Kirkus Reviews QR Code
PEROFF: The Man Who Knew Too Much by L.H. Whittemore

PEROFF: The Man Who Knew Too Much

By

Pub Date: Aug. 21st, 1975
Publisher: Morrow

A staggering account of a Watergate-related government cover-up by the author of The Super Cops. Rome-based scammer/swindler Frank Peroff -- ""a paper man specializing in stolen stocks and counterfeit money"" -- was attempting to ""legitimize"" his business activities back in 1973 when a French-Canadian narcotics smuggler pressured him into placing some bad bills. Peroff makes a mistake when he goes to the Secret Service for help -- he's blackmailed by the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs into going underground to assist in engineering a 150-kilo (street value: $300 million) heroin bust. The ""global crook"" is all set to fly the powder into the States when he discovers that the drug operation is being financed by Nixon's pal, illegal campaign contributor Robert L. Vesco. Drug Enforcement Agency officials then start stalling. . . Peroff is bankrupt, harassed and jailed. . . and the transaction falls through. Was the case in fact aborted so that Vesco wouldn't be extradited from Costa Rica and made to divulge the ""missing link"" to Watergate? ""Was it all part of a conspiracy -- by the DEA, Customs, the Secret Service, the White House, and the Justice Department -- to cover up the sabotage and prevent Peroff from making his charges public?"" A subsequent disclosure confirmed that Vesco had federal narcotics agents on his payroll. The Senate Rackets Committee did investigate the entire affair although it couldn't get to the bottom of it. If Peroff's story is true -- it seems on the level -- then there would appear to be more bad apples in Washington than cherry blossoms. Whatever, this con man's canard/confession grabs you by the nape of the neck.