Customer Reviews

Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Warner Books)

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As someone who reads widely and often, I can honestly say this: Very few books I have ever read have had as profound an impact upon me as Dr. William Pepper's meticulously and exhaustively researched "Orders To Kill". Dr. Pepper spent upwards of 18 years researching the facts behind the King Assassination and is probably the world's leading authority on the subject. "Orders To Kill" contains the results of those 18 years of investigation.

What he found is chilling and disturbing, and should make us wonder what happened to our "democracy": The government of the United States, among others, was deeply involved in the killing. And in a testament to Dr. Pepper's tenacity and skill as an investigative journalist, many of those responsible for King's political murder have actually admitted their complicity in the book (These facts do not 'give away' the plot, since this information is contained on the outside back of the book and because it takes a book of over 500 pages like this one to fully explain the enormity of the event it describes).

In fact, one of the men implicated in the assassination, witnessed the shooting himself and names the individual who actually fired the bullet that killed Dr. King (Hint: it is not James Earl Ray). Of course, this individual named names only after being assured by Dr. Pepper that he would be immune from prosecution for his role in the killing.

Dr. Pepper, through sheer persistence, an iron will, and a burning desire for the truth, has written a book that will grab the reader from page one, and not let go until the bitter (very) end.

The tale it so skillfully tells is a tragic one and is of epic proportions. But it is a tale that must be told, for if truth is to prevail in this world, as I believe it must, then books like this one must be written. I cannot recommend a book more highly than I recommend this one. Read it and prepare to be disgusted, frightened, saddened, and in the end, amazed and hopefully glad that the truth has finally prevailed.

This is a very revealing book, exhaustively researched and written in a style that is reasonably easy to read. Read it if you are open to the possibility that the government doesn't always tell us the whole truth about things and you think that, in theory at least, it may do some evil things quite deliberately. Otherwise, don't bother.

The Dirk Diggler review on 05-01-98 talks about Gerald Posner's book "Case Closed" as if it were the "the whole truth and nothing but!" In reality, Posner speculates and adds wording to testimonial given by eyewitness accounts. The conspiracy theories offered in his book add up to a little more than the government telling him what to write and then adding additional dollars to his publicity campaign to help promote the book. "Dirk Diggler" is either Gerald Posner writing his own review and touting his book, or he works for the government and wants to keep the facts as far away from the public eye as possible.

The fact that the government has not allowed an independent lab to test the rifle supposedly used by Ray, or that Ray was never granted a "fair trial" are viable questions that are raised. "Orders to Kill" offers an insight not found in other books in this category. If you want to believe that only "one gunman" killed JFK, then "Case Closed" is the perfect read. "Pepper offers a rare glimpse of reality, not often seen in these times of governmental deception!"

William Francis Pepper (born 1937) is a attorney based in New York City; he is also the author of An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King.

In his Foreword, Dexter Scott King (Dr. King's second son) stated, "My family and I have long shared the conviction that the so-called official version, that James Earl Ray somehow acted alone in killing my father, was unacceptable... we simply believe that there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary in this case... until the publication of William F. Pepper's 'Orders to Kill,' there was no single book I could recommend as a satisfying explanation..."

Pepper himself wrote in the Introduction, "This book has been in development since 1978 and reflects a long-term effort to uncover the truth about the assassination... I've tried in every way possible to put evidence of James's innocence before a court. Frustrated at every turn, I now turn to the court of last resort---the American people."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Though the general public was made well aware of the guilty pleas, Ray's equivocation at the hearing went largely unnoticed." (Pg. 45)
"I believe that James Earl Ray has never revealed all that he knows. He has been the target of at least one murder attempt in prison and has probably decided that to say more is dangerous." (Pg. 79)
"If the state's contentions were to be believed, then the timing of this escape was incredibly fine. Apparently it had to have taken place within a minute of the actual shot." (Pg. 154)
"James never authorized (his attorney) to plea bargain with the attorney general. He always insisted on a trial. Hanes recalled that at an early stage the state did offer a life sentence in exchange for a plea. James refused." (Pg. 167)
"As the investigation almost completely gave way to the trial itself, it was apparent that much was yet to be done. The four-month intensive investigative period had seemingly disappeared in an instant. Had we another three months and the necessary resources to follow through on the plethora of loose ends and newly generated leads, I believed that it might have been possible to pull off a 'Perry Mason' courtroom performance, as a result of which James's innocence would be established." (Pg. 268)
"The prosecution's last live witness... had to admit that there were numerous other fingerprints found in the rooming house and lifted from the Mustang itself that he never identified and wasn't asked to identify." (Pg. 286)
"Shock waves went through the courtroom when our witness ... looked at the photograph I showed him of the three fragments of the bullet alleged to be the death slug and stated, 'That's not the bullet I saw.'" (Pg. 287)
"Black firemen ... and black MPD officer ... later testified that they were all transferred and removed from duty assignments at fire station 2 during the last twenty-four hours of Dr. King's life." (Pg. 292)
"Inexplicably no all points bulletin (APB) and no signal Y (blocking exit routes from the city) were issued by the MPD." (Pg. 482)
"How two snipers shooting from different locations could take out both King and Young and still pin the shooting on James Earl Ray is difficult to reconcile until one remembers that the initial plan appeared to be to shoot at a moving target in a car." (Pg. 485)

