Podcast
JFK The Enduring Secret
Hosted by Jeff Crudele · EN
An in depth tutorial and discussion around the assassination of John F. Kennedy, (JFK) the country's 35th president who was brutally murdered in Dallas Texas on November 22, 1963. The series comprehensively explores the major facts, themes, and events leading up to the assassination in Dealey Plaza and the equally gripping stories surrounding the subsequent investigation. We review key elements of the Warren Commission Report , and the role of the CIA and FBI. We explore the possible involvement of the Mafia in the murder and the review of that topic by the government's House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970's. We explore the Jim Garrison investigation and the work of other key figures such as Mark Lane and others. Learn more about Lee Harvey Oswald the suspected killer and Jack Ruby the distraught Dallas night club owner with underworld ties and the man that killed Oswald as a national TV audience was watching. Stay with us as we take you through the facts and theories in bite sized discussions that are designed to educate, and inform as well as entertain the audience. This real life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and change the world forever.
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Episodes
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Episode 321 Oswald Goes To Mexico Part 23 The Sylvia Duran Story Part 5
Mar 1500:19:45Tap to summarizeEpisode 321 is the fifth and final episode in a mini-series covering Sylvia Duran in Mexico. And what a tale it is. Today's episode covers the infamous twist party. You heard much about Sylvia Duran already in the early Mexico City episodes. We pick the story back up just as the JFK assassination takes place on November 22nd, 1963 and events almost simultaneously begin to unfold and overtake her. The harrowing story of Sylvia Duran, a 26-year-old Mexican consular secretary at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City is one of the most confounding in the JFK's assassination story. Amidst the chaos following President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Duran's name surfaces in Lee Harvey Oswald's address book, linking her to his September visit where he sought a visa to Cuba. Duran, a socialist sympathizer but not a communist, was under intense CIA surveillance through wiretaps and cameras, and was viewed as a potential future asset due to her past affair with a Cuban diplomat.
Transcribe →Episode 320 Oswald Goes To Mexico Part 22 The Sylvia Duran Story Part 4
Mar 1500:12:31Tap to summarizeEpisode 320 is the fourth in a mini-series covering Sylvia Duran in Mexico. And what a tale it is. You heard much about Sylvia Duran already in the early Mexico City episodes. We pick the story back up just as the JFK assassination takes place on November 22nd, 1963 and events almost simultaneously begin to unfold and overtake her. The harrowing story of Sylvia Duran, a 26-year-old Mexican consular secretary at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City is one of the most confounding in the JFK's assassination story. Amidst the chaos following President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Duran's name surfaces in Lee Harvey Oswald's address book, linking her to his September visit where he sought a visa to Cuba. Duran, a socialist sympathizer but not a communist, was under intense CIA surveillance through wiretaps and cameras, and was viewed as a potential future asset due to her past affair with a Cuban diplomat.The CIA's Mexico City station chief, Winston Scott, bypasses protocol and uses his covert LITEMPO network—high-level Mexican officials on CIA payroll—to order Duran's arrest via the brutal DFS secret police. On November 23, agents raid a family gathering, detaining Duran and her relatives in a terrifying show of force. This rogue action alarms CIA headquarters, who fear it could expose illegal operations or disrupt U.S. strategies regarding Cuban involvement in the assassination, potentially sparking nuclear tensions.Under interrogation by DFS deputy director Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, Duran endures physical torture, including arm-squeezing and beatings, while her family suffers nearby. Coerced into false admissions of a sexual affair with Oswald, she later recants, revealing the ordeal's brutality. The episode uncovers how U.S. intelligence manipulated Mexican authorities to control the narrative, setting the stage for further revelations in upcoming installments.
