by James Ellroy
BR: How does he get in?
FR: He made a mold of the door lock and had duplicate keys made.
BR: And he picks up at irregular intervals?
FR: Right. All synced to his rotations. He print-dusts the mail he picks up, since those hate-mail guys never put their return addresses on the envel—
BR: It’s redundant. The mail teams dust the incomings. Everything’s been wiped by the time he sees it.
FR: Shitfire. My boy’s a chemist. He sprays the pages with some goop called ninhydrin and brings up partial prints all the time. He said he’s working out his technique, and one of these days he’ll be able to bring up completes.
BR: Okay. He’s good. You’ve convinced me.
FR: And he’s careful.
BR: He’d better be. We do not want it known that outside eyes saw that mail.
FR: I told you. He’s care—
BR: What about prospects?
FR: None so far. All he’s got are a bunch of lunatics who sound like they’re one step ahead of the net.
BR: Bob’s got a prospect. We might not need Wayne’s help on that end.
FR: Bob should have told me. Shitfire, I’m his runner.
BR: You’re his Daddy Rabbit. There’s things he won’t tell you for just that reason.
FR: All right. You tell me.
BR: The guy escaped from the Missouri State Pen in April. Bob knew him when he worked as a guard there. They were jungled up in Bob’s right-wing foolishness.
FR: That’s all you’ve got?
BR: Bob’s pouching me a memo. I’ll forward it to you.
FR: Shit, Dwight. You know I’ve got a veto on this.
BR: Yeah, you do, and we won’t use the guy unless we both agree that he’s perfect.
FR: Come on. You owe me more—
BR: He’s on the lam. He was afraid to stay at Bob’s compound, so he split to Canada. Bob’s got a line on him. If we agree that he’s the guy, I’ll send Fred Otash up to work him.
FR: Hands-on? I thought we’d bring in some cutouts.
BR: I made Freddy lose 60 pounds. He was tall and heavy, now he’s tall and thin.
FR: He looks different.
BR: Completely. He’s Lebanese, he speaks Spanish, we can pass him off as some kind of beaner. Bob said the prospect is malleable. Freddy eats up that kind of guy.
FR: You like the guy.
BR: He’s a strong prospect. Read the memo and let me know what you think.
FR: Shit. This is taking time.
BR: All good things do.
FR: Someone might beat us to it.
BR: If they do, they do.
FR: What’s Mr. Hoover been—
BR: He’s afraid that Marty and Bobby will team up. It’s all he talks about. BLACK RABBIT’s been up in the air since the shakedown flopped. Hoover knows I’m “exploring more radical means,” but he hasn’t asked me a single question about it since I made the proposal.
FR: That means he knows what you’re planning.
BR: Maybe, maybe not. Second-guessing the old poof gets us nowhere.
FR: Dwight, Jesus.
BR: Come on. Remember what I told you? He can’t read minds and he can’t patch scrambled calls.
FR: Still.
BR: What about Durfee? Have your LAPD guys turned up anything?
FR: Nothing. They’ve got covert bulletins out, but they haven’t got a single goddamn bite.
BR: First we’ve got to find him. Then we’ve got to rig it so Wayne doesn’t know that we’re handing him up.
FR: That’s easy. We stiff a call through Sonny Liston, who’s allegedly got people out looking for Durfee, not that that impresses—
BR: I want that wedge. I’m not bringing Wayne any closer without one.
FR: I owe him Durfee. I have a debt to repay to him, and Durfee will settle it.
BR: I’ll put my sources on him. Between yours and mine, we might hit.
FR: Let’s try. I owe Wayne that.
BR: I’m glad I never had any kids. They end up killing unarmed Negroes and pushing heroin.
FR: The Gospel According to Dwight Chalfont Holly.
BR: Enough. Let’s discuss ops money.
FR: I’m in for two hundred cold. You know that.
BR: Otash wants fifty cold.
FR: I’m sure he’s worth it.
BR: Bob’s putting in a hundred.
FR: Shitfire. He hasn’t got that kind of money.
BR: Are you sitting down?
FR: Yes. Why—
BR: I was down in New Hebron. I saw Bob dipping the numbers off some flamethrowers he was getting ready to route to the Gulf. They had triple-zero prefixes, which I just happened to know designates CIA-disbursement lots. I asked Bob about it. He lied, which was the wrong thing to do under the circumstances.
