Solving JFK

In Part 3 of our Soviet Union series, we dig into the Cold War spy games swirling around Lee Harvey Oswald and ask whether the KGB had a hand in JFK's assassination. The trail starts with Pyotr Popov, a Soviet military intelligence colonel who became a CIA defector-in-place in 1952 — and whose tip about a KGB mole hidden deep inside the CIA launched one of the most consequential mole hunts in Agency history. We trace how Popov was burned, how counterintelligence chief James Angleton became obsessed with finding "Popov's Mole," and how Oswald's strangely routed CIA file suggests he may have be...

In this bonus episode, Solving JFK reviews and critiques PBS Nova's JFK Cold Case documentary in response to a question from a listener. We'll be back with Part 3 on the Soviet Union series next week.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the United States and the Soviet Union ever came to nuclear war—a thirteen-day period where decisions made in real time carried unimaginable consequences. In this episode, we break down how the crisis developed, why Khrushchev chose to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, and how American intelligence and leadership responded as the situation escalated. Inside the Kennedy administration, there was no consensus. Military leaders urged immediate force, while Kennedy weighed options that might avoid triggering a nuclear exchange. 

As the pressure intensified, miscommunications, near-misses, and rogue actions on both sides pus...

In Part 1 of this new series, Solving JFK zooms out to examine the Cold War backdrop that shaped the world leading up to President Kennedy’s assassination. From the so-called “missile gap” and early U.S.–Soviet tensions to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, this episode explores the fragile and often volatile relationship between Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. While often portrayed as either a Cold War hawk or dove, Kennedy emerges here as something more complex—navigating intense pressure from both sides while attempting to avoid catastrophic conflict.

The episode also dives into the high-stakes...

In this bonus episode of Solving JFK, Matt Crumpton speaks with John Kirby, director, and Libby Handros, producer, of the ongoing documentary film franchise Four Died Trying. The project explores the lives—and assassinations—of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, asking what connects these four pivotal murders of the 1960s and how they reshaped American political history. Through more than 130 interviews with family members, colleagues, eyewitnesses, and others connected to these events, the series revisits these tragedies with fresh research and a wide range of perspectives.

John and...

We recently completed a four-part series examining whether Israel played a role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In this episode, we revisit the strongest claims, examine the weakest links, and discuss what the evidence actually shows.

Joining me is former Washington Post reporter and leading JFK researcher Jefferson Morley, author of The Ghost, the definitive biography of CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton. We take a deeper look at Angleton’s close relationship with Israeli intelligence, his role in Israel’s nuclear development during the Kennedy administration, and whether any of that connects in a meani...

In the final episode of our Israel series, we bring together the remaining evidence and arguments relied upon by researchers who believe Israel may have played a role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. We revisit Jack Ruby through the lens of his alleged connections to Mickey Cohen and Meyer Lansky, examine the operational capabilities of the Mossad in the early 1960s, and explore newly declassified material touching on Israel’s involvement in covert operations related to Cuba. We also analyze claims involving Cuban exile foreknowledge, including the Homer Echeverria file, and address allegations surrounding Israeli intelligence ti...

In this episode, we continue our deep dive into the theory of Israeli involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by expanding the lens beyond James Angleton. We revisit Meyer Lansky through the specific context of his ties to Israel, organized crime, offshore banking, and intelligence-adjacent networks, examining whether those relationships plausibly intersect with Dealey Plaza. Along the way, we explore Lansky’s connections to figures like Jim Braden, the Corsican mafia, and the murky financial world that sat at the crossroads of intelligence agencies and criminal enterprises.

We then turn to Permindex, a shadowy in...

This episode centers on CIA Counterintelligence Chief James Angleton and his exceptionally close, largely unsupervised relationship with the Israeli government and its intelligence services. We trace Angleton’s rise inside the CIA, his exclusive liaison role with Mossad, the extraordinary authority he exercised with minimal oversight, and his deep personal ties to senior Israeli political, intelligence, and nuclear figures during the critical years leading up to 1963. We then turn to Israel’s secret nuclear program and the unresolved mystery of the missing highly enriched uranium from the NUMEC facility in Pennsylvania.

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Tw...

In this episode, we begin a multi-part examination of Israel, focusing on whether serious and escalating policy disputes between the Kennedy administration and Israeli leadership could constitute motive.

