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created updated title aliases tags category summary born died location relations
2026-05-17 2026-10-09 Robert Maheu
Robert Maheu
Robert A. Maheu
Robert Aime Maheu
Bob Maheu
Person
CIA
FBI
HowardHughes
HughesToolCompany
SummaCorporation
AntiCastro
OrganizedCrime
ColdWar
ChurchCommittee
Wiretapping
Watergate
HughesRebozo
Onassis
Sukarno
1950s
1960s
1970s
Intelligence & Government Former FBI agent who served as the CIA's cutout from 1954, approached Johnny Roselli for the 1960 Castro plots, and ran Howard Hughes's Nevada operations until his discharge in December 1970. 1917-10-30 2008-08-04 Waterville, Maine / Las Vegas, Nevada
type with start end role fn
employed_by Federal Bureau of Investigation 1940-12-09 1947-07-24 special agent; resident agent at Waterville, Maine at resignation 7
type with start role fn
contractor_to Central Intelligence Agency 1954-03 cutout recruited by the Office of Security on a $500 monthly retainer 8
type with start role fn
represented Stavros Niarchos 1954 investigator and agent against the Onassis Saudi Arabian tanker agreement 16
type with start end role fn
reported_to Sheffield Edwards 1960-08 1961-05 approached Johnny Roselli at the request of the Office of Security for the Castro operation 27
type with start end role fn
participant_in ZR RIFLE 1960-08 1961-05 first-stage intermediary to Roselli, Giancana and Trafficante in the gambling-syndicate plot against Castro 30
type with start end role fn
represented Howard Hughes 1955 1970-12-05 alter ego and personal representative; managed the Nevada hotels, casinos and real estate from November 1966 38
type with start end role fn
contractor_to Hughes Tool Company 1966-11 1970-12-05 management services through Robert A. Maheu Associates 3
type with start role fn
director_of First Intercontinental Development Corporation 1983-01-11 vice president and director, as listed by Cheri Seymour and in a 2016 FOIA request 52
type with reverse start end role fn
investigated Church Committee true 1975-07-29 1975-09-23 testified July 29-30 and September 23, 1975, under a grant of limited immunity 50

Robert Aime Maheu (born October 30, 1917, in Waterville, Maine; died August 4, 2008, in Las Vegas) was a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent from 1940 to 1947 who, from 1954, ran a private investigation firm that the Central Intelligence Agency Office of Security used as a cutout for operations that could not be traced to the agency.1 In September 1960 he approached Johnny Roselli on the agency's behalf, and Roselli brought in Sam Giancana and Santos Trafficante, Jr. for the CIA's plots against Fidel Castro.2 From November 1966 to December 1970 he managed the hotels, casinos and real estate that Howard Hughes acquired in Nevada, and the company that discharged him, Hughes Tool Company, was the defendant in his libel action.3

FBI service

Maheu was born in Waterville, graduated from the Waterville high school in 1936, and studied at Holy Cross College from 1936 to 1940, receiving a B.S. in economics. In September 1940 he entered Georgetown Law School. His Bureau applicant file records endorsements from Richard C. Durham, assistant secretary of the Democratic National Committee, and from F. Harold Dubord of Waterville.4 He entered on duty as a special agent trainee on December 9, 1940, a year before the United States entered World War II.5

A loyalty form that Maheu later filed lists "April, 1942 to 1944, under cover assignment out of New York Office, FBI."6 He resigned as a special agent, effective at the close of business on July 24, 1947, while stationed as Resident Agent at Waterville. The Bureau's efficiency report notes a discussion of a change of his headquarters shortly before the resignation.7 The loyalty form gave November 1947 as the separation date; the Bureau's personnel file gave July 1947. In 1949 the Bureau recommended him for employment with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and in November 1951 he corresponded with the Bureau about future recommendations.6

The CIA Office of Security memorandum on Maheu records that after leaving the Bureau he formed a business, "Dairy Dream Products," that went bankrupt in 1952; that he then joined the Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. as Special Assistant to the Administrator with the duty of Director of Security; and that he was forced to resign in February 1954 "because of political reasons," which the memorandum describes as backing the wrong political party in the election. He then set up Robert A. Maheu Associates.8 In January 1952 the Civil Service Commission had asked the Bureau to expedite his loyalty form for the post of Security and Compliance Officer at the Small Defense Plants Administration.6

Recruitment by the Office of Security

The Office of Security recruited Maheu in March 1954 through Robert H. Cunningham, then chief of its Special Security Division, who knew him from their common FBI service and saw in him "a covert asset" for extremely sensitive cases. With the approval of the Director of Security, Maheu was offered $500 a month on the condition that he move into his own office and be on call. He rented desk space in a suite occupied by Carmine Bellino, a former FBI agent and accountant.8 The Church Committee wrote that Maheu was "an ex-FBI agent who had entered into a career as a private investigator in 1954," that a former FBI associate of his in the Office of Security had arranged for the agency to use him in several sensitive covert operations, and that the purpose was that "he didn't want to have an Agency person or a government person get caught."1

The Church Committee recorded the $500 retainer as ending after his detective agency became more lucrative, and recorded that the Office of Security's operational support chief had been Maheu's case officer since the agency first used him and that the two were close personal friends by 1960.9 Covert security clearances were granted to Maheu on August 16, 1954 for use in the Near East and on August 30, 1954 for use in the United States.10 The CIA Inspector General's 1967 report, signed by John S. Earman, records the same $500 monthly retainer and Maheu's later move of his personal headquarters to Los Angeles.11 His clients in this period also included the National Security Agency.

