Mr. Griffin. Mr. Ruby, had you discussed a fee with Tom Howard?
Mr. Ruby. I did, but I don’t know when.
Mr. Griffin. What was the fee that was finally arrived at with Tom Howard? What was his fee to be?
Mr. Ruby. His fee was originally, if he would stay in all the way, he told me from $10,000 to $15,000.
Mr. Griffin. And how many lawyers did Howard suggest would be needed besides himself?
Mr. Ruby. Well, I mentioned the names, you know, like Bellows. In fact, he talked to Bellows, and we were in the process of probably working something out with Bellows, but he was too busy, and asked—then the question came up as to whether Bellows would be a risk in Dallas, since he is Jewish. And I talked to about a half dozen other lawyers, and I even talked to the best criminal lawyer in Detroit, Joe Louisell. I had a meeting with him. I asked his advice. He says, “Don’t bring a Jewish lawyer down there.”
Mr. Griffin. What was Howard’s view?
Mr. Ruby. Howard agreed with that. So that more or less took Bellows out of the picture. Now, in the meantime, I am back, going to California. So I go to California. They meet me at the airport. Is everything pretty well in sequence up until now?
Mr. Griffin. That is all right, we will clarify. We will ask you some questions about it.
Mr. Ruby. Oh, yes; first the conversation, to get back to Tom Howard, the first one or two conversations, as I said, I talked to him Monday morning. Then I think I talked to him Monday night. I don’t remember, I talked to him any number of times. And in our discussions we talked money, costs. He mentioned “It is going to take a couple of months. You have got to figure anywhere total expenses close to $50,000.”