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His friends and influence can take care of almost anything—except perhaps a trial The Hotshot One-Man Roy

Last Oct, 8. as the polls showed Richard N ir- spouse wan forthright: Nichols guaranteed that point in his remarkable career nothing could on running substantially ahead in the cam- Morgenthau would be replaced, and Suns be more to Roy Cohn's wishes than the dis- paign for the Presidency. Roy Cohn moved to gave assurance that a way could be found to missal of Morgenthau. In a few weeks Cohn lend a hand. With his law associate, Thomas force Cohen to resign. The luncheon group dia. is scheduled to come to trial on charges of con- ip11t .nase convened a luncheon mertinro-rrer- parsed after signing checks and pledges to the spiracy, mail fraud, bribery, extortion and haps a dozen wealthy New Yorkers at the qui- Nixon-Agnew campaign totaling more than blackmail. The case was developed by Mor- etly genteel Lotos Club in Manhattan's East S40,000. Seven months ago. Hamer H. Budge genthatis office. Thanks mainly to Cohn's 60s. Prominent among those present were two replaced Cohen as head of the SEC. Morgen- noisy insistence that the attorney is persecut- leading Nixon campaigners: chief fund-raiser thau is stiff U.S. Attorney in New York City, ing him., the trial—whose issues will not be Maurice Stans, who would become Nixon's but rumors of his imminent replacement have weighed here—shapes up as the critical con. Secretary of Commerce, and Lolt41;4131,. a recurrently appeared in the press. frontation of a long-run grudge match. former assistant director or the FBI acid, until It Is known that Nixon had expressed din- late last year exec n ve vice president of Schen- satisfaction with Cohen long before his elec- ley Industries. tion and Morgeruhau, in spite of a distin- The battle between the two men goes beck Cohn, a registered Democrat, was blunt guished record as a prosecutor, is a Democrat almost to the start or Morgenthau's first term about his interest in the campaign. He had and can hardly be classed as a Nixon roan. as U.S. Attorney In 1961, when an investip- been having a lot of legal troubles and court Thus Cohn can hardly claim to have engi- tints OrWindler Alexander Guterrna happened actions. What, he asked the visitors, would a neered anything with a campaign contribution. to turn up Cohn. Cuterma went to prison and Nixon administration do about his two chief (His share of the kitty, 59,000, was paid by ultimately Cohn himself was indicted for ob- tormentors, Chairman Manuel Callen of the three bad checks on an account in a bank he structing justice. His first trial, in 1964, ended Securities and Exchange Commission, and controlled in /Ai-riots; only after a number of in a mistrial: his second in acquittal. Robert Morgenthau, U.S. Attorney for the urgent exchanges between Cohn's partner Bo- It was then that Cohn raised the cry of "ven- southern district of New York? Both Nichols lan and bank officials was the check honored, detta" he has been repeating ever since. As he and Sums disclaim any recollection of the dis- after enough funds had been telegraphed to tells It, he had, during his McCarthy Commit- cussion, but others present recall that their re- cover it.) But extent of influence aside, at this tee days, "exposed" the involvement of Mot-- INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

Cohn Lobby by WILLIAM LAMBERT

genthau's father, Secretary of the Treasury him thrown out, U.S. District Judge Inzer W v- entered private law practice and quickly be- Henry Morgenthau, in the decision to let the ita held "the motives and the feelings of the came head of his awn firm and a corporate ma- Soviet Union use the U.S. occupation curren- United Slates Attorney are of no moment. nipulator of the first arder. He took over Li- cy printing plates at the end of World War . . Assuming . . that Mr. Morgenthau onel Corporation, lost it, gained control of (Robert Morgenthau's unprintable reply to harbors a 'personal animosity' toward Mr. Fifth Avenue Coach Company in New York that charge, freely translated: "Poppycock...I Cohn and also has a 'dislike for him, this can- and became involved with a succession of There is no question that Morgenthau's pur- not in any way affect the propriety or vitality financial sponsors in a dizzying variety of