Transcribe →Episode 319 Oswald Goes To Mexico Part 21 The Sylvia Duran Story Part 3
Mar 1500:15:36Tap to summarizeEpisode 319 is the third in a mini-series covering Sylvia Duran in Mexico. And what a tale it is. You heard much about Sylvia Duran already in the early Mexico City episodes. We pick the story back up just as the JFK assassination takes place on November 22nd, 1963 and events almost simultaneously begin to unfold and overtake her. The harrowing story of Sylvia Duran, a 26-year-old Mexican consular secretary at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City is one of the most confounding in the JFK's assassination story. Amidst the chaos following President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Duran's name surfaces in Lee Harvey Oswald's address book, linking her to his September visit where he sought a visa to Cuba. Duran, a socialist sympathizer but not a communist, was under intense CIA surveillance through wiretaps and cameras, and was viewed as a potential future asset due to her past affair with a Cuban diplomat.The CIA's Mexico City station chief, Winston Scott, bypasses protocol and uses his covert LITEMPO network—high-level Mexican officials on CIA payroll—to order Duran's arrest via the brutal DFS secret police. On November 23, agents raid a family gathering, detaining Duran and her relatives in a terrifying show of force. This rogue action alarms CIA headquarters, who fear it could expose illegal operations or disrupt U.S. strategies regarding Cuban involvement in the assassination, potentially sparking nuclear tensions.Under interrogation by DFS deputy director Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, Duran endures physical torture, including arm-squeezing and beatings, while her family suffers nearby. Coerced into false admissions of a sexual affair with Oswald, she later recants, revealing the ordeal's brutality. The episode uncovers how U.S. intelligence manipulated Mexican authorities to control the narrative, setting the stage for further revelations in upcoming installments.
Transcribe →Episode 318 Oswald Goes To Mexico Part 20 The Sylvia Duran Story Part 2
Mar 1400:12:31Tap to summarizeEpisode 318 is the second in a mini-series covering Sylvia Duran in Mexico. And what a tale it is. You heard much about Sylvia Duran already in the early Mexico City episodes. We pick the story back up just as the JFK assassination takes place on November 22nd, 1963 and events almost simultaneously begin to unfold and overtake her. The harrowing story of Sylvia Duran, a 26-year-old Mexican consular secretary at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City is one of the most confounding in the JFK's assassination story. Amidst the chaos following President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Duran's name surfaces in Lee Harvey Oswald's address book, linking her to his September visit where he sought a visa to Cuba. Duran, a socialist sympathizer but not a communist, was under intense CIA surveillance through wiretaps and cameras, and was viewed as a potential future asset due to her past affair with a Cuban diplomat.The CIA's Mexico City station chief, Winston Scott, bypasses protocol and uses his covert LITEMPO network—high-level Mexican officials on CIA payroll—to order Duran's arrest via the brutal DFS secret police. On November 23, agents raid a family gathering, detaining Duran and her relatives in a terrifying show of force. This rogue action alarms CIA headquarters, who fear it could expose illegal operations or disrupt U.S. strategies regarding Cuban involvement in the assassination, potentially sparking nuclear tensions.Under interrogation by DFS deputy director Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, Duran endures physical torture, including arm-squeezing and beatings, while her family suffers nearby. Coerced into false admissions of a sexual affair with Oswald, she later recants, revealing the ordeal's brutality. The episode uncovers how U.S. intelligence manipulated Mexican authorities to control the narrative, setting the stage for further revelations in upcoming installments.
Transcribe →Episode 317 Oswald Goes To Mexico Part 19 The Sylvia Duran Story Part 1
Mar 1000:21:14Tap to summarizeEpisode 317 is the first in a mini-series covering Sylvia Duran in Mexico. And what a tale it is. You heard much about Sylvia Duran already in the early Mexico City episodes. We pick the story back up just as the JFK assassination takes place on November 22nd, 1963 and events almost simultaneously begin to unfold and overtake her. The harrowing story of Sylvia Duran, a 26-year-old Mexican consular secretary at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City is one of the most confounding in the JFK's assassination story. Amidst the chaos following President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Duran's name surfaces in Lee Harvey Oswald's address book, linking her to his September visit where he sought a visa to Cuba. Duran, a socialist sympathizer but not a communist, was under intense CIA surveillance through wiretaps and cameras, and was viewed as a potential future asset due to her past affair with a Cuban diplomat.The CIA's Mexico City station chief, Winston Scott, bypasses protocol and uses his covert LITEMPO network—high-level Mexican officials on CIA payroll—to order Duran's arrest via the brutal DFS secret police. On November 23, agents raid a family gathering, detaining Duran and her relatives in a terrifying show of force. This rogue action alarms CIA headquarters, who fear it could expose illegal operations or disrupt U.S. strategies regarding Cuban involvement in the assassination, potentially sparking nuclear tensions.Under interrogation by DFS deputy director Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, Duran endures physical torture, including arm-squeezing and beatings, while her family suffers nearby. Coerced into false admissions of a sexual affair with Oswald, she later recants, revealing the ordeal's brutality. The episode uncovers how U.S. intelligence manipulated Mexican authorities to control the narrative, setting the stage for further revelations in upcoming installments.
