AMERICAN TABLOID by James Ellroy

The limo decelerated. Hands uncuffed him and unshackled him.

Hands dragged him out the door. Hands dumped him into a South Side gutter.

Colored piss bums walked up and checked him out. Say what, white man?

DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/18/60. Personal note: Kemper Boyd to Attorney General Designate Robert F. Kennedy.

Dear Bob,

Congratulations, first of all. You’ll make a splendid Attorney General, and I can envision Jimmy Hoffa and certain others swinging from yardarms already.

Hoffa makes for a good segue point. The purpose of this letter is to recommend former Special Agent Ward J. Littell for a Justice Department counselship. Littell (the Chicago Phantom who has worked for us sub-rosa since early 1959) is a 1940 Bumma Cum Laude Notre Dame Law grad, Federal-Bar licensed. He is considered brilliant in the field of Federal Deportation Statutes and will be bringing with him a good deal of recently accrued anti-Mob, anti-Teamster evidence.

I realize that Littell, in his anonymous capacity, has been out of touch with you for some time, and hope that that fact will not dampen your enthusiasm for him. He is a splendid attorney and a dedicated crimefighter.

Yours,

Kemper

DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/21/60. Personal note: Robert F. Kennedy to Kemper Boyd.

Dear Kemper,

Per Ward Littell, my answer is emphatically “No.” I have received a report from Mr. Hoover that, though perhaps biased, persuasively paints a portrait of Littell as an alcoholic with ultra left-wing tendencies. Mr. Hoover also included evidence that indicates that Litteli was receiving bribes from Chicago Mob members. This, to me, negates the viability of his alleged anti-Mob, anti-Teamster evidence.

I realize that Littell is your friend, and that he did work hard for us at one time. Frank]y, though, we cannot afford even the slightest taint on our new appointees.

Let’s consider the Littell matter closed. The question of your Kennedy Administration employment remains, and I think you’ll be pleased with what the President-elect and I have come up with.

Best,

Bob

DOCUMENT INSERT: 1 / 17/61. Personal letter: J. Edgar Hoover to Kemper Boyd.

Dear Kemper,

Three-fold congratulations.

One, your recent evasion tactics were superbly efficacious. Two, your Marilyn Monroe aside had me going for quite some time. What a myth you have created! With luck, it will enter what Hush-Hush would call the “Peephole Pantheon!”

Thirdly, bravo for your appointment as roving Justice Department counsel. My contacts tell me you’ll be concentrating on voting rights abuse in the south. How fitting! Now you’ll be able to champion left-inclined negroes with the same tenacity that you embrace right-wing Cubans!

I think you’ve found your metier. I would be hardpressed to conceive of work more suitable for a man with such a lenient code of loyalty. I hope we’ll get the chance to be colleagues again.

As always,

JEH

58

(New York City, 1/20/61)

She’d been crying. Tear streaks had ruined her makeup.

Kemper stepped into the foyer. Laura cinched her robe and stepped away from him.

He held out a small bouquet. “I’m going down to the Inaugural. I’ll be back in a few days.”

She ignored the flowers. “I figured that out. I didn’t think you put on that tuxedo to impress me.”

“Laura…”

“I wasn’t invited. Some neighbors of mine were, though. They donated ten thousand dollars to Jack’s campaign.”

Her mascara was running. Her whole face looked off-kilter.

“I’ll be back in a few days. We’ll talk things over then.”

Laura pointed to an armoire. “There’s a check for three million dollars in the top drawer. It’s mine, if I never contact the family again.”

“You could rip it up.”

“Would you?”

“I can’t answer that question.”

Her fingers were cigarette-stained. She’d left overflowing ashtrays out in plain sight.

Laura said, “Them or me?”

Kemper said, “Them.”

Part III

P I G S

February–November 1961

DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/7/61. Memorandum: Kemper Boyd to John Stanton. Marked: CONFIDENTIAL/ HAND POUCH DELIVER.

John,

I’ve been subtly pressing Little Brother and a few White House aides for information, and I am sad to report that as of this date the President is ambivalent about our invasion plans. The imminent nature of the plans apparently has him waxing indecisive. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to deal with something so pressing this early in his administration.