The Presidents Hitman - How LBJ Saved a Murderer

Johnson had problems closer to home. He had a sister, Josefa Johnson, who hated him and their entire family. Well, this is how the story goes from his biographers and independent investigators. Josefa, who was divorced twice, became a prostitute and drug addict, which risked to destroy the family's name and their creditability in federal and state politics, She also had affairs with LBJ's associates, Jim Kinzer and Mack Wallace, who was also known as Johnson's hitman. Kinzer wanted LBJ to loan him money via his sister, and LBJ considered it a shakedown, a blackmail attempt, as Josefa had apparently told Kinzer about her brother's illegal activities. On October 22, 1951, Wallace shot Kinzer, which only helped Johnson in keeping Kinzer quiet. Wallace was arrested and charged with murder, but was released on bail after Edward Clark arranged for two of Johnson's financial supporters, M.E. Ruby and Bill Carroll, to post the bond for Wallace. Johnson's personal attorney, John Cofer, also agreed to represent Wallace. Wallace was found guilty of first-degree murder, and the jury that voted 11 to 1 for the death penalty was overruled. Judge Charles O. Betts, a friend of LBJ, overruled the jury and announced a sentence of five years imprisonment. Then, he suspended the sentence and Wallace was immediately freed. At that time, the jurors in Texas had to agree to the sentence, because under Texas law, juries decided the punishment, not the judge, and they had to agree to the judge's decision. And they did. According to Bill Adler of the Texas Observer, several of the jurors telephoned John Kinzer's parents to apologize for agreeing to a suspended sentence, but said that they did so only because threats had been made against their families.