Whodunnit? J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI
Some people insist that the Hendrix death has all the marks of a homicide, but why? In the weeks before his death, Hendrix indicated that he believed he would not live much longer. He is said to have remarked, “the next time I go to Seattle will be in a pine box” and “I’m not sure I will live to be 28 years old.”
But who would want to murder the shy peacenik guitarist?
How about J. Edgar Hoover? The notorious director of the FBI until 1972 had numerous Black leaders critical of the status quo offed in the name of national interests. We now know that Hoover ordered the Bureau to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit and otherwise neutralize” African-American organizations and leaders as part of the bloody COINTELPRO campaign.
We also know that Hendrix was being investigated by the FBI at the time of his death. Agents had a lengthy dossier on him, along with other high-profile radicals of the civil rights, Black Power and anti-war movements – some of whom died similarly abrupt and weird deaths at the height of their influence.
COINTELPRO tactics were ruthless and highly personalized. It was all part of an attempt to stifle the spread of anti-establishment ideas. Jimi’s meteoric rise to fame and his public affiliation with revolutionaries would have made him an obvious target of COINTELPRO.
Although we can’t say for sure if Jimi’s undoing was political – perhaps involving the forced ingestion of pills? – there are too many suspicious details to dampen enthusiasm for this popular political assassination theory.
Whodunnit? The Road Manager
We reserve the most suspicious character of all for last: Mike Jeffery, Jimi’s money-grubbing mafioso manager.
Allegedly a former MI6 spy for British Intelligence and rich with connections to organized crime, Jeffery’s influence on the young star was, by most accounts, shameful and abusive. It seems he embezzled away most of Hendrix’ fortune to offshore bank accounts, something Jimi was just catching on to at the time of his death.
It has been misreported that Jeffery had an insurance policy taken out on Hendrix prior to his demise. It is true, however, that the opportunistic manager proceeded to cash in on a treasure trove of unreleased Hendrix material as soon as the casket was closed.
We know Jeffery was in Spain the night of the Jimi Hendrix death, so he did not personally kill him. But did he use his Mafia ties to engineer the profitable demise of one of rock’s greatest? Even more disturbing, did he help Hoover’s FBI get rid of one of America’s most inflammatory public figures?
**How did Jimi Hendrix die, really?
We may never know.
Article Appeared @https://curiosityaroused.com/culture/how-did-jimi-hendrix-die/