The King by Michael Thiel

August 16, 1977, 3:32pm – NEWS FLASH – Elvis Presley, the King of Rock & Roll, has died from an apparent heart attack. And so begins the years of innuendoes, rumors, and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Elvis Presley. Was it his lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock & roll or was it the FBI staging his death in order to protect their high-profile Mob family informant. Comments made by Presley’s personal aides to the first responders of a possible drug overdose; plus, the fact that Elvis’ personal physician was the infamous Dr. Nichopoulos well known for freely dispensing copious amounts of narcotics, would certainly point to lifestyle choices (Williamson 1).  Yet, very quickly those closest to Elvis conspired to present an untarnished image of "The King" by taking elaborate steps to further the death by heart attack announcement. 

Character analysis

Elvis Presley, the “King of Rock and Roll”, was a “lady’s man”.  He was a good looking, charismatic, generous-to-a-fault, iconic movie star and singer, who could talk anyone, particularly women, into anything (Leafe).  As Elvis’ fame grew, he embarked on relationships with an endless parade of beauty queens and starlets – which his manager ruthlessly exploited for maximum press coverage. Ann-Margret, his co-star in the 1964 “Viva Las Vegas” movie, was one of those Hollywood starlets he wooed for more than a year, even while engaged to Priscilla.  In a Feb, 1994 interview with Joy Horowitz, reporter for the New York Times, Ann-Margret describes Elvis as “her mirror image”, and their relationship one that “would become a force we couldn’t control” (Horowitz). She speaks of “his wish was that we could stay together; how they talked all night; mourned President John F. Kennedy’s death together”; yet there was “no mention of whether or when their relationship was consummated; … never even mentions a kiss” (1).

The King didn’t let his marriage to Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 interfere with his conquest of the ladies.  “Elvis loved 14 and 15-year-old girls, “reveals author Alanna Nash; “He was insecure about his sexual prowess and wanted virgins so they wouldn’t have anyone to compare him to as a lover.  Adult women scared him.  He wanted to mold them and mentor them, and they adored him.  He didn’t seem to worry that a fling with a child could land him in jail” (Sheridan).

Elvis Presley had a dark side, too: a drug addiction that began during his years in the Army. Red West was one of his closest friends stated: “I went to Germany with him after I got out of the Marine Corps. He was on guard duty on the Russian front, and if you went to sleep and got caught asleep, you’re in trouble. So this sergeant said, “Take these little things here. They’ll keep you up.” And, wow, man, it started feeling good and that’s how it began” (West). From that point on, Elvis started to take prescribed drugs on a regular basis. When he returned home, Elvis faced a punishing work schedule set up by his manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, Presley began to use "uppers" to get him going in the morning and "downers" to help him relax and sleep at night  (Fontenot). By the early Seventies, Elvis had come to rely on these pills as necessary equipment for his hectic career, especially since Parker's schedule now had him working like a dog: an average of one show every other day from 1969 until June 1977 and a three-album-a-year schedule for RCA (1).

Elvis Presley was an emotionally immature person, often attributed to his dysfunctional childhood and unnaturally close relationship with his mother.  Earl Greenwood, in his book The Boy Who Would Be King, details Elvis’ interview with a reporter from The Memphis Press Scimitar in which the reporter “poked fun at Elvis’ closeness to his mama.  She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her” (Greenwood 155).  Gladys and Elvis often communicated through baby talk, and had pet names for each other, long after a time that one would have considered to be normal behavior between mother and son.  Elaine Dundy says 'Impetuosity and impulsiveness played a large part in Gladys make up. She knew nothing of half measures, nor was there anything half-hearted or self-protective about her. Elvis would inherit from Gladys his unpredictable impulses. Presley even shared his mother’s bed up until Elvis was a young teen” (Dandy 71). Gladys’ smothering overprotectiveness” left Presley a man-boy who looked to others to take care of him until the day he died, he was insecure when it came to adult matters” (Leafe). Her death in 1958 would shatter him.  For months after he was inconsolable and depressed. Family and friends summed it up “He didn’t seem like Elvis ever again”. (Colonel Thomas Parker in a letter to his secretary, August 25, 1958) Elvis’ answer to his distress was to increase his drug use, throw himself into his career, and seek out a new even-younger girlfriend.

Conspiracy Theories

          Numerous conspiracy theories surround the death of Elvis Presley. Two that will be discussed here are:  (1) his death by heart attack as reported, repeatedly, through various media versus what may have actually occurred – death by drug overdose; and (2) his participation in an FBI operation to catch a con man heavily involved with the Mafia that may have resulted in the FBI “faking” Elvis’ death to assure protection for himself and his family.

