1 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: If you dig through the boxes at Stanford University, you 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: can find George White's autobiography. It's called A Diet of Danger, 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: and it's exactly as pulpy as it sounds. I am 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 1: George Hunter White, and my parents must have been clairvoyant. 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: I've been a hunter of men all my life. I've 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: had to do it because it was a vitally important job. 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: I've had to do it because I've loved doing it. 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: Evan wild, gruel, intense and fantastic moment of it. That's 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: not dedication, that's addiction. All the highlights are in the book, 10 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: tales of Turkish drug busts, Chinese opium gang initiations, encounters 11 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: with spies and killers. But the problem with the George 12 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: White version is he left out some important details. The 13 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: memories George White preferred to keep a secret, like this one. 14 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: It's ninety two and George White is boarding the subway. 15 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: The subway system in New York City is built to 16 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: be safe, and it is safe, but that's just the 17 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 1: train itself. Passenger behavior is different. You can get mugged, harassed, threatened, 18 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: or you can board a car with nothing amiss, no 19 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,199 Speaker 1: sign of trouble, anywhere, and then you can step off 20 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:31,639 Speaker 1: into a nightmare. There's no record of where George White 21 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: got on, but at some point in the ride, White 22 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,680 Speaker 1: reaches into while maybe his pocket, maybe a briefcase. He 23 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: tried to erase the details. But here's what we do 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: know what he feels. The time is right, White sprays 25 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: an aerosol container into the air, an invisible mist. There's 26 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: not much of it, just enough to affect a handful 27 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: of people. The people in the car began to feel strange, 28 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: I think, uncomfortable, some panic. Odds are children were on board? 29 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 1: Hallucinations are inevitable. Did the walls start to bend? Did 30 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: the air change? Did people start to hear things? Maybe 31 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: they're crying or giggling or vominate. No one will have 32 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: any idea what happened or why. White takes notes, He 33 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: records the panic, then he vanishes. Later he'll write a 34 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: summary of the LSD experiment in his diary quote the 35 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: subway test was a success. Pleased with the results, George 36 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: White will do it again and again and again. He 37 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: will become a dispensary of hallucinations, a chemical, says resolute 38 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: in his search for a drug that could bend the 39 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: will of the men and women he hunted. It started 40 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: as a government assignment. It would become an obsession. That's 41 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: not dedication, that's addiction. For I Heart Radio, this is 42 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: Operation Midnight Climax and I Heart original podcast. I'm your 43 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: host Noel Brown. And this is chapter three the Pad, 44 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: Part one in the Lab. Back in nineteen forty three, 45 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: Albert Hoffman, the man who discovered LSD, was working as 46 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: a chemist for sand Dos, a pharmaceutical company in Basil, Switzerland. 47 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: He was born in nineteen o six, the son of 48 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: a locksmith, and considering what Hoffman wound up doing providing 49 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: a key to access hidden states of consciousness that feels appropriate, 50 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,359 Speaker 1: Hoffman attended the University of Zurich to study chemistry and 51 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: later went to work for sand Does. He quickly became 52 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: interested in ergate, a fungus that was blamed for mass 53 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: outbreaks of poisonings as far back as the Middle Ages, 54 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: but when used judiciously and with care, it also held 55 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: considerable promise as a treatment for migraines. Attempts were being 56 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: made to take what was useful from ergat and leave 57 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:57,040 Speaker 1: the harmful side effects behind, using ergotoxine, a synthetic derivative. 58 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:03,559 Speaker 1: Hoffman produced lysergic acid diethyla or LSD in nineteen thirty eight. 59 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: Then he got sidetracked with other work. But Hoffman never 60 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: forgot LSD. He wanted to explore it more, to see 61 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: if it could be useful for something. On April sixteenth, 62 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, he was working with the compound when 63 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: he began to feel odd, restless, dizzy. He left work 64 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: early and went home, whereas imagination, he said, was extremely stimulated. 65 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: For over two hours, Hoffman gave himself to a cascade 66 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: of vivid pictures, shapes, and colors. It was a censorial experience, 67 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,239 Speaker 1: one that left him with a smile on his face. 68 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: Here's what Hoffman wrote to his supervisor, Arthur Stall as 69 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: a kind of workplace accident report, shortly after his experience 70 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: last Friday, April sixte I was forced to interrupt my 71 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon 72 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: and proceed home. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed, 73 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes 74 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: with intense kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours, 75 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: this condition faded away. Retracing his steps, Hoffman discovered a 76 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: tiny amount of LSD had been absorbed through his fingers 77 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: in the lab while he was working. It had hallucinogenic properties. 78 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: Being a man of science, Hoffman felt the need to 79 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: pursue this discovery, but the first dose had been accidental. 80 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: He didn't know how much he had taken, so he 81 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: decided to start out light, really light. He only ingested 82 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: zero point to five milligrams. Hoffman thought he was being careful, 83 00:06:54,320 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: but this was far, far too much. Oh no no. 84 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: In his notes, he quickly scribbled what had happened people, 85 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: my teenthe taken diluted with about ten c seas of water, 86 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: caseless saboteen o clock beginning, dizziness, feeling of anxiety, visual distortions, 87 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: symptoms of paraly system, desired to mouse twenty o'clock, most severe. Chris. 88 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: If his first trip was a pleasure, Hoffman's second experience 89 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: with LSD tugged at the limit of his sanity. Familiar 90 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: objects in pieces of furniture assumed grotesque throughout the big forms. 91 00:07:54,800 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: Your lady next door scarcely rains brought me milk and 92 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: of course drank more than two leaders. She was no 93 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: longer be shidious, witch colored mask. Hoffman felt possessed by 94 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: a demon, He wrote and began to scream, Terrified he 95 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: was going insane, livid he might actually die as a 96 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: consequence of the very substance he had brought into the world. 97 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: Worst of all, Hoffman recalled was the acoustic perceptions. Every 98 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: noise was realized visually. He could see sounds. Despite his trip, 99 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: Hoffman knew LSD held potential, provided it could be dosed properly. 100 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,840 Speaker 1: Sandals engaged in a series of animal experiments, observing mice 101 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 1: on acid and cats who suddenly became terrified of them. 102 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,719 Speaker 1: Chimpanzees abandoned their sense of social order, fish swam in 103 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: irregular patterns, spiders spun immaculately proportioned webs at low doses, 104 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: and sagging confused webs at higher doses. Drugs that could 105 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: produce this kind of sensation were nothing new. People have 106 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: been searching for the divine truth for thousands of years, 107 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,559 Speaker 1: back to the Aztecs and Mayan's hemp and peyote were 108 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: thought to harbor secrets of the mind. Mescalin was the 109 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: first to be synthesized in a chemically pure environment. What 110 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: Hoffman and his colleagues at Sandoz discovered was that at 111 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: a low enough dose, as little as one millionth of 112 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: a gram, LSD could produce a different kind of euphoria, 113 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: a breakdown of the ego that acted as a barrier 114 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: between the self and the road to improvement. Hoffman had 115 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: grand ideas for LSD in treating addiction and as an 116 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: aid in psychotherapy. Scientists began to study it with those 117 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: hopes in mind, but there was always the risk, the 118 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: risk of euphoria giving way to psych catic attacks or 119 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: feelings of omnipotence. Like any drug, it would need to 120 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: be carefully studied and subjects would have to be observed 121 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: in controlled conditions. In the wrong hands, at the wrong dose, 122 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: LSD would become a nightmare without beginning or end. Hoffman 123 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: soon lost his grip on LSD, and so did the 124 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: scientific research community. By the late nineteen forties, it became taboo, 125 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 1: too dangerous to pursue was a legitimate medical treatment. Hoffman 126 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: took to calling it his problem child. Well, Hoffman was 127 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: never involved with him. K Ultra Sandoz was. In nineteen 128 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: fifty three, got Leave heard that the KGB was attempting 129 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: to buy what amounted to the world's supply of pure LSD, 