Miami Florida - The Shady Palms Retirement Home sits on a secluded side street near the Miami downtown. The neighborhood around is a reflection of the occupants; old, weather-beaten and a little run down. Senior Citizens no more than half fill the 2 story house and many of them sit on the long porch outside, soaking up the sun and watching the younger population pass them by.

Is this retired voodoo priest part of the Kennedy assassination conspiracy?

Sansa Richardo a resident of the house, (74) acts like a man half his age. He seems to be the ruler of the house, charming fellow seniors and nurses alike. He likes to play dominoes and slams them down with obvious relish. He also likes to do a little drinking and when I arrived to interview him he suggested we go for a short walk. I soon found myself at Victoria's Bar ordering beers for the both of us as Sansa was greeted by the regulars as "Pappa S." I finally steered him to a corner booth for an interview.

Derek: So tell me about how you were connected with the Kennedy assassination.

Sansa: I wasn't! Not directly. I had no idea what those men were going to do. I loved John and Jackie just like the rest of the country. If I knew what they were going to do with my spell then I would have never said yes.

D: Spell?

S: Yes, a spell. Back in the day Pappa S. was a respected and feared man in New Orleans. I held court in a bar much like this one. People would come to see me and I would help fix things for them. Sometimes it was loaning a poor man money and sometimes it was helping him getting revenge or making sure that girl he wanted, wanted him! (laughs)

D: So who came to see you that later was involved in the assassination?

S: Well it was around June or July of 1963. I was at Lugat's (the bar in New Orleans) and the bartender told me that some special men were waiting in the back to see me. Now normally if a man wanted to see me he came up to me and announced himself but I could tell that Sam (the bartender) was scared so I just nodded to him. I took my time rolling a cigarette and finally went into the back room where Lugat's office was.

D: Lugat?

S: He was the owner of the bar although I told him everything he could or could not do. Or at least I thought I did (laughs) Old Lugat liked playing poker but poker didn't like him. No, not at all. What he had done was lose a big pile of money to the Carollo's and now they had him over the barrel. I didn't know this at first but when I went into the back and saw those Italian rough 'em 'ups standing on each side of Lugat. I knew he was in deep sh*t. I also knew that I was in deep sh*t.

D: So the Carollo's was the New Orleans Mafia?

S: Big time Mafia. Carlos Marcello had been running that town since the 40's and when he said "boo" even I jumped. I mean I was praying to Marie Laveau but I wasn't a stupid man. I knew that voodoo or not, if Marcello wanted me dead then they'd find me floating face up in some canal come next sunrise.

D: What did Lugat and the men want you for?

S: Lugat didn't want nothing. Hell, he wouldn't have said sh*t if his mouth was full of it. He just sat in his chair and sweat. One of the goombahs gave me a look like I was his next dinner and said "Carlos wants to see you." I nodded and asked when. He told me to be waiting outside at 9 tonight in front of the club and that was it. I walked out of there and sat back down at the bar. Sam poured me a jigger of bourbon and I drank it as fast as I could. You gonna buy us more beer or what?

D: Sorry. (I motion to the bartender for 2 more) So what did you do?

S: What do you mean what did I do? I just told you what kind of man Marcello was. I kept my ass at Lugat's all day conducting business just like nothing was different and then about 9 o clock I saw one of those big old flashy caddie limos pull up outside. I got my hat and climbed into it like I was Nelson Rockerfeller.

D: And was Carlos Marcello in there?

S: Sure as my name is Pappa he was. He looked at me like I was a worm in an apple. I was betting I was the first black man he had let into his car. Finally his driver got the car rolling and Carlos looked at me and said, "Pappa S. I need your help."

D: Uh-oh.

S: Yea, no crap about that. I just nodded my head and said, "Yes sir, Mr. Marcello, what ever I can do for you, let me know." Marcello just nodded and looked out the window. He just kept staring out that window for like 5 minutes as we cruised up and down Grande Street. He was wearing sunglasses and I finally thought maybe he had fallen asleep or something. Finally he looked at me and said, "There's a certain man who is doing a job for me. A very important job. I need to make sure he can do this job but because of certain problems I can not dangle the usual carrot in front of the mule. Lugat says you're the best voodoo priest in town. He said you can make sure I ain;t got no more problems to worry about with this man. Am I making myself clear?"