        Drugs had long been a part of Elvis’ daily routine.  Three times each day, on a strictly adhered to schedule, one of Presley’s staff members would administer to him a combination of doctor-prescribed pills and/or shots comprised of Valium, Nembutal, Demerol, Quaalude, Dilaudid, Percodan, and Seconal (Dunleavy).  Elvis called this cocktail of drugs his “attacks” and demanded that he receive the drugs, at specific times in certain mixtures, every day (Dunleavy). In a 1981 trial in which he was charged with overprescribing drugs for Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and seven other patients, Dr. George Nichopoulos testified that Presley alone had been prescribed more than 5000 narcotic pills, capsules, and shots in the seven months prior to Elvis’ death (Sanderson et al.).  The very morning of his death, Elvis had sent one of his personal aides to Dr. “Nick” for an additional dose of barbiturates to get him fit to perform in Portland, Maine, the following day.  Shortly after receiving the shots, Elvis went in to his bedroom “to rest”.  His fiancé, Ginger Alden, a 20-year old Elvis had met through her sister, Terry, the reigning Miss Tennessee, became concerned that he hadn’t awakened and went in to check on him (Connelly).  She found him on the floor of his bathroom, slumped over, cold to the touch.  Thinking he had just fainted, she called for help from his aides.

            Joe Esposito, Elvis’ old Army buddy, was the first one in and immediately began to try to resuscitate him.  A staff member called for an ambulance, telling the dispatcher “someone at 3754 Elvis Presley Boulevard was having difficulty breathing” (Sheffield, Matthew, et al.). First Responders, Charles Crosby and Ulysses Jones, from Memphis Fire Station No. 29 were dispatched and recognized the address right away. When they arrived at Graceland they were met at the door by one of Elvis’ bodyguards who said: “We think he’s OD’d”; a statement that would be repeated several times while they were in the room with Elvis’ prostrate body (Sanderson et al.).  The paramedics found no discernible pulse and moved Elvis onto the stretcher to take him down to the ambulance and on to the hospital.  Having been told repeatedly of a possible overdose, Crosby and Jones asked for the bottles of all prescribed medications to take with them; yet, not one was ever produced (Williamson and Shaw). 

        Vernon, Elvis’ dad, and Dr. “Nick” met the ambulance at Baptist Memorial Hospital.  Within thirty minutes of arrival, Elvis was pronounced dead from “a heart attack” (Williamson and Shaw).   Vernon moved quickly to stop any hint of drug overdose rumors from spreading by insisting he be the one to announce Elvis’ death by heart attack.  An autopsy was ordered since Presley’s death had not been a doctor-attended death.  Once again, Vernon called on high-ranking hospital and county officials to continue the “death by heart attack” as cause of death.  Within a few days of the autopsy report being completed, Vernon received legal right to have the autopsy sealed until 2027 (1).  There have been many rumors and gossip-magazine reports of drug abuse/overdose as the rightful cause of Elvis’ death; but no official, certified record has been made public to this date to support that statement. The 50th-year anniversary of Elvis’ death may be the death of the “death-by-drug overdose” conspiracy theory that Vernon fought so diligently to squelch to protect his son’s reputation; or it may not be.  Regardless, Elvis fans have only ten more years to continue the debate.

The final theory to examine here is that the FBI staged Presley’s death to protect his undercover role as their high-profile Mob-family informant. Elvis had many reasons to fake his death; primarily, his own life was in danger due to a sting operation he had become involved in orchestrated by the FBI in 1976 (Moran 34). Vernon, Elvis’ father, needed to raise some extra cash because the private jet Elvis leased had become a major drain on their finances. While searching for new sources of revenue, Vernon discovered Fredrick Pro, the leader of a California based organization called the “Fraternity”.  Unknown to Vernon, the “Fraternity” was intertwined in many Mafia businesses and activities (James). Fredrick offered to show Vernon how to refinance the plane, sub-lease it to Fredrick, and gain an additional $10,000 a month income while continuing to use the plane. Vernon quickly complied with the agreement; only to watch as checks promised by Fredrick either weren’t received or were found to be “non-sufficient funds available” when finally arriving (1).  Naïve Vernon was slow to understand he had been scammed.  After incurring an additional $3,000,000 of debt rather than income, Vernon and Elvis finally contacted the FBI (1). 

         Fredrick was well known to the FBI as Alfredo Pro, president of the Trident Consortium in New York, and under investigation for racketeering, fraud and other Mafia-related interests (James). The FBI had been monitoring Pro and his other Mafia associates since the mid 1960's. The FBI assigned two of their best agents to undercover positions in Elvis's entourage in an attempt to infiltrate the mob activities (1). Vernon and Elvis were briefed on their roles in the ongoing investigation.  Excited, yet fearful of the consequences of working against the Mafia, there is much speculation that Elvis agreed to expose the crime ring in exchange for guaranteed future protection for himself. 

