Mr. LATONA. Brown wrapping paper.
Mr. EISENBERG. In any case when you conducted your examination first
did you tell Wittmus of your conclusions?
Mr. LATONA. I did not.
Mr. EISENBERG. When Mr. Wittmus conducted his examination first did he
tell you of his conclusions?
Mr. LATONA. No.
Mr. EISENBERG. Were his conclusions the same as yours?
Mr. LATONA. Ultimately, yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. When you say, "ultimately"?
Mr. LATONA. When the whole thing was completed.
Mr. DULLES. There was no difference of views between you at any stage?
Mr. LATONA. No, sir.
Mr. EISENBERG. Did anyone who examined these various objects--as to
which you have testified--in the FBI laboratory come to a conclusion
different from the one you did?
Mr. LATONA. They did not.
Mr. EISENBERG. Were there any identifications of fingerprints as being
Lee Harvey Oswald's in addition to the ones which you have given us?
Mr. LATONA. There were a number of identifications effected with latent
prints developed on personal effects.
Mr. EISENBERG. No, sir; on the material you have testified as to today.
Mr. LATONA. No; there were no others.
Mr. EISENBERG. Were any prints found--were the three fragmentary
prints found on the rifle, which were not sufficient for purposes of
identification, in any way inconsistent with the prints of Oswald which
you found?
Mr. LATONA. Very definitely, no. I might point out that actually
what was visible was consistent, in the sense that even though there
were no ridge formations available for purposes of making a positive
conclusion, the indications were that the pattern types were there,
were consistent with the pattern types which were on the hands of Lee
Harvey Oswald.
Mr. DULLES. As far as you know the conclusions of the Texas police
authorities who examined these objects, were your conclusions the same
as theirs, or was there any differences between you on this subject?
Mr. LATONA. Frankly, I don't know what there conclusion was.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions.
Mr. DULLES. Have you any questions, Mr. Murray?
Mr. MURRAY. I have not.
Mr. DULLES. I have no further questions. Thank you very much indeed,
Mr. Latona. You have been very helpful. I have learned a great deal
myself.
Mr. LATONA. Thank you very much.
TESTIMONY OF ARTHUR MANDELLA, ACCOMPANIED BY LT. JOSEPH A. MOONEY, NEW
YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT, BUREAU OF CRIMINAL IDENTIFICATION
Mr. DULLES. Mr. Mandella, will you raise your right hand.
Do you swear that the testimony you give before this Commission will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. MANDELLA. I do.
Mr. DULLES. Thank you.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Mandella, could you give us your full name and
position?
Mr. MANDELLA. Arthur Mandella. I am a detective on the New York Police
Department and I work at the bureau of criminal identification in that
department.
Mr. EISENBERG. Could you briefly outline your qualifications as a
fingerprint identification expert, Mr. Mandella?
Mr. MANDELLA. In 1945 to 1948 I was a fingerprint technician in the
U.S. Navy. My principal duties were the classification and filing of
fingerprints, the developing and photographing of latent fingerprints
found at crime scenes, the comparison of latent fingerprints with
suspects, and the searching of fingerprint files in general.
From 1948 to 1953 I was employed by the U.S. Government as a criminal
investigator. However, my principal duties were the lifting and
developing and identification of latent fingerprints, also the
preparation of fingerprint exhibits for court presentation. From 1955
to the present I have been employed by the New York Police Department
and assigned to the bureau of criminal identification as a fingerprint
technician and performing the same duties that I just outlined. During
these past 17 years I have been examining not only fingerprints but
palmprints and infant footprints as well.
I graduated from the following fingerprint schools: in 1945, the U.S.
Naval Air Station; in 1948 I graduated from the Institute of Applied
Sciences, which is a fingerprint school, fingerprint and identification
school; in 1955 I graduated from the New York Police Fingerprint School
at the police academy; and in 1958 I attended an advanced latent
fingerprint course conducted by the FBI at the New York Police Academy.
I am a fingerprint instructor for the New York Police Department Bureau
of Criminal Identification and lecture at various hospitals relative to
the proper techniques involved in footprinting the newborn.
I am a qualified fingerprint expert and have testified in New York
State and Federal courts, including court-martials, relative to all
phases of fingerprints, palmprints, and footprints.
