Original subtitles

(upbeat lively music)

(chattering)

(upbeat music)

- Look, a snow globe.

(upbeat music)

Hi, Melba.

- Hey, currently editing scenes of Elvis in the movies.

- Hey Joel, I'm working on Elvis' TV appearances.

- I'm editing footage of Elvis in the army years.

- [Joel] Hey guys, don't forget to try on

your Elvis sunglasses that I got at Graceland for you.

Got to keep in the spirit, everybody.

All right, much better.

Okay, but you look good.

(laughing)

(upbeat music)

- Hi Joel.

- Hey, hey, Celeste, how are you?

Good to see you.

(upbeat music)

- Here we go.

Submit.

There, it's done.

(dramatic music)

- Highway 61 Entertainment?

- Yeah.

- Here.

- Oh, thank you.

- [Man] I just need your signature.

- Sure.

Thank you very much.

- Yup, thank you.

- Thank you.

- Have a good day.

- Hey Joel, we got a box.

It's from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI.

I think I have the documents

of the Freedom of Information that we requested.

- Oh, cool, open it up.

- Okay.

(dramatic music)

Hm, it smells funny.

Yuck, ugh,

oh yuck.

- What is it?

- Hm, I don't know, smells like ink.

- Do you know what this is?

- What?

- [Joel] This is the redaction of the documents.

- What's redaction?

- It means the black out.

The government blacks things out so that we can't see

what's on them when they want to keep it secret.

But it looks like they didn't do a good job.

- [Gabrielle] Oh wow, it's amazing.

- What's going on?

- Look at this, look at this.

All the redacted documents are wet, the ink is wet.

- No way.

- Look at this.

Everyone get back in your office.

Let's try to get the ink off before it dries.

- Hey guys.

Here you go.

- Here you go.

Okay.

- [Chris] Wow.

(soft music)

- OK.

Now, we're going to find out what

they didn't want us to see.

Look at this one.

Counterintelligence program,

Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, what else?

- Hm, Drug Enforcement Agency, Richard Nixon,

Sam Giancana, Carlo Gambino.

- [Joel] Those are mobsters.

- Mafia?

- Mafia, that's right.

- Wonder what this all has to do with Elvis.

Federal Agent John Burrows.

John Burrows is an alias that Elvis

used when he used to travel.

Let me go back.

This says something from 1987 with the name John Burrows.

Why would Federal Agent John Burrows be

getting a letter from the FBI in 1987?

- I thought Elvis died in 1977.

- He did.

- He did.

- [Joel] Witness protection program.

This is an address for

John Burrows in Simi Valley California.

- Oh, and that's only a few miles from here.

- You know what?

I think that we are on to something.

That John Burrows needs to have a visit from us.

I'm going.

Who's coming with me?

- Hey, let's do it.

- You guys are crazy.

Hey, good luck guys, bye.

- OK, see you.

(soft music)

This is it.

- [Passenger] This is it.

(soft music)

Check out the old white Cadillac.

- It's like late '50's.

Alright let's go check it out.

Here follow me please.

Burrows, Burrow is on the mailbox, that's the same

that's on the documents, Burrows.

American flag, that's kind of cool.

Double security gate.

Alright, let's check out this Cadillac.

Look at these bumper stickers.

Nixon, Agnew, Ford, Dole, Nixon's the one.

He's a republican for sure.

It's a TCB logo, it's Elvis' logo.

Let's look inside there.

Look there's a gun, look at that gun.

Look it there, there's another gun on the floor.

Looks like a glock.

Look there's a eight track player.

Look at all those eight track tapes.

They're all Elvis, they're all Elvis eight track tapes.

It's that DEA staff, the Dead Entertainers of America.

Let's check out back here.

And look at all those bumper stickers, Bush, Kemp, Dole,

Regan, I'm getting very nervous.

I think I'll just go knock on the door

and try to talk to him.

Anyway give me those documents.

Okay.

(door bell)

Hi Mr. Burrows, Mr. Burrows.

Mr. Burrows can I speak to you, sir?

My name is Joel.

I'm a documentary film maker.

Sir I just got a load of documents from

the FBI in Washington, but they didn't black out everything.

Here take a look.

I think I know who you are, and I'd like to come in

and talk to you if that's okay?

(buzzer)

- [Burrows] Come on in, and sit down.

Tell me where are you from, son?

- [Joel] Originally I'm from Tennessee, sir,

Oakridge, Tennessee.

- [Burrows] I was born in Mississippi, but I spent

most of my time in Tennessee.

- [Joel] I'm pretty shocked, I'm pretty shocked

to meet you sir.

- [Burrows] Well son I always knew that sometime in my life.

I mean I had a feeling that sooner or later, that somebody

would find me alive.

But I didn't think that after the age of 75,

this would be the kind of visit I would have.

- It's him, I know his voice!

- [Joel] Sir, I just got back from Graceland,

I'd like to interview you, I'd like to know the whole story

about your career, like I guess

how or why you faked your death?

- [Elvis] And if I don't do it, I suppose you're gonna

have a press conference anyway?

- [Joel] Probably.

- [Elvis] Oh Lord.

- This is unreal.

- [Elvis] There are good reasons why I had to do what I did.

And why I haven't come back to

my singing career and everything.

I guess if I'm ever gonna tell my story now's the time.

- [Joel] How 'bout tomorrow, I'll bring my film crew,

we'll get right into it?

- [Elvis] Alright son, now, I'm in the Federal Witness

Protection Program for reasons which

I'm sure we'll get in to.

So I cannot appear completely on camera.

Now I've been trying to get out of witness protection

for some time, but there are folks in high places

who are afraid of me because of information that I have.

- Oh brimey this is just, oh,

I've got to sit down!

(upbeat music)

- Are you gonna tell me that you found Elvis?

If that's Elvis I am going tomorrow.

- Alright, let's go.

Let's go.

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] Okay Mr. Presley, this has been a shocking

24 hours for me, but I have prepared many questions.

To the public you were an extraordinary entertainer.

- [Elvis] But off stage I lead a secret life

as a Federal Drug Enforcement Agent.

And I put my life on the line for America everyday.

And I ran a strike force that carried out dangerous

undercover operations against

The Weather Underground terrorists.

The Black Panthers, and mafia crime families.

- [Joel] Well then, I don't know where to begin.

- [Elvis] Well how about starting at the beginning?

To understand how I ended up here, you'll need to know

everything about my life.

- [Joel] Okay, when and where were you born?

- [Elvis] Tupelo, Mississippi.

January the 8th, 1935.

At 510 and 1 1/2 Maple Street.

I had an identical twin brother Jessie who was still born.

- [Joel] Tell me about your parents.

- [Elvis] Daddy was Vernon Elvis,

and mama was Gladys Love Presley.

They were dirt poor, barely educated, and daddy

called me Evis, left out the L.

He labor in the fields since he was 12.

I was alone with mama as a child,

'cause daddy went to prison.

(upbeat music)

I know what poverty is, I lived it for a long time.

When we moved to Memphis I was a small town

boy in a big city, with no dad.

From the time I was a child I was very close to mama.

We were like adhesive tape.

If there was trouble about anything, I could wake her up

any hour, and she tried to help me.

I called her Satnin, 'cause her skin was soft

and smooth at satin.

She taught me to have good manners, to help people.

And to work hard and never give up.

- [Joel] How did you start off in music?

And where did your style come from?

- [Elvis] Actually I was studying to be an electrician,

and I wanted to run away,

but as I child I set my heart on singing,

and nothing in this world could've stopped me.

I was influenced by gospel music, rhythm and blues,

but I never had a music lesson in my life.

But I admired Mario Lanza, he was a fantastic entertainer.

And I watched The Student Prince over and over.

And I stretched my voice to sing as high as he could.

(singing)

That was the only singing training I've ever had.

Then in high school I entered a talent show, and I was

amazed at just how popular I became.

In 1954 I was considered a rockabilly singer.

That was mix of hillbilly music and rhythm and blues.

At the time country music was called hillbilly.

Now the blues was created by black folks,

so in the south they called the blues sinful.

So you see I came along when there was no trend.

So I became the trend.

(screaming)

- [Joel] You had a three octave range,

it was said you cold sing with power,

or honest, pure sentiment.

- [Elvis] You mean like,

♪ Love me tender

♪ Love me long

I tried to sing to suit every song.

I could rage on the

♪ Well since my baby left me

accuse on Hound Dog, or bare my soul like in Blue Hawaii.

If you're a gun slinger you don't shoot

with a bow and arrow.

They gave me credit sometimes, but it's funny,

I never wrote a song in my life.

It made me look a lot smarter than I am.

- [Joel] Your image, your look, it was the original cool.

Where did you get your hairstyle from?

- [Elvis] The other guys wore GI haircuts and I wanted

to be different, I had read all the Captain Marvel Junior

comic books, and he was my hero.

My real pin up.

I realized I looked just like him.

Except actually I had blond hair.

So I died it black, I even combed out a few hairs

over my forehead, like him.

And I parted it on the right side

like Captain Marvel Junior.

I was one good looking son of a bitch,

and after that I don't know why it happened,

but my entire life was the mirror image

of Captain Marvel Junior

(lightening strike)

- [Joel] Really, your life was

like a 1950's comic book character?

- [Elvis] In fact just about everything that happened to me

you can find in a Captain Marvel Junior adventure.

I kept my comic collection in the Jungle Room

downstairs at Graceland, I think they still display

my Captain Marvel Junior's at Graceland from time to time.

I would read Captain Marvel Junior

everyday, just to know what was gonna happen to me next.

- [Joel] What did you know about Colonel Tom Parker

when he became your manager?

- [Elvis] Well I knew he had worked at carnivals.

And had been in the Army.

Also that he was behind Hadacol.

♪ Hadacol

♪ Hadacol

- [Elvis] From what I understood it was mostly

alcohol sold as medicine in the dry counties in the south.

When The Colonel signed me he promised mama I'd

be a millionaire in a year.

The Colonel got me my first big recording contract,

and it came true.

But mama didn't care for The Colonel 'cause he never

showed any emotion, she said he was strange,

and that he looked like a clown.

I hated the business side so I'd tell people,

talk to The Colonel just like he told me.

I pretty much signed contracts without reading them.

The Colonel was into some of everything.

He got my music on the radio, and helped it along

by supplying women to the DJs.

You know what?

He even sold I hate Elvis buttons.

Later on I realized The Colonel was a great promoter.

But not so much as a manager.

(upbeat music)

Anyway he got me on television,

and everything broke loose.

(clap)

(upbeat music)

(rockabilly music)

- Today you're the most controversial name in show business.

Your style of gyrating while you're singing

has been badly criticized.

- [Joel] When did the national controversy

start over your stage movements?

(laughs)

- [Elvis] Pretty much from my national television show

on Dorsey brothers in '56.

(rockabilly music)

- We'll do Elvis the pelvis, alright?

- [Joel] What did you think of the term Elvis the pelvis?

- [Elvis] I didn't like it, it was probably the most

childish expression I ever heard coming from an adult.

(rockabilly music)

People who read sex into my music had dirty minds.

I just moved with the music, I wouldn't do anything

vulgar in front of anybody.

