All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S05E14.The.Assassination.of.RFK.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-WhiteHat_track3_[eng]

(dramatic music)
- [Crowd] We want Kennedy!

We want Kennedy!
We want Kennedy!

- Tonight, an assassin's bullet

changes the course of history.

- This was an exciting moment.

It was filled with joy

and everyone is excited
about what's next.

(crowd screaming)

- [Reporter] Kennedy has
been shot. Is that possible?

- And then for America, it's
a nightmare repeating itself.

- [Bystander] Oh God! God!

Oh why?

- Five years after John F.
Kennedy is killed by gunshot,

his brother Robert
meets the same fate.

- It really left
the nation reeling.

One of the leading candidates
to be president was gone.

- Now we'll uncover
the top theories

behind the second
Kennedy assassination.

- It even sounds like a setup.

- Bobby has enemies,
powerful enemies.

- The LAPD appeared to
be engaging in a coverup.

- And we'll explore
the latest clues

in a case still riddled
with inconsistency.

- So the question is, does
the official theory add up?

(dramatic music)

- Who was really behind the
killing of Robert Kennedy,

and why?

(dramatic music)

(suspenseful music)

June 5th, 1968, the Ambassador
Hotel in Los Angeles.

It's after midnight and
Robert Kennedy has just won

the California Democratic
presidential primary.

- He comes down to the ballroom
to greet his supporters,

and it's packed, overflowing
with people just so excited,

and he makes his
way to the platform.

- This night is a big moment
in Bobby Kennedy's career.

He is 42 years old.

His star is on the rise
in the Democratic Party.

This night is bringing
him one step closer

to the Democratic nomination.

- Robert Kennedy came
from a political family.

His father was
involved in politics

and had been a U.S. ambassador,

and then his brother

was a U.S. senator

and then became president,

and his brother Ted became a
U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

- Bobby Kennedy
got his law degree

and soon began making his name

as a hard-charging attorney.

He picks a job on
a senate committee

and begins his long career

of making life
uncomfortable for the mob.

- When JFK becomes
president in 1961,

Bobby Kennedy becomes
the attorney general

of the United States, which is
the nation's top prosecutor,

and his office is investigating
and prosecuting the mob

and corrupt union
leaders as well.

- He's working with his brother,

and then it all ends in horror.

- [Newscaster] The sound
of the muffled drums

sweeps in melancholy waves
over the hushed throngs.

- [Laurence] In
1963, John F. Kennedy

is assassinated in Dallas,

and Vice President Lyndon

Johnson becomes president.

- Robert Kennedy
remained in his position

as attorney general for
approximately nine months

after the assassination.

- But Bobby resigns
in September 1964

in order to run for state
senator of New York,

and he wins the election
in November 1964.

- As senator from New York,

he begins taking
up liberal causes

like the betterment of
life for minorities,

like protecting farm workers.

(gun banging)

- He became opposed
to the war in Vietnam,

which was a pivotal
issue in 1968.

- Bobby Kennedy is considering
a run for president in 1968,

but he's still kind of reluctant

because he doesn't wanna go
up against Lyndon Johnson.

- And so he waited, but
then the Vietnam War

just became such
an intense issue.

Johnson was not
taking strong steps

to get America out of Vietnam,

and Bobby Kennedy
saw an opening.

(crowd cheering)

- I am announcing
today my candidacy

for the presidency
of the United States.

(crowd cheering)

- Robert Kennedy announced
that he's running

for the presidency
on March 16th.

On March 31st, he
arrives back in New York

after this really
barnstorming tour

and he finds out that
Johnson is not going to run,

and that changes everything.

- [Laurence] But at first,
Bobby is a long shot

for the presidency.

- Bobby Kennedy has
two possible rivals

for the Democratic nomination.

He's got Vice President
Hubert Humphrey

and he's got the popularity
of Senator Eugene McCarthy

to contend with.

- But as Robert Kennedy
starts making speeches

around the country,

there is this rockstar
type reaction to him

and people just
wanting to grab him.

(crowd cheering)

I spoke to somebody
once who talked to me

about just trying to keep him
upright while going in cars

and people just grabbing
at him and pulling at him.

