Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 1967 drug bust is planned for feature film

The son of a former attorney of Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards is hoping to make feature film about Jagger and Richards' 1967 drug bust. According to a Daily Mail report published on June 1, 2014, actor Nigel Havers (son of the late attorney Sir Michael Havers) will play his father in the movie, which has a script and is seeking financing. Michael Havers was Jagger and Richards' attorney at the time of the drug bust, which resulted in Jagger and Richards spending time in jail, being convicted of the crimes, but eventually avoiding more prison time when a judge threw out their prison sentences.

Nigel Havers told the Daily Mail: "When my father defended Mick and Keith, it was the first major celebrity drugs case. They came to our flat and I got to know them. But I was sworn to secrecy. I couldn’t tell my school friends because it would sound as if I was showing off."

When Jagger and Richards were busted for drugs on February 12, 1967, many people suspected it was a set-up by government officials who wanted to make an example out of the Stones. A 2010 report in the Daily Mail confirmed that theory.

The arrests happened during a drug-fueled party at Richards’ Redlands home in Sussex, England. What made the police raid suspicious was that a drug dealer named David Sniderman (nicknamed the Acid King, because he distributed large quantities of potent LSD) had been hanging out with the Stones and was at Redlands when the drug bust happened, but Sniderman was never arrested during the incident, even though he reportedly supplied many of the drugs at the party.

The Acid King quickly disappeared after the drug bust (he reportedly left England the next day), and the Stones never had contact with him again. (NOTE: Various reports have spelled the Acid King's last name as Sniderman, Schneiderman or Schneidermann. For the purposes of this article, it is spelled Sniderman because that is how it appears in the Daily Mail report.)

Richards and Marianne Faithfull (Jagger’s live-in girlfriend at the time, who was also present during the drug bust, but she wasn’t arrested) have gone on the record for years about how they felt about the drug bust, by saying that they believe that police would not have raided the home and made the arrests had it not been for Sniderman's carefully planned betrayal of the Stones.

In exclusive interviews with an ex-girlfriend and a former brother-in-law of Sniderman (who changed his name to David Jove after the drug bust), the Daily Mail reports that Sniderman/Jove admitted to these close confidants that he was an informant recruited by U.K. and U.S. federal government officials to help set up the drug bust, and that the purpose was to target the Rolling Stones and cause legal problems for the band.

Lead singer Jagger and guitarist Richards pleaded not guilty, but they were found guilty in a jury trial. Jagger was sentenced to three months in prison for possession of four amphetamine pills, and Richards was sentenced to 12 months in prison for allowing his home to be used for smoking cannabis. They would both spend less than two days in prison for those convictions before their prison sentences were quickly thrown out on appeal. However, the legal repercussions of being convicted of drug-related crimes would haunt the Stones for years, with Jagger and Richards having difficulties obtaining visas or entry in certain countries.

Robert Fraser, an art dealer who was also arrested at the Redlands bust, pleaded guilty to heroin possession, and he was sentenced to six months in prison. Unlike Jagger and Richards, Fraser was denied bail, and his guilty plea meant that he had to serve his prison sentence.

It has been reported in numerous articles and books about the Rolling Stones that the amphetamine pills found in Jagger's jacket during the raid actually belonged to Faithfull, who had placed the pills in the jacket and forgot about them. Jagger reportedly knew that the pills belonged to Faithfull, but Jagger took the blame, because he felt a drug-related arrest would hurt her career and reputation more than it would hurt his.

According to the Daily Mail, after the drug bust, Sniderman/Jove moved to Los Angeles, where he became a small-time producer and filmmaker. Sniderman/Jove, who died in 2004, was the father of rock violinist Lili Haydn.

Maggie Abbott, a former lover of Sniderman/Jove, whom she says she met in 1983, has come forward to reveal what she says Sniderman/Jove confessed to her about his role in getting members of the Rolling Stones arrested.

"David was a heavy drug user but had a quick wit," Abbott tells the Daily Mail in an article published on October 24, 2010. "He was the perfect choice to infiltrate the Stones. He never showed any remorse for what he did. It was all about how he had been ‘the victim.’ He was a totally selfish person. Mick had been my friend as well as a client and I thought about trying to persuade David to come clean publicly, but he was always armed with a handgun and I feared that if I gave him away, he’d shoot me."

Abbott, who was a talent agent in the 1960s, also said in the Daily Mail interview that in 1985, she and Faithfull went out to dinner, where Abbott introduced Sniderman/Jove to Faithfull under the name David Jove. Despite the name change, Abbott says that Faithfull immediately recognized the so-called Acid King, and told Abbott not to get involved with him because he was suspected of setting up the Redlands drug bust.

