Murray Chotiner - mob-connected early associate of Richard Nixon, who continued to assist Nixon aftrer he was elected president; Chotiner is considered to be the inventor, I kid you not, of dirty tricks - he helped Nixon win his first (and very dirty) campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas for congress and hooked Nixon up with mobsters and lots of cash. When I was working for Allard Lowenstein in his unsuccessful run for congressional re-election (circa 1970), Lowenstein lost in a very dirty campaign, and rumors had it that Chotiner had assisted in his opponent Norman Lent's campaign. Years later a Lowenstein bio confirmed that Chotiner had been a mastermind of that campaign. Chotiner died somewhat mysteriously after a seemingly minor car accident -