Perry Raymond Russo

An old friend of David Ferrie's, he was 21 years old when Kennedy was murdered.

He became Jim Garrison's key witness during Clay Shaw's trial by identifying as "Clay Bertrand" a photograph picturing Clay Shaw. He claimed he heard Clay Bertrand discuss plans aiming to assassinate JFK around September, 1963. Under medical supervision, Garrison had hypnotized Perry Russo, then given him sodium pentothal truth serum. In both cases, Russo seemed to be telling the truth.

Defendants denounced such methods, and discredited Russo, accusing Garrison of giving narcotics to the witness.