The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [144]
10 - SCLC TRASH COVERS. The examination, logging & evidentiary seizure of all garbage and discard material dumped in trash bins at all SCLC Offices.
11 - An anonymous letter, to be written from a Negro perspective and sent to RED RABBIT’s home in Atlanta.
The letter will begin “King, look into your heart” and will recount what a “grim farce” the Nobel Peace Prize and RED RABBIT’s other recent accolades are held to be within the mainstream Negro community. The letter will subtly urge RED RABBIT to commit suicide rather than risk further disfavor within the Negro community, and will include bug-tap excerpts, pertaining to RED RABBIT’s promiscuity, to buttress your deliberate public statements and convince RED RABBIT that those statements are widely received and accepted by mainstream Negroes.
In closing:
Our bugs and wiretaps remain in place, although they are severely compromised. Per our last phone call, I agree with your assessment. OPERATION BLACK RABBIT must launch and sustain at Stage-1 Covert status. RED RABBIT has reached an unbearably high level of public acceptance that only our most diligent and secretive efforts will be able to dislodge.
Respectfully,
D.C.H.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/21/64. Pouch communiqué. To: John Stanton. From: Pete Bondurant. Marked: “Hand Pouch Deliver Only”/ “Destroy Upon Reading.”
J.S.,
Wayne hit paydirt. We’re on go for 1/9/65, & after final distribution, I’m predicting a net profit of $320,000. That makes the kadre’s profit nut (45%) about $150,000. Right now I’m working out the details, but the plan is unchanged.
Laurent, Chuck and Flash will purchase weapons on the right-wing circuit in Texas & the south & will funnel them to exiles on the Gulf. That’s the essential plan, with one proviso.
We’ve both been the coastal harassment route, and running missions out of South Florida & the Gulf got us nowhere. I think our exiles should take advantage of being Cuban & should conduit the weapons to anti-Castro groups inside Cuba. I’m emphatic about this.
What do you think? Please reply ASAP.
P.B.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/26/64. Pouch communiqué. To: Pete Bondurant. From John Stanton. Marked: “Hand Pouch Deliver Only”/ “Destroy Upon Reading.”
P.B.,
I approve the general outline of your plan and agree that our ultimate goal should be to provide on-island dissidents with the weapons our net profits secure. That said, I should again point out that you’re jumping the gun on the Cuban end of things. Make no specific profit distribution plans until our in-country costs can be assessed, with all monies flagged for laundering through appropriate Agency fronts. We do not want our Cuban “contributions” to be traceable back to our Las Vegas business.
To close:
The Saigon cleanup will be implemented soon. A Can Lao contingent will secure the area around Khanh Hoi, but I have been assured that the lab will not be touched. Have Tedrow secure the lab and be off the premises by the a.m. of 1/8/65.
Por la Causa,
J.S.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/6/65. Body-wire transcript. Marked: “Route to: Director/Blue Rabbit/White Rabbit/Father Rabbit/Live Tape Destroyed/Read & Burn.”
Location: Washington, D.C. (Lafayette Park). Date: 1/4/65/0842 hrs. Speaking: CRUSADER RABBIT/PINK RABBIT.
CR (conversation in progress): What I (static/ambient noise) read in the press. Dr. King sounded encour—
PR (laughing): With Martin, nonviolence extends to the absence of invective (pause/2.1 seconds). No, Hoover was rude and intractable. Martin said he was shaking.
CR: No progress, then?
PR: None. He did not affirm or deny the existence of the bugs and the taps. (Static/2.8 seconds.) Didn’t really press it. He’s so goddamn Christlike at times.
CR: Dr. King was wise not to rile him.
PR: You’re right, Ward. You have a hateful lunatic in his declining years and a hugely important figure in his ascent. You have to believe that people will see through to the gist of that.
CR: Never condescend or underest (ambient noise/2.9 seconds) abilities.
PR: That was reinforced for Martin soon after.
CR: How—
PR (interrupting):