oth- suit of Cohn has been uncommonly tenacious of an indictment returned by a grand jury." er business ventures. In the process he left be- —comparisons have been drawn to Robert Cohn recognizes no such inhibidonsas those hind a trail of stunned, embittered and in some Kennedy's stalking of Teamster Bass Jimmy binding Morgenthau. He has publicized the cases financially flattened es-friends. In the HotTa. But the U.S. Attorney's supporters vendetta theme wherever he has found is fo- past year substantial sections of his financial —and these include some of the country's best rum. He has appeared us a guest on radio talk structure have begun to buckle faster than they law enforcement people—insist theta Morgen- shows, lectured at law and journalism schools can be re-riveted. Lawsuits have piled up, and thau investigation of suspected wrongdoings and held press conferences, generally on the more than SI million in judgments have fol- is alway0 uncommonly tenacious. None of subject of his "persecution" by Morgenthau. lowed. In large part, these have left Cohn per- these supporters, however, would go so far as sonally untouched, for virtually all his assets to claim that Morgenthau leeks personal feel- —including his elegant Manhattan town ings about Cohn. Legally and ethically en- Roy Marcus Cohn has had a busy time in house, his telephone-equipped limousine with joined from trying his case in the press, Mor- the 1$ years since he and his wealthy young its "RMC" license plates ar,d his 99-foot yacht genthau has been quoted only as saying about sidekick, G. David Schine, helped polarize the Defiance—are leased or held in separate cor- Cohn that "a man is not immune from pros- nation's stews on domestic Communism with porations headed by his nominees. ecution merely because a U.S. Attorney hap- their far-flung and flamboyant investigations A great deal has been written about—and by pens not to like him." in Senator Joe McCarthy's behalf. When the —Roy Cohn as the consummate political and Last June 3, in denying one of Cohn's nu- show ended, Cohn, the son of a well-respect- financial operator. Whatever his qualities in merous attempts to get the indictments against ed New York judge, moved back to New York, these fields, there is no doubt that he is a mils- CONTiNUP

27 Dirksen helped choose his bank directors cowrinueo terra) lobbyist, a lobbyist who manipulates mortal AwuyJ" to three men. Buckley was one. —with considerable success—press, politi- The others were Di rksen and Lewis Rosenstill, cians and the other power centers, a lobbyist then head of Schenley Industries and another with but a single client: Roy Cohn. pervasive figure in Roy Cohn's affairs. Through the years since he first tasted glory The Cohn-Buckley relationship has other as- as chief inquisitor of the McCarthy Commit- pects. Beginning in 1966, Cohn and some ofhis tee, Cohn has carefully cultivated important associates took control of four Chicago hanks, men. He entertains them, praises them effu- in some cases using funds From one bank to buy sively, sets up organizations and foundations the next. One was state-chartered Guaranty to give them awards and campaign contnbu- Bank & Trust Co. The others, Gateway Na- bons. Many—by no means conserva- tional, University National and Mercantile tives, dating back to the McCarthy Committee National, were federally chartered. Cohn im- days. Some arc liberals, identified in many in- mediately began to use his control position to stances with New York's organisation Dem- finance his corporate activities and help his ocrats. His friends include ienallazaJagera friends, among them Columnist Buckley DAsearailllinais, Thomas Dodd orConnect- icut, la.zsIgal of Mississippi and Ed- ward Long of Missouri (LIFE. May 26 and Without bothenng to inform his partners. Nov. 10, 1967), who was defeated in the 1968 Cohn in September 1967 ordered the president Democratic primary. On the House side of of Gateway National to grant a loan to enable of substantial wealth, to our- Capitol Hill, Cohn has had a warm relation- ,Buckley, a Tan ship with many influential congressmen, in- chase a boat. The bank official objected, point- cluding the venerable Emanuel Cenci- of ing out that standard banking practice prohib- Brooklyn, chairman of the House Judiciary ited making such loans outside their service During the McCarthy