Memoirs of Former Agent of the FBI Leo V. LaRue ( ) Donated to the FBI Oral History Project August 27, 2005.

Transcription

1 Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc of Former Agent of the FBI Leo V. LaRue ( ) Donated to the FBI Oral History Project August 27, 2005 FBI Recollections I became employed with the FBI as a clerical employee on August 11, My primary purpose was to complete my pre-law requirements so I could go to Law School. I had joined the Navy in June 1945 when I graduated from high school. The war ended in August and I was discharged in Therefore, I did not have enough GI Bill time to go through both pre-law and law school. My Dad, who was a lawyer, suggested I pay my way through pre-law and use the GI Bill for law school. I went one year at a local college near my home in Oklahoma and worked at nights in a pool hall five nights a week and all day Saturdays and Sundays for $25 per week. In May 1947, I heard they were recruiting clerical employees for the FBI in Washington, D.C. and were paying $ a month for a 40-hour week. I immediately applied. My intentions were to complete my pre-law and return to Oklahoma University for law school so I could practice law with my Dad in our hometown of Clinton, OK. As it turned out, about the time I completed my undergraduate work, the Washington College of Law became affiliated with American University, which I was attending. I decided to remain there for Law School.

2 Page 2 I was assigned to the Records Division and worked as a file clerk at the beginning, but soon learned I could become a tour leader, which I did. There were about 50 to 100 young males who took tours after a short training period. We were used as we were needed. In the summer, it was pretty much a full time job. Later I became leader of special tours, which were for individuals as opposed to groups from the general public. Many of these people were allowed to meet the Director, Mr. J. Edgar Hoover. As such I became acquainted with personnel who worked in the Directors Office. There were five young men who were assigned to the Director s mail and telephone room. They were responsible to handle all telephone calls and personal visitors who wanted to talk to or see the Director. They would screen the calls and visitors and announce only those whom it was believed Mr. Hoover would want to see or talk to. In 1950, I was appointed to replace on of the personnel who became a Special Agent. Working in Mr. Hoover s Office was a real experience. I learned many administrative techniques and practice, which I used in later years. I worked there for three years. The last two years, I was the supervisor of the Telephone and Mailroom. I became knowledgeable of Mr. Hoover s lifestyle. I can dispel all rumors and allegations of his manhood. In those days, Washington, D.C. was not a large city. Mr. Hoover was out and about the city all the time. There probably were more top investigative reporters there, than in any other city in the country. Many of those were not friends of Mr. Hoover. The top of the list would be Drew Pearson, a nationally syndicated columnist, and his assistant and later successor, Jack Anderson. Miss Helen Gandy (Mr. Hoover s Executive Secretary) told me that Mr. Hoover personally threw Pearson out of the Justice Building in 1934 during the Lindbergh Kidnapping case. Jack Anderson even went through Mr. Hoover s trash and reported that he found empty Jack Daniels whiskey bottles. If there had been the slighter indication that Mr. Hoover was homosexual, it would have been reported extensively. 2

3 Page 3 Miss Gandy was unusual as a secretary. She could not type or take shorthand. She told me she came to Washington right out of high school in New Jersey. One time she said she was 18, and another time she said she started in The Justice Department employed Mr. Hoover as an attorney about that time and she was assigned as his clerk. She worked for him thereafter. She was strictly his personal assistant and had nothing to do with the administration of the FBI. She handled his household and personal business affairs from the office not from his house. She hired and fired the maids, paid the bills, etc. She had her own secretary. An Inspector managed the Director s Office. Gordon Nease was there when I started. He left the FBI to become the Director of a Congressional Investigative Committee. Frank Holloman replaced him. Later Joe Sizoo was added to assist Mr. Holloman. All three were highly competent individuals. Mr. Hoover had one full time stenographer and another who also worked as the Inspector s secretary. My wife, Anne, whom I did not know at that time, was transferred to the Director s Office to replace one of them who was planning to leave. As it turned out, she did not leave and Anne worked as Secretary for Mr. Sizoo. I graduated from Law School on June 14, 1953, took the D.C. Bar Exam on June 17, 18 and 19; got married on June 21; and went into Special Agents class on July 6. My first office was Knoxville, Tennessee. I worked primarily at the Atomic Energy Facility at Oak Ridge. I was there about one year and then was transferred to San Diego. I was on the Criminal Squad and worked all of the 87 classification, which is Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property. This is mainly bad checks drawn on an out of state bank. 3

