New York - The FBI released the file it maintained on
Playboy founder and editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner two years after the
legendary publisher passed away - and it's revealing.
The bureau interviewed Hefner in the late 1950s and 1960s over what
is described as "obscene material."
The file also contains a memo written to then-Director J Edgar Hoover
in which the agent in charge pitches putting Hefner and his
photographer Edward Oppman under surveillance to see if either was
transporting "pornographic images" across state lines.
However, the investigation didn't turn up any crimes.
"Persons interviewed advised that Hefner too clever to violate
Federal or local laws," the bureau's investigation concluded.
Hefner was later arrested in Chicago for publishing "obscene and
suggestive" photos of Jayne Mansfield, but won a jury trial.
The file also contains news clippings from a case where Hefner won
the right to mail Playboy to subscribers without breaking the law.