Author: Carter McLellan – Date: May 3, 2025

Contents

1. Life of George Piazza
2. JFK assassination connection
3. The plane crash
4. Conclusion
5. Notes

Life of George Piazza

George Piazza II was born on November 21, 1936, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents were Claire B. and Joseph L. Piazza. Piazza served in the Air Force, where he gained experience flying. He became an attorney, but maintained an interest in flying, which led him to pursue a pilot career. He was married to a woman named Dianne, with whom he had several children. His uncle, George Piazza was a lawyer and a cousin Marguerite Piazza was an entertainer and philanthropist. (1)

JFK assassination connection

Piazza’s connection to the 1963 JFK assassination came through his law practice in New Orleans. Around 1964, Piazza was an assistant in the office of District Attorney Jim Garrison. As an assistant DA, he worked for about a year on investigations of home improvement rackets. In 1964 or early 1965, Piazza prepared to leave the DA’s office to pursue a career as a pilot for Delta Airlines. (2)

While he left the DA’s office for training to become a pilot, he did maintain his law practice, stating: “Well, with the Delta job I’ll take only the cases that really appeal to me.” At some point, he began to represent James Lewallen, a former roommate of the pilot David Ferrie, who would come up in connection with Garrison’s probe into the JFK assassination beginning in 1967. Ferrie had been questioned by Garrison back in 1963, but he had been let go by the FBI. (3)

Unfortunately, David Ferrie would end up dead from suicide or natural causes, on February 22, 1967, the day Garrison was preparing to have him arrested in connection with his JFK investigation. (4) Interestingly, in 1978, George E. Boesch Jr. stated that he met Ferrie in the Civil Air Patrol around 1951, and even flew with him to Cleveland, Ohio, to meet his family. Interestingly, he recalled the presence of George Piazza on this flight. (5)

James Ronald Lewallen was born in 1928. He reportedly met David Ferrie a the Municipal Airport, in Cleveland, Ohio, in early 1948. In 1949, he went to work at General Motors, then entered the US Air Force in 1950. In 1953, he moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to New Orleans, where he lived with David Ferrie on Clay Street in Kenner. In 1958, he lived at Dauphine Street, where he met Clay Shaw who lived nearby at 1313 Dauphine. He also lived there in 1960. He reportedly was spotted with Ferrie in December 1962. In August 1963, Lewallen and others gave testimony in defense of Ferrie in some legal case. Ferrie and Lewallen were questioned in connection with the JFK assassination on November 27, 1963, but let go. (6)

Lewallen had also met a man named Dante Marochini, who had worked at the Reilly Coffee Company, alongside Lee Harvey Oswald. Marochini later got a job working at a Chrysler site at NASA, along side a number of other former workers at Reilly. Lewallen also later got a job working for Boeing at the NASA location. (7)

Piazza and Lewallen’s connection to David Ferrie is particularly interesting, because Ferrie had met Oswald in 1955, when they were both involved in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Ferrie was also in contact with Guy Banister, who had an office at the same building as 544 Camp Street, an address that found found on the Fair Play for Cuba pamphlets of Oswald. Furthermore, Ferrie had been an investigator for Carlos Marcello’s lawyer G. Wray Gill. Oswald, in particular his uncle Dutz Murret, were allegedly connect to Marcello. (8)

Although Clay Shaw was eventually acquitted, it is interesting to underscore his connections to Oswald. As was already mentioned, Shaw’s neighbor was James Lewallen. It is known that Oswald had once handed out his FPCC pamphlets in front of Shaw’s International Trade Mart. Shaw also was acquainted with Dr. Alton Ochsner, the founder of the Information Council of the Americas (INCA). Oswald had featured in a radio debate with INCA Director Edward Butler. Additionally, one of Ochsner’s financiers was Clint Murchison, Sr., an employer of Oswald handler George De Mohrenschilt, both members of the Dallas Petroleum Club. Ochsner was also potentially acquainted with Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell, a member of the Dallas Council on World Affairs along with de Mohrenschildt. (9)

Speaking of oilmen, members of the New Orleans Petroleum Club had raised money for Jim Garrison’s investigation through a group called Truth & Consequences. Members of T&C included Eberhard Deutsch, Cecil Shilstone, and William Robertson, who were all involved in INCA. One INCA donor, at least in the late 1960s, was Eustis Reily of the Reily Coffee Company. Both Clay Shaw and Garrison were members of the New Orleans Athletic Club. (10) It is interesting to note that Piazza worked for Garrison in 1964.

