United States Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Memorandum
Date: 12/6/78
To: Mr. Moore
From: J. O. Ingram
Subject: RYMUR
DAILY SUMMARY
Autopsies of Deceased at Dover, Delaware.
It is recalled that the Department of Justice has requested that autopsies be performed on the remains of the Reverend Jim Jones, Dr. Larry Schacht, Maria Katsaris, and four other identified victims at Jonestown chosen at random by the FBI. The FBI has been tasked to obtain written permission from the next of kin of the above deceased.
To date written waivers authorizing autopsies have been obtained from Steven K. Katsaris, father of Maria Katsaris, and from Ezra Schacht, father of Dr. Larry Schacht. Negotiations with families of Reverend Jones and others selected continue but to date no consent for autopsies have been obtained. Investigation in this area continues.
Interview of Galan W. (Joe) Holsinger
Mr. Holsinger was interviewed on the evening of 12/4 and during the day of 12/5/78. Holsinger advised that he believed a total of 18 people including Congressman Ryan traveled to Guyana on 11/14/78. Holsinger will provide a complete list of individuals to the FBI as soon as one can be compiled. Regarding Congressman Ryan’s briefcase, Holsinger stated that he would make the briefcase available to interviewing Agents of the Washington Field Office, however, did not have it in his possession at the time of the interview. Holsinger received the briefcase from James Schollaert in San Francisco on 11/21/78. The clasps on the briefcase were open and after going through its contents, Holsinger noted that a tape recorder carried by Congressman Ryan to Guyana was missing.
Continued – over
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RE: RYMUR
At approximately 8 :00 p.m., PST, 11/18/78, [name and address deleted], was home alone and received a call at her residence. A male voice asked for her husband. When told he was not there the unidentified male told her to tell him “his meal ticket just had his head blown off and we will kill him next.” A second and third call followed immediately with the same message by the same person. A fourth and fifth call were terminated by [name deleted] when the same male voice was determined to be on the line. These calls were reported to the Foster City, California, Police Department, by [name deleted]. In connection with these calls, however, on 11/24/78, [name deleted], San Francisco, telephoned [name deleted] and said that he had obtained information that a Peoples Temple (PT) hit squad was in existence with two members being in the United States and one in Guyana. [name deleted] advised that he had a tape recording of a news conference that the PT held in San Francisco, the spokesman being [name deleted]. [name deleted] listened to this tape and identified the voice of [name deleted] as the caller to her residence. San Francisco has been instructed to contact [name deleted] and conduct necessary investigation regarding this incident. San Francisco has also been instructed to contact reporter [name deleted] (supra) regarding this incident.
Interview of Persons Returning from Guyana
On 12/5/78 three individuals returned from Guyana. Richard Clark advised that he observed weapons at the PT in Guyana in a duffle [duffel] bag that apparently had just arrived from the United States approximately two to three months ago. Jones allegedly knew Congressman Ryan was to arrive at least two weeks before his actual arrival. Clark escaped Jonestown the morning of Ryan’s assassination and was not present at the time of the assassination or suicides. Clark observed the arrival of two bags of cyanide brought to Jonestown from the ship “Cudule” [“Cudjo”] but knows nothing further about its source. He noted that Jim Jones was a heavy drug user but could furnish no further information. Clark stated that he heard that one Annie McGile (phonetic) [MacGowan] shot Reverend Jones and that Thomas Kice shot Ryan but was unable to pinpoint the source of his information.
Robert Paul stated that he escaped Jonestown prior to what he described as “mass murder.” Paul stated that his wife and three children perished at Jonestown. Paul stated
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that conditions at Jonestown were brutal and prison-like and further described Reverend Jimmy Jones as a dictator. Paul stated he saw Congressman Ryan on Friday evening, 11/17/78 when Ryan addressed the Jonestown community. In Paul’s opinion he feels Ryan sensed problems and did not really mean what he told the community that everything looked well. Paul heard that the tractor trailer from which Congressman Ryan was shot was driven by one Ed Crenshaw and that Thomas Kice was the man that shot Ryan.
[Name deleted] survived the Jonestown massacre and described Jones as being a person who did a lot of good in the San Francisco area but when he arrived in Guyana Jones ran Jonestown like a slave labor concentration camp.
No additional pertinent information was developed from these interviews.