nearing, in 1954, tot.nv, Committee, and the wide-ranging and busy area. Cohn was furious, and the banker's ob- counsel Roy Cohn (left) exchanged pleasantries Cornelius E. Gallagher of New Jersey (litti, duracy ultimately cost him his job. Aug. 9 and Dec. 25, 1968). After Cohn's 1964 "That was at the time," recalled another of acquittal, he was heard to exult at a Stork Club Cohn's associates, "when the hank examiners with Cohn's guidance, set up an Illinois corpo- victory party, "Cardinal Spellman sent me were raising hell with Roy for making loans ration, Caribbean Enterprises Inc.. to hold title The loan then went to the Illinois congratulations from Hyannis Port, Mass., outside the 100-mile radius of the bank. Why, to Cyrano. Cyrano was registered where he's on vacation. Senator Dirksen he even lent one of his friends 569,000 to buy a corporation, although Fla phoned from San Francisco and Senator East- house in Connecticut." at Miami, land phoned from Mississippi. And what my Ultimately, LIFE has learned, Cohn pre. Just how good a deal Buckley got is open to friends are saying.... What more can a man sailed on his hand-picked president of Guaran- question. The instalment note finally signed by Buckley, and secured by a mortgage on the want?" Both liberal Congressman Caller and ty Bank & Trust, Norman A. Simon, to ar- arch-conservative Senator Eastland went to range for a 565,000 loan on a 60-foot sloop, boat, was for 583,200. and he received only 565,0q). The transaction provided for a 28% Attorney General Ramsey Clark in Cohn's be- which Buckley subsequently purchased and half during Morgenchau's investigations into named Cyrano. To get around the bank exam- discount—i.e., interest in advance based on tile original amount of the loan, over a four-year the case now pending before the court. Clark iners' objections to distant financing, Buckley, period. Buckley has kept his payments current ignored their pleas. and the debt has been reduced to 566,560. In- Asa model modern lobbyist, Cohn has made deed, the proceeds have proved so fat and reg- sure of having friends in the press, too. One ular that even the bank examiners have not ob- of these is the conservative columnist William than in principle. F. Buckley Jr. In a column last December, jected—other Other writers and journalists have publicly Buckley suggested that Morgenthau, in his supported Cohn and in turn been blessed with pursuit of Cohn, suffered from a "devil fix- ation." He referred to Cohn's indictment the his generosity. One is syndicated New York Columnist Jack O'Brian, who never knowingly previous month on a charge of attempting to pastes up enhance to sly something nice about bribe a public official as "merely one more of- his friend. O'Brian holds a minority interest in fensive by a punchdrunk official (Morgenthauj a Cohn-controlled radio station at Atlantic who remembers that he is supposed to keep City, M.J. Other newsmen enjoy recurrent on charging for as long as he can stand up Cohn favors, and Cohn in turn has had, with and who somewhere along the way in the mists few ex options, a consistently good New York of time came to identify the defense of the law press. In some instances hiscrics of vendetta di- with the persecution of Roy Cohn." Without rected at Morgenthau have been given greater identifying Cohn as the source, Buckley re- play than the news of his indictments. Even counted as fact several of a list or allegations Cohn's enemies, while sneering at his business made by Cohn concerning Morgenthau. judgments, concede his mastery of the art of Buckley and Cohn, although not known to space-grabbing. be socially close, have been friendly allies since Far more impressive than his press-agentry the McCarthy days in the persistent battle of is Cohn's skill at moving among the seats of the right wing against the Red Menace. In power and influence in government and pol- 1966, the A 'c Jewish tic Against itics. He was busily present at Miami during cstgagugaiun (Roy M. Cohn, pr."rtand Ex.F131 man Louis Nichols triggered transfers of the G.O.P. Convention, and at the Chicago prime mover) gave its "George Sokolsky Me- three agents who helped tht Cohn prosecution. as eionly when they testified publicly before against him badly shaken, and caused a major Long's subcommittee In early 1965 about al- undetsurrent of bitterness in the FBI's