MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024

MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024
MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024

JFK ASSASSINATION SECRET SERVICE DOCUMENTARY

MAJOR SECRET SERVICE RELATED BOOKS/DVDs/BLU RAYS I AM REFERENCED IN

MAJOR SECRET SERVICE RELATED BOOKS/DVDs/BLU RAYS I AM REFERENCED IN
Zero Fail (quotes from my fourth book), The updated version of The Secret Service-The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (several pages), The Secrets of the Secret Service (the former agent quotes from my third book), The Kennedy Detail (the former agent refers to me on a few pages- he wrote his book as a reaction to my research), Guardians of Democracy (the former agent refers to this blog), Within Arm’s Length (the former agent has my blurb on the cover), C-SPAN November 2010 DVD with former agents Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill (they show a You Tube video of me and discuss my research), C-SPAN May 2012 DVD with former agent Clint Hill (he discusses my letter about his first book), the original edition of The Secret Service-The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (several pages), My History Channel appearance on The Men Who Killed Kennedy (DVD), My NEWSMAX TV appearance on The Men Who Killed Kennedy (2019-2020), The Final Report of the Assassinations Records Review Board (images of the excerpt about my Secret Service interviews donation, President Clinton receiving the report, and an image of the cover), Last Word (several pages and my blurb on the cover of the paperback), A Coup in Camelot DVD/ Blu Ray, They Killed Our President (16 pages refer to my work), an image of myself on C-SPAN, A Coup in Camelot via Amazon Prime television, The Man Behind the Suit DVD (I am Associate Producer on this documentary about former agent Robert DeProspero), JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (I am credited at the end), Vanity Fair article 10/17/14 (refers to my first book a couple times), JFK: The Final Hours DVD (program credits-in background slightly above), Murder in Dealey Plaza (I have two chapters), The Kennedy Half Century (refers to this blog), Coinage Magazine February 2010 (several quotes from myself), Publishers Weekly 8/28/2000 (refers to my contribution to Murder in Dealey Plaza, above), JFK: DESTINY BETRAYED (thanked at the end of all four episodes), and 2 images from THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK SBS UK DOCUMENTARY 2021

ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:

ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:
ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:

Secret Service JFK

Secret Service, JFK, President Kennedy, James Rowley, Gerald Behn, Floyd Boring, Roy Kellerman, John Campion, William Greer, Forest Sorrels, Clint Hill, Winston Lawson, Emory Roberts, Sam Kinney, Paul Landis, John "Jack" Ready, William "Tim" McIntyre, Glenn Bennett, George Hickey, Rufus Youngblood, Warren "Woody" Taylor, Jerry Kivett, Lem Johns, John "Muggsy" O'Leary, Sam Sulliman, Ernest Olsson, Robert Steuart, Richard Johnsen, Stewart "Stu" Stout, Roger Warner, Henry "Hank" Rybka, Donald Lawton, Dennis Halterman, Walt Coughlin, Andy Berger, Ron Pontius, Bert de Freese, Jim Goodenough, Bill Duncan, Ned Hall II, Mike Howard, Art Godfrey, Gerald Blaine, Ken Giannoules, Paul Burns, Gerald O'Rourke, Robert Faison, David Grant, John Joe Howlett, Bill Payne, Robert Burke, Frank Yeager, Donald Bendickson, Gerald Bechtle, Howard Norton, Hamilton Brown, Toby Chandler, Chuck Zboril, Joe Paolella, Wade Rodham, Bob Foster, Lynn Meredith, Rad Jones, Thomas Wells, Charlie Kunkel, Stu Knight, Paul Rundle, Glen Weaver, Arnie Lau, Forrest Guthrie, Eve Dempsher, Bob Lilley, Ken Wiesman, Mike Mastrovito, Tony Sherman, Larry Newman, Morgan Gies, Tom Shipman, Ed Tucker, Harvey Henderson, Abe Bolden, Robert Kollar, Ed Mougin, Mac Sweazey, Horace "Harry" Gibbs, Tom Behl, Jim Cantrell, Bill Straughn, Tom Fridley, Mike Kelly, Joe Noonan, Gayle Dobish, Earl Moore, Arthur Blake, John Lardner, Milt Wilhite, Bill Skiles, Louis Mayo, Thomas Wooge, Milt Scheuerman, Talmadge Bailey, Bob Lapham, Bob Newbrand, Bernie Mullady, Jerry Dolan, Vince Mroz, William Bacherman, Howard Anderson, U.E. Baughman, Walt Blaschak, Robert Bouck, George Chaney, William Davis, Paul Doster, Dick Flohr, Jack Fox, John Giuffre, Jim Griffith, Jack Holtzhauer, Andy Hutch, Jim Jeffries, John Paul Jones, Kent Jordan, Dale Keaner, Brooks Keller, Thomas Kelley, Clarence Knetsch, Jackson Krill, Elmer Lawrence, Bill Livingood, J. Leroy Lewis, Dick Metzinger, Jerry McCann, John McCarthy, Ed Morey, Chester Miller, Roy "Gene" Nunn, Jack Parker, Paul Paterni, Burrill Peterson, Max Phillips, Walter Pine, Michael Shannon, Frank Stoner, Cecil Taylor, Charles Taylor, Bob Taylor, Elliot Thacker, Ken Thompson, Mike Torina, Jack Walsh, Jack Warner, Thomas White, Ed Wildy, Carroll Winslow, Dale Wunderlich, Walter Young, Winston Gintz, Bill Carter, C. Douglas Dillon, James Johnson, Larry Hess, Frank Farnsworth, Jim Giovanneti,Bob Gaugh,Don Brett, Jack Gleason, Bob Jamison, Gary Seale, Bill Sherlock, Bob Till, Doc Walters...

