American Tabloid - James Ellroy [190]
Pete got the shakes. Delsol caught his fear instantaneously.
“We must pretend this never happened, Pedro. You yourself must pretend that you never really believed in the Cause. We must not interfere with men who are so much more powerful than we are.”
Boyd took it cool. Pete steamed up the phone booth yelling.
“We can still make our casino deal happen. We can send in your team, have them clip Castro and create fucking chaos. Maybe things work out and Santo honors our deal, maybe they don’t work out. At the very fucking least, we can snuff Fidel Castro.”
Boyd said, “No. The deal is dead and the Cadre is finished, and sending in my men precipitously will only get them killed.”
Pete kicked the door off its hinges—
“What do you mean, ‘NO’?”
“I mean we should recoup our losses. We should make some money before somebody tells Bobby about the Outfit and the Agency.”
The door crashed across the sidewalk. Pedestrians stepped around it. A little kid jumped on it and cracked the glass in half.
“The heroin?”
Boyd was calm. “There’s two hundred pounds, Pete. We let it sit for five years and sell it overseas. You, me and Néstor. We’ll make at least three million dollars apiece.”
Pete went lightheaded. Dig it: that 9.9 earthquake is strictly internal.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/25/62. Carlyle Hotel bedroom microphone transcript. Transcribed by: Fred Turentine. Tape/written copies to: P. Bondurant, W. Littell.
BJ phoned the listening post at 3:08 p.m. She said she was meeting the target “for dinner” at 5:00. She was instructed to double open & shut the bedroom door to activate the mike. Active feed from 5:23 p.m. on. Initial log: BJ—Barb Jahelka. JFK—John F. Kennedy.
5:24–5:33: sexual activity. (See tape transcript. High sound quality. Voices discernable.)
5:34–5:41: conversation.
JFK: Shit, my back.
BJ: Let me help.
JFK: No, that’s all right.
BJ: Stop looking at your watch. We just finished.
JFK (laughing): I really should have that wall clock installed.
BJ: And tell the chef to get with it. That was a lousy club sandwich.
JFK: It was. The turkey was dry and the bacon was soggy.
BJ: You seem distracted, Jack.
JFK: Smart girl.
BJ: The weight of the world?
JFK: No, my brother. He’s on the warpath about my friends and the women I see, and he’s acting like a colossal pain in the ass.
BJ: For instance?
JFK: He’s on a witch hunt. Frank Sinatra knows some gangsters, so Frank had to go. The women Peter sets me up with are gonorrhea carrying tarts, and you’re too polished and aware of your effects to be a Twist bunny, so you’re suspect on general principles.
BJ (laughing): What’s next? Can I expect to see FBI men following me?
JFK (laughing): Hardly. Bobby and Hoover hate each other too much to collaborate on anything that touchy. Bobby’s overworked, so he’s touchy, and Hoover’s touchy because he’s a Nazi faggot who hates all men with normal appetites. Bobby’s running Justice, chasing gangsters and running point for my Cuban policy. He’s up to his neck in psychopathic lowlife, and Hoover fights him on protocol matters every inch of the way. And I’m the one who takes the brunt of his frustration. Say, why don’t we change jobs? You be the President of the United States and I’ll Twist at, what’s the name of that place you’re appearing?
BJ: Del’s Den in Stamford, Connecticut.
JFK: Right. What do you say, Barb? Shall we switch jobs?
BJ: It’s a deal. And after I take over, I’ll fire J. Edgar Hoover and order Bobby to take a vacation.
JFK: You’re thinking like a Kennedy now.
BJ: How so?
JFK: I’m going to let Bobby be the one to give Hoover the sack.
BJ: Stop looking at your watch.
JFK: You should hide it from me next time.
BJ: I will.
JFK: I have to go. Hand me my trousers, will you?
BJ: They’re wrinkled.
JFK: It’s your fault.
Single door slam deactivates mike. Transcript close: 5:42 p.m., April 24, 1962.
DOCUMENT INSERTS: 4/25/62, 4/26/62, 5/1/62. Top Hoodlum Program wiretap outtakes: Los Angeles, Chicago and Newark venues. Marked: CONFIDENTIAL/TOP SECRET/ DIRECTOR’S EYES ONLY.
Los Angeles, 4/25/62. Placement: