All language subtitles for JFK.Declassified.Tracking.Oswald.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[tense music]

*

- A man may die,

nations may rise and fall,

but an idea lives on.

[cheers and applause]

[gunshot]

[people screaming]

[gunshots]

[siren wailing]

*

- It's not an easy
thing to kill the president

of the United States.

But according to the official
report,

one man pulled off the
crime of the century

completely on his own.

I've never believed it.

One man can't plan this without
support.

[dramatic music]

Now declassified files show

that Oswald met with our main
enemies,

then came back and
assassinated the president.

*

If someone wanted to join ISIS
and traveled across the border

and then came back...

[loud explosion]

And committed mass murder,

can we really say
he acted alone?

*

male narrator: Bob Baer spent
21 years as a CIA agent

investigating assassinations
and running covert operations.

His interest in the Kennedy
assassination

became an obsession while still
working inside the walls

of America's most secretive
organization.

- When I was still at the
agency,

I made a request for files
concerning Lee Harvey Oswald

and the Kennedy assassination.

I took it all the way to the
director, George H.W. Bush.

He gave his approval, but when
I went to retrieve the files,

I was told they were all lost.

Nothing the CIA does is random.

They don't lose information;
they conceal it.

I know, because I've done it
myself.

narrator: Now those missing
files have been declassified

along with over 2 million
top secret documents

pertaining to the
assassination.

- Over the last 50 years, this
case has become

all about conspiracy theories.

I don't believe in conspiracy
theories.

I believe that Lee Harvey
Oswald was the lone gunman

in Dealey Plaza,

[gunshot]

But I always believed he
had a network supporting him.

With these declassified files,
I'm going to prove it.

No one can hide in the shadows
forever.

[light music]

54 years ago, the president of
the United States

was murdered down there.

I, for one, have never been
satisfied

with the record on this.

- This case has been
contaminated by conspiracy,

by movies; it's become part of
our landscape, you know.

It's the JFK assassination.

We need to step back,

and we need to look at this
objectively.

narrator: As Bob launches his
independent investigation,

he's joined by
Adam Bercovici.

A former lieutenant of the Los
Angeles Police Department,

Bercovici led the elite special
investigations section

supervising hundreds of
high-profile homicide

investigations over the course
of his 30-year career.

- Take away the conspiracy.

Look at this as a murder
investigation

- Adam's experience will help me
get at the questions

all the other investigations
didn't know to ask.

He thinks like a cop,
and that's exactly what I need.

The Warren Commission clearly
had a political agenda,

as we know.

President Johnson does not want
to chuck us into a war

that can kill 40 million
Americans in an hour.

narrator: One week after the
assassination

of John F. Kennedy,

newly appointed
president Lyndon Johnson

orders Chief Justice Earl
Warren

to investigate the events at
Dealey Plaza.

From the start, Johnson is
concerned about the potential

involvement of Communist
enemies

at the height of the Cold War.

He warns the Commission that
evidence implicating Russia

or Cuba could drive the world
into nuclear war.

In the end, the 888-page report
concludes that Oswald acted

entirely alone without the
assistance

of any accomplices.

- The Warren Commission was
ordered to avoid

any conclusion that would lead
to war,

so they ignored important
questions.

Who else would have benefitted
from JFK's murder?

The Russians, the Cubans.

It's hard to believe he didn't
have support.

The Warren Commission report

drew on thousands of pieces of
evidence.

But the fact is, there were
millions upon millions

more pieces of evidence

the Warren Commission didn't
have access to,

because the CIA and the FBI
withheld information.

More than 2 million documents

have been declassified
in this case.

But there is one document that
jumped out at me right away.

This is a classified
conversation

between President Johnson

and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover

on November 23, 1963,

the day after the assassination,
in a meeting about Oswald.

Here's LBJ.

"Have you established any more

about the visit to the Soviet
embassy in Mexico in September?"

J. Edgar Hoover:

"No, that's one angle that's
very confusing."

This is extraordinary.

This evidence puts Oswald in the
Soviet embassy eight weeks

before the assassination.

- The fact that that's not been
looked at closely,

I don't get it.
I mean, this is the Cold War.

This is 1963.

This is at the height of the
undeclared conflict

between the Soviet Union and the
United States,

and he makes it to Mexico City,

and he goes to the
Soviet embassy.

