{"id":235,"date":"2012-06-13T17:08:07","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T17:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/?p=235"},"modified":"2012-06-13T17:09:50","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T17:09:50","slug":"bert-roveres-paris-inn-the-lighter-side-of-fbi-undercover-work-1936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/?p=235","title":{"rendered":"Bert Rovere&#8217;s Paris Inn &#038; the lighter side of FBI undercover work &#8211; 1936"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This was in the first draft of <em>The Girl in the Iron Box<\/em>. As much as I love the story, it had to go. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>If an undercover special agent wanted to show his \u201cdate\u201d a good time, impress her with his life style, spill a few drinks, and trick her into spilling what she knew about the kidnapping of June Robles, he could do worse than take her to Bert Rovere\u2019s Paris Inn. A favorite with the Hollywood crowd, the restaurant stood out in a city dotted with flashy and garish night spots. The exterior Paris Inn resembled a Norman castle, complete with turret, while the interior looked like a street caf\u00e9. The satisfied clientele was treated to French and Italian fare, singing waiters, and an orchestra playing opera and jazz, accompanied at times by the burly baritone-voiced owner himself, all of it broadcast on KNX Radio.<\/p>\n<p>Special Agent H. B. Myerson\u2019s evening at the Paris Inn was set in motion when a man named Dick Collins walked into the Los Angeles FBI office with the story of his conversation with a woman he would not name. During the period 6-year-old June Robles was held captive, she\u2019d told Collins, she was visited by a man from Tucson \u201cwho informed her he knew all about the kidnapping.\u201d The woman wouldn\u2019t talk openly, Collins told Special Agent in Charge (SAC) J. H. Hanson. Subterfuge was needed. He suggested that he, his girlfriend, the woman, and a special agent all go out for \u201can evening\u2019s entertainment\u201d Collins would arrange. At some point, the informant suggested, the conversation could be steered to the Robles case, prompting the woman to identify the man from Tucson. Collins was not ready to state who this woman was, at least not before the double date. Hanson advised Harold Andersen, the SAC in Phoenix, asking if he wanted to pursue this unique line of investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Andersen, needing a break-through but fully aware of the oddity of Collins\u2019s suggestion, threaded the needle. He told Hanson to go ahead with the \u201cdate,\u201d but suggested that \u201cdiscreet investigation should be made to determine who Dick Collins is.\u201d Was he \u201cacting in good faith or merely as a publicity seeker or one interested in obtaining copy for the newspapers.\u201d Cover yourself, he advised Hanson. Make sure at least two agents were present for the \u201cevening\u2019s entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the evening of Tuesday, May 19, G-men Myerson and H.H. McKee, posing as traveling businessmen, joined Collins and his companion. The party of four then picked up \u201cthe woman,\u201d Lucille Miller, and a friend of hers. They arrived at the Paris around 8 p.m. end enjoyed the dinner and show for three hours. Myerson, who was \u201cpaired off with Mrs. Miller,\u201d waited for the right moment between drinks, bites of dinner, and possibly dancing to \u201cdiscretely\u201d ask her about the Robles case. She said she had known Oscar and Margaret Robson \u201cfor years.\u201d She had discussed the case \u201con numerous occasions\u201d with Margaret, who said she\u2019d \u201cbegged Robson to tell her the truth\u2026 and believed him when he said he knew nothing about it.\u201d The kidnapping, Miller was sure, was an \u201cinside job\u201d by June\u2019s own family. Her reasons reflected the public\u2019s understanding of the case, or at least Margaret\u2019s: the victim was not ill (i.e., not harmed by the experience), her clothes were not badly soiled; and \u201cher father did not appear worried in the least.\u201d Myerson quizzed Miller further, but she \u201chad nothing more to offer.\u201d As for Collins, he passed the background check. From what the Los Angeles office could uncover, he was an electrical engineer and \u201cspecial investigator\u201d for the local sheriff who had \u201cdrawn freely upon his imagination.\u201d If nothing else happened that evening, at least Agent McKee impressed his date. She asked Collins if another evening could be arranged. Special Agent Myerson was forced to tell Collins that the businessmen had left town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This was in the first draft of The Girl in the Iron Box. As much as I love the story, it had to go. Enjoy! If an undercover special agent wanted to show his \u201cdate\u201d a good time, impress her with his life style, spill a few drinks, and trick her into spilling what she [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[11,12,10],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-robles","category-news","tag-fbi","tag-g-men","tag-june-robles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulcoolbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}