The Covert War Against Rock: What You Don't Know About the Deaths of Jim Morrison, Tupac Shakur, Michael Hutchence, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Ochs, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, John Lennon, and .....

190 Pages·2000·2.37 MB·English

by  Alex Constantine

THE COVERT WAR
AGAINST ROCK
THE COVERT WAR
AGAINST ROCK
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE DEATHS OF
JIM MORRISON
TUPAC SHAKUR
MICHAEL HUTCHENCE
BRIAN JONES
JIMI HENDRIX
PHIL OCHS
BOB MARLEY
PETER TOSH
JOHN LENNON
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.
ALEX CONSTANTINE
FERAL HOUSE
The Covert War Against Rock © 2000 by Alex Constantine
All rights reserved.
eISBN 978-1-936239-50-4
Feral House
1240 W. Sims Way Suite 124
Port Townsend, WA. 98368
Design by Linda Hayashi
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the victims of
Operation CHAOS and COINTELPRO
COVERT CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Prelude
ASSASSINATION POLITICS OF THE VIETNAM WAR PERIOD: FASCISM, AMERICAN-STYLE
AND THE RISE OF RICHARD NIXON
Chapter One
A [KILLING] FIELD DAY FOR THE HEAT
Chapter Two
TIME MACHINE: THE BIRTH OF TOP 40 RADIO AND ALAN FREED’S NEAR-DEATH
EXPERIENCE (EARLY CIA AND MOB INFLUENCES ON THE ROCK MUSIC INDUSTRY)
Chapter Three
PARAPOLITICAL STARS IN THE DOPE SHOW
Chapter Four
THE DEATH OF CASS ELLIOT AND OTHER “RESTLESS YOUTH”
Chapter Five
A MURDER IN THE HOUSE OF POOH: BRIAN JONES
Chapter Six
PORTRAITS IN CARNAGE:
THE END OF THE ROCK FESTIVALS
Chapter Seven
I DON’T LIVE TODAY:
THE JIMI HENDRIX POLITICAL HARASSMENT, KIDNAP AND MURDER EXPERIENCE
Chapter Eight
WHEN YOU’RE A STRANGER:
FRAGRANCE DÉ CHAOS — INVESTIGATIVE
FINDINGS ON THE DEATH OF JIM MORRISON
Chapter Nine
LIKE COFFINS IN A CAGE: THE BAEZ CONTRAS AND THE DEATH OF PHIL OCHS
Chapter Ten
WHO KILLED THE KENNEDYS? (AND SAL MINEO?)
Chapter Eleven
“PROJECT WALRUS” AND HOLDEN CAULFIELD’S WARM GUN
Chapter Twelve
WHAT’CHA GONNA DO? . . .
THE DEATHS OF BOB MARLEY AND PETER TOSH
Chapter Thirteen
GANG WAR: SONS OF CHAOS VS. THUGS A TUPAC SHAKUR AND NOTORIOUS B.I.G.
ASSASSINATION DIGEST
Chapter Fourteen
DANCING ON THE JETTY:
THE DEATH OF MICHAEL HUTCHENCE, ET AL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Operation CHAOS a draft outline found among the papers of late political
researcher Mae Brussell, provided the framework and inspiration for this study.
The decision to write it was made ten years ago, and since that time the author
has gathered pertinent material toward this end, often at the suggestion of friends
who had a piece of the puzzle to contribute, including Will Robinson, Marilyn
Colman and the Brussell Sprouts, David X, Patrick Fourmy, publisher of
Prevailing Winds, Al Marcelliene, John Judge, Lee Lew-Lee, Cynthia Ford,
Lynn Moss-Sharman, Adam Parfrey, Bennett Theissen, Matty, DasGoat, Virginia
McCullough, Dick Farley, “Cynthia Richards,” the late Sharon White, Andrew
and David, MIHRA, Linda Minor and CTRL’s researchers, Vicky Flores-Guerra,
Michael Putini, S.M., Melissa Darpino and the patient librarians at UCLA’s
Research Library and Los Angeles municipal library system. The author also
wishes to thank Elliot Mintz, spokesman for Bob Dylan and Yoko Ono, reggae
archivist Roger Steffans and Realist editor Paul Krassner for the admirable roles
they have played in opposing some of the ignoble acts described in this volume.
FOREWORD
The corporate media harbors hundreds of
CIA propagandists and fawning loyalists who find revelations
concerning domestic political assassinations inconvenient and stroll by with
little comment. The central revelation of this volume is the fact that the Agency
and Organized Crime have, for over over thirty years, engaged in a program to
silence popular musicians whose influence subverts the cynical thought control
tactics of American government and media. There exists within both worlds a
rigidly “conservative” infrastructure that has little regard for human rights. This
infrastructure has contributed to the rise of every fascist regime in the Third
World. It has overthrown many a democratically-elected leader and favors death
squad rule. It thrives on war, propaganda and social control. It takes a dim view
of critics in the music industry, particularly young “communards” who advocate
