Original subtitles

All I know is sometimes he sends me some cases.

One day he calls, talks to me about repping Oswald in Dallas.

- You ever speak to Oswald in Dallas? - No.

I told that Bertrand cat right off this ain't my scene.

- I'm a hack. He needs a hot dog. - Then how did you get in the Commission?

Like I told the Washington boys...

...Bertrand asked me that summer to help the kid upgrade his Marine discharge.

Mr. Bertrand said he would take care of any of...

Fine.

- To whom am I speaking? - Clay Bertrand. I'll pay what they owe.

There was no conspiracy. If there was, why didn't Bobby Kennedy prosecute?

He was his brother.

How'd so many people keep such a secret?

- It was Oswald. He hated... - We're having a communication problem.

I know you know who Clay Bertrand is. Stop eating that crabmeat and listen.

I'm aware of our friendship, but I'll call you before the grand jury.

You lie to them as you lied to me, I'll charge you with perjury.

I took nine judges on here in New Orleans.

I beat them all. Am I communicating with you?

Off the record?

In that case, let me sum it up for you.

If I answer that question you keep asking...

...if I give you the name of the big enchilada...

...then it's bon voyage, Deano.

Like a bullet in my head, you dig?

You're a mouse fighting a gorilla. JFK's dead as that crabmeat.

The government's still breathing.

Either you give the grand jury Clay Bertrand's real identity...

...or your fat behind's going to the slammer.

You're as crazy as your mama. It's in the genes.

Do you know what you're getting into?

The government will jump all over your head and go cock-a-doodle-doo.

Good day to you, sir.

District Attorney Garrison to see Prisoner 5388.

Ward block 237B.

We don't need gates with that swamp.

Many of them gone in there, none of them came out.

You got visitors here. Don't give them trouble.

- How you doing, Mr. Broussard? - Let's go, Willie.

Thank you, Mr. O'Keefe, for this time.

I got nothing but time.

Minutes, hours, days. Years of it.

Time stands still here, like a snake sunning itself.

Clay Bertrand?

I met him sometime in...

...June of '62. The Masquerade Bar.

Dave Ferrie took me there expressly to meet him.

Sexual purposes?

Did he pay you?

$20 each time. Ain't no secret. That's what I'm in here for.

Anything unusual about him...

...you'd be able to describe in court?

He had something wrong with his leg, a limp.

Don't get me wrong. He's not one of those limp wrists.

He's a butch John. Meet him on the street, you'd never snap.

You could play poker with him, go fishing, you'd never snap.

One night we were at David Ferrie's...

...sometime late in the summer of '63.

There was about nine to ten people there.

Cuban. Friends who'd done stuff in the bush with him. Place was a mess.

Dave's mind was a mess. He had caged mice...

...'cause he's working on a cancer cure.

Dave's smart, though. Speaks five languages.

Knows philosophy, medicine, military history, politics.

He wanted to be a priest. They defrocked him 'cause he was queer.

That's where you first met Oswald?

Strange guy. Dave introduced him as...

Leon Oswald.

How you doing?

What the fuck is he doing here?

Fuck you, motherfucker.

Leon's in a bad mood. Don't get excited.

You said Leon was actually Lee Harvey Oswald?

Yeah. I have no reason to lie to you.

I'm already in jail.

Go on.

Finally they left and I was alone with Dave...

...and this Leon...

...two of the Cubans, and this guy Bertrand.

Dave pulled out some clippings.

He'd been obsessed with Castro and Kennedy for months.

Little ass-wipe closed down the camps! Took our C-4!

Took 10,000 rounds! 3,000 pounds of gunpowder!

All our weapons!

You want to free Cuba? Whack out the fucking beard!

Kennedy won't let us. Our hands are empty. How can we?

Problem is getting to him. Informers on every block.

They got new stuff!

I could show you dozens of poisons! Put it in his food, he'd die in three days.

No trace!

Put something in his beard, make it fall out. He'd look ridiculous...

Fucking Kennedy is doing all kinds of deals with that bastard Khrushchev.

Licking his ass.

An inspired act of God should happen here and put a Texan in the White House!

The Cubans left. Dave was drunk.

He started in on Kennedy again.

I will kill! In the White House! Stab him in the heart!

Somebody must get rid of him!

You won't get that son of a bitch!

It won't be long. That fucker will get what he deserves.

It could be blamed on Castro, the country will want to invade Cuba.

We just need to get him in the open.

Always some harebrained scheme.

Let's have some more champagne, shall we?

What about the Secret Service? The cops?

If it's planned right, no problem. They got close to De Gaulle.

Eisenhower always rode in open top.

We need three mechanics in three different locations.

An office building, a high-powered rifle.

