Bill Broussard:
[after hearing the FBI/Oswald story] I don't buy it, Chief. Why would the FBI cover it up? A telex that disappears from every single FBI office in this country?
Jim Garrison:
There's a word, Bill. Orders.
Susie Cox:
Or a cover up. Jesus, Bill. Don't you have enough proof of the FBI's complicity yet?
Bill Broussard:
I respect this country's institutions, like you do, Susie! How the hell can you keep a conspiracy going between the mob, the CIA, the FBI, the Army Intelligence, and who the hell knows what else when you can't keep a secret in this room between 12 people? I mean, we got leaks everywhere. We are going to trial, y'all! What the hell do we really got? Oswald, Ruby, Bannister and Ferrie are dead. Shaw? Maybe he's an agent, I don't know. But, as a covert operator in my book, he is wide open for blackmail because of his homosexuality.
Jim Garrison:
Shaw's our toehold, Bill. I don't know exactly what he is or where he fits, and I don't really care. But I do know he's lying through his teeth and I'm not gonna let go of him.
Bill Broussard:
And that's why, for those reasons, you're going to trial against Clay Shaw, chief? Well, you're gonna lose! Let's investigate our Mafia leads here in New Orleans. Now, I can buy that a hell of a lot easier than I can the government. Ruby's all mob, knows Oswald, sets him up. Hoffa, Trafficante, Marcello, they hire some guns and they do Kennedy. And, uh, the government doesn't want to open up a whole can of worms because it used the mob to try to get to Castro. Castro assassinated by the mob, by us, sounds pretty wild to John Q. Citizen. So they close the book on JFK. Makes perfect sense to me.
Jim Garrison:
I don't doubt their involvement, Bill, but at a low level. Could the mob change the parade route? Or eliminate the protection for the President? Could the mob send Oswald to Russia and get him back? Could the mob get the FBI, the CIA, and the Dallas Police to make a mess of the investigation? I mean, could the mob get the Warren Commission appointed to cover it up? Could the mob wreck the autopsy? Could the mob influence the national media to go to sleep? And since when has the mob used anything but .38s for hits up close? The mob wouldn't have the guts or the power for something of this magnitude. Assassins need payrolls, schedules, times, orders. This was a military style ambush from star to finish. A coup d'etat with Lyndon Johnson waiting in the wings.
Bill Broussard:
OK. So now you're saying Lyndon Johnson was involved? The President of the United States?
Jim Garrison:
I know this, Bill. Lyndon Johnson got $1 billion dollars for his Texas friends, Brown and Root, to dredge Cam Ranh Bay for the military in Vietnam.
Bill Broussard:
Boss...
Jim Garrison:
That's just for openers...
Bill Broussard:
[yelling] Boss, are you calling the President a murderer?!?
Jim Garrison:
If I'm so far from the truth, why is the FBI bugging our offices? Huh? Why are our witnesses being bought off and murdered? And why are the federal agencies blocking our extraditions and subpoenas like we were never before?
Bill Broussard:
I don't know. I don't know. Maybe there's some rogue element in the government or something, but you're not...
Jim Garrison:
With a full-blown conspiracy to cover it up? You ever read Shakespeare, Bill?
Bill Broussard:
Yeah, I do.
Jim Garrison:
Julius Caesar? "Brutus and Cassius, they, too, are honorable men." Who killed Caesar? Ten or twelve senators. All it takes is one Judas, Bill. A few people on the inside. Pentagon, CIA, you name it.
Bill Broussard:
This is Louisiana, chief. How the hell do you know who your daddy is? 'Cause your mama told ya so. You are taking a crap in the wind, boss. And I, for one, am not going along on this one.
[Bill grabs his briefcase and angrily throw some things, including a telephone, out of the way and slams the door behind him]
Lou Ivon:
Boss, I've had my doubts all along about Bill. He's been fighting us all along.
Jim Garrison:
Well, we need him back.
Al Oser:
Boss, Broussard wasted a whole damn month trying to prove that mob boys like Jack Ruby and Brady are kind of hooked up with Hunt Oil.
Lou Ivon:
I don't trust this guy.
Jim Garrison:
I will not hear this, gentlemen. Now, I value Bill as much as any person here. It's time we all made room for someone else's ideas, including me. Maybe Oswald is what everybody says he is and I'm just plain dumb about it.
Al Oser:
[trying to discuss this situation] I've seen him copying files, leaving here late at night.
Lou Ivon:
I just don't trust him.
Jim Garrison:
Didn't you two hear what I said?! I said I will not tolerate infighting among the staff!
Lou Ivon:
Then I'm afraid I cannot work with Bill Broussard anymore.
Jim Garrison:
Is this an ultimatum you're giving me, Lou?
Lou Ivon:
What?!
Jim Garrison:
Are you giving me an ultimatum?
Lou Ivon:
Well, if that's what you want to call it. I never thought it would come to this. [sighs] I guess I am.
Jim Garrison:
Well, then I won't have any more ultimatums put to me, Lou. I'll accept your resignation.
Lou Ivon:
Well, you sure got it. You are one stubborn son of a bitch. And you... are making a very big mistake.
[Lou walks away, Jim and his staff are stunned.]
Susie Cox:
Boss, aren't you being a little hard?
Jim Garrison:
No, I don't think I am, Susie. Anyone else?