Mr. EISENBERG. Could you venture a guess as to how many identifications
you have been called upon to make in the course of your work?
Mr. MANDELLA. General identifications, I suppose, it runs into many
thousands. It is hard to pick a number. But it is certainly well into
the thousands of examinations.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, may this witness be permitted to testify
as an expert witness on the subject of fingerprints?
Mr. DULLES. Yes; he may.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Mandella, did you at my request examine certain
photographs of latent prints and compare them with photographs of inked
or known prints to determine whether there were identities between the
known and latent prints?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes; I did.
Mr. EISENBERG. I hand you Commission Exhibits 656, 658, 659, 655,
657, 661, and 660. Could you briefly look through these and determine
whether these are the photographs which you examined? As you finish an
item, could you take a look at the Commission number and verify that
you looked at the photographs in that Commission envelope?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes; I have examined the photographs contained in
Commission Exhibit No. 656.
Mr. DULLES. I wonder if you would just state the number, in each case,
in each envelope?
Mr. MANDELLA. In Commission Exhibit 656 there are 10 photos, 10
photographs. And I have also examined Commission Exhibit No. 658, which
is one photograph. I also examined Commission Exhibit No. 659, which is
two photographs. I have also examined Commission Exhibit No. 655, which
is two photographs. I have examined Commission Exhibit No. 661, which
contains three photographs. I have examined Commission Exhibit No.
660, which contains eight photographs. I have also examined Commission
Exhibit No. 657, which contains three photographs.
Mr. EISENBERG. 657 contains photographs of inked prints, is that
correct?
Mr. MANDELLA. That is correct.
Mr. EISENBERG. The standard 10-finger chart and a right and left
palmprint?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Which you have been informed by me and you see on the
writing on these charts are the prints of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. MANDELLA. That is correct.
Mr. EISENBERG. Do you have any other knowledge that these are the
prints of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. MANDELLA. No; none whatsoever.
Mr. EISENBERG. And the remaining prints are photographs of what you
would call latent prints?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes; they are.
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you make markings on the backs of these prints, Mr.
Mandella?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes; on quite a few of them I did. However, not all of
them.
Mr. EISENBERG. And you made those markings on the basis of--in your own
hand printing?
Mr. MANDELLA. My own hand printing, for certain observations I wanted
recorded.
Mr. DULLES. What is the nature of the marking?
Mr. EISENBERG. Let's take a sample. I will pull one out at random
from Commission Exhibit 660. The topmost card says "Box B," which
corresponds to the label or the envelope 660--and that is No. 17.
Mr. DULLES. Will you show those to the witness and see if he identifies
his own writing?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes; I have made these notations. Yes; I do recognize
these.
Mr. EISENBERG. The next one says "Box B" and "Negative--same as box 'D'
No. 7."
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. You have seen these as you flipped through to identify
that these are the same photographs?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Let the record show that these photographs are
photographs of latent prints taken by or under the supervision of Mr.
Sebastian Latona, and he has just testified that these photographs
were taken of objects which were identified earlier in Commission
proceedings. Mr. Latona transmitted these photographs to me directly,
and I in turn transmitted them to Mr. Mandella and Mr. Mooney, who is
also present in this hearing room.
Mr. Mandella, do you know what total number of identifiable
latent prints were contained in these exhibits that you just
identified--exclusive of 657, which contained the inked or known finger
and palm prints?
Mr. MANDELLA. No; but I have this outline here.
Mr. EISENBERG. Just approximately would you say how many identifiable
prints there were?
Mr. MANDELLA. Thirty.
Mr. EISENBERG. Some 30 odd prints?
Mr. MANDELLA. Some 30.
Mr. EISENBERG. And did you identify certain of those prints as being
the finger or palm prints of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes; I did.
Mr. EISENBERG. Could you tell us which of those prints you so
identified?
Mr. MANDELLA. There was a photograph, a photograph of the underside of
the gun barrel, Commission Exhibit No.----
Mr. EISENBERG. That is Commission Exhibit No. 658, and I will hand you
that photograph now. You are referring to this photograph?
Mr. MANDELLA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. And can you read the writing on the back of that?