41

(Las Vegas/Los Angeles/Chicago/Washington, D.C./Chattanooga, 2/14/64-6/29/64)

He worked. He lived on planes. He compartmentalized.

Legal work: appeals and contracts. Money work: embezzlement and tithes.

He honed his lies. He studied Jane. He learned her lie technique. He juggled his commitments.

3/4/64: Jimmy Hoffa goes down. Chattanooga-the Test Fleet case-twelve bribe-proof jurors.

Littell filed appeals. Teamster lawyers filed writs. The Teamsters passed a resolution: We love Jimmy Hoff a. We stand behind him intact.

Jimmy got eight years Fed time. Trial #2 pends. Chicago-Pension Fund Fraud-a probable conviction.

The "real" books were safe. The Boys had them. The fund-book plan would GO.

Littell wrote briefs. Jimmy's men swooned. Littell wrote more briefs. Littell filed more writs. Littell swamped the courts.

Let's stall. Let's keep Jimmy out. Let's stall and delay-three years and up. Drac will own Vegas then. The Boys will own Drac. The fund-book plan will FLY.

He worked for Drac. He wrote stock briefs. Drac hindered him. Drac dodged subpoenas. PI Fred Otash helped.

Otash ran look-alikes-Howard Hughes clones-subpoena men served _them_ thus. Otash was capable. Otash had Pete skills. Otash pulled shakedowns. Otash doped horses. Otash fixed scrapes.

Drac stuck to his coffin. Mormons tended him. Drac sucked blood. Drac ate Demerol. Drac shot codeine. Drac made phone calls. Drac wrote memos. Drac watched cartoons.

Drac called Littell frequently. Drac monologued:

Stock strategy/stock margins/the germ plague. Quell all microbes! Quell all germs! Place condoms on doorknobs!

Drac craved Las Vegas. Drac bared his fangs. Drac coveted. Drac gloated. Drac sucked blood.

He babied Drac. He coddled Drac. He bared _his_ fangs. He bit Drac back.

Jane helped.

He coaxed assistance from her. He gleaned her expertise. He loved her. She loved him. He called it true. She lied to live. He lied to live. It might serve to undermine his perception.

They lived in L.A. They flew to D.C. They enjoyed work weekends. He wrote briefs. Jane wrote Hertz reports. They toured D.C. and viewed statues.

He tried to show her the Teamster building. She flushed and balked. She was _too_ firm. She played him skewed. She was _mock_ indifferent.

He flashed back to L.A.-one recent chat.

He said, "I can get you work with the Teamsters." She said, "No." She was intractable. She came off skewed then.

She knew the Boys. She avoided Vegas. The Boys partied there. They discussed it. Jane was oblique. Jane was _mock_ indifferent.

The Teamsters scared her. He knew it. She knew he knew. She lied. She omitted. He reciprocated.

He studied Jane. He indulged conclusions. Her real name _was_ Arden. She did come from Mississippi. She did go to school in De Kalb.

He was suspicious. She reciprocated.

She viewed some Hughes bill sheets. She studied them. She explained embezzlement detection. She wondered _why_ he cared.

He lied. He _used_ her. She helped him bilk Howard Hughes.

He stole vouchers. He forged ledgers. He retallied accounts. He rerouted payments. He billed to a dummy account.

_His_ account-Chicago-the Mercantile Bank.

He laundered the money. He cut checks. He tithed the SCLC. Pseudonymous checks-sixty grand so far-more checks en route.

Penance payments. Damage control. Covert ops against the FBI.

He donated Mob money. Mr. Hoover kept tabs. He met Bayard Rustin. He paid him.

Mr. Hoover thought he knew Littell. Mr. Hoover misread his commitments. Mr. Hoover spent phone time with Littell. Mr. Hoover misread his loyalty.

Mr. Hoover talked to his correspondents. Mr. Hoover leaked dirt off bug placements. Mr. Hoover attacked Dr. King. Newsmen received invective. They rephrased it. They printed it. They obscured the source.

Mr. Hoover talked. Bayard Rustin talked. Lyle Holly talked. They all talked civil rights.

