by James Ellroy
LBJ: I asked him to call it off, but the son-of-a-bitch refused. He’s killing my chance to get reelected. He’s in cahoots with that spoon-fed cocksucker, Bobby Kennedy.
JEH: I will let you in on a little-known fact, Mr. President. Bobby allowed me to tap and bug King himself, back in ’63. He has forgotten his initial misgivings in his rush to embrace that Communist.
LBJ: The cocksucker wants my job. King’s creating the fucking dissent that will get it for him.
JEH: I’m putting 44 agents on King. They will disseminate derogatory data nationwide. I will do everything in my power to subvert this march.
LBJ: Edgar, was there ever a better friend to the Negro people than me?
JEH: No, Mr. President.
LBJ: Edgar, has my legislation improved the lot of the Negro people?
JEH: Yes, Mr. President.
LBJ: Edgar, have I been a friend to Martin Luther King?
JEH: Yes, Mr. President.
LBJ: Then why is that cocksucker trying to cornhole me when I’ve bent over backwards to befriend him?
JEH: I don’t know, Mr. President.
LBJ: He’s a worse bane to my fucking existence than this fucking war I’m fucking knee-deep in.
JEH: I’m going to plant a Negro in the SCLC. He used to work as my chauffeur.
LBJ: Tell him to chauffeur King off a cliff.
JEH: I understand your frustration, Sir.
LBJ: I’m getting fucked from two flanks. I’m fighting a two-front war against a King and a fucking Kennedy.
JEH: Yes, Mr. President.
LBJ: You’re a good man, Edgar.
JEH: Thank you, Mr. President.
LBJ: Do what you can on this, all right?
JEH: I will, Sir.
LBJ: Goodbye, Edgar.
JEH: Goodbye, Mr. President.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/7/67. Los Angeles Examiner subhead:
BUSINESS COMMUNITY ATTACKS KING FOR “POOR PEOPLE’S MARCH”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/9/67. Dallas Morning News subhead:
SPRING MARCH ON WASHINGTON “SOCIALISTIC,”
BUSINESS LEADERS CHARGE
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/17/67. Chicago Tribune headline and subhead:
NIXON IN ’68?
EX-VEEP TO ANNOUNCE CANDIDACY?
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/17/67. Miami Herald headline and subhead:
CLERGYMEN ON WASHINGTON MARCH:
“A CALL TO ANARCHY AND RIOTS”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/18/67. Chicago Sun-Times subhead:
RFK PRAISES WASHINGTON MARCH
MUM ON WHITE HOUSE PLANS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/18/67. Denver Post-Dispatch headline and subhead:
WILL HE OR WON’T HE?
PUNDITS ASSESS LBJ’S REELECTION PLANS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/20/67. Boston Globe subhead:
KING CALLS FOR WAR PROTESTERS TO EMBRACE POOR PEOPLE’S MARCH
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/21/67. Sacramento Bee subhead:
EXPECT NIXON TO RUN, GOP INSIDERS SAY
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/22/67. Los Angeles Times subhead:
RFK, HUMPHREY PLAYING COY?AWAITING LBJ’S DECISION?
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/23/67. Kansas City Star subhead:
ROTARY PRESIDENT CALLS
KING MARCH “COMMUNIST INSPIRED”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/28/67. Las Vegas Sun headline and subhead:
FRONTIER HOTEL FALLS TO HUGHES
BILLIONAIRE’S VEGAS ROLL CONTINUES!
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/4/68. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. (OPERATION BLACK RABBIT Addendum.) Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director, BLUE RABBIT.
DIR: Good morning.
BR: Good morning, Sir.
DIR: RED RABBIT is misbehaving. He’s being a very bad bunny.
BR: I’ve been reading the newspapers, Sir. I think he’s stepped over the line.
DIR: He has, but not to the extent where he’ll discredit himself finitely. He is immune to that form of censure. He is riding a wave of unjustified discontent that is bigger than any of us.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: Lyndon Johnson is furious. He despises himself for the way he’s coddled RED RABBIT. He knows that this wave of silly discord is partially of his manufacture.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: I’ve planted a Negro within the SCLC. My former chauffeur, no less.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: He’s a sensible Negro. He despises Communists more than the white power structure.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: He tells me the SCLC is in a state of great disarray. They are attempting to recruit an army of the wretched to compete with Hannibal’s hordes.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: They will storm our nation’s capital. They will urinate and fornicate with abandon.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: This display of pique will be a catastrophic disaster. It will encourage the unruly and criminally prone and give them an unprecedented license. The ramifications will be severe and nihilistically defined.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: I am at my wits’ end, Dwight. I do not know what more I can do.
BR: There’s a counter-consensus brewing, Sir. I know you’ve been reading the bug transcripts.
DIR: I would define that consensus as too localized, too little, and too late.
BR: Some men are offering a bounty.
DIR: I would not be overly perturbed to see it happen.
BR: The concept is very much out there.
DIR: I would not like to be stuck with the task of investigating such an incident. I would be inclined to work for brevity and do what was best to put it behind us.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: Unreasonable actions and unjustified rage serve to spark reasoned and measured responses.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: I take comfort in that.
BR: I’m glad to hear it, Sir.
DIR: Is there anything I can do for you, Dwight?
BR: Yes, Sir. Could you speak to your contact and pouch me RED RABBIT’s itinerary for the next several months?
DIR: Yes.
BR: Thank you, Sir.
DIR: Good day, Dwight.
BR: Good day, Sir.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/8/68. Pouch communiqué. To: Fred Otash. From: Dwight Holly. Marked: “Confidential”/“Eyes Only”/“Read & Burn Immediately.”
F.O.,
On go. Send update on PROSPECT. RED RABBIT’s travel plans to follow.
READ & BURN.
D.C.H.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/18/68. Pouch communiqué. To: Dwight Holly. From: Fred Otash. Marked: “Confidential”/“Eyes Only”/ “Read & Burn Immeidately.”
D.H.,
Per PROSPECT’s activities from 12/3/67 to present date.
1 - I met with PROSPECT 6 times. I continued to give him $ as advances “against future jobs.” We discussed politics & PROSPECT frequently mentioned Geo. Wallace’s presidential campaign, “niggers” & “the bounty on Martin Luther Coon.” PROSPECT continued to press me for travel papers & as previously I stalled him. PROSPECT divided his time between his apt (1535 N. Serrano, Hollywood), the Sultan’s Room at the St. Francis Hotel-Apts (Hollywood Blvd) & the Rabbit’s Foot Club (appropriate!!!!) also on Hollywood Blvd. PROSPECT continued to discuss his plans to travel to Rhodesia & on 3 occasions said he might “kill Coon, collect the bounty & seek political asylum in Rhodesia.”
2 - PROSPECT became involved with woman at Sultan’s Room, who talked him into driving her brother to New Orleans to “pick up her friend’s kids.” PROSPECT told me about this & asked for travel $. I gave him $1,000 & told him I would meet him in N.O. PROSPECT & woman’s brother drove to N.O. (12/15/67), arrived on 12/17 & stayed at the Provincial Motel. I met PROSPECT 3 times, gave him $ & promised future jobs. PROSPECT remained in N.O. & frequented pornographic bookstores. PROSPECT, woman’s brother & 28-yr-old girls left N.O. on 12/19 & arrived in L.A. on 12/21.
3 - PROSPECT settled into L.A. routine. I spot-tailed him on 6 occasions & met with him on 6 more. PROSPECT visited pornographic bookstores, took hypnosis courses & told me he intended to hypnotize women into acting in porno films that he would direct. PROSPECT frequented the Sultan’s Room & the Rabbit’s Foot Club, drank habitually & habitually used amphetamines. He frequently discussed the “bounty” & his plans to “escape” to Rhodesia. During this period PROSPECT visited the office of the L.A. Free Press & placed a classified ad seeking women for oral sex. PROSPECT also purchased liquid methamphetamine at the Castle Argyle Apts (Franklin & Argyle). He routinely stays up for 2 & 3 days at a time & I have noticed recent needle tracks on his arms.