Mama would never have allowed it.

- [Joel] Time Magazine wrote, his entire body takes

on a frantic quiver, as if he had swallowed a jackhammer.

- [Elvis] It was a natural thing to me, like my music.

If you feel it, you can't help but move to it.

Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers,

some people sway back and forth,

I just sort of did them all together.

(rockabilly music)

- The obscenity, and vulgarity in the rock and roll music

is obviously a muse by which the white man

is driven to the level of a nigger,

'cause it's obviously nigger music.

- [Joel] Did you copy your stage movements

from the negro rhythm and blues performers?

- [Elvis] Absolutely not, in fact Jackie Wilson said

every colored entertainer at that time had copied me.

They even called him the negro Elvis.

Rhythm is either something you have or you don't have.

But when you have it, you have it all over.

Talent, is being able to sell what you're feeling.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] What did you make of the hysteria of the girls?

Almost a riot at every show.

- [Elvis] First time, I didn't know what all the yelling

was about, I didn't even realize my body was moving.

So I asked the backstage manager, what'd I do?

And he said whatever it is, go back and do it again.

Later on I realized my music let loose a pent up

sexual frustration of some kind that teenagers had.

(upbeat music)

I loved the fans, I loved the pretty girls.

I wanted to run to 'em, not away from 'em.

I got scratched up and bitten and everything.

But I accepted it with a smile,

'cause they didn't intend to hurt me.

They just wanted a piece of me for a souvenir.

Problem was, mama worried I'd get stabbed.

When mama worried she drank alcohol.

- Reasons of rock and roll music and why

preach against it and I believe with all of my heart that

it is a contributing factor

to our juvenile delinquency of today.

- [Interviewer] Do you think that your

rocking and rolling has had an evil influence on teenagers?

(laughs)

- [Joel] Some reporters accused

you of juvenile delinquency.

- [Elvis] Delinquency meant robbing, knife fighting,

committing crimes, and I did nothing to 'cause that.

I didn't see how any type of music could have

a bad influence on people, there's a big difference

in singing on a record and signing for an audience,

when people came out they paid their money to see

something with life in it, if I did nothing but sing,

I'd a been cheating the audience, and they'd just

stay at home with their records next time.

Once a judge in Florida threatened to have me arrested.

Even had the police film the show.

So I just stood still waving my little finger,

and the audience loved it.

- [Joel] Do you recall the Milton Berle Show?

- [Elvis] Yeah, it was painful because Milton

came out dressed as my twin brother, now they had

no idea I had a twin who had died, Jessie.

And like all surviving twins I blamed myself for his death.

I felt I had to make it up to mama all of my life.

- Here he is Elvis Presley!

(screaming)

- [Joel] Did you enjoy the Ed Sullivan TV show appearances?

- [Elvis] Yeah but, they'd only show me from the waist up.

I was an ordinary, church going country boy,

who just happened to love to sing rock and roll music.

Ed Sullivan knew, and he tried to put an end

to the criticism of me.

- This is a real, decent, fine boy.

- [Elvis] Steve Allen had me sing Hound Dog wearing

a tux, which I regretted right away.

I promised to always be myself after that experience.

Then a guy at the gas station took a swing at me,

and I him, and I had to go to court, I guess lots

of people were waiting for that kind of thing to happen,

they used that to make me out as a delinquent.

- [Interviewer] What about the rumor

that you once socked your mother?

(laughs)

- Well I think that one takes the cake.

I figured, when they quit talking about you,

you're finished.

Upside was, movie studios got interested in me.

Love Me Tender was my hit song at the time.

So they asked me to star in a picture and everything.

Now I realize the movies were a lot like being on stage.

Just be myself, and they came out better.

(soft music)

The downside was, my fame put me and mama

in two different worlds.

It separated us, she loved that I had done

something with my life, which she missed me so much.

She felt she was losing me to the fans, to The Colonel,

so when I was away she drank more and more.

Mixed with diet pills combined.

So me going into the Army was the worst thing for her.

(soft music)

(upbeat music)

- [Reporter] Elvis Presley no longer has that

rock and roll beat, the tempo is hup, two, three, four

for Private Presley.

(upbeat music)

- [Elvis] In 1957 I took my Army physical,

just like everyone, but I didn't imagine

I'd get a notice for the draft.

(rock and roll music)

- [Officer] I.

- I Elvis Presley.

- [Officer] Congratulations, you are now in the Army.

- [Joel] Entertainers usually only did USO shows,

why do you think you got drafted?

- [Elvis] I know why, when Jailhouse Rock came out,

The Colonel came to Graceland and told me

he got a call from the Department of the Army in Washington,

they told him that youth was going to hell

in a hand basket, 'cause of me, for a long time.

And now Jailhouse Rock was the last straw,

'cause I was advocating for homosexuality.

So they were drafting me into the U.S. Army to stop me.

- [Joel] Really?

Did you ask The Colonel to get you out of it?

- I did, but The Colonel said they'd

threatened to deport him if he tried.

That's when The Colonel told me he was not really

from West Virginia, and his name wasn't even Tom Parker.

He was Andreas Cornelis Van Kuijk, from Holland.

He said when he was 18 he hired on a boat and jumped

ship to Florida and joined a carnival.

So he was an illegal, so I was off to the Army.

And I was scared to death that when I got back

there'd be no music career left to have.

(rock and roll music)

That's what they wanted, but The Colonel said he

would keep my name alive.

So I cut five singles for RCA to release while I was away.

The hardest thing was saying goodbye to mama.

By going to the Army made her even more worried,

and she drank more.

To her Germany was the enemy, she was sure I was gonna

get killed even though there was no war.

Pretty quick mama's liver went out and she died.

My world was snatched from me.

I felt like I lost everything I'd never had.

I wasn't only losing a mother, I lost my best friend.

The only one I could talk to.

And I missed her so much, I carried her

nightgown around for weeks.

I slept with it, and I cried all the time.

Losing mama was the saddest thing that ever happened to me.

I never really got over her being gone.

People thought I couldn't take the Army.

They were expecting me to mess up, but I was determined

to prove otherwise, so I worked very hard at it.

I didn't want the old boys to say that I got it easy

while they worked.

I was pulling K1 and washing out the pike and everything,

so they figured, well he's just like we are,

it was good for me,

I got to be one of the boys again.

I never met a better group of boys in my life.

(rock and roll music)

We went to clubs, I saw some shows.

Even went to Paris a few times.

It was a normal thing in the Army,

if you have a family, to live off base.

And that's what I did.

I always liked a big breakfast with bacon,

and butter, and jam together with my biscuits.

Sometimes I sang hymns with the boys.

But I didn't do any shows in the Army because

The Colonel was used to getting 50,000 a night,

and he didn't want people seeing me for free.

I gave autographs to fans who came from all over Europe.

They were so nice.

I felt I'd come back to Europe and tour one day.

- [Joel] What kinds of bad experiences

did you have in the Army?

- [Elvis] Well in Germany the whole time I was very worried

about my singing career, that other acts would come along

and my audience would go with 'em.

Also daddy started seeing a woman named Dee Stanley.

And I resented the hell out of it, because mama

had been in the grave for a few months.

And they'd go off in the bedroom and she'd holler

so loud, it was like they was killing hogs.

I knew daddy was lonely, but I'd have to listen

to these escapades, and daddy, he'd say I'd got no right

to complain, 'cause mama had worried herself to death

on account of me, then fishy things started happening.

Whoever got me drafted tried to finish

me off over in Germany.

I was invited to the BMW factory.

They gave me a 507 to drive, I took in on the Autobahn

and the brakes went out!

I wrecked the car, but I wasn't hurt.

Tell me, how could a brand new vehicle have bad brakes?

And how come the newspaper said I was dead?

(blues guitar)

And another time I was driving a jeep in the dead of winter,

an officer who I didn't know said he had rigged

up a tank heater to the motor to keep me warm.

But he hooked it up to the exhaust, and the next thing,

I wake up in the hospital.

The Army covered it up, they said I had tonsillitis.

(blues music)

Another time, skin doctor gave me some face treatments.

His name was Laurenz Landau, he made a pass at me,

so I whipped him real good.

Then he tried to blackmail me.

But daddy got the FBI into it, and the doctor disappeared.

Then someone tried to blow up my house.

The Army blamed it on East Germany, but they

had nothing to do with it.

(blues guitar)

- You have any preference in types

of women or kinds of women?

What kind of a woman would you pick for yourself?

- [Joel] Priscilla Ann Beaulieu was a 5'3 inch

14 year old Army brat, of all the women in the world,

why did you choose her?

- [Elvis] Well that is true, I had guitars older than her.

Priscilla came to my party.

And when I saw her she was a spitting image

of my heroine, Mary Marvel, from the comic books.

I mean the structure of Cilla's face was unmistakable.

The turned up nose, the sharp chin, the strong jawline.

The big blue eyes, Cilla was my Mary Marvel.

- [Joel] Wait, but wasn't Mary Marvel,

Captain Marvel Junior's sister?

- [Elvis] Well yes, a long lost sister.

See I had another Mary Marvel that got away.

An actress Debra Paget,

but she was dating Howard Hughes, and his goons were

watching us all the time.

'Cause Cilla was so young I felt I could

mold her the way I wanted.

And I told Cilla I'd marry her one day.

- [Joel] How would you sum up your Army experience?

- I became a better human being.

'Cause the Army teaches boys to think like men.

It gave me a better understanding of myself.

I was an ambassador for America being in Europe.

It was very humbling.

Maybe someday I can come back as an entertainer.

- [Reporter] Thank you very much Mr. Presley.

- Thank you very much.

Arrivederci, no that's Italian.

When I got back from Germany, I got a great reception.

But I still worried, 'cause they easily

forget about you if you're out of the public eye.

I wanted to get back on stage and reclaim my audience.

- Has three years of sobering Army life

changed your mind about rock and roll?

- It hasn't changed my mind because I was in tanks

for a long time, we rock and roll quite a bit.

Being back home at Graceland was fantastic.

Hardest thing was mama wasn't there for the first time.

And daddy moved in Dee Stanley.

But I told her she'd never replace mama,

and she couldn't stay in mama's room.

So she and daddy moved into the house out back.

I worked on my voice in Germany with Celli the whole time.

I have some power singing from the diaphragm.

I heard a song over there,

O Sole Mio, and I recorded It's Now Or Never based on that.

- [Joel] But you didn't return to music, you began

making movies, right?

- [Elvis] Here's what happened.

I taped the Frank Sinatra Comedy Special,

and before his show Frank introduced me

to some boys he said were friends of his.

And said they were like family.

One was named Uncle Sam.

And Mickey and Carl.

And one he called Cousin Chuck.

Then after the show The Colonel said these boys

wanted me to sing in Frank's casino.

Calneva Lodge, when going to Las Vegas.

- [Joel] Did you like that idea of performing

for casino audiences?

- [Elvis] Yeah, but Sammy Davis insisted on taking

me to dinner, no Colonel, just me and him.

And that's when he thanked me, he said I brought

the beat to white audiences, and opened up radios stations

to black music, he said that I busted open the door

for singers like Little Richard.

And then he said now I'm going to pay you back.