(Sansa took a breath and drank some of his beer)

S: I said that it was perfectly clear to me and that I was his number one problem solver. I told him that there was a spell I could apply to this man without his knowledge but I would need certain items. Some of his hair, and something personal from him. I could do the spell tonight he wanted but I needed that stuff first for it to work Marcello nodded and leaned over to the driver and gave him an address. he didn't say another word to me until we got in front of this store on Canal Street. The driver honked his horn and another Italian guy came out from the building and talked to Marcello through the car window.

D: What kind of store was it?

S: I don't remember. I was too scared to notice signs boy! It was just some dingy one room front. Anyway the guy went back into the store and when he came out he was carrying a hand towel all wrapped up. He handed it to Marcello through the window and we drove away, back to Lugat's.

D: What was in the towel?

S: I'm getting to that. Anyway I didn't know cause Marcello was carrying it in his lap and I wasn't stupid enough to ask him. In fact he didn't say another word to me on the whole trip back. Anyway when we got back to Lugat's he handed me the towel and asked if that was all I needed. I said yes and that I would have something for him tomorrow morning. He nodded and I got out of that car as fast as I could. In fact I didn't even stop moving once I got in the bar. I just motored straight up to my room on the second floor of the bar and sat on my bed.

D: Then did you look in the towel?

S: Yea, yea, I did. I opened it up and there was a little plastic comb with some hairs in it and these.

Sansa pulls a pair of military dog tags out of his pocket and throws them on the table. Upon picking them up I am amazed to see the name "Oswald, Lee" inscribed at the top of them.

D: These are Lee Harvey Oswald's dog tags?

S: Well they sure as hell ain't John Wayne's! Course you got to remember that this was months before Kennedy got shot. I didn't know Lee Harvey Oswald from a hole in the ground. I just knew he was somebody that Marcello wanted to make sure did what he was told. later on that night I did my thing and handed Lugat a tujo to give to Marcello.

D: Wait a minute, what did you do?

S: No way, that's trade secrets. I ain't about to tell no 18 year old white boy secrets of the voodoo. You just know that I made sure Oswald was going to do what he was told.

D: Well then what's a tujo?

S: A tujo is a controlling object. Once you have it tuned to a certain person you can use the tujo to make that person do what you want. A very powerful spell.

D: Freaky

S: I don't know about it being freaky but I do know that Marcello never came to see me again. I also know that come that November I watch TV and knew when they said Lee Harvey Oswald I was into it deep. I left New Orleans the same day they caught him in that theater. I moved down here and didn't say sh*t about voodoo to anybody.

D: Then why are you telling me know?

S: I'm an old man. Everybody's dead. Kennedy, Oswald, Marcello, even old Lugat was finally found floating face up in the Lake Chaplain back in 71. If there's still people around that care about this let them come and get me. I got nothing to lose except a room at a crappy old retirement home. Now buy an old man another beer!

After this conversation with Sansa I did some checking and saw that his story did fit the facts:

Oswald joined the Marine Corps in 1956 and stayed in for 3 years.

In 1963, Oswald was using a store front on Canal Street for his "Fair Play For Cuba" organization.

Carlos Marcello was the don of the New Orleans Mafia and has been suspected of being connected with the assassination of President Kennedy. Dean Andrew, a New Orleans attorney and known associate of Marcello was asked at one point to defend Oswald when he was arrested in Dallas.

Richardo would not allow me to photograph the dog tags but I did examine them closely. There are 4 lines of information. The first line is the name, "Oswald, Lee." The second line reads "US1653280" and the third line is "T75 (space) O." The final line is simply "C."

sources

American Mafia website at www.americanmafia.com

The Warren Commission Report to the President at www.cus.ubu.brad.ac.uk/~matt/wcr/index.html#top

interview with Sansa Richardo on November 3rd, 1999

photo by Derek Barnes