Conspiracies The Hit List ~ Richard Belzer

Biography:
Richard Belzer has returned for his thirteenth season as the acerbic Detective John Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, after first portraying Munch on NBC's critically acclaimed drama series "Homicide: Life on the Street" for seven years. "This is one conspiracy in which I have been a willing participant," says Belzer, a renowned conspiracy theorist, of his 18-year, multi-show portrayal of Munch. In fact, Belzer has played Detective Munch on a record-setting 11 different television series: Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Homicide, The X-Files, The Beat, M.O.N.Y., Sesame Street, The Wire, Arrested Development and 30 Rock.

The veteran standup comic, actor and author began his on-screen career with a starring role in Groove Tube, the counterculture film that went on to become a cult classic. Belzer's comedic talents have since been featured in every entertainment medium from off-Broadway to radio to film to television. He is the author of four books, the last two of which were a crime fiction series co-written with Michael Black that featured Belzer as the mystery-solving protagonist.

Comedian, actor, and author Richard Belzer appeared in studio to talk about his passion for conspiracies, as well as his new book, Hit List, which documents the mysterious deaths of witnesses to the JFK assassination. Defying the laws of probabilities, some eighteen witnesses died within three years of the JFK assassination, and a total of 50 deaths were investigated by Belzer and his co-author David Wayne. "They were CIA people, FBI people, newspaper reporters, doctors...mob guys who were just about to testify, murdered," he remarked. William Sullivan, an FBI director, was said to be "talking too much," and was suspiciously shot by a Chief of State Trooper's son, who mistook him for a deer, even though he was on a porch, Belzer reported.

Two newspaper reporters were at an apartment in Dallas where the murder was discussed prior to the assassination, he continued, and one of them came home one day and was killed by a burglar, the other was shot by "accident." Dorothy Kilgallen, a well-known reporter and TV personality, was the only person to get Jack Ruby alone for an interview, and she told several associates that she was going to "blow the lid off" the JFK assassination. Shortly afterward, she was found dead in her apartment from an overdose of barbiturates and her notes were missing, Belzer recounted, adding that Kilgallen's friend whom she told of her findings also turned up dead.

In discussing the recent Boston bombing, Belzer believes the Tsarnaev brothers were not acting alone and he nicknamed them the "Lee & Harvey Oswalovich brothers." They could be patsies, "not necessarily for our government, but they could have been stooges for some terrorist organization, or elements in this country who want to do us harm," he speculated. Belzer lamented that it's become hard to trust the official word, and that no matter who was involved in this incident, the US government is studying reactions, exploiting the situation, and "testing out things like soft martial law.