This episode examines four major areas of conflict: Kennedy’s effort to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act on pro-Israel lobbying groups, his comparatively pro-Arab Middle East policies, disputes over UN Resolution 194 concerning Palestinian refugees, and—most critically—his confrontation with Israeli leaders over Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program at Dimona. Drawing from historical records, declassified materials, and firsthand accounts, this episode lays the groundwork for a deeper explorat...

In this bonus episode of Solving JFK, I’m joined by acclaimed JFK researcher and author Jim DiEugenio for a conversation that begins with reflections on the recent passing of Rob Reiner and Robert Tanenbaum, both of whom previously appeared on this podcast. Jim discusses his work with Reiner on the project that ultimately became the Who Killed JFK podcast, and why Reiner’s late-career involvement in the JFK case was significant.

The discussion then turns to Tanenbaum’s underappreciated role on the House Select Committee on Assassinations, before shifting into a rebuttal of several claims made in the recent M...

In this Recap and Rebuttals Part 18, we turn our full attention to Jack Ruby, the man who silenced Lee Harvey Oswald, and ask two questions the official record never convincingly answered: how deeply was Ruby connected to organized crime, and why did he pull the trigger? Joining me is returning guest Don from the Fourth Reich Archaeology podcast, whose detailed work on the Warren Commission and Jack Ruby is stellar. Together, we synthesize what we’ve learned across Episodes 84 and 85 and stress-test the strongest arguments on all sides. 

We trace Ruby’s life from his Chicago upbringing and ear...

In this 17th edition of Recap & Rebuttals, we take a comprehensive look back at the five-part Mafia series (Episodes 79–83) to assess what the historical record really tells us about organized crime’s potential role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Joined by internationally bestselling author, television producer, and former Gambino crime family associate Lou Ferrante, we revisit the rise of the American Mafia, its clashes with the Kennedy brothers, and the high-stakes world of mob power, politics, and intelligence operations. 

Together, we explore pivotal moments and figures including the Apalachin raid, the McClellan Committee, CIA-Mafia plots...

Journalist Dorothy Kilgallen was one of the earliest and most prominent national reporters to challenge the official story of the JFK assassination. Best known to the public from What’s My Line?, she was also a respected investigative journalist who covered major cases, interviewed Jack Ruby, and published columns openly criticizing the Warren Commission. In 1965, while actively pursuing new leads, she was found dead under disputed circumstances—and her JFK research file vanished.

In this bonus episode, Matt is joined by Sara Jordan Heintz, author of The Incredible Life & Mysterious Death of Dorothy Kilgallen, and her father, Larry Jo...

Programming Note: A new video-only episode—20 Dallas JFK Landmarks—is now live on YouTube as of December 3rd at 4pm Eastern. It includes a tour of Dealey Plaza, the Paine House, General Walker’s home, and other rarely visited JFK-related locations.

Click Here To Watch the Video

Upcoming episodes in the regular feed:

Solving JFK merchandise is available at SolvingJFKPod...

In the last episode, we rewound Jack Ruby’s life long before the basement of the Dallas Police Department and found a man deeply entangled with organized crime, Cuban gun-running, and people far more powerful than he let on.

This episode goes deeper into Ruby’s world and asks how far inside that orbit he really was. We explore Ruby’s stint as an FBI informant, his close relationship with casino manager Lewis McWillie, and the allegation that Ruby visited Mafia boss Santos Trafficante in prison. We also look at Ruby’s ties to Carlos Marcello and analyze...

When Jack Ruby stepped out of a crowd in the basement of the Dallas Police Department and fired a single bullet into Lee Harvey Oswald, the nation lost its best chance to learn what Oswald might have revealed about the Kennedy assassination. In Episode 26, we covered the strange events of that weekend in November 1963, from Ruby’s mysterious money transfer to the conflicting stories about how he gained access to Oswald.

In this episode, we go deeper. Who was Jack Ruby? How did a Chicago-born hustler with mob ties end up silencing the most important suspect in mode...

Was New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello the man who ordered the hit on President John F. Kennedy?

In this episode, we trace Marcello’s rise from small-time Louisiana gangster to one of the most powerful bosses in America, controlling billion-dollar gambling, racing, and casino operations, and maintaining close ties to figures like Santos Trafficante and Lyndon Johnson. We examine Marcello’s deportation by Robert Kennedy, his alleged revenge plot, and multiple reported confessions tying him to the assassination.

