The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [75]
Pete laughed. Pete slapped his knees.
Ward sipped coffee. “Have you spoken to the U.S. Attor—”
“He called me. He said Mr. Hoover told him not to file on the kid. I think Wayne Senior interceded, and I hope you didn’t run me out here to gloat.”
Ward tapped the bag. “Congratulations.”
“For what? The investigation your client fucked up?”
“You must have talked to the U.S. Attorney yesterday.”
Holly tugged his law-school ring. “You’re stringing me, Ward. You’re reminding me why I never liked you.”
Ward stirred his coffee. “You’re the new Chief Investigator for the Southern Nevada Office. Mr. Hoover told me this morning.”
Holly tugged his ring. It fell off. It hit the floor. It traveled.
Ward smiled. “We want to make friends in Nevada.”
Pete smiled. “You took down Leroy Williams and the Swasey brothers. They were out on bail when Wayne killed them.”
Ward tapped the bag. “The reports have been predated. You’ll be reading about it.”
Pete tapped the bag. “It’s a white Christmas.”
Holly grabbed the bag. Holly grabbed a steak knife. Holly stabbed one brick. Holly dipped one finger.
He licked it. He tasted it. He got the Big “H” bite.
“You convinced me. But I’m not done with the kid, and I don’t care who he’s got on his side.”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/23/64. Las Vegas Sun article.
NARCOTICS LINK TO NEGRO KILLINGS REVEALED
At a joint news conference, spokesmen for the Las Vegas Police Department and the Southern Nevada District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Leroy Williams and Otis and Curtis Swasey, the three Negro men killed on the night of January 15th, had been recently arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and were out on bail at the time of their deaths.
“The three men had been the focus of a long-term investigation,” Agent Dwight C. Holly said. “They had been selling large quantities of heroin in nearby cities and were preparing to sell it in Las Vegas. They were apprehended in the early morning hours of January 9th, and three kilos (6½ pounds) of heroin were seized at their residence in West Las Vegas. Williams and the Swasey brothers made bail on the afternoon of January 13th and returned to their residence.”
Captain Robert Gilstrap of the LVPD went on to clarify events on the night of January 15th. “Newspaper reporters and local television commentators have assumed that the three men killed that night were killed by LVPD Sergeant Wayne Tedrow Jr. as revenge for the murder of his wife, Lynette, who was raped and killed, presumably by a male Negro named Wendell Durfee,” he said. “This is not the case. Durfee was a known associate of Williams and the Swasey brothers, and the brothers paid him to kill Mrs. Tedrow. What has not been revealed until now is that Mrs. Tedrow’s death postdated the deaths of Williams and the Swasey brothers and that Sergeant Tedrow, as part of a combined LVPD-Narcotics Bureau operation, had Williams and the Swasey brothers under constant surveillance in an effort to insure that they did not abscond on their bail.”
“Sergeant Tedrow heard a ruckus inside their residence, late on the evening of January 15th,” Agent Holly said. “He investigated and was fired upon by the Swasey brothers. No shots were heard, because both men fired silencer-fitted pistols. Sergeant Tedrow managed to disable both men and killed them with makeshift weapons he found on the premises. Leroy Williams entered the residence at that time. Sergeant Tedrow chased him to an automobile dump on Tonopah Highway and exchanged gunfire with him. Williams died in the process.”
Agent Holly and Captain Gilstrap displayed photographic evidence compiled at both death scenes. Mr. Randall J. Merrins of the U.S. Attorney’s Office went on to say that it had been assumed that Sergeant Tedrow was being kept in custody while possible homicide charges against him were being discussed and prepared.
“This is not the case,” Merrins said. “Sergeant Tedrow was held for his own safety. We were afraid of reprisals from other unknown members of the Williams-Swasey dope gang.”
Sergeant Tedrow, 29, could not be reached