And these crowds were mammoth.

(crowd cheering)

- [Crowd] We want
Kennedy! We want Kennedy!

- Clinching the
California primary

is getting him one step closer

to winning the
nomination that summer.

- [Crowd] We want Kennedy!

- Thank you very-
- We want Kennedy!

- Thank you very much.

- [Crowd] We want Kennedy!

- We can start to work together.

We are a great country
and a selfless country

and a compassionate country.

(crowd cheering)

- As Robert Kennedy is
looking out over the crowd,

he's talking to them
in their language.

They're seeing what he
calls a better America.

If only he can
make it to Chicago

and win the
Democratic nomination.

- My thanks to all of you,

and now it's on to Chicago
and let's win there.

(crowd cheering)

- [Laurence] At 12:15 AM,
Kennedy ends his speech

and heads for the
press conference room.

- [Crowd] We want Kennedy!

- [Laurence] Instead of wading
through the raucous crowd

in the ballroom, Kennedy
takes a shortcut.

- He stepped off the
back of the stage

and then walked down a hallway
and into a narrow room

which has been become
called the pantry.

(suspenseful music)

- And he starts greeting
employees, talking to busboys.

- Out of nowhere in the crowd,

a short, dark-haired
man steps forward.

Witnesses say they
saw him raise his arm.

In his hand is a gun.

(gun banging)

(crowd screaming)

People aren't quite
sure what's going on.

Perhaps it's fireworks.

But eventually people
realize someone's shooting.

- People are collapsing
from gunshot wounds.

And finally two bystanders
pinned the man to the table

and they wrestled the
gun from his hand.

- [Laurence] That's
when it becomes clear

Robert Kennedy has been shot.

- [Bystander] Oh god! God!

- The ambulance
arrives at 12:23.

(siren wailing)
(people yelling)

- Emergency workers
rush into the room,

put Kennedy on a stretcher,
and rush him back out.

They realize that he's
been shot several times,

including at least
once in the head.

(dramatic music)

- [Laurence] Kennedy is soon
undergoing emergency surgery.

- Kennedy has been
shot three times.

One bullet goes into his brain,

another bullet
goes into his back.

Third bullet goes
into his shoulder

and exits and goes
up into the ceiling.

A fourth bullet passes
through his suit jacket

on a steep upward angle.

- The bullet that hits
him in the head shatters,

and so surgeons spend hours
trying to get the bullet debris

out of his skull.

Unfortunately, even
after hours of work,

Robert Kennedy
slips into a coma.

- [Laurence] On June 6th, 1968,

a little over 25 hours
after the shooting,

Robert Kennedy is
pronounced dead.

- Five other people wounded.

Paul Schrade, a top official
in the United Auto Workers,

was hit with a bullet
that knocked him down,

gave him a concussion.

Other people sustained
minor bullet wounds.

- At the police station,
officers have brought the man

that has been tackled and held

by the workers
inside the kitchen.

It's the same small,
dark-haired man

that people saw holding the gun.

- They couldn't get
this crazy guy to speak,

they couldn't get him
to tell him his name,

and they flashed a
light in his eyes

to see if there was any problem.

And his eyes were real big

and they didn't
react to the light,

and officers said he was under
the influence of something.

- The police release
his photo to the press,

and his brother recognizes him.

- His brother calls in and
identifies him as Sirhan Sirhan,

a immigrant from Palestine.

- From this point forward,
the LAPD builds a case

on Sirhan and no one else.

(dramatic music)

- [Laurence] More
than 20 witnesses

identify Sirhan
Sirhan as the shooter.

- The gun was
recovered at the scene

and then brought back
to the police station.

- Sirhan had an
eight-shot revolver.

He had eight bullets and
made good on all eight shots,

according to the LAPD.

(police siren)

- When police go down
to Sirhan's home,

they search his room

and they find a
bunch of notebooks

that have the strangest
writing in the world in them.

There are some passages
that say, "RFK must die."

It's crazy writing

from someone who is in
some sort of trance.