That's a big deal.

Today if you substituted the
Soviet embassy

with the Islamic State in Syria,

this is enough
to get somebody arrested

as a material witness.

- Absolutely.

- This is 100 times worse
than what we're seeing today,

because this man killed the
president of the United States,

and he made contact right before
with the main enemy.

Let's see what else there is
about Oswald's visit

to Mexico City.

narrator: To analyze more than
2 million declassified

documents gathered
over a 54-year period,

the team utilizes an enhanced
neural network,

running state-of-the-art
analysis algorithms

to uncover hidden links between
seemingly unrelated documents.

- In this case, there hasn't
been one giant document dump.

The documents have been
released

strategically little by little

making it virtually impossible
for people to piece it together.

This is what the CIA does.

I did it myself.

No one's taken the time to put
them all together

and look at them as a
collective.

Look at this.

After the assassination,
John McCone, the CIA director,

tells employees not to answer
questions

about Oswald in Mexico City.

- This is not how a criminal
investigation is conducted.

They were telling people not to
tell the truth.

- Something happened in Mexico
City the CIA didn't want

the Warren Commission to know
about.

- We're gonna need more
evidence.

- Yeah, we've got to get down
there.

This is ground zero for this
whole investigation.

narrator: When Lee Harvey
Oswald assassinates

President John F. Kennedy,
he's only 24 years old.

Born in New Orleans, Oswald is
raised in Dallas

without a father, who died
shortly before his birth.

At age 19, he attempts to
renounce his American

citizenship and defect to the
Soviet Union.

His efforts to become a Soviet
citizen fail,

but he remains in Russia for
three years until 1962,

returning to the United
States just one year before

his trip to Mexico City.

[dramatic music]

- Mexico City in the '60s was a
hotbed of espionage.

Because of the close proximity
to the United States

and Mexico's soft stance on
communism,

America's enemies used the city
as a hub of intelligence.

It's no coincidence that the
biggest crime

of the 20th century could have
been planned here.

[dramatic music]

*

- Bob, good to see you again.
- Good to see you.

- Let's go get after it.
- Yeah.

narrator: Joining the team in
Mexico City

is former army ranger Marty
Skovlund,

a veteran of five
Middle East deployments

to both
Iraq and Afghanistan.

- Marty specialized in covert
operations

during his time in
the military.

His knowledge of terrorist
networks and assassinations

will be invaluable to this
investigation.

[tense music]

Oswald's six days in this city
are absolutely crucial.

They were never looked into by
the Warren Commission,

because they didn't want to
know.

All through the declassified
files, there's smoke.

What I want to do is find the
fire.

If the CIA is telling people
not to answer questions,

those are exactly the questions
I want answered.

- During the 1960s, right on
the doorstep of the U.S.,

you have a hotbed of Soviet
espionage

right here in Mexico City.

So we have Oswald,
almost 24 years old,

walking right through those
gates into the Soviet embassy.

- Essentially meeting with the
enemy.

If we look at it today in terms
of that context,

a 24-year-old meeting with ISIS
or al-Qaeda, it stands out.

I mean, it's a big deal.

It really is.

- All spy operations were run
out of here.

The CIA had it completely
covered

from observation posts and
listening posts.

What I want to do is get into
these buildings around here

and find out, if we can, where
the CIA listening post was.

I'd like to see the vantage
point they used.

narrator: Back in the 1960s and
even today,

the CIA employed covert
surveillance stations

known as listening posts in
strategic spots

across the globe to gather
intelligence

from foreign enemies.

Situated near embassies and
government buildings,

these sites utilized long-range
microphones and telephone bugs

to document activity at
sensitive locations.

- Let's move.

I want to find the listening
post

the CIA used to observe
Oswald's visit.

My suspicion is that U.S.
surveillance

might have been too intense

for the Russians to
discuss anything sensitive

with Oswald inside the embassy.

But I can't say for sure until
I've put eyes on the sight.

It's this building right here.

narrator: Utilizing his
network,

Bob gains access to what he
believes is a former CIA

listening post along the
embassy's perimeter.

- Come in.
- Thank you.

So you've lived here a long
time.

- Quite for a while.

When we moved in, we realized
that there was something

pretty weird about this
apartment.

There was this safe,
there were some monitors.

- Yeah.
- And also that door over

there, as you can see,
it's made of metal, so...

