The Poison Patriarch

How the Betrayals of Joseph P. Kennedy Caused the Assassination of JFK

By: Mark Shaw

Narrated by: Pat Kiernan

Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Focusing for the first time on why attorney general Robert F. Kennedy wasn’t killed in 1963 instead of on why President John F. Kennedy was, Mark Shaw offers a stunning and provocative assassination theory that leads directly to the family patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy. Mining fresh information and more than 40 new interviews, Shaw weaves a spellbinding narrative involving Mafia don Carlos Marcello; Jack Ruby (Lee Harvey Oswald’s killer); Ruby’s attorney, Melvin Belli; and, ultimately, the Kennedy brothers and their father.

Shaw addresses these tantalizing questions: Why, shortly after his brother’s death, did a grief-stricken RFK tell a colleague, "I thought they would get one of us...I thought it would be me"? Why was Belli, an attorney with almost no defense experience (but proven ties to the Mafia), chosen as Jack Ruby’s attorney? How does Belli’s Mafia connection call into question his legal strategy, which ultimately led to the Ruby’s first-degree murder conviction and death sentence? What was Joseph Kennedy’s relationship to organized crime? And how was his insistence that JFK appoint RFK as attorney general tantamount to signing the president’s death warrant?

For 50 years, Shaw maintains, researchers investigating the president’s murder in Dallas have been looking at the wrong motives and actors. The Poison Patriarch offers a shocking reassessment - one that is sure to alter the course of future assassination debates.

©2013 Mark Shaw (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Well reasearched and written.

Mark Shaw's book takes us to a logical conclusion. Unfortunately it has taken half a century of details and facts coming to the surface for the public to get the bigger picture.

A little hard to follow

Struggled a little to finish it only because there is so much information said. But did grasp the jist and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Must read

Another great book and read by Mark Shaw highly recommend keep an open mind and listen

Decent Overall

Interesting book with a lot of good opinions. Slightly repetitive throughout though. Well narrated but he repeats himself a lot.

Double take

I loved this so much and treasured the many facts that I read it twice. In the end, the first time through, I just wanted more, so after a couple of days, I read it again.
All the details struck better the second time.
this is for sure the smoking gun for why JFK was assassinated. Thank You Mark Shaw.

Waste of time

This author was extremely repetitive. Difficult to finish due to the content being repeated over and over. The title is extremely misleading.

Not enough

Some good info. And probably accurate...Not nearly enough to prove the thesis.But the author continuously uses supernatural religious overtones to basically claim all Kennedys deserved to die because their father was a gangster.

I’ve heard rumors about this, but I thought it was shocking

Incredible amount of information, which seems to be substantiated. I remember many of the things he talked about. I remember the assassination and how everyone I knew figured it was a Mob
Hit

I read the Warren commission and thought it was a little bit far reaching to say it was not a conspiracy. I guess just a feeling my head.
The book is very interesting 

Rehash

I read this book because I am a huge fan of history around the JFK assassination. However this book was a disappointment because basically Mr Shaw rehashed every thing from another of his books, word for word in many places.

Entertaining

Gives a new spin on the usual conspiracies. Mafia has been heard but not told in such detail. I don’t believe this theory but entertaining none the less.