Seventeen individuals are scheduled to arrive via Pan American Airlines, Flight 228 from Guyana at 6:15 p.m., 12/6/78 at JFK International Airport, New York City. Provisions have been made to interview all individuals. Additionally, subpoenas have been issued calling for the appearance of [name deleted] before the Federal Grand Jury [1 line deleted]. Discussions were held regarding service of these subpoenas between representatives of FBI HQ and the Criminal Division of the Department on this date and it was determined with the concurrence of the United States Attorney, San Francisco, that the [next seven lines heavily redacted].
By telephone call to the Brooklyn Queens Metropolitan Resident Agency on the evening of 12/5/78, Attorney William Kunstler placed the Bureau on notice that he was acting on behalf of Attorney Charles Garry in representing all persons returning aboard the Pan American flight this date. Kunstler advised that the FBI was to conduct no interviews of these individuals. With the concurrence of the Criminal Division of the Department and the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, interviews
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will proceed as scheduled. On 12/6/78 a conference was held with Assistant Attorney General Philip Heyman, Robert Keuch, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and Al Hantman, Section Chief, all of the Criminal Division of the Department. All present at the conference agreed with the above procedure to be followed regarding interviews in the Eastern District of New York inasmuch as all were to be interviewed merely as witnesses. A representative of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York will be present at JFK International Airport to handle all inquiries relative to the presence of lawyers for individuals returning from Guyana.
Identification of the Dead at Dover, Delaware.
To date 563 persons have been positively identified; 547 by fingerprint comparisons; and 16 by dental charts.
Investigation Concerning Mark Lane.
During the interview of Vernon Gosney at San Juan (Gosney was a defecting PT member wounded in Guyana with Ryan) Gosney stated that Mark Lane during his trip to Jonestown told members of the camp that there was a plot to destroy Jonestown. Lane said that there was a planned conspiracy against Jonestown and that the group coming there were members of the CIA.
Investigation into the Assets of the PT Church.
By letter received 12/5/78 the Civil Division of the Department requested that the FBI investigate the assets of the PT Church in expectation of a possible request that the Department bring a civil action to recover certain funds expended to return bodies to the United States in connection with the recent incident in Guyana.
The Civil Division is being informed by return memorandum with the concurrence of the Criminal Division of the Department that we do not believe that the FBI at this time has proper authority to conduct an investigation into the assets of the PT. The FBI will, however, conduct a limited inquiry to locate assets of the PT and conduct sufficient investigation for the Department to determine if the PT Church in California
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and/or Guyana maybe liable for the debts of individual members of the organization. In the event that a civil action is brought in United States District Court and a judgment is obtained rendering PT Church liable to the United States, the FBI will, at the request of the Civil Division, conduct an in-depth investigation to ascertain the financial ability of the PT Church to meet its obligation.
Legat Robert Oglesby telephonically advised that the records of the PT Church reviewed in Guyana reveal the following bank accounts. These are the accounts found to date and do not necessarily represent all accounts of the PT: (1) Bank of Nova Scotia, Nassau, Bahamas, no account number, name Jim W. Jones, balance $206,396.07 (US); (2) Guyana National Cooperative Bank, Georgetown, Guyana, External Savings Account – PT number COR29489/10, balance $13,256.65 (Guyana); (3) Guyana National Cooperative Bank, Georgetown, Guyana, Time Deposit Savings Account number CO-90-319, balance $13,222.61 (Guyana); (4) Guyana National Cooperative Bank, Georgetown, Guyana, Savings Account number 28549, balance $12,935.93 (Guyana); (5) Barclays Bank, Georgetown, Guyana, External Savings Account number 9857/2, balance $1,806,051.03 (Guyana); (6) Barclays Bank, Georgetown, Guyana Checking Account (no account number) – PT, balance $30,890 (Guyana); (7) Banco Union, Caracas, Venezuela, account number 01-58115-5 in name Maria Katsaris, balance $85,745 (Guyana) (This account is believed to be a Checking account); and (8) Bank of America, Fillmore Post Office Branch, San Francisco, California, account number 2-1465 in the name James Warren Jones, balance $7334.96 (US). (By letter dated 5/26/78, Bank of America made inquiry of Jones as to reason that the account was dormant.)
The rate of exchange on 12/6/78 is $1 United States equals $2.54 Guyana.
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