#22: The Don Bolles Story

On June 2, 1976, Don Bolles was permanently “censored” as an investigative reporter for the Arizona Republic when his car exploded in the parking lot of the Hotel Chardon in Phoenix. As he had been for more than ten years, Bolles was in­vestigating a new lead dealing with massive land frauds, political payoffs, the underworld, and corporate crime. While Bolles was silenced, the story he was work­ing on was not. A group of 36 reporter and editor volunteers, called the Investiga­tion Reporters and Editors, Inca, spent six months investigating land fraud, gambling, prostitutions, illegal labor activities, and other subjects following the bombing murder of Bolles. The IRE started publishing their findings through United Press International in March, 1977. The Bolles’ story is being nominated as one of the “best censored stories” of 1976 since it is a classic example of a form of violent censorship which still takes place in the United States.