Business as usual or meet the lone gunman(UA-66627984-1)

Jack Revill.

 

Captain Jack Revill was in charge of the Criminal Intelligence Division.

 

Thanks to Steve Roe.

Jack Revill, thanks to John Woods. Click pic. to enlarge.

 

 

Revill during his H.Sc.A. testimony.

Jack Revill’s HSCA testimony goes in good detail about this particular episode.
Mr. DODD. And you stated there that you knew James Hosty?
Mr. REVILL. I knew him well.
Mr. DODD. Could you tell this committee, without going through an elaborate questioning process, in your own words, tell us of your encounter with James Hosty on November 22, 1963, where it occurred, and what James Hosty told you when you ran into him, approximately the time you ran into him?
Mr. REVILL. Of course, this will be based on memory. Basically, what occurred on that date, after searching the School Book Depository, finding the weapon and other evidence, I departed the Depository and returned to the Police and Courts Building accompanied by three detectives who worked in the intelligence unit. As I entered the ramp off of Main Street into the Police and Courts Building–
Mr. DODD. This is the same ramp?
Mr. REVILL. The same ramp. I was followed, or either I followed James Hosty, a member of
the FBI. We both parked our cars–
Mr. DODD. You weren’t following him specifically, he just happened to be coming into the building?
Mr. REVILL. He just happened to be coming into the building. We both parked our cars. He approached me, and again from memory, he commented to the effect that Lee Harvey Oswald, a Communist, had killed President Kennedy.
Mr. DODD. What time of day was this? If I told you that in your testimony in 1964 you had said it was approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, would you argue?
Mr. REVILL. I wouldn’t argue. It was at a time after Oswald had been taken into custody at the Texas Theater but before his arrival at the Police and Courts Building.
Mr. DODD. Were you aware of the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir, not at that time.
Mr. DODD. Were you aware that Mr. Hosty knew that Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested at that time?
Mr. REVILL. No, I assumed he did based on his statements to me.
Mr. DODD. You said, and I will quote, you said in 1964, I will quote your response to Mr. Rankin, just so you can refresh your memory and you can correct it if you would like, this is your testimony: “And Mr. Hosty ran over to me and he says, Jack, as I recall these words, a Communist killed President Kennedy. “I said, What?
“He said, Lee Oswald killed President Kennedy. “I said, Who is Lee Oswald?
“He said, He is in our Communist file. We knew he was here in
Dallas.
“At that time Hosty and I started walking off, and Detective Bryan as well as I recall, sort of stayed back and so forth.”
Then he also states to you that at that time, according to your testimony in 1964, that they knew, that he knew, Jim Hosty knew, that Lee Oswald was capable of killing the President . You became upset at that?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DODD. Is that a fair–
Mr. REVILL. That is a fair–
Mr. DODD [continuing]. Assessment of the conversation and your reaction?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DODD. Why were you upset?
Mr. REVILL. Because we had worked with the Bureau on identifying people who posed not so much physical threats to Mr. Kennedy but those people who would attempt to embarrass him, and also those who would harm him. We had shared information but on this particular person, for some reason, Mr. Hosty had not shared the information with us.
Mr. DODD. This was not normal operating procedure. In fact he had in the past
Mr. REVILL. Well, in dealing with the FBI, local law enforcement, most of it is of a personal relationship with the agents and my relationship with Mr. Hosty was that we shared information but in this particular case he had not.
Mr. DODD. Did he tell you why he-how he drew the conclusion that Mr. Oswald was a Communist?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir. What happened, after making this statement or these remarks to me, I asked him what he was going to do with the information, and he said he wanted to talk to Will Fritz, who was the Captain of Homicide. I asked him if he knew Captain Fritz
and his response was no, so with that I accompanied Agent Hosty to the third floor homicide and Captain Fritz was not present at the time, some of his staff were.
I left Mr. Hosty in that office and returned to the second floor, to the Special Service Bureau office.
Mr. DODD. You are sure of that?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir, I am sure.
Mr. DODD. There was extensive questioning as to which route you took.
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir. I don’t walk up three flights of stairs when there is an elevator.
Mr. DODD. This was all about 2:30?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DODD. In the afternoon?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DODD. Prior to the time Lee Harvey Oswald had arrived at the police station?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DODD. Can we just suspend for 1 minute?
Could I ask you if in fact later at a subsequent time in your conversations with Jim Hosty, you ever explored with him how it was that he happened to have drawn the conclusions he had, how he happened to develop a file on Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. REVILL. No, Sir. After, I believe, that night, Chief Curry went on TV and announced that the FBI had information to this effect. Later, it is my understanding that the statement was-he made a retraction, and from that day I don’t recall ever talking to Jim
Hosty again. I may have but I don’t recall . And I do know that we never discussed it.
Mr. DODD. You said you wrote up a report?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, Sir.
Mr. DODD. Pertaining to the Hosty conversation?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, Sir.
Mr. DODD. You signed it that afternoon according to your testimony in 1964 and you state then, you said, “yes sir, at the time I was hoping it would never come up.”
Mr. REVILL. This is true.
Mr. DODD. Would you tell this committee why you hoped it would never come up?
Mr. REVILL. Because Jim Hosty was a friend of mine and I knew that Hoover would crucify him.
Mr. DODD. Crucify him for what?
Mr. REVILL. For making that statement. Whether or not it was true or not, Hosty made the statement to me and I relayed the information to my captain at the time, Pat Gannaway, shortly after our conversation, and he instructed me to reduce it to writing.
At that time I told him if I do, Jim Hosty will be crucified or penalized by the Bureau, and to that he said, “I don’t care, you put it on paper.” I put it on paper.
Mr. DODD. Which, is he going to be, crucified for telling you or crucified for not following in the normal operating procedures of sharing that information with the Dallas Police Department?
Mr. REVILL. It is not normal operating procedure for the FBI to share that information with you. As I mentioned to you earlier, the information local law enforcement gets from the Federal Bureau of Investigation is primarily based on personal contact between an
agent and the officer.
Mr. DODD. So he more than likely would have been crucified by the Director for admitting to the Dallas Police Department that they had information in the security file on someone who they perceived as capable of assassinating the President?
Mr. REVILL. I can only assume that, sir.

 

Then there is Jack Revill’s HSCA report which doesn’t really add much but still an interesting read.

 

Here is Jack Revill inside DPD in 1961.