The Onassis contract, 1954

In January 1954 Aristotle Onassis concluded an agreement with the Saudi Arabian government under which oil shipped by the concession companies would be carried in tankers of the "Saudi Arabian Maritime Company," a company controlling Onassis-owned tankers. The American ambassador reported on February 6, 1954 that Aramco and Pacific Western Oil had received letters quoting Article 4 of the agreement on January 31.12 On March 16, 1954 Robert L. L. McCormick, representing the Greek shipowner Stavros Niarchos, met State Department officers, proposed that the Department suggest to National City Bank and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that they cancel their financing arrangements with Onassis, and asked that the Department of Justice be informed.13

The Office of Security memorandum records that in July 1954 Maheu was engaged by "British shipping interests" to check on Onassis's activities in the United States, including technical coverage of Onassis's New York office, and that the principal was later learned to be Niarchos. Maheu conditioned his acceptance on doing nothing inimical to the United States and on passing any information of interest to the appropriate agency. His staff prepared a paper on the dangers of the Onassis arrangement to American trade; through contacts in the Foreign Operations Administration Harold Stassen read it at the National Security Council on June 22, 1954; Maheu briefed Scott McLeod, Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs, who offered State communications and pouch facilities subject to John Foster Dulles's approval; and Maheu briefed J. Edgar Hoover and Vice President Richard M. Nixon. The agency's Near East Division furnished him a communications channel, a pouch system and operational guidance from August 1954.14

On September 24, 1954 Paul Gerrity of Maheu Associates called on McLeod and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State John Jernegan with a file containing a statement attributed to Cotopadis on the negotiation of the Onassis agreement. Gerrity said that Niarchos had purchased the statement and photostats, that a second copy was held by the CIA in Washington and a third by Maheu, then in Beirut, and that the papers should reach King Saud through Karl Twitchell, who was in Jidda. Jernegan said the CIA should remain the channel.15

A memorandum for the Director of the FBI dated October 14, 1954, records a telephone call from "former Special Agent" Maheu. He described Niarchos's effort to have Saudi officials abrogate the agreements with Onassis, who had been charged in a sealed indictment on October 13, 1953, said that Niarchos had bought documents from Spiros Catapoudis and the former agent Leo Turrou for $280,000 in cash, $50,000 of it Turrou's share, and that he had gone to Athens for his client, collected the documents and delivered them to Saudi officials. The memorandum states: "Maheu stated the United States Government is also interested in seeing that these agreements are abrogated."16

The Church Committee recorded Maheu's testimony that, after consulting the agency, he arranged for a listening device to be placed in the room of the contract holder and that he publicized the contract's terms in a Rome newspaper he said he had purchased with CIA funds.17 Jim Hougan wrote in a Playboy article, summarized by the Washington Post in 1978, that the Niarchos operation had the knowledge and approval of the CIA and of Nixon. Maheu confirmed the basic elements to the Post. He said he "wouldn't take the assignment [from Niarchos] until I cleared it with the outfit," meaning the CIA, that he was then on a $500-a-month retainer from the agency, that the operation included an "unproductive" wiretap on Onassis's New York office, and that the agency helped his operatives in Rome. He called Hougan's allegation of an international conspiracy "a crock."18 Maheu's son Peter said in 2008 that his father had played a major role in scuttling the deal. Peter Evans wrote in Nemesis (1986) that after a meeting with Maheu, Vice President Nixon said: "And just remember, if it turns out we have to kill the bastard don't do it on American soil."19

Sukarno, the Happy Days film and other cutout assignments

In November 1957 a cable from Ciudad Trujillo alleged that Maheu had violated the Mann Act by procuring and transporting prostitutes for President Sukarno of Indonesia during Sukarno's 1956 state visit. Maheu told the Office of Security the allegations were without foundation, and Dominican officials retracted the charges; Edward Bennett Williams acted as his lawyer.20 A Bureau memorandum of April 10, 1964 records that Maheu had advised the Bureau on October 25, 1957 that the Dominican Republic was trying to blackmail the United States into dropping charges against John Joseph Frank by alleging that Maheu had furnished girls to Sukarno, and that Maheu and Frank had earlier been business associates.21 Hougan quoted Joseph Shimon, a friend of Maheu's, that the agency "would call him up when Sukarno or Hussein was coming to town, and ask him to get some girls."22

The Office of Security memorandum records that in fall 1956 Sukarno was reported to have had an affair with a Soviet woman in the Kremlin during a visit to Moscow, that the Soviets were reported to have filmed it and sent a copy to the Indonesian Communist Party, and that in June 1957 Alfred Ulmer and Samuel Halpern of the CIA's Far East Division asked the Director of Security for a film simulating the affair, with clips to be inserted in a leaflet distributed through Southeast Asia suggesting that Sukarno was compromised by the Soviets. In July 1957 Maheu was given the assignment. He used a male employee of his organization (since deceased) and the man's fiancee, applied their make-up himself after an intensive make-up course, hired a studio where he was instructed in the use of lights and camera, and was alone with the two participants when the film was taken. The project, known as "Happy Days," was never completed and the film was not distributed.23

The Church Committee wrote that at the CIA's request Maheu had arranged the production in Hollywood of a film purporting to depict "a foreign leader" with a woman in the Soviet Union, that the agency planned to circulate it as a Soviet production, and that the film was never used; Maheu testified that he located an actor resembling the leader.17 Hougan wrote that the film showed a communist leader "said to have been Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito" with a woman made to resemble a KGB agent, and that it was never released.24

In 1958 the Far East Division enlisted Maheu in a second operation directed at Sukarno, which the memorandum calls HARPSTAR, to locate a female candidate for the purpose; Maheu and James O'Connell met an intermediary in New York in September 1958, and the memorandum records that the candidate met Sukarno but that the purpose of the mission was not fulfilled. In April 1959, during the state visit of King Hussein of Jordan, the Office of Security asked Maheu on April 3 to arrange a party for the king in Los Angeles, which he did through an intermediary, and the office afterward rented a house on Long Island for the king's use in New York.25