130 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: obviously for nefarious purposes. It was possible that KGB had 131 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: already bought fifty million doses. In a panic, got Leave 132 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: dispatched one of his under links to intervene. The man 133 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: reported back that Sandoz had ten kilograms available for sale. 134 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:11,679 Speaker 1: Remember LSD is activated in the tiniest doses imaginable. Gottlie 135 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: bought all of it before the Soviet Union could. He 136 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: spent two hundred and forty thousand dollars on the Sandos supply, 137 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: and then realized his operative, as good as he might 138 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: be an international espionage was extremely bad at math. Sandoz 139 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: didn't have ten kilograms. They had ten milligrams. The operative 140 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,960 Speaker 1: was off by a factor of one million. That's all 141 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: they had made in the ten years since Hoffman discovered it. Still, 142 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: Gotti bought it all. It arrived in a barrel about 143 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 1: the size and shape of an oil drum, with hundreds 144 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: of thousands of doses in that barrel, a virtually unlimited 145 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 1: supply of nightmares that could be artificially induced. Sandoz agreed 146 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: to supply the CIA with a hundred grams a week, 147 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:02,239 Speaker 1: fresh off their LSD production line, and it got Leave's insistence. 148 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 1: They also refused any further orders from Russia or China 149 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: and agreed to inform the CIA when anyone else inquired 150 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: about the drug. For better or worse, the CIA had 151 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,959 Speaker 1: a monopoly on l s D. From Hoffman's fingers, it 152 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: went to Sandas, from Sandos to Gotlieb, and from Gotlieb 153 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: to George Hunter White. No one stopped to heed Hoffman's warnings. 154 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: The biggest danger, Hoffman said, was giving l s D 155 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: to someone without their knowledge in an uncontrolled setting at random, 156 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: where harmless noises can turn, Hoffman said, into torment and 157 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:59,320 Speaker 1: a psychotic crisis would be inevitable. Part two Alias For 158 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,599 Speaker 1: George Why to immerse himself in the CIA role, He 159 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: would have to stop being George White, and that wouldn't 160 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: be easy. For all of his training at Camp X 161 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: and the Narcotics Bureau, White still looked very much like 162 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,439 Speaker 1: a cop. He had the cops stare, the cops walk, 163 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: the swagger that comes with having a gun on your 164 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: hip and a badge on your belt. It's a hard 165 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 1: thing to shake, but he did it. Like a superhero. 166 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: He developed a guy's for his CIA heroics a secret 167 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: identity at the time, White was fond of meeting his 168 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,959 Speaker 1: assortment of criminals and killers at the American Museum of 169 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: Natural History to obtain information, debrief informants, or threaten them 170 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 1: with his power and influence. It was a good place 171 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: to disappear in a crowd. Inside the museum was a 172 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:56,319 Speaker 1: section devoted to gems, named after famous financier JP Morgan, 173 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: a trustee of the museum and a frequent donor. In 174 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: honor of his contributions, the museum dubbed the Gem section 175 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: the JP Morgan Hall of Gems, or just Morgan Hall. 176 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: White like the sound of that, so he took it 177 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: on as Azaleas Morgan Hall. Morgan Hall was a sensitive 178 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: soul in the fiction of White's mind. He worked as 179 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: a merchant seaman clad in a peacoat, which helped explain 180 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: his calloused and weather warning steer here. But Morgan Hall 181 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: was also an aspiring artist, a painter and sculptor. He 182 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: was a supporter of the Beat generation, poets like Alan 183 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: ginsburg In, writers like Jack Kerouac, artists who were resisting 184 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: conservative views and taking control of the post war culture. 185 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: Later they'd be dubbed Beat Nicks after the Russian Sputnik 186 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: satellite that would go up in nineteen fifty seven. J 187 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: Edgar Hoover, that famously tolerant FBI director, said in nineteen 188 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: sixty that communists, eggheads, and beat Nicks were among the 189 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 1: country's great enemies. They were stereotyped as drug users who 190 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: wanted to reframe the status quo of America. They were 191 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: another danger to baked in moral values to the CIA 192 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: that made them expendable minds. If Beatenis were viable drug 193 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: experimentation candidates, Morgan Hall was in the right place. A 194 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: Fox and a Henhouse White lived at fifty nine West 195 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: twelfth Street in Greenwich Village. The Hotel Albert in the 196 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: village had been a haven for Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, 197 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: and Jackson Pollock. Bob Dylan lived in Greenwich Village. It 198 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: had an atmosphere. It was alive, thriving like minds crowding 199 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: together in bars, in bohemian coffee houses and street corners. 