Episode 144 - The End of Innocence - James Files: Beyond the Prison Interview

What has James Files been doing since that landmark 2003 interview, and has anything emerged over the last two decades that either supports—or undermines—his extraordinary claims?

Was James Files telling the truth? Or was he weaving one of the most elaborate stories in the history of the Kennedy assassination?In this episode of The End of Innocence, we're not going to decide whether James Files was the assassin. Instead, we're going to do what every good investigator should do—we're going to examine the evidence.We'll compare Files' first prison interview from the early 1990s with his extensive 2003 prison interview. Did his story change over those ten years? Did he contradict himself? Or did the core of his account remain remarkably consistent?We'll examine what stayed the same, what expanded, what—if anything—changed, and what those differences might tell us about the credibility of his extraordinary claims.Because consistency alone doesn't prove someone is telling the truth—but inconsistency can certainly raise questions.So join me as we take a careful, objective look at one of the most controversial confessions in JFK assassination history.I'm John R. Young, and this is The End of Innocence.

In this series, we’ve already listened to James Files’ original 1993 interview. I think it’s important that we now listen to the interview he gave in 2003 so we can compare the two accounts side by side. Doing so may help us decide whether his story feels legitimate—or whether it’s simply a compelling tale told by a very skilled storyteller.The 2003 interview was conducted by my good friend and fellow researcher, the late Jim Marrs and Wim Dankbaar. It was conducted on November 19, 2003, while Files was still incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois. With that context in mind, here is part four of the 2003 interview. If you have listened to the 1993 interview, see if you can pick up on some of the new details Files adds into his story this time around.

In this series, we’ve already listened to James Files’ original 1993 interview. I think it’s important that we now listen to the interview he gave in 2003 so we can compare the two accounts side by side. Doing so may help us decide whether his story feels legitimate—or whether it’s simply a compelling tale told by a very skilled storyteller.The 2003 interview was conducted by my good friend and fellow researcher, the late Jim Marrs and Wim Dankbaar. It was conducted on November 19, 2003, while Files was still incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois. With that context in mind, here is part three of the 2003 interview. If you have listened to the 1993 interview in our last few episodes, see if you can pick up on some of the new details Files adds into his story this time around.

In this series, we’ve already listened to James Files’ original 1993 interview. I think it’s important that we now listen to the interview he gave in 2003 so we can compare the two accounts side by side. Doing so may help us decide whether his story feels legitimate—or whether it’s simply a compelling tale told by a very skilled storyteller.The 2003 interview was conducted by my good friend and fellow researcher, the late Jim Marrs and Wim Dankbaar. It was conducted on November 19, 2003, while Files was still incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois. With that context in mind, here is part two of the 2003 interview. If you have listened to the 1993 interview in our last few episodes, see if you can pick up on some of the new details Files adds into his story this time around.

In this series, we’ve already listened to James Files’ original 1993 interview. I think it’s important that we now listen to the interview he gave in 2003 so we can compare the two accounts side by side. Doing so may help us decide whether his story feels legitimate—or whether it’s simply a compelling tale told by a very skilled storyteller.The 2003 interview was conducted by my good friend and fellow researcher, the late Jim Marrs and Wim Dankbaar.n November It was conducted on November 19, 2003, while Files was still incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois. With that context in mind, here is part one of the 2003 interview. If you have listened to the 1993 interview in our last few episodes, see if you can pick up on some of the new details Files adds into his story this time around.

This episode revisits the confession that keeps popping back up, tracing how a Houston investigator, Joe West, reportedly tracked down an Illinois inmate and recorded an interview presented as unedited, then laying out Files’ core story about being in Dealey Plaza, the position he says he chose by the knoll, and the wider cast he alleged was involved, including mob figures and shadowy intelligence-linked connections; we also cover his most specific details about supposed planning and his notorious claim about leaving a bitten casing, before weighing why many researchers and the FBI reject the confession and why some still argue it belongs in the JFK debate about November 22, 1963.

In our series that we are calling, if LHO didn’t kill John F. Kennedy, then who did. The last couple of episodes we started looking at the claims of James Files, also known as James Sutton. In 1963 Files says he was recruited by Nicoletti to take part in the killing of John F. Kennedy. Nicoletti claimed that the assassination was being organized by Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli and David Atlee Phillips. Files claims that Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in the plot and speculated that his role was to plant the Mannlicher Rifle and shells in the Texas Book Depository.

In our series that we are calling, if LHO didn’t kill John F. Kennedy, then who did. Last week we starting at looking at the claims of James Files, also known as James Sutton. In 1963 Files says he was recruited by Nicoletti to take part in the killing of John F. Kennedy. Nicoletti claimed that the assassination was being organized by Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli and David Atlee Phillips. Files claims that Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in the plot and speculated that his role was to plant the Mannlicher Rifle and shells in the Texas Book Depository.

In episodes 129 through 134, we dug into the stories of the man they called Mandrin and the tangled, controversial claims surrounding Roscoe White and his possible role in the Kennedy assassination. Today, we shift our focus to yet another figure who has stepped forward with his own explosive confession — a man who says he was the shooter on the grassy knoll that November afternoon in Dallas: James Files.