There’s an intriguing name that pops up in the thousands of pages of JFK-related documents released last week.
It’s buried in a lengthy document apparently produced in response to a request from the House Select Commission on Assassinations in 1978. The document contains page after page of cryptonyms and aliases for people and operations. Most no doubt are familiar to serious JFK researchers.

The name that jumps out belongs not to Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, or any of the other major players in the saga, however. Instead, it’s James Earl Ray, the man who pleaded guilty to shooting Martin Luther King. His name appears on a list with eight other people, but it’s what’s below the list that is eye-opening:
“were above employees agents or informants”
Ray later recanted his confession but spent the rest of his life in jail. Many people, including some of King’s surviving family members, have said they believe Ray was either part of a conspiracy or didn’t do the shooting at all.