Then he said, Frank Sinatra's friend Uncle Sam

was no uncle to anyone, his real name was

Sam Giancana.

And Carl was Carlo Gambino.

Chucky was Charles Lucky Luciano.

And Mickey was Mickey Cohen.

And then he said do you get it?

Stay away, go make pictures, or anything.

Or otherwise you'll end up property of the Italian mafia

just like Frank and me.

(rock and roll music)

- [Joel] Did it scare you?

- [Elvis] Yeah it did.

'Cause back in '56 The Colonel had me sing

at New Frontier in Las Vegas.

I played the lounge with Liberace for two weeks.

And The Colonel gambled the whole time.

The Colonel lost a half a million dollars at roulette,

and they stuck a gun to my head.

The Colonel wrote an IOU and we barely got out alive.

Of course I didn't get paid.

- [Joel] Did you complain, or demand The Colonel pay you?

- [Elvis] No, everything was moving so fast,

in those days, there wasn't much I could do.

I was even afraid to tell daddy.

Anyway after what Sammy Davis said I told The Colonel

I was going to make pictures and that's what happened.

First picture was G.I. Blues.

And just like that the press changed my image.

The rowdy country bumpkin Elvis the pelvis was gone.

Now I was an upstanding, all-American young man.

A middle classed hero in Hollywood.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] Tell me about the movies,

and your new start in Hollywood.

- [Elvis] The first thing, I got back at Frank Sinatra

for criticizing my music by dating his girlfriend,

Juliette Probst, she was my costar in G.I. Blues.

That got the Rat Pack feuding with The Memphis Mafia.

We would get into fist fights sometimes.

At Paramount every movie star wanted to meet me.

At first I thought it was fantastic,

there was Clark Gable, and Burt Lancaster,

cowboy stars like Glenn Ford, and Randall Kid.

I used to pay 12 cents to see their movies back in Memphis.

And I met Charleston Heston, I called him cowboy Moses.

But really, those sons of bitches didn't care about me.

They only invited me out 'cause a lot of women came around.

- [Announcer] He's a high flying stock car jockey.

- [Announcer] Is a singing, swinging cowboy.

- [Announcer] In an eye popping ride

with explosive hilarity.

- [Joel] So how would you characterize your film career?

- [Elvis] About the only thing worse than watching

a bad movie is being in one.

The scripts were all the same, schlock formula.

I would beat up a guy, and then sing a song to him.

You see The Colonel told the movie studios, give me

a million dollars, and you can shoot Elvis

in a phone booth if you want, but each picture

took me further from my dream of being a serious actor.

It became a travel log.

Hawaii, Acapulco.

(upbeat music)

They even had me playing my same damn role twice.

In the same picture!

A blond headed me in Kissin' Cousins.

I was so mad, I cut up with the boys on the set.

(upbeat music)

The director tried to get rid of them.

So I said whoa, let's get one thing straight.

First of all this script ain't worth a damn.

And second, if my boys go, you can kiss my ass goodbye.

But no matter how silly, my pictures always made money.

Paramount used it to make Beckett for Peter O'Toole,

and Richard Burton.

Why couldn't they spend it on making great pictures with me?

And The Colonel turned down dramatic roles because

there was no music, you see all the movie songs

went to The Colonel and they sucked like donkeys.

The son of a bitch took 50% of everything from me.

Then he'd shake down the writers for 50% of their cut.

The result was the best song writers stayed away.

And I had old fashioned songs I didn't maintain

my singing career.

I couldn't turn manure into music man.

I tried to fire The Colonel, but I realized

I'd have to finish out my movie contracts

to win back my audience.

- [Joel] Well then why'd you stay with The Colonel?

- [Elvis] I was a very lonely person.

I was taught to obey and respect elders no matter what.

And when I went to Germany The Colonel worked hard

to keep me as a star, anyway I wasn't concerned

with the business or my career.

I was concerned with my fans.

And being the best I could be for them.

A lot of entertainers had contempt for their audience.

But not me.

- [Joel] Did you like doing all the fight scenes?

- [Elvis] Oh yeah, and there was fight scenes

in every picture, and I learned karate in the Army.

And it was new to Hollywood at the time.

Once I even punched my horse, he wouldn't listen to me,

he wouldn't stop, so I punched him in the head.

And after that we was friends.

I like the cowboy movies, I even bought some horses

and rode them at Graceland.

- [Joel] What were you thinking when

The Beatles arrived in America?

- [Elvis] I thought, while I'm making these

damn teenager movies, The Beatles are taking

over the music business.

(cheering)

I also remember thinking, if they had money,

why don't they get their teeth fixed?

They made fun of me on television.

- [Reporter] You guys are nothing

but a bunch of British Elvis Presleys.

- They must be blind.

- It's not true, it's not true.

(laughing)

- [Elvis] And pretty soon

The Beatles were making movies like Help,

then A hard Days Night, that were good.

And I was doing Girl Happy and Tickle Me.

It made me look out of touch.

When they came to visit me in Los Angeles,

I was not impressed.

I didn't care for John Lennon, who later said

The Beatles were bigger than Jesus.

Ringo didn't say anything.

George Harrison was a wimp.

And McCartney was very feminine.

I wasn't surprised when they became a big part

of the hippy movement, and drug culture.

They started talking about taking drugs.

- [Reporter] How often have you taken LSD?

- About four times.

- [Elvis] And I thought it was awful.

The Beatles were terrible examples for the kids to have.

- [Joel] What kind of movies did you want to make?

- [Elvis] Just something more challenging

than Hollywood's image of me.

The image is one thing, and the human being is another.

It's hard to live up to an image.

I became very discouraged.

Once I was home watching television,

and The Righteous Brothers sand a song I knew I could sing.

So I shot the screen out.

I was in a unique position that they could

replace whatever I destroyed.

And just because you look good, don't mean you feel good.

No one knew how lonely and empty I felt.

I was not happy.

(soft music)

- [Joel] How did the name Memphis Mafia come about?

- [Elvis] Well, it was some boys I knew

from Humes High School, Marty Liker, and Red West,

Billy Smith was a cousin of mine.

Joe Esposito and Charlie Hodge I knew from the Army.

I had required them to wear dark suits

for a respectable appearance.

A reporter came up with the name Memphis Mafia,

and I thought it was funny, and it stuck.

- [Joel] Were the Memphis Mafia hangers on,

or blood suckers?

- [Elvis] No, we loved each other, it was like

Robin Hood and his merry men.

They did odd jobs like look after my schedule

and my wardrobe, and get me places on time.

But I needed my boys for protection.

'Cause people were always coming at me.

I gave them meals and bunks, sort of like ranch hands.

When we first got to Hollywood people thought we were gay.

(laughs)

Little did they know my house was always full of women.

One time I counted and there was seven of us,

and 112 women, and I gave my boys grazing rights.

I was still a southern boy with simple tastes.

I needed my friends from the southern world

where I come from, not actors and producers.

But daddy, he resented my boys 'cause he thought

they were taking his place, or maybe they

were after my money.

Daddy trusted nobody, he was worried about being poor again.

I'd tell daddy they do all this for me,

but he never understood it.

He was afraid if I went broke he'd have to go back

to working in the field, he had a backache for 23 years.

- [Joel] Were these guys in the Memphis Mafia

your close friends?

- [Elvis] I thought so, but I mean they were hired employees

who done a job for me.

They looked at me as the boss, a person they had to please

or lose their position if they don't.

See I was the prototype man, the first rock star.

Whether I was good or not so much, people loved me.

And it was a heavy burden to know

who were actually true friends.

- [Joel] Why did you give away Cadillacs and cars

of all kinds to both friends and strangers?

- [Elvis] Giving away Cadillacs was easier

than getting clothes because they always fit.

I just couldn't stand seeing folks that were really down.

And I liked being able to help one person at a time.

I mean money's meant to be spread around.

The more happiness it creates, the more it's worth.

It's just old paper if it sits in

the bank without helping anybody.

- [Joel] You were known for affairs with your

Hollywood leading ladies, how did you get away with it?

- [Elvis] Well, I was no saint,

it was the old double standard,

in California I did whatever I wanted.

My wife Cilla was at home.

I told Cilla she would read all these things,

but it was just publicity for the movies.

(upbeat music)

When I did get busted I told Cilla it made me realize

how much I loved her.

That usually worked.

But it wasn't easy meeting expectations neither.

Everyone expected me to be a star.

24 hours a day, but I was just a human being.

Women would go to bed with a star, and wake up with me.

One time I broke it off with an actress, and she was so mad

she said she had a gun, so I said, honey I got 10.

- [Joel] Who was your favorite co star, or Elvis girl.

- [Elvis] That's easy Ann Margaret.

She was the love of my life.

We were very similar, and understood each other.

(bell)

She also looked like Mary Marvel.

Ann had the greatest laugh in the world.

She had magnetism and sensuality.

And a hot acting career, and an ego.

And she could ride a motorcycle.

She was the female me.

I was crazy about Ann, so it was a real toss up

between Ann and Cilla.

But Cilla could not compete with Ann.

She was just a young girl who never

did anything in her life.

You see, I never saw Cilla as a partner.

I was raising her.

My boys said I made her look like a Vegas hooker.

After Viva Las Vegas, I told Ann I'd marry her

if she quit the business.

But I couldn't handle it if I saw her kissing another man

in a picture.

And I grew up on the southern belief that a woman's place

is in the home.

But Ann wasn't about to give up her career.

In the meantime Cilla complained about Ann to her dad.

To the Captain, and he threatened to sue me, so he made

me sign a contract to marry Cilla when

he let her come to Memphis.

The Colonel said a lawsuit would look bad,

so me and Cilla got married.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] What about Celeste Yarnall from

Live A Little, Love A Little?

- [Elvis] Celeste was the one that got away.

She was so beautiful.

I got her cast because I had seen her in Star Track.

And she looked just like Mary Marvel.

She had all the sharp features, even had the red outfit.

I fell hard in love with her, I asked her to come

and live with me in Las Vegas, and she said yes.

But then she disappeared on me.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] Why do you think you never maintained

a lasting relationship with any one woman.

Mama and I had a very deep kinship, I lost my twin,

and mama had lost a child, I had an awful case

of survivor's guilt, having lived when Jessie did not.

So I lived my whole life just for mama.

Even after she died, I couldn't let somebody else

replace her in my life.

I mean everyone loves their mama.

And whenever I got too close with another woman,

I felt I was betraying mama, so I'd end it.

(upbeat music)

Mama was the most important relationship in my life,

but it crippled me in some ways.

(upbeat rock)

By 1968 I couldn't sing into the camera anymore.

I realized I needed to be in front

of an audience to feel alive.

It was time to prove I was still the King of Rock and Roll.

I felt like I was coming back from the Army all over again.

Actually I had to remember how to perform.

So I went to see Tom Jones to study his stage moves

that he'd gotten from me.

Then I did the '68 television special,

and that felt fantastic.

And I recorded In the Ghetto and Suspicious Minds.

I had to get back where the audience

is and get away from home.

Cilla was was controlling my personal life.

She even tried to order my boys around.

She'd say get me a Coke, and they'd say go get it

your own damn self.

The Colonel was controlling my business.

