Who Murdered Elvis?. Stephen B. Ubaney
1958, while under contract with Paramount Pictures for seven pictures, and in the midst of shooting his fourth feature film, King Creole, Elvis received a letter from the Memphis draft board, ordering him to report for service in the US Army. Panic-stricken with fear they'd be sued by the movie studio for breach of contract, Colonel Parker pulled every string possible to get a favorable outcome and the Army granted Elvis a 60-day extension to complete the film.
A "favor" from the US Army was as impossible then as it is today, but Parker's contacts completed this seemingly impossible task a mere 16 days after the letter was opened. Nowhere in the US government does business happen so swiftly without incredible pull, and Tom Parker had it. He asked precious favors from people in very high places, and those favors would have to be paid back at a time of their choosing.
Elvis, like the rest of the American public, was totally unaware that the CIA and FBI were deeply involved in various domestic programs that murdered or removed anyone whom they felt pushed the government or society along an ill-favored path. With the Cold War just beginning the CIA had launched many new projects to ward off the Red Scare of Communism in the United States. Programs such as Operation Chaos, The Merrimac and various other Resistance Programs were designed and used to infiltrate, disrupt and destroy dissident groups by any means necessary.
Mark Zepezauer writes about such projects in his book The CIA's Greatest Hits: "...the CIA used its domestic organizations to spy on thousands of US citizens whose only crime was disagreeing with their government's policies." These programs are not the work of conspiracy theorists or the fantasies of those using their over active imaginations. They actually existed for a specific purpose (and I tremble to think of what might exist today). To those in power, it was cheap insurance to preserve the nation’s agenda and keep everyone on the same page.
Even today the US government’s population is viewed as “inventory”, in fact that is the exact word that the IRS (Internal Revenue System) uses to refer to the American people. In that sense we are nameless and faceless. We are merely masses of people to be organized and manipulated away from major uprisings that could alter and damage the nation. While it was true that the government would have to break a few constitutional laws, target certain groups and even murder a few citizens, they viewed it as a small price to pay for delivering control to the general public and maintaining order.
A perfect example of this is the murder of Malcom X by the FBI for his connection with the black militant group, the Black Panthers. In the mid 1960’s the US government was horrified at the power that Black Panthers had and they viewed the murder of their recruitment mouthpiece, Malcom X, as a small price to pay to maintain order. In the government’s eyes they were doing nothing more than “managing their inventory.”
While Elvis Presley wasn't Stalin, Malcom X or public enemy No. 1, he'd managed to gyrate himself to the full attention of both the FBI as his stage hysteria was deemed a danger to the morals of the nation. Parents and teachers were outraged and complained to the TV networks in droves and they all wanted him off camera.
There was no salvation for Elvis Presley records in churches in those days either, as churches across the nation assembled themselves to burn and break his records. Religious organization even went so far as to boycott record stores that sold Presley’s music.
The governmental powers had no choice but to act in a way that would ease the uproar to their inventory. The only logical thing for the US government to do was to find a way to get Elvis out of society and drafting him in the Army was the answer. It was the path of least resistance for the bureau to manage their inventory. Besides, back in 1958, sending someone to Germany to serve in the Army was the equivalent of sending them to another planet, which solved the FBI’s issue with Presley well. They saw him as a bump and grind musical fad, and they thought he'd fizzle out, but there was another side the story.
At that time in history, organized crime that circled within both the entertainment industry and the US government knew that sending Elvis a draft notice while he was under contract and in the midst of filming a movie would put him in an obvious breach of contract with Paramount Pictures. It was designed to happen that way because it would pinch Tom Parker into a desperate move: he'd run to the mob and ask for powerful favors to circumvent the problem. Either way, both the US government and the mob pulled off this well-planned maneuver and put both Elvis Presley, and more importantly, Tom Parker in their debt for years to come.
For many reasons, drafting Elvis Presley worked for both the mob and the government, and the two definitely weren't strangers. Drafting Elvis to soothe society’s uproar worked so well it was repeated years later. In 1964 Cassius Clay defeated "Sonny" Liston and won the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Days later Clay informed the press that he'd converted to the Nation of Islam and his new name was Muhammad Ali. The Nation of Islam, at that time, was well connected with black militants, such as the Black Panthers, who were creating a great deal of unrest for the FBI in America’s inner cities. Interestingly, at that time, Muhammad Ali was a best friend of Malcom X.
Almost immediately Cassius Clay was "reclassified" and drafted into the US Army to remove him from society. Clay was removed from society one way, and Malcom X was removed from society another way. In the same way that Tom Parker had honed his skills to perfection on Eddy Arnold, the FBI had honed their skills with the drafting of Elvis Presley, or whoever they deemed to be a menacing newcomer of the day.
As Elvis' Army life passed, so did his beloved mother and the trip back to Graceland complicated things for Colonel Parker. Handling Elvis' business affairs and maintaining his country-boy image before the general public that once called him "a savage" was no easy task, but now a solemn Elvis returned to Graceland to mourn his mother (who was also his best friend).
His father Vernon Presley, who'd already remarried a divorcee named Davada (Dee) Stanley, and her three small sons Billy, Rick and David were also new residents. Joining Elvis on his return trip were his usual high school friends Lamar Fike, Red West, Sonny West, his cousin Billy Smith and new Army buddies Charlie Hodge, Joe Esposito and Marty Lacker.
This core group of best friends and confidants later came to be known as the "Memphis Mafia" – a term coined by the media as they were seen driving up to Las Vegas hotels in suits, sunglasses and limousines. Although the term Memphis Mafia was nothing more than a tag that labeled Elvis Presley's loyal friends / employees, the real mafia didn't like the term at all.
Even the hint of Elvis with the mafia would start people digging for answers and who knew what they'd find. Exposure is the one thing that neither the mob nor Parker could withstand. Elvis and his family were equally petrified by this term as the general public was unaware that members of organized crime had attempted to take over Presley's career.
Unfortunately, and without their knowledge, it had already happened. Back at Graceland, Elvis' new band of brothers (the Memphis Mafia) had soon given way to 24-hour tomfoolery that was despised by Parker and Vernon alike. The two men initially distrusted these members and saw them as "hangers-on" who surrounded the star with unhealthy influences.
Eventually each was given a job necessary to the business and the situation eased. Since the friends weren't on Parker's payroll and they helped with the function of the business, they were eventually accepted by Parker but in his mind they were always kept at arm’s length. The exception was Joe Esposito.
When Parker learned that the heartbroken Elvis was courting a 14-year-old girl named Priscilla when he was stationed in Germany, and that she was the daughter of a career officer in the Air Force, he turned irate and scolded both Elvis and his father for their stupidity. Parker knew a disaster when he saw one and he knew that even the slightest hint of sexual relations between Elvis and a 14-year-old girl would end Presley's career and the honest image that took so much effort to create.
Parker reminded them that the same thing had happened years earlier to another rock-n-roll star, Jerry Lee Lewis as the mention of him dating a teenager ruined his career. There was no guesswork surrounding the issue: Parker knew damage control was needed immediately to safeguard the star's reputation.