The Plane Crash

Late on Thursday March 30, 1967, after midnight, a Delta Airlines DC-8, Flight 9877, was boarded by five pilots and an inspector for the Federal Aviation Agency at New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana. Chief Pilot Maurice E. Watson was qualifying J. W. Morton to fly the jet liner. Among them was George Piazza. The plane took off at 12:43 am to prepare for a practice landing on runway 1. It reportedly was to practice a two-engine-out simulated landing, but the plane fell sharply during a banking turn. (12)

At 12:50 am, the plane crashed short of the runway, striking trees and powerlines, slicing through two homes and cartwheeling into the Hilton Inn motel, spewing fuel and causing a large fire. All onboard the flight died in the crash. A mother and her son were killed in one of the homes, and 18 persons were killed in the motel. Nine of them were seniors at a high school in Jusa, Wisconsin, eight died from burning by the jet fuel and one was blown out of the building. A maintenance worker at the motel was also killed. (13)

The NTSB concluded that “the probable cause of this accident was the improper supervision by the instructor, and the improper use of flight and power controls by both the instructor and the captain-trainee during a simulated two-engine out landing approach, which resulted in a loss of control.” One of the first mistakes was apparently made by the instructor who after the turn, lowered the full landing flaps, on his own initiative, too early in the approach, then failed to assume control as speed had decreased too early. (14)

Conclusion

George Piazza undoubtedly had some interesting connections to the JFK assassination. He worked for Jim Garrison briefly, was close to a represented James Lewallen in the Garrison probe, and may have knew David Ferrie through the Civil Air Patrol. Lewallen at least knew Ferrie and Clay Shaw, and Piazza also knew Dante Merochini, who was linked to the Reilly Coffee Company where Oswald had worked.

Such connections to Oswald in New Orleans are interesting enough. Then Piazza dies in an unfortunate as Garrison’s investigation into the JFK assassination was kicking off in New Orleans. This is certainly convenient, but there is a lack of evidence that this tragic plane crash was specifically intended to take out Piazza. The last major plane crash in New Orleans took place in February 1964, where 58 persons died in the crash of an Eastern Air Lines jet into Lake Pontchartrain.

An early plane crash taking out two important New Orleans JFK assassination-linked witnesses took place on May 23, 1964, in Mexico, killing DeLesseps Morrison, Sr., and the pilot Hugh F. Ward. This was just six months after the assassination. Ward had been a partner of Guy Banister, and Morrison, former Mayor of New Orleans, had a son who was linked to Clay Shaw. Banister himself died from a heart attack on June 6, 1964. In the month prior to Piazza’s death, both David Ferrie and a CIA-Cuban contact of his, Eladio del Valle, both died on February 22, 1967. In the following years, others connected to the Garrison probe would end up dead. Hale Boggs, who served on the Warren Commission, went missing in a plane crash in Alaska, on October 16, 1972. (15)

At minimum, it is interesting that so many persons with important connections to the JFK assassination and its links to New Orleans died within less than a decade after the event and many during investigations. Some of these cases were more suspicious than others, but its aways interesting to keep the context of other dying witnesses in the back of your head when examining them.

