AND PLACE OF Dstectve Charles F. llvas, Dsde County Publc Safety, kpartment, Homcde Sectoq obert Hlavac, nv. James P. Farrell, ~udsoh County Prosecutor% Offce 59 5 Kewark Avenue, J. C. t. J. Lor1 12, 1973, 5:51 p.m. Zudscn County Prosecutor's * Offce, 595 Newark Avenue, J.C., N.J., Room 603 Ths s an nvestgaton nto the homcde of Lucano eves, 'whch took place on the 2lst day of February, 1975 at 6125 South- west Jlst Street (par~:ng lot of Chf1dr2n1s Varety Hosptal).! Would you please state your full nzne? Efran Bemvdes,. What s your age? 38- What s your date of brth? May 22, 1940. Where do you lve? 121 Ogden Avenue, Jersey Cty, N.J. \-!hat state? New Jersey. Do you see the forms that have lad before you? These forms are statng your consttutonal rghts. am gon: to read them to you and as you u~derstznd them and read along wth me. 1 want you to sgn your ntals next to each of you1 7
Do you agree that you understand your rghts both n Englsh and. 1 kn Spansh? Would you please sgn the forms? Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothng but the truth? Where do you work? Empre Meat Packagng Company. What s the address? 1161 East Broad Street, Elzabeth, New Jersey. Do you know th3 telephone nu?b'r? 351-0500. How long have you worked there? One year. Where dd your work befora that? Newark Boneless Meat Co., 75 Stockton St., Newark, N o J c To what grade dd you go to school? n Cuba, make frst year n Hgh School. What s your occupaton? Butcher. Are you marred? - How long? 13 years. What s your wfe's name? krt na Es tella.
: And she lves wth you? f: res. - Q: How many chldren do you have? :,One. An& one ded. :, How long have you been lvng at your present address? f Over sx years., Where &d you lve before that? lved for seven mbnths n 473 Walker Street n Farvew,. N.J. Where were you born? n Cuba. Where n Cuba?! ; How long ddjou lve n Cuba? A - n. my lfe before ' came to the Unted States n 1960. Dd you know an ndvdual by the name of Valentne Hernandez, also known as Tno n Cuba? How well dd you know hm, Valentne Hernandez, whle you lved n Cuba? Hs fether s counselor n Cuba. am placng a photograph n front of you. knew hm all my lfe.,. Valentne Hernandez that you have always known? Sure. Arc you absolutely sure? s ths the same. Would you please place of the photograph? your ntals on the top left hand 4
Would you please place the date after your ntals?. 1 kould you please place the tme whch s 5:59 p.m. graph? on the photo- And wll place my ntals on the rght corner of the photo- graph. Do you know the ndvdual n the photograph that am now placng n front of you? No* You do not know the ndvdual n the photograph? No Do you know an ndvdual by the name of Jesus Lazo? xo. - - Have you ever heard the name Jesus Lazo? n the newspaper and later, he told me. Later on, who told you what? Valentne told me he go wth hm. You are speakng about Jesus Lazo beng wth Valentne Kernan- dez? Yes, but never seen hm. What year dd you come to the US.? Fay 29, 1960. Where dd you go when you frst came to the U.S.? Plam, Florda. 3 How long dd you lve n Mam, Florda after comng to the U.S. lve n Mam tll 1961. Then go to Guatemala. From 1960 to 1961 YOU lved n!;lam after whch tme you went to Guatemala to tran for the Bay of Pgs nvason, s that correct?.
A:, Q: What year dd you return? A: Same year, 1961, n October. Q: 'YOU were a Prsoner of Ear? A: ' Q: Are you, or have you ever been a member of the 2506 Brgade? A: 18: A: Q: Are you stll an actve member? 1 Do you how f Valentne Hernandez s or was a member of the 2506 Brgad.*? 'A: don't know. Q: \!hen dd you frst meet Valentne Hernandez n Plarn Florda? A: When --- came back from Cuba n October. - - -\ /Q: Of what year? r : 4: Under what condtons dd you frst meet? He cry because went to see hs mother. go to see hs... mother. Everybody go to my house that nght : Dd you re-establsh your frendshp wth Valentne Hernandez A: ": and hs famly? What year dd you move to New Jersey? 3: 1965.- : Dd you stll mantan your frendshp wth Valentne Hqrnan-! 1 1 after p: dez and hs famly durng the tne you lved n Mew Jersey, movng from Xam? Yes, would see them once n a whle, not a lot, because
, worked all the tne, not got tne, ~.: Durng the perod of 1975, were you lvng at the present!. locaton where you are lvng now, whch s 121 Ogden Avenue, JmCe? A:. Jersey Cty? When dd you frst hear of Lucano Neves' death? n the newspaper, on the rado, on T.V. When? The day they klled hm. That was the 21st day of February or one more day after Feb. 21, 1975? -. 8 - * Possbly the 21st or 22nd day of February? When dd Valentne Hernandez contact you after the Lucano Neves ' death? A week, a week and a half. Under what condtons dd he contact you? He called ma on the telephone; he wanted to come over my house. Dd he call you at hone? How dd he get your telephone number? He talked to me about a year and a half before. my telephone number from Florda. He maybs got 4 What dd that partcular conversaton, whch you state took place approxmately one week after the Lucano Neves consst of? homcde,;!
