19.

The La Costa Country Club had become, under the direction of Moe Dalitz and Meyer Lansky, a key "watering hole" of the syndicate. La Costa was originally financed through a syndicate deal with James Hoffa of the Teamsters. One of the Teamsters Union's billion dollar Pension Funds was used in the financing of the project. La Costa became what is known in the Mafia as "open territory" - meaning that no single Mafia family controlled it. La Costa was open to all.

Intelligence authorities in southern California have long regarded La Costa as a prime hangout for the Mafia. Some officials have dubbed it "Appalachin West."

The syndicate had originally given Charter memberships in La Costa to a number of Hollywood celebrities, so as to soften the image of the plush resort. Among the members were Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby.

Members of President Nixon's inner circle also became frequent guests at La Costa, which is just twenty miles away from San Clemente. Early in the Nixon Administration, in 1969, Los Angeles Police were astonished to find Murray Chotiner, one of the President's closest confidants, living it up at La Costa while the President was in San Clemente.

In February of 1973, while President Nixon was at San Clemente, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Richard Moore, and John Dean held a series of meetings at La Costa to discuss the Watergate conspiracy, which was then beginning to unravel.

John Dean's lengthy testimony during the Ervin Committee hearings regarding "the La Costa meetings," those meetings at La Costa have since emerged as perhaps the most crucial strategy sessions involved in the alleged cover-up of Watergate by the President's closest aides. Dean testified that the La Costa meetings took place over a period of two days, February 10 - 12, 1973. Dean testified that the sessions were held in a special villa at La Costa that was used by Haldeman.

It has been during this same period of time, in the last several years, that Eugene Brading (alias Braden) has become one of the most important Mafia operatives at La Costa. According to numerous intelligence reports, from California, Nevada, and federal authorities, Brading is now suspected of being the personal courier for national crime syndicate boss Meyer Lansky.