- Look at this door.

That's a safe room.

- Yeah, look at the lock on
here.

- The door that we came in over
here, that's no normal,

ordinary apartment door either.

I mean, you've got a cage on the
outside.

Whoever was staying in here
wanted a very secure apartment.

- We were told that there were
some people,

perhaps spies,
for several years.

- I've kicked a lot of doors in
my career.

and I've never seen one
like this.

- Yeah, you're right next to the
Russian embassy.

This was definitely an L.P.,
a listening post.

But this place is a fortress.

Any American walking into this
embassy

is not coming here for
high tea.

He's coming here to do
damage to the United States.

[dramatic music]

Oswald going into the Soviet
embassy

is what's called a walk-in...

*

People that come in willing to
betray their country

and give up what they know.

As soon as Oswald enters the
Soviet embassy,

he would have met a Russian
diplomatic official,

but in fact,
he's probably KGB.

That's the way it works.

This is something that I spent
a career doing.

As Oswald makes his way through
the embassy,

this whole process would look
like it was a visa interview,

but in fact,
that's just the cover.

He's going to be ushered into a
walk-in room,

where he's gonna
be met by other KGB officers.

They would have quickly sized
Oswald up

to see if Oswald would
be of any use.

I've run dozens and dozens of
these things

where you bring in L.P.,
and the major thing is,

the Russians know it's here,

but that doesn't keep the CIA
from watching who's coming in.

- I mean, you just imagine
sitting here in '63.

This is where they probably
watched him walk in.

Eight weeks later,
President Kennedy's dead.

- We have to assume at this
point that Oswald

intends to commit political
murder.

Two months later, he kills the
president of the United States.

The chances of his coming into
this embassy

and proposing
political murder

in the United States
are pretty good.

Better chance is that the
moment he mentions that,

the Russians are gonna say,
"All right,

let's take this outside."

The Russians have to assume
their embassy is wired

and all conversations inside
that embassy are monitored.

And what I want to find out is,
when he left this embassy,

whether there was recontact,
and also,

what were the Russians'
intentions?

If the Russians were involved in
the assassination,

I don't believe they would have
talked about the murder

inside the embassy.

They were simply under too much
surveillance,

and they knew it.

And you just look at this L.P.
here

and how close we are.

The Russians wouldn't have taken
the risk.

And they just wouldn't do it
here.

After finding this listening
post, I now feel confident.

The Russians would have met up
with Oswald

at a safe location
outside the embassy,

someplace that they could speak

where they weren't being
surveilled.

We need to look for evidence of
that covert meeting.

The red flag has already gone up
for me.

narrator: Convinced that Oswald
and the Russians

would have never discussed
Kennedy's assassination

inside the embassy,

the team divides to look for
evidence

of a second meeting.

While Bob and Adam dig back
into the documents,

Marty meets up with local
investigator Eric Ceballos

and heads to Lee Harvey
Oswald's Mexico City hotel.

- You're saying this is not
really a tourist area?

- No, no, no, it's actually
pretty sketchy.

It's dangerous for sure.

- Do you think it was that way
back in '63?

- Yes, this part of the city,
yes.

- Yeah?
- It's not a touristy place.

narrator: The Warren Commission
reports that Lee Harvey Oswald

checked into the Hotel del
Comercio

within one hour of his arrival
in Mexico City.

- Okay, it's just up here, guys.

narrator: Located in a
high-crime area

with a reported cartel
presence,

Eric instructs Marty to utilize
a phone camera

to film the hotel.

- [speaking Spanish]

- [speaking Spanish]

- The first thing that jumps
out at me is,

this is off the beaten path.

It's run-down.

It's just not the typical spot

that you would come to as a
tourist.

It's very functional.

I worked as a member of a unit
that was bringing down the most

sophisticated terrorist
networks in the world.

This is the kind of flophouse
terrorists hide in

to stay off the radar.

And he gets off the bus in
Mexico City

and goes straight
for this hotel.

When you look at Lee Harvey
Oswald's patterns of behavior,

they raise all sorts of red
flags.

You know, he's claiming to be a
tourist,

but he's not acting like a
tourist at all.

He's not staying
where a tourist stays.

He's acting in a very
deliberate

and planned-out manner

that's consistent with somebody
that's on a mission.

