William W. Turner

William W. Turner
Born
William Weyand Turner

(1927-04-14)April 14, 1927
Buffalo, New York
DiedDecember 26, 2015(2015-12-26) (aged 88)
San Rafael, California
OccupationsFBI agent, journalist, writer

William W. Turner (1927–2015) was an American writer and FBI agent.

Biography

Turner was born on 14 April 1927 in Buffalo, New York. During World War 2 he served in the US Navy and later studied chemistry at Canisius College.[1] Turner was a hockey goalkeeper for the college team and was drafted for the New York Rangers but decided to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) instead.[2]

Turner was an FBI agent from 1951 to 1961, specializing in counter-espionage and major crime cases. Over the years he became increasingly critical of J. Edgar Hoover's management of the FBI.[3] Afterwards he began writing articles and books critical of the Bureau which drew their ire. When Turner appeared on Joe Pyne's talk show in 1968, the FBI provided background information on Turner to Pyne in an attempt to discredit him.[4] Hoover himself, in an internal memo, wrote of Turner "It's a shame we can't nail this jackal".[5] In 1970 he published Hoover's FBI, which argued that the Bureau was over-fixated on communists to the neglect of prosecuting organized crime. He wrote "for nearly four decades, [Hoover] stuck his head in the sand while the crime syndicates waxed fat".[2]

After leaving the FBI he started a career as a freelance journalist. In 1968 he unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic Party primary for California's 6th congressional district. His platform included opposition to the Vietnam War and criticism of US intelligence agencies, criticizing "the over-inflation of our so-called security establishments and the right-wing mentality that directs it".[2] He was on the staff of Ramparts magazine.[5] Turner was critical of official explanations of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He sat on the Committee to Investigate Assassinations[6] and aided New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison in his investigation into the assassination.[7]

In 1973 he published The 10-second Jailbreak: The Helicopter Escape of Joel David Kaplan, co-authored with Warren Hinckle and Eliot Asinof, later adapted as the film Breakout (1975).[8] In 1981 he partnered with Hinckle once again to write The Fish Is Red: The Story of the Secret War Against Castro, about American plots to overthrow the Cuban government.[9] The book was referenced by Fidel Castro during a speech he made to the 68th Inter-Parliamentary Conference.[10]

Turner died aged 88 in San Rafael, California on 26 December 2015 after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. He was buried at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery.[1]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 "William Weyand Turner". Marin Independent Journal.
  2. 1 2 3 Liberatore, Paul. "William Turner, Bay Area FBI agent who criticized J. Edgar Hoover, dies at 88". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on 2019-10-15.
  3. ↑ "Did the CIA assassinate JFK? Former FBI agent dedicated to case believes he knows answer". CBS Sacramento. 16 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "F.B.I. Move to Discredit Former Agent Disclosed". The New York Times. 9 October 1979.
  5. 1 2 Richardson, Peter (2009). A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America. New Press. pp. 56–57.
  6. ↑ "Say Evidence Is Ignored". The New York Times. 18 March 1969.
  7. ↑ Talbot, David (15 September 2004). "The mother of all coverups". Salon.
  8. ↑ Farina, William (2011). Eliot Asinof and the Truth of the Game: A Critical Study of the Baseball Writings. McFarland. p. 224.
  9. ↑ The Fish is Red The Story of the Secret War Against Castro. Harper & Row. 1981. ISBN 978-0060380038.
  10. ↑ Castro, Fidel (1981). 68th Inter-Parliamentary Conference; Havana, September 15, 1981. Editora Politica. pp. 54–6.
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