The MLK Tapes

Interviews with Ryan Jones, historian at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, & Brian Dominski, court reporter for the '93 HBO trial and the '99 Civil Trial.

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After King is murdered, John Curington notices increased contact between H.L. Hunt and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. One day, Hunt gives Curington a satchel to bring to Ray's attorney, Percy Foreman. As he hands the bag to Foreman, Curington says the words he was told to say: "Here are 125,000 reasons for Ray to plead guilty."

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Dallas oilman H.L. Hunt hated communists, and in his mind this included Martin Luther King. He attacked King regularly on his program Life Line, carried daily on 500 radio stations across the country. Hunt believed this would be enough to destroy King, but J. Edgar Hoover had other ideas.

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On this Bonus Episode, we look at the life of Attorney Bill Pepper. We trace his early career in sports, a brush with the mob, work for Bobby Kennedy, travels in Vietnam and Cuba, and his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Then, how he came to represent James Earl Ray's brother, Jerry, at the House Committee hearing. 

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Lennie Curtis works at the police rifle range where sharpshooter Frank Strausser talks about killing King. On the fatal day, Strausser practices all morning with his new rifle. When Strausser leaves for town, Curtis tries to warn King, but fails. Years later, Pepper confronts Strausser.

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After 30 years of silence, cab driver Louis Ward comes forward to tell what happened to him when King was shot. A few years later, Ronnie Lee Adkins, who says his family was involved in the assassination, confirms Ward's story.

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Bill Pepper gets a phone call from attorney Rusty Larson who says that his client, Jim Green, was involved in the murder of King. Then Green calls and says his assignment was to kill Ray.

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Texas woman Glenda Grabow tells Bill Pepper she knew a gun runner in Houston named Raul, who she thinks was involved in the murder of Martin Luther King. Could this be the same Raul known by James Earl Ray?

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A witness, John McFerren, overhears mob-connected Frank Liberto talking on the telephone, a conversation he's not supposed to hear.

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Bill Pepper's petition to reopen the case against Ray lands in the courtroom of Judge Joe Brown, a firearms expert, who has his doubts that the rifle found on the street was murder weapon.

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