The 1960 Castro plots

In August 1960 Richard Bissell asked Sheffield Edwards, then director of the Office of Security, whether the office had assets for a sensitive mission requiring gangster-type action against Castro. Edwards assigned the mission to the chief of the Operational Support Division, and the two decided to rely on Maheu "to recruit someone 'tough enough' to handle the job."1 The Office of Security's own account states that Maheu was briefed generally, was told that Roselli, whom he had met on several occasions in Las Vegas, was a high-ranking member of the "Syndicate," and was to present himself to Roselli as having been engaged by a client who represented international business firms suffering losses in Cuba.26

The operational support chief testified that Maheu was at first reluctant because the operation might interfere with his relationship with his new client Howard Hughes, and that he agreed because he felt he owed the agency a commitment. The Inspector General's report states that Edwards and Maheu agreed that Maheu would approach Roselli "as the representative of businessmen with interests in Cuba who saw the elimination of Castro as the first essential step to the recovery of their investments," and that he "was authorized to tell Rosselli that his 'clients' were willing to pay $150,000 for Castro's removal." Rosselli said the cover story was developed after he had been contacted. The Church Committee noted that the evidence varies on the amount offered. Rosselli testified that he and Maheu met at the Brown Derby in Beverly Hills in early September 1960 and that Maheu told him that "high government officials" needed his cooperation; Maheu recalled saying that he had been asked by his government to solicit his cooperation. The Inspector General placed a meeting of Maheu, Rosselli and the support chief at the Plaza Hotel in New York on September 14, 1960. The support chief and Maheu each said that the other had raised Roselli's name, and Maheu had known Roselli since the late 1950s.27

Maheu told the committee that Hughes telephoned him in Miami shortly before the November 1960 election and asked him to return to the West Coast, and that, not wanting to lose Hughes as a client, he "definitely told him that the project was on behalf of the United States Government." Maheu also testified that he was told the plan was one phase of a larger project to invade Cuba.28

During the week of September 24, 1960 the support chief, Maheu and Roselli met in Miami. Roselli used the cover name "John Rawlston," and Maheu handled the details of setting up the operation and kept the support chief informed. Roselli introduced Maheu to "Sam Gold" and "Joe," who were later identified, from a Parade supplement that Maheu told the support chief to examine, as Giancana and Trafficante. Maheu recalled meeting Giancana after November 1960; other evidence, including FBI records of Maheu and Roselli's registration at the Kennilworth Hotel from October 11 to 30, indicates an earlier date. The Inspector General's report places Maheu and O'Connell at separate hotels in Miami during these weeks.1129 The Office of Security memorandum records that Maheu telephoned the office immediately on learning the two men's identities.26

Edwards's memorandum of May 14, 1962, prepared after a complete oral briefing for Attorney General Robert Kennedy, describes Maheu as "a private investigator of the firm of Maheu and King" and states that knowledge of the project was kept to a total of six persons. It records that Maheu and Rosselli proceeded to Miami toward the end of September 1960, that Maheu was introduced to Giancana, who arranged a meeting with a courier going back and forth to Havana, that Maheu was paid part of his expense money during the periods in Miami, and that after the failure of the invasion of Cuba word was sent through Maheu to Rosselli to call off the operation.30

The Technical Services Division prepared poison pills. Rosselli testified that at the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami Maheu "opened his briefcase and dumped a whole lot of money on his lap" and produced the capsules. Maheu denied that this occurred and did not recall being present when the pills were passed, but recalled that the support chief showed him the pills in an envelope and told him they would be given to a Cuban; he described them as "five or six gelatin capsules filled with a liquid." Shimon testified that on a weekend in March 1961 Maheu said he had a "contract" to assassinate Castro and a "liquid" from the CIA, and later telephoned him to say "Castro's ill"; Giancana, according to Shimon, said that "Maheu's conning the hell out of the CIA." Maheu testified that the pills were delivered but that "the go signal" never came and that he had no involvement after the Bay of Pigs.31

William Harvey, whom Richard Bissell asked in November 1961 to take over the gambling-syndicate operation from Edwards, was introduced to Roselli in Miami in April 1962 and told him not to deal with Maheu or Giancana, whom Harvey testified he had decided were "untrustworthy" and "surplus."32

The 1960 Las Vegas wiretap

In late October 1960 Maheu arranged through the Florida investigator Edward DuBois for an electronic listening device to be placed in a room in Las Vegas. DuBois's employee, Arthur James Balletti, installed a telephone tap instead. On October 31, 1960 a maid discovered the equipment, the sheriff arrested Balletti, and Balletti called Maheu in Miami, "tying Maheu into this thing up to his ear" in the words of the support chief, who called the episode a "Keystone Comedy act." Rosselli paid Balletti's bail.33

The Church Committee found conflicting evidence on whether the agency was consulted. The support chief testified that Edwards had cleared a "bug" before the tap was installed, and that the CIA indirectly paid for it out of Maheu's retainer. Edwards's memorandum states that "neither the Agency nor the undersigned knew of the proposed technical installation," and the Inspector General accepted that the agency was "first unwitting and then a reluctant accessory after the fact." The support chief testified that Maheu told him a girlfriend of Giancana's was having an affair with the target and that Giancana threatened to fly to Las Vegas unless the room was bugged; Maheu substantially confirmed this. Shimon testified that Giancana told him he paid Maheu $5,000 for the tap, that the CIA had not known in advance, and that Maheu later used his CIA connection to avoid prosecution; Maheu testified that he did not recall being paid.34

Edwards's memorandum records that Maheu reported Giancana had asked him to put a listening device in the room of Phyllis McGuire, reported to be Giancana's mistress, that Maheu passed the matter to Edward Du Boise, and that Maheu said Giancana "thought that Phyllis McGuire might know of the proposed operation and might pass on the information to one Dan Rowan, another friend of McGuire's." The Church Committee's version omits the names.30 A Hoover memorandum to the DCI of October 18, 1960 relayed, from "a source whose reliability has not been tested," that Giancana had said that Castro would be killed in November by a girl who would drop a "pill" in his food or drink. Rosselli testified that Maheu gave him two explanations for the tap: that Giancana suspected his girlfriend of an affair, and that Maheu wished to learn whether she was spreading word of the plot; Maheu gave the second explanation to the FBI.35

