Igor Vaganov

Igor Vaganov.

I think Gaeton Fonzi wrote about Vaganov in Greater Philadelphia Magazine, which later became Philadelphia Magazine (Owned by the same company that owns Boston Mag.). Fonzi wrote for Philly Mag when it was edited by the late Alan Halpern, who mentored Fonzi and secured the publication of his story in Washingtonian Magazine that became The Last Investigation.

While I haven’t seen the early articles Fonzi is said to have written about Vaganov, I did read the lengthly article later published in Esquire Magazine (May, 1968) which details Vaganov’s strange and suspicious movements.

A Latavian émigré who lived in Germany during WWII and came to America at the age of nine, Igor Vaganov was a credit manager for General Electric for two years, had served in the Navy, spoke four languages, had been in jail in California, and before moving to Dallas he lived in Philadelphia where he hung out at McMullin’s Bar in Upper Darby.

Vaganov is reported to have used the alias of John Nicholson, Kurt Kullaway, Vince Carson and Igor Baganov. He owned a high powered rifle and liked to hunt. One friend, Doc Ornasteen said he thought Vaganov had suicidal tendencies, about which Vaganov said, “I don’t have any, but many think I should.”

On November 5, Vaganov suddenly walked off his job, and showed up in Dallas with his rifle in his red Ford Thunderbird. On November 12 he was living on Sunset Manor, Oak Cliff, possibly with a girlfriend. He knew “Mike,” a short stocky man “from the CIA,” and worked for a plumbing supply company and for a day and a half at Texas Consumer Finance Corp., which had offices next to the Carousel Club.

On November 21, Joan Anthis cried hysterically and said, “Turk is going to do something terrible tomorrow.”

On November 22, Vaganov said he slept in his Oak Cliff apartment until noon, and left near 1 pm, went to bank and somehow got tied up as a suspect in the Tippit shooting.

Some six months after the assassination the FBI found a bundle of his clothes in a Dallas telephone booth.

While little, if any of the information collected about Igor Vaganov makes much sense, I think its important to try to figure out what this guy was really up to, and wanted to see if anyone had anything else on this guy.

Hi Bill. That is a new one for me. Is that documented?

I think there are a few pieces you are missing - one had to do with a background in electronics I thought [going from memory here]? Another was that on the morning of 11/22, I thought that he came downstairs in his pajamas and was witnessed by his landlords or something at 1:00pm? Last was that there was a scrap of paper in his pocket with code words on it - which I pasted someplace here before.


John Berendt ( Author: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil) wrote the article on Igor (Turk) Vaganov
which was published in the August 1967 issue of Esquire Magazine. The Esquire archive located in New York no longer has a copy of the article, but I was able to find a copy at a local library.

According to the article, Vaganov was first married to an Atlanta lady called Martha, whose father was a 'sea
captain'. No mention of her surname occurs in the article,...... but wouldn't it be really interesting if it was
'Davison'.

Vaganov's girlfriend was Anne Dullin. They were married in South Carolina on their way to Dallas. Her sister , Mrs. Joan Anthis lived in Garland , Texas, and it was she who called the FBI immediately after hearing the news of the assassination. Anne had phoned her the night before, and cryingly told her about
Turk going to do something terrible the following day.