Ian brings up Interesting Point on Bruce & Brandon's passing
by Mike Bruce Sullivan (no login)
Hi. Thank you for responding.
If there was ever a case of foul play or a conspiracy/cover up, Brandon Lee's death would be a good one.
But, I must remind you, Conspiracy theories, even though, are very interesting, are usually not substantially validated. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, former U.S. president is a good example. To say, that the C.I.A. or someone behind a grassy knoll (other than or in addition to Lee Harvey Oswald) shot JFK is very interesting, but much like all conspiracy theories, it is extreme or radical or controversial and not sufficiently validated, and when all is said and done, it isn't believable, simply because there wasn't a real motive for the U.S. government to kill its own, very popular president, no matter what the disagreement may have been between the two.
Let me explain, why Brandon's death could have been foul play:
In the Game of Death, released in 1979, on the movie set, the character, Billy Lo jumps into the air and is shot by an actual bullet, not a blank, by someone who is an assassin employed by a criminal syndicate.
At the time, Brandon, was about 15 years of age. He had to have seen that movie. Did this stay within Brandon's subconcious? Did Brandon, many years after watching Game of Death, put in a real bullet to get shot on the set much like Billy Lo? In other words, did he have a deep-seated, subconcious suicidal feeling? I don't believe so.
Also, there's a saying especially among organized crime, that if "the son grows up to be a man, he will avenge his father's death some day, so at some point the son has to be killed to forestall any act of revenge" (or something to that effect).
In James Bishop's book, "Bruce Lee: Dynamic Becoming" there's a whole chapter on Bruce Lee's death. To sum it up, Bryanston pictures, was owned and operated by the Colombo Crime family in New York. It distributed "Way of the Dragon" a/k/a "Return of the DRagon" in the U.S. This can also be verified by F.B.I. agent, Kelly. (see: "The Other Hollywood: The Porno Business" by Leggs Diamond McNeil, where Kelly is cited as noting that Bryanston pictures financed in part, the distribution of Way of the Dragon). Bryanston pictures is also listed in "Unsettled Matters" by Tom Bleecker. Bryanston pictures stole money from the actors in its other independent movie--"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". When the actor in Texas Chainsaw, who played the role of the freakish hitchiker in the van, demanded from Bryanston that he be paid, or he would sue them, the men in suits at the Bryanston office said "You don't want to do that" and made a menacing threatening, veiled threat. This actor was so troubled that he went to FBI agent, Kelly, who showed him photos of all the actors Bryanston had "knocked off", and agent Kelly even mentioned that Bryanston killed Bruce Lee because he was threatening to sue Bryanston because the accounting books were doctored and Bruce received far less money than he was supposed to get from Way of the Dragon.
So, to make a long story short, Bryanston, allegedly, hired Chinese Triads to poison Bruce Lee's hashish supply before Bruce could sue Bryanston.
But, even though motive is not enough to prove a crime. It really is an important factor in choosing suspects or "persons of interest". But, there was no real motive to kill Bruce by the Chinese Triads. Bruce was a big, admired star by the Chinese, even the Triads. Bruce Lee was worth more to the Chinese triads alive than dead. If he was alive and made movies, they could later somehow make money off his later movies (movies he would've made after Enter the Dragon.)
But, you must remember, Bruce Lee did not file a lawsuit against Bryanston. There is no offical record of Bruce filing a lawsuit against Bryanston. If he filed a lawsuit, such a filing would be a matter of public record, as filing lawsuits always are--you would be able to do a public search of public records to see when the suit was filed and the complaint or index number.
This could all mean that after BRandon hinted at opening up the investigation into his father's death after filming of The Crow may have brought the old, organized crime saying I mentioned above into practice. Bryanston pictures [a dirty company involved in porno (Bryanston also made the porno, Deep Throat) and other independent movies], run by organized crime decided to kill the son so that he could not avenge his father's death by opening up the investigation. That would mean the actor on the set of The Crow could have been hired by organized crime to put a live bullet into the gun that killed Brandon.
