Main Characters
Pete Bondurant is A French-Canadian, ex-law enforcement, Hollywood insider, organized-crime associate, and bodyguard for Howard Hughes.
He bears superficial resemblances to historical figures Fred Otash, (so-called "private-eye to the stars") and Robert Maheu, (who worked for both Hughes and Jimmy Hoffa during the time frame depicted in the book).
Bondurant first appears as a secondary character in White Jazz with only superficial similarities to his character in American Tabloid. The time-frame overlap between the two books leads to some inconsistencies, including the deteriorating mental state of Howard Hughes.
Kemper Boyd is an FBI agent who, in 1958, is recruited by J. Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the Kennedy organization. This assignment leads to CIA contacts, as well as employment to influence the future President Kennedy to take an anti-Castro stance in his Cuban policy. It also puts him in the position to organize the collaboration between Cosa Nostra and the CIA in the Cuban cause. He falls in love with Laura Hughes, the secret daughter of Gloria Swanson and Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., half sister of the Kennedy brothers.
Boyd also bears a resemblance to Robert Maheu, a close friend of the Kennedy brothers and former FBI agent who admitted to involvement in a conspiracy to kill Fidel Castro and has been linked to the JFK assassination.
Ward Littell is an FBI agent clandestinely investigating organized crime activity in defiance of his employer. He is dismissed from the FBI but secures employment as a "Mob" Lawyer and wins his way back into his employer's good graces.
Read more about this topic: American Tabloid
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