It seemed that nobody in either the Senate: Elroy, Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
David Koch, one of the company’s primary owners and executives: Nicholas Confessore, “Quixotic ’80 Campaign Gave Birth to Kochs’ Powerful Network,” New York Times, May 17, 2014.
Elroy visited their houses in the evenings: Elroy, interviews by author, 2014–16.
Koch managers never told their employees to . . . steal: James Elroy, Testimony, Public Hearings of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, May 9, 1989; Gene Poteet, James Spaulding, James Elroy, Testimony, Public Hearings of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, May 9, 1989; Elroy, interviews by author, 2014–16.
Instead, the company put relentless pressure: Doyle Barnett, Dubose, Elroy, interviews by author, 2014; further insight into Koch Oil management practices were derived from the sworn statements of senior Koch Oil managers and executives, taken during depositions by US Senate investigators on April 24, 1989. The depositions transcripts, labeled “Confidential,” were made public for the first time to the author. The account in this book draws on the depositions of Charles Koch, Bob Dix, Steven Scates, Keith Langhofer, Wesley Stanford, Donnie Alsobrook, William Hougland, Jack Chism, Darrell Brubaker, Thomas Kivisto, Gary Baker, and David Nicastro.
It was almost an accident . . . Elroy’s efforts: DeConcini, Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
The story was the first in a series: Chuck Cook, Mike Masterson, and M. N. Trahant, “Fraud in Indian Country,” Arizona Republic, October 4, 1987; Mike Masterson, interview by author, 2014.
The looting happened in a complicated and insidious way: Chuck Cook, Mike Masterson, and M. N. Trahant, “Honor System License to Loot,” Arizona Republic, October 4, 1987.
In particular, the series . . . Dennis DeConcini: “Senate Panel to Begin Probe of Indian Affairs Bureau,” Associated Press, October 16, 1987; DeConcini, interview by author, 2014.
By the late 1980s, the results . . . were truly ruinous: Final Report and Legislative Recommendations, November 20, 1989.
In Washington, the Senate Select Committee: “Senate Panel to Begin Probe of Indian Affairs Bureau,” Associated Press, October 16, 1987; “Committee Approves Funding of Indian Affairs Investigation,” Associated Press, October 30, 1987.
In the spring of 1988, Ken Ballen walked: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16; scenery description taken from author’s notes reporting in Washington, DC, 2014.
Early in the investigation, Ballen knew: Ballen, Revell, interviews by author, 2014.
In the beginning, Ballen decided: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
With his subpoenas, Ballen was able to: Ibid.; Final Report and Legislative Recommendations, November 20, 1989.
The large oil purchaser Kerr-McGee: Final Report and Legislative Recommendations, November 20, 1989; Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
The oil companies also pointed out: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
This time the villain was the public: Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990).
This was a message that was delivered: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
Ballen’s case grew stronger after he took a trip: Ballen, Elroy, interviews by author, 2014–16.
The story was convincing, but it also made Ballen uneasy: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16; FBI internal memorandum, “Koch Industries Incorporated, Wichita, Kansas; CRIME ON AN INDIAN RESERVATION—THEFT; RACKETEERING INFLUENCE AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATION,” July 26, 1989.
Ballen’s team narrowed its subpoenas: Ballen, Elroy, interviews by author, 2014–16; Final Report and Legislative Recommendations, November 20, 1989.
Even more confusingly, the firm was: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
Ballen turned to the oil majors for help: Ibid.
It is almost awe-inspiring to fly: Notes from reporting in Wichita, Kansas, 2013.
On April 24, the two Washington attorneys: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16; Charles Koch deposition with US Senate investigators, transcript, April 24, 1989.
They passed through a metal detector: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
When Charles Koch entered the room: Ibid.
“Could you please state your full name for the record?”: All quotes from this exchange are taken directly from a transcript of the deposition of Charles Koch, April 24, 1989.
For a prosecuting attorney like Ballen: Ballen, interviews by author, 2014–16.
“I don’t think there is such a thing as an exactly accurate measurement”: Ibid.
At one point during the hearings: Transcript of the Public Hearings of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, May 9–11, 1989.
CHAPTER 2: THE AGE OF VOLATILITY BEGINS
It was a Friday in mid-November: Dick Dilsaver, “Fred Koch, Industrialist, Dies in Utah,” Wichita Eagle and Beacon, November 18, 1967; ibid., November 19, 1967.
Fred Koch was a large man . . . forceful personality: Bryan Burrough, “Wild Bill Koch,” Vanity Fair, June 1994; Charles Koch, video presentation to Koch employees, “Lessons of My Father,” 2008, 1:05, uploaded to YouTube by Kochfacts TV on April 13, 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U3NyKoMrlw; Charles Koch, Good Profit, 21–33.
He was a cofounder of a right-wing political group: “Birch Society Leader Warns of Red Danger,” Wichita Eagle, October 16, 1960; Carl T. Bogus, Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2011), 198.
The ranchlands spoke to Fred Koch in a special way: John Lincoln, Rich Grass and Sweet Water: Ranch Life with the Koch Matador Cattle Company (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989), 7.
One of Charles Koch’s earliest memories: Charles Koch, interview by author, 2015.
Charles Koch was not completely surprised: Ibid.
During the summers . . . access to the Wichita Country Club: Charles Koch, panel discussion, Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, November 2, 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6UHTCdPLzY&t=1253s; Charles Koch, Good Profit, 30; descriptions of Wichita country taken from reporting trips to Wichita, 2013, 2015, 2018; Markel, Dean Watson, interviews by author, 2013–16.
But Charles Koch was denied that kind of summer: Charles Koch, Good Profit, 31.
Fred implored Charles to come home: Roy Wenzl and Bill Wilson, “Koch Relentless in Pursuing His Goals,” Wichita Eagle, October 14, 2012.
“I thought, My God”: Ibid.
Over the years, Fred Koch gave Charles increasing authority: Charles Koch, interview by author, 2015; Charles Koch, Good Profit, 34–37; Guy Boulton, “Koch and His Empire Grew Together,” Wichita Eagle, June 26, 1994.
On Monday, November 20, 1967: “Industrialist Fred Koch Dies on Hunting Trip,” Wichita Eagle and Beacon, November 19, 1967; Daniel Schulman, Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2014), 73–74.
But Frederick, or “Freddie,” as everybody knew him: Daniel Schulman, “The ‘Other’ Koch Brother,” Vanity Fair, May 19, 2014.
He worked with an intense purpose: Charles Koch, Williams, Paulson, Markel, interviews by author, 2013–16; Dick Dilsaver, “Koch Report Shows Firms Rank Among ‘Big Ones,’ ” Wichita Eagle, June 27, 1968. This article quotes an anonymous source close to the Koch family as saying of Charles: “It’s not easy to be a rich man’s son and build a reputation of your own.”