4 Page 4 After approximately one year there, I was transferred to Los Angeles. I arrived in Los Angeles in July I was assigned to a Security Squad until During most of that time, I was a Relief Supervisor for Marvin Pash, who was known as Colonel. This was because he was originally from Louisville, Kentucky and was an honorary Kentucky Colonel. He had been on the Louisville Police Department and went to Law School at night. There were a number of different Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASACs), among them Mark Felt and Wesley Grapp. Sometime in the late 1950s, Bill Simon was assigned as the SAC. He appointed me Night Supervisor in 1960 and as Supervisor of Squad 5 in Squad 5 handled Applicants, Deserters and all of the Administrative matters in the office. This included automobiles. Mr. Simon retired in early He formed a law firm composed of four or five top Assistant United States Attorneys from the LA Office. He was the senior partner and was able to attract many big time clients. Wesley Grapp replaced him. In 1965, the Los Angeles Office was inspected. They discovered that an Agent, who was a Police Instructor, had taken a Bureau car home over the weekend so he could leave from there rather than got the other direction to the office to pick up the car. Since I was in charge of cars, I was removed as Supervisor. They did not take away my Grade 14. It was my understanding that when this type action was taken they would have the facts reviewed to see if it would survive an appeal to Civil Service. If it would not, they let the person keep the 14, even though no longer a Supervisor. I started working Organized Crime cases with Jack Barron. That was fun but it didn't last too long, as in less than 6 months, Mr. Grapp had me approved Relief Supervisor on the SACs Desk. That was the beginning of a tough seven plus years. 4

5 Page 5 Mr. Grapp did not like Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASACs). He said they were temporary visitors who were waiting for a better job. He did not want them doing anything of an administrative character. They could approve teletypes, make speeches, and participate in the supervision of investigations. He said they did not have the long-term interest of the office. Mr. Grapp was an outstanding administrator. He could evaluate personnel and delegate duties to them. He knew how to place the right person in the right job. They say there are two ways to rule: by love or by fear. He was definitely a user of the latter. As one supervisor once said: He doesn t scare me he terrifies me!! That was said somewhat in jest, but definitely had a ring of truth to it. He used me as a front and had me handle many administrative matters, such as assignments of personnel, transfers, etc. He still ran the office, as I would not take any action without clearing it with him. At the beginning I would clear things with him, either orally or in writing. On one occasion in a Supervisors Conference, he asked who had approved a certain matter. I told him that he had. He asked, Where in writing did I approve it? I replied, No where. After that, I would send in informal memos on 5X7 slips of paper. He would usually route them back to me with O.K. W.G. On occasion he would call me and holding the memo say, O.K. and then destroy the memo. I would note on my copy what happened and put it in my file with the approved memos. He would not interfere with Agents or Supervisors who were performing well. He was extremely good at recommending raises and incentive awards. At performance rating time, he would recommend the maximum within grade raises for outstanding performance. Many Agents retired with higher pensions due to those raises. He would defend personnel when appropriate. One Resident Agent had a prisoner escape. The circumstances were highly unusual. He personally explained the matter to the Director and the Agent was not transferred or severely disciplined. 5

6 Page 6 I don t recall that he ever recommended anyone to be fired. He had a way of interviewing that would persuade some one who had done wrong to want to resign. After Mr. Hoover died, he was reluctant to go with changes in dress code, mustaches, etc. As a result there were some anonymous letters written to the Bureau and several inspections were conducted. At one point, he told the Inspector he had not approved or disapproved certain things. My response to the Inspector was to furnish him my memo file, which was about three inches think. I was not interviewed any further. Mr. Grapp was transferred as SAC to a smaller office and decided to retire. He was not easy to work for, but was certainly asset to the FBI. In 1973, I was appointed supervisor of the Organized Crime Squad 19, which handled all Federal Gambling violations. In 1970 or 71, the Federal law authorized the FBI to place taps on telephones or secret recordings in places. These were called Title III Interceptions. They had to be authorized by the Bureau and the Department of Justice. An affidavit was required, which had to be just right to get approved. We had outstanding personnel on Squad 19. There were five or six lawyers, several ex-police officers. There were two Hispanics who spoke fluent Spanish, two African Americans and one female. The Squad became expert in preparation of Title III Affidavits. We investigated just about every major bookmaker in Lose Angeles. An interesting sidelight was that almost all were informants for the LAPD Administrative Vice Detail, which was the unit that investigated all gambling in Los Angeles. The Squad was also used on many major cases, such as kidnapping and extortion. 6

