AMERICAN TABLOID by James Ellroy

HR: Which Littell don’t know about?

LB: That is correct.

HR: I love this fucking life of ours. It is never tucking boring.

LB: You are absolutely correct. Think of the tidbits you pick up in this loop of ours.

HR: I don’t want to die, Leon. All this shit is too good to give up.

Non-applicable conversation follows.

Chicago, 11/19/62. BL4-8869 (Celano’s Tailor Shop) to AX8-9600 (home of John Rosselli) (THP File #902.5, Chicago Office). Speaking: John Rosselli, Sam “Mo,” “Momo,” “Mooney” Giancana (File #480.2). Conversation two minutes in progress.

JR: Sinatra’s worthless.

SG: He’s less than worthless.

JR: The Kennedys won’t even take his phone calls.

SG: Nobody hates those Irish cocksuckers more than I do.

JR: Unless it’s Carlos and his lawyer. It’s like Carlos knows that sooner or later he’ll get deported again. It’s like he sees himself back in El Salvador picking cactus thorns out of his ass.

SG: Carlos has his problems, I’ve got mine. Bobby’s racket squad guys are crawling up my ass like the regular Feds never did. I would like to take a ball peen hammer and cave Bobby’s tucking head in.

JR: And his brother’s.

SG: Especially his brother’s. That man is nothing but a traitor masquerading as a hero. He’s nothing but a Commie-appeaser in wolf’s clothing.

JR: He made Khruschev back down, Mo. I gotta give him that. Khruschev moved those goddamn missiles.

SG: That is horseshit. That is appeasement with a sugar coating. A CIA guy I know told me Kennedy cut a side deal with Khruschev. Okay, he moved the missiles. But my CIA guy told me Kennedy had to promise not to invade Cuba ever fucking again. Think of that, Johnny. Think of our casinos and wave bye-bye for fucking ever.

JR: Kennedy’s supposed to talk to some Bay of Pigs survivors at the Orange Bowl in December. Think of the lies he’ll tell them.

SG: Some Cuban patriot should pop him. Some Cuban patriot who don’t mind dying.

JR: I heard Kemper Boyd’s training some guys like that to pop Castro.

SG: Kemper Boyd’s a faggot. He’s got his eyes on the wrong target. Castro’s just some taco eater with a good line of bullshit. Kennedy’s worse for business than he ever was.

Non-applicable conversation follows.

DOCUMENT INSERT: 11/20/62. Des Moines Register subhead:

HOFFA DENIES BRIBERY ACCUSATIONS

DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/17/62. Cleveland Plain Dealer headline:

HOFFA ACQUITTED IN TEST FLEET CASE

DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/12/63. Los Angeles Times subhead:

HOFFA UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR TEST FLEET JURY TAMPERING

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/10/63. Dallas Morning News headline and subhead:

HOFFA INDICTED

TEAMSTER BOSS HIT WITH JURY TAMPERING CHARGES

DOCUMENT INSERT: 6/25/63. Chicago Sun-Times headline and subhead:

HOFFA UNDER SIEGE

TEAMSTER BOSS ARRAIGNED IN CHICAGO ON SEPARATE FRAUD CHARGES

DOCUMENT INSERT: 7/29/63. FBI wiretap outtake. Marked: TOP SECRET/CONFIDENTIAL/ DIRECTOR’S EYES ONLY and NO DISCLOSURE TO OUTSIDE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL.

Chicago, 7/28/63. BL4-8869 (Celano’s Tailor Shop) to AX8-9600 (home of John Rosselli) (THP File #902.5, Chicago Office). Speaking: John Rosselli, Sam “Mo,” “Momo,” “Mooney” Giancana (File #480.2). Conversation seventeen minutes in progress.

SG: I am woefully fucking tired of this.

JR: Sammy, I hear you.

SG: The FBI’s got me under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Bobby went over Hoover’s head to order it. I’m out on the fucking golf course and I see fucking G-men skulking in the rough and on the fairways, and for all I know, they got the fucking sand traps bugged.

JR: I hear you, Mo.

SG: I’m woefully tired of this. So’s Jimmy and so’s Carlos. So’s every made guy I talk to.

JR: Jimmy’s going down. I can see the writing on the wall. I also heard Bobby turned a major snitch. I don’t know details, but–

SG: I do. His name’s Joe Valachi. He was a button man for Vito Genovese. He was in Atlanta, something like ten to life for narcotics.

JR: I think I met him once.

SG: Everybody in the Life’s met everybody else at least once.

JR: That’s true.

SG: As I was saying before you interrupted me, Valachi was in Atlanta. He blew his cork and killed another prisoner, because he thought Vito sent him down to clip him. He was wrong, but Vito did put out a contract on him, because the guy he clipped was a good friend of Vito’s.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *