
* * *