Robert Maheu

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Robert A. Maheu (born 1918) is an American businessman who worked for the FBI, CIA and as the chief executive of Nevada operations[1] for the industrialist Howard Hughes.

Maheu was born in Waterville, Maine and holds 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.[2]

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, but from the resulting libel law suit, Maheu was paid $2.8 million.[3]

Maheu has been implicated in the plot to assassinate the Cuban prime minister 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.[4][5] 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."[6]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Levitan, Corey. "TOP 10 SCANDALS: GRITTY CITY", Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2008-03-02. Retrieved on 2008-03-03. 
  2. ^ "Robert Maheu Able Opponent in Hughes Row", Los Angeles Times, 1970-12-10. 
  3. ^ "Howard Hughes Company Must Pay $2.8 Million to Slandered Ex-Aide", The Washington Post, 1974-12-05. 
  4. ^ Jack Anderson. "6 Attempts to Kill Castro Laid to CIA", The Washington Post, 1971-01-18. 
  5. ^ The CIA's Family Jewels. The National Security Archive (June 2007).
  6. ^ "Maheu Relates His Part in CIA Plot to Kill Castro", Los Angeles Times, 1975-07-31. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Robert Maheu; Richard Hack (1992). Next to Hughes: Behind the Power and Tragic Downfall of Howard Hughes by His Closest Advisor. New York: HarperCollins. 

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[edit] External links