And daddy didn't want me spending my own money.

He was trying to keep me from any fun there was to have.

So I opened in Las Vegas, but after a few shows

I realized I was still not happy.

I mean America was under siege man.

Protests, drugs, bombs, hippies, violence.

It was bad man.

- [Joel] The social unrest gripping the United States

in the late '60's, how did that effect you?

- [Elvis] I was so fearful for our country,

the hippie elements were destroying America.

- Turn on, tune in, drop out.

- [Elvis] The whole drop out thing was crazy.

Do whatever you want to, get everybody to take drugs.

And The Beatles and John Lennon, they were in on it.

- We don't need our education, we don't need to get your

whatever it is these exams you're gonna finish, what for?

- [Elvis] And the hippies were pushing LSD on the youth,

even as young as 10.

- If you're introduced to LSD, it's a religious experience.

And it can be even more important than reading

the Bible six times.

- [Elvis] Teenagers were dropping out of school,

and overdosing on drugs.

Dropping dead.

♪ Revolution has come

- [Elvis] And other groups were trying to overthrow

the United States.

Turning America communist.

Crime and violence was everywhere.

The America I loved was coming apart for the first time.

I was worried it might not be there when Lisa Marie got big.

- A bomb exploded early this morning in the pentagon.

- [Bernardine] Guard your, guard your colleges,

guard your banks, guard your children, guard your doors.

- [Reporter] Credit for the capitol bombing

was claimed in a letter received by the associated

press today, signed by The Weather Underground.

- We will build a revolutionary youth movement capable

of actively engaging in the war against the imperialists.

- [Joel] What did you make of

The Students for a Democratic Society,

which became The Weathermen?

- [Elvis] The Weather Underground terrorists

took their name from the Dylan song.

They were violent thugs.

They were led by Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

- I'm not committed to non violence in any way.

- A bomb went off at the State Department earlier today.

And The Weather Underground claims responsibility.

- [Elvis] First they started riots, then they tried

to start a communist revolution.

(gunshots)

And they idolized killers like Charles Manson

and Sirhan Sirhan.

Even the Black Panthers couldn't stand The Weathermen.

- The Weathermen ain't nothing but child's players,

and they call that a revolution.

We think these people may be sincere but they're misguided

they're muttle heads, and they're scatter brains.

- The Underground plans to kill Ford, Rockefeller,

Attorney General Leavy, and FBI Director Kelly.

- [Elvis] Captain Marvel Junior had fought

and defeated Captain Nazi,

and Bill Ayers looked exactly like him.

So I gave Bill Ayers the nickname of Captain Nazi.

It made sense they both wanted to destroy America.

- [Joel] Did you support civil rights?

- [Elvis] I believed in it.

I grew up with black folks, I had a tremendous

kinship with them, I listened to Martin Luther King's

speeches over and over he was so inspirational.

But the Black Panthers were violent.

- [Joel] Now Leonard Bernstein said Elvis introduced

the beat to everything, the music, the language,

the clothes, a whole social revolution.

The '60's comes from it.

So in a way were you not responsible for the youth culture

for unleashing all of it?

- [Elvis] I think with my music, I tapped into

a spirit of personal freedom.

That just as easily could've been used for the positive,

not destroying anything.

Peter the Apostle said to use liberty, not for

maliciousness, but to serve the Lord.

- [Joel] You had a lifelong romance with law and order.

Why did this run so deep?

And exactly when did you become involved

in federal law enforcement?

- [Elvis] I always had a fascination with guns and law.

Even as a child.

(upbeat music)

Of course I served in the U.S. Army, and I was a deputy

in the Memphis Police Department, and many jurisdictions.

I donated to police charities, and had friends

in law enforcement everywhere.

(upbeat music)

Overseas we were targets.

- Bomb went off in New York City police headquarters.

- We no longer simply resist the pigs,

we have gone on the defensive.

- [Elvis] In about early 1970 The Weatherman bombed

a San Francisco police station and killed a Sargent,

who I knew.

- The device was filled

with heavy one inch staples, the staple pierced

the skull of one policeman, he is in critical condition.

San Francisco Police Sargent Brian McDonald died today.

The associated press has received a letter

signed The Weatherman, claiming the radical group

planted the bomb because

"The pigs in this country are our enemies."

- We will escalate our attacks until imperialism

has been defeated, we will escalate our attacks.

- [Elvis] I knew I couldn't go on just singing.

If I did, I would be an accessory.

Pacifying my audience with music, while the bad guys

destroy our country, and I realized The Weathermen

did not consider me part of the establishment.

I felt I could help America if I became

a Federal Drug Enforcement Agent.

- [Joel] Now you were the original cool.

With a look, the clothes, the attitude.

The swagger are you saying the man who invented cool,

wanted to become a narc?

- That's right.

I felt God wanted to use me in a much more important way.

My family had lived in public housing

at the Lauderdale Courts in Memphis.

And I wanted to give back to my country

that had done so much for me.

When I was a child ladies and gentlemen I was a dreamer.

I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book.

I had always dreamed of being an American hero,

like Captain Marvel Junior who comes in and saves the day.

Captain Marvel Junior he had this fantastic dual image.

A normal everyday guy, with a secret identity

as a crime fighter.

I played a hero in all of my movies.

Now, I wanted to be one in real life.

If I could help save America maybe this

was my real destiny, that God had prepared me for,

all this time.

(upbeat music)

President Nixon was starting a national crusade against

drugs, so I went to Washington, and took a letter

to the White House, and the President agreed to meet me.

Dear Mr. President, first I would like to introduce myself

I am Elvis Presley, I admire you, and I have great

respect for your office, I have a great concern

for our country, the drug culture, the hippie elements,

the SPS, Black Panthers, et cetera do not concern me

as their enemy or as they call it the establishment.

I call it America and I love it.

Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can

to help the country out.

I can and will do more good if I were made a Federal Agent.

Sir, I am staying at the Washington Hotel, I am registered

under the name of Jon Burrows.

I will be here for as long as it takes

to get the credentials of a Federal Agent.

Respectfully, Elvis Presley.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] What did you and President Nixon discuss?

- [Elvis] First thing he said was, you dress kind

of strange don't you?

So I said Mr. President, you've got your show,

I've got mine.

(upbeat music)

Later I saw that I had put on too much mascara.

But I showed him some of my deputy badges.

And I gave him my World War II Colt 45.

Then I told the President I admired him.

That I had a great respect for his office.

And I told him I wanted to help people respect the flag.

Because it was getting lost.

I also said The Beatles came to this country

with their filthy unkept appearance and the drug music,

and promoted an anti-America theme.

And he said I was right.

Then the President said the drug users were the leaders

of the anti-American protests and violence.

And he said dissent is the result

of young people using drugs.

And I said that he was right.

- [Joel] Well wait, wasn't that

ironic that you were offering

to help to fight drugs, when you yourself were a drug user?

- [Elvis] No, no, absolutely not.

I never used drugs, I never even drank alcohol.

I took prescription medications only.

Always from a doctor, for the medical conditions I had.

- [Reporter] How much sleep do you get?

- I average about four or five hours a night I guess.

- [Reporter] Is that enough?

- It's really not, but I'm used to it,

I can't sleep any longer.

I was an insomniac.

I had a history of nightmares and sleepwalking going back

to childhood, mama would remove the doorknobs

so I couldn't walk out the house in the middle of the night.

(upbeat music)

In the Army they would issue us Dexedrine,

it was to help stay awake when you had to.

The hippies were using LSD, marijuana, heroine,

drugs that were killing people.

Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin had died within

two weeks of each other.

Anyway, I told the President I was just a poor boy

from Tennessee, who wanted to serve his country

by taking down groups like The Weathermen,

and the Black Panthers, and that I could do it,

because they would trust me.

- [Joel] And how did Nixon react to your offer?

- [Elvis] The President got very excited.

And he said he was proud of me.

He called the Director of the Bureau of Narcotics

and Dangerous Drugs, told him to make

me a Federal Drug Enforcement Agent.

It was the most wonderful moment of my life.

I was finally starting my real destiny as an American hero.

- [Joel] But wasn't you becoming

a Federal Agent public knowledge?

- [Elvis] Yeah but everyone thought I had just

liked to collect badges, I mean who in the world

would ever suspect Elvis Presley was a Federal Agent?

No one, never, and the most effective agent

is the one least suspected.

Who has another job.

If anyone asked my opinion about anything I said

I was only an entertainer.

- [Reporter] What is your opinion of war protestors?

And would you today refuse to be drafted?

- [Elvis] I just want to keep my own personal views

about that to myself, I'm just an entertainer,

and I don't want to say.

- [Joel] Did you get any kind of training

to become a Federal Agent?

- [Elvis] Federal Agents had to do three kinds of weapons

training, and physical combat.

They let me have weapons because of my Army service.

And I did martial arts on my own.

That's why I became an eighth degree karate black belt.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] Why is your favorite Federal Agent badge

not on display at Graceland?

- [Elvis] 'Cause it's here.

It's with me all the time, man, check it out.

By the way, you're under arrest.

No I'm just kidding.

- [Joel] With the promise of serving the country,

were you happy now?

- [Elvis] Very much so.

I had been serving the devil, and the Hollywood machine

for such a long time, I needed a higher calling

to put meaning in my life, I hadn't done anything I was

proud of in 12 years, I felt God had given me my talent

to arrive at this day when America needed me.

To stop the drug culture, and keep the America

haters from destroying it.

Captain Marvel Junior, he had fought and defeated them.

And now, it was my turn to fight to save America.

My turn to fight for freedom.

I was going to be America's secret weapon,

just like Captain Marvel Junior was.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] What was you first assignment as a Federal Agent?

- [Elvis] They told me to go on tour

and wait for instructions.

I was very excited, so first thing I had stage costumes

made up so I would look like Captain Marvel Junior.

I got jumpsuits made with capes.

Gold boots, and utility belts.

(upbeat music)

And I started practicing all his moves.

(dramatic music)

And I had the Captain Marvel Junior's

lightening bolt everywhere.

On my jewelry, on my jungle room wall at Graceland.

And on my new airplane, the Lisa Marie.

I was the only entertainer to have his

own airplane at that time.

TCB, taking care of business, was my way of saying

to bad guys, I am going to put you away.

In a few weeks I got assigned to an undercover operation.

Counterintelligence Program.

My job was to penetrate The Weather Underground,

so the FBI could arrest Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dorhn

and put them away.

- [Reporter] The FBI has been looking for the leader

of the terrorist Weather Underground which claims

responsibility for several bombings.

- [Elvis] In Captain Marvel Junior number 24, he had

fought The Weathermen, it made me realize

even more that being an American hero was my destiny.

It could not be a coincidence.

- The Justice Department began to send strike forces

into various cities, first scene strike forces

have been established.

- [Joel] Can you give me any details on how you

fought The Weathermen?

- [Elvis] My job was to set up drug stings

on the Weather Underground terrorists.

And The Colonel would book my shows in the target cities,

and I'd run the strike force.

The first thing I'd put on my Drug Enforcement Agency Staff

tracksuit, that was like my official uniform

when I wasn't on the stage.

From there I'd get on the Lisa Marie and fly.

