Mugshot of David Ferrie. It should be noted that Ferrie was never convicted of any serious crime.
David William Ferrie (March 28, 1918 - February 22, 1967) was a pilot who was alleged by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison to have been involved in the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Ferrie was born in Cleveland, Ohio. A Roman Catholic, Ferrie attended John Carroll University, St. Mary Seminary, where he studied for the priesthood, and Baldwin-Wallace College. He next spent three years at the St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena, Ohio. He suffered from alopecia areata, a skin condition which causes the loss of body hair in clumps.
Picture of Ferrie standing outside St. Charles Seminary.
In 1944 Ferrie left St. Charles after suffering a nervous breakdown. He obtained a pilot's license and began teaching aeronautics at Cleveland's Benedictine High School. He was fired from the school for several infractions, including taking boys to a house of prostitution and flipping a car over in the driveway of the school. He then became an insurance inspector, and in 1951 he moved to New Orleans where he worked as a pilot for Eastern Air Lines until losing his job in August, 1961 after being arrested on morals charges.
Ferrie was involved with the Civil Air Patrol in several ways: He started as a "senior" with the Fifth Cleveland Squadron at Hopkins Airport in 1947. The Squadron Commander tried unsuccessfully to bounce him in 1949. When he moved to New Orleans, he "transferred" to the New Orleans Cadet Squadron at Lakefront Airport, first as instructor and later as Commander. After a Ferrie-trained cadet pilot perished in a December 1954 crash, Ferrie's annual re-appointment was declined. He was asked to be a guest lecturer at the smaller squadron at Moisant Airport, and he did so, lecturing from June to September 1955. On July 27, 1955, 15-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald joined this squadron. In March 1958, a former cadet-turned-commander invited Ferrie back to the New Orleans Cadet Squadron. He served unofficially for a time and was reinstated as Executive Officer in September 1959. Ferrie quit the squadron in a huff in June 1960 after a disagreement during a bivouac. In September 1960, he started his own unofficial squadron, called the Metairie Falcon Cadet Squadron. An offshoot of this group was the Internal Mobile Security Unit, a group formed for the fight against Castro's Cuba. Over the years, he used both his official and unofficial squadrons to develop improper relations with post-pubescent (age 14-18) boys (called ephebophilia), and his August 1961 arrests caused the Falcons to fold.
According to friends and family, Ferrie had a mixed bag of political views. As a young man he was described as antinomian, having no adherence to established moral codes. While he actively avoided the draft in 1941, his younger brother went on to become something of a war hero. Perhaps owing to this, Ferrie became stridently anti-Communist by 1950. When Fidel Castro opposed Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, Ferrie initially approved of him, but he became convinced Castro was a Communist by the summer of 1959. In November 1960, he became associated with the New Orleans office of the Frente Revolucionario Democratico, a CIA-backed organization. This association changed after his morals arrests. In the early 1960s he was an associate of Guy Banister, a former FBI agent, New Orleans police official, political activist and private investigator.
In 1962 Ferrie began working for the lawyer G. Wray Gill and his client, Mafiosi Carlos Marcello. This involved attempts to block Marcello's deportation to Guatemala.
On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Guy Banister and Jack Martin went drinking together. On their return to Banister's office the two men got involved in a dispute about a missing file. Banister became so angry that he drew his Magnum revolver and hit Martin with it several times. Martin was so badly injured that he had to be detained in the local Charity Hospital.
Over the next few days Martin told reporters and authorities that Ferrie had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. According to Martin, Ferrie had known Lee Harvey Oswald from their days in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol, had given him lessons on how to use a rifle with a telescopic sight, had flown Oswald to Texas and had threatened JFK and outlined plans to kill him. He also said that Oswald had Ferrie's library card in his possession when arrested, but later added that this was a misunderstanding of something he had seen in the news.
On November 25, Martin was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He told them that he thought Ferrie had hypnotized Oswald into assassinating Kennedy. The FBI considered Martin's evidence unreliable. Nevertheless, they interviewed Ferrie twice and interviewed about 20 other people in connection with the allegations. They were unable to develop a substantial case against Ferrie.
This information reached Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans who, by 1966, was very interested in the New Orleans aspects of the assassination. In December 1966 he interviewed Martin about these accusations. Martin claimed that during the summer of 1963 Ferrie and Guy Banister were involved in something very sinister with a group of Cuban exiles.
Jim Garrison now became convinced that a group of right-wing activists, including Ferrie, Guy Banister, Carlos Bringuier and Clay Shaw, were involved in a conspiracy with the CIA to kill John F. Kennedy. Garrison claimed this was in retaliation for his attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam.