Transcribe →Episode 316 Oswald Goes to Mexico Part 18 The Sylvia Odio Story Part 6
Mar 500:22:04Tap to summarizeWe are coming to the end of the Sylvia Odio story. In episode 6 we finish up this min-series on Sylvia Odio, by picking up the story in 1976. Amid intense public pressure and shocking revelations about clandestine intelligence activities from the 1960s, Congress formed the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) to reinvestigate the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. A key figure in this effort was investigator Gaeton Fonzi, who examined the FBI's original files and the Warren Commission's cursory dismissal of Sylvia Odio's testimony, concluding that the incident "absolutely cries conspiracy." The HSCA vowed a thorough inquiry, reaching out to Sylvia, her family, her doctors, and the anti-Castro mercenaries previously cited to discredit her. Sylvia initially responded with profound distrust, feeling exploited by the Warren Commission, which she believed had no interest in her story. However, after establishing trust, she consented to provide sworn testimony in a private executive session, marking a significant shift from her prior experiences.The committee began by thoroughly debunking the Warren Commission's alibi, which rested on the unreliable claims of anti-Castro mercenary Loran Hall. Under oath, Hall confessed his story was fabricated, while his alleged associates, Lawrence Howard and William Seymour, denied any connection to Odio. Critically, the HSCA confirmed through records that Seymour was employed in Florida throughout September 1963, rendering his presence in Dallas impossible. The report lambasted the FBI's identification methods as deeply flawed and hastily concluded, affirming that the visitors were not Hall, Howard, or Seymour, and exposing the Warren Commission's dependence on a baseless narrative to close the case prematurely.To establish Odio's reliability, the HSCA pursued pre-assassination evidence for corroboration. Sylvia's sister Annie submitted a sworn affidavit verifying the late September visit by two Latinos and an American, and recalling Sylvia's distraught cries of "Leon did it!" upon seeing Oswald on TV during the assassination coverage. Psychiatrist Dr. Burton Einspruch, under oath, described Odio as truthful and cooperative, attributing her 1963 distress to real-life hardships rather than delusions, and confirmed she had recounted the encounter in therapy sessions before November 22. A letter from her father, Amador Odio, penned from a Cuban prison in December 1963, cautioned her about these self-proclaimed "friends," further solidifying the event's timeline and authenticity.Weighing the evidence—including the invalidated alibis, Annie's and Dr. Einspruch's testimonies, and Amador's letter—the HSCA's final report delivered a stunning verdict: Sylvia Odio's account was "essentially credible," with a "strong probability" that one of the men was or resembled Lee Harvey Oswald. This governmental acknowledgment challenged the lone gunman theory, suggesting Oswald or an impersonator was deliberately linking himself to anti-Castro militants weeks before Dallas, possibly to fabricate ties implicating Cuban exiles in the plot. While unable to fully decipher the visit's purpose, the findings opened a chasm of intrigue regarding intelligence machinations and the assassination's deeper truths, forever altering historical perspectives.
