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> William C. Sullivan, who headed the FBI's domestic-intelligence division at the time of the assassination, became the bureau's No. 3 official in 1970, but was forced to retire a year later because of a falling-out with Hoover.
In an interview with TIME last week, Sullivan said that at least ten top officials at FBI headquarters in Washington knew about the note. Both current and former FBI agents have reported that it was shredded or burned in Dallas on orders from Mohr. It is not known, and may never be, whether Hoover directed that the note be destroyed. But Sullivan said that on Hoover's orders, information that might have revealed the note had even existed was withheld from the Warren Commission because it would embarrass the bureau.
Sullivan also gave TIME a written statement that he made for FBI investigators last Sept. 16 about Oswald's note. The statement recounted that after the assassination, Sullivan was in charge of finding out whether Oswald had been working for a foreign government. During his investigation, Sullivan said, Shanklin mentioned that an FBI agent had received a threatening message from Oswald before Kennedy was killed. Said Sullivan: "I raised a question as to the details, but Shanklin seemed disinclined to discuss it other than to say that he was handling it as a personnel problem with John P. Mohr."
On another occasion, Shanklin told Sullivan that "Hoover was furious" at Agent Hosty and wanted to give him a disciplinary transfer to Kansas City with a cut in pay because of his handling of the Oswald probe. Said Sullivan: "Shanklin did not mention that any message had been destroyed. He did say that Hoover did not want Hosty given his disciplinary transfer until after Hosty had testified before the Warren Commission...for fear that members of the Warren Commission might find out about it and make inquiries."
Poker Parties. In his statement, Sullivan indicated that more than the Oswald note might have been lost. "I did hear that some documents had been destroyed relating to Oswald and that some others were missing, the nature of which, if I was told, I do not recall."
Mohr has denied in a sworn statement to FBI investigators that he knew about the note or that he told anyone to get rid of it. Even so, by naming Mohr, Sullivan's statement touched on an extremely sensitive point: the fact that many high FBI officials who conducted the investigation of the note are all former aides and still friends of Mohr's.
Sullivan told TIME that the current FBI director, Clarence Kelley, is surrounded by these Mohr men. Among them, Sullivan said, are James Adams, Assistant Director Harold Bassett, Associate Director Nicholas Callahan, Inspector John Dunphy, Deputy Associate Director Thomas Jenkins and Assistant Director Eugene W. Walsh. Voicing complaints made privately by many agents, Sullivan declared that the six officials are "still [Mohr's] men and in decisive matters are still under Mohr's rigid discipline and not Kelley's." Kelley strongly denied Sullivan's complaint.