- Anybody that walks into a
Soviet embassy

in a country where it's a hotbed
of espionage,

he's not a tourist.

I tell you, if I were in that
embassy

and I were assessing him,

I would give him a walk-in
package.

It's the way it works.

When I was at the CIA, I ran
hundreds of walk-ins.

If a walk in comes into the
embassy,

the protocol is very clear.

[dramatic music]

If the Russians wanted to meet
Oswald outside the embassy,

they would have given him coded
meeting arrangements,

a so-called walk-in package.

It would have looked like
ordinary papers,

things that would look
completely benign

to anyone but Oswald.

Even the CIA would not have
immediately recognized them

for what they were.

These papers would have pointed
Oswald in the direction

of another location and time,

the meeting outside of the
embassy.

narrator: In the wake of the
assassination,

the FBI catalogued all of
Lee Harvey Oswald's

personal effects.

Among the items listed in the
Warren Commission

were a
Spanish-English dictionary,

a tourist guide, a city map,
and multiple postcards.

- We have a map; any tourist
could have had this.

We've got a dictionary,
a Spanish-English dictionary.

We've got postcards.

- You know what I don't like
about the postcards?

Here's a guy on the edge.

Would he come down
here and buy a postcard?

What possible reason?

Do people do that that are about
ready to commit a crime?

The Warren Commission missed
this.

These postcards were not looked
at with any expertise.

Like the rest of the stuff

Oswald walked around Mexico
City with,

the postcards could
easily be written off

as something a tourist would
buy,

but having spent 21 years in
the CIA,

this screams tradecraft to
me.

narrator: During the Cold War,
the Soviet KGB

perfected the art of covert
communication

known as tradecraft.

In 1961, Colonel Oleg Penkovsky
of the Soviet military

used postcards as a mechanism
to pass intelligence

during clandestine operations.

The landmark featured on the
front of the postcard

is the desired location of a
secret meeting.

There is no set time for this
meeting.

Instead, the KGB
surveils their asset,

waiting
for him to visit the landmark.

Agents would then make their
approach.

- Sending Oswald out of an
embassy with a postcard

outlining what the meeting is
gonna be,

the tradecraft is identical to
the tradecraft used by the KGB,

absolutely secure,
doesn't implicate,

and it's the absence of evidence

that is evidence itself.

narrator: The postcards in
Oswald's possession

feature four prominent Mexico
City landmarks,

the Revolution Monument,
the Torre Latino,

the Angel of Independence,

and the Plaza de Toros
bullring.

- So what do you think?

- I think, yeah, we've got four
locations.

What I'd like to do
is go and visit all four

and reconstruct the most logical
place

to make a meeting.

We know from the documents the
CIA observed

Oswald going inside
the Russian embassy

and meeting
with our main enemy.

After the meeting, the CIA
would have been keeping track

of Oswald around the city.

If one of these places would
have been used to discuss

killing Kennedy, it would have
had to have been a place

where you can't be photographed,
where you can't be surveilled.

narrator: The team splits up to
see which of the four locations

is viable
for a covert meeting.

[dramatic music]

- So what we're looking for is a
place that Soviets might have

had what they're calling an iron
meeting.

narrator: The first of Oswald's
postcards

features the Revolution
Monument,

a landmark opened in 1938

to commemorate the Mexican
Revolution.

- The bottom line is, is this a
place that we want to have

a clandestine meeting?

It's the kind of meeting that
can't be compromised

by counter surveillance.

- The KGB at that time,

they were
among the best in the world

at doing this sort of thing.

They're not gonna pick a place

that leaves them
vulnerable at all.

*

- I mean, you've got a meeting
spot up there,

but you've got one way up
and one way down,

essentially no escape route
if you're trying to beat

a surveillance.

- Up there is a terrible place
to conduct a meeting,

but it's a
great place if you're the one

running surveillance on a
potential meeting.

narrator: In 1963, both KGB and
CIA operations

assume the enemy is
always watching.

The KGB strategically select
meeting locations to dodge

the CIA, avoiding places like
the plaza around the Revolution

Monument, where the CIA could
easily watch

from the monument's
elevated perch.

- We need something that's easy
to get in and out of,

something that's easy to
counter-surveil,

and this is not that place.

*

narrator: Across town, Bob is
joined by local investigator

Eric Ceballos to survey the
second location

featured on Oswald's postcards.

