ACCUSED ASSASSIN SIRHAN: “I’M A POLITICAL PRISONER”
FBI CALLS HIS CONSPIRACY TALK “FANCIFUL”
”ZIONIST GUARDS POISONED MY FOOD,” ACCUSED ASSASSIN SAYS
RAY’S EXTRADITION LIKELY
ACCUSED KING ASSASSIN DESCRIBES “WIDESPREAD CONSPIRACY
TO EXPLOIT ME”
FBI ASSURES PRESIDENT: KING ASSASSINATION WORK OF LONE GUNMAN
HOOVER TO AMERICAN LEGION: “RAY WAS THE LONE GUNMAN,
PURE AND SIMPLE”
CONVENTION OFFICIALS PREDICT TROUBLE FROM “SUBVERSIVES
AND HIPPIE YOUTH”
NIXON VS. HUMPHREY-IT’S TIGHT
MIAMI AND CHICAGO GEAR UP FOR “CONVENTION HIJINX”
He’s been a Los Angeles policeman and a celebrity private eye, as well as a World War II marine drill instructor. The plucky Lebanese-American kid from small-town Massachusetts has lived more than nine lives in his 46 years, and now he’s starting out Life Number Ten as the owner-operator of the Golden Cavern Hotel-Casino.
Welcome to Las Vegas, Mr. Fred Otash!
He bought the Golden Cavern from “Big” Pete Bondurant, quite a colorful character himself, also a former L.A. cop, private eye and soldier of fortune. “Pete B. wanted to retire,” Otash told this reporter. “I picked up the Golden Cavern for a song, and that song is ‘Vegas Is My Lady.’ ”
Freddy O. has worn many hats in his lifetime. “That’s true,” he said. “And I’ve had a few hats knocked off my head.” When asked to explain, he replied, “I was run out of the LAPD unjustifiably. I got my Pi’s license and verified scandal stories for Confidential magazine, but Confidential went down behind libel suits. That rumor that I doped a racehorse named Wonder Boy?-100% false. Yeah, I lost my license behind it, but when Hollywood celebs are in a jam, they still yell, “Get me Otash!,” so I’m still the man to see in L.A.”
Beverly Hills divorce lawyer Charles “Chick” Weiss confirms Freddy O.’s statement. “Freddy’s the king of the L.A. private eyes, even though he lost his license and has gone into the hotel biz now. Listen, I do divorce work, and sometimes it’s not pretty. Freddy’s my liaison to the wheelman community, these hot-car guys who tail the cheating spouses to their extramarital rendezvous. He’s a battle-trained urban warrior, just the kind of guy to make it big in a high-stress burb like Las Vegas.”
“Howard Hughes can buy up all the big joints on the Strip and Glitter Gulch,” Otash told this reporter. “I’m here to play to the junket crowd and the working Joe who wants to have fun without losing his shirt. Don’t call my place a ‘carpet joint’ or a ‘low-roller joint,’ either. Call me the friend of the discerning gambler on a budget who appreciates a bang for his buck.”
Los Angeles private investigator Clyde Duber offers a dissenting view of Fred Otash, which he claims is not the minority one. “Freddy is strictly shakedown,” he said. “His only friend is the almighty dollar, so you might say that Vegas is the perfect place for him.”
Ouch! Tell me, Fred O., what do you say to that?
“Clyde’s just jealous,” Otash said with a grin. “He always played second banana to me, and it’s always rankled him. Yeah, I’m colorful, and I’ve got a few rough edges. You know my motto? ‘I’ll do anything short of murder, and I’ll work for anyone but Communists.’ How can you quibble with that?”
How indeed-and spoken like a true Las Vegan! So, once again, welcome to the Jewel of the Desert, Mr. Fred Otash!
SA Holly,
Per our phone conversation and your preceding memo (Confidential 1-A memorandum #8506) requesting an update on rumors pertaining to the M. L. King homicide circulating at the Grapevine Tavern, St. Louis, the following may warrant your attention:
1.-Electronic surveillance equipment, perhaps of Bureau manufacture, was discovered on the premises at the Grapevine Tavern in early to mid-June of this year. Confidential Bureau informants frequenting the tavern have reported that the apparatus was discovered by
2.-The discovery of the apparatus has led to growing conjecture among the above mentioned. IE: that the apparatus was part of a monitoring process developed to lure accused King assassin
3.-This office had no part in installing electronic surveillance apparatus, if indeed it was Bureau-manufactured equipment that was discovered on the tavern premises. If some other Bureau field team installed the equipment, I did not know about it personally, nor was such equipment installed by any agent under my command.
4.-According to statements made by the above-referenced tavern habituйs, there was frequent discussion of a $50,000 “bounty” on King, allegedly to be paid by a cabal of wealthy segregationists to any “White Race Warrior” who would “buck LBJ’s liberal hegemony to off Martin Luther Coon.” This preposterous line of talk was frequently indulged by numerous tavern habituйs in the months preceding King’s death.
5.-The “FBI hit plot” rumors are growing in both virulence and frequency. Alarmingly, confidential sources within the St. Louis Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have informed me that the tavern will soon be placed under ATF surveillance, pertaining to evidence of gunrunning taking place on the tavern premises proper. The above-referenced tavern habituйs are not gunrunning suspects, but I find ATF’s proximity to the tavern disturbing, given the virulence and frequency of the anti-Bureau rumors amp;
Respectfully, SAC Wilton J. Laird, St. Louis Office/
STILL A BAFFLER: “THE BIG HEIST”