Donald Fifield Bolles
Is it so easy to be killed when you're a journalist? Every year journalists experience more and more tragic and horrible deaths.
According to Tatiana Hensleyan‘s article in azcentral.com I can say that one of the most tragic deaths was that of Donald Fifield Bolles, an American investigative reporter from The Arizona Republic. He is one of only a handful of American journalists who have been attacked and killed in this country in retaliation for their work and whose murder in a car bombing has been linked to his coverage of the Mafia.It remains the most enduring mystery and troubling crime in modern Phoenix history. His death prompted the first and only investigation by journalists coming together from all over the country in a single show of support and unity.
Donald Fifield Bolles was born in 1928 in Teaneck , New Jersey. He pursued a newspaper career, in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He went to Beloit College, where he became editor of the college newspaper and won a President’s Award for personal achievement, according to newspaper articles written about him. In 1962, Bolles landed a job as a reporter at The Arizona Republic and immediately began making a name for himself. He probed the influence of the mafia on Arizona dog and horse racing, uncovered bribery and kickbacks on the state tax and corporation commissions, investigated a conflict-of-interest scandal involving two state legislators and exposed swindles involving the sale of Arizona land to people across the country.
According to his brother, Richard Bolles, his mission is to “expose wrongdoing.” Bolles’ colleagues considered him a superb digger. Bob Early, the Republic’s city editor at the time, said, “Wherever he went, he ran into very good stories, usually scandals or crimes of some kind. … He was always looking into problems and trying to expose wrongdoing.”
On June 2, 1976, Bolles left behind a short note in his office typewriter explaining he would meet with an informant, John Adamson, at the Hotel Clarendon in Phoenix. Adamson didn't show up, and Bolles headed back to his white Datsun parked outside. According to the police report, as he backed out, six sticks of dynamite placed under the car exploded. The explosion shattered his lower body, opened the driver's door, and left him mortally wounded while half outside the vehicle. Bolles died 11 days later. His last words after being found in the parking lot the day of the bombing included "John Adamson," “Emprise“and "Mafia."
So after 42 years , the question remains: Who murdered Don Bolles?
“Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.”
— Horace Greeley