Maheu was born in Waterville, Maine and held degrees from Holy Cross and Georgetown University. During his law studies at Georgetown, he was hired into the FBI (1941), and worked as counter-intelligence officer in Europe during World War II. He left the FBI in 1947, becoming a self-employed business owner, consultant and investigator. His contract with the Hughes company started in 1955.
Although Maheu was for years a close confident of Howard Hughes, he never met the man face-to-face, as they worked via memo and telephone. He was dismissed by Hughes in 1970 after losing a power struggle with Chester Davis and Bill Gay; in a resulting libel law suit, Maheu was paid $2.8 million. As part of the struggle to get rid of Maheu, Hughes wrote a manuscript letter to Davis and Gay which was published in facsimile by Life in January 1971; this publication provided Clifford Irving with a sample of Hughes' handwriting which he later used to attempt to forge Hughes' autobiography.
Maheu was implicated in the plot to assassinate the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. At the request of the CIA, Maheu was to enlist the help of Mafiosi Filippo "Johnny 'Johnny Handsome' Roselli" Sacco and Salvatore "Sam," "Momo," "Mooney" Giancana, who both had connections in Cuba. In testimony before the Church Committee, in 1975, Maheu told of his role, saying that he thought the United States "was involved in a just war."
Maheu led a life of intrigue, taking on several missions for the United States and other governments as a private contractor that the governments themselves could not be associated with. One such mission was in 1954, when Maheu accepted an assignment to undermine a shipping contract entered into between the Saudi Royal family and Aristotle Onasis. The contract would have given Onasis control of over 45% of the oil coming out of Saudi Arabia. The shipping contract would have given Onasis the power to literally hold America and Europe hostage with oil. Had not Maheu successfully undone the contract, at great risk to himself, America may have been seen a future of oil prices that would make today's $4.00 per gallon seem mild. A detailed account of this mission can be found in a book entitled, "Next to Hughes," written by Mahue in conjunction with Richard Hack.
Late in Maheu's life, Maheu took on the challenge of banking and Wall Street reform. Much of the current corrections in the banking industry and on Wall Street that can be seen today are associated with Maheu's actions.
He died in 2008 at the age of 90 in Las Vegas. The cause was said to be heart failure
Although Maheu was for years a close confident of Howard Hughes, he never met the man face-to-face, as they worked via memo and telephone. He was dismissed by Hughes in 1970 after losing a power struggle with Chester Davis and Bill Gay; in a resulting libel law suit, Maheu was paid $2.8 million. As part of the struggle to get rid of Maheu, Hughes wrote a manuscript letter to Davis and Gay which was published in facsimile by Life in January 1971; this publication provided Clifford Irving with a sample of Hughes' handwriting which he later used to attempt to forge Hughes' autobiography.
Maheu was implicated in the plot to assassinate the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. At the request of the CIA, Maheu was to enlist the help of Mafiosi Filippo "Johnny 'Johnny Handsome' Roselli" Sacco and Salvatore "Sam," "Momo," "Mooney" Giancana, who both had connections in Cuba. In testimony before the Church Committee, in 1975, Maheu told of his role, saying that he thought the United States "was involved in a just war."
Maheu led a life of intrigue, taking on several missions for the United States and other governments as a private contractor that the governments themselves could not be associated with. One such mission was in 1954, when Maheu accepted an assignment to undermine a shipping contract entered into between the Saudi Royal family and Aristotle Onasis. The contract would have given Onasis control of over 45% of the oil coming out of Saudi Arabia. The shipping contract would have given Onasis the power to literally hold America and Europe hostage with oil. Had not Maheu successfully undone the contract, at great risk to himself, America may have been seen a future of oil prices that would make today's $4.00 per gallon seem mild. A detailed account of this mission can be found in a book entitled, "Next to Hughes," written by Mahue in conjunction with Richard Hack.
Late in Maheu's life, Maheu took on the challenge of banking and Wall Street reform. Much of the current corrections in the banking industry and on Wall Street that can be seen today are associated with Maheu's actions.