But, no one, put any criminal charges on the actor that accidentally shot Brandon with a live bullet. After a civil, not criminal, lawsuit, it was determined by the American court that the company that made The Crow was negligent. Its standards for safety of blanks/live bullets was lower than Hollywood California standards. The Crow was made in North Carolina which had less stringent safety standards. Linda Lee, along with Shannon Lee, also was on t.v. a couple of days before the 35th anniversary of BL's death and Linda said that she was able to get new laws passed by the U.S. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to have more stringent safety measures on movie sets. Linda Lee wouldn't have spent so much time on trying to reform American motion picture safety standards if she thought there was foul play in the death of her son.
In both Bruce case, the Hong Kong police would have loved to have solved a murder of a rising star, Bruce Lee, and to imprison some members of the Chinese Triads (it would have meant a big promotion for the Hong Kong police detectives as well as very favorable publicity of the competence of the Hong Kong police departments.)
So, even though there's a lot of compelling information out there that hints that foul play could've been involved in Brandon's death, the information tilts the scale that there was no foul play involved, Brandon's death was an accident. Any mother, would want to prosecute the killer of her son and her husband. A mother/wife could not sleep well at night much less attend Bruce Lee events (as Linda Lee has done). There would be a gnawing need for the mother/wife to bring justice. Linda Lee hasn't pursued this, so this is a strong indicator that there was no foul play in either Bruce or Brandon's death.
In Brandon's case, the American, North Carolina police department would have loved to get the favorable publicity of putting away members of American organized crime in the death of Brandon, had it been verified.
I also don't believe Brandon committed suicide by placing a live bullet in the gun of the actor who shot him. Again, there was no real motive for Brandon to kill himself. He talked about opening the case of his father's death after finishing The Crow. He himself was getting a lot of movie roles and was about to be married soon after The Crow.
In the case of Bruce Lee, what is very important to know, is that when he went to Los Angeles for a complete medical check up, he had a brain scan (today called a cat scan or MRI). Bruce's liver was also checked. His brain scan showed nothing wrong with is brain, nothing was wrong with his liver either. If, as some have said, Bruce had a defective blood vessel in his brain, and that he was "living off borrowed time" since the blood vessel was destined to burst, then the Los Angeles brain scan would have showed this defective blood vessel, it would have also showed things like a brain tumor or the onset of epilepsy. Instead Bruce was given medication often prescribed to epileptic patients to treat the SYMPTOMS of seizures, even though epilepsy was not the diagnosis.
Bruce had abstained from the strong Nepali hashish because he didn't want to smuggle it from Hong Kong to Los Angeles over an airplane. Therefore, medical tests found him to have a body and brain "as fit as an 18 year old"
Also, any blood vessel(s) bursting in his brain would have come AFTER, not before cerebral edema or brain swelling, when the brain swells up in the limited space of the bone skull and crushes the blood vessel(s) against bone.
It was clearly an allergic reaction because when you get an allergic reaction that is lethal, according to one pharmacist I spoke with you get 1) neck swelling and 2) respiratory failure. The one "mysterious" blood vessel that was broke in Bruce's lung is evidence of respiratory failure, so is the severe neck swelling which according to that same pharmacist I spoke with, first happens when the trachea or windpipe swells up. It's only at the later stages, that the neck swells up like a grapefruit (post-mortem) as it did on the left side of Bruce's neck.
If you're allergic to something, such as penicillin, the more of the thing you take that you're allergic to, the more severe will be your reaction. This is what happened on that Friday, July 20, 1973 night, instead of taking a lot of penicillin, he took a lot of Nepali hashish for the weekend. You can also note that the autopsy revealed only one equagensic tablet--that's why it's hard to believe that one equagensic table, prescribed in the million dose range in Asia killed Bruce.
On May 10, 1973, when he was doing the relatively easy work of "voice dubbing" for Enter the Dragon, it's highly conceivable that he could afford to eat a lot of potent hashish and still function his voice overs. I strongly believe that it was the ingesting of a lot of hashish, which sent him into seizures, vommiting and coma. Remember, why do people vomit? It's usually after they "INGEST" a lot of something, through the mouth, that is not agreeable to the body, like ingesting a lot of alcohol.
So, Bruce's death is not really a "cover up" in the sinister conspiracy sense of the term. It's more of like a "white lie". A white lie to protect the image of Bruce Lee and to have his family get his life insurance proceeds.
I hope this helps.
Posted on Nov 4, 2008, 4:21 PM from IP address 24.193.254.243