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Merletti/ Merletti

For Indianapolis Colts safety Matt Merletti, protecting U.S. presidents was just part of 'family business'


11:09 AM, Aug. 24, 2012

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120824/SPORTS03/120824030/For-Colts-safety-protecting-U-S-presidents-just-part-family-business-?odyssey=nav%7Chead



Matt Merletti can’t land a job with the Indianapolis Colts, the undrafted rookie safety might try a more dangerous line of defense: the U.S. Secret Service.

It’s not just a backup plan. It’s the family business.



His father, Lew, spent 25 years in the Secret Service, the last two as its 19th director. He helped protect presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and was Special Agent in Charge on Clinton’s detail in the mid 1990s.



Matt’s brother, Mike, has been accepted into the Secret Service and is waiting out a hiring freeze. Cousin Chris Funk, who grew up in the Merletti household, has been with the Secret Service for 16 years. Lew Merletti’s cousin, Rob, just left President Obama’s detail.



“It would be an interesting career if I would want to pursue that,” Matt Merletti, 24. “It’s definitely on the table for me.”



The NFL is pressure-packed, but not like this.



“There would be a lot more stress guarding the president, having to put your life on the line and step in front of a bullet,” he said.



As a kid, Merletti dressed up as a football player or an Army soldier. For now, the former Cleveland Browns ballboy is chasing his football dream. His dad, who left the Secret Service directorship in 1999 for the Browns, is the team’s senior vice president of security.



“Ask him about Osama bin Laden,” Matt said of his father.



Lew doesn’t need much prompting to talk about the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11. As someone who had studied bin Laden and other terrorists, he warned about the threat years before 9/11. When the first World Trade Center tower was struck by a plane, Lew knew who was behind it.

“When it happened, as soon as the first one went in, I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s bin Laden,’” said Lew, 64. “I had worked so hard when I was in the Secret Service to try to warn Congress, everyone, that this guy is for real. We had to stop this guy.”



Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, the Browns’ secondary coach in 2001, recalled watching the attacks on TV at the team facility with Lew.



“Right off the bat, Lew said, ‘I’ll bet Osama bin Laden is behind this,’” Pagano said. “He knew.”



Matt and his brother were aware, growing up, how scary the world could be. He was just 7 when the boys were taken to Secret Service headquarters and taught how to shoot guns.



That was in response to a terrorist who said on an intercepted radio communication that he wanted to learn everything possible about Lew, his family, his residence.



“I remember it, but I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Matt said. “We had to learn how to shoot guns. They hid guns in our house.”



That was another part of growing up in the Merletti home — knowing where the guns were hidden for protection.



Anybody who meets Matt or Mike makes the connection to Lew. They look alike. When told of Pagano’s assessment that Matt is a “chip off the old block,” both father and son laugh.



It was Lew’s commitment to his family, the recognition of the risk involved, that eventually led to his Secret Service departure. That and the loss of a close friend and colleague killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.



When Browns owner Al Lerner promised to make Lew “an offer you can’t refuse,” the father talked it over with his sons. The boys loved football. They wanted him to take the job with the Browns.



Pagano has known Matt since those ballboy days in Cleveland and coached him for a year in college at North Carolina. Merletti had an injury-marred college career but showed enough in his Pro Day workout to attract interest from the NFL.



“He’s a bright, young man, loves football, he’s got all the traits you’re looking for in a person,” Pagano said.



The Colts coach can relate to family bloodlines. Pagano’s father, Sam, was a successful high school football coach. His brother, John, is San Diego’s defensive coordinator.



“When Matt had the opportunity to go to the Colts, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is where you belong. This is your niche, Matt. This is the perfect leader for you,’” Lew said, referring to Pagano.



Undrafted players are typically longshots to make the final roster. The first round of cuts are Monday, with the final trim to 53 on Aug. 31.



“We’re hoping for the best,” Lew said. “The one thing we’re going to do is what we’ve done our whole life: We’re going to try our very hardest.”



Matt credits his father for instilling a dedicated work ethic. Lew attributes some of that to a tip he received in the Soviet Union while protecting President Reagan on a 1988 visit to Moscow. An Olympic trainer advised a pull-up training regimen beginning on a child’s sixth birthday to strengthen not just the mind but body.



“The last count I had on Matt’s pull-ups was in excess of 43,000, as of his sophomore year in college,” the elder Merletti said.



While Secret Service legacies are typically successful because the next generation knows what to expect, Matt and Lew aren’t thinking too far ahead. It’s all about football, at least for now.



Lew eagerly awaited his son’s NFL preseason debut on Aug. 12 at Lucas Oil Stadium when his phone buzzed at 1:14 p.m., about 15 minutes before kickoff.



Just before leaving the locker room, Matt sent the text message: “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be here without you. I love you.”

The father beamed.



“I’ll be honest with you,” Lew said, “I sat in the stands with tears in my eyes.”



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