Elvis Presley turned to the drugs that would kill him to numb his torment after he was kidnapped, tortured and terrorized by a gang of thugs sent by a twisted producer who blamed the rocker for the failure of his movie! The “Hound Dog” singer’s agonizing nightmare is revealed in a secret trove of never-before-seen, authenticated letters he penned to his closest confidante, Hollywood spiritual adviser Carmen Montez, almost 50 years ago. Now, the bombshell book “Letters from Elvis,” by acclaimed author Gary Lindberg, reveals the horrific revenge B-list producer Sam Katzman (right) allegedly took on The King for his part in the box-office bomb “Harum Scarum.” Read on for details of this previously unknown chapter in Elvis’s life, and click here for more news of vintage Hollywood….
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The 1965 flick cost $2.4 million to shoot — and lost a whopping $900,000! The unspeakable horror unfolded in 1968 when Elvis and close friend
Marlon Brando were snatched by gun-toting goons from the singer’s Hillcrest home in L.A., writes author Lindberg.
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The stars recognized one goon, “Marcus,” as a Katzman henchman. In a scene reminiscent of this moment from the film, the attackers tied Elvis’ hands behind his back and forced him to swallow a drug before he and Marlon were bundled into a car. They dumped Marlon, bound, gagged and beaten, at his mansion.
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Then they took Elvis back to his home where he endured nine hours of relentless terror, the letters reveal. About a dozen crooks ripped off his shirt, jeans and boots and tortured the singer with lit cigarettes. They plunged syringes into his arm, drawing his blood.
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One creep stuck a corkscrew into Elvis’ leg and cruelly turned it. “Marcus squirted blood from a syringe into whiskey and forced Elvis to drink it,” Lindberg writes. Careful not to mark his face or break any bones, the hoods kicked Elvis repeatedly.
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Marcus brutally beat the singer with his own belt and silver buckle — while another goon burned him with a poker heated red-hot in the fireplace. “The cries of pain seemed to intensify their pleasure,” says the author.
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Elvis was near death when he was rushed to a hospital, suffering from failing kidneys and blood clots. The singer was so shattered by the humiliating beating, he
attempted suicide by plunging an IV needle into his chest the next day, says Lindberg.
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Desperate to cover up the horror, Elvis’ manager,
Colonel Tom Parker, begged police to shut down their investigation — and, amazingly, the lawmen complied, writes Lindberg. But privately, Parker vowed vigilante justice!
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In early 1969, Marcus was found dead, violently beaten with his skull crushed, according to the book. But Elvis’ horror did not end, the handwritten letters reveal.
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In July 1970, sleeping next to pregnant wife
Priscilla at his Palm Springs mansion, The King woke to find a gun barrel in his mouth — and two men he recognized as Katzman’s thugs in the room.
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The gunman ordered him to lay face-down on top of terrified Priscilla or they’d cut her open and take the baby, Lindberg writes. The men then jumped on Elvis’ back, their combined weight crushing the unborn child — triggering a heartbreaking miscarriage, according to the book.
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Lindberg insists it was the second child Priscilla had tragically lost. Almost seven months after daughter
Lisa Marie’s birth in 1968, Priscilla was expecting when
she and Elvis had a furious row, says Lindberg.
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Blind with fury, Elvis jumped into his car to get away — and backed over her as he drove out of the driveway, Lindberg claims! Priscilla lost the baby, Elvis wrote in a letter to Carmen, who died in 1982, five years after the rock legend’s own tragic ending.
The 1965 flick cost $2.4 million to shoot — and lost a whopping $900,000! The unspeakable horror unfolded in 1968 when Elvis and close friend
Marlon Brando were snatched by gun-toting goons from the singer’s Hillcrest home in L.A., writes author Lindberg.
Photo credit: Getty Images
The stars recognized one goon, “Marcus,” as a Katzman henchman. In a scene reminiscent of this moment from the film, the attackers tied Elvis’ hands behind his back and forced him to swallow a drug before he and Marlon were bundled into a car. They dumped Marlon, bound, gagged and beaten, at his mansion.
Then they took Elvis back to his home where he endured nine hours of relentless terror, the letters reveal. About a dozen crooks ripped off his shirt, jeans and boots and tortured the singer with lit cigarettes. They plunged syringes into his arm, drawing his blood.
Photo credit: Getty Images
One creep stuck a corkscrew into Elvis’ leg and cruelly turned it. “Marcus squirted blood from a syringe into whiskey and forced Elvis to drink it,” Lindberg writes. Careful not to mark his face or break any bones, the hoods kicked Elvis repeatedly.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Marcus brutally beat the singer with his own belt and silver buckle — while another goon burned him with a poker heated red-hot in the fireplace. “The cries of pain seemed to intensify their pleasure,” says the author.
Elvis was near death when he was rushed to a hospital, suffering from failing kidneys and blood clots. The singer was so shattered by the humiliating beating, he
attempted suicide by plunging an IV needle into his chest the next day, says Lindberg.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Desperate to cover up the horror, Elvis’ manager,
Colonel Tom Parker, begged police to shut down their investigation — and, amazingly, the lawmen complied, writes Lindberg. But privately, Parker vowed vigilante justice!
Photo credit: Getty Images
In early 1969, Marcus was found dead, violently beaten with his skull crushed, according to the book. But Elvis’ horror did not end, the handwritten letters reveal.
In July 1970, sleeping next to pregnant wife
Priscilla at his Palm Springs mansion, The King woke to find a gun barrel in his mouth — and two men he recognized as Katzman’s thugs in the room.
Photo credit: Getty Images
The gunman ordered him to lay face-down on top of terrified Priscilla or they’d cut her open and take the baby, Lindberg writes. The men then jumped on Elvis’ back, their combined weight crushing the unborn child — triggering a heartbreaking miscarriage, according to the book.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Lindberg insists it was the second child Priscilla had tragically lost. Almost seven months after daughter
Lisa Marie’s birth in 1968, Priscilla was expecting when
she and Elvis had a furious row, says Lindberg.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Blind with fury, Elvis jumped into his car to get away — and backed over her as he drove out of the driveway, Lindberg claims! Priscilla lost the baby, Elvis wrote in a letter to Carmen, who died in 1982, five years after the rock legend’s own tragic ending.
Photo credit: Getty Images