On February 22, 1967 Ferrie was found dead in his apartment. Two typed letters were found: The first, found in a pile of papers, was a screed about the justice system, beginning with "To leave this life is, for me, a sweet prospect." The second note was found in an envelope taped under a table, marked "To be opened in the event of my death", along with a will and a list of people to be contacted. It was to a close friend whom he named executor of his estate, and began "When you read this I will be quite dead, so no answer will be possible." New Orleans Metro Crime Commission director, Aaron Kohn believed that Ferrie was murdered. The New Orleans coroner officially reported that the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.
Ferrie was portrayed by actor Joe Pesci in the Oliver Stone film JFK (1991), and by Tobin Bell in the motion picture Ruby.
Ferrie was involved with the Civil Air Patrol in several ways: He started as a "senior" with the Fifth Cleveland Squadron at Hopkins Airport in 1947. The Squadron Commander tried unsuccessfully to bounce him in 1949. When he moved to New Orleans, he "transferred" to the New Orleans Cadet Squadron at Lakefront Airport, first as instructor and later as Commander. After a Ferrie-trained cadet pilot perished in a December 1954 crash, Ferrie's annual re-appointment was declined. He was asked to be a guest lecturer at the smaller squadron at Moisant Airport, and he did so, lecturing from June to September 1955. On July 27, 1955, 15-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald joined this squadron. In March 1958, a former cadet-turned-commander invited Ferrie back to the New Orleans Cadet Squadron. He served unofficially for a time and was reinstated as Executive Officer in September 1959. Ferrie quit the squadron in a huff in June 1960 after a disagreement during a bivouac. In September 1960, he started his own unofficial squadron, called the Metairie Falcon Cadet Squadron. An offshoot of this group was the Internal Mobile Security Unit, a group formed for the fight against Castro's Cuba. Over the years, he used both his official and unofficial squadrons to develop improper relations with post-pubescent (age 14-18) boys (called ephebophilia), and his August 1961 arrests caused the Falcons to fold.
According to friends and family, Ferrie had a mixed bag of political views. As a young man he was described as antinomian, having no adherence to established moral codes. While he actively avoided the draft in 1941, his younger brother went on to become something of a war hero. Perhaps owing to this, Ferrie became stridently anti-Communist by 1950. When Fidel Castro opposed Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, Ferrie initially approved of him, but he became convinced Castro was a Communist by the summer of 1959. In November 1960, he became associated with the New Orleans office of the Frente Revolucionario Democratico, a CIA-backed organization. This association changed after his morals arrests. In the early 1960s he was an associate of Guy Banister, a former FBI agent, New Orleans police official, political activist and private investigator.
In 1962 Ferrie began working for the lawyer G. Wray Gill and his client, Mafiosi Carlos Marcello. This involved attempts to block Marcello's deportation to Guatemala.
On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Guy Banister and Jack Martin went drinking together. On their return to Banister's office the two men got involved in a dispute about a missing file. Banister became so angry that he drew his Magnum revolver and hit Martin with it several times. Martin was so badly injured that he had to be detained in the local Charity Hospital.
Over the next few days Martin told reporters and authorities that Ferrie had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. According to Martin, Ferrie had known Lee Harvey Oswald from their days in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol, had given him lessons on how to use a rifle with a telescopic sight, had flown Oswald to Texas and had threatened JFK and outlined plans to kill him. He also said that Oswald had Ferrie's library card in his possession when arrested, but later added that this was a misunderstanding of something he had seen in the news.
On November 25, Martin was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He told them that he thought Ferrie had hypnotized Oswald into assassinating Kennedy. The FBI considered Martin's evidence unreliable. Nevertheless, they interviewed Ferrie twice and interviewed about 20 other people in connection with the allegations. They were unable to develop a substantial case against Ferrie.
This information reached Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans who, by 1966, was very interested in the New Orleans aspects of the assassination. In December 1966 he interviewed Martin about these accusations. Martin claimed that during the summer of 1963 Ferrie and Guy Banister were involved in something very sinister with a group of Cuban exiles.
Jim Garrison now became convinced that a group of right-wing activists, including Ferrie, Guy Banister, Carlos Bringuier and Clay Shaw, were involved in a conspiracy with the CIA to kill John F. Kennedy. Garrison claimed this was in retaliation for his attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam.
On February 22, 1967 Ferrie was found dead in his apartment. Two typed letters were found: The first, found in a pile of papers, was a screed about the justice system, beginning with "To leave this life is, for me, a sweet prospect." The second note was found in an envelope taped under a table, marked "To be opened in the event of my death", along with a will and a list of people to be contacted. It was to a close friend whom he named executor of his estate, and began "When you read this I will be quite dead, so no answer will be possible." New Orleans Metro Crime Commission director, Aaron Kohn believed that Ferrie was murdered. The New Orleans coroner officially reported that the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.
Ferrie was portrayed by actor Joe Pesci in the Oliver Stone film JFK (1991), and by Tobin Bell in the motion picture Ruby.
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