On April 18, 1961 Maheu told the FBI that the tap involved the CIA and suggested that Edwards be contacted. A memorandum of April 24, 1962 from Herbert J. Miller, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, advised that the "national interest" would preclude prosecution, and after a CIA briefing of the attorney general the decision was made not to prosecute. The Office of Security memorandum states that the Department of Justice announced its intention to prosecute Maheu and that prosecution was dropped at the agency's request.3536

Maheu later drew on this connection to avoid testifying before the Senate subcommittee chaired by Edward Long in 1966. The Inspector General recorded that Maheu "applied pressure on the Agency in a variety of ways, suggesting that publicity might expose his past sensitive work for the CIA"; the agency's general counsel Lawrence Houston met Maheu and his attorney Edward P. Morgan and informed Long that Maheu had been involved in CIA operations, and the committee did not call Maheu.35 The Office of Security memorandum states that Long was told the agency had used Maheu on a number of occasions but had never asked him to wiretap.37

Howard Hughes and the Nevada operations

The Ninth Circuit, describing the relationship from Maheu's testimony, wrote that Hughes first retained Maheu in 1954 or 1955, that Hughes "several times expressed his intention that Maheu would become his 'alter ego,'" that from 1961 through 1965 Maheu functioned as Hughes's personal representative at all levels of government, and that "Maheu had never had a face-to-face conversation with his employer. All communication was by telephone or written memoranda."38 The Los Angeles Times reported that Maheu caught glimpses of Hughes twice but never met him face to face.39 A CIA memorandum for the record of May 20, 1971 by a former agency employee states that Maheu did subcontract investigative work for Hughes during the early 1950s hearings involving Senator Owen Brewster; that "some time in the early 1960's Maheu closed his D. C. office, picked up Hughes as a sole client and moved to Los Angeles"; and that in 1962 to 1964 the author was working out "a nonofficial cover arrangement" with the Aircraft Division of the Hughes Tool Company in Culver City, in which Rhea Hopper was "the principle cleared witting official," and Maheu "was cut in as a pickup for insurance."40

Hughes moved to Las Vegas in November 1966. Maheu contracted through his own company to provide management services for the hotels, casinos and other holdings that Hughes acquired, and he stated that he was to report on these matters directly to Hughes rather than to the executives of Hughes Tool Company. He testified that he was consulted on which political leaders should receive contributions and that Hughes knew of and approved all of them; by 1969 the cash contributions came from the Silver Slipper casino, which Hughes owned as a sole proprietorship. A Hughes memorandum to Maheu in the committee's files reads in part: "Bob, as soon as this predicament is settled, I want you to go see Nixon as my special confidential emissary."3 The Las Vegas Sun listed the purchases Maheu made for Hughes as the Desert Inn, the Sands Hotel, the Castaways, the Frontier, the Silver Slipper and the Landmark.19

The Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities recorded that Maheu's telephone messages show a call on November 22, 1968 from Stephen Craig of President-elect Nixon's office concerning a campaign deficit, and that Maheu recalled being instructed by Hughes to arrange, through Governor Paul Laxalt, the promised $50,000 cash contribution. Nadine Henley recalled that in early December 1968 Maheu requested $50,000 in cash from her for a contribution to Nixon, and on December 5, 1968 Maheu received $50,000 in $100 bills from the cage at the Sands. Maheu recalled flying to Palm Springs with Laxalt, waiting in a car at the home where Nixon was staying while Laxalt went in, and being told that Nixon's schedule prohibited a meeting; Laxalt recalled that Maheu contacted him about a campaign pledge made through Robert Finch and that he planned no Maheu-Nixon meeting.41 The committee found that "the evidence reflects that Maheu did receive $100,000 on December 5 and 6, 1968 (from the Sands and from Henley), the disposition of which has never been conclusively determined," and that Maheu, Richard Danner, Peter Maheu and Charles G. Rebozo gave accounts of the two later $50,000 deliveries to Rebozo that did not agree.42 Rebozo testified that after Hughes left Nevada in November 1970 "and fired Maheu," he became apprehensive about the contribution; he returned $100,100 after the Internal Revenue Service contacted him in 1973.43

Discharge and the libel action

Hughes left the Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 1970, and flew to the Bahamas. The Las Vegas Sun reported that Hughes Tool Company executives then arrived in Las Vegas and announced the firing of Maheu, that Maheu claimed a lifetime verbal contract, that a Nevada judge ruled the tool company's proxy valid and its right to fire him, and that Maheu then filed a $50 million damage suit.44 Hougan titled his account of the departure the "Thanksgiving Coup."45 The Ninth Circuit gives December 5, 1970 as the date on which Hughes discharged Maheu, "thus ending a 14-year relationship"; the Washington Post's obituary stated that Hughes "had two other aides fire him in December 1970."4647 A CIA memorandum of May 1971 states that Maheu's contract with Hughes Tool was reported at $525,000 a year and that Maheu's suit sought $50 million for cancellation of his "lifetime contract"; it also records the account of an Intertel staff member that Maheu had instigated a recent Jack Anderson column on his Cuban role through his son Peter.40 In January 1971, in light of the suit between executives of the Hughes company and Maheu, the Director of Security recommended terminating all existing clearances with Maheu and Associates, and the DCI concurred.37

On January 7, 1972 Hughes held a telephone news conference from Paradise Island to dispute the Clifford Irving manuscript. Asked whether Maheu had been fired on his orders and why, Hughes answered: "Because he's a no-good, dishonest son-of-a-bitch, and he stole me blind."46 Maheu sued for defamation; the Sun reported a libel claim of $17.3 million, and Hougan a claim of $50,000,000.44 Summa Corporation, successor to Hughes Tool, admitted that the statement was Hughes's and relied on the defense of truth, arguing that Maheu had taken money from a Tucson airport hangar lease, from the Silver Slipper and from Hughes's personal account.48