0a the phone? He wanted to see me- Dd he tell you why? Dd he'tell you where he w ~ callng s from? From New York. he say vhsre? Dd he say that he wanted to see you alone or that there would be someone else wth hm? Dd you ag$ee to see hm at your house? ~6%.. When dd he come to your house? 1 The next day. Do you recall at approxmately what tme he arrved at your hous Suppertme. About sx or sx thrty. Because told hm would be home after fve o'clock. Do you recall what he was wearng at that tme? He had a coat on. t was wntertme. Do you recall f he was wearng glasses? don't remember. What dd you and Valentne Hernandez dscuss at your house + durng the tme of your meetng? He sad he came from Mam because the FB was lookng for hm and he wnted to stay one nght at my house because he had no place to stay that nght, After he told you he had no place to stay that nght, dd he
4: He told me the F8 looked for hm because the FB sad he ;Q:, klled Lucano Keves. Dd you notce anythng pecular about hs hands and fngers? A: yes. saw he got part of hs fnger mssng.!q:, Do you recall whch fnger, on whch hand? (Showng) That fnger, showng hs rght ndex fnger. Dd ask Vzlentne Hernandez what happened to hs fnger? dd he reply? He say he got shot n the fnger. Durng ths perod of tme, who was present at your home? Ny wfe, my kd. Dd your wfe see hs fnger? 145% she present durng any of the conversaton between you and Velentne Hernandez? Where was she? She was n the lvng room and Valentne Hernandez and me were n the ktchen. What dd Valentne Hernandez ask of you? He asked me to stay one nght n my house. -ge bhat-nrght. - - - - - - - He had no place to Dd he tell you durng the tme of your conversaton n the ktchen, dd he re-emphasze that the polce were lookn- for > hm and that was the reason for hm wantng to stay at your house? He sad he had no place to go because the polce was lookng for hm.
?-/here dd he come from? Eet.1 York. And pror to Neru York? Mam. Dd he tell you how he cane to New York from Xarn? - Dd you notce whether Hr, Hernandez had a vehcle at the tne he arrved at your house? thnk t was a Buck- Durng your conversaton wth Valentne, that evenng, dd he menton Jesus Lazo? What dd he say n reference to Jesus Lazo? -. H; says he was also runnng wth hm away from the polce. Dd he tell you that he came from Mam wth Jesus Lazo? Durng your conversaton wth Valentne, dd he tell you how he had got hs fnger shot? NO. He told me a shootng somewhere but not exactly where. Dd he say that he shot hmself or that someone else shot hm? No, he no told me who shot hm. He ddn't tell you under what crcumstances he washot? 10.-l---------- -- - - - Dd he tell you that he klled Lucano Neves? No, he never told me. + What dd he tell you n reference to Lucano Neves' honcde? He told me he came from Mam because the 331 was lookng for hm and Lazo and the FB sad he klled Lucano Neves.
Fron your conversaton tth ;<re Valentne Hernancez, what dc you conclude? thnk, myself, he never told me exactly what he dd, he s a frend of mne, but thnk he klled the guy myself. Frompur conversaton wth Valentne Hernandez, dd you COEclude that he klled, that he ancl Lazo klled Lucano Neves? ~ks. When talk to somebody else, know some people, an scared myself, told hm, don't want to 'gve you a hand, because have my boy, my concluson at that tme thzt he got a bg problem, and told hm to go. But he never - told me tha he klled hm. But thnk myself that he klled hm. >here dd he sleep the nght that he stayed at your house? n the basement of my house. Ts there anythng else that you can recall durng that meetng wth Valentne Hernandez that would be benefcal to the nvestgaton? told you that Valentne Hernandezt wfe came nto my house, she had problems, to feed the chldren, she had no money, and* gave her money for the chldren to eat and the next tme she called me sad ths s dumb, don't call me no more. don't want to get nvolved. On what dd you base your decson to break away from these people? ~ec&e know the Fa1 was lookng from hm. What happened? was scared for ny famly. You say, you know what happened, what happened? The FB was lookng for hm.
Q:,, s there anythns else you can thnk of. Has ether Valentne Hernandez or Jesus Lazo attempted to contact you snce that last meetng wth Valentne Xernandez? no talk to hm no more* Just the wfe. Are you famlar wth an ndvdual by the name of Lucy Lucano or Lucy Lazo? Eurng tha tne of your assocaton wth Valentne ernandez, have you at anytme known hm to necesstate the wearng of glasses, eye glasses? No* s t common for Valentne Hernandez to wear a mustache as far as you knox? N 0.F' Have you ever kncvm Valentne Hernandez to wear a mustache before When Valentne Hernandez came to your resdence, after your telephone conversaton wth hm, dd he have a mustache? Have you known Valentne Hernandez to ever wear a toupee? At the tne he came to your resdence, was he wearng a toupee? No* 11 \ Q: am endng ths ntervew at 6:35 p.m. Thank you. After,ths 1 11 statement s typed up, and after any correctons you deem 11 necessary, would you be wllng to sgn ths statement? 11 A,: Yes*