Fred LaRue , a close aide to former Attorney General John Mitchell and the first person to plead guilty in the Watergate scandal , died of natural causes .
Watergate scandal
fred larue close aide attorney general john mitchell person plead guilty watergate scandal die natural cause
Fred LaRue , a close aide to former Attorney General John Mitchell and the first person to plead guilty in the <m> Watergate scandal </m> , died of natural causes .
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Fred LaRue , 75 ; delivered 'hush' money in Watergate
July 28 , 2004
Fred LaRue , a close aide to former Attorney General John Mitchell and the first person to plead guilty in the <m> Watergate scandal </m> , died of natural causes .
He was 75 .
His body was discovered yesterday by a maid who entered his hotel room in Biloxi .
Coroner Gary Hargrove said he believes that Mr . LaRue died Saturday .
Mr . LaRue was known as the "bagman" who delivered payoffs to keep participants in the Watergate break - in quiet .
He served four months in federal prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice .
Mr . LaRue served as special assistant to Mitchell , who later headed President Nixon's reelection committee .
Mr . LaRue was present at a 1972 meeting with Mitchell and Nixon aide Jeb Stuart Magruder at Nixon's vacation home in Key Biscayne , Fla . , where the plan to break into the Watergate complex in Washington was allegedly hatched .
Mr . LaRue said he advised against the burglarization of the building , which housed Democratic Party headquarters .
After his political career ended in scandal , Mr . LaRue returned to his home state of Mississippi to work in his family's oil company and with its real estate holdings .
He also spent much time catching shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico .
A few researchers of the scandal have suggested that Mr . LaRue could have been Deep Throat .
He discounted those rumors , saying the mysterious source for Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the Watergate story was not one person , but probably a combination of several people .