James Weinstock, whose sister Lotus married Sniderman/Jove in 1969, says in an interview with the Daily Mail that Sniderman/Jove told him that he was involved in the Rolling Stones arrest conspiracy so that Sniderman/Jove would avoid being sent to prison after he was caught trying sneak marijuana into the United Kingdom. (Lotus got divorced from Sniderman/Jove around 1987, and she is now deceased.)

"They gave him an ultimatum: he’d get out of prison time if he set up the Stones," says Weinstock, who revealed that Sniderman/Jove told Weinstock that he had committed murder multiple times. Weinstock also says in the interview that Sniderman/Jove claimed to be working with the MI5/MI6 and FBI to help get the Rolling Stones arrested.

George Harrison of the Beatles and his first wife, Pattie Boyd, were at the Redlands party that night, but narrowly escaped arrest because they happened to leave before the police arrived. It’s been suggested in most Rolling Stones books and in many articles about the drug bust that government officials were tipped off that Harrison and Boyd were at the Redlands party that evening, and the police waited for the couple to leave, because the cops did not want to arrest a Beatle.

It has been reported in numerous articles and books about the Rolling Stones that the amphetamine pills found in Jagger's jacket during the raid actually belonged to Faithfull, who had placed the pills in the jacket and forgot about them. Jagger reportedly knew that the pills belonged to Faithfull, but Jagger took the blame, because he felt a drug-related arrest would hurt her career and reputation more than it would hurt his.

Although Faithfull has confirmed that at the time of the drug bust, she was naked with a fur rug or bed cover wrapped around her, she has long been dogged by the story that police found her with a Mars candy bar inserted in her genital area. Faithfull and other eyewitnesses to the incident say that the Mars bar story is untrue.

In Richards’2010 memoir "Life," he gives his version of what happened at the Redlands bust. The Times had excerpts from "Life," in which Richards recalls that there were a couple of chocolate bars at the party, and one of them was on a table in front of a sofa were Faithfull was reclining.

Richards says that Faithfull was naked when the cops raided in the home, because she had just taken a bath, and "she was dressed in this fur bedspread that she’d been all day." But Richards insists that it is "a myth" that Faithfull or anyone else at the party was using any chocolate bars as a sex toy on her.

Richards says in the book that he was so high on LSD during the drug bust that he thought the police were identically dressed dwarfs: "very small people wearing dark blue with shiny bits and helmets."

After the arrest, Richards says that he thinks the judge in the case gave him a harsher-than-expected sentence because of an irreverent comment that Richards made during the trial.

When the prosecutor suggested that a young woman should be ashamed to be wearing nothing but a rug among a group of eight men, Richards said in court: "We are not old men. We are not worried about petty morals."

Richards says in his "Life" memoir: "There's two ways the authorities can deal with a perceived challenge. One is to absorb and the other is to nail. They had to leave the Beatles alone because they had already given them medals. We got the nail. It was more serious than I thought. I was in jail because I'd obviously pissed off the authorities. I'm a guitar player in a pop band and I'm being targeted by the British government and its vicious police force, all of which shows me how frightened they are."

Despite all the problems that the Redlands drug bust caused, Richards says that it fueled the outlaw image that made him even more of a hero to many people. "I’ve been playing up to it ever since."

In 2011, the Simons Wells book "Butterfly on the Wheel: The Great Rolling Stones Drugs Bust" was published. Omnibus Press (the book's publisher) had this description of the book: "Using previously unpublished police and court documents, best-selling author Simon Wells reveals what really happened on the night of the drugs raid as well as the extraordinary conspiracy mounted to end the careers of Jagger and Richards, and how the Establishment widened their net to drag in the Beatles and other rock stars. With fresh interviews with lawyers, police, eye witnesses and those present at the notorious party, Wells reveals the truth about the celebrity pushers, London gangsters, bent cops, corrupt newspapers and dodgy politicians."

[www.examiner.com]

This one has been rumbling away in the background for years (see [www.iorr.org] ) but nothing ever seems to happen. As I said three years ago, maybe Mick needs to dust off his producer's hat...

It has had a long gestation, not unusual in the film world. PR wise, it would have been great for the current tour if the film was out already. But,they seem to be doing fine without it.

this would make for a very good movie !!!

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TheGreek
this would make for a very good movie !!!

Hmm, maybe, but it's hard not to cringe at attempts to have actors be like famous musicians.