New leged harassment by Post Office Department York field office. and internal Revenue Service agents_ Robert The trouble shooter in this instance was Kennedy had been Attorney General at that Cohn's old friend Lou Nichja, Nichols is al- time, And Cohn and Bolan took this oppor- most a legend in the FBI, where he served for tunity to potshot at him. In those days. Ken- ?A years, the last 16 as Director Hoover's dr nedy shared equal billing with Mdrgenthati an Arta and deeply—some said obsequiously Cohn's roster of demons. —loyal public relations man with the eventu- Long's efforts on Cohn's behalf were amply al title of assistant to the director. Since Nix- rewarded. Cohn arranged for one of his Chi- on-selection he has been frequently mentioned cago banks to make an unsecured loan for as a successor to Hoover. more than 5100,000, repeatedly renewed, to During the McCarthy inquisitions of the help finance the senator's chain of high-inter- early 1950s, Cohn, as Senator McCarthy's est small loan companies in Missouri. chief counsel, had worked closely with Nich- ols and the FBI in developing cases against sus- pected Communists. Agents spent weeks Cohn also found a job for Long's son-in- screening FBI. security files and extracting law, Frank Miller, It was quite a job for a them in mamas forCohn during the prolonged young man just out of the Navyy, chairman of hearings. Through these years Cohn's friend- the hound of the Guaranty Bank, stoning Oct. ship with Di rector Hoover also developed, and I, 1967 at an annual salary of 51 7,500. For this was further cemented by their mutual re- this, Miller put in roughly one day a month at gard for the multimillionaire boss of the huge the bank. By the following spring some of Schenley distillery complex. Lewis Roundel, Cohn's banking partners were getting disgust- (Cohn to this day addresses Rosenstiel seri- ed. On May 3!, 1968 the directors cut Miller's ously as "commander-in-chief"' or "supreme pay back to 512400 a year—or 51,000 per commander" and Rosenstiel refers to his working day. Six weeks bore as Senator Long younger friend as "field commander" or "ser- was losing his job and his political leverage in geant major." I the primary, they boldly reduced Miiler's When N ichols decided to retire from the FBI ary so $1 a year. Miller was furious. but by in 1957. Cohn set out to land him a job with with a !MA who would become one of his warin- this time his father-in-law was in a bad po- Schenley. He had the willing support of an- political ess friends. Senator Everett Dirksen. sition to do much good, even with Cohn. Final- other Rosenstiel friend. the late conservative ly. to settle the matter, the hank paid Miller columnist George Sokolekv, for whom Nich- Democratic Convention he and o companion 53,000 and accepted his resignation effective ols represented 100%. anti-Communist Amer- at sae point simply appropriated the vacant Oct. 31, 1968. icanism. At a social evening in August 1967, box which had been assigned so, at' all people, In his fillnols banking venters-a. Cohn in- Cohn and Sokolsky agreed to try to sell Nich- Senator Eugene McCarthy. voked the offices &another old friend, Sen- ols to Rosenstiel as prime executive timber. One of Cohn's most active political puppets, ator Dirksen. to help select the board far Mer- The next night they made their pitch to Ro- until hie unceremonious dumping by Demo- cantile National Bank. Five directors, includ- senstiel. Nichols, Cohn contended, was a ge- cratic voters in the Missouri primaries last ing longtime Dirksen aide[ mull e, nius, truly "one of the greenest race in Amer- year, was Edward V. Long, the rotund sen- were chosen at a meeting in Dirksen'sM.7.r. ica," whereupon Rosenstiel dispatched the ator who was caught misusing h is investigating Later Dirksen wrote Cohn emphasizing the Schenley private plane to Washington to By committee to help Teamster Boss J immy Hof- care taken to select the directors. He wound Nichols and his wife to a conference at kn. fa. Cohn, his friend Lewis Rosenstiel and his up with a note of thanks For unspecified fa- Senitier5 Greenwich, Conn. estate. Under law associate, 'Bolan, were all received gra- vors: "You certainly were a jewel when I was Cohn's continued urging, Rosenstiel agreed to in New York and f am grateful for everything." coin-moo Cohn has cultivated a long friendship