FBI HAD 33-PAGE FILE ON JOHN DENVER

Feds Cite Drug Use, Threat Against Life, Vague Mob Tie

WASHINGTON -- The FBI maintained a 33-page file on singer John Denver that
mentions narcotics use, a vague reference to the mafia and an instance when
his life was threatened repeatedly.

According to federal documents on Denver released this week, an
investigation determined that there was no connection between La Cosa
Nostra and the Aspen-based entertainer who died in 1997 at age 53 when his
small plane crashed off the California coast.

The FBI file said Denver's name was the topic of a computer search
"subsequent to a request of the Executive Agencies Unit" during a
nationwide drug probe. Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman, said that unit often
conducts background checks for any number of reasons for the White House
and other executive-branch departments.

"We usually don't go beyond what's in the report," said Bresson. "It kind
of stands on its own."

Denver's file is just one of thousands kept on celebrities by the FBI.
Since 1975, the bureau released more than 6 million pages of documents on
public figures ranging from Adolf Hitler to Elvis Presley.

"People like to say we have a file on this individual, but in most cases,
celebrity names might show up not because they're the subject but because
they're the victims of a threat of some kind," Bresson said.

That was the case for Denver in December 1979, when the bureau investigated
reports that an unidentified woman, speaking German and English, called 17
times from Germany to warn that her mother's boyfriend was traveling to Los
Angeles to kill Denver. It did not identify who received the threats.
Denver, living in Aspen, was notified of the threats.

Much of the typewritten report on Denver is redacted -- edited with a thick
black marker -- but it reveals that Denver's name surfaced during an FBI
narcotics investigation in February 1990 targeting the mafia.

The report said Denver is "listed as an entertainer and narcotics user."

A heavily redacted portion mentions "La Cosa Nostra" in the same paragraph
as a "recent benefit concert" in Colorado that was headlined by Denver.

"It was alleged Denver was pretty well strung out on cocaine," the report
said. But, the report added, the information "was not substantiated by this
Bureau."

Only one other FBI contact with Denver was revealed in the file:

Though he wasn't officially "investigated," according to the bureau, agents
filed a brief report in May 1971 about an anti-war rally in Minneapolis in
which "folk singer" Denver appeared with several other speakers, including
former Sen. Eugene McCarthy.

"Since this affair is clearly political in nature," the report concludes,
"no coverage through established sources or informats (sic) contemplated
unless positive evidence received of disruptive or destructive activity
being involved herewith."