Robert F. Kennedy files reveal shocking, ‘weirdest’ details — threat to kill Kennedy's family, ‘unshakeable obsession’

About 10,000 pages of records related to the 1968 assassination of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy revealed that a man who threatened to kill the rest of the Kennedy family after the assassination almost snuck onto the plane housing the assassinated politician’s body.

An initial report said the suspect was just 100 yards from the airplane, although it later emerged he was arrested at a bar near the airport, New York Post reported while citing the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) newly released files.

The suspect was later identified as William Frederick Crosson.

“He had been making death threats against the FBI, the Secret Service and the Kennedy family at the airport and at the bar in which he was arrested,” read the June 6, 1968, FBI report. It was noted that the suspect was taken in by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Kennedy's assassination | In brief

Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving a speech celebrating his victory in California’s presidential primary.

He died of his injuries in the early morning of June 6, two days after winning the California Democratic primary.

His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison. Sirhan Sirhan was 24 years old when he fired the shots that killed Robert Kennedy. Now 81, he has been in prison for more than 50 years.

The documents detailing Kennedy's assassination were released by Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence. The files revealed "the panic of FBI field office across the country as agents processed myriad tips and reports of suspicious individuals in the hours after Kennedy was shot," the New York Post reported.

Sirhan was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Jordan. He came to the US with his father, mother and four brothers and a sister on January 12, 1957, according to the documents. He had also become a militant supporter of Palestinian rights.

Gunman's note: ‘Unshakeable obsession’

The RFK files included pictures of handwritten notes by Sirhan, the gunman, who said the Democratic presidential candidate “must be disposed of” and acknowledged an obsession with killing him.

As per the report, a search of Sirhan’s bedroom in Pasadena revealed numerous handwritten notes, including one written on May 18, 1968.

“My determination to remove RFK is becoming more the more of an unshakeable obsession. RFK must be disposed of like his brother was,” one note included in the file read. This note referred to Kennedy’s older brother, former US President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

In addition, authorities found notes saying “Ambassador Goldberg must die die die. Goldberg will be illiminated (sic.)” Arthur Goldberg had been United Nations Ambassador for the US since 1965. He resigned his position on June 24, just weeks after Kennedy was killed.

Goldberg had played a key role in drafting UN Security Council Resolution 242, which was aimed at resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Alongside Sirhan’s notes on Goldberg, FBI agents found other scribbles, including “Sirhan is an ARAB.”

'Oddest bits of information'

One of the "oddest bits of information" in the RFK files, as the New York Post reported, includes testimony from members of a tour group that had been visiting Israel in May, a month before the assassination.

According to the Associated Press, FBI documents describe interviews with a group of tourists who had heard rumours about Kennedy being shot weeks before his death.

Several people who visited Israel in May 1968 said a tour guide told them Kennedy had been shot. One person said he heard that an attempt on Kennedy's life had been made in Milwaukee. Another heard that he was shot in Nebraska.

Acting on all tips and information, FBI agents fanned out across the country to interview all of the members of the group in the hours after Kennedy was shot, the documents reveal.