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Originally Posted March 27, 2007
Hallelujah! I can stop thinking about this one now. Hmmm where have I heard Midland before?
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March 24, 2007
Former Midlander convicted of two murders for hire dies in prison
W. Bear Mills is a historian as well as a James Madison and Fulbright Scholar. He has been researching the lives of famous people connected with West Texas and the city of Midland. This story is part of that research.
Federal prison authorities in Colorado announced earlier this week that former Midlander and convicted hit man Charles Harrelson, 69, died in a Colorado prison of heart disease. He was serving a double life sentence for the contract killing of federal judge John Wood of San Antonio in 1979.
Harrelson lived in Midland from 1961, the year his son, actor Woody Harrelson, was born, through 1967. City directories report Harrelson resided on Crestview, two blocks from Wall Street, and worked as a denture repairman at Tri-State Dental Supply.
However, numerous federal and private investigations indicate Harrelson spent a great deal of that time on the road, working to secure a job as a gun for hire. His first would-be employer was the U.S. government, which was seeking mercenaries for the $13 million paramilitary operation known as Operation Mongoose that unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Arrest records, hotel receipts and employment applications indicate Harrelson was in California and Florida on the same dates many of the Operation Mongoose meetings were conducted by U.S. operatives. The Operation Mongoose data, much of which is stored in the National Archives and was made public in 1997, tracks events that led up to the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961.
Harrelson was passed over as a candidate to execute Castro. However, he hinted to at least two reporters he was involved in another famous killing: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Originally Posted March 27, 2007
Hallelujah! I can stop thinking about this one now. Hmmm where have I heard Midland before?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~
March 24, 2007
Former Midlander convicted of two murders for hire dies in prison
W. Bear Mills is a historian as well as a James Madison and Fulbright Scholar. He has been researching the lives of famous people connected with West Texas and the city of Midland. This story is part of that research.
Federal prison authorities in Colorado announced earlier this week that former Midlander and convicted hit man Charles Harrelson, 69, died in a Colorado prison of heart disease. He was serving a double life sentence for the contract killing of federal judge John Wood of San Antonio in 1979.
Harrelson lived in Midland from 1961, the year his son, actor Woody Harrelson, was born, through 1967. City directories report Harrelson resided on Crestview, two blocks from Wall Street, and worked as a denture repairman at Tri-State Dental Supply.
However, numerous federal and private investigations indicate Harrelson spent a great deal of that time on the road, working to secure a job as a gun for hire. His first would-be employer was the U.S. government, which was seeking mercenaries for the $13 million paramilitary operation known as Operation Mongoose that unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Arrest records, hotel receipts and employment applications indicate Harrelson was in California and Florida on the same dates many of the Operation Mongoose meetings were conducted by U.S. operatives. The Operation Mongoose data, much of which is stored in the National Archives and was made public in 1997, tracks events that led up to the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961.
Harrelson was passed over as a candidate to execute Castro. However, he hinted to at least two reporters he was involved in another famous killing: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
He indicated to Dallas Morning News reporter Chuck Cook and TV newsman Quin Matthews that he played a role in a plot to kill Kennedy. However, Harrelson wanted to leverage his supposed knowledge of the Kennedy assassination for reduced time on a life sentence for the murder of Judge Wood. No takers were found among federal prosecutors.
Reporters and historians, knowing Harrelson's track record of questionable veracity, have largely dismissed his attempts to implicate himself.
Nonetheless, conspiracy theorists continue to claim Harrelson was one of the Grassy Knoll gunmen alleged to have participated in the ambush of Kennedy during his trip to Dallas in November 1963. The official determination of the Warren Commission, later upheld by another federal panel, is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in arranging and carrying out the murder of Kennedy.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18122702&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=475626&rfi=6
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As with a lot of things I’m sure the alleged confession of Charles Harrelson being involved in the Kennedy assassination was not news for a lot of people. It was to me though. And I’m not even sure I’m being sarcastic or not regarding the mystery being solved. It sounds so bizarre it just might be true. The fact that I wake up with the theme from Cheers playing in my head constantly really makes me wonder.
Reporters and historians, knowing Harrelson's track record of questionable veracity, have largely dismissed his attempts to implicate himself.
Nonetheless, conspiracy theorists continue to claim Harrelson was one of the Grassy Knoll gunmen alleged to have participated in the ambush of Kennedy during his trip to Dallas in November 1963. The official determination of the Warren Commission, later upheld by another federal panel, is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in arranging and carrying out the murder of Kennedy.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18122702&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=475626&rfi=6
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As with a lot of things I’m sure the alleged confession of Charles Harrelson being involved in the Kennedy assassination was not news for a lot of people. It was to me though. And I’m not even sure I’m being sarcastic or not regarding the mystery being solved. It sounds so bizarre it just might be true. The fact that I wake up with the theme from Cheers playing in my head constantly really makes me wonder.
