Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency FOIA release, dated 2025-06-12, collects 1976 CIA paperwork on Harold Weisberg's request (76-F-382) for records on Martin Luther King, Jr. It includes routing slips, an Operations Staff memorandum listing releasable press items and exempt cables, dispatches and memoranda, and a CI Staff reply citing a 1968 Office of Security memo on Coretta Scott King. It also contains a 16 May 1968 memo to the FBI reporting that Gerald Lee Richards, investigated in Japan, did not resemble suspect James Earl Ray.
“Nevers”14 pages
Memorandum Mr. DeLoach ## DATE April 9, 1968 1 - Mr. DeLoach 1 - Mr. Rosen 1 - Mr. Malley 1 - Mr. McGowan 1 - Mr. McDonough 1 - Mr. Long 1 - Mr. Martindale 1 - Mr. Bishop 1 - Mr. Conrad 1 - Mr. Sullivan This is the case involving the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4/4/68. One of the most promising leads developed so far is the laundry tags appearing on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts apparently abandoned by the subject with the rifle that is believed to be the murder weapon. It has been determined that these laundry marks were made by a Thermo Seal marking machine manufactured by the Textile Marking Machine Company, Syracuse, New York. The manufacturer of this machine has advised that the laundry marks in question are unusual in that they consist of five characters whereas the usual code contains six characters. These markings are also unusual because the first two characters are in smaller type while the remaining three characters are in larger type. The normal arrangement is for the first three characters to be in smaller type and for the following characters to be in larger type. The Textile Marking Machine Company has stated only a limited number of machines have been manufactured which print laundry marks in this manner. Investigation is proceeding on an expedited basis to locate these machines for the purpose of identifying the laundry marks. Richard Helms, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has furnished the Central Intelligence Agency file on Robert Ervin Kramer, M. D., Berkeley, California, whom Helms considers a suspect because of his resemblance to an artist's conception of the subject and because of the Central Intelligence Agency's experience with Kramer. The Central Intelligence Agency file states Kramer has a long arrest record and contains a Berkeley Police Department photograph, dated 1/27/66, number 22805. Enclosure lent 4-9-68 54 APR241968 Wlm: yea CONTINUED - OVER
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 295 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.