From there I felt like I was Captain Marvel Junior

flying in, you know, to save the day.

I swear I could feel Captain Marvel Junior

flying with me, it was fantastic.

As soon as I landed I had FBI agents set up surveillance

around my hotel, and then informants would

put the word out on the street,

that Elvis' boys and the Memphis Mafia were selling

pills and powerful drugs.

Dr. Nick wrote the prescriptions for everything.

Sedatives, narcotics, amphetamines.

The Weathermen were drug users and were dealing to hippies.

So they'd send some boys to buy it.

When the deal was done I would call the FBI agents

on my my Federal Agent Briefcase Phone.

The agents would follow them back to their safe houses.

Identify them, and wire tap their phones.

- Sources close to the FBI say the radical group

The Weather Underground is getting money from Cuba.

- [Elvis] The Weathermen were not anti war protestors.

- Begin the fight.

- [Elvis] They were radicals fighting to defeat

America, The Weatherman had trained in Cuba.

And got money from Cuban intelligence.

(dramatic music)

So Captain Nazi became Bill Ayers FBI code name.

(dramatic music)

- [Joel] Did you get anything other than the drug stings

against The Weatherman?

- [Elvis] Well, The Weathermen were against monogamy.

So I recruited pretty girls out of my audiences.

It was like fishing, I'd hook them with a scarf.

Then I'd ask them if they loved America.

If they said yes, I'd introduce

them to the FBI after the show.

(dramatic music)

Beautiful women were easily accepted by The Weathermen.

They would just hang around outside and get invited in.

That's how we got their safe houses bugged.

- New York police arrested six persons described

as members of the radical Weatherman group.

- The indictment alleges that the group formed

a central committee to direct plotting operations

in Chicago, Detroit, and Berkeley, California.

- [Joel] Were all of your efforts against

The Weathermen successful?

- [Elvis] Yes.

By about mid 1973, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,

and 12 others were indicted for murder and terrorism.

(dramatic music)

For the trial I would have to testify and that would have

blown my cover, so the FBI dropped the case,

they said for national security, I was not happy about it.

But by now the FBI considered mafia crime as the biggest

danger to our country.

For my next assignment they ordered me to use my connections

with Frank Sinatra and the Las Vegas casinos

to infiltrate the mafia.

It was called Operation Fountain Pen.

- [Joel] Before I ask you about that, was performing

for the fans as important to you as the drug stings?

- [Elvis] I had learned how important

it is to entertain people.

And to give 'em a reason to come and watch you play.

So I made each song sound like they played it

for the first time, and the people loved it.

I mean my warm up act Jackie Kahani

had to say I'd left or people wouldn't go home.

- [Reporter] Elvis has left the building.

- I was finally happy now.

I was performing for the fans, and using

my secret identity to help America.

Fantastic.

Still, the lifestyle wasn't good for me.

In the hotels I'd stay up all night, then I'd sleep

all day, then I had to take Dexedrine to wake up.

I was fighting my body and I knew

I couldn't keep it up forever.

And also, I missed mama, and I knew my fame had killed her.

And the more famous I got, the more it hurt.

So I started taking a lot of pills for pain.

The most exciting show that I ever did was from Hawaii.

The first satellite telecast by any musician.

Still very hard to comprehend it.

After 15 years it's hard to comprehend that happening.

All the countries all over the world

are running a satellite.

The people of Hawaii are among the most friendliest

I ever met.

I made up an American eagle costume to show

I was standing up for America.

It was seen in 36 countries, by half a billion people.

Man it was a lot of people.

- [Joel] Why didn't you ever do an international tour?

- [Elvis] You know I always wanted to.

The Beatles came here, The Stones came here, why couldn't

I go over there?

The Colonel said he was getting his United States passport,

but he never did it.

- Folks.

- [Elvis] I knew something fishy was going on but I couldn't

put my finger on it.

- [Joel] Why didn't you accept Barbara Streisand's offer

to be in A Star Is Born, you made comebacks on TV,

in concerts, why not the movies?

- [Elvis] Two things.

Barbara's boyfriend John Peters was nothing

but a hair dresser, never directed anything.

And second the storyline was my character

takes illegal drugs.

And that was not appropriate for

a Federal Drug Enforcement Agent.

- [Reporter] Is your wife Priscilla with you?

- No she's not.

- [Joel] When karate instructor Mike Stone began dating

Priscilla is it true you put out a hit on him?

- [Elvis] Cilla was taking karate from him.

And then he started with her.

And she began posing for nude photographs.

So I did set up a hit on Mike Stone, with one

of Frank Sinatra's friends.

But the FBI picked up the plan on a wire tap

and made me call it off.

But I wasn't upset I was losing her.

In my mind I was upset that something was being

taken away from me.

And I didn't like the way it looked to the fans.

Sad thing is you can love someone and be wrong for them.

I should've married a southern girl, the country

is very different, deep down I wanted to be a family man

like I promised mama.

But I was serving too many masters.

(rockabilly music)

- [Joel] Let's talk about your next assignment,

Operation Fountain Pen.

- [Elvis] Operation Fountain Pen, the big mafia

crime families, Gambino, Columbo, Bonanno, were extorting

millions and committing crimes of all kinds.

They even made Jimmy Hoffa hand over the Teamsters Union

pension money, and built casinos in Las Vegas.

- [Reporter] Money bought the Star Dust.

At least 15 million dollars went to the Dunes.

Apparently through good offices of alleged Senator,

gambler Frank Rosenthal.

- [Elvis] And the mafia was taking over the music business.

They were paying off radio stations to play records.

Payola.

- A federal grand jury in California will soon

investigate the multi-million dollar record business.

Drug dealing, payola, mob connections

and high living company expense.

- [Elvis] America needed me again.

- The House Crime Committee heard testimony

from an underworld crime figure who linked the name

of Frank Sinatra with certain organized crime dealings.

- Frank Sinatra points for.

And he points.

- [Joel] Was Frank Sinatra a made man?

- [Elvis] Frank wasn't a made mafioso,

but the mafia made him.

They set him up as owner of the Calneva Lodge Casino.

And so with horse racing tracks, Frank was the front man.

Those kinds of places attracted politicians.

Who could be blackmailed to keep the heat off.

Frank would set them up with mafia mistresses.

So better to say Frank Sinatra was

the mafia's insurance man.

- President Kennedy had an intimate relationship

with a woman once known as the girlfriend

of a Chicago mafia boss.

- We were introduced by a mutual friend.

I was introduced to Sam Giancana by the same friend.

- Giancana was murdered last year while

eating spaghetti in his home.

(upbeat music)

- [Elvis] So The Colonel booked me into

the Las Vegas casinos, and I started

the drug stings again.

I put on my DEA tracksuit, and I'd get on the Lisa Marie

and fly in like I was Captain Marvel Junior,

coming to save the day, it was fantastic.

(rockabilly music)

- [Joel] Wait let me get this straight.

You're saying you set up drug deals

between the Memphis Mafia and the real mafia?

- [Elvis] Ironically, yes.

Exact same as we did with The Weathermen.

I ran the drug stings on my crews who were dealing drugs.

And they were all dealing.

The FBI tracked them back to their safe houses

and bugged them.

- We had their wiretaps, the conversations

- [Elvis] That's how the FBI got the Italians

for some of everything, killing, drugs, loan sharking.

Kidnapping, arson, you name it.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] What effect did this have on the mafia?

- [Elvis] It was very effective because the FBI was clever.

To confuse the mob, they took down only one guy at a time.

They got so paranoid, they started killing each other.

- [Reporter] Gunshots the whole city's now near death

with a bullet in his brain.

- [Elvis] Everyone was.

They never dreamed it was Elvis Presley.

One time in Las Vegas me and Red West an airplane,

I flashed my badge and a passenger saw me.

But they thought it must be a guy mascarading as Elvis.

One time we did a bust in Colorado.

And I got presents for the cops.

- Celebrate of the assistance of three members

of the Denver Police Department, he picked out

three Mark IV automobiles.

- [Elvis] When the mobsters got arrested

they put their wives on television

and those women didn't look like much.

It was pretty sad.

- [Reporter] All of them claim the FBI is harassing

their families.

- They think, they bother my husband.

- The FBI doesn't gamble?

They don't drink, they don't go out with girls?

What do they do?

How did they become priests?

- [Joel] What was your most memorable

sting operation against the mafia?

- [Elvis] The first one, because I was so nervous.

While he was in prison, Joey Gallo made a deal with

the Black Panthers to sell heroine.

The FBI was terrified of the muscle of the Panthers

and the smarts of the mob teaming up.

So Bob Dylan introduced me to Joey Gallo.

And I set him up.

- [Joel] How well did you know Bob Dylan?

- [Elvis] We met only once, when I recorded a song of his.

I told him I admired his serious song writing.

And he told me my voice made him feel like he was busting

out of jail, Dylan was a conservative small town boy,

just like me.

I mean he did shows with a giant American flag.

And he dumped that awful Joan Baez when she tried

to push him into righteous politics.

Anyway Joey Gallo got killed in a contract hit

in Little Italy.

- [Joel] Did the mob ever suspect that you were a DEA Agent?

- [Elvis] One of my boys messed up and gave a picture

of us wearing police badges to the news papers.

Frank Sinatra called me a but I assure you

it was only a joke.

Another time a wise guy recognized my revolver

was issued only to Federal Agents, so I told him

I got it from Frank Sinatra.

- [Joel] Were there any big problems

with the mafia drug stings?

- [Elvis] The biggest problem was The Colonel

was a degenerate gambler.

He gambled 12 hours at a time.

In fact The Colonel was one of the top five

high rollers in Vegas.

He played roulette by dropping chips on every number.

So even when he won, he lost.

Heck they helped him, let him use two balls on

the roulette wheel, and he still lost.

So The Colonel's debt got bigger and bigger.

But all the time he was writing IOUs to the casinos.

The Colonel was becoming owned by the mob.

And that was dangerous.

I should've dumped that son of a bitch.

But loyalty was my biggest flaw.

And that's why I did two shows a night in Vegas.

On account of The Colonel owning so much money.

- [Joel] The FBI files show you began getting bomb threats.

Do you know who was targeting you, and why?

- [Elvis] There was no doubt in my mind that

and The Weathermen suspected me of setting them up.

They wanted to assassinate me with a pipe bomb,

so I could not testify against them.

So I started so that I'd avoid being an easy target.

I carried a gun onstage at all times.

My boys had guns too.

And that's not the only thing.

Captain Nazi started spreading rumors

that I was a drug user.

Thinking he'd get the DEA to fire me.

I was so mad I went off on stage.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

The rumors you hear about me are trash.

I'm an eighth degree black belt in karate.

That I'm a Federal Agent.

I am, swear to God.

On the contrary I have to be straight as an arrow.

I don't drink booze, I don't take any.

Booze I'll whip your ass.

Thank you very much.

About mid '76 the FBI overheard the Gambino's on

wire taps saying the Memphis Mafia set them up.

So I had my daddy fire them.

Hoping that would take the heat off.

And my boys played along.

- We were given three days notice by his father

and a week pay, after 16 years, and he wouldn't

talk to us himself, he flew out of town.