200 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: The smell of marijuana hung in the air. There was 201 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,840 Speaker 1: sexual liberation. It was a perfect place for the kinds 202 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: of activities Morgan Hall like to get into, and for 203 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: the kinds of people Sidney Gottlieb wanted to dose with LSD. 204 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: Imagine a doctor or lawyer racing into a police station 205 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: insisting he'd been drugged. Now imagine a young man stumbling 206 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: in from the village, already presumed to be high. Most 207 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: of the time, New York would be White's home base 208 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: until early ninet. For now, at least, it was perfect. 209 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: With money he had gotten from Gotlieb in the CIA, 210 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: White rented a second apartment in Greenwich Village at one 211 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: Bedford Street. After all, drugging people in his own apartment 212 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: would be poor form. In writing Gotlieb. White bemoaned how 213 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: difficult it was to arrange for a lease and utilities 214 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: under an alias, how people wanted references and paperwork with 215 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: his name on them. Morgan Hall, he said, was becoming 216 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: a bit of a Jekyl and Hide situation. And while 217 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: he was right about that, White equipped the apartment, which 218 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: he liked to refer to as the Pad, with a 219 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: well stocked bar and plenty of paintings and sculptures to 220 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: reinforce his cover story of being a struggling artist. He 221 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: had murals painted on the walls, and there were other 222 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: kinds of decorations too, hidden microphones and two A mirrors 223 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,879 Speaker 1: connected to an adjoining apartment he'd also rented out. This was, 224 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 1: in the language of law enforcement, a safe house, a 225 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: place for the CIA to conduct clandestine business under surveillance. 226 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:24,400 Speaker 1: Here's how one observer described the place. Apartment one Sea 227 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,120 Speaker 1: is disguised as an artist studio, consists of a bedroom, 228 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,200 Speaker 1: large living room, kitchen, net, and bath. The kitchen has 229 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,679 Speaker 1: been fully stocked with the best of foods, silver utensils, etcetera. 230 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 1: The bedroom has been decorated in a style attractive to 231 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,560 Speaker 1: the feminine sex. The linen, closet and bathroom have been 232 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 1: completely equipped with all essentials for use of both male 233 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: and female occupants. The living room contains a well stocked bar, 234 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,439 Speaker 1: over which has been placed a television set. A radio 235 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: phonograph combination has been purchased and will be placed to 236 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: conceal a portion of a doorway which is been cut 237 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: between apartments one Sea and one bat and at the 238 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: top of which opening will be placed an X ray mirror. 239 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: The report added that visitors to eighty one Bedford could 240 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: be compromised. White's comrade in this Cold War operation was 241 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: a narcotics agent named Pierre Lafitte, whom he had often 242 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: worked with on narcotics busts. Lafitte would play a much 243 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: bigger role in White's life, but for now he was 244 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 1: a sidekick. To celebrate their new assignment, White and Lafitte 245 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: took a trip to Las Vegas and tried out their 246 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:41,200 Speaker 1: new weapon. They tripped. White had no hesitation, learning about 247 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: what he was dealing with firsthand. He would take LSD 248 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: dozens of times in his life, approaching it with an 249 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: academics attitude. He claimed a kind of immunity from its effects, 250 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: insisting that unlike virtually everyone else, he had developed a 251 00:18:54,920 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: tolerance Lafitte had not. He called the Vegas ex speariment 252 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: another world of visions and horrors. When the apartment had 253 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: been equipped and White and Lafitte returned from their Vegas experiment, 254 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: White gut dressed as Morgan Hall, sporting a turtleneck in beret. 