THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT OF a crime committed in the City of New York on the night of 31 August and the early morning hours of 1 September 1968, has been assembled from a variety of sources, including:
—Eyewitness reports dictated to the author, and eyewitness reports available from official sources, on tape recordings and in transcriptions.
—Records of courts, penal institutions, and investigative agencies.
—Tape recordings and transcriptions made by “bugging” and other electronic surveillance devices, by crime prevention and detection agencies of the City of New York, the State of New York, the U.S. government, and by private investigative agencies.
—Personal correspondence, speeches, and private documents of the individuals involved, made available to the author.
—Newspaper reports.
—Official reports and testimony which are a matter of public record, including deathbed statements.
—The author’s personal experiences.
It would be impractical to name all the individuals, official and civilian, who provided valuable assistance to the author. However, I am especially grateful to Louis J. Girardi, Managing Editor of the Newark (N.J.) Post-Ledger, who granted me a leave of absence from my crime reporting duties with that newspaper in order that I might research and write the full story of this crime, as part of a continuing investigation into the uses and abuses of electronic surveillance equipment by public and private agencies.
LAWRENCE SANDERS