Target Lancer (34 page)

The incident involving a press agent who did a favor for a Hoffa emissary—involving a ten-thousand-dollar payoff to Jack Ruby in Chicago, right down to the tickets to the Bears/Eagles game—is detailed in
Ultimate Sacrifice
(as is Lee Harvey Oswald’s presence in Chicago in that time frame). Further, numerous books report Jack Ruby in a Dallas bank on the afternoon of November 22 with a similar packet of cash. The real press agent, Jim Allison, was not murdered, although his Hoffa contact man died under suspicious circumstances within several months of the JFK assassination. On November 24, 1963, Allison was (like me) watching on TV the transfer of Oswald from the Dallas police station to the county jail when he recognized Ruby as the shooter.

The major liberty I have taken with this incident, for the sake of creating an entertaining mystery thriller, is turning Allison’s fictional stand-in—Tom Ellison—into the murder victim, essentially making a composite of Allison and the Hoffa contact. The other major liberty taken is Heller’s fictional disposal of the two ex-soldier assassins on the morning of November 2.

But the spine of this story has a solid factual basis—from the four-man hit squad including two Cubans to the ex-Marine patsy Vallee (whose many parallels to Lee Harvey Oswald include the stunning information that both served at U-2 bases in Japan); from the very controlled Secret Service response to the threat (including the blown surveillance of the Cuban subjects because of a radio transmission from Chief Martineau) right up to the last-second cancelation of the President’s Chicago visit.

Heller’s role in the formation of Operation Mongoose is based upon the actual role played by Robert Maheu, as described in numerous sources but in particular his memoir,
Next to Hughes
(Robert Maheu and Richard Hack, 1992). Those who consider Nate Heller a character who strains credulity might check out the real-life career of Howard Hughes’s favorite private eye.

A number of biographies proved crucial. Holly Knox’s
Sally Rand: From Film to Fans
(1988) was most helpful, as was Michael J. Cain’s sympathetic but unflinching look at his half brother,
The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain—Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman
(2007).

My portrait of Jack Ruby was influenced by any number of books, but in particular
The Ruby Cover-Up
(1978) by Seth Kantor;
Jack Ruby
(1967, 1968) by Gary Wills and Ovid Demaris; and
Jack Ruby’s Girls
(1970) by Diana Hunter and Alice Anderson.

The major Jimmy Hoffa source here is
Mob Lawyer
(1994) by Frank Ragano and Selwyn Raab. A key mob reference was
All-American Mafioso: The Johnny Rosselli Story
(1991) by Charles Rappleye and Ed Becker. Also helpful were
Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy
(1989), John H. Davis;
The Trafficantes: Godfathers from Tampa, Florida
(2010), Ron Chepesiuk; and
The Mafia Encyclopedia: From Accardo to Zwillman
(1987), Carl Sifakis.

Among the books on Bobby Kennedy that helped form his portrait were
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
(2007), David Talbot;
The Dark Side of Camelot
(1997) by Seymour Hersh;
Robert Kennedy: His Life
(2000), Evan Thomas; and
RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert Kennedy
(1998), C. David Heyman.

Of the scores of Kennedy assassination books in my library, those that proved most helpful were
Conspiracy
(1989 edition), Anthony Summers;
The JFK Assassination Debates: Lone Gunman versus Conspiracy
(2006), Michael L. Kurtz;
JFK: The Dead Witnesses
(1995), Craig Roberts and John Armstrong;
To Kill a President
(2008), M. Wesley Swearingen;
Who Shot JFK: A Guide to the Major Conspiracy Theories
(1993), Bob Callahan, illustrated by Mark Zingarelli; and
Who’s Who in the JFK Assassination
(1993), Michael Benson.

Works consulted that specifically explore the organized crime aspect of the assassination include
Contract on America: The Mafia Murder of President John F. Kennedy
(1988), David E. Scheim;
The Plot to Kill the President
(1981, 1992), G. Robert Blakey and Richard N. Billings; and
The Kennedy Contract: The Mafia Plot to Assassinate the President
(1993), John H. Davis.

Nate Heller’s world of early ‘60s Chicago is reflected in
Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream
(2008) by Steven Watts.
Playboy
was not the only men’s magazine published in Chicago during those years, and issues of it—as well as of its local competitors,
Rogue
and
Cabaret
—played a big part in my re-creation of those days in these pages, as all three carried much coverage of the Windy City scene. It seems I really have become a man reading
Playboy
for the articles, and for the advertisements, reviews, and other material, particularly as relating to Chicago.

Several specific articles are worthy of citation: “America’s Oldest Stripper” (Sally Rand) by Stan Holden,
Cabaret,
December 1955; “American’s Most Refined Strip Show” (Silver Frolics) by Stan Holden,
Cabaret,
July 1956; “The Windy City’s Hottest Night Spot” (606 Club) by Henry Darling,
Cabaret,
April 1957; “Satirists à la Sartre” (Second City) by Bruce Cook,
Rogue,
December 1960; “Chicago: Backstreet Blues” (Smitty’s) by Gabriel Favoino,
Rogue,
February 1961; and “Rogue Swings at an Art Fair” (Old Town), unsigned,
Rogue,
August 1964.