Notes

1. *) Find a Grave, ‘George Piazza II‘; *) March 31, 1967, Time-Picayune, ‘Crash Ends Promising Future of Lawyer-Pilot‘
2. March 31, 1967, Time-Picayune, ‘Crash Ends Promising Future of Lawyer-Pilot‘
3. *) ibid.; *) November 27, 1963, Times-Picayune, ‘3 Held for FBI Probe Released’; *) February 19, 1967, Dallas Morning News, ‘Paper Says Pilot Quizzed in JFK Death’
4. *) February 23, 1967, ‘ The Gadsen Times, ‘Ferrie, JFK Prove Data Linked’; *) 1988, Jim Garrison, ‘On the Trail Of The Assassins’
5. 1978, HSCA, George E. Boesch interview, page 3
6. *) August 21, 2000, David Blackburst email; *) HSCA, Volume 10, ‘David Ferrie‘
7. 1988, Jim Garrison, ‘On the Trail Of The Assassins’, “A simple check of the phone book revealed that Dante Marachini resided at 1309 Daphine Street. This was extremely interesting to me because right next door was the home of Clay Shaw. I wondered who else might be living next door to Shaw. Reaching for the red book (which lists individuals by address) I found that also living at 1309 Dauphine Street was a man named James Lewallen. I recalled from earlier research that James Lewallen had once shared an apartment with David Ferrie in the vicinity of Kenner, a New Orleans suburb. Now I found myself looking at two unfamiliar names, Marachini and Lewallen, both of whom had in the past been associated with Ferrie and both of whom now lived next door to Clay Shaw. That was something to think about. Some time later, I came across the name of Dante Marachini again. I had wanted to talk to individuals at the Reily Coffee Company who had worked with Lee Oswald or at a level immediately above him, so I sent Frank Klein over to the company to get their names and respective positions. He returned rather quickly. “They’re all gone,” he said. “Anyone who ever had any connection with Lee Oswald left the Reily Company within a few weeks after Oswald did.” He laid a sheet of paper in front of me. “Here are the names and the new jobs.” I glanced down at the list. One name jumped out at me immediately: Dante Marachini. He had begun work at the Reily Coffee Company on exactly the same day as Oswald. Several weeks after Oswald’s departure, Marachini also left the coffee company and began life anew at the Chrysler Aerospace Division at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on the eastern side of New Orleans. I then noticed that Alfred Claude, who hired Oswald for Reily, had also gone to work for the Chrysler Aerospace Division. Then I saw that John Branyon, who had worked with Oswald at the coffee company, had left for a job at NASA. At just about the same time, Emmett Barbee, Oswald’s immediate boss at Reily, left the coffee company and also inaugurated a new career with NASA. After seeing what happened to all of these men associated with Oswald at the coffee company and after seeing Marachini’s name again, my curiosity about 1309 Dauphine Street returned. I called Lou Ivon in and asked him to find out if James Lewallen, David Ferrie’s former apartment mate who now resided at 1309 Dauphine Street, had been as fortunate as some of the workers at Reily had been. It took Ivon a couple of days, but he came back with a now fairly predictable piece of information: Lewallen had gone to work for Boeing out at NASA. … Perhaps it was mere coincidence that all these men associated with David Ferrie, Clay Shaw, and Lee Oswald ended up working for NASA, but I doubted it. I knew by now that when a group of individuals gravitated toward one another for no apparent reason, or a group of individuals inexplicably headed in the same direction as if drawn by a magnetic field, or coincidence piled on coincidence too many times, as often as not the shadowy outlines of a covert intelligence operation were somehow becoming visible.“
8. *) 1993, PBS Frontline, ‘Who was Lee Harvey Oswald‘, “FRONTLINE obtained this photograph from John B. Ciravolo, Jr., of New Orleans. Ciravolo was also a C.A.P. member in 1955 and says he was in the same unit with Oswald and was standing right in front of him in the photo. Ciravolo identified David Ferrie, while former C.A.P. cadet Tony Atzenhoffer, also of New Orleans, identified Oswald and Ferrie in the photograph, and Colin Hammer, who says he served with both men in the C.A.P., also identified both in the photograph. FRONTLINE located the photographer, Chuck Frances, who says he took the picture for the C.A.P. Francis also said that when he was interviewed by the FBI, he told them Oswald and Ferrie knew each other, but he did not tell them about the photograph. The executor of Ferrie’s estate, as well as Ferrie’s godson, also picked out Ferrie.