with in Weis!, President Johnson's hand- picked run assador to New York's Democratic party. Weisl—u law partner, incidentally, of E11or our Jr.. reportedly the Nixon- c ice to replace MOT. genthau—is a frequent Cohn luncheon com- panion. Cohn is often seen with influential New York politicians. It was on Cohn's yacht last summer that ex-Tammany Boss Carmine DeSapio and other Democratic sachems made their nominations far New York judgeships. One of Cohn's most powerful and oldest New York associates was the late Eloagclo.,Gar- aggilegillagg, whose friendship derived from their mutual battles against Communism. The cardinal's nephew, lalieelw.Sgsgssan. still is as- sociated with various Cohn enterprises. When Spellman's successor. Archbishop Terence Cooke, was invested as cardinal in Rome, Cohn turned up for the ceremonies. Uninvit- ed, he also breezed into a dinner for the new cardinal at a Rome hotel, said hello and left. At Cohn's urging, Distiller Lewis FlosantioI hired The latest and most awesome of Cohn's Columnist William Buckley got a 565,000 boat Nichols at 5101000 a year, plus stock options. power plays has left some potential witnesses loan from a Cohn bank after Islamic was applied.

ao —helping a U.S. Attorney protect hiscase. The Joe McCarthy's boy is still ensuing rumble of protest was so loud that it could be heard even outside the Bureau. which virtually never happens, Morgenthau was fu- the champion of 'chutzpah' rious. He confronted Assistant FBI Director John F. Malone, the top man in the New York CONTINuE0 field office, and Malone promptly reported the confrontation to Washington. The next day give Nichols a al-year contract at S100.000 a genthads otter had promised to help him get Hoover personally directed the New York field year. plus stock options, in addition tot rrang- a pardon if he in turn would assist the U.S. At- office to inform the three wayward agents that ing for Schenley's to buy and furnish 2 Man- torney "in inveigling Roy Cohn into some they now had until midnight the following day hattan apartment for Nichols. The whole pack- transaction that could result in his prosecu- age had to be an impressive introduction to tion." The document alsocontended that Mor- —36 hours in all—to report to their new sta- tions, which they did. corporate business for a middle-aged FBI man genthau's assistants had told the convict of who had spent most of hit adult life as a mod- Cohn's personal and financial affairs, and had Needless to say, the episode not only added estly paid public servant. Nichols later became trained him in the use of electronic eavesd top- luster to the Cohn legend but thoroughly executive vice president in charge of corporate ping devices, presumably to be used to entrap shook up some of Morgenthau's witnesses. If development and public affairs and was elect- Cohn. When Cohn walked into court earlier Cohn through Nichols could bring about the ed to the Schenley board. this year with a motion to dismiss the indict- arbitrary transfer of three FBI agents, what During the next few years Nichols kept his ments against him, he presented Pollack's chance had an ordinary citizen? Word leaked contacts with Hoover and the top echelon of affidavit in support. OK of the U.S. Attorney's office that Morgen. the FBI. He was instrumental in setting up the Morgenthau's aides all filed affidavits refut- thou was having a hard time convincing pro- J. Edgar Hoover Foundation, which was fund- ing the charges (one later testified under oath spective witnesses that the Cohn prosecution ed largely by Rosen.stiel. Along with Cohn. that Pollack's deposition contained ''not a was going ahead as scheduled by the court. who was acting as counsel for the distillery truthful sentence in any of [its] three pages"), magnate, he saw to it that Rosenstiel's own and asked three New York FBI agents to sub- foundation helped subsidize two hooks about mit sworn amounts of their Mrnontacts with So far Cohn's many attempts to block in- the FBI, one of which bore Hoover's name es the convicted thief. Two of the three, Donald vestigation. prevent indictment and delay trial author. Jones and Russell Sullivan, were oAIT77ners have ultimately failed. The Nixon administra- On Nixon's behalf Nichols ran a super-poll- s.77TR the Bureau, ea to be among the tion has shown no interest in interfering with watch