He died in 2008 at the age of 90 in Las Vegas. The cause was said to be heart failure
Maheu was born in Waterville, Maine and held degrees from Holy Cross and Georgetown University. During his law studies at Georgetown, he was hired into the FBI (1941), and worked as counter-intelligence officer in Europe during World War II. He left the FBI in 1947, becoming a self-employed business owner, consultant and investigator. His contract with the Hughes company started in 1955.
Although Maheu was for years a close confident of Howard Hughes, he never met the man face-to-face, as they worked via memo and telephone. He was dismissed by Hughes in 1970 after losing a power struggle with Chester Davis and Bill Gay; in a resulting libel law suit, Maheu was paid $2.8 million. As part of the struggle to get rid of Maheu, Hughes wrote a manuscript letter to Davis and Gay which was published in facsimile by Life in January 1971; this publication provided Clifford Irving with a sample of Hughes' handwriting which he later used to attempt to forge Hughes' autobiography.
Maheu was implicated in the plot to assassinate the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. At the request of the CIA, Maheu was to enlist the help of Mafiosi Filippo "Johnny 'Johnny Handsome' Roselli" Sacco and Salvatore "Sam," "Momo," "Mooney" Giancana, who both had connections in Cuba. In testimony before the Church Committee, in 1975, Maheu told of his role, saying that he thought the United States "was involved in a just war."
Maheu led a life of intrigue, taking on several missions for the United States and other governments as a private contractor that the governments themselves could not be associated with. One such mission was in 1954, when Maheu accepted an assignment to undermine a shipping contract entered into between the Saudi Royal family and Aristotle Onasis. The contract would have given Onasis control of over 45% of the oil coming out of Saudi Arabia. The shipping contract would have given Onasis the power to literally hold America and Europe hostage with oil. Had not Maheu successfully undone the contract, at great risk to himself, America may have been seen a future of oil prices that would make today's $4.00 per gallon seem mild. A detailed account of this mission can be found in a book entitled, "Next to Hughes," written by Mahue in conjunction with Richard Hack.
Late in Maheu's life, Maheu took on the challenge of banking and Wall Street reform. Much of the current corrections in the banking industry and on Wall Street that can be seen today are associated with Maheu's actions.
He died in 2008 at the age of 90 in Las Vegas. The cause was said to be heart failure
Although Maheu was for years a close confident of Howard Hughes, he never met the man face-to-face, as they worked via memo and telephone. He was dismissed by Hughes in 1970 after losing a power struggle with Chester Davis and Bill Gay; in a resulting libel law suit, Maheu was paid $2.8 million. As part of the struggle to get rid of Maheu, Hughes wrote a manuscript letter to Davis and Gay which was published in facsimile by Life in January 1971; this publication provided Clifford Irving with a sample of Hughes' handwriting which he later used to attempt to forge Hughes' autobiography.
Maheu was implicated in the plot to assassinate the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. At the request of the CIA, Maheu was to enlist the help of Mafiosi Filippo "Johnny 'Johnny Handsome' Roselli" Sacco and Salvatore "Sam," "Momo," "Mooney" Giancana, who both had connections in Cuba. In testimony before the Church Committee, in 1975, Maheu told of his role, saying that he thought the United States "was involved in a just war."
Maheu led a life of intrigue, taking on several missions for the United States and other governments as a private contractor that the governments themselves could not be associated with. One such mission was in 1954, when Maheu accepted an assignment to undermine a shipping contract entered into between the Saudi Royal family and Aristotle Onasis. The contract would have given Onasis control of over 45% of the oil coming out of Saudi Arabia. The shipping contract would have given Onasis the power to literally hold America and Europe hostage with oil. Had not Maheu successfully undone the contract, at great risk to himself, America may have been seen a future of oil prices that would make today's $4.00 per gallon seem mild. A detailed account of this mission can be found in a book entitled, "Next to Hughes," written by Mahue in conjunction with Richard Hack.
Late in Maheu's life, Maheu took on the challenge of banking and Wall Street reform. Much of the current corrections in the banking industry and on Wall Street that can be seen today are associated with Maheu's actions.
He died in 2008 at the age of 90 in Las Vegas. The cause was said to be heart failure
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