General Chicago information and color was supplied by the following books:
Chicago Confidential
(1950), Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer;
Kup’s Chicago
(1962), Irv Kupcinet;
Vittles and Vice
(1952), Patricia Bronte; and
The WPA Guide to Illinois
(1939). There has of course been considerable newspaper research as well, leaning upon
The Chicago Tribune
.

Special thanks to George Hagenauer, whose many trips to Iowa for brainstorming sessions and research planning ultimately resulted in the approach taken here. George was always there to give me firsthand information on Chicago in the ‘60s at my last-second request.

Thanks also to my frequent collaborator, Matthew Clemens, who advised on matters of sports and forensics; my friend and agent, Dominick Abel, who has helped me keep Nathan Heller alive; and my editor, James Frenkel, who gave Heller and me the chance to finally take on the JFK case.

Of course, Barbara Collins—my wife, best friend, and valued writing collaborator—was on hand with suggestions and encouragement, on this sometimes harrowing ride.

BOOKS BY MAX ALLAN COLLINS

The Memoirs of Nathan Heller

Target Lancer

Triple Play
(novellas)

Chicago Lightning
(short stories)

Bye Bye, Baby

Chicago Confidential

Angel in Black

Majic Man

Flying Blind

Damned in Paradise

Blood and Thunder

Carnal Hours

Stolen Away

Neon Mirage

The Million-Dollar Wound

True Crime

True Detective

The Road to Perdition Saga

Return to Perdition
(graphic novel)

Road to Paradise

Road to Purgatory

Road to Perdition 2: On the Road
(
graphic novel
)

Road to Perdition
(graphic novel)

With Mickey Spillane

Lady, Go Die!

Kiss Her Goodbye

The Big Bang

The Goliath Bone

The Consummata

With Barbara Collins (as Barbara Allan)

Antiques Disposal

Antiques Knock-off

Antiques Bizarre

Antiques Flee Market

Antiques Maul

Antiques Roadkill

Quarry Novels

Quarry’s Ex

Quarry in the Middle

The First Quarry

The Last Quarry

Quarry’s Vote
(
aka
Primary Target
)

Quarry’s Cut
(aka
The Slasher
)

Quarry’s Deal
(aka
The Dealer
)

Quarry’s List
(aka
The Broker’s Wife
)

Quarry
(
aka
The Broker
)

Writing as Patrick Culhane

Red Sky in Morning

Black Hats

With Matthew Clemens

No One Will Hear You

You Can’t Stop Me

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

MAX ALLAN COLLINS has earned an unprecedented sixteen Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels
True Detective
(1983) and
Stolen Away
(1991), receiving the PWA life achievement award, the Eye, in 2007.

His graphic novel
Road to Perdition
(1998) is the basis of the Academy Award–winning 2002 Tom Hanks film. It was followed by two acclaimed prose sequels and a graphic novel sequel,
Return to Perdition
(2011). He has created a number of innovative suspense series, notably Quarry (the first hit-man series) and Eliot Ness (the Untouchable’s Cleveland years). He is completing a number of Mike Hammer novels begun by the late Mickey Spillane; his audio novel
The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer: The Little Death
won the 2011 Audie for Best Original Work.

His many comics credits include the syndicated strip
Dick Tracy;
his own
Ms. Tree; Batman;
and
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, based on the hit TV series, for which he has also written ten bestselling novels. His tie-in books have appeared on the
USA Today
bestseller list nine times and the
New York Times
list three. His movie novels include
Saving Private Ryan
,
Air Force One
, and
American Gangster,
which won the IAMTW Best Novel “Scribe” Award in 2008.

An independent filmmaker in the Midwest, Collins has written and directed four features, including the Lifetime movie
Mommy
(1996); he scripted
The Expert,
a 1995 HBO World Premiere, and
The Last Lullaby
(2008), based on his novel
The Last Quarry
. His documentary
Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane
(1998/2011) appears on the Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray of
Kiss Me Deadly
.

His play
Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life
was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2004 by the Mystery Writers of America; a film version, written and directed by Collins, was released on DVD in 2008 and appeared on PBS stations in 2009. His documentary
Caveman: V.T. Hamlin & Alley Oop
(2005) was also released on DVD after screening on PBS stations.

His other credits include film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and video games. His coffee-table book,
The History of Mystery,
was nominated for every major mystery award, and his
Men’s Adventure Magazines
(with George Hagenauer) won the Anthony Award.

Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins; they have collaborated on nine novels, including the successful “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mysteries—their
Antiques Flee Market
(2008) winning the
Romantic Times
Best Humorous Mystery Novel award in 2009. Their son, Nathan, is a Japanese-to-English translator, working on video games, manga, and novels.

Although the historical incidents in this novel are portrayed as accurately as the passage of time and contradictory source material will allow, fact, speculation, and fiction are freely mixed here; historical personages exist side by side with composite characters and wholly fictional ones—all of whom are summoned, act, and speak at the author’s whim.

TARGET LANCER

Copyright © 2012 by Max Allan Collins

All rights reserved.

Cover art by Steven Youll

Edited by James Frenkel

A Forge Book