In the bifurcated trial in the United States District Court for the Central District of California the jury found for Maheu on liability and awarded compensatory damages of over $2.8 million; Summa received about $48,000 on its counterclaims, and the court entered judgment for Summa of about $470,000 with accrued interest. The Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Duniway decided December 27, 1977 and modified January 12, 1978, held that the damages award was "based on inadmissible speculative evidence," called the projection of Maheu's lost earning capacity "sheer fantasy, nothing more," and found that the trial court's "one-sided characterization of Maheu came close to directing a verdict in his favor, thus denying Summa a fair trial." It reversed the liability verdict and damages and remanded: "We reverse in part and remand for a new trial." The court wrote of the case: "Much of the crucial testimony in the case is Maheu's recital of telephone conversations with Hughes to which no one else was a party, and of which no contemporaneous record was made."48 Judge Choy, concurring and dissenting, would have directed judgment for Summa, writing that Maheu "had taken over $74,000" intended for the Tucson lease payments.49 The Washington Post's obituary stated that Maheu "initially won a $2.8 million settlement from Hughes, but the decision was overturned."47

Church Committee testimony

The Church Committee took Maheu's testimony on July 29 and 30 and September 23, 1975. He invoked the Fifth Amendment when first subpoenaed and then testified under a grant of limited immunity.50 A dispatch of July 30, 1975 reported that he declared publicly that he had taken part in a CIA plot to poison Castro but that "the plan was always subject to a 'go signal.'"51 The Las Vegas Sun reported that he defended the scheme as an act of patriotism, saying the United States "was involved in a just war."19 The committee's report cites his testimony on the Saudi contract, the Hollywood film, the approach to Rosselli, Hughes's call, the wiretap, the pills and the end of his involvement after the Bay of Pigs.17

Later life

After the discharge Maheu remained in Las Vegas and established a new company, Robert A. Maheu and Associates.19 The Los Angeles Times reported that he became a real estate investor.39 Cheri Seymour wrote that he was vice president and a director of the First Intercontinental Development Corporation, on a board roster dated January 11, 1983 that surfaced in a 2016 FOIA release.52 He published his memoir Next to Hughes with Richard Hack in 1992, in which, as the Times quoted it, he wrote of the Castro plots: "If anything went wrong, I was the fall guy, caught between protecting the government and protecting the mob, two armed camps that could crush me like a bug."3953

He died in Las Vegas on August 4, 2008, at age 90, of congestive heart failure according to his son Peter; the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times gave Desert Springs Hospital as the place of death and the Las Vegas Sun gave Kindred Hospital.1947 Giancana had been murdered in June 1975,29 Roselli in 1976, Harvey had died in June 1976 and Desmond FitzGerald in 1967.

Footnotes

  1. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 74 (Maheu as "an ex-FBI agent who had entered into a career as a private investigator in 1954"; the former FBI associate in the Office of Security who arranged the agency's use of Maheu; "he didn't want to have an Agency person or a government person get caught"; operational support chief testimony, May 30, 1975, pp. 8, 158). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  2. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), pp. 75-77 (Maheu's approach to John Rosselli and Rosselli's introduction of Sam Giancana and Santos Trafficante). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  3. U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Final Report, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters", sec. I, p. 934 and n. 7 (Hughes's move to Las Vegas in November 1966; Maheu's contract through his own company; reporting directly to Hughes rather than to Hughes Tool Company executives; Hughes's approval of political contributions; Silver Slipper cash as the source of the cash contributions). https://archive.org/details/WatergateErvinCommitteeReport ↩︎

  4. Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Robert A. Maheu, FOI/PA no. 1342370-0, applicant investigation, 1940 (born Waterville, Maine, October 30, 1917; high school graduation 1936; Holy Cross B.S. in economics; entered Georgetown Law School in September 1940; endorsements by Richard C. Durham and F. Harold Dubord). https://archive.org/details/RobertMaheu ↩︎

  5. Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Robert A. Maheu, FOI/PA no. 1342370-0, personnel memorandum, "Entered on Duty - December 9, 1940," special agent trainee. https://archive.org/details/RobertMaheu ↩︎

  6. Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Robert A. Maheu, FOI/PA no. 1342370-0, part 4, memorandum of January 3, 1952 (Civil Service Commission request to expedite a loyalty form for the position of Security and Compliance Officer, Small Defense Plants Administration; personnel file: special agent from December 1940 until July 1947, voluntary resignation; loyalty form: "April, 1942 to 1944, under cover assignment out of New York Office, FBI" and separation in November 1947; Bureau recommendation of Maheu to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1949; correspondence of November 1951). https://archive.org/details/RobertMaheu ↩︎

  7. Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Robert A. Maheu, FOI/PA no. 1342370-0, part 4, Boston field office, "Special Efficiency Report," July 24, 1947 (resignation effective at the close of business July 24, 1947; stationed as Resident Agent at Waterville, Maine; a discussion of a change of headquarters shortly before the resignation) and transmittal of June 25, 1947. https://archive.org/details/RobertMaheu ↩︎

  8. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), p. 1 (FBI service from 1940 to 1947; "Dairy Dream Products" bankrupt in 1952; Small Business Administration; forced to resign in February 1954; Robert A. Maheu Associates; recruited by the Office of Security in March 1954 through Robert H. Cunningham; $500 per month; desk space in a suite occupied by Carmine S. Bellino). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  9. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 75 (monthly CIA retainer of $500, terminated after his detective agency became more lucrative; the operational support chief as Maheu's case officer since the agency first used him; close personal friends by 1960; Maheu testimony, July 30, 1975, p. 6). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  10. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), p. 2 (covert security clearances of August 16, 1954 for use in the Near East and August 30, 1954 for use in the United States). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  11. CIA Inspector General John S. Earman, "Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro," May 23, 1967 (Maheu's $500 monthly retainer; his move of personal headquarters to Los Angeles; Maheu and O'Connell at separate hotels in Miami; the Long committee), National Security Archive copy, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/33578 ; original record 104-10213-10101, https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10213-10101.pdf ↩︎

