Oswald's Third Arrest?

As discussed in Bart's interview series with Malcolm Blunt, when the Hart-Schweiker Committee began investigating the claims of Orestes Pena, they got closer than anyone else in finding out what Oswald was really doing in New Orleans in 1963 - until someone got to Wendell Roache. Roache was ready to spill the beans:



When Roache actually testified six days later, he said he only saw Oswald once, handing out flyers on Canal St. Roache still gave the Committee enough however that his 12/9/75 testimony was permanently deep-sixed, such as unequivocally linking Oswald to David Ferrie's group which was under INS surveillance. Roache's most bizarre disclosure however involved fellow INS inspector Ron Smith:



Roach tipped the investigators off to Smith in his initial 12/3/75 phone call but Smith didn't return the committee's calls until the day of Roache's testimony.



Smith testified two days later on 12/11/75. The Committee asked the NOPD for other arrest records of Oswald and predictably found nothing, but didn't check for any of Oswald's alleged aliases, or do an independent search of police records to find a profile that might match:





Smith said the arrest was "shortly before" his transfer on 4/10/63, the day of the Walker shooting. Oswald's last day at JCS was on April 6th and he never had more than two days off for months before that if I recall. 

Is there any potential merit to Smith's claims? I know there was that guy who said he sold tires to "A. J. Hidell" in January '63, but other than 4/6-4/10 I can't think of another time when Oswald would have had time to go down there - assuming his JCS timesheets are accurate. Also the Texas Employment Commission has Oswald there on April 8th. 

Oswald put that he arrived in New Orleans on 4/12/63 on a job application, which is also interesting. April 10th was a Wednesday so maybe Smith got the request but didn't leave until the following Monday?

Of course Smith could have had his dates wrong and was transferred later - and was maybe one of the plainclothes men who identified themselves as FBI agents when talking to Oswald and the group of Cubans on August 9th - but I haven't seen any evidence of Oswald speaking a different language or claiming to be anyone other than himself after the arrest. 

There's also that FPCC envelope with the Mercedes St. address on it, and Oswald's unknown whereabouts for a time in October '62. Does anyone know of any other evidence that might put Oswald in New Orleans prior to 4/24/63?

My take on this: not Oswald
Because:
a) timing does not fit for Oswald since he was in Dallas, not New Orleans at time stated 
b) no name "Oswald" is remembered or claimed to have been involved in the prisoner interviewed by Ron Nelson in New Orleans, nor is there any other indication of any manner of real-time evidence confirming an Oswald identity
therefore
c) it appears INS Ron Smith concluded it was Oswald as a retroactive post-Nov 22, 1963 conclusion (mistaken)

Additional comment:
d) the second-hand hearsay account of Roache sourced from Ron Smith of INS that the prisoner spoke Russian and that police believed he was Russian is incorrect, belied by the interview with Ron Smith of INS himself saying the man claimed to be "Cuban" (not "Russian"). There is no Russian in this story in Ron Smith's telling, red herring.

e) the only mystery, which remains unknown, is on what basis did Ron Smith suppose the April 1963 New Orleans prisoner claiming to be a Cuban alien with whom he spoke, was Lee Harvey Oswald. Since there is no information on whether that question was asked or answered, the default assumption is the way most other post-Nov 22, 1963 retroactive claims of having encountered Lee Harvey Oswald came about: by someone seeing Oswald in the news following the assassination, remembering someone they encountered in the past and thinking it was him, telling a few friends that, etc.

Conclusion: mistaken identification.

Cognitive dissonance (uncertainty in above conclusion): Ron Smith's claim of being "absolutely certain" of the identification as Lee Harvey Oswald. The "absolutely certain" could indicate a memory of a confirmed identification at the time, in which the prisoner claimed to be a Cuban alien, claimed to be a different name, but Ron Smith remembered a confirmed identification of true name at that time, "Lee Harvey Oswald". Since it is likely neither the prisoner nor the name would have meant much to Ron Smith otherwise, how would it stick in his memory to be remembered months or years later?

Conclusion: despite a puzzle as to why Ron Smith claimed "absolute certainty" (instead of saying "I think it was, sure looked like him when I saw him on TV after the assassination", etc.), still conclude "mistaken identification" for reasons above, primarily the logistical conflict and also Oswald not otherwise known to have claimed to be a Cuban alien. 

1975--twelve years later--time for what someone thinks was the case, after telling it enough times to family and friends, to become "absolute certainty"?

Greg,

You are probably right, but you bring up exactly what got me interested me about this in the first place: on what basis did Ron Smith make his claim of "absolute certainty"?

Wendell Roache's initial 12/3/75 statement that he saw Oswald around all the time and that he "had an office in..." corroborates Orestes Pena who said he saw Oswald frequently in the company of Roache and Customs officer David Smith - and in front of the Customs House. 

Where was this alleged office? Roache said INS surveillance established that Oswald was a member of David Ferrie's group. Was the office in the Newman building? Could it have been in the Customs House? How would Roache know Oswald had his own office unless he knew Oswald personally? 

Roache brought up Ron Smith and the arrest in his initial statement, after saying "I've been waiting 12 years to talk to someone about this." By the date of Roache's testimony, 12/9/75, someone had gotten to him, as he reversed course - saying he'd only seen Oswald once. Roache's debrief with INS and Justice makes this eminently clear, since he suddenly "lost his memory" on several key issues. 

12/9/75 also happens to be the day Ron Smith finally returned the Committee's phone calls. Smith didn't want to testify, saying he'd "have nothing to add" and had to be talked into it. Smith testifies two days later and supposedly makes the claim that he is "absolutely certain" he spoke to Oswald in the New Orleans jail. 

Smith had clearly discussed the Oswald arrest incident with coworkers including Roache. He certainly would have mentioned it to lead New Orleans INS Investigator Art Bero, who testified to the Committee on 12/15/75.

The executive session testimonies of Pena, Smith, Roache, and Bero have all been permanently buried. Was there any corroboration for the arrest incident? Could Smith's "absolute certainty" have come from Oswald himself mentioning the incident to Roache etc. in the Summer of '63, which was subsequently relayed to Smith? 

Malcolm Blunt mentions in his talks with Bart Warren DeBrueys "wriggling out of" testifying to the Church Committee by basically rambling his ass off about nothing - but he slipped up when the Committee brought up INS/Customs people. They asked him if he knew an INS man "Red" Smith. DeBrueys makes a wrong identification then mentions offhand that he knows a Smith in Customs. The Committee says "David Smith?" and DeBrueys for the only time in his entire testimony seems shook - maybe because he realizes the Committee is onto David Smith, who was likely a CIA cut-out like Cesar Diosado?

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1421#relPageId=31

Thirty pages after being asked about Smith, DeBrueys is asked about the arrest. He "doesn't recall", but it's a pretty interesting exchange:



Another thirty pages later, DeBrueys is asked about Oswald impersonating Cubans. It's another interesting exchange:




"Yeah"

At the end of DeBrueys' testimony his secrecy agreement is mentioned (it's kind of funny, Wallach gives the impression he thinks DeBrueys is full of shit). DeBrueys says he was conditionally released to testify about the FBI JFK investigation and the investigation of Cuban groups in New Orleans - but there is no supporting paperwork. Was DeBrueys free to lie about operations involving Cuban groups? Was he even released from his secrecy agreement at all?

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1421#relPageId=148

What I'm getting at is that Ron Smith also told the Committee that he knew David Smith and DeBrueys. That's a lot of people with shadowy connections to Oswald that could have bolstered Ron's claim of "absolute certainty" over the years. I wonder what Roache and Bero had to say?

Even if it was just a mistaken identification, it's an interesting jumping off point into the INS/Customs angle and the missing Church Committee documents.