This book reveals the extensive role the U.S. government, organized crime, civilians, played in the assasination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. William F. Pepper had, through years of investigation, wrote a book that tells us the truth of the assasination. Theres not much for me to say except that if a student, from Singapore, who had nothing to do with the one of the most prominent figure in the history of the United States, bothered to post a review about a book which narrates events leading up to his murder and afterwards, surely tells a lot about the book.

William Pepper knows more than most people about the King assassination. He has been dilagent in his research and efforts to uncover the truth about his long wrongly incarcerated client, James Earl Ray. Of course, Ray has recently died and the courts will likely use this as the final excuse to make all this noise go away. But it doesn't change the fact that this book exists, regardless of how little attention has been paid to it since publication. There are some wild theories speculated upon in the text, but the full circle appraoch Pepper uses makes you start to see his logic. Whether his ultimate theory is true or not, it finally proves irrelevent as you see the lengths the Tennassee state and the federal government have gone to suppress evidence and ignore constitutional rights. Even if Ray was guilty, there is no excuse for the sinister plots hatched by high-level individuals to keep these ideas out of the media and to toss them out of court. If Ray's gun is so obviously the murder weapon, why not allow the testing to be completed? If the case is such a sure shot done deal with the murderer in jail and now gone, why not allow the trial? Too much public sentiment, including Dr. King's own wife and children, don't believe the official conclusions. It is tragic that close-minded people will not even deign to look at some of Pepper's new evidence and they stubbornly insist that this is all taken care of and shut up people, shut up America, we know what's right for you. The further you get in this book, the more suspicious you are likely to become. Of course, the book is not without its flaws. In a reversal of Gerald Posner's chief flaw (his unquestioned belief in anything any government person says), Pepper seems too willing to disregard 30 years of lies and changing stories and accredit only the story that fits hhis theory. usually, he tries to accept the most recent telling of a story from certain alledged co-conspirators, but if the new story doesn't work for him, he relies on the o! lder story (not the oldest because that is now a proven lie, according to Pepper.) Also, Posner is a wonderful writer, churning out pitch-perfect satires of conspiracy books, mocking the style and conventions of this now established genre. Pepper, well, he's not much of a writer. The book drags and occasionally contridicts itself only to re-contradict itself later on when an editor likely told him about this. He uses this technique to establish his growing state of mind and his altering beliefs as his investigation continues. Unfortunately, it's rather confusing. The book is almost too self-interested, employing a pretentious first-person narration like it's not about the King assassination at all, it's not about James Earl Ray's wrongful imprisonment, but is the tale of an epic quest by the only man brave enough to take on the powers that be. This, I have to say, is the greatest flaw in this otherwise very important and very relevent book.

This book is a must read for anyone either interested in the murder of one of our best leaders in this century, or as an incredible murder mystery.The Military aspects remain conjecture, and this is where Pepper has caught the most media heat.This book at least the first half is excellent in detailing James Earl Ray's legal battles to reverse his plea from guilty to not guilty. I guarantee their is so many shennanigans pulled that you will not believe it.Percy Foreman Ray's 2nd Lawyer who got him to plead guilty was also an Attorney for Jack Ruby, Gen. Walker, and the Hunt Family. Pepper is especially strong in shooting down the St. Louis Racist theory, which was also the conspiracy theory for the House Select Committee and the new book by Gerald Posner Killing The Dream.

The average person after finishing this book I'm convinced will believe there is more to the Assassination than what they have been reading in their OP-ED pg.'s. There is alot more here than wild theorizing. A MUST READ.

I must say that this book is pretty horrible. Written with "speculative style," one has to wonder if Pepper actually has any cold hard facts. The book is full of "this must be, so that must be" fallacies. I recommend Case Closed, by Gerald Posner, which already disproves half of what Pepper is getting at.