Transcribe →Episode 315 Oswald Goes To Mexico Part 17 The Sylvia Odio Story Part 5
Mar 300:13:27Tap to summarizeWith the advent of the Sylvia Odio series, we are pivoting back to (finally) finishing off the Mexico series. In the Odio story, we tell something tangential to Mexico City but vastly important overall. The story of Sylvia Odio is rarely explored in more detail and we do it here. And no,...it's not time yet for Sylvia Duran...that is coming next, but we're going to cover Sylvia Odio first.In episode 5 of this min-series on Sylvia Odio, we pick up the story right after that moment on November 22nd, 1963 The weekend following the assassination when Sylvia Odio and her teenage sister Annie stared at their television in a Dallas hospital and recognized Lee Harvey Oswald as the man who had stood in their living room just weeks earlier—introduced as “Leon” by two militant anti-Castro Cubans. Terrified for their lives and their parents still imprisoned in Cuba, the sisters swore they would never speak of it. But secrets that big refuse to stay buried. Through a tangled Dallas grapevine the story reached the FBI, and the authorities came knocking.What followed became one of the Warren Commission’s most explosive and embarrassing chapters. Sylvia proved to be a reluctant yet ironclad witness—consistent under oath, never chasing the spotlight. Her account placed Oswald with anti-Castro extremists in late September 1963, a detail that would demolish the “lone nut” narrative. The Commission knew it was radioactive. Their only defense was a tightly constructed timeline claiming Oswald was already on a bus to Mexico City. Case closed… or so they thought.Desperate for an explanation, the FBI produced Loran Hall, a colorful soldier of fortune who conveniently claimed he and two companions—one who supposedly resembled Oswald—had visited Odio’s apartment instead. The Warren Report rushed this unverified story into print, literally admitting the FBI hadn’t finished checking it. Then the truth unraveled at lightning speed: Hall’s companions denied the visit, employment records proved one was in Florida the entire month, and Hall himself retracted everything. When the FBI showed Sylvia and Annie photos of the supposed visitors, both sisters instantly rejected them. None of the men matched.Yet the Warren Commission published its conclusions anyway, dismissing one of its strongest witnesses as “mistaken.” For years the Odio incident lay buried in the 26 volumes—until the government quietly admitted the Commission had gotten it wrong. This is the story of how the official investigation confronted devastating evidence of conspiracy, found a tidy lie to bury it, and watched that lie collapse before the ink was even dry. The proof of the plot, as researchers have called it, was swept under the rug… but it never really went away.
Transcribe →Episode 314 Oswald Goes To Mexico City Part 16 The Sylvia Odio Story Part 4
Mar 300:19:39Tap to summarizeWith the advent of the Sylvia Odio series, we are pivoting back to (finally) finishing off the Mexico series. In the Odio story, we tell something tangential to Mexico City but vastly important overall. The story of Sylvia Odio is rarely explored in more detail and we do it here. And no,...it's not time yet for Sylvia Duran...that is coming next, but we're going to cover Sylvia Odio first.In the fourth episode of this mini-series , we continue to lay the groundwork for what has become known as the most explosive Oswald sightings of the Kennedy assassination. On November 22, 1963, the world changed forever. Sylvia Odio was returning from lunch at her Dallas office when radios blared the news: President Kennedy had been shot. In an instant her mind flashed back to the two Cuban men and the quiet American they called “Leon” who had stood in her apartment just weeks earlier—An image that came to mind before Oswald’s name or face had been released to the public.Sylvia collapsed in the company warehouse, overwhelmed by the connection. Across town her seventeen-year-old sister Annie saw Oswald’s photograph on television and felt a chilling jolt of recognition. Rushed to the hospital where Sylvia had been taken, the sisters stared at each other in horror. “Do you remember those three guys who came to the house?” Sylvia whispered. The pieces came together. “Leon did it!” Sylvia cried.Terrified for their parents—still political prisoners in Castro’s Cuba—and fearing the entire exile community would be blamed, Sylvia and Annie swore a pact of silence. Yet a secret this explosive could not stay hidden. Through a chain of phone calls, a classroom conversation, and the son of FBI Agent James Hosty, the story reached the authorities, pulling Sylvia Odio into one of the most fiercely debated episodes of the Warren Commission investigation.Next time: How the FBI and the Commission tried—and failed—to bury the mother of all Oswald sightings
Transcribe →Episode 313 Oswald Goes To Mexico City Part 15 The Sylvia Odio Story Part 3
Mar 300:18:09Tap to summarizeEpisode 313 is part 3 of the mini-series covering Sylvia Odio. In our last episode, we traced Sylvia Odio’s fall from Cuban aristocracy—wealthy, U.S.-educated, and immersed in high society—to a destitute exile after her parents, Amador and Sarah, funneled their fortune into the anti-Castro underground. Their arrest and imprisonment by Fidel Castro in October 1961 devastated the family and set Sylvia on a path of heartbreak.Today we follow her survival in the aftermath. Abandoned by her husband in Puerto Rico, Sylvia suffered a shattering emotional breakdown and terrifying fainting spells. With help from her sisters in Dallas and a generous local benefactor, Lucille Connell, she relocated in March 1963 and found psychiatric care under Dr. Burton Einspruch, who later called her truthful, cooperative, and brilliant under oath.This episode builds the critical backdrop for one of the most important pre-assassination sightings of Lee Harvey Oswald. We examine Sylvia’s fragile mental state, her complicated new life in Dallas, the people around her, and we travel bacl to the exact apartment where history was about to knock. Finally we find ourselves right there when the knock on the door occurs. Three strangers stood in Sylvia Odio’s lighted vestibule. Two Cubans calling themselves Leopoldo and Angelo claimed to be members of JURE, the anti-Castro group her own parents had helped build. With them was a quiet, pale American they introduced as “Leon Oswald.” They knew intimate details about Sylvia’s imprisoned father and asked her to help raise money for arms. She turned them down. As they drove away in a red car, Sylvia was left uneasy—but she had no idea how deeply this brief encounter was about to haunt her.
Transcribe →Episode 312 Oswald Goes To Mexico City Part 14 The Sylvia Odio Story Part 2
Mar 200:11:02Tap to summarizeWith the advent of the Sylvia Odio series, we are pivoting back to (finally) finishing off the Mexico series. In the Odio story tell something tangential to Mexico but vastly important overall. It's the story of Sylvia Odio. No...it's not time yet for Sylvia Duran...that is coming next. Were going to cover Sylvia Odio first.In the second episode of this mini-series premiere, we continue to lay the groundwork for what has become known as the most explosive Oswald sightings of the Kennedy assassination. In this second episode, we explore the question Why Sylvia Odio? Why did mysterious strangers single out this woman from among thousands of Cuban exiles? The answer lies in the blood-soaked drama of pre-revolutionary Cuba. Born in 1937 into one of the island’s wealthiest and most influential families, Sylvia Eugenia Odio was the eldest daughter of transport tycoon Amador Odio-Padrón—once called Latin America’s “transport tycoon” by Time magazine—and Sarah Odio. The family lived at the pinnacle of Cuban society, owning vast estates, hobnobbing with diplomats, and sending Sylvia to elite schools in Philadelphia before law studies at home. Yet beneath the privilege burned a fierce revolutionary fire: the Odios had fought every dictator from Machado to Batista, then poured their trucking empire into Fidel Castro’s rebel cause, smuggling weapons and even supplying the truck for the daring 1957 Presidential Palace assault.When Castro seized power in 1959 and swiftly betrayed every democratic promise—executing opponents, muzzling the press, and confiscating property—the Odios once again went underground. Amador helped found the powerful anti-Castro MRP movement alongside Manolo Ray. In October 1961 the regime struck: Castro’s agents raided the family’s idyllic El Cano estate, arrested Amador and Sarah for hiding a wanted MRP leader, and turned their luxury home into a women’s prison. Sarah would spend eight years locked inside her own confiscated property; Amador was shipped to the infamous Isle of Pines. (Despite persistent rumors, no credible FBI, Warren Commission, or HSCA evidence ever linked the Odios to the Mafia; they were political idealists who lost everything for their principles.)Meanwhile, Sylvia—already in exile in Puerto Rico with four young children—learned her parents faced possible execution. Her husband abandoned her, and overnight the heiress became destitute. The trauma triggered crushing blackouts and a complete emotional collapse. In March 1963, two younger sisters in Dallas and a compassionate network of Cuban-refugee helpers raised money to bring Sylvia and her children to Texas. Settled in Dallas, she began psychiatric care with Dr. Burton Einspruch, found work at Knoll Associates, and by September 1963 was finally rebuilding a stable life in a new apartment on Magellan Circle.But Sylvia’s family name still carried enormous weight in the shadowy world of anti-Castro militants—and in the final days of September 1963, that Cold War shadow followed her all the way to her Dallas doorstep, delivering visitors who would forever link her story to one of the most fateful events in American history.
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