- Police find in Sirhan's
pocket that night

a newspaper clipping
about the Six-Day War

and Kennedy's
support for Israel.

- Sirhan's brother
explains to police

that they are
Christian Palestinians

and they've gotten
caught in the battle

between Israel and
Israel's Arab neighbors.

- Sirhan is distraught
about his homeland

and he has fixated
his anger on Kennedy.

Sirhan blames Kennedy
for support of Israel

and his commitment if
he's elected president

to send fighter jets to Israel.

- With all of the evidence
that police have found,

they are confident that
they have their man.

Sirhan had motive. He had means.

He was in the room.

People have identified
him as having a gun.

And the case, according
to them, is closed.

- [Laurence] On
February 12th, 1969,

eight months after the shooting,

the trial of Sirhan Sirhan
begins in L.A. Superior Court.

- The prosecutors lay out what
they see as a slam dunk case.

They have the witnesses
who place him at the scene.

They have his journal entries.

- An acquaintance of
Sirhan even places him

in the Ambassador Hotel days
before the fatal shooting.

Was he scouting locations?

(suspenseful music)
(gun banging)

- There are also witnesses who
saw him at a shooting range.

So he was somebody who
knew his way around a gun.

So the crime scene analyst,
Dewayne Wolfer of the LAPD,

testifies that all
eight of the bullets

fired by Sirhan
are accounted for.

- [Laurence] Sirhan
Sirhan pleads not guilty

by reason of insanity.

- Sirhan denies remembering
anything about the shooting,

but then when he's asked by
the prosecutor on the stand,

"Did you shoot Robert F.
Kennedy?" he says, "Yes, sir."

- Sirhan's own attorney
even stands up in court

and says there is no doubt that
Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy.

Sirhan's attorney is
trying to keep Sirhan

out of the gas chamber

because at the time California
has the death penalty

and he's trying to make sure
that Sirhan only gets life.

- [Laurence] But
on April 17, 1969,

Sirhan Sirhan is convicted
of killing Robert Kennedy

and sentenced to death.

(somber music)

(door thudding)

- As far as the LAPD is
concerned, the case is over.

- [Laurence] The case
may be officially closed,

the verdict delivered,

but many say the trial
left unanswered questions.

- Even as the
trial is happening,

members of the media and
local concerned citizens

are wondering if
this all adds up.

People are troubled
that Sirhan's defense

didn't challenge any of
the physical evidence.

- Part of the problem is
that the LAPD has promised

that they're going to have
a transparent investigation,

but they don't actually release
any of the investigation

to members of the media.

That's really concerning.

- The Kennedy Assassination
Truth Committee

was a group of well-meaning
critics of the case

who put together some evidence.

- They go back to
the crime scene,

and one of the things they
focus on is bullet holes.

- [Laurence] A few days
after the guilty verdict,

this group publishes
its findings

in an alternative newspaper

called the "Los
Angeles Free Press."

- They present
photographic evidence

that 10 bullets were
fired, which doesn't add up

with the official investigation

that there were
only eight shots.

(suspenseful music)

- [Laurence] In April of 1969,

Sirhan Sirhan is
sentenced to death

for the murder of
Robert F. Kennedy.

But journalists and
independent investigators

challenge the lone
gunman theory.

- Just days after the trial,

a newspaper,

the "Los Angeles Free Press,"

shows a photograph
of a door jamb.

In that door jamb is what
looks to be two bullet holes.

- Another photograph is
published of an LAPD officer

pointing to a bullet hole

in another section of the
kitchen a few feet away.

- [Laurence] Sirhan's
gun held eight rounds,

seven bullets were recovered
from the victim's bodies

and one bullet went
into the ceiling.

But now there appear to be
three additional bullets

buried in the walls.

(gun banging)

- With more than
eight shots fired,

that means that
there's a second person

who could have fired
the fatal shots

that killed Bobby Kennedy.

(dramatic music)

(somber music)

- All of a sudden you have
to question who Sirhan is

and what is he doing there,

and who might the second gun
be and what is he doing there,

and who are the
people behind this?