  12. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, The Near and Middle East, part 1, doc. 329, telegram from the Ambassador in Saudi Arabia (Wadsworth), February 6, 1954, pp. 786-787 (letters of January 31 quoting Article 4 of the agreement between the Saudi government and the Onassis company; the "Saudi Arabian Maritime Company"; Aramco's objection; the king's account of the royalty, training and flag provisions). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p1/d329 ↩︎

  13. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, The Near and Middle East, part 1, doc. 335, memorandum of conversation by Dorsey, March 16, 1954, pp. 795-796 (Robert L. L. McCormick for Stavros Niarchos; proposal that the Department approach National City Bank and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; request that the Department of Justice be informed). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p1/d335 ↩︎

  14. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), pp. 1-2 (July 1954 engagement by "British shipping interests"; technical coverage of Onassis's New York office; Niarchos as the principal; Maheu's condition that he do nothing inimical to the United States; paper read by Harold Stassen at the National Security Council on June 22, 1954; briefings of Scott McLeod, J. Edgar Hoover and Vice President Nixon; McLeod's offer of State communications and pouch facilities subject to John Foster Dulles's approval; Near East Division channel and guidance from August 1954; the agency identified in the Niarchos litigation). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  15. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, The Near and Middle East, part 1, doc. 367, memorandum of conversation by Jernegan, September 24, 1954, pp. 856-858 (Paul Gerrity of Maheu Associates; statement attributed to Cotopadis purchased by Niarchos; second copy with the CIA, third with Maheu in Beirut; proposed delivery to King Saud through Karl Twitchell; Jernegan's view that the CIA should remain the channel). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p1/d367 ↩︎

  16. Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Robert A. Maheu, FOI/PA no. 1342370-0, part 4, memorandum for the Director (F. C. Holloman), October 14, 1954 (Niarchos as Maheu's client; Onassis's sealed indictment of October 13, 1953; Leo Turrou and Spiros Catapoudis; documents bought for $280,000 in cash, $50,000 of it Turrou's share; Maheu's trip to Athens; "Maheu stated the United States Government is also interested in seeing that these agreements are abrogated"). https://archive.org/details/RobertMaheu ↩︎

  17. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 74 n. 4 (1954-1955 Saudi Arabian shipping contract; listening device placed in the room of the contract holder; Rome newspaper purchased with CIA funds; Maheu testimony, July 30, 1975, pp. 14-25; the film produced in Hollywood, operational support chief testimony, May 30, 1975, pp. 159, 162-163, and Maheu testimony, July 30, 1975, pp. 39-42). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  18. Charles R. Babcock, "Maheu Admits '54 Anti-Onassis Drive; CIA Reportedly Approved Anti-Onassis Campaign," Washington Post (1978), reporting Jim Hougan's article in the September issue of Playboy; CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP81M00980R000600060037-0. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP81M00980R000600060037-0 ↩︎

  19. Ed Koch, "His was the influence that backed Hughes' cash," Las Vegas Sun, August 6, 2008 (Peter Maheu on the Onassis contract; Peter Evans, Nemesis, 1986, as quoted; Maheu's testimony of 1975; Next to Hughes; the Desert Inn, Sands, Castaways, Frontier, Silver Slipper and Landmark purchases). https://lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/06/his-was-influence-backed-hughes-cash/ ↩︎

  20. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), p. 2 (cable from Ciudad Trujillo, November 1957, alleging a Mann Act violation in procuring prostitutes for President Sukarno during his 1956 state visit; Maheu's denial; retraction by Dominican officials; Edward Bennett Williams as Maheu's lawyer). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  21. Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Robert A. Maheu, FOI/PA no. 1342370-0, part 5, memorandum, D. J. Brennan, Jr., to W. C. Sullivan, "Achmed Sukarno, President of Indonesia, White Slave Traffic Act," April 10, 1964 (Maheu's advice to the Bureau of October 25, 1957; John Joseph Frank; State Department inquiry; Ambassador Wilson C. Flake; "Maheu was in Bureau from 1940 to 1947 and resigned voluntarily"). https://archive.org/details/RobertMaheu ↩︎

  22. Jim Hougan, Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents (William Morrow, 1978), p. 278 (Joseph Shimon on agency requests when Sukarno or King Hussein visited) and p. 315 (a 1956 assignment of Maheu's associate Frank to obtain women for Sukarno's visit). https://archive.org/details/jim-hougan-spooks-the-haunting-of-america-the-private-use-of-secret-agents-1978- ↩︎

  23. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), pp. 2-3 (information of 1957 on Sukarno's visit to Moscow in the fall of 1956; June 1957 request by Al Ulmer and Samuel Halpern of the Far East Division; July 1957 assignment; the male employee and his fiancee; make-up course; studio; "Happy Days" never completed, film not distributed). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  24. Jim Hougan, Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents (William Morrow, 1978), p. 279 (the film said to have shown "Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito"; "never released"). https://archive.org/details/jim-hougan-spooks-the-haunting-of-america-the-private-use-of-secret-agents-1978- ↩︎

