WEST VIRGINIA MAN SEEKING JFK ASSASSINATION 'TRUTH' AFTER 17 YEARS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504120004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504120004-9
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UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
17 May 1985
WEST VIKGINIA MAN SEEKING JFK ASSASSINATION 'TRUTH' AFTER 17 YEA
By COLIN McNICKLE
WEST LIBERTY, W. VA.
Charles Campanizzi says his loyalty to the United States has been questioned
and the government has harassed him during his 17-year quest to unravel the
mysteries surrounding President John F. Kennedy's assassination, but the truth
will not be deterred.
Campanizzi, 47, is a professor of psychology at West Liberty State College, a
small institution in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle. His first interest in
the Kennedy murder was sparked in 1965, but only from a pyschological
standpoint. Campanizzi wanted to probe into the mind of Lee Harvey Oswald, the
president's accused killer.
''It wasn't until Jim Garrison, then the New Orleans district attorney, began
his investigation as to the possibility of a conspiracy that I began to expand
my interest in reading and research," he said.
''It's been a rocky path in several instances, especially prior to Watergate.
To even speculate as to the possibility of a conspiracy, one could immediately
draw frowns, probably suspicion as to one's loyalty to the good al' U.S.A.''
Campanizzi believes Watergate forced the public to accept the ''ugly'' and
''eerie'' side of politics and gave assassination researchers more legitimacy.
"There have been some people over the years who have cast a very cautious
eye to my research and my lectures. It smacks at-the government in terms of
possible involvement,'' he said.
Campanizzi said two incidents in the late 1970s led him to believe that the
government was monitoring his research. The first involved a phone call prior to
one of Campanizzi's many public service lectures on the assassination.
''One evening at home, I received a call from a man who initially did not
identify himself. He wanted to know where I got my information on'the JFK
assassination and said he was doing an intelligence check on me.
Campanizzi said he would not name the man but believes he is a CIA
''contract man'' who lives and works - in -the Ohio. Valley to this day. He has not STAT
had contact with iiim since that time.
The second incident involved a friend's wife who overheard a telephone
conversation in which Campanizzi said agents from the CIA, FBI and West
Virginia State Police mentioned him by name and said his ''efforts would have to
be neutralized.''
''It wasn't long after that, that the state police did visit me and asked for
some Kind of help in an investigation on another matter. I never did find out
what was going on. "
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504120004-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504120004-9
Campanizzi is not unlike most Kennedy assassination researchers. He is
convinced it was a well-executed conspiracy.
''It was a hit. There's no doubt that there were four shots. And given the
time frame of 5.6 seconds, it was impossible for Oswald to operate the crude
weapon he used that day. It was humanly impossible for Oswald to operate that
weapon. The nature of JFK's wounds -- the angulation -- certainly points to two
assassins. Even the Zapruder film shows Kennedy and Connally hit by separate
bullets,'' Campanizzi contends.
''The single-bullet theory of the Warren Commission does not hold. That's the
so-called magic bullet that hit JFK and Connally and lost two-to-three grams of
its original weight, but then-they found more metal in Connally's wrist than
that.''
Campanizzi believes organized crime was responsible for the assassination and
that a complex three-part operation involving planning, implementation and
coverup was employed to carry out the murder. The ''beauty'' of the plan was
that participants of one part ''probably didn't know anything about anybody or
anything involving anther part of. the plan, as it had to be for it to be
successful,'' he said.
''In the third level, there was direct involvement of various government
agencies to destroy or modify information and withhold it. That satisfies
thoroughly the coverup," Campanizzi theorizes.
''When we really find out who killed JFK and why they killed him, perhaps
then we'll know who runs America and who controls the government. That's not a
piece of original thinking -- it's been echoed by assassination researchers for
long time.
"People are curious why I continue this research. They don't see any
observable, obvious benefit. Essentially, what we're after here is the answer.
I'm not getting rich. That's not the goal -- never was, never will be. We're
after the truth and the truth is essential,'' Campanizzi said.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504120004-9