255 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: Then he went hunting. White began stalking in coffee houses 256 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,439 Speaker 1: and jazz clubs. He liked hanging out at Chumley's, a 257 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: one time speakeasy just one block from the pad. He 258 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: sat patiently at tables and bars, nodding in time with 259 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: the sounds, striking up conversations with strangers. This was his 260 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: favorite part. He had already earned the trust of mobsters. 261 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: The thrill for White wasn't duping people he already knew, 262 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,120 Speaker 1: or leveraging the power he had over them to get 263 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: what he wanted. The thrill was in winning the confidence 264 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 1: of a stranger. From there, White would spin tales of 265 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: his artistic endeavors, his thoughts on politics, his experience as 266 00:19:55,040 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: at sea. It was a seduction. The climax was and sex. 267 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: It was someone who'd been a stranger hours before being 268 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,720 Speaker 1: won over by Morgan Hall. It's easy to imagine the 269 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 1: words of the FBI ringing in White's ears, how he 270 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: was unfit for duty. Look at him now working for 271 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: the CIA on the new frontier of psychological warfare. Kiss 272 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: Mask j Edgar White was well read and often more 273 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 1: culturally informed than his demeanor led on. He spoke fluent, 274 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: beat nick, totally at ease, with a tone of the 275 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: counterculture movement. The people talking to White were on the 276 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: fringes of society, seamen who might be involved in the 277 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: drug trafficking trade at ports, artists who spoke with joints 278 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,520 Speaker 1: dangling from their lips, as he talked and smiled, they 279 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,679 Speaker 1: couldn't detect the animosity that simmered beneath his surface. The 280 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: Beat generation had a reputation for drug use, opioids, weed. 281 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: These people would have been terrified of George White, but 282 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: they liked Morgan Hall. Well, Jackson Pollock is wonderful. But 283 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 1: if you're into abstract expression uts, Yeah. Man, there's all 284 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: kinds of crazy shit out there. I've got some stuff, 285 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:14,480 Speaker 1: some books. You should see back of the pad. It's 286 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: just a block away. I'm gay. If you are, I'm 287 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: always gay. Hall and his friend would walk back to 288 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: eighty one. Bedford White would not at the two way 289 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 1: mirror mounted over the phonograph. Beyond it in the apartment 290 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: was Lafitte or another colleague cradling a notebook, prepared to 291 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: observe whatever happened next. You want to drink, sure, some gin, 292 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: some ice, one ampule of LSD, and then there would 293 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: be time to sit back and watch the show. Where 294 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: do you buy your weed? What's your dad's name? Have 295 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 1: you ever been on the moon? What's your social Security number? 296 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: Try here? Where did you buy it from? You know what? 297 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: You Lucian? What about my Omansky? Are you a communist, 298 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: describe the color blue to me on your wife, your 299 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: girl friend, where it does utiful flowers, beautiful waterfuls. You 300 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: see him is born another drinks. Like a school report, 301 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: White would write down the dosage of LSD and the 302 00:22:55,160 --> 00:23:01,160 Speaker 1: subject's reaction. Were they talkative, scared, catatonic? Did they answer questions? 303 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: Did they abandon discretion? Did they lose their ship? He'd 304 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: take copious notes and send them all back to Gottlieb 305 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: at a post office in Washington. This was the climax, 306 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: wasn't it the moment that justified what George White was doing. 307 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: In a letter written years before, he described his thought 308 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: process when he finished a report. It may come as 309 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,719 Speaker 1: a surprise to you, but as far back as the 310 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: O S S. I firmly believe that all information collected 311 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: in the field was sent post haste to Washington, filed 312 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 1: in funereal gray steel cabinets by purified acolytes. Then, so 313 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,119 Speaker 1: the rumor went on Sunday, the high priests were gathered 314 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: a kneel and pray before these repositories of sacred writings. 315 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: The missionaries in the field were happy in their faith. 316 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: The fruit of their labors was being used to propitiate 317 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: the angry gods. White was a sarcastic son of a bitch. 