Citizen Hughes - Michael Drosnin [256]
One of the Mormons, George Francom, stated in an affidavit that Hughes was falsely told that “the drug supply was drying up in the Bahamas and that there would be a better supply in Acapulco.”
The description of Hughes’s death and of his last fix was recounted by Francom in his affidavit—he was the Mormon who refused to give Hughes the injection—and also by several other aides and doctors in depositions and court testimony.
Angleton’s eulogy was reported in Time magazine, April 19, 1976. He refused in an interview to explain his remarks.
Acknowledgments
This adventure began as a project for New Times magazine. When I had little more than a wild hunch, New Times editor Jon Larsen supported me without question and gave me the total freedom I needed. Without his backing the entire quest would not have been possible, and the secret papers would never have been found.
Tom Wallace and Irv Goodman, my original editor and publisher at Holt, Rinehart and Winston, displayed rare courage in taking on a book they knew would be more than controversial.
Steve Rubin, who published the paperback of the original edition at Bantam Books, and is publishing this new edition at Broadway Books, has been an enthusiastic and highly effective publisher, now spanning two decades. Charlie Conrad, my editor at Broadway, has been right on target from day one, and his assistant, Alison Presley, a source of constant help.
Rob Fleder, a senior editor at Playboy, was among the first outsiders to read the manuscript, and his enthusiasm and that of his magazine meant much.
Very special thanks to my lead attorney, Jerry Gutman, president of the New York Civil Liberties Union, whose wise counsel often went beyond legal advice—a friend who was there from the beginning and never wavered through the years. I am also grateful to Ira Glasser, Aryeh Neier, and Bruce Ennis of the American Civil Liberties Union who all helped at a critical early stage; to Melville Nimmer; and especially to Leon Friedman who played a central role. Men like these keep the First Amendment alive.
Several friends took time to read, criticize, encourage. One, Ron Rosenbaum, did far more. This book is in many ways as much his as my own. Much of what is best in it was suggested by him, and he kept urging me on day after day for years, always generous with his time and intelligence, always full of creative insights. To have had such a brilliant writer as so devoted a friend was truly a godsend. I would not have made it without him.
Finally, my source for the papers, the Pro. He risked everything and gave me total trust. That made it all possible.
About the Author
MICHAEL DROSNIN, a former reporter for the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, is also the author of two other New York Times bestsellers, The Bible Code and Bible Code II: The Countdown. He spent seven years researching and writing this classic account of power gone mad. Drosnin lives and works in New York.