He had his father do it.

- [Joel] Were you getting worried.

- [Elvis] Yeah, because pretty soon the mafia

started cleaning house to find the rat.

A Colombo wise guy named Vinny I'd never met him,

come back stage for a drug buy.

I had a .22 revolver sticking out of my boot.

Some cheap thing I got at K-Mart.

And Vinny kept staring at it, so to gain his confidence

I said, hey you want it?

And he said sure.

Next thing there were 20 inside murders.

And I come to find they had used my gun.

- In recent months 20 people who may have been FBI informers

have been murdered.

This is the type of gun used for the executions.

Available at most sporting goods stores.

Police say the mafia did not use this kind of weapon

until recently.

- [Elvis] I was worried they would be traced back to me.

Next thing, they thought Frank Sinatra might be the rat.

They tried to kill Frank by blowing up his plane

that he leased from a mafia front company called Jet Avia.

But his mama got on the plane instead of him.

- A snowstorm today hampered the search for Nancy Sinatra

and three others who were on a chartered jet plane

that vanished last night.

- [Elvis] Then somebody tried to put a bomb on my plane

in Pittsburgh, but the FBI stopped it.

So of course I was worried, them boys believed

the only good witness was a dead witness.

(upbeat music)

(soft country music)

- [Joel] What happened next?

- [Elvis] In January of '77 the FBI told me

my life was in grave danger.

They had wire tapped a meeting at

a mafia social club in Brooklyn.

Bill Ayers, and some Black Panthers, and a Gambino mobster

named Paul Castellano was there.

They all agreed I must be a Federal Agent, and they put out

a contract on me.

The Weathermen, the Panthers, and the mafia,

a triple threat.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] What did you do?

- [Elvis] Well I was very nervous.

It would be easy for anyone to shoot me onstage.

Bullets would not bounce off me like they did

Captain Marvel Junior.

So I called President Carter, and I asked him

for Secret Service protection.

But he said it was something only the president can have.

So I told him I was running for president.

He laughed, but said he would recommend me for

the Witness Protection Program.

But I realized if I was alive that Lisa Marie

and daddy would be in danger.

And mama had died so young.

And I'd lost my twin brother.

I had to find a way to live for them.

That's when I remembered Master Comic's number 110.

Captain Marvel Junior And The Hidden Death.

I must've read it a hundred times.

It was where Captain Marvel Junior faked his own death

to deceive his enemies.

Then he defeated them, and came back as a hero.

That was my way out.

- [Joel] What about giving up your music career?

- [Elvis] It was at a dead end, and I couldn't make any

money selling records, because in '73 The Colonel

had sold my royalties to RCA to cover gambling debts.

By early of '77 The Colonel was in to the Las Vegas Hilton

for 20 million, the FBI tipped me off that he had sold

half my contract to Paul Castellano to pay it off.

I wasn't working for an Italian crime syndicate.

Since I got back from the Army, my career

was kind of a living debt anyway.

And all of those bad movies, now I was just

an image in people's minds.

So why not just kill the image and come back later

as my own damn self.

I could work undercover to defeat my enemies

like Captain Marvel Junior had done.

Then after a year or two, I could return as an American hero

and restart my music career, just like when

I came back from Germany, it would be fantastic.

- [Joel] What did the others think about

the fake death idea?

Colonel Parker, Dr. Nick?

- [Elvis] The Colonel said it was a great move.

Public relations wise.

That'd it'd be a great way to make money off the fans.

You see The Colonel couldn't control me anymore in life.

I was sick of him.

I was more valuable to him dead.

Dr. Nick said it would help me get off the prescriptions.

I had come to realize that just because I was getting

it from a doctor, didn't mean it was good for me.

Today entertainers admit it, and they go to drug rehab.

And the fans don't mind.

But you couldn't do it at that time.

- [Joel] How did you put the plan together

to fake your death?

- [Elvis] We came up with a fantastic design.

Just like Captain Marvel Junior had done.

Dr. Nick had a terminal patient with no family,

who was a big fan, and he looked a lot like me.

My height, my age.

So Dr. Nick suggested that we let him come to the pool house

at Graceland to live, then when he expired we could

swap his body for mine.

And Dr. Nick gave him some cosmetic surgery,

got him looking even more like me.

- [Joel] What was his name?

- Roscoe Holloway, he was from Germantown, Tennessee.

The only problem was Roscoe was heavier than me.

He weighed about 250 and I was only about 170.

So I ate a lot of ice cream and fried foods.

Especially late at night.

So we would match up when it came time.

- [Joel] But how could you possibly pick a date

for Roscoe to pass away?

- [Elvis] August 15 was our target date because I had

to testify for a grand jury against Frederick Pro.

And he rain an air cargo airlines out of Florida.

It was a mafia front company for stealing aircraft.

I had sold him one of my airplanes in a sting.

Dr. Nick was sure Roscoe would expire in time.

And then he'd keep him on life support.

So we planned the body swap and everyone's job.

On August 15th I put on my DEA Staff track suit.

I testified for the grand jury.

Then I went home, I went to my dentist around 11:00 p.m.

Since I wouldn't be able to see him for a long time.

And then I got everyone out of the house,

my cousin Billy and my girlfriend Ginger.

She looked just like mama when she was young.

I'd call her, Little Gladys.

We went to play racquetball.

- [Joel] At what time?

- [Elvis] It was around 2:00 a.m.

Once we left the house, Dr. Nick went back to the pool house

and took Roscoe off life support.

Then he and Joe dressed Roscoe in my blue pajamas

and put his body in my bathroom closet.

Ginger and I went back to the house around 6:00 a.m.

And went to bed.

After awhile I told her I was going to read in the bathroom.

Then I took a sedative Dr. Nick had given me,

I went to sleep on the bathroom floor.

At about 2:00 in the afternoon Ginger woke up,

came into the bathroom, and saw me lying there.

(scream)

I heard her holler to Joe that I had fainted.

So Joe came running upstairs, and put on a pretty

good show, and called 911.

Then Dr. Nick came running.

When the ambulance arrived I slowed my breathing

for the medics, I learned that in martial arts.

Dr. Nick ordered them to put an oxygen mask on me,

and fetch the stretcher, that's when we did the body swap.

I got in the closet, Dr. Nick put the oxygen mask

on Roscoe, and set him on the floor.

Then the medics came back and put Roscoe on the stretcher.

And Dr. Nick went along with the ambulance so he could

identify the body at the hospital as Elvis Presley.

- Tonight August, 16th, Elvis Presley died today.

He was 42, his doctor pronounced him dead

at three o'clock this afternoon.

- [Joel] What did you do next, what the plan for you?

- [Elvis] First thing was, I had to bust out

of the bathroom closet because they locked the door on me.

Then I went out the bathroom window on to the rooftop.

(upbeat music)

The plan was for a DEA helicopter to pick me up.

I was gonna fly to Argentina until things blew over.

Then on to Kalamazoo, Michigan.

But the helicopter saw a television crew outside the gate.

And left.

So I shimmied down the side of the house,

and I walked into the pool house.

- It is a scene in Memphis.

Thousands of people milling around outside the mansion

where Elvis Presley's body left.

- [Joel] Was it part of the plan to have a public viewing

of the body the day after?

- [Elvis] No, no it wasn't.

As soon as my so called death was announced

Colonel Parker got a call from Paul Castellano who

screamed at him this is bullshit.

The Colonel got scared, and insisted on an open casket

to prove I had died.

There were no cameras allowed.

But the National Enquirer paid my cousin Bobby Mann

to sneak one in.

- [Joel] Now at the public viewing

people said you didn't look real.

- [Elvis] That's right, the problem was as Roscoe

got sicker, then being on life support he lost weight.

Well I gained weight.

So by now we didn't look much alike.

But daddy remembered Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

in London had sculpted my head for a wax dummy,

and sent it to me for approval.

Daddy still had the wax head in his office

back at the house.

(upbeat music)

So he glued on some sideburns and hair.

I thought the hairline was too old.

- When we viewed the body, his nose looked

kind of puggy looking.

And his hair piece, something glued on.

I just didn't believe it was him.

(upbeat music)

- [Elvis] Another problem was Madame Tussaud's

had made a 25 year old Elvis head, so it looked too young.

But in show business you work with what you have.

Then for the body we took a wax mannequin from out

of my closet where I kept my costumes.

And the wax head and body caused another problem.

It was so hot in Memphis in August we had to put

an air conditioner in the coffin

to keep the wax from melting.

- [Reporter] Afternoon temperatures rose into the '90's,

the scheduled viewing of Presley's body was delayed an hour.

People began fainting.

- [Elvis] So at the funeral they buried a giant candle

and an air conditioner.

It took nine guys to carry it.

It looked a little suspicious.

- [Joel] Were there any other major mistakes?

- [Elvis] Well Joe was supposed to say I was

found in the bathroom, but he messed it up with an earlier

story we discussed that I was found in bed.

- He was upstairs in his bedroom, I went upstairs to

talk to him and he wasn't breathing.

When I got there.

- [Reporter] He was lying in bed?

- Yeah.

- [Elvis] Another problem was Dr. Nick had me fill out

my death certificate in June.

He was supposed to type it up, but his secretary filed

the original that was in my handwriting.

- [Joel] What about the spelling of your middle name

on the gravestone, why the extra A?

A-A-R-O-N instead of just A-R-O-N

as on your birth certificate?

- [Elvis] That wasn't a mistake, it was intentional.

Who wants to see their name on their grave?

I had no intention of putting a hex on myself.

- [Joel] And why didn't they drape your casket

in an American flag, as an ex Army officer?

- [Elvis] That would've been disrespectful to the flag

and others who gave their lives for our country.

- [Joel] Anything else to add about faking your death?

- [Elvis] Well I feel badly to this day.

Because I know Roscoe was dying, but I suspect Dr. Nick

may have finished him off to keep the schedule.

(upbeat music)

(lightening)

- Four Memphis men were arrested this morning on suspicion

of trying to steal the body of singer Elvis Presley.

- [Elvis] Paul Castellano got even more suspicious

after the National Enquirer published the photograph.

So he sent some boys to check out the body.

They broke into the cemetery.

But the FBI had staked it out.

They gave the police a cover story.

That they were gonna ransom the body.

The charges were dropped to avoid a trial where

people might ask the wrong questions.

After that daddy had the casket buried at Graceland.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] So how long did you stay in the pool house?

In January of 1978 a tourist took an interesting photo

of someone in the door.

- [Elvis] Yeah that was me.

I was a homeless ghost for few months.

I just read books and watched the tourists.

(upbeat music)

I didn't realize the pain my death would 'cause folks.

- I talk to him, and I tell him that.

- He was so much for us, we love him so much.

- [Elvis] I didn't understand why people like me.

I mean, I hadn't done anything special for 20 years.

Even then, all I did was sing.

After that photograph came out

I left for Kalamazoo, Michigan, and started

in the Witness Protection Program.

I worked in an old hotel as a desk clerk.

It helped me get my confidence up so I could deal

with people and not be recognized.

By July of '78 I left witness protection and went

back to work for the drug enforcement agency.

At first I continued working on the mafia.

I had Joey Gallo's brother on a wire tap,

threatening Bob Dylan.

He accused him of getting Joey killed.

And he told Dylan you better come to Jesus

for Catholics, that means you'll be forgiven

if you apologize.

But Dylan was Jewish and he misunderstood.

So he went and got baptized and made three gospel albums

before he came to find an apology would of sufficed.

And that's when he went back to being Jewish.

- [Joel] Why did you wear the Star of David.

Also on your mother's original gravestone header.

- [Elvis] I always considered myself

as a Jewish entertainer.

According to Jewish law I am Jewish.

'Cause mama descended from Jewish females.

When I was growing up my family told me not to say nothing

'cause people in the south didn't like Jews.

Even daddy would talk anti-semetic and I'd get real mad.

I embraced many faiths, I certainly didn't want to miss

heaven on a technicality.

- [Joel] Did you use any special disguises

during those years?

- [Elvis] No not really, everyone thought

I was a damn good Elvis impersonator.

They would stare and say, no it can't be.

- This weekend outside of Chicago Elvis was there

a hundred fold.

[Reporter] Miles of sideburns, acres of chest hair.

And the joint was jumping with jumpsuits.

♪ Love me tender

♪ Love me true

- [Elvis] The impersonators were fantastic.

It was a big compliment.

In fact I go to Elvis look alike conventions.

It's the only place where I can connect with the fans

and not be recognized.

Today I got more look alikes than anyone on the planet.

No one even does a double take.

(upbeat music)

But once, a young lady saw me

in a supermarket and kept following me.

Finally she said I almost can't believe it,

but I think I know who you are.

And right then and there, in the produce section

she started crying, and I said honey, don't you cry.

And she put her arms around me

and she said I'll always love you.

- For years fans of Elvis Presley maintained that his

one time manager Colonel Tom Parker took advantage

of him financially.

- [Joel] The Colonel once said Elvis takes 50% of

everything I earn, why did he get a 50% management fee

when the industry standard was 15%?

- [Elvis] Tom Parker was an egotistical, obnoxious,

old carnie hustler.

He treated me like a carnival show.

Making money off me to feed his gambling habit.

- [Reporter] Parker, he said he himself would do

an interview for just $25,000.

- [Elvis] He did not care for me as a human being.

As a carnie he viewed people as suckers.

Only for what he could get out of them.

The Colonel is the most overrated person in

the history of show business.

There's more to him.

I wanted to tour Europe, especially to Germany

to repay the people for their hospitality.

And there were offers.

Even 10 million to sing in Egypt at the Pyramids.

But The Colonel always said no.

So I figured he must have a secret far worse

than being an illegal resident.

I mean he was friends with Lyndon Johnson,

he could've fixed it with one phone call.

I had to study about psychopaths working with the FBI.

And it reminded me of The Colonel's

Jekyll and Hyde personality.

He was kind and cruel, stingy and generous,

reckless and conservative, and The Colonel didn't have

an empathetic bone in his body.

So I pulled The Colonel's U.S. Army records and found out

he was discharged for being a psychopath.

That's how we classify murders.

And then I read about an unsolved murder in his

hometown in Breda, in Holland, a 23 year old woman

named Anna Van Den-Enden was beaten to death in her kitchen

on May 17, 1929.

That evening Andreas Cornelis Van Kuijk, that's The Colonel

jumped on a ship for America.

Without saying goodbye to his family or taking any money.

Any clothes or ID.

And that's why he spent his life denying his family,

and his home country.

And I ended up paying the price.

(upbeat music)

In 1980 I was assigned back to The Weather Underground.

(rock music)

We got a wiretap from a secret meeting with The Weathermen

that they decided to split into two parts.

Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dohrn would come above ground.

- Here today from the 1960's the leader of the violent

Weather Underground radicals came out of hiding

and surrendered to authorities.

Bernardine Dohrn of 1980 sounded a lot like

Bernardine Dohrn of 1969.

- The is inevitable and continuous.

Resistance by every means necessary is happening

and will continue to happen within the United States

as well as around the world, and I remain committed

to the struggle ahead.

- [Elvis] And they were filtered back into society,

and get university jobs, and find candidates for national

office to force socialism on America.

The others will stay underground and continue

the violent revolution to destroy America.

(rock music)

- [Joel] You mean a political and military wing

like the IRA?

- [Elvis] Yeah it was a long term strategy.

Their first operation was to assassinate Dr. Nick.

They shot him at a football game at the Liberty Bowl,

but he was wearing a bullet proof vest.

Captain Nazi thought if they killed Dr. Nick and I was

still alive I'd go to the funeral and they could get me too.

Remember Bill Ayers was afraid of me, I haunted him.

He was paranoid I'd find him, and shoot

him dead on the spot.

And I would have.

And Ayers was an arrogant son of a bitch.

Thought he was some kind of a rock star.

And now, The Weathermen took money from Libya and Cuba.

And filled up apartments with guns and explosives

for a new communist revolution.

They had plans to assassinate judges.

The governor of New York.

Former President Nixon, and building plans

on New York City police precincts to murder cops again.

I was hollering for the DEA to bust the gang.

'Cause they were so dangerous.

But they insisted on watching them to build their case.

And sure enough.

- [Reporter] Police booked two men and two women on charges

of armed robbery and the killing of two policeman

and a Brinks truck guard.

Barbara Edson is in fact Kathy Boudin, a 38 year old member

of the radical Weather Underground.

- They will kill people, and what are their ends?

Their ultimate ends have to the overthrow

of the democratic government.

- [Elvis] And at at the end of 1983 they bombed

the capital again.

- [Reporter] Police said the bomb was planted in an alcove

along the hall behind the senate chamber.

- [Elvis] I was so disgusted that I quit the DEA.

I mean I caught Captain Nazi twice, just like

Captain Marvel Junior had, but they let him get away.

Anyhow it was becoming dangerous

for me to work in the field.

'Cause rumors were flying that I was alive.

- Now you saw Elvis where?

- [Caller] In the grocery store in Vicksburg, Michigan.

- I believe he's till alive.

I just believe he had a break down, and he got upset

and he had to get away.

- I firmly believe that he is alive, I have seen him.

- How does he look these days?

- [Caller] He looked pretty good, he did have his hair.

And he looked healthy.

- [Elvis] I felt like a wanted man.

- [Joel] Gail Girogio wrote that book Is Elvis Alive?

- [Reporter] Gail Brewer-Giorgio with her book about

all the people who've seen Elvis.

- I can't ignore what I'm seeing

I certainly can't ignore

people that are very credible that say they have seen him.

- [Joel] And TV specials aired that you didn't die.

- [Elvis] Bill Bixby did his show.

- Inside these FBI files is dramatic evidence

that Elvis Presley may have had a life or death reason

for disappearing from public view.

- Why the misspelling of a name on a grave?

Why the moving of a grave?

- [Elvis] All that made me very nervous.

Ms. Georgio went on Larry King and Geraldo and got

everyone thinking.

Then a man opened the Elvis Is Alive Museum.

- On August 16, 1977 Graceland buried a wax figure.

Not Elvis Presley.

An air conditioner was in the casket blowing cold air.

- [Elvis] After that they came out with

the Elvis Commission Report.

Then DNA tests, even a newspaper photograph.

I'd been a boxing fan ever since I did Kid Galahad.

And was friendly with Muhammad Ali.

I'd been to his training camp in Deer Lake, Michigan,

when I lived in Kalamazoo.

And I had a robe made up for him.

So I went to see Ali when he was in the hospital.

We left out a back exit but somebody got

a photograph anyway, so the FBI suggested

a misinformation campaign.

My step brother Rick said

I suffocated in the shag carpeting.

While my other step brother David said it was a suicide.

And Joe argued against them, it worked.

Because the public started to focus on how I died,

instead of if I was dead.

- [Joel] Why didn't you come back and restart your music

career at that time?

- [Elvis] I miss my singing career very much.

My first problem was Elvis Incorporated.

- Even though Elvis Presley is dead his legend lives on

and it's worth a lot of money.

- And Elvis Frisbee, and Elvis knife.

If you can print Elvis Presley's name and picture

on it, they've mad a souvenir out of it.

They've even got an Elvis Presley $1.00 bill.

It sells for $3.95.

- [Elvis] My estate had made millions of dollars.

Fans were buying up everything.

Colonel Parker said that if I came back,

the fans would feel I deceived them and burn my records.

Just like they did with The Beatles.

The bigger problem was two young girls.

Fans who were standing in line to see the casket

got killed by a drunk driver.

- In Memphis early today a car smashed into the crowd

outside of the Presley home, two teenage girls were killed.

A policeman said the driver had been drinking.

- The Colonel said if I didn't stay dead,

I would be charged with murder.

So I went to see President Regan, it was great

to be back at the White House after so much time.

I liked Regan he had strong American principles.

I felt he defeated the communists.

President Regan encouraged me to come back.

He said it would uplift the country,

and he would pardon me when he left office.

But by then Regan was starting to forget things,

and I felt I could not rely on him.

So next, I got a full time desk job at the FBI.

Working in intelligence.

- Memphis Tennessee is about to

get a new tourist attraction, public tours inside Graceland.

- [Paula] My name is Paula and I'm gonna

tell you about Elvis' den.

- You can just picture him there.

Having fun watching television.

- [Reporter] If you've ever wondered

Elvis Presley Enterprises takes

in 75 million dollars a year.

- [Joel] How do you feel about the Elvis Presley

merchandising, and what they've done to Graceland?

They sell Elvis Presley everything,

bobble heads, statues, mugs.

(upbeat music)

- [Elvis] I blame this on The Colonel and Cilla,

they turned my life into a cartoon.

But what could I do about it?

I love Graceland so I make my house here look

like Graceland as much as I can.

(upbeat music)

But the Elvis Presley postage stamps were a real honor.

- [Reporter] A person has to be dead for 10 years

in order that a stamp can be issued, but Elvis keeps

popping up in the Kalamazoo supermarket.

- [Elvis] They even recognized my service by placing a small

DEA badge on my collar.

(dramatic music)

- [Joel] Did you ever remarry?

- [Elvis] No but, I had a girlfriend.

Someone at the bureau for a long time.

When you're not in love you're not alive.

I always loved Cilla.

So I've watched over her.

An unlicensed cosmetic surgeon messed up her face.

So I helped send him to prison.

- [Joel] What do you think of today's music?

- [Elvis] It's been all down hill since about 1977.

- [Joel] Have you been involved at all in

the entertainment business in the last 34 years?

- [Elvis] Well there's no way I can perform my music

live, or star in a film.

But you know, it's like the old song, there ain't

no business like show business, so I wrote a movie script

called finding Graceland, and Cilla produced it in 1998.

It was about myself trying to get back to Graceland

to go home, I had a production company called

Boxcar Productions, so Cilla, she let me play the tramp

in the boxcar at the end of the picture.

Then I was in Avatar, I got to be one of the warriors.

I was fighting the bad guys all over again.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] I thought you didn't like making movies?

- [Elvis] No I just said I didn't

like starring in bad movies.

- [Joel] How did you feel when Michael Jackson

married Lisa Marie?

- [Elvis] I thought it was silly, I wanted to slap

the crap out of both of them, Michael Jackson had an agenda.

