The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [241]
PH: Sir, do you think—
RFK: That’s enough. I’ve got enough on my mind without worrying about those sons-of-bitches.
(Non-applicable conversation follows.)
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/16/68. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Confidential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Suite 301/El Encanto Hotel/Santa Barbara/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Paul Horvitz (senate staff mbr.), Unidentified Male #1. (Conversation 7.4 minutes in progress.)
RFK: … a litigator I had at Justice. He was there for most of my moves against Carlos Marcello.
UM #1: Uncle Carlos. You deported him.
RFK: I dumped his fat ass in Central America.
PH: You’re tipsy, Senator. You rarely say “ass” when you’re sober.
RFK: I’m getting tipsy now because I won’t be able to get tipsy until November. (Laughter/6.8 seconds.)
RFK: I’m starting to feel like a fighter before he goes into training. I’m dumping all the stuff I won’t be able to talk about during the campaign.
PH: That litigator. What ab—
RFK: We were talking about the Outfit. I told him that one day I’d get my second shot, and devil take the hindmost.
PH: Is that from Shakespeare?
RFK: It’s from me. It means I’m going to make those sons-of-whores pay.
(Non-applicable conversation follows).
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/17/68. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. (OPERATION BLACK RABBIT ADDENDUM.) Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director, BLUE RABBIT.
DIR: Good afternoon.
BR: Good afternoon, Sir.
DIR: You pulled me out of a meeting. I assume you have news of some import.
BR: We hit on CRUSADER RABBIT. One of my men tailed him to a bank in Silver Spring, Maryland. He has a dummy account there. I got a bank writ and checked his transaction record.
DIR: Continue.
BR: The account was opened under a pseudonym. CRUSADER uses it for one purpose, to send checks to the SCLC. I cross-checked our bank-account covers on the SCLC and determined that checks from four other accounts, in different cities and states, have been regularly sent in. They go back to ’64 and they all bear CRUSADER’s handwriting. He’s got a different alias for each account, and he’s donated close to a half million dollars total.
DIR: I am astounded.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: He’s embezzled the money or stolen it from some convenient source. His salaries would not sustain that degree of largesse.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: He’s indulging the Catholic concept of penance. He’s atoning for the sins he’s committed under my flag.
BR: It gets worse, Sir.
DIR: Tell me how. Fulfill my worst fears and most justified suspicions.
BR: An agent spot-tailed him in D.C. two days ago. He was heavily disguised and almost unrecognizable. He met a Kennedy staffer named Paul Horvitz at a restaurant and spent two hours with him.
DIR: More atonement. A roundelay that will not go unpunished.
BR: What do you want me—
DIR: Let CRUSADER continue to atone for his sins. Send copies of the March 15th and March 16th El Encanto bug tapes to Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana, Moe Dalitz, Santo Trafficante and every other Mob patriarch in the United States. They should know that Prince Bobby has long-range plans for them.
BR: It’s a bold and inspired gambit, Sir.
DIR: Good day, Dwight. Go with God and other felicitous sources.
BR: Good day, Sir.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 3/18/68. New York Times headline:
RFK ANNOUNCES BID FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION
March 19, 1968–June 9, 1968
106
(Saigon, 3/19/68)
You’re back.
It’s vivid. It’s vicious. It’s Vietnam.
See the troop swarms. See the displaced slopes. See said gooks talking Tet. See the boarded temples. See the truck convoys. See the antiaircraft guns.
You’re back. Dig it. Saigon ’68.
The cab crawled. Trucks hemmed it in. Gun trucks/food trucks/troop trucks. Tailpipe fumes windshield-high. Fume grit in your eyes.
Pete watched. Pete smoked. Pete chewed Tums.
He breached the truce. He flew overnight—Frisco/Tan Son Nhut. He