7 Page 7 In October 1977, there was talk about merging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with the FBI. The Bureau set up three FBI/DEA Strike Forces. One each in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The squads consisted of a Supervisor and several Agents from each Agency. In New York and Chicago, the FBI was the dominant one and they worked out of the FBI Office. In Los Angeles, DEA was dominant and it was run from the DEA Office. I was assigned as the FBI supervisor along with six FBI Agents. We worked with a DEA Supervisor and eight DEA Agents, out of the Los Angeles DEA Office. The DEA Supervisor had been an FBI clerk in the Chicago Office. I never knew but assumed he was rejected as an FBI Agent. From the beginning, it was obvious he was not in favor of a merger. This seemed to the attitude of his boss, who was the Assistant Director of the LA DEA Office. The Supervisor had a private office and I had a desk in the room with the Agents. It became obvious from the beginning that the DEA approach to narcotics investigations was to buy and bust. This refers to setting up a sale of narcotics and arresting the buyer or seller. They had little or no concept of a long-range intelligence type of investigation that would lead to the source and scope of a narcotics operation. They had no hesitation in using informants to testify against offenders. As a result, they never developed long-range informants who could identify all members of an organization. The supervisor did not intend the task force to be influenced by the FBI. The FBI Agents were all experienced organized crime investigators and immediately impressed the DEA Agents, who were cooperative and eager to help achieve success. As a result the FBI began to dominate the operation. The Supervisor did not like this and friction arose between him and me. 7

8 Page 8 After about four months, it came to a head one night when we were out on an investigation and arguing about something. He lost his temper and moved his arm and hand toward his gun. Fortunately there was an FBI Agent on one side of him and a DEA agent on the other side. They pinned his arm so he could not move. The next day I reported to the FBI Office and met Ted Gnuderson, who was the Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles FBI. (Ted and I had worked together in the Knoxville Office in 1953.) I told him it would not work with the DEA in charge; that they had no concept of the difference between legal and illegal searches and seizures. The organization had no discipline. The Agents were not required to report to work at any set time, nor did they have to account for their time during the day. The DEA Agents were nice guys but were not trained as investigators. I met only two or three whom I would consider qualified to be FBI Agents. I told him I saw no reason why the FBI should not assume jurisdiction over narcotics. I facetiously suggested the DEA Agents should be transferred to the Post Office. I wanted to immediately advise the Bureau of the circumstances and recommend the LA FBI/DEA strike force be closed. Ted Gunderson said he did not want to discontinue the Strike Force as he thought the Bureau was in favor of it. However, under the circumstances, he would release me from the assignment. He asked if I would like to be assigned to the West Covina Resident Agency, which was where I lived. I asked if I could keep my Grade 14 and he said yes. 8

9 Page 9 This was in February After a couple of weeks, I realized I had two hours more a day as I was not commuting to Los Angeles. As a result I started studying for the California Bar examination. It was tough, as I had been out of Law School for 16 years. I took a Bar Review course two times and was able to pass two of the three parts in July. I took it again in February 1979 and passed all of it. I worked in t the RA for a year and retired in February The above allowed me to have a second career, which included 15 years on the Municipal Court Bench. With respect to the DEA, Bud Mullen (Francis M. Mullen, who was a Special Agent and Supervisor in LA prior to becoming No. 2 man in the FBI), became Administrator of the DEA, which was the best thing that could happen for the DEA. Within the first few weeks, he retired or fired most, if not all, of the top officials. He told me he found some DEA Agents who were not even high school graduates. He immediately instituted the same requirements for DEA Agents as for FBI Agents. He set up a training school at Quantico along the same line as the FBI. That was 24 years ago and I would say the DEA today is probably comparable personnel-wise to the FBI. The Bureau was good to me and I would recommend it as a career. 9