- So this is the Angel of
Independence.

- Let's see what we can see.

narrator: Known commonly as El
Angel,

the Angel of Independence was
built in 1910

on a roundabout of a
major thoroughfare

in downtown Mexico City.

- I've worked against the KGB
for many years,

and I can tell you
right now,

they are not gonna pick
an open location like this

so you've got 360-degree
coverage.

They can't control it.

The CIA was watching everything
they did there.

narrator: The Angel of
Independence sits

on an isolated roundabout,

making a meeting visible from
all directions

and offering no
escape route for KGB agents

or Oswald if spotted by the
CIA.

- I'm quite certain that
whatever this postcard means,

it did not mean meeting here.

That makes no sense at all.

[tense music]

narrator: With two sites left
to investigate,

Adam and Marty head
into the heart

of Mexico City's
financial district.

A postcard featuring the
skyscraper

known as El Torre Latino was
one of four found

among the personal possessions
of Lee Harvey Oswald.

- This building right here, this
Empire State Building-looking

thing, in 1963, this was the
tallest building in Mexico City.

The one thing that really
strikes me,

and I'm sure it hasn't changed
that much,

is the volume of people here.

Even in our major cities like
New York,

we're just not gonna see
this type of volume of people.

It's more similar to, like, in
India or Bombay or something.

What do you think in terms of a
meet location?

- Big crowds are an excellent
place to be able to lose people,

get lost in the crowd, be able
to duck in and out of alleyways.

You want to be in a place where
you can make a quick

escape if you need.

The tall buildings like this are
exactly

what you don't want around.

[tense music]

They had long lenses back then.

You could put multiple people up
in these buildings

with a long lens, and they're
gonna take

all the pictures they want.

narrator: Outside El Torre
Latino,

there
are no distinct meeting spots

on
the chaotic sidewalks

for KGB
agents to intercept Oswald.

Inside the building, CIA agents
could easily surround them

and monitor conversations from
neighboring structures.

- This is not what I'm looking
for if I'm setting up

a meeting like that.

narrator: The last potential
site of Oswald's covert meeting

with the Soviet KGB,

the Plaza de Toros
Mexico,

the world's largest
bullring.

- And when you get a ticket, do
you actually get the number

of the row you have to sit on?

- Yes, you do.

- This looks amazing.

[tense music]

*

This looks really, really
interesting.

*

Wow.
Look at this place.

*

This is an ideal location.

narrator: The bullring is the
perfect site

for a secret meeting with the
KGB.

The question remains, was Lee
Harvey Oswald here?

- All of these seats,
and the number of tunnels,

you would never be able to
surveil anybody.

It'd be nearly impossible.

narrator: In Mexico City,
former CIA agent Bob Baer

is investigating the
Plaza de Toros Mexico,

a bullring where he suspects
that Lee Harvey Oswald

had a
secret meeting with the KGB

just weeks before the Kennedy
assassination.

*

- If the KGB met with Oswald,

they would have specifically
chosen a meeting location

where they couldn't be watched
by CIA operatives.

This bullring could be perfect.

Did many foreigners come here?

- Yeah, it's kind of a tourist
attraction too.

- So an American showing up,
a gringo...

- He could mingle in easily.

- He could mingle in.

It's a logical place for Oswald
to go.

He's in Mexico City.

"Well, I'll go to the
bullfight."

- Mm-hmm.

- But the other edge of the
sword is,

it's the perfect place to
make an introduction.

If Oswald were given tickets,

he could go to the stadium,

sit in the seat the ticket
indicates,

some guy sits next to him, and
they can sit here and talk.

It's foolproof.
- Mm-hmm.

- This would be a classic KGB
operation.

Of all the locations in the
four postcards,

the only one that makes sense
to me is the bullring.

The other three were probably
decoys.

The KGB would never risk
putting Oswald

in a meeting outside of the
embassy in the other locations.

*

This is what it boils down to.

It's gonna do you no good to
come here and meet

with nobody in the stadium.

What we need is to determine
whether there was a bullfight

when Oswald was here,
because if there was

no bullfight, there
was no meeting.

[dramatic music]

Do you think there are records
of this here?

- Yeah, it's car copy.

narrator: Bob and Eric make
contact with Jorge Sanchez

at the National Archive

to examine bullfighting records
from Oswald's six-day trip

to Mexico City between
September 27th

and October 2, 1963.