4 - PROSPECT stated (4 occasions) that his intentions are to stay in L.A. & “do jobs” for me, join a swinger’s club & figure out a way to “get the bounty & shag to Rhodesia.” I’ve started talking about the bounty & ways to get at MLK & PROSPECT has not noticed any shift in my tone or personality, because (a) he’s seriously disturbed & extremely self-obsessed; (b) he’s beholden to me for $ & narcotics; (c) he’s strung out & impaired by his liquor & drug use.
5 - I think I can keep him in L.A. until our go-date & then get him to the spot to either participate or work the fall-back slot. We need his prints on a rifle & some other things, which should be easy to do.
6 - He’s the guy. I’m sure of it. We’re buffered on him (nobody will ever believe his “Raul” stories) & we’ll never let him get into custody anyway.
READ THIS AND BURN. Pouch me if you need further updates. F.O.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/21/68. Boston Globe subhead:
MARINES IN LIFE-OR-DEATH SIEGE AT KHE SANH
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/24/68. New York Times headline and subhead:
TET OFFENSIVE SHOCKS U.S. FORCES
LARGEST BATTLES OF WAR RAGE
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/26/68. Atlanta Constitution headline:
KHE SANH—THE BLOODY SIEGE CONTINUES
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/27/68. Los Angeles Examiner subhead:
MASSIVE VIET BATTLES SPARK U.S. PROTESTS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/30/68. Chicago Sun-Times headline and subhead:
KING CITES TET HOLOCAUST
CALLS FOR UNCONDITIONAL U.S. TROOP WITHDRAWAL
DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/2/68. Los Angeles Times headline and subhead:
NIXON ANNOUNCES PREZ’L CANDIDACY
PLEDGES TO WORK FOR “HARDWORKING, FORGOTTEN MAJORITY”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/6/68. Sacramento Bee subhead:
KING IN MOBILIZING EFFORT FOR POOR PEOPLE’S MARCH
DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/8/68. Houston Chronicle headline and subhead:
RFK IN HEATED ATTACK ON WAR
CALLS FOR NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT
DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/10/68. Cleveland Plain Dealer subhead:
HOOVER WARNS OF BLOODSHED IF MARCH PERMITTED
DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/18/68. Miami Herald headline and subhead:
HUGE NIXON CROWDS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
EX-VEEP ASSUMES FRONT-RUNNER STATUS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/2/68. Boston Globe headline and subhead:
U.S. CASUALTY RATE MOUNTS IN VIETNAM
KING BLASTS “FUTILE” CONFLICT
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/11/68. Tampa Tribune headline and subhead:
WILL HE OR WON’T HE?
RFK ISN’T SAYING
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/13/68. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Office/Mike Lyman’s Restaurant/Los Angeles/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Charles “Chuck the Vice” Aiuppa & Bernard “Nardy” Scavone, organized-crime associates. (Conversation 6.8 minutes in progress.)
CA: It’s what you call a coalition. Bobby’s the president, but he needs the head ape to mobilize all the little apes and put him in power.
BS: Do the arithmetic, Chuck. They don’t have the votes.
CA: Then you add the Jews, the college kids, the comsymps and the welfare creeps. It gets to be a very tight race with those forces in play.
BS: Bobby scares me. That I will readily admit.
CA: Bobby needs the head ape to create the unrest. Then he comes in and promises all the fucked-up people the moon.
BS: Bobby would fuck us, Chuck. He’d fuck us like he fucked us when he was AG and Jack was the prez.
CA: Bobby’s only happy when he’s got some made guy’s dick in the vice.
BS: Watch it, Chuck. You say “vice,” you give me these urges.
CA: Control yourself. There’ll be more. Uncle Carlos has always got work.
BS: I’d like to put the head ape and Bobby in the vice. One squeeze and arrivederci.
(Non-applicable conversation follows.)
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/14/68. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Card room/Grapevine Tavern/St. Louis/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Norbert Donald Kling & Rowland Mark DeJohn, paroled felons (Armed Robbery/Bunco/GTA) & presumed organized-crime associates. (Conversation 0.9 minutes in progress.)
NDK: This is rich. I grab the pay phone this morning and who do I get?