In addition, Elvis was a prisoner of his own fame. He had other reasons to leave his life behind. Because of his incredible popularity, he and his family had been the recipients of several death threats, a fact that constantly concerned him for the safety of his wife and daughter, almost to the point of paranoia.  Critics of Elvis’ music and lifestyle believed he was nearing the end of his career due to his obesity, graying hair, and intermittent memory loss several times while performing onstage (Unterberger). Always vain about his appearance and obsessed with perfection in his performances, some closest to him feared these frightening changes spelled disaster in his future.

A recent survey of twenty five people conducted on the campus of College of the Mainland in Texas City, Texas, revealed 56% of those polled, believe Elvis did not fake his death, and is buried at Graceland near his mother. Countless reporters, thousands of fans, and merely curious onlookers lined Elvis Presley Boulevard in an attempt to catch a glimpse of Elvis’ casket as Presley’s funeral procession made its way through the gates of Graceland to his final resting place. The stalwart eleven, convinced that he did fake his death, wait patiently for the “King’s” Ultimate Comeback Performance.

Conclusion

On August 16, 1977, 3:32pm, Elvis Presley was pronounced dead by the doctors at Baptist Memorial Hospital. The death of the forty-two year old “King of Rock & Roll” Elvis Presley gives rise to two conspiracy theories: Was it his lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock & roll or was it the FBI staging his death in order to protect their high-profile Mob family informant? Even today, almost forty years after his death, there is still doubt in the minds of fans, family, and friends as to the actual cause of the King’s death, and if it is actually his body that lies in the grave under the headstone inscribed “Elvis Aron Presley”. Perhaps the unsealing of Presley’s death certificate in 2027 will lay to rest all those doubts and unanswered questions.

 Works Cited:

Connelly, Sherryl. “Elvis Presley’s Fiancée Ginger Alden Details the King’s Bad Temper, Secluded Life in New Memoir.” NY Daily News, 16 Aug. 2014, 10:49 PM, www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/elvis-presley-fiancee-ginger-alden-details-king-bad-temper-secluded-life-new-memoir-article-1.1906104.

Dundy, Elaine. Elvis and Gladys. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi, 2004. Page 71

Dunleavy, Steve. Elvis, What Happened? Ballantine Books, 1977.

Fontenot, Robert. “What Was Elvis Presley's Relationship with Drugs?” ThoughtCo, 28 Feb. 2017, www.thoughtco.com/elvis-presleys-relationship-with-drugs-2522425. Accessed 24 July 2017.

Greenwood, Earl, and Kathleen Tracy. The Boy Who Would Be King. New York, Dutton, 1990. Page 155

Horowitz, Joy. “AT HOME WITH: Ann-Margret; The Lady in Pink Remembers Elvis.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Feb. 1994, www.nytimes.com/1994/02/03/garden/at-home-with-ann-margret-the-lady-in-pink-remembers-elvis.html?pagewanted=1. Accessed 25 July 2017.

James, Preston. “Death of Elvis Faked?” Veterans Today, 5 Dec. 2013, www.veteranstoday.com/2013/12/05/death-of-elvis-faked/.

Leafe, David. “The King's Troubling Obsession: Elvis Could Have Any Woman. So Why Was He Only Able to Form Relationships with Virginal Girls?” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 29 Mar. 2010, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1261082/The-Kings-troubling-obsession-Elvis-woman-So-able-form-relationships-virginal-girls.html. Accessed 24 July 2017.

Moran, Mickey. “The Elvis Conspiracy Encyclopedia.” The Presley Assignment, 2000, www.thepresleyassignment.com/.

Sanderson, Jane, et al. “Cover Story: How Did Elvis Die? – Vol. 13 No. 4.” PEOPLE.com, Time Inc, 28 Jan. 1980, people.com/archive/cover-story-how-did-elvis-die-vol-13-no-4/.

Sheffield, Matthew, et al. “The Elvis Presley Coverup: What America Didn’t Hear about the Death of the King.” Saloncom RSS, 16 Nov. 2014, 9:59 AM, www.salon.com/2014/11/16/the_elvis_presley_coverup_what_america_didnt_hear_about_the_death_of_the_king/.

Sheridan, Peter. “Elvis and His Girls.” Express.co.uk, 2 Apr. 2010, www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/166926/Elvis-and-his-girls. Accessed 24 July 2017.

Unterberger, Richie. “Elvis Presley | Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/elvis-presley-mn0000180228/biography.

West, Red. “Elvis Presley.” Unsolved Mysteries, unsolved.com/gallery/elvis-presley/. Accessed 24 July 2017.

Williamson, Joel, and Donald Lewis Shaw. Elvis Presley a Southern Life. Oxford Univ. Press, 2015.

Williamson, Joel. “The Elvis Presley Coverup: What America Didn’t Hear about the Death of the King.” Salon, 16 Nov. 2014, 9:59pm, www.salon.com/2014/11/16/the_elvis_presley_coverup_what_america_didnt_hear_about_the_death_of_the_king/. Accessed 18 July 2017.