  25. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), pp. 3-4 (1958 Far East Division project directed at Sukarno; Maheu's meetings with James O'Connell in New York in September 1958; request of June 1959 and covert security approval of October 7, 1959) and Attachment A, pp. 6-7 (April 1959 party for King Hussein in Los Angeles; a Long Island house rented in April 1959). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  26. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), Attachment B, pp. 8-9 (Bissell's approach to Edwards in August 1960; Maheu briefed and asked to find an entree among gangster elements; Roselli's introduction of "Sam Gold"; Maheu's call to the Office of Security on learning the identities from the Parade supplement; six pills; Orta; Varona; $10,000). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  27. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), pp. 75-76 and nn. (Maheu's reluctance because of his new client Hughes; the Inspector General's cover story, I.G. Report p. 16; $150,000, I.G. Report p. 16; Rosselli testimony, June 24, 1975, pp. 8-10, 16-17; Brown Derby meeting; "high government officials"; Maheu testimony, July 29, 1975, pp. 6-10, 58-60; the Plaza Hotel meeting placed on September 14, 1960 by the Inspector General). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  28. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 75 nn. 1-2 (Maheu's testimony of July 29, 1975, pp. 7, 13, 22-23, 47: the plan as one phase of a larger project to invade Cuba; Hughes's telephone call shortly before the November 1960 election; "definitely told him that the project was on behalf of the United States Government"). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  29. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), pp. 76-77 and nn. (Miami meetings in the week of September 24, 1960; Rosselli's cover name "John Rawlston"; Maheu's handling of the details; Rosselli's introduction of Maheu to "Sam Gold" and "Joe"; the Parade supplement; the Kennilworth Hotel registrations of October 11-30, 1960; Maheu's recollection of meeting Giancana after November 1960; Giancana murdered June 20, 1975, p. 77 n. 2). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  30. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. X, Cuba, January 1961-September 1962, doc. 337, memorandum for the record by Sheffield Edwards, May 14, 1962, pp. 808-809 ("a private investigator of the firm of Maheu and King"; knowledge kept to a total of six persons; Rosselli; Giancana and the "courier"; $150,000; the listening device in the room of Phyllis McGuire; Edward Du Boise; Balletti; Dan Rowan; Maheu under FBI surveillance; $10,000 for expenses; word sent through Maheu to call off the operation). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d337 ↩︎

  31. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), pp. 81-82 and nn. (Rosselli's account of Maheu opening a briefcase at the Fountainebleau Hotel, Rosselli testimony, June 24, 1975, p. 21; Maheu's denial and his recollection of being shown the pills in an envelope, Maheu testimony, July 29, 1975, pp. 40-41; Joseph Shimon testimony, September 20, 1975, pp. 6-12, on the March 12, 1961 fight weekend; Rosselli testimony, September 22, 1975, p. 5; Maheu testimony, September 23, 1975, pp. 14-15, 35-36, 42-45, 50: "five or six gelatin capsules filled with a liquid," the "go signal," no involvement after the Bay of Pigs). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  32. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), pp. 83-84 (Harvey's notes of November 16, 1961; early April 1962 introduction to Rosselli in Miami; "not to deal with Maheu or Giancana," "untrustworthy" and "surplus," Harvey testimony, June 25, 1975, p. 65; operational support chief testimony, May 30, 1975, p. 50). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  33. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 77 and nn. 3-4 (DuBois; Balletti's arrest on October 31, 1960; "Keystone Comedy act"; "tying Maheu into this thing up to his ear"; Balletti's bail paid by Rosselli; operational support chief testimony, May 30, 1975, pp. 36-37, 67-68). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  34. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 78 and nn. 1-3 (conflicting evidence on whether the agency was consulted; Maheu testimony, July 29, 1975, pp. 25-30, 37; Edwards's memorandum of May 14, 1962; the Inspector General's finding of an agency "first unwitting and then a reluctant accessory after the fact," I.G. Report p. 67; DuBois's $1,000 retainer; Hoover memorandum of May 10, 1962; Joseph Shimon testimony, September 20, 1975, pp. 21-23; Maheu testimony, September 23, 1975, p. 7). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  35. U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (November 20, 1975), p. 79 and nn. 1-3 (Hoover memorandum to the DCI, attention DDP, October 18, 1960; Rosselli's two explanations of the tap, Rosselli testimony, June 24, 1975, pp. 47-48; FBI record of April 18, 1961; Edwards's advice to Maheu; Herbert J. Miller memorandum of April 24, 1962, "national interest"; Long committee, I.G. Report pp. 73-74; Lawrence Houston testimony, June 2, 1975, pp. 58-60). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit ↩︎

  36. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), Attachment B, p. 10 (technician arrested and taken to the sheriff's office; Department of Justice intention to prosecute Maheu; briefing of Attorney General Robert Kennedy; prosecution dropped at the agency's request). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  37. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, memorandum, "Subject: Robert A. Maheu," undated, with Attachments A to C, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10141 (released March 18, 2025), pp. 4-5 (1966 inquiry of the Senate Administrative Practices Subcommittee under Edward V. Long; Long told that the agency had used Maheu on a number of occasions but had never asked him to wiretap; January 1971 recommendation of the Director of Security, concurred in by the DCI, that all existing clearances with Maheu and Associates be terminated in light of the suit between Hughes Company executives and Maheu). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10141.pdf ↩︎

  38. Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co., 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 1977), as modified Jan. 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.; Choy, J., concurring and dissenting; Wallace, J.), part I.B (Maheu first retained by Hughes in 1954 or 1955; "alter ego"; personal representative at all levels of government from 1961 through 1965; "Maheu had never had a face-to-face conversation with his employer. All communication was by telephone or written memoranda"; the Tucson hangar lease, the Silver Slipper incident). https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/569/569.F2d.459.75-2353.75-1306.html ; https://static.case.law/f2d/569/cases/0459-01.json ↩︎

  39. "Robert Maheu, Hughes confidant," Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2008 (as reprinted in the Press Democrat) (Hughes's public face from 1955 to 1970; opened an investigations firm in 1954; "caught glimpses of his enigmatic boss twice"; "I was the fall guy"; died Monday at Desert Springs Hospital, congestive heart failure, per his son Peter; later a real estate investor). https://develop.pressdemocrat.com/2008/08/06/robert-maheu-hughes-confidant ↩︎