FR: You’re talking Swahili, Dwight. I’ve got no idea where this is going.
BR: I leaned on Bob. He gave it up.
FR: Gave what up?
BR: His Cuban gun-running gig is nothing but a shuck. Carlos Marcello and that CIA guy John Stanton cooked it up. The guns have been going to Castro sources inside Cuba, with Marcello’s best wishes. The Outfit’s been sucking up to Castro, so he’ll help them implement some plan they’ve got to plant casinos in Latin American countries. Castro’s got juice with leftist insurgents in the countries the Outfit’s looking at, and he’s sending them the guns that Bob and the other guys smuggle in. That way, if the lefties implement takeovers in their countries, they’ll let the Outfit in. If they don’t take over, the Outfit will grease the right-wing guys still in power.
FR: I’m seeing visions, Dwight. I’m seeing all the Latter-day Saints.
BR: It gets better.
FR: It couldn’t. And you don’t need to warn me not to tell Wayne, because we both know this would drive the boy insane.
BR: The Outfit’s covered on both ends. Castro’s sacrificed X-number of Militia troops to the venture, because Bondurant, Wayne and their guys have been boating in and taking scalps with impunity. Castro’s making money, it’s worth a few Soldiers of the Revolution in the long run, it all goes to fuel the Commie agenda in Latin America.
FR: Dwight, I’m flabber—
BR: Stanton and the other CIA guys involved have been kicking back Bondurant’s dope profits to an Agency source. He’s been supplying Bob with CIA disbursement weaponry, which fucking Bob has been passing off as ordnance stolen from armory heists and Army pilferings. Stanton and Marcello have diverted millions in profit overflow, and they’ve paid Bob and these guys Laurent Guery and Flash Elorde percentage cuts to work the scam from the beginning. Only Bondurant, your son, and some guy named Mesplede think the whole thing is for real. They’re the stupes and the true believers.
FR: My lord. All the Saints and the Angel Moroni.
BR: Bob’s socked away a hundred cold. He’ll kick it into our operation, if we let him shoot or play back-up to our fall guy.
FR: I wouldn’t deny him. Not after a story like that.
BR: He’s in, then. He kept all that covert for years, so I think we can trust him.
FR: We’ve got to keep this quiet. If Bondurant or my son find out, it all hits the—
BR: I’ve got Bob’s balls. He won’t talk to anyone else.
FR: Dwight, I should …
BR: Yeah, go. Have a drink and talk to your saints.
FR: Visions, Dwight. I mean it.
BR: I almost went into civil law. Can you believe it?
DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/12/67. Pouch communiqué. To: FATHER RABBIT. From: BLUE RABBIT. Marked: “Eyes Only”/“Read and Burn.”
FATHER,
Here’s Bob’s memo. His facts & observations are based on his personal relationship with the PROSPECT & on files he stole from the Missouri State Prison System. I cleaned up his grammar & spelling & included some perceptions. READ, BURN & pouch me your response.
The PROSPECT:
Ray, James Earl/white male/5’10”/160/DOB 3-16-28/Alton, Illi
nois/1 of 10 children.
PROSPECT grew up in rural Illinois & Missouri. Father was career petty larcenist. PROSPECT first arrested (1942) at age 14 (theft). Became frequenter of traveling carnivals & houses of prostitution. Became friendly with older man (German immigrant) who was pro-Hitler & member of German-American Bund. PROSPECT began to develop anti-Negro attitude at this time.
PROSPECT enlisted in U.S. Army (2/19/46) & requested Germany as duty station. Attended basic training at Camp Crowder, Missouri & assigned (as truck driver) to Q.M. Corps in occupied Germany (7/46). Later assigned as driver to MP battalion in Bremerhaven. Trafficked in black market cigarettes, frequented prostitutes & was treated for syphilis & gonorrhea. Began drinking heavily & taking Benzedrine. Transferred to Infantry Battalion, Frankfurt (4/48) & requested immediate discharge.
Request was denied. PROSPECT charged with being drunk in quarters (10/48) & held in post stockade. PROSPECT escaped, was recaptured & sentenced to 3 months hard labor. Returned to the U.S. (12/48) & given “general discharge.” Spent time at family’s home in Alton, Illinois. Hitchhiked to Los Angeles (9/49), arrested for burglary (12/9/49), sentenced to 8 months county jail time, released early for good behavior (3/50).