RMDJ: Jill St. John?
NDK: No.
RMDJ: What’s her name? That cooze with the go-go boots.
NDK: No.
RMDJ: Norb, shit—
NDK: It’s Jimmy Ray. He starts talking shit and says he joined a French cult in L.A. He dives muff and gets sucked off all day, and he needs money to support all his slaves, and did I know if there was a time limit on the bounty, ’cause he’s got his hands full with his slaves right now and he don’t know when he can get free.
RMDJ: That is hilarious. Jimmy’s got his hands full, all right.
NDK: One hand, at least. At Jeff City he’d geez meth and jack off for two days at a pop. He’d read these fucking pussy books and orbit. He said the fucking pictures were talking to him.
RMDJ: Jimmy’s got delusions of grandeur.
NDK: Yeah, but he hates niggers.
(Non-applicable conversation follows.)
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/15/68. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Suite 301/El Encanto Hotel/Santa Barbara/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Paul Horvitz (senate staff mbr.), Unidentified Male #1. (Conversation 3.9 minutes in progress.)
RFK: … simple and matter-of-fact. That’s the way my brother announced. (Pause/3.4 seconds.) Paul, you time the statement. Read it aloud, but don’t try to imitate me.
(Laughter/2.4 seconds.)
PH: About the position paper. Do we publish—
UM #1: You want the abbreviated version, right? The long form’s too dense, and the press guys will have to cut too much.
RFK: Condense it and let me read the final draft. And be damn sure there’s nothing in there about organized crime.
PH: Sir, I think that’s a mistake. It undercuts your credentials as Attorney General.
UM #1: Bob, shit. You know you’ll go after those guys ag—
RFK: I intend to, but I don’t intend to broadcast it.
UM #1: Shit, Bob. Good foes make for good campaigns. The war and Johnson are one thing, but—
PH: The Mob’s dead as a campaign issue, but—
RFK: I’ll do what I do, when I do it, but I’m not going to broadcast my intentions. Think “social justice,” “end the war” and “unite the country” and forget about the goddamn Mafia.
PH: Sir, do you think—
RFK: That’s enough. I’ve got enough on my mind without worrying about those sons-of-bitches.
(Non-applicable conversation follows.)
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/16/68. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Suite 301/El Encanto Hotel/Santa Barbara/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Senator Rober
t F. Kennedy, Paul Horvitz (senate staff mbr.), Unidentified Male #1. (Conversation 7.4 minutes in progress.)
RFK: … a litigator I had at Justice. He was there for most of my moves against Carlos Marcello.
UM #1: Uncle Carlos. You deported him.
RFK: I dumped his fat ass in Central America.
PH: You’re tipsy, Senator. You rarely say “ass” when you’re sober.
RFK: I’m getting tipsy now because I won’t be able to get tipsy until November. (Laughter/6.8 seconds.)
RFK: I’m starting to feel like a fighter before he goes into training. I’m dumping all the stuff I won’t be able to talk about during the campaign.
PH: That litigator. What ab—
RFK: We were talking about the Outfit. I told him that one day I’d get my second shot, and devil take the hindmost.
PH: Is that from Shakespeare?
RFK: It’s from me. It means I’m going to make those sons-of-whores pay.
(Non-applicable conversation follows).
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/17/68. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. (OPERATION BLACK RABBIT ADDENDUM.) Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director, BLUE RABBIT.
DIR: Good afternoon.
BR: Good afternoon, Sir.
DIR: You pulled me out of a meeting. I assume you have news of some import.
BR: We hit on CRUSADER RABBIT. One of my men tailed him to a bank in Silver Spring, Maryland. He has a dummy account there. I got a bank writ and checked his transaction record.
DIR: Continue.
BR: The account was opened under a pseudonym. CRUSADER uses it for one purpose, to send checks to the SCLC. I cross-checked our bank-account covers on the SCLC and determined that checks from four other accounts, in different cities and states, have been regularly sent in. They go back to ’64 and they all bear CRUSADER’s handwriting. He’s got a different alias for each account, and he’s donated close to a half million dollars total.