JAMES ELLROY - BLOOD'S A ROVER

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/3/68. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request” / “Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director Hoover, Special Agent Dwight C. Holly.

JEH: Good morning, Dwight.

DH: Good morning, Sir.

JEH: Before you ask, the answer is yes. Expedite OPERATION BAAAD BROTHER in the manner you described in your memo.

DH: Thank you, Sir.

JEH: The title possesses a sublime jungle quality. As in “That brother John Edgar Hoover, he baaad.”

DH: You are baaad, Sir. And I might add “inimitably so”.

JEH: You might, and you should. And, on the topic of jungle artistry, I heard a very disquieting song on the radio this morning.

DH: Sir.

JEH: It was called “The Tighten Up.” A Negro ensemble named Archie Bell and the Drells performed it. The song carried the air of insurrection and sex. I’m sure that white liberals will find it authentic. I told the Los Angeles SAC to open a file on Mr. Bell and to determine the identity of his Drells.

DH: Yes, Sir.

JEH: Enough bonhomie. Dwight, I am very disturbed by the Wayne Senior and Grapevine Tavern chatter. I’ve been reading the applicable communiqués, and I take this confluence of loose talks as both a personal insult and an affront to the Bureau. Wayne Senior was an FBI asset and James Earl Ray killed Martin Lucifer King without help from you, me, this agency, Wayne Senior, Wayne Junior, Fred Otash, the redneck sharpshooter Bob Relya, or any other outside source. Do you understand me, Dwight?

DH: Yes, Sir, I do.

JEH: Make the rumors stop, Dwight.

DH: Yes, Sir.

JEH: Good day, Dwight.

DH: Good day, Sir.

______________________

Archie Bell and the Drells
Tighten Up, part 1
Tighten Up, part 2