demilitarization, dread-locked musicians standing up for their rights, or street
Thugs who condemn police violence and suggest shooting back.
The untimely deaths of John Lennon, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, and other
rock musicians who lashed out at the established order were followed by
widespread suspicion of foul play. The murder of Lennon led Fenton Bressler, an
English barrister, to descend reluctantly into the hidden labyrinth of CIA mind
control operations, and the result of his investigation, Who Killed John Lennon?
(1989), raised provocative questions regarding the deep history of Mark David
Chapman But Bressler was an exception. Hard questions concerning the deaths
of most musicians in this book have never been asked. On the contrary, many
reporters and biographers are inclined to dismiss, with varying degrees of
condescension, evidence of murder as grist for exotic conspiracy theories
(though these, of course, do tend to run rampant when fascism, which is
inherently conspiratorial, dominates the intelligence community). This
unwillingness to dissect covert operations renders reporters with integrity
incapable of evaluating the evidence and arriving at an objective judgment. An
attempt is made here to correct this imbalance, to treat the evidence with the
seriousness it deserves.
A sobering example: ten years ago, the statement that Brian Jones, founding
member of the Rolling Stones, was murdered would have been met with ridicule.
Everyone knew that Jones died in 1969 by accidental drowning. The “rational”
view held that Jones was a fiercely talented but precocious, drug-crazed rogue
with an irrepressible death wish. But the subsequent confession of his killer, and
the testimony of several witnesses intimidated into silence, has since dispelled
the status quo belief (though the press remains largely indifferent). Brian Jones
was murdered. Journalists should take care not to let it happen again, but this is
not a profession that readily learns from its mistakes. Reporters will transcribe
the official verdict on the next “accidental drowning,” pride themselves on their
“objectivity” for refusing to be lured by bothersome details into contradicting the
official record. A politically indifferent public will accept all this and the
hypocritical distortions of the propagandists.
Anyone with a penchant to research the subject is advised that there are
patterns to look for to distinguish a political hit from the apolitical variety and
accidental or natural causes. Nearly all celebrity subjects of this volume knew
extreme “paranoia” before their deaths. John Lennon and Jim Morrison were
both driven to desperation by constant FBI harassment. Jones was made a
nervous wreck by police raids and the intimidations of a circle of killers who
infiltrated his household. Jimi Hendrix feared Michael Jeffrey, his manager, a
self-avowed intelligence agent with Mafia ties, who stole from him, then
arranged for his kidnapping and probable murder. Bob Marley received a death
threat from the CIA, and sang about his “War” with the Agency. Tupac Shakur
lived in defiance of a COINTELPRO-type operation waged, he realized, to
destroy his career and silence him.
Another recurring theme is the posthumous publication of books libelling the
deceased and misleading the reader on the circumstances of death. Bob
Woodward, Danny Sugarman and the late Albert Goldman worked this genre
and profited handsomely from it. In the “mainstream” media, discrediting tactics
are also common, and the death is almost always blamed on the victim. Cass
Elliott, according to one fraudulent medical expert and a flurry of erroneous
press reports, was claimed by “gluttony.” Jones was a victim of vague
“misadventure,” and drugs were said to have contributed—despite the fact that
he had been off them for a month before he died. It was widely reported falsely
that Jimi Hendrix overdosed on heroin, and it is universally held that he “choked
on his own vomit,” though the true circumstances are complex and have driven
many of his friends to demand an investigation. Michael Hutchence was
supposedly done in by auto-erotic sex, but a broken hand, split lip and
contusions on his body have not been explained. In each case, cruel exaggeration