Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy - Eamon Javers [145]
†But he remained an active participant in other CIA operations. Over the years, Maheu told Senate investigators, he allowed his firm to serve as cover employment for CIA officers on missions around the world. Maheu paid out salaries and expenses, sometimes for men he’d never met. “I mean, all they had to do was carry the credit cards and credentials and claim that they worked for Robert A. Maheu and Associates,” he said. The CIA reimbursed Maheu for the cost of the cover agents.
*In the winter, the Peloquins spend time at their condo in Plantation, Florida, situated just off the Lago Mar Country Club. And Peloquin still goes to Paradise Island sometimes. “I know people there who can get me a reservation,” he says with a laugh.
*This story made for great Hollywood fare: in 2007 it became a movie, The Hoax, starring Richard Gere as Irving.
*Vadja Kalombatovic had one other connection useful to Intertel. During World War II, he’d served in the army as a corporal. The sergeant he reported to was Henry Kissinger, later to become Nixon’s secretary of state. When the two men ran into each other in the deep-carpeted confines of Washington’s elite Metropolitan Club, they’d embrace like brothers. The relationship was yet another vector into the federal government for Intertel.
*The interests that intertwined Sir Ranulph and Peloquin are almost incomprehensibly complex. O’Toole writes that while Peloquin was still at the Department of Justice, he was already in contact with Crosby, of Paradise Island. (By Peloquin’s account, they met only after he had left Justice.) And according to O’Toole, Peloquin began an investigation at the department of alleged corruption among Bahamian gamblers—who also posed a threat to Crosby’s interests on the island. A Royal Commission of Inquiry was also formed to look into allegations of corruption among Crosby’s competitors. That commission was chaired by Bacon and received direct cooperation from Peloquin. It succeeded in driving away several potential competitors to Crosby. Later, Peloquin invited Bacon to join his board of directors at Intertel.
*During the Thanksgiving eve escape from the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, one of Hughes’s aides had the unpleasant duty of toting that saddle-shaped toilet seat down the stairs to load into the getaway car.
*A person listed in the directory lent a copy of the 2007 edition of Trapline to the author—on the condition that it be quickly returned. It was.
*Kroll says he doesn’t remember looking into Boesky’s sex life: “We investigated Ivan Boesky on several occasions, but I don’t remember any one occasion in which his sexuality was an issue,” he said.
*It was an ironic choice because the Mayflower Hotel had itself been the scene of so much corporate wiretapping in earlier decades.
*The “Brown” in the name was a reference to the lawyer who helped draw up the papers for the incorporation.
*Today, Cannistraro says he worked on only a few projects for the firm, and he thinks Beckett Brown wanted to hire him to use his name to generate business.
†The odd suffix “effem” is derived from the pronunciation of F. M., the initials of company founder Frank Mars.
*Nestlé Magic had such appeal that the toys are still available for sale on eBay—and have appreciated nicely in value. A box of twelve of the cheap plastic toys was offered for sale on eBay recently for $45, plus $8.75 for shipping.
*Watergate buffs may recognize the name Science Security Associates. In the months leading up to the infamous break-in, a New Zealander working for Science