Robert Maheu

Robert Aime Maheu (October 30 1917 – August 4, 2008) was an American businessman who worked for the FBI, CIA and as the chief executive of Nevada operations [cite news |first=Corey |last= Levitan |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Top 10 scandals |url= http://www.lvrj.com/living/16160347.html |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |publisher= |date= 2008-03-02 |accessdate=2008-03-03 ] for the industrialist Howard Hughes.

Biography

Maheu was born in Waterville, Maine and held degrees from Holy Cross and Georgetown University. During his law studies at Georgetown, he was hired into the FBI (1941), and worked as counter-intelligence officer in Europe during World War II. He left the FBI in 1947, becoming a self-employed business owner, consultant and investigator. His contract with the Hughes company started in 1955. [cite news | title = Robert Maheu Able Opponent in Hughes Row | publisher = Los Angeles Times | date = 1970-12-10]

Although Maheu was for years a close confident of Howard Hughes, he never met the man face-to-face, as they worked via memo and telephone. He was dismissed by Hughes in 1970 after losing a power struggle with Chester Davis and Bill Gay; in a resulting libel law suit, Maheu was paid $2.8 million. [cite news | title = Howard Hughes Company Must Pay $2.8 Million to Slandered Ex-Aide | publisher = The Washington Post | date = 1974-12-05] As part of the struggle to get rid of Maheu, Hughes wrote a manuscript letter to Davis and Gay which was published in facsimile by "Life" in January 1971; this publication provided Clifford Irving with a sample of Hughes' handwriting which he later used to attempt to forge Hughes' autobiography.Stephen Fay, Lewis Chester, Magnus Linklater, "Hoax: The Inside Story of the Howard Hughes - Clifford Irving Affair", Book Club Associates, London, 1972, p. 61-63.]

Maheu was implicated in the plot to assassinate the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. At the request of the CIA, Maheu was to enlist the help of Mafiosi Filippo "Johnny 'Johnny Handsome' Roselli" Sacco and Salvatore "Sam," "Momo," "Mooney" Giancana, who both had connections in Cuba. [cite news | title = 6 Attempts to Kill Castro Laid to CIA | author = Jack Anderson | publisher = The Washington Post | date = 1971-01-18] [cite web | title = The CIA's Family Jewels | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm | publisher = The National Security Archive | date = June 2007] In testimony before the Church Committee, in 1975, Maheu told of his role, saying that he thought the United States "was involved in a just war." [cite news | title = Maheu Relates His Part in CIA Plot to Kill Castro | publisher = Los Angeles Times | date = 1975-07-31]

He died in 2008 at the age of 90 in Las Vegas. The cause was said to be heart failure. [Goldstein, Richard. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/us/07maheu.html "Robert Maheu, 90, Surrogate for Howard Hughes, Is Dead".] "The New York Times".]

References

Further reading

*cite book | author = Robert Maheu | coauthors = Richard Hack | title = Next to Hughes: Behind the Power and Tragic Downfall of Howard Hughes by His Closest Advisor | year = 1992 | publisher = HarperCollins | location = New York

ee also

*638 Ways to Kill Castro

External links

* [http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2007/How-the-CIA-Enlisted-the-Chicago-Mob-to-Put-a-Hit-on-Castro/index.php?cp=1&si=0#artanc How the CIA Enlisted the Chicago Mob to Put a Hit on Castro]
* [http://www.knpr.org/LVIR/transcripts/robertmaheu.txt Interview with Robert Maheu] NPR transcript.
* [http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/05/robert-maheu-confidant-howard-hughes-dies-91/ Robert Maheu's obituary]