Yeah, this looks like the right
dates.

[suspenseful music]

*

Oh...

- Yeah.
- Same as the card.

- For me, this is key.

Oswald goes into the Russian
embassy on the 28th,

he ends up with a postcard of
the bullfighting ring,

and then the exact next day,
there's a bullfight.

You just start adding this stuff
up.

Every piece of evidence we have

points to an iron meeting at
this stadium.

*

We checked the archives, and
there was a bullfight

during Oswald's visit.

I mean, this is kind of
tradecraft

that the KGB is known for.

- This place offers what none of
those other places did

narrator: Bob Baer reunites
with former police lieutenant

Adam Bercovici and former army
ranger Marty Skovlund

to pressure test the team's
working theory

that Lee Harvey Oswald met with
KGB operatives

at the Plaza de Toros Mexico

to avoid detection by the CIA.

- Okay, here is what I want to
do.

I'm gonna run a little test
here, play a little spy game.

I want to show you how a meeting
can take place there

right under your nose, and you
don't see it.

I'm gonna go in there, and I'm
gonna meet up with our fixer,

Eric, and I want to see how hard
it is for you guys

to keep track of me in there.

The only way how to figure out
how these things work

is to test them.

[dramatic music]

narrator: To simulate the role
of Oswald,

Bob will proceed into the
stadium alone

in an attempt to
meet undetected

with a KGB operative

played by the team's local
investigator Eric Ceballos.

*

With Eric in position and Bob
on the move,

Adam and Marty set out
to track them down,

simulating CIA surveillance of
Russian activity.

This test should have been done
50 years ago.

This the kind of detail that you
really need to get into,

because it's something the
Warren Commission

never looked at.

They never went to the
bullfighting stadium.

They just dismissed the
evidence.

If I manage to evade their
surveillance

and make my secret meeting,
we'll be one step closer

to proving that the Russians
could have been

involved in the
assassination.

[cheers and applause]

- [speaking Spanish]

- I'm about seven rows up, and I
don't see him anywhere.

Over.

- Roger that.
I'm headed towards seven.

I'm gonna go ahead and see if
I can take a look down there,

see what I can see.

narrator: In 1963,
approximately 40,000 people

attended fights
at the Plaza de Toros Mexico,

filling more than three tiers
of seating.

2 main entrances and more than
20 interior tunnels

create a labyrinth of
concourses

within the concrete structure.

Tonight there are approximately
10,000 people in attendance.

*

- A big part of my career was
involved

in the surveillance world
surveilling some of the worst

criminals on the streets of Los
Angeles.

It is one of the hardest things
to do.

It's not like the movies where
you're locked up behind them.

It is a hunt.

narrator: The manhunt begins.

- I'm moving over to the next
tunnel, over.

narrator: And the team will
soon find out

if Lee Harvey Oswald could have
met undetected

with America's
most dangerous enemy.

- In 1963, the Soviets were our
main enemy.

Oswald meeting with a KGB
officer

would be like someone meeting
with a member of ISIS today.

[tense music]

narrator: Bob plays the role of
Oswald,

attempting to meet undetected
with a KGB operative

played by
local investigator Eric.

Adam and Marty set out to track
them down,

simulating CIA operatives
spying on the Russians.

- All right, Adam, I think I've
got Bob over here

between sections one and seven.

- That's gonna be a negative.
That is not Bob.

That is not our target.
Copy.

- All right, we need to figure
out where he is.

We're running out of time.

*

[cheers and applause]

- I've got about two sections to
clear.

Gonna do nine and ten, then just
take a look down

towards the center of the
stadium.

- Roger.

*

There's a lot of people here.

This is a little bit more
difficult than I was expecting.

*

A stadium's a big place, even
for a trained person.

This presents a lot of
challenges.

In today's day and age, we've
got a lot of technology

that aids this.

But we're kind of putting
ourselves back

in the 1960s here,
so it becomes physically

very difficult to conduct a
thorough reconnaissance

of this area and
tail somebody.

[phone rings]

- Hey, Bob, what's up?

- Hey, Adam, Marty.

- Negative, we did not,
negative, we did not.

- No, we did not see you.

- Thought so.

It's too hard to pick up
anybody in here.