He certainly should not have used

my daughter to repair his image.

- [Joel] What did you think of the film Honeymoon In Vegas

with the flying Elvis'?

- [Elvis] Nick Cage was also a huge Marvel Comics fan,

in fact he changed his last name from Coppola to Cage

after the Marvel Comics super hero Luke Cage.

One day he confronted Lisa Marie and said

he had read all the Captain Marvel Juniors, The Hidden Death

and he figured it out.

He said he was gonna make a movie about me faking my death.

So to protect me Lisa married him and then filed

for divorce to get all his financial records.

She handed me the file and I gave it to the IRS.

That put an end to it.

- [Joel] Have you ever tried to come back again?

- [Elvis] Yeah I've been desperate to come back,

but I always needed a pardon.

In 1977 I went to the White House to see President Clinton.

♪ You know I can be found

♪ Home all alone

My message to the New York press.

♪ Don't be cruel

- [Elvis] I had information on him.

At the FBI we knew the Chinese Embassy had tapped

into his phone calls with Lewinsky.

And had blackmailed him into giving China

the most favored nation status.

And that's how America lost it's manufacturing industry.

Clinton was surprised to see me 'cause he had

been to my funeral as a young man.

- Whether you're black or white, whether you're country,

red neck or a freak, Elvis Presley will still be

the king of rock and roll.

- [Elvis] He said he would pardon me.

But within a few days the Lewinsky thing went public.

And I gave up.

(dramatic music)

- [Joel] What do you think of President Barrack Obama?

- [Elvis] I've been following Barry Soetoro,

or Barrack Obama as he calls himself now

on FBI wiretaps since the early 1980's.

- [Joel] Really, how is that?

- [Elvis] Remember Bill Ayers is a terrorist,

so he's been legally wiretapped for a very long time.

And Obama became friends with Captain Nazi

when he was a student at Columbia University.

They met at an SDS rally.

The two had a lot in common.

They were both ashamed of their white, middle class

upbringing, and they both hated American values.

Bill Ayers immediately recognized Obama as someone

with ambition who was electable.

So he became Obama's mentor.

Captain Nazi felt Obama could one day be the ultimate

Manchurian candidate.

For the radical left to destroy America.

Get rid of it's Christian values, and replace it

with national socialism.

Then Captain Nazi lost Obama's state Senate

campaign in Illinois.

And Obama agreed to implement

the Weather Underground's agenda.

The further he got.

- [Joel] But communism, and socialism have failed

all over the world again and again.

- [Elvis] The left thinks national socialism can work

in America if they have the right person forcing

it down our throats.

The next thing, because Obama couldn't write

he asked Bill Ayers to author his book for him.

Dreams Of My Father.

It's not Obama's story, it's concocted by Captain Nazi.

Based on his own experiences.

- [Joel] You mean like a co-writer or a ghost writer?

- [Elvis] No, no, Bill Ayers is the author plain and simple.

Obama is a literary neophyte, he's not articulate.

He can barely put together two sentences without

a teleprompter, Captain Nazi created

the Obama we know today.

- [Joel] Well then can I ask what you think

of Barrack Obama as president?

- [Elvis] He is a socialist thug just like his mentor,

Captain Nazi, for Bill Ayers compared to the pipe bombs

he used to make with The Weathermen,

Obama is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

And there will be nothing left of the United States

if Obama is reelected.

And The Weather Underground will have succeeded

in their mission to destroy America as we know it.

And the media circle their wagons to protect the radical

left agenda every time.

Captain Marvel Junior had fought the Amoeba Men,

and that's how I think of the leftist media.

As the Obama Men, but at the core of it,

leftists hate themselves.

They suffer from self consciousness.

They think that society looks down on them

even though it doesn't.

So the only way to feel better about themselves

is to destroy society.

Being leftist is a personal self image problem.

A mental disorder, not political philosophy.

- [Joel] What about the republican party?

- [Elvis] They are for the most part, corrupt and ignorant.

Both the democratic and republican parties

have been useless for many years.

America needs another principled leader like Ronald Regan.

- [Regan] Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.

- [Elvis] I don't support any political party.

Just love America.

(upbeat music)

- [Joel] Are you still working for the FBI?

- [Elvis] Actually I just retired in 2004, just before

I turned 70.

I investigated Middle Eastern terrorists after 9/11.

I helped stop the spread of nukes.

And then after I retired I went back into the witness

protection program.

- [Joel] So what do you do now that you're retired?

- [Elvis] Well I like to drive around in my '57 Cadillac

and listen to eight tracks of my old songs.

Those recordings from the Sun label boy I tell you,

they got a lot of echo on 'em.

And I still like to read poetry and some philosophy.

And I go back to the scriptures a lot.

I always had thirst for knowledge, since I didn't

get a college education.

You know I had over 300 books I'd take on tour.

I read about the supernatural

and The Warren Commission Report.

I always felt it was a fiction novel.

And working at the FBI I found out that Oswald

was only a patsy, just like he said.

- Now very quickly back to Dallas police headquarters.

- [Reporter] Did you shoot your president?

- [Oswald] I didn't shoot anybody, no sir.

I'm just a patsy.

- [Joel] Really, then who killed JFK?

- [Elvis] The best analogy I can give you is

the Senate in Rome, they all had a hand in killing

in Julius Cesar, for JFK it was the joint chiefs.

Lyndon Johnson, Herbert Hoover, the anti Castro CIA groups,

and the mafia families, everyone who wanted Kennedy gone

was in on it.

- [Joel] So are you happy now, any regrets?

- [Elvis] I believe the keys to happiness

are someone to love, something to do, and something

to look forward to.

Unfortunately I don't believe that I've ever had

all three at the same time.

Son I've experienced a lot of different phases in my life.

I've experienced happiness, and loneliness.

The wealthy side, not having anything,

and of course tragedy.

(soft music)

My life went south the day mama died.

I thought I had nothing left.

In a way I was right, I still think of her

every single solitary day.

There are times I dream about her.

She's always happy and smiling.

And if I could have one wish granted,

it would be to talk to mama again.

♪ Fate my take you away from me

♪ They can't take our memory

- [Elvis] Mama and daddy got to be extras in Loving You.

Now I watch it all the time.

♪ For you are everything.

- Here came Elvis with a heart stomping, steaming,

sexy, kind of music, that turned people on as pop music

never had before.

- [Elvis] I've always looked at myself as a young man

who's been extremely fortunate.

A man is just a child wearing a man's body.

I never expected to be anybody important.

But God gave me my voice, and whatever I became

God chose for me.

I feel he's watching and in a way it's good for me.

If I ever turn my back on him, I'd be finished.

- [Joel] Do you feel good about this interview,

for this film?

- [Elvis] I always knew that someday

the secret would come out, your picture is gonna

be the key to it.

I'm hoping that a lot of people out there are not

disappointed with me, I was always deeply concerned

about people suffering, and wanted to bring happiness

into people's lives.

To uplift them, I didn't mean to put anybody

through anything.

It's taken a lot to do what I had to do,

but the Lord has helped me through everything.

And I don't see how this should be any different.

But I'm looking forward to it.

Many times we despair and we think that life has

somehow passed us by, but dreams can still come true.

I hope this movie helps folks

understand why I did what I did.

And that my story will inspire folks.

Everyone can be a super hero for America.

- [Joel] Do you still read Captain Marvel Junior comics?

- [Elvis] Yeah, I do.

I have some of them right here.

Sometimes I read them just to find out what's going

to happen to me next.

- I just wish he would come back.

- [Reporter] Elvis fans like Irene Mowetti of San Jose

concede it's probably wishful thinking.

But,

- I know his fans would just love

to have that man come back again.

- [Joel] So when this film comes out,

will you make a comeback?

- [Elvis] I need the permission and the protection

of the U.S. government to do so.

The U.S. administration has been preventing it

because of what I know about Obama and Captain Nazi.

But if Obama's not reelected I'll do it.

- [Joel] Thank you Mr. Presley.

- [Elvis] Until we meet again.

May God bless you as he has blessed me.

- [Joel] And may God bless you sir.

- [Elvis] It's nice to have a friend who listens.

You don't know how much I need that at times.

- Do you remember we talked about

Live A Little, Love A Little?

- [Elvis] Sure.

- Well Celeste Yarnall is in my crew.

She's been here the whole time.

- [Elvis] How are you doing my little lady?

- Oh my gosh.

I can't believe it, it's really you.

You look fabulous, I'm so happy to see you.

(soft music)

- Mr. Presley can we take one photo?

(soft music)

Any final word?

- Well as I once said without a song.

Without a song.

The day would never end.

The day would never end.

Without a song, a man ain't got a friend.

Without a song a man ain't got a friend.

Without a song, the road would never bend.

Without a song, the road would never bend.

Without a song.

Without a song.

So I keep singing songs.

So I keep singing a song.

You want me to sing something?

(applause)

♪ And now after loving you

♪ What else is there to do

♪ And my whole heart aches

♪ With every step you take

- [Joel] What do you think of this,

how would you like to come to my recording studio,

we'll make a record?

- I've always liked challenges.

♪ You want to be starting something

♪ Mama say mama saw mama mu saw

I would like to prove that I'm better than I was yesterday.

♪ Let's take a walk down lonely street

♪ To heartbreak, heartbreak, heart

In fact every time that I'm think I'm getting old,

gradually going to the grave, something else happens,

so let's do it.

♪ For a moment

♪ Wasn't I the king

I been gone a long time, but now I'm back Elvis is back.

♪ You will know who I am

♪ When the time comes you will know who I am

♪ Yeah baby

(rock music)

I had a feeling this mascarade was over.

- [Joel] What's your favorite after shave?

- [Elvis] Brute.

- [Joel] What's your favorite book?

- [Elvis] The bible of course.

(rock music)

- [Joel] Is global warming real?

- [Elvis] I don't know, the last few winters have been

very cold if you ask me, even here in California.

(rock music)

- [Joel] Leno or Letterman?

- [Elvis] Letterman.

- [Joel] Coke or Pepsi?

- [Elvis] Pepsi, don't you have a harder question?

(rock music)

- [Joel] What do you think the solution is for

the Middle East conflict?

- [Elvis] Folks in that part of the world need

to solve their own problems, and we need to let them.

(rock music)

- [Joel] What do you think of American Idol?

- [Elvis] Karaoke contest.

- [Joel] Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC?

- [Elvis] All of them are full of ignorance.

(rock music)

- [Joel] Favorite food?

- [Elvis] Mashed potatoes and sauerkraut mixed together.

(rock music)

- [Joel] What's your blood type?

- [Elvis] O positive.

- [Joel] Favorite movie of all time?

- [Elvis] Probably the Dirty Harry films.

(rock music)

- [Joel] What do you think of rap and hip hop music.

- [Elvis] It's not music or talent, many can.

(rock music)

- [Joel] Do you think Paul McCartney was killed

in 1966 and replaced by an imposter.

- [Elvis] No of course not, that whole thing was just

a joke, British humor or whatever.

(rock music)

- [Joel] Any UFO connection?

- [Elvis] It would be fantastic, thank you very much

ladies and gentlemen, Lord have mercy.