called Operation Integrity which, he best agents in the New York office's organized Morgenthau's case against the a2-year-old claimed, saved the election for Nixon by spot- crime and anti racketeering section. Jones, an bachelor lawyer-financier, and it seems prob- will soon be in the hands of ting and preventing voting frauds in several rit-Marine, had more than 20 years of service, able that his fate key states. Sullivan 15. The third was a relative newcom- 3 jury, beyond the reach of the cleverest lob- It was not until last April that Nichols had er to Bureau ranks. Jack Knox. All, in detailed bying. But Cohn's resources are unpredictable. an opportunity to show his gratitude for sworn statements, °Hack's charges, Years ago during the Army-McCarthy hear- Cohn's favors. one by one. ings, he sneered at the constitutional protec- Although they all knew Pollack. none of the tion against self-incrimination by calling For Roy Cohn, developing his own case three agents had been assigned to the Cohn Major Irving Peress a "Fifth Amendment against Prosecutor IA orgenthau. case. Indeed, the FBI was singularly uninter- Communist." Yet he himself leaned on the I.VgtsigjaessilaiLwas a key figure. A not-too ested in investigating a known friend of the di- same privilege repeatedly before a federal bright convict serving time for grand larceny rector's. {Margenthau's case against Cohn was grand jury—and advised several of his friends and awaiting trial on a charge of possessing developed almost exclusively by two of his as- called in the same investigation to do lases...Ise. stolen securities. Pollack had stated in an af- sistant U.S. Attorneys. Paul Perim and John Cohn's chutzpoh, moreover, has thus far fidavit that, among other improprieties, Mm- Alice. using the grand jury as an investigative been adequate to any new situation. Not long arm.) Unfortunately far Agents Jones, Sulli- ago, for example, when his law firm's account van and Knox. they made one mistake—triv- at one of his Chicago banks was vastly over- ial by ordinary standards but a cardinal vio- drawn and he needed cash for maintenance lation of FBI practice: they failed to submit of his yacht, Cohn had a simple solution. He copies cf their affidavits to the Washington had some checks printed identifying a new FBI office before turning them over to the U.S. "charter" account, notified a subordinate at Attorney. Even then, the whole thing might the hank (the president was on vacation), and have gone unnoticed had it not been for Lou wrote 550,000 worth of checks against what ap- Nichols. parently was a nonexistent account. The 550,- The agents' affidavits were filed with the 000 was listed as a receivable on the books, court last April. Cohn promptly turned his and later covered by a hastily drafted note. At copies over to Nichols. who charged into the last report he still owed 531,000. Washington headquarters of the Bureau de• Clearly, whether one endows him with mending that the agents be censure!. Nichols charm. charisma or malevolence, Roy Cohn recently told Litt that he thought the agents rarely evokes a neutral response. One former had acted improperly and that he felt the FBI Cohn associate recalled being approached, headquarters "ought to know about it." shortly after meeting Cohn for the first time, Hoover personally ordered the three agents by 14tune!._.. _.1..-tr'ms11 Cohn's law partner fwho transferred out of New York. On May 2, each later was to plead—successfully—that he was received a letter of censure and was given 30 temporarily insane when he failed for three days to report to his new past—Jones to go to years to tile his income tax returns). Driscoll St_ Louis, Sullivan to Louisville and Knox to shook Cohn's new acquaintance somewhat by Pittsburgh. obsersing effusively: "Isn't Roy wonderful? Bureau men are accustomed to being or- He reminds me of Jesus Christ.- dered around in a fairly peremptory way, hat A veteran Washington lady columnist who such disciplinary transfers usually haves gloss has watched Cohn's machinations over the years saw Roy differently. "He's Rosemary's US. Attorney Morgenthau has been investigating of logic. This time the men were being moved Cohn's finaninl dealings for seven years. for doing what in essence they were paid to do Baby," she snapped. • ao •

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