*

- The stadium wasn't full
tonight,

but it would have been back in
1963,

and surveillance would have
been even more challenging.

The result of this operation has
a huge impact on this case.

*

In my mind,
it proves that Oswald

could have met with the
Russians undetected.

But this is just the beginning.

We need to dig back in the files
and find the smoking gun.

Question is, if he did go to the
stadium

to meet somebody, who
was it?

- [silently]
- What do we have here?

Oswald...
put the dates in there.

Do you see any name that pops up

from the Warren Commission
records?

There we go, Mexico City,
Oswald meeting Soviet Union.

You've got a letter from Lee
Harvey Oswald

to Russian embassy in
Washington, D.C.

"This is to inform you of recent
events since my meeting with

"Comrade Kostin in the embassy

of the Soviet Union in Mexico
City."

- Who's Kostin?

- I don't know.

When I used to meet walk-ins in
embassies,

I never gave them my true name.

Let's strip all the parameters
out,

except Kostin, and let's just
see if there's

a Russian in Mexico City with a
variation of Kostin.

- Let's see what we've got.
Here we go.

- Um...what do we have here?

Look at this.

"Information developed by CIA on
activity

"of Lee Harvey Oswald in
Mexico City.

"There is no official of the
Soviet embassy in Mexico City

with a name resembling Kostin,
other than Consul Kostikov."

"There is firm evidence for the
conclusion that Kostikov

is a Soviet State Security
officer, KGB."

Change the search, Kostikov.

[tense music]

*

Okay, here we go.
"Contact of Lee Harvey Oswald

"with a member of the Soviet
KGB.

"Kostikov is an identified KGB
officer.

"He was a case officer in an
operation

"which is evidently sponsored by
the KGB's 13th Department,

responsible for
sabotage and assassination."

- I mean, I don't know how much
clearer it gets than that.

- I've been entrenched in the
JFK assassination for decades,

and I've learned not to come to
conclusions too quickly.

But the fact that the head of
the KGB's assassination squad

was in Mexico City at the same
time as Oswald

is something that I have to take
seriously.

I don't believe that's a
coincidence.

- What are the chances of Oswald
going to Mexico City,

getting to see the KGB, which is
not an easy thing to do,

and then ending up with the guy
in charge

of assassinations for North
America?

This is one of these
coincidences

that I don't think
is a coincidence.

narrator: Department 13 was
reputed to be

the Soviet KGB's assassination
squad.

Reportedly handling operations
known as "liquid affairs,"

the department
utilized untraceable poisons,

car bombings, and abductions to
achieve their goals.

Valery Kostikov publicly worked
as a diplomat

at the Soviet embassy in Mexico
City.

But CIA documents reveal

he also covertly headed this
notorious section of the KGB.

- What we don't have is an
explanation

of why Kostikov
agreed to meet with Oswald.

Why did the CIA not reveal this
to the Warren Commission?

This is either colossal
incompetence

or an organized cover-up.

This whole thing is very
suspect.

There's some sort of
relationship

which was established from
Oswald's time in Moscow.

I want to find out what that
relationship is.

And that's why I need to get to
Moscow

to get their version of events.

This is evidence like we've
never seen before.

Wars have been started with less
evidence.

Somebody in Russia knows exactly
what Oswald's connections

with the KGB were.

narrator: This season on
"Tracking Oswald"...

- It was a strategy of Oswald.

- The Warren Commission never
came to Russia

to investigate this
for themselves.

- My first meeting with him was
27 of September.

- Two months before he
assassinated Kennedy.

We just want to come in and talk
for a few minutes.

- Shooter ready.

- Send it.

[gunshot]

- Sometimes clues are left
behind.

Most people don't know he tried
to commit suicide.

This is the first time you've
ever spoken on camera?

- This is all being covertly
done right in our backyard.

That's pretty shocking.

People were out here training.

- The pieces are starting to
come together.

- Every piece of evidence we've
been following has led to this.

- Five minutes down the road is
a sleeper cell.

He had accomplices.

[dramatic music]

- Sometimes you can be eaten by
your

own monster that you created.

- Oswald headed out saying, "I'm
going to kill Kennedy for this."

This memo is signed
by J. Edgar Hoover.

Hoover is saying, "I believe
this."

This document could finally
reveal

Oswald's motive for the
assassination

of John F. Kennedy.

- Holy [bleep].