You’ll also hear about Lee Harvey Oswald’s uncle Dutz Murret and his verified work for Marc...

In this episode of Solving JFK, we continue our deep dive into organized crime’s potential connection to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Picking up where we left off, we examine the lives and activities of Johnny Roselli and Santos Trafficante—two of the most powerful mob figures with ties to both the CIA and anti-Castro operations. From Roselli’s role as a liaison between the CIA and the mafia, to Trafficante’s empire stretching from Tampa to Havana, the web of connections between organized crime, intelligence agencies, and political intrigue only grows more tangled.

You’ll he...

Did the mafia have a hand in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? In this episode, we examine the explosive relationship between the Kennedy Administration and organized crime — and the mob bosses who had the motive, means, and opportunity to strike back.

Robert Kennedy’s war on the mob ramped up federal prosecutions and surveillance like never before, enraging mafia leaders across the country. We’ll look at how FBI wiretaps captured mobsters talking openly about killing both Kennedys — and what the House Select Committee on Assassinations ultimately concluded about mafia involvement.

Then, we dive int...

In this episode, we look at what the Church Committee had to say about the CIA’s efforts to assassinate Cuban Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in partnership with the Mafia through cut-out Robert Maheu. 

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In this episode, we look at a brief history of the mafia leading up to 1963, including the Apalachin, New York meeting, the McClellan Committee, and whether the Chicago mob played a part in the Kennedy-Johnson ticket winning the election in 1960. 

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In this episode, we’ll get an update on the state of the JFK Records, talk about the McCone Rowley memo that keeps coming up, and go over some thoughts on LBJ and more. We are joined by distinguished author and screenwriter of Oliver Stone’s Destiny Betrayed, Jim DiEugenio, as well as Canadian attorney, national archives explorer, and JFK records act expert Andrew Iler, and attorney and JFK Records expert, Mark Adamczyk. 

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In this bonus episode we are joined by Robert Groden - the man who famously took a copy of the Zapruder film to show the world, which he did on Good Night America with Geraldo Rivera, and Groden's associate in the plan to expose the Zapruder film to the world: Dick Gregory.

Robert and I talk about his decision to bring the Zapruder film to light, his work on the Rockefeller Commission and HSCA, as well as his take on the authenticity of the now-available Zapruder film.

You can order a book from Robert Groden...

We are joined today by one of the most public faces of the effort to disclose JFK Assassination records, and long-time expert on the case, Jefferson Morley. 

If you don’t know Jefferson Morley, you probably have not been following the assassination very closely. He worked as a writer for the New Republic and later for the Washington Post. He has also written for Salon and The Intercept. He is currently on the board of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving and obtaining all of the JFK Assassination records. 

On top of thos...

We are joined by Jeff Crudele to talk through the various controversies within the study of Lyndon B. Johnson as related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including LBJ's start in politics, the stolen 1948 election, Bobby Baker, Billie Sol Estes, Henry Marshall, Mac Wallace, Cliff Carter, and many more. We try to answer the big question: Was LBJ involved in the assassination of President Kennedy?

We have devoted the past 8 episodes to studying the life of Lyndon Johnson, with an eye towards whether he had any involvement in the assassination of his predecessor, President John F. Kennedy. In this episode, we review all of the remaining claims against Johnson that we have not yet addressed, and then summarize what we know about Lyndon B. Johnson’s role in the assassination of President Kennedy. 

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In this 8th episode of the series, we continue our analysis of Lyndon Johnson by looking at Johnson’s order to his pilots to fly his plane in bad weather, the likelihood that Johnson would have been removed from the 1964 presidential ticket if JFK had lived, Madeleine Brown’s claim about the alleged party at the Murchison home the night before the assassination, and Barr McClellan’s assertion that Johnson’s attorney, Ed Clark, was a central figure in the assassination. 

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The Texas oil boom of the early 20th century created fortunes for a few enterprising individuals, who would go on to become powerful figures in the business world. Some of those men also exercised their influence in the political realm. And since we’re talking about Texas, the wealthiest oil men all knew Lyndon Johnson. In this episode, we’ll explore the careers and relationships of H.L. Hunt, D.H. Byrd, Sid Richardson, and Clint Murchison. 

Did these Texas oil tycoons have a reason to want to get rid of President Kennedy? And, more importantly, if they did...

