Chapter Twenty
1 You can view the party at Carl’s Chop House on YouTube.
2 The lack of an autopsy on J. Edgar Hoover, the fact that his remains were embalmed within hours of his death, and his own doctor’s admission that the director’s heart condition was not serious enough to cause death were extremely unusual and have never been explained by the federal government.
3 It is alleged that Mafia financier Meyer Lansky had been blackmailing Hoover since 1935 over homosexual acts. At the time, Hoover was known to frequent a Havana gay nightclub known as Cocktail while wearing a fake mustache as a disguise.
4 It is alleged that Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo ordered the hit. The Mob used an outside individual to do the shooting, an African American named Jerome A. Johnson, who was immediately killed by Colombo’s bodyguards, even though he was already in police custody and surrounded by policemen. Johnson got close to the mobster by posing as a credentialed reporter. Amazingly, Joe Colombo survived the bullet to the head but was paralyzed for life and had little ability to communicate.
5 Judith Campbell’s testimony was meant to be secret but was leaked to the media in December 1975. This marked the first time John F. Kennedy was publicly accused of marital infidelity, and Campbell was pilloried as a liar. It was only months and years later, as more stories of the president’s philandering became news, that Campbell was believed.
6 Peepholes were drilled into the ceiling above the high-stakes poker tables in Beverly Hills, allowing conspirators to see the cards being played. Signals were then sent to those in on the cheating, telling them whether to hold or fold. The FBI eventually was alerted and served search warrants, leading to a six-month trial and the conviction of Roselli and four other cheaters.
7 The description of Roselli’s murder on the boat was provided by an anonymous source to the New York Times.
8 It is believed by some that the dump may contain the body of Jimmy Hoffa.
9 The authors of this book investigated thoroughly but could find no authoritative account to explain what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. Various scenarios have been portrayed in books and movies, but to this day the FBI has never solved the case. On December 9, 1982, a Michigan judge declared Hoffa legally dead, despite the absence of a corpse. Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien, a longtime friend of Hoffa, believed the union boss was killed over fears he might give testimony to the Church Committee. There is an allegation that O’Brien, trusted by Hoffa, actually drove the car that picked him up. Before he died on February 14, 2020, O’Brien denied any knowledge of Hoffa’s disappearance.