318 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: By writing down the details and clinical way absolved him 319 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: of responsibility. It was for the greater good. The bureaucratic 320 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: forms proved it. For the first time. The CIA was 321 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:16,640 Speaker 1: getting real, unadulterated field coverage of LSD, collected and curated 322 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,880 Speaker 1: by Morgan Hall. Everything was going exactly according to plan, 323 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 1: well almost everything. It wasn't long before other people started 324 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: showing up the path, people like newspaper reporters, narcotics officers, 325 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:36,119 Speaker 1: and an informant, not one of George White's informants, but 326 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:58,719 Speaker 1: someone informing on George White Part three the informant. White 327 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: always wanted to be an fb EI agent, and even 328 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,440 Speaker 1: though the agency declared him unfit for duty, it doesn't 329 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: mean they forgot about him. When White accused New York 330 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,920 Speaker 1: Governor Thomas Dewey of making a secret deal with mobster 331 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,920 Speaker 1: Lucky Luciano, he caught the attention of the governor. Do 332 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: He wanted to know more about the man sullying his name, 333 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: so he asked the FBI to send along some information. 334 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 1: They were all the typical biographical mentions along with something 335 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 1: a little more interesting. The FBI had made contact with 336 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: the liaison in New York, someone who not only knew 337 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: George White, but knew George White was up to something 338 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,920 Speaker 1: at eighty one Bedford Street on behalf of the CIA. 339 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: In fact, it was a Narcotics Bureau agent, the same 340 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 1: one who wrote the description of the pad. In addition 341 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: to notifying Governor Dewey, the report went directly to FBI 342 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: Director Jay Edker Hoover, who knew all about George White, 343 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,199 Speaker 1: specifically White's love of publicity for his drug busts. He 344 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,440 Speaker 1: wanted to know exactly what White was up to intelligence 345 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 1: agencies love spying on other intelligence agencies. Here's part of 346 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 1: that report. A confidential informant of this office advised on 347 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,959 Speaker 1: July one that his former supervisor in the Bureau of Narcotics, 348 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: George White, has become associated with CIA in an ultra 349 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,280 Speaker 1: secret assignment. White and the CIA have rented dual apartments 350 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: at eighty one Bedford Street. In one of these apartments 351 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 1: has been set up a bar in quarters for entertainment, 352 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: while the other apartment is being used by CIA for 353 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,159 Speaker 1: the purpose of taking motion pictures through an X ray mirror. 354 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: White indicated to the informant that no one in the 355 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: Bureau of Narcotics or the CIA was aware of his 356 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:46,639 Speaker 1: apartment or his association therewith except Commissioner Harry Anslinger of 357 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: the Narcotics Bureau and top officials of the CIA. The 358 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,919 Speaker 1: FBI and Hoover knew White was up to something, but 359 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: they didn't know what. So agents pressed the informant for 360 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: more information. They were die to know what White, the 361 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: Maverick dope buster, was doing in league with the CIA. 362 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: One agent even dismissed the informants report, saying it hardly 363 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: seemed plausible that White and the CIA were working together. 364 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: It didn't smell right. It wasn't White a maniac? What 365 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:21,160 Speaker 1: function could he serve? More intelligence needed to be gathered 366 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: most discreetly. The informant continued to hang around the pad, White, 367 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: seemingly oblivious to his curiosity. He picked up bits of 368 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:36,199 Speaker 1: information here and there. The recording equipment seemed odd, so 369 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: did the rumors there was drug experimentation going on. Finally, 370 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: the informant managed to get his hands on two vials 371 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: of liquid that were stored in the pad. One was 372 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,880 Speaker 1: in a screw top container, one was in the same 373 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: kind of ampule used to house the LSD dosents. He 374 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: immediately forward both to the FBI, who turned them over 375 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: to their laboratory analysts. Here was proof White and the 376 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:05,600 Speaker 1: CIA were up to something elicit, maybe illegal. When the 377 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: FBI got the lab report back, they found table salt. 378 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: The most talented chemists at the FBI were unable to 379 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,239 Speaker 1: identify the compound, saying only that it appeared to be 380 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: some kind of organic material in a dilute solution of 381 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: sodium chloride or salt. The other vial had chloral hydrate. 