PROSPECT traveled east. Arrested for vagrancy (Marion, Iowa, 4/18/50), released 5/8/50. Arrested for vagrancy (Alton, Ill., 7/26/51), released 9/51. Arrested for armed robbery (taxicab hijack, Chicago, 5/6/52, shot while attempting escape).
PROSPECT received two-year sentence. Served time at Joliet & Pontiac facilities. Established reputation as prison “Loner” & habitual user of home-brew alcohol & amphetamines. Paroled 3/12/54.
PROSPECT arrested for burglary (Alton, Ill., 8/28/54). Bailed out & absconded before trial date. Traveled east with criminal companion & shared political views (e.g., all Negroes were inferior & should be killed). Arrested (robbery of post office, Kellerville, Ill.) 3/55. Sentenced to 36 mos. Federal prison. Received at Leavenworth Penitentiary, 7/7/55. Paroled 5/58.
PROSPECT’s parole jurisdiction transferred to St. Louis (family members lived there). In 7 & 8/59, PROSPECT & 2 accomplices went on supermarket robbery spree (St. Louis & Alton, Ill.). PROSPECT arrested 10/10/59. Attempted jail escape 12/15/59. Sentenced to 20 yrs. Missouri State Penitentiary. Received at Jefferson City Facility, 3/17/60.
Jeff City reputedly the toughest & most harshly run prison in the U.S. White & Negro inmates largely segregated. White inmates mostly of “Hillbilly” lineage & vocal per their hatred of Negroes. Facility had informal chapters of KKK, National States Rights Party, National Renaissance Party & Thunderbolt Legion.
PROSPECT worked in dry cleaning plant & unsuccessfully attempted escape in 10/61. PROSPECT bootlegged prison bakery goods & amphetamines, habitually injected amphetamines & frequently indulged anti-Negro tirades when “high.” PROSPECT also sold & rented contraband pornographic magazines & joined informal meetings of extreme right-wing groups (attended by both convicts & guards) & often discussed his desire to “kill niggers” & “Martin Luther Coon.”
PROSPECT also discussed desire to move to segregated African countries, become a “Merc” & “kill niggers.” BR contends that PROSPECT was especially vituperative, even by white convict standards.
PROSPECT openly fantasized that a “White Businessman’s Association” had a $100,000 bounty out on King. This is enticing when considering recent “bounty-talk” picked up via bug at Grapevine Tavern in St. Louis. BR contends that “Bounty” concept strongly plays into PROSPECT’s “get-rich-quick mentality.”
PROSPECT denied parole in ′64. Attempted escape 3/11/66. Escaped 4/23/67 (hiding in an outbound bread truck).
PROSPECT stated to BR:
That he walked hill roads to Kansas City, did “odd jobs & built up a stake,” bussed to Chicago & got dishwasher’s job at restaurant in Winnetka. PROSPECT visited family members & childhood haunts in Alton, Quincy & East St. Louis & determined that no intensive manhunt was being conducted. PROSPECT robbed liquor store in East St. Louis (6/29/67) & stole $4,100.
PROSPECT traveled south & spent week at BR’s compound (7/5–7/12/67). Grocery store near New Hebron robbed (7/8/67). BR believes PROSPECT was perpetrator. PROSPECT & BR discussed “politics” & PROSPECT apparently was not afraid that BR would report his fugitive status. PROSPECT “kept to himself,” drank & took amphetamines, ignored BR’s Klansmen, talked to BR exclusively & frequently stated his desire to “kill niggers,” “collect nigger bounties,” “hire on as a merc & kill niggers in the Nigger Congo” & “live in a white man’s paradise like Rhodesia.”
PROSPECT left compound (7/13/67), told BR he was driving to Canada & would call & reestablish contact. PROSPECT called 7/17/67 & gave BR phone # in Montreal.
Summation:
BR characterizes the PROSPECT as moody, acquiescent, limitedly self-sufficient and cunning, socially clumsy, easily led by stronger personalities and easily manipulated on the level of his political beliefs. His frequently stated desire to “kill niggers” and his “bounty” fixation are encouraging and serve to underline the possibility that he may require minimal sheep-dipping. The PROSPECT may be willing to shoot himself and we may be able to manipulate him into and/or control the context he shoots in.