The David Jove story is a movie or sorts all on it's own. He later had connections to a lot of interesting people. Plus he ostensibly for run out of Canada before the '67 Redlands caper.

I don't know.... It could be a great social indictment on the times in detailing the corruption of people who were both jealous of and threatened by the power of youth as epitomized in the rock and roll scene of Swinging London....

....or it could just squander such opportunity by dwelling on scandal and cliche for effect, the way that Stoned movie on Brian did.

Wow. I went to college with Lili Haydn, who was a good friend of my senior year girlfriend. Used to see her all the time. I had no idea her dad was the Acid King.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-07 04:47 by Jayce.

OK it's 2 years later - any updates on this new film?

Also has anyone read Simon Wells book - Butterfly on a Wheel: The Great Rolling Stones Drugs Bust - Recommended?

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2000 LYFH
OK it's 2 years later - any updates on this new film?

Also has anyone read Simon Wells book - Butterfly on a Wheel: The Great Rolling Stones Drugs Bust - Recommended?

Yes, I read it. It's been a while, but I do remember liking it very much - lots of historical context for those who can't understand why in today's world it was such a big deal, and the sections on the treatment of Marianne and Brian Jones were especially poignant.

Hope that helps.

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2000 LYFH

Also has anyone read Simon Wells book - Butterfly on a Wheel: The Great Rolling Stones Drugs Bust - Recommended?

Yes and I recommend it.

I dont think I would want to see a movie or TV show with actors trying to portray "by name" Mick and Keef and the others, that would just look weird...

but since reading this thread, the idea of seeing an on going TV show where fictitious band members go through some similar situations and high jinks that my favorite band has gone through could be highly entertaining.

From the pissing on the wall pisssing anywhere they want, to "We are not old men We are not worried about petty morals" to girls clad only in rugs (with or without Mars bars) to court dates and band tensions... to sex drugs and rock and roll.....

Making music doing drugs and having sexual adventures with groupies while dealing with record company shenanigans tax issues moving to a villa recording songs partying beggars and hangers on the tours Princes giving sage advice a drugs bust in bumfkmiddleAmerica getting an offer to come back and do 50 dates for fifty Million and on and on and on ... there is so much material that if done right could last for years and be very entertaining in the way shows like The Larry Sander show, "Almost Famous" and Entourage are thinly veiled reenactments of funny/interesting things that really happened to real people.

And never even come close to saying this is about The Rolling Stones. All that would do is yadda yadda yadda.... Do it like The Larry Sanders show, which even never came close to saying this is what happened back stage on the Carson show. Some of the events in the lives of my favorite band stand up on their own without it ever having to be said these things really happened. And it might make for some fun interesting TV viewing. Watching the high jinks and getting in and out of trouble as they get bigger and bigger and richer and richer becoming Millionaires and world famous could be a hoot.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-07-31 15:18 by jambay.

Thanks latebloomer and His Majesty.

Maybe your right jambay about looking weird, but I think this would make a interesting film about the Stones in early 1967. Must have been an interesting day to say the least...

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2000 LYFH


Maybe your right jambay about looking weird, but I think this would make a interesting film about the Stones in early 1967. Must have been an interesting day to say the least...

I just know over time as I have seen actors trying to portray actual people who I know of very very well it distracts me from the story/movie/TV show as I look at them and... it looks more like a badly botched plastic surgery job than an actor who looks like someone I am very familiar with.

It is OK with old-timey people like John Goodman portraying Babe Ruth because I dont know the Sultan of swing really looked like, but I have spent too much watching Mick and Keef for anyone else to try to be them.

but indeed... this would make a interesting film about the Stones in early 1967. Must have been an interesting day to say the least... indeed... indeed.

Hollywood seems to be out of ideas and there are a lot of good tales here...
I really do not see the need to be remaking Ben Hur, GoatBusters or...

I'd love to a wholes series about a band growing up and... you know.


And the best part is they are still going and going...
and going... and still having sexual adventures with groupies... and...

I wonder why Brian wasn't at the party? Bill and Charlie wouldn't have gone.

James Jagger was quite good in Vinyl, I think he'd be perfect to play his father in the film. Not sure who could do Keith...that's a tough one.

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DGA35
I wonder why Brian wasn't at the party? Bill and Charlie wouldn't have gone.

Brian and Anita were having one of their fights but planned to come later.
When they were informed of the bust they opted out of course.
No mention of ALO....perhaps by that time he had stopped socialising with them.

In his book 2Stoned (or is it in the excellent first one?) ALO says he was seriously messed up at the time
with a