382 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: At the time, it was a rather common sedative that 383 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: was the solution in the screw top fial. Neither one 384 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: was the smoking gun the FBI had been hoping for. 385 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: The FBI had once again underestimated George White. An FBI 386 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 1: memo advised the informant to tread carefully. White it red 387 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: had been told the FBI was sniffing around, and the 388 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: c I a likely Sydney Gottlieb told White to be 389 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,320 Speaker 1: on the lookout. Leaving an ampulate deluted table salt for 390 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: the FBI chemists to examine was one way he could 391 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,479 Speaker 1: give them the middle finger, the same one he'd been 392 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: giving them for years. White may have been clever enough 393 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,959 Speaker 1: to out with the FBI, but he was still showing 394 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,800 Speaker 1: signs of recklessness. Why was White discussing the fact that 395 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: he was working with the CIA with anyone? Why, as 396 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: the informant related, did White invite a newspaper reporter named 397 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: Ed Reid to the pad. That's not a very covert idea. 398 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: More importantly, what was White doing with the chloral hydrate 399 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: the sedative? Wasn't he supposed to be focusing on the 400 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: effects of LSD. White scribbled in his diary fleeting mentions 401 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: of sodium pentethal are barbiturate, thought to have truth, ser impossibilities, 402 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 1: and nembutal another sedative. He was dispensing one drug after 403 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: another like a pharmacist on speed. Much later, when Sidney 404 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: Gottlieb was asked to justify the work of George White, 405 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,280 Speaker 1: he said that White had freedom. He could per cure 406 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: any kind of drug he wanted, not just LSD, anything, morphine, mescaline, opium, cocaine. 407 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: He didn't ask, and White didn't offer. Procurement and use 408 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: were up to White, at least that was Gottlieb's story. 409 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: But if White was using a sedative. Was it to 410 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: help someone come down from a bad trip or something else? 411 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: What exactly was George White doing at eight one Bedford 412 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: Street that was escaping the attention of both the CIA 413 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: and the FBI. And just how far away from the 414 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: mission had he departed? George White almost immediately broke off 415 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: from the mission, statement of m k Ultra, he wasn't 416 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: limiting himself to criminals and dealers. He released a small 417 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: amount of LSD on a New York subway car, a 418 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: microcosm of Gottlieb's dream of dozing an entire town. And 419 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: then there was the case of Linda King. Linda was 420 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: an aspiring actress with a benefactor, a man named Irwin Eisenberg. 421 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: White and Eisenberg were close friends. Eisenberg had a home 422 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: in Large Mountain, New York, which White visited on a 423 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: regular basis. Eisenberg was wealthy, cultured, and rich, and wanted 424 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: to help King with her acting career by making introductions 425 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 1: through Eisenberg. White met King. Of course, White couldn't help 426 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: with her show business aspirations, but she still liked him. 427 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,840 Speaker 1: He was just the kind of friendly face he'd see 428 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: on a subway On September twelfth, nineteen fifty three, White 429 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: invited King to come have a drink with him at 430 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: the Pad at eighty one Bedford Street. Linda King wasn't 431 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: a killer, or a dealer or a beat nick. She 432 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: was a friend. But by the end of the night 433 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: she was seeing things unimaginable things. White made a note 434 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,200 Speaker 1: in his diary King, he wrote, got psychotic. He had 435 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: dosed her with LSD. King was taken to Lennox Hill 436 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: Hospital and as doctor shined the light into her widened 437 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: pupils and asked her what had happened, King insisted she 438 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: had been drugged. When doctors asked by whom King could 439 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 1: only utter two words, George White. Operation Midnight Climax is 440 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 1: hosted by Noel Brown. The show is written by Jake Rosin, editing, 441 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: sound design and mixing by Ernie Indradatte and Natasha Jacobs. 442 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: Original music by Aaron Kaufman, Research and fact working by 443 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: Austin Thompson and Maurica Brown. Show logo by Lucy Quintanilla. 444 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: Special thanks to Spencer Gibson, David Crumholtz, Vanessa crum Holtz, 445 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: Ted Ramie and Jason Thompson, Julian Weller, is our supervising producer. 446 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Jason English and Mangesh had Ticketer. 447 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 1: See you next week.