I think he’s the one. Let me know if you agree.
To digress:
I had a long conversation with Mr. Hoover yesterday. I expressed concern about the degree to which his anti-King incursions had already become public knowledge. I mentioned his statements about King, the SCLC’s bug and wiretap accusations and reports on the letter which was sent to King and urged him to commit suicide, which has been detailed in several left-wing periodicals. I told him that to further protect the WHITE-HATE and anti-King arms of OPERATION BLACK RABBIT and any escalations that might arise from them, a cosmeticized, largely downscaled anti-King file should be created and stored in the FBI Archives, where it would remain and stand ready for scrutiny in the event of congressional subpoena or subpoena for civil lawsuit.
Mr. Hoover understood that this mock-file would serve to obfuscate the rowdier aspects of OBR, protect Bureau prestige and buttress the validity of his earlier, less vindictive digs at King and the SCLC. He charged me to create file entries, combine them with file entries pertaining to events within public knowledge and whip them into an overall package.
I will undertake and accomplish this over the next several months. This mock-file will, of course, serve to obfuscate our independent escalations. I’m code-naming the file OPERATION ZORRO, a reference to the fictional do-gooder with the black mask.
I’m open to suggestions per the mock-file entries. Let me know if you have any. I would strongly advise you to burn all your OPERATION BLACK RABBIT memoranda at this time, along with this memo.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/14/67. Pouch communiqué. To: BLUE RABBIT. From: FATHER RABBIT. Marked: “Eyes Only”/“Read and Burn.”
BLUE,
Per PROSPECT: I enthusiastically endorse. Has he contacted BR from his Montreal location? If so, have Otash establish contact.
Per OPERATION ZORRO: I endorse the concept and laud your farsightedness. I’ll burn my BLACK RABBIT paperwork.
I’m assuming there’s no word on Wendell Durfee. Can you have your people step up their search?
DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/16/67. Pouch communiqué. To: FATHER RABBIT. From: BLUE RABBIT. Marked: “EYES ONLY”/“READ AND BURN.”
FATHER,
The PROSPECT contacted BR. Otash contacted the PROSPECT in Montreal & advises: He will sever contact until he successfully suborns or recruits.
Per Wendell Durfee: My people are still looking. They’ve brought in three more men.
READ THIS & BURN.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/22/67. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Card room/Fritzie’s Heidelberg Restaurant/Milwaukee/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Unidentified males #1, #2 & #3, presumed organized-crime associates. (Conversation
5.6 minutes in progress.)
UM #1: (And) he will rue the day he comes here and agitates, because the day he marches in the Saint-Whoever Parade is the day all the white folks put their goddamn internecine and intramural differences aside and unite.
UM #2: They think they’re white. That’s what kills me.
UM #3: I saw a nigger march in the St. Patrick’s Parade. He had this sign that said, “Kiss Me, I’m Irish.”
UM #2: King puts them up to it. They get a toe in our world, then a foot, then an ankle.
UM #1: It’s their peckers I’m worried about. Most of them bucks got ones the size of a bratwurst.
UM #2: I was talking to Phil. You know him? “Phil the Pill.” He runs semis out of St. Louis.
UM #3: I know him. Phil the Pill. He eats co-pilots like they’re popcorn.
UM #2: Phil says there’s a contract out. You know, a bounty. Like Steve McQueen in “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
UM #1: I heard that story. You clip that nigger, you make 50 grand. It’s a story I don’t believe for one second.
UM #3: That’s right. Some cracker clips King, he comes to the Grapevine and says, “Pay me.” Everybody says, “Why? It was just a fucking rumor, and the nigger’s dead, anyway.”
(Non-applicable conversation follows.)
DOCUMENT INSERT: 9/1/67. Listening-post report. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Suite 301/El Encanto Hotel/Santa Barbara/listening-post-accessed.
Sirs,
As per the last 9 monitoring periods (4/2/67 to date), Subject RFK was not in residence at the target location. Subject RFK rents the suite on a yearly basis & it remains empty during his absences. The (voice-activated) mounts have thus far picked up only the non-applicable conversations of El Encanto caretakers & other employees. Per orders, the listening post will continue to be manned full-time.
Respectfully,
SA C. W. Brundage
DOCUMENT INSERT: 9/9/67. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