LBJ pushed his big civil-rights bill. Mr. Hoover loathed it-_but_:

Age 70 bodes. Forced retirement bodes. LBJ says, "_Stay_ and strut your stuff."

Mr. Hoover gives thanks. That means quid pro quo. LBJ says, "Now fight my Klan war."

Mr. Hoover agrees. Mr. Hoover complies. The New Klan is outrй. Mr. Hoover knows it.

The Old Klan moved hate tracts. The Old Klan burned crosses. The Old Klan severed balls. Castration was a State crime. Mail fraud was Fed.

The Old Klan rigged postage meters. The Old Klan stole stamps. The Old Klan mailed hate tracts. They thus broke Fed laws.

Their mail content was legal. Their mail methods were fraud. The FBI fought the Old Klan. Their mandate was minutiae. Their anti-Klan credentials were soft.

The New Klan was arson. The New Klan was Murder One. The flash point was Mississippi.

Civil-rights kids converge. "Freedom Summer" descends. The Klan sits ready. New klaverns form. Cops join. Diverse klaverns bond tight.

The White Knights. The Royal Knights. Klextors/Kleagles/Kladds/ Kludds/Klokards. Klonklaves and Klonvocations.

Church bombings. Mutilation deaths. Three kids in Neshoba County-missing and presumed dead.

LBJ mandates war. Two hundred agents descend. A hundred for Neshoba-three probable victims-thirty-three agents per vic.

Dr. King visits. Bayard Rustin visits. Bayard Rustin briefs Littell. He checks his atlas. De Kalb adjoins Neshoba. Jane's school is there.

Mr. Hoover was torn. The war vexed him. The war offended him. The war brought the FBI praise. Mr. Hoover took credit-reluctantly. The war disrupted him.

It was outrй. It was invasive. It pissed off his klavernite plants. They infiltrated klaverns. They snitched off mail fraud. They were shrill. They were racist. They subscribed to Bureau "Guidelines":

"Acceptable Risk" and "Violence Permitted." "Deniable Actions defined."

Mr. Hoover was torn. The war ripped him up. LBJ bruised his racist aesthetic. He'd fight back. He'd fight Dr. King. He'd rack compensation up.

Mr. Hoover called him. They talked and sparred. Mr. Hoover mocked Bobby.

LBJ hated Bobby. LBJ _needed_ Bobby. He might make Bobby his Veep choice. Bobby might seek that Senate seat.

He played his Bobby tapes. It was late-night communion. The tapes woke Jane up sometimes. Jane heard voices in her sleep.

He lied. He said you're not dreaming-I'm playing deposition tapes.

Mr. Hoover tracked Bobby's moves-Bobby the lame-duck AG. Bobby _should_ step down. Nick Katzenbach _should_ succeed.

Fed heat _might_ descend then. Fed heat _might_ hit Vegas. Mr. Hoover _might_ warn him. The Boys _might_ say yes-hire those skim men-Wayne Senior _might_ provide said.

He lunched with Wayne Senior-once a month-they played at respect. Wayne Senior foresaw Drac's Vegas. Wayne Senior craved his own bite.

Let's confer. Let's place my Mormons near the Count. Let's bite ol' Drac.

Skim runs _might_ work. _He_ had his own skim plan. He craved yet _another_ tithe source.

Money _owned_ him. Money _bored_ him. He had money alliances. He formed money bonds. He had one nonmoney friend.

Pete left Vegas-mid-February-Pete returned bereft.

Pete flew to Dallas. Pete flew back. Pete returned with burn scars and a cat. Littell bought the Dallas papers. Littell read back-page squibs.

There-PROSTITUTE DIES IN CUSTODY, SUICIDE RULED.

He called Carlos. He played dumb. Carlos brought it up. Carlos laughed. Carlos said she bit her tongue off.

That meant two down. That meant two at large-Hank K. and ArdenJane.

Littell talked to Pete. They discussed the safe-house hits. They discussed Arden-Jane.

Pete said, "I won't touch her." Pete meant it. Pete looked sad and weak. He got headaches. He'd dropped weight. He worshiped his cat.