In March 1967, Frank Manning, chief investigator for Louisiana Attorney General Jack Gremillion, was attending the Midyear Meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. He informed H. L. Edwards of the FBI that he was concerned about "the activities of New Orleans District Attorney Garrison."
[hat tip Malcolm Blunt]
You won't find any of this in James DiEugenio's Destiny Betrayed.
"At the beginning of Chapter 2, Litwin prints an FBI memo. It originates with someone in Louisiana state Attorney General Jack Gremillion’s office. It strikes the same chord that Stuckey does above: Garrison was somehow doing a shakedown operation with homosexuals in New Orleans. Gremillion’s office wanted the FBI to do something about it.
I had to giggle while reading this. For two reasons. First of all, back in 1967, who would go to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI on such an issue? If the point was genuine one would go to an agency like the ACLU. Or, since the state AG was above the local DA in New Orleans, why not pursue the case oneself? Which leads to my second reason for chuckling. Jack Gremillion was one of the most reactionary state AG’s there was at the time. Considering the era, that is really saying something (go here and scroll down). If there was a Hall of Shame for state AG’s not standing up for minority groups, he would be in it."
The allegation didn't just originate with "someone in Louisiana state Attorney General Jack Gremillion's office." It originated with Frank Manning, his chief investigator. Clearly, he felt that Gremillion, because of past skirmishes with Garrison, would do nothing about the allegation. In fact, the memo notes that "After the Garrison case was reversed on appeal, Attorney General Gremillion washed his hands of any further efforts to "get" Garrison, and therefore, Manning's file on Garrison was closed."
And so Manning decided to go to the FBI.
Because Manning did not go to the ACLU, DiEugenio can dismiss the allegations, and even giggle. Shame on Frank Manning for not handling it like James DiEugenio.
Of course, the ACLU only became supportive of homosexuality in 1966. They issued a major statement about homosexuality in August 1967, well after Manning contacted the FBI.
It's telling that the major issue to James DiEugenio is not the allegation but how it was handled by Manning.
In any event, Manning's allegations were never investigated. Here is another example of a gay person being shaken down in New Orleans:
For some reason, I don't find myself giggling.
If you want more information on the Garrison investigation and homosexuality, please read Alecia Long's important new book, Cruising for Conspirators: How a New Orleans DA Prosecuted the Kennedy Assassination as a Sex Crime.