Triangulation of crossfire, that's the key. That's the key.

A diversionary shot gets the Secret Service looking one way.

Boom! Get the kill shot.

One man has to be sacrificed.

In the commotion, the job gets done.

The others leave the country.

Let's drop this subject. It's one thing to banter with these kids...

...but this sort of thing could be so easily misunderstood.

I didn't think much about it then. It's just bullshit.

People like to act more important than they are.

Especially in the homosexual underworld.

But when they got him...

...I got scared.

Real scared.

That's when I got popped.

The things you said will be attacked by many people.

Bring them on. Bring their college degrees in here, I got nothing to hide.

No one can buy me.

- I don't even need this parole. - What parole?

You liberal, you don't know shit 'cause you never been fucked in the ass.

This ain't about justice! No, this is about order!

Who rules? Fascism is coming back.

Nobody wants to buy you. No one's promising you parole.

What I need to know is why are you telling us this.

'Cause that motherfucker Kennedy...

...stole that motherfucking election, that's why.

Nixon was going to be a great President until Kennedy wrecked this country.

Niggers wanting rights! Why do you think we have all this crime.

He promised those motherfuckers too much!

Revolution's coming, bullshit! Fascism's coming back!

The day that Communist son of a bitch died was a great day!

A great day for this country.

I hate to think they blame it on silly, fucking Oswald.

Didn't know shit, anyway.

People got to know. People got to know why he was killed.

Because he was a Communist.

You go ahead, put me on the stand, I'll tell the same goddamned story!

Don't matter to me!

All right, Willie. Thanks.

We'll be in touch.

All right.

You know, you're not a bad-looking man.

Not bad at all.

I get out of here, I'll come see you. We can have fun!

Their testimony won't hold up in court.

Their reputations are lower than crocodile piss.

That bothers you?

If a woman's a prostitute, must she also have bad eyesight?

Find Clay Bertrand. Start by checking around the Quarter.

The six of us, with almost no budget and in secret...

...will solve a case the Warren Commission couldn't?

- I didn't pick you for your legal skill. - Thanks, Boss.

You're a fighter. I like a man who's not afraid of bad odds.

Mr. Garrison, how are you? Remember me?

You vote for me?

I did. We sang together at the Royal Orleans, remember?

We sang:

"You're the cream in my coffee"

Haven't seen you much lately.

Been too busy. Elected men can't have as much fun as they used to.

It's always nice to see you. Pleasure to serve you always.

How are you? Nice to see you.

Welcome back, Lou.

- Think I could get a martini? - They're waiting for you, sir.

Keep that table open for us.

Anything on the hoboes?

Dallas Times Herald photographer got great shots.

Never published.

Can't say that comes as a surprise.

They took them to the sheriff's and let them go. No record of questioning.

Do they look like the hoboes you remember?

These two look young.

Not a frayed collar or cuff, fresh haircuts and shaves...

...clean hands, new shoe leather. - Who the hell are they then?

Sit down.

This could be it. Let's look for them.

What about the railroad man, Lee Bowers, who saw the men at the picket fence?

Graveyard. Dead. August this year.

Single-car accident on an empty road in Midlothian, Texas.

The doctor said he was in a strange shock when he died.

We need to find more witnesses.

There was Rose Cheramie, a whore.

She said she was a dope runner for Jack Ruby.

And that Ruby knew Oswald for years.

- Can we talk to her? - She's dead too.

Hit and run.

Why don't we go to the horse's mouth?

Jack Ruby's been in a Dallas jail cell for three years. Maybe he'll crack.

Can't. If I go to him our investigation will hit the front pages.

It'll blow up in our face. Susie, what did you find on Oswald?

Negative on his tax records. Classified.

First time a DA can't get a tax record.

I asked for the CIA files on Oswald that were part of the Warren Report.

About 1,200 documents. Can't get one of them.

All classified as secret on the grounds of national security.

Gave me his grammar school records. It's a study of his pubic hairs.

Lonely kid, no father.

Joins the Marines at 17.

Learns Russian. Acts overtly Marxist.

But he's stationed at a top-secret air base in Japan...

...where U-2 spy flights over Russia originate.

He's discharged...

...supposedly because his mother's sick. Stays home three days.

Then, with a $1,500 ticket from a $203 bank account, he goes to Moscow.

Mr. Oswald, do you understand...

...the action you are about to take? - Yes, I do, sir.

I wish to renounce my citizenship...

...and become a Soviet citizen.

I'll give them all the information I have on the Marines.

He disappears for six weeks, presumably with the KGB.

He's taken to a radio factory in Minsk...

...where he lives as high on the hog as he ever has.

He's given 5,000 rubles, a roomy apartment with a balcony.