The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [42]
“I’ve prepared a script. You tell Bobby that you don’t like the proximity to the hearings, and you offer to help. If Bobby gets angry, you be that much more persistent.”
Eversall blinked. Eversall st-st-stuttered. He tried to talk. He popped p’s and l’s. He bounced b’s for “Bobby.”
Littell smelled his piss. Littell saw the stain. Littell rolled the windows down.
He had spare time. The pay phone was close. He cracked all the windows and aired the car out.
Trains rolled in. Women fetched their husbands. A hailstorm hit. It chipped his windshield. He tuned in the radio news.
Mr. Hoover addressed the Boy Scouts. Jack Ruby sulked in his cell. Trouble in Saigon. Bobby Kennedy bereft.
Bobby loved hard. Bobby mourned hard. He used to.
Late ’58:
He worked the Chicago Office. Bobby worked the McClellan Committee. Kemper Boyd worked for Bobby. Kemper Boyd worked against him. Mr. Hoover deployed Kemper wide.
Mr. Hoover hated Bobby. Bobby chased the Mob. Mr. Hoover said the Mob did not exist. Bobby humbled Mr. Hoover. Bobby disproved his lie.
Mr. Hoover liked Kemper Boyd. Boyd liked his friend Ward. Boyd got Ward a choice Bureau job:
The Top Hoodlum Program—Mr. Hoover’s late retraction—Mr. Hoover’s late nod to the Mob. Call it a half-measure. Call it a publicity shuck.
He worked the THP. He fucked up. Mr. Hoover kicked him back to the Red Squad. Boyd stepped up then. Boyd stepped up for Bobby. Boyd offered friend Ward a real job.
Covert work—unpaid.
He took the job. He culled anti-Mob data. He leaked it to Boyd. Boyd leaked it to Bobby.
He never met Bobby. Bobby called him the Phantom. Bobby logged a persistent rumor. Bobby passed it on to Kemper Boyd.
The Teamsters kept a private set of pension-fund books. The “real” books hid one billion dollars.
He chased the “real” books. He traced them to a man named Jules Schiffrin. He stole the “real” books—late in ’60.
Schiffrin discovered the theft. Schiffrin had a heart attack. Schiffrin died that night. Littell hid the books. Said books were coded. Littell decoded one entry fast.
The code rebuked a royal clan. The code proved that Joe Kennedy was mobbed-up tight.
Joe fed the fund. Joe gorged it. Joe invested 49 million dollars. It was laundered. It was lent. It suborned politicians. It financed labor rackets.
The base sum stayed in the fund. The money notched compound interest. The money greeeeeeew.
Joe let it ride. The Teamsters held his assets. Littell did not tell Bobby. Littell did not assault his dad.
He kept the books. He ignored his Red Squad work. He befriended a name leftist. Mr. Hoover found out. Mr. Hoover fired him.
Jack Kennedy was elected. Jack made Bobby his AG. Bobby got Boyd work at Justice.
Boyd interceded. Boyd braced Bobby—employ the Phantom, please.
Mr. Hoover interceded. Mr. Hoover braced Bobby—don’t employ Ward J. Littell. He’s a drunk. He’s a sob sister. He’s a Communist.
Bobby kowtowed. Bobby cut the Phantom off. The Phantom kept the “real” books. The Phantom quit booze. The Phantom lawyered freelance. The Phantom cracked the fund-book code.
He tracked a billion dollars. He tracked intakes and transfers. He studied and extrapolated and knew:
The funds could be diverted. The funds could be deployed legally.
He hoarded the knowledge. He hid the books. He inked up a duplicate set. He hated Bobby now. He hated Jack K. by extension.
Boyd was fixed on Cuba. Carlos M. ditto. Carlos financed exile groups. The Boys wanted to oust Fidel Castro. The Boys wanted to reclaim their Cuban hotels.
Boyd worked for Bobby. Boyd worked for the CIA. Bobby hated Carlos. Bobby deported Carlos. The Phantom knew deportation law.
Boyd set him up with Carlos. The Phantom became a Mob lawyer. It felt morally and hatefully correct.
Carlos set him up with Jimmy Hoffa. Mr. Hoover reappeared.
Mr. Hoover made nice. Mr. Hoover praised his comeback. Mr. Hoover set him up with Mr. Hughes. Mr. Hoover shared his Bobby-Jack hate.
He worked for Carlos and Jimmy. He planned the Hughes-Vegas