In this episode, we analyze the two strongest arguments that Mac Wallace was involved in the murder of President Kennedy at the behest of the Vice President. We look at the alleged Mac Wallace fingerprint found on the Sixth Floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building and the recently released Billie Sol Estes tape that appears to incriminate Mac Wallace and Lyndon Johnson. 

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One of the primary questions in the study of the JFK Assassination is whether Lyndon Johnson was involved as a plotter. This question has become a wedge issue among the critical research community. 

For those who say Johnson is behind President Kennedy’s assassination, what usually follows is evidence related to Malcolm Wallace – a mysterious man who, without a doubt knew Lyndon Johnson and worked with him on occasion. Proponents of the LBJ did it theory rely on testimony from Billie Sol Estes about Wallace being LBJ’s hitman, a fingerprint that allegedly matches Wallace’s, and a showsto...

In the last episode, we talked about the financial ascent of Bobby Baker, whose net worth increased from $10,000 to $2.1 Million net worth while he worked for Lyndon Johnson as Secretary to the Senate Majority Leader. That’s an impressive climb. But, Baker’s wealth was a drop in the bucket compared to the subject of today’s episode – Billie Sol Estes, who claims that his net worth in 1961 was a whopping $400 million dollars.

In this episode, we cover the rise and fall of Billie Sol Estes, with an emphasis on Estes’ connections to Lyndon Johnson, and the mysterious...

In this bonus episode of Solving JFK, we’ll be speaking with Robert Tanenbaum, who has a unique perspective on the HSCA. For a period of time, he ran the day to day operations of the investigation into the Kennedy Assassination as deputy chief counsel. Before that, Tanenbaum was an assistant District Attorney focused on homicide in New York City, where he never lost a felony trial. After his time on the HSCA, Tanenbaum was a law professor at UC Berkeley, served two terms as mayor of Beverly Hills, and wrote thirty three books. His newest book – That Day in D...

If you’ve studied the JFK Assassination for any period of time, you surely know Doug Horne. He served on the staff of the Assassination Records Review Board for the final 3 years of its 4 year lifespan, from August of 1995 through September of 1998. He was hired as a Senior Analyst on the Military Records Team, and was later promoted to head that team. In that role, Doug obtained and declassified military records related to Cuba and Vietnam policy, and worked extensively in the medical evidence arena. He also served as the ARRB’s point man on issues related to the Zapr...

In this episode, we begin to explore Johnson’s business dealings, including the radio station he bought, his ties with the Mafia, and Johnson’s close relationship with Bobby Baker. 

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In this episode, we look at Johnson’s time in the Senate, his views on Civil Rights, and the story of how Lyndon Johnson secured the Democratic Vice Presidential nomination in the 1960 election. Did JFK choose Johnson, or - was the decision forced on him?  

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Over the next several episodes, we’ll begin the gargantuan task of trying to thoughtfully determine whether Johnson played a role in the president’s murder. While this series is not a deep biography on Lyndon Johnson, we have to provide some context for LBJ the man, so that we can understand where he came from and the patterns of behavior he displayed. 

In this episode, we explore the Johnson’s life before the Senate. How did LBJ get started in politics? What was his relationship like with Brown and Root? And did Lyndon Johnson really steal a US Sen...

In this episode we are joined by my co-authors of The JFK Assassination Chokeholds to talk through the most recent Congressional Hearing on the JFK Assassination held on May 20th. We also chat about the roles of the Secret Service and the FBI/J. Edgar Hoover in the assassination.

Please forgive some of the choppy audio in parts as we had Zoom connectivity issues when we recorded.

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In this episode, we are joined by Don (aka @AngletonOrchids on Twitter) from Fourth Reich Archaeology, a podcast that is deep in to an excellent series on the Warren Commissioners and staffers. We review all of the information about Hoover and the FBI that was discussed in episodes 67-69.

What was the role of the FBI in the JFK Assassination?

Did Hoover plan the assassination? Did he have foreknowledge? Did he participate in a cover up?

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In...

In this episode, we turn our attention to the FBI’s investigation of the assassination. What did J. Edgar Hoover do in the immediate aftermath of President Kennedy’s murder? What Hoover’s relationship like with the Warren Commission? And what was the ultimate role of Hoover, if any, in the murder of President Kennedy? 

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Transcrip...