“; *) Warren Commission, Volume 22, Exhibit 1413-1414, “Mr. Newman stated that about fifteen months ago he leased an office at 544 Camp Street to an organization known to him as the Cuban Revolutionary Society. … Newman also stated that Guy Banister was well acquainted with this organization. … “544 Camp Street, New Orleans, La.” , which appeared on some of the literature in the possession of Lee Harvey Oswald when he was arrested by members of the New Orleans Police Department on 8-9-63 for fighting with several Cubans.“; *) HSCA, Volume 10, ‘David Ferrie‘, “With his problems mounting, Ferrie sought legal aid from New Orleans attorney G. Wray Gill, Sr. Ferrie later testified that he and Gill entered into an agreement in March 1962 that Gill would represent Ferrie in his legal difficulties in return for Ferrie’s research and investigative work on other cases for Gill. … In early 1962, both moved their offices to the Newman Building, which carried two addresses for the two streets it faced: 531 Lafayette and 544 Camp Street. … During this period, Ferrie was often seen at Banister’s office in 544 Camp Street as he prepared his case. … Ferrie’s ties to the Marcello organized crime family continued through his association with G. Wray Gill, Sr., who was also attorney of record for Carlos Marcello“; *) 1980, Anthony Summers, ‘The Kennedy Conspiracy’, “Murret was for years an associate of one Sam Saia, and Saia was a leader of organized crime in New Orleans. The Internal Revenue Service identified him as one of the most powerful gambling figures in Louisiana, and according to Crime Commission Director Kohn, “Saia had the reputation of being very close to Carlos Marcello.” *) Other allegations include Oswald working at Saia’s Felix Oyster House.
9. *) 1964, Earle Warren, ‘Warren Report’, page 729, “On August 16, Oswald, assisted by at least one other person who was a hired helper, again passed out Fair Play for Cuba literature, this time in front of the International Trade Mart. That night, television newscasts ran pictures of Oswald’s activities. (This hindered Oswald’s subsequent attempts to obtain employment in New Orleans.)“; *) Clay Shaw was managing director of the International House (IH), while Dr. Alton Ochsner was director since the 1940’s; *) 2007, Edward Haslam, ‘Dr. Mary’s Monkey, “Murchison’s involvement with Ochsner seems to me to have been as political as medical. Yes, he was a personal patient of Alton Ochsner and gave him a Cadillac as a “thank you” present, but he also donated $750,000 to the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation as seed money for Ochsner’s new hospital. Meanwhile, Murchison purchased 30,000 acres of Louisiana swamp land and prepared it for a real estate development now known as New Orleans East, which covers about one-third of the land in the city of New Orleans. I have always heard that Murchison bought it from Lady Bird Johnson. When LBJ announced the construction of Interstate 10 through the middle of this newly drained tract of land, plus the construction of NASA’s largest facility on the same site, property values rose as fast as any in American history. Murchison made a fortune.“; *) Spartacus Education, ‘Alton Ochsner‘, “In 1961 Ochsner, with the financial help of Clint Murchison, established the Information Council of the Americas (INCA). Ed Butler was appointed as the Executive Director of INCA.“; *) 1993, Anthony Summers, ‘Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover’; *) August 21, 1963, WDSU-Radio, (YouTube, 36:20); *) April 14, 2019, Joel van der Reijden, ‘The John F. Kennedy Assassination: Why He Was Killed and By Whom’, Lists Alton Ochsner, Clay Shaw, and Earle Cabell as linked to the New Orleans Foreign Policy Association.
10. *) April 14, 2019, Joel van der Reijden, ‘The John F. Kennedy Assassination: Why He Was Killed and By Whom’; *) November 24, 2024, Joel van der Reijden, ‘Supranational Society: Masterlist of 2,000 NGOs and the Top 400 People in Them‘, Liberal/conservative: New Orleans and Dallas elite (JFK-related)
11. *) Today In New Orleans History, ‘Jet Crashes into Hilton Inn‘
12. *) March 31, 1967, Avalanche Journal, ’18 Die as Airplane Crashes into Motel’ (ISGP); *) 2006, Flight Simulation Systems, ‘Crashes short, Delta Air Lines, Inc.‘; *) January 22, 1968, National Transportation Safety Board, ‘Aircraft Accident Report‘;
13. *) ibid.
14. January 22, 1968, National Transportation Safety Board, ‘Aircraft Accident Report‘
15. June 4, 2024, ISGP, ‘Over 400 Potential Government Assassinations‘