- A few months after the trial,

a documentary filmmaker
named Ted Charach

begins his own investigation

into the death of

Robert Kennedy.

- He discovers that the medical
examiner, Thomas Noguchi,

who performed the
autopsy on Robert Kennedy

filed a 62-page report that
was never entered into evidence

during the trial.

- For the first time,
Noguchi introduces evidence

that has never
been talked about.

- One gunshot wound was
found behind right ear.

And after test firing,
we came to conclusion

that the muzzle distance
would be one inch

from the right ear edge and
no more than three inches.

- Sirhan, who's approaching
Kennedy from the front,

never gets within a
couple of feet of Kennedy

because all these
other guys tackled him

after the first two shots.

Sirhan's never close
enough to put a shot

into the back of Kennedy's head.

- This new evidence
from Ted Charach's film

is really explosive,
its own news story,

and it provokes this
really big media reaction.

- [Laurence] After
Sirhan's trial,

his appellate lawyers hire an
independent ballistics expert

to reanalyze the
three intact bullets

recovered from Kennedy
and two other victims.

- What he finds
is that the bullet

that enters Kennedy's neck

and a bullet that hit a
bystander don't match.

If those two
bullets don't match,

that means there had
to be another gun

and another gunman in the room.

(people yelling)

- But the district attorney
just falls back on the fact

that a jury convicted Sirhan

while the police stood
by their analysis

that the bullet in Kennedy
came from Sirhan's gun.

- With the files locked
away from the public,

no one can actually
fact-check their work,

so there are now calls for
release of these LAPD files.

- [Laurence] Almost two
decades later, in 1986,

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley
announces that the files

will be released to
the public at last.

- 50,000 police documents.

There's 1,000
photographs to go through

and there's hundreds of hours
of audio and video materials.

- In 2004, an audio file is
found in this treasure trove.

That audio file was made
by a Polish journalist

the night of the shooting.

On this audio file,
popping sounds are heard.

A audio engineer
named Philip Van Praag

begins to remove some of
the ambient noise from it

so he can actually count the
number of shots that he hears.

(gun banging)
(people screaming)

- He found 13 shots on the tape.

13 shots is about
five shots more

than Sirhan's gun
could have handled,

so that would again indicate

that a second person was
firing inside that pantry.

- [Laurence] Based
on this new evidence,

Sirhan's lawyers
file papers in 2011

requesting a new trial.

- Finally, in 2013, a
magistrate judge takes the case.

- He says there's no
evidentiary support

that there's a second shooter,

and he questions how a
second shooter could shoot

and then escape
completely unnoticed.

- So the appeals are denied,
but it doesn't end the question

of whether or not
there was a second gun.

(somber music)
(water dripping)

- [Laurence] In evidence
never presented in court,

the medical examiner in
Robert Kennedy's assassination

concludes the senator
was killed by a gunshot

fired from an inch
away and from behind.

Yet witnesses say the man who
was convicted, Sirhan Sirhan,

was not behind Kennedy

and never got closer
than two or three feet.

But who else was close
enough to shoot Kennedy?

- In 1968, the Secret Service

did not provide protection

for presidential candidates,

so there wasn't massive security

like you see at
political rallies now.

(crowd chattering)
- Senator! Senator!

- Kennedy did have his own sort
of informal security outfit.

- A retired football player
by the name of Rosey Grier

and Olympic medalist
Rafer Johnson,

they provided
security for Bobby.

- As Kennedy heads
into the kitchen,

he gets separated
from Rafer Johnson.

- A security guard independent
from RFK's informal outfit

ends up taking
Kennedy's right elbow

and he escorts him
through the pantry.

His name is Thane Eugene Cesar.

- He had been hired by
the Ambassador Hotel

for the purpose of crowd
control that night.

- This would put him in position

to be the perfect person to

shoot Robert Kennedy
from behind.

(dramatic music)

- After the revelation
of additional bullets,

people start looking
into Thane Cesar

to see if he had
a possible motive.

- [Laurence] Cesar
is a 26-year-old

part-time security guard.

- Cesar had clearance to
carry a weapon that night.

He had a .38.

