Attorney General John Mitchell secretly met with Howard Hughes emissary Richard Danner – a former FBI agent, turned mafia-connected Miami bagman, who then went to work for Robert Maheu – the CEO of Hughes’ Nevada operations. Mitchell said the President was putting together an election fund for the midterms and was considering overruling a prior decision of the Antitrust Division, to give Hughes permission to buy more than the five hotels he already owned in Las Vegas. He wanted to buy the Dunes. He owned five hotels and six casinos. After the meeting with Mitchell, Hughes contacted officials at The Dunes and told them the deal would go through. , Mitchell said, “We see no problem.” A quid pro quo of $100,000 was forthcoming.
3/19/1969