New Declassified Files Detail Ray’s Alleged Handler Raoul, Foreign Intrigue, and Conspiracy to Spark Race War Ahead of 1968 Election

In a bombshell from the Cold War era’s long shadow, a 1968 investigative report—now declassified—details stunning claims from James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., implicating an unidentified handler named “Raoul” in a sprawling conspiracy that extended across Canada, Mexico, and the American South. 

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The new documents also suggest the motive may have been to inflame racial tensions ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

According to reporting in LOOK magazine, cited by Moscow’s press and summarized in U.S. intelligence files, Ray claimed that he met Raoul—described as a 35-year-old man—in Montreal in mid-1967 while searching for documents to escape U.S. law enforcement. Raoul allegedly offered Ray money, foreign travel, and protection in exchange for performing “tasks,” beginning with transporting contraband across the U.S.-Canada border.

Over several months, Ray received thousands of dollars from Raoul and was allegedly directed to travel through cities including Detroit, Birmingham, and Selma. 

In Selma, he checked into a motel located at the Edmund Pettus Bridge—a historic site of civil rights clashes—just before King’s tour through Alabama. Notably, Raoul is said to have paid for Ray’s plastic surgery in Los Angeles in March 1968, just weeks before King was murdered in Memphis on April 4.

The documents indicate the alleged conspiracy was not necessarily driven by personal animus toward King but rather calculated political goals: “to ignite a savage war between whites and blacks,” destabilize the civil rights movement, and poison race relations during an election year. 

Soviet intelligence sources, as cited in TASS, speculated that American authorities intentionally downplayed the conspiracy angle to preserve national stability.

Ray’s confession to journalist William Hugh, quoted in LOOK, reveals that he feared he was being set up: “I suppose I was dragged into the plot... I had no money... so I said to Raoul, ‘OK, I’ll meet you.’” 

The documents end with chilling remarks from Memphis underworld sources predicting that Ray would not live to stand trial—a reflection of fears that Ray, if alive, might reveal powerful names.

Though Ray ultimately pled guilty and avoided trial, these files reignite suspicion that the assassination of MLK was not the act of a lone racist but part of a well-funded, well-organized operation—possibly with domestic and foreign interests.