- [Laurence] After the shooting,

Cesar is among those
questioned by police.

- Cesar said that he
saw an arm and a gun

which had started
firing at Kennedy.

(gun banging)

- According to Cesar,

Kennedy collapses
right in front of him.

(people screaming)
- Oh god!

- Cesar says he reaches for
his .38 but never fires it.

In fact, he says he fell
over against an ice machine.

- [Laurence] After giving
his statement to police,

Cesar is cleared.

- From the beginning, Cesar
is treated as a witness

and not a suspect.

- Well, the police never
asked for Cesar's .38

or test fired it.

There were no indications
that a .38 had been used.

- But Donald Schulman
of CBS News told police

that he saw one of the
security guards return fire.

Cesar was the only security
guard in the room with a gun.

- It turns out Gene Cesar
had a .22 caliber pistol

that was very similar to
Sirhan's .22 caliber pistol.

- [Laurence] With interest
in the second gunman theory

growing, in 1971, the
district attorney's office

summons Thane Eugene Cesar
for another interview.

- Here's where it gets
really interesting.

Cesar says he sold
the gun to a friend

before the assassination,

but a reporter tracks
this friend down

and finds out that
Cesar sold the gun

a few months after
the assassination.

This friend even
produces a bill of sale

that has Cesar's
signature on it.

- So not only was Cesar
in the right place

at the right time to
have shot Kennedy,

but he also had the
right kind of gun.

- However, the DA
takes no action.

- In 1973, documentary
filmmaker Ted Charach

interviews Cesar, and Cesar
reveals in this interview

something really interesting.

- He finds out that Cesar
might also have a motive

for shooting Kennedy.

- [Cesar] I definitely wouldn't
have voted for Bobby Kennedy

'cause he had the same
ideas as John did,

and I think John sold the
country down the road.

He gave it to the commies.

He literally gave
it to the minority.

I'm not a Democrat. (laughs)

- He has these
far-right leanings,

and the guy he was supporting
in the 1968 election

was actually former Alabama
governor George Wallace,

who's a known racist.

- And I say segregation
now, segregation tomorrow,

and segregation forever.

- Cesar felt that Black people

were having too many
people advocating for them

and that their equal rights
were being shoved down

people's throats, and that
there was going to be a time

where people pushed
back against that.

- When Ted Charach's
documentary "The Second Gun"

comes out in 1973, many
people watch this documentary

and come away with the idea

that Cesar must have had
something to do with it.

- [Laurence] In the
years that follow,

Cesar gets more tight-lipped

and eventually moves
to the Philippines

where he resides until
his death in 2019.

- But while Cesar
was well-positioned

to fire the fatal shots,

there was at least one other
person in the pantry that night

who had no business being there.

(suspenseful music)

- In 1969, Sirhan
Sirhan is convicted

of killing Robert Kennedy
and locked behind bars,

but in the years that
follow the evidence mounts

that there may have been
holes in the investigation.

Then in 1986 the official police
files are finally released,

including details of a
forgotten eyewitness interview

from 1968, an interview
which may shed light

on the identity
of a new suspect.

- Sandy Serrano is a
21-year-old volunteer

working for the Robert
Kennedy campaign.

That fateful night, she's
sitting on the back stairs

of the Ambassador Hotel
getting some fresh air.

- Around 11:30 or so,

Sandy Serrano is outside
behind the Ambassador

and she says that she saw a
woman in a polka dot dress

and a man who matches
Sirhan's description

going into the pantry together.

- And then this woman in a
polka dot dress comes out

after the shooting shouting,

"We shot him, we shot him.
We shot Senator Kennedy."

(police siren)

- Even though the police
have Sirhan in custody,

they start looking
for this woman.

She could be an accomplice.

She could be a second shooter.

- [Laurence] At least 25
witnesses recall seeing a woman

in a polka dot dress at
the hotel that night,

and several people saw her in
the company of Sirhan Sirhan.

- One witness even remembers
the woman helping Sirhan Sirhan

get into his position
in the pantry

before the fatal shooting.

- The woman appears
to have said something

in his ear and smiles.