  40. Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Robert D. Peloquin, President, International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)," May 20, 1971, signed John G. Southard, pp. 1-6, NARA JFK Assassination Records record 104-10122-10288 (released March 18, 2025) (Maheu's contract with Hughes Tool at $525,000 per year; suit for $50 million over a "lifetime contract"; early 1950s subcontract work in the Hughes-Brewster hearings; the early 1960s move to Los Angeles with Hughes as sole client; the nonofficial cover arrangement with the Hughes Aircraft Division, 1962-1964; Rhea Hopper; Edward P. Morgan; Jack Anderson and Peter Maheu). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10288.pdf ↩︎

  41. U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Final Report, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters", sec. III, pp. 939-941 (Stephen Craig's call of November 22, 1968; Maheu's recollection of Hughes's instruction and of Paul Laxalt; Laxalt's contrary recollection; Henley's recollection of the request; $50,000 in $100 bills from the Sands cage on December 5, 1968; the Palm Springs trip of December 6, 1968). https://archive.org/details/WatergateErvinCommitteeReport ↩︎

  42. U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Final Report, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters", sec. V, p. 960 ("the evidence reflects that Maheu did receive $100,000 on December 5 and 6, 1968 (from the Sands and from Henley), the disposition of which has never been conclusively determined"). https://archive.org/details/WatergateErvinCommitteeReport ↩︎

  43. U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Final Report, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters", sec. VIII, p. 1006 (Rebozo: "after Hughes left Nevada in November 1970, and fired Maheu"; return of the money in 1973). https://archive.org/details/WatergateErvinCommitteeReport ↩︎

  44. Tom Kinsey, "Hughes Vs. Maheu: Big Buying Spree Led To Battles," Las Vegas Sun, April 6, 1976 (Hughes's "abrupt and mysterious departure from Nevada on Thanksgiving Eve 1970"; arrival of Hughes Tool executives and announcement of Maheu's firing; Maheu's claim of a lifetime verbal contract; the proxy; the Nevada ruling for the tool company; Maheu's $50 million damage suit; the $17.3 million libel suit). https://lasvegassun.com/news/1976/apr/06/hughes-vs-maheu/ ↩︎

  45. Jim Hougan, Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents (William Morrow, 1978), pp. 262-263 and 272 (the 1970 "Thanksgiving Coup"; Hughes's departure on Thanksgiving Eve; Maheu's "recapture" efforts; the January 1972 press conference; Maheu's $50,000,000 suit). https://archive.org/details/jim-hougan-spooks-the-haunting-of-america-the-private-use-of-secret-agents-1978- ↩︎

  46. Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co., 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 1977), as modified Jan. 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.; Choy, J., concurring and dissenting; Wallace, J.), parts I.B and II.A ("On December 5, 1970, Howard Hughes discharged Robert A. Maheu, thus ending a 14-year relationship"; Maheu's suit in Nevada state court to retain his position; Clifford Irving book; the January 7, 1972 telephonic news conference; Summa's admission that the statement was Hughes's; defense of truth). https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/569/569.F2d.459.75-2353.75-1306.html ; https://static.case.law/f2d/569/cases/0459-01.json ↩︎

  47. Matt Schudel, "Ex-CIA spy Robert Maheu was aide to Howard Hughes," Washington Post, August 2008 (as published in the Bulletin, Bend, Oregon, August 6, 2008, https://bendbulletin.com/?p=305462) (died August 4 at Desert Springs Hospital, Las Vegas; "never met the eccentric mogul face to face"; Hughes "had two other aides fire him in December 1970"; the Rebozo payment; "initially won a $2.8 million settlement from Hughes, but the decision was overturned"), and as reprinted by Kennedys and King, August 6, 2008, https://www.kennedysandking.com/obituaries/435 ↩︎

  48. Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co., 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 1977), as modified Jan. 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.; Choy, J., concurring and dissenting; Wallace, J.), part II.A and part III (bifurcated trial; verdict on liability for Maheu; compensatory damages of over $2.8 million; Summa's $48,000 on its counterclaims; judgment for Summa of about $470,000 with accrued interest; "based on inadmissible speculative evidence"; "sheer fantasy, nothing more"; the trial court's "one-sided characterization of Maheu"; "We reverse in part and remand for a new trial"; the judgments filed December 23, 1974; reversal of the denial of punitive damages). https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/569/569.F2d.459.75-2353.75-1306.html ; https://static.case.law/f2d/569/cases/0459-01.json ↩︎

  49. Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co., 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 1977), as modified Jan. 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.; Choy, J., concurring and dissenting; Wallace, J.), Choy, J., concurring and dissenting ("Maheu had taken over $74,000" of the Tucson lease money; would direct judgment notwithstanding the verdict for Summa). https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/569/569.F2d.459.75-2353.75-1306.html ; https://static.case.law/f2d/569/cases/0459-01.json ↩︎

  50. Associated Press, July 1975 (Maheu "invoked the 5th Amendment when first subpoenaed" and testifies "under a grant of limited immunity"; two hours before the committee on July 29), CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510069-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300510069-1 ↩︎

  51. Joseph Volz, dispatch of July 30, 1975, CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510064-6 ("the plan was always subject to a 'go signal'"). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300510064-6 ↩︎

  52. Cheri Seymour, The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal (TrineDay, 2010), on the board of the First Intercontinental Development Corporation; board listing of January 11, 1983 in a 2016 FOIA request to the FBI by Emma Best. ↩︎

  53. Robert Maheu and Richard Hack, Next to Hughes: Behind the Power and Tragic Downfall of Howard Hughes by His Closest Advisor (HarperCollins, 1992). Charles Rappleye and Ed Becker, All American Mafioso: The Johnny Roselli Story (Doubleday, 1991). ↩︎