About James Files:

The lead on James Files came from the FBI. Agent Zack Shelton (now retired) served 28 years with the FBI. He has an impeccable record and spent much of his career on organized crime task forces of Chicago and Kansas City. He is the man who gave the information on James Files to private investigator Joe West, because Zack Shelton had reason to believe that James Files knew more about the Kennedy assassination. This was based on a remark that James Files had made to an FBI informant. Joe West subsequently located James Files in Stateville penitentiary, which ultimately led to his confession of being the gunman on the grassy knoll.

It is important to note that James Files had never volunteered to give information on his role in the assassination. The tip from Zack was given to Joe West, who was working on a lawsuit to exhume JFK’s body. He wanted to prove that Kennedy was hit from the front and by multiple gunmen and a new and independent autopsy would prove that the first was a total fraud.

But Joe West never heard a full confession from James Files. Files didn’t want to talk. Only if Joe could arrange immunity for him, would Files consider it.

During that time Joe had to go into a hospital for heart surgery. The operation itself was a success, but then out of nowhere he went into a coma and never came out of it.

With his death, his exhumation suit also died.

Files, and others, thinks Joe was murdered by an overdose of wrong medication in order to silence him. He was informed as such by one of his sources. Indeed there are some strange details; the attending doctor is still to be found for example.

And just before he went into coma and could not talk anymore, he scribbled a note for his family "Get me out of here, they are trying to kill me!"

The official cause of death was Acute Deficiency Respiratory Syndrome.

Bob Vernon was later told by a surgeon that this is more or less a standard method to cover-up medical errors, such as an overdose of drugs. Joe's death is one of the main reasons why James Files decided to tell his story to Bob Vernon, who took over from Joe.

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