- Outside the Ambassador,

a police sergeant
bumps into this woman

who again says,
"We shot Kennedy,"

and he helps put out a
description of this woman.

- [Laurence] That same night,

police put out an
all-points bulletin

for this mysterious woman.

- In the APB that's put out,

the woman is described as a
white woman aged 23 to 27,

and she's wearing a white dress

with black polka dots and heels.

- Shortly after
Sirhan is arrested,

police cancel the bulletin.

LAPD investigators are
convinced that Serrano

and their own officer
have misinterpreted

what this woman said.

(people yelling)

- They assume that what
they actually heard

was, "They shot
Senator Kennedy."

- But Sandy Serrano goes
to the national media

and she refuses to
change her story.

- This girl said, "We've
shot him. We've shot him."

And I says, "Who did you shoot?"

And she says, "We
shot Senator Kennedy."

I can remember what she
had on and everything.

She had on a white
dress with polka dots

and she has a funny nose.

- [Laurence] Two weeks later,
with Sirhan behind bars,

police announce that Sandy
Serrano has recanted her story.

- Police say that Sandy
is changing her story

and maybe didn't quite
remember what was said.

- And that's how it
stands for about 20 years

until Sandy's original
account is rediscovered

when the police released
the files to the public.

- And people go
and interview her

and she once again renews her
claim that she saw this woman

and this woman said,
"We killed Kennedy."

Serrano also gives a
very detailed description

of how she was pressured by
the police to change her story.

- When looking at the transcript

of that Sandy Serrano interview,

you can see that the
detective is accusing her

of trying to bring
down the investigation

of who killed Robert Kennedy.

(record button clicks)

- Sandy Serrano says after being
browbeat by this detective,

she was willing to tell them
whatever they wanted to hear

just for it to be over.

- But a lot of people criticize

the investigators' tactics here,

that they never told
her that 25 other people

actually saw the same woman
that she said she saw.

- For decades, the
identity of the woman

in the polka dotted
dress remained a mystery.

- [Laurence] Then in 2011,
the woman comes up again,

mentioned in a parole hearing

by none other than
Sirhan Sirhan.

- Sirhan does recall
that he met this woman

he describes as pretty.

Sirhan does remember being

with the woman in
the polka dot dress

and saying that she led
him into the kitchen

and that then his mind
started to play tricks on him.

- He says he has a flashback
to the shooting range,

(bullets pop)

but then he doesn't
have any recollection

of actually shooting Kennedy.

(gun banging)

- He also says he has no
memory of the name of the woman

in the polka dotted
dress and has no idea

why she was at the
Ambassador Hotel that night.

- [Laurence] A year
later, in 2012,

a new clue emerges
when Paul Schrade,

a union leader and
ally of Robert Kennedy

who was also shot that
night, gets a cryptic letter.

- It comes with a photo
from a person claiming

that their aunt was the
woman in the polka dot dress.

- Paul Schrade gives the photo
to a reporter, Brad Johnson,

and he begins taking the photo

to witnesses who were at the
Ambassador Hotel that night.

They all tell Johnson

that it looks like the woman
in the polka dot dress.

- [Laurence] In 2018, after
a five-year investigation,

Brad Johnson and his
co-author Tim Tate

identify the woman in
the polka dot dress

for the first time.

- The woman is Elayn Neal,

and she is a white
woman with a pug nose.

- The journalists begin digging

into Elayn Neal's background.

They find out she was
about 19 when RFK was shot

and her first husband was
away fighting in Vietnam.

Elayn's family reports

that she always seemed
haunted by something.

She begins drinking heavily.

She ends up divorcing
her soldier husband

and she does get remarried.

- [Laurence] Journalists
start delving into the life

of Elayn's second
husband, Jerry Capehart.

- Jerry Capehart was
quite a character

and he had a couple of
songwriting hits in the 1950s.

His son revealed that shortly
before Jerry Capehart died,

he told him that in addition
to being in the music business,

he'd also been in the CIA.

- [Laurence] She's
been called the woman

in the polka dot dress,

but some say she may have
been in the wrong place

at the wrong time.

Others say she was exactly
where she was supposed to be

playing her role in
the RFK assassination.

(gun banging)
(people screaming)

- From a family photo,
witnesses believe

that 19-year-old Elayn
Neal is the woman

in the polka dot dress.

She later marries a man

who makes a startling
deathbed confession.

The man once worked for the CIA

and his specialization was
mind control experimentation.

The claim that Jerry Capehart,
Elayn Neal's second husband,

worked in the CIA in mind
control could provide a link

between Elayn and the
RFK assassination.

It could even be a link
to something much bigger

than Elayn and Sirhan.

(dramatic music)
(words beeping)

At the time of
the assassination,

the CIA is conducting
illegal human experimentation

called MK-Ultra.

- The CIA began doing a lot of
odd and nefarious experiments

trying to see if they
could control people.

And so the CIA by the 1960s had
gotten universities involved

in helping them with research,
finding them subjects,

people to be
hypnotized or drugged.

They actually took people
off the street to do this.

Theoretically, they
would wanna use this

to infiltrate other countries,

but there's talk that
the CIA was using this

to create robot assassins.

- The Manuchurian
Candidate theory

from the movie by the same name

is a theory that says a
person can be programmed

to become an assassin and never
even know that they did it.

(gun banging)

(dramatic music)

- Sirhan would've been a
perfect candidate for MK-Ultra.

He's an impressionable young man

and it's possible that he's
suffering from a brain injury.

Two years earlier, he'd
fallen from a horse.

And who better to draw
him into the program

than a pretty young woman.

- Elayn Neal might have
been a perfect person

to recruit into this operation.

She's home alone.

She's young and impressionable.

Elayn's family thought

that maybe this would
explain her odd behavior

after the assassination
where she would disappear

for long periods of time.

- When the woman in
the polka dot dress

whispered in his ear,
that could have been

what triggered Sirhan's
assassination programming.

- Sirhan had a totally
glassed-over look on his face

like he wasn't totally
in control of his mind.

That's something very
unusual that are clues

to what might or might
not be happening here.

- The question is,
where's the evidence

that Sirhan was part of
this mind control program?

His defense team wants answers.

- [Laurence] In 2008, with
the mind control theory

gaining interest, Sirhan's
lawyers arrange for him

to undergo a new
psychological evaluation.

- Harvard Medical School
professor Dan Brown,

a forensic psychiatrist,

is one of the world's
leading experts on hypnosis,

and he spent more than 120
hours with Sirhan Sirhan.

- Dan Brown
discovered that Sirhan

is about the most easy person
in the world to hypnotize.

Brown's conclusion
was that Sirhan

had been put under hypnosis.

He thinks he's an innocent man.

- [Laurence] But even
if it is possible

that Sirhan was under
some kind of CIA control,

what could possibly
be the reason why?

- Leading up to
this assassination,

there are many people in the CIA

who have it out
for Robert Kennedy.

- Bobby Kennedy has made quite
a few enemies in the CIA,

starting with his time
as attorney general.

He doesn't believe that
the CIA should be doing

some of the things they're
doing around the world,

that they're
abusing their power.

- Kennedy is upset that the CIA

is attempting to assassinate
Fidel Castro in Cuba.

Kennedy even wonders if
the CIA had something to do

with the assassination
of his brother.

- Within the
intelligence community,

there certainly is concern
about Bobby Kennedy

and his potential rise to power.

The only thing worse than Bobby
Kennedy as attorney general

would be Bobby Kennedy as
president of the United States.

- As president, Robert
Kennedy would be privy

to all of the CIA's secrets.

In fact, he could force
them to shut down operations

and perhaps even shake
up the entire agency.

- If Sirhan was really
programmed to murder,

then his defense team argues
he deserves a lighter sentence.

- [Laurence] In a 2011 hearing,

Sirhan's lawyers
take a new tack.

- Sirhan's lawyers
accused the CIA

of making him an unwitting foil

for their operation
to kill Kennedy.

- The magistrate, however,
rejects this theory.

He says there's inference,

but there's no actual
proof of what happened.

(dramatic music)

But Robert Kennedy
still has enemies,

not enemies just in the CIA,

but enemies who are
willing to kill,

especially people
who cross them.

- ...attorney's in no position
to override-

- [Laurence] Before
becoming attorney general

under his brother,

Robert Kennedy first
makes a name for himself

as general counsel
for a Senate committee

going after organized
crime in the late 1950s.

- As the Senate
committee's top lawyer,

Robert Kennedy
personally questioned

the witnesses
pretty aggressively,

and these hearings
were televised.

- Kennedy put himself
in the crosshairs

of some of the most merciless
men in the United States.

And some people wonder,

did these men finally
get their revenge?

(dramatic music)

- One of Kennedy's targets
is Sam Momo Giancana.

He's the mob boss in Chicago.

- Giancana is known for
being particularly merciless,

sometimes even hanging
his victims by meat hooks.

And Robert Kennedy on
national television

accuses him of
murder to his face.

- Giancana responds
by pleading the fifth

with a sinister smile.

- And this infuriates Giancana.

- When Robert Kennedy
becomes attorney general

targeting those same Mafia guys

who he starts to eat for
lunch and dinner, too.

Bobby Kennedy was the
greatest crime fighter

this country has ever had.

- There's a member of
the Giancana family

who has said that the
Kennedys' attacks on the mob

were such that
Giancana ordered a hit

on both John Kennedy
and Bobby Kennedy.

And the mob would
certainly have the means

and the opportunity and the
motive to kill Robert Kennedy.

(dramatic music)

- Perhaps Sirhan
is just the patsy.

So a Mafia hit man can take
the fatal shot at Kennedy

and escape while Sirhan is
being ganged up by the crowd.

- [Laurence] Kennedy also
makes an enemy of Jimmy Hoffa,

the powerful head of
the Teamsters Union.

- Bobby was convinced
that Jimmy Hoffa

had connections to
organized crime,

and Bobby truly believed

that it was a conspiracy
of organized evil.

- The two of them going
up against each other,

I mean, it really was intense
and they hated each other.

- And Hoffa finally snaps

and he says to
Kennedy, "You're sick.

"That's what's the matter
with you, you're sick."

- In September of 1962,

Jimmy Hoffa is on
trial for extortion.

- Hoffa gets a hung verdict,

but he's still livid
about all of this,

and people say that he wants

to fire bomb Bobby
Kennedy's house.

- After Sirhan's arrest,

the organized crime theory
is quickly dismissed.

Some say that the legal
blowback from killing Kennedy

is something that the
mob would want to avoid.

- Some say that organized
crime may have been in cahoots

with the CIA, and it wouldn't
have been the first time

that they had worked together
on an assassination plot.

- But still in the end,
there's no evidence showing

the Mafia was directly involved,

and Sirhan Sirhan himself
has never brought it up.

(dramatic music)

- [Laurence] Whoever
is responsible

for Robert Kennedy's death,
one thing is certain.

That his assassination
robbed America

of one of her
greatest statesmen.

(dramatic music)

- I think that one of the things

that we can admire about Bobby
is that he had this awakening,

being committed to
those who were poor,

to those who are not sharing
in our democratic life,

and decided to try his
best to get to know people

who are so different than him,

and I find that to be
extremely inspirational.

And unfortunately,

that willingness to
be close to people

is part of his demise.

- [Crowd] RFK! RFK!

- [Laurence] Today, more
than five decades later,

only one person has been
charged and convicted

in Robert Kennedy's
assassination, Sirhan Sirhan.

- Sirhan Sirhan still sits
in prison to this day.

He's exhausted all
of his legal appeals,

yet he still comes up for parole

and he still insists

that he doesn't remember
shooting Robert Kennedy.

(dramatic music)

- In August of 2021,

Sirhan appears before the
parole board for the 16th time.

This time the board finds
the 77-year-old Sirhan

no longer poses a
threat to society.

They vote to release
him on parole,

but the governor of California
overrules the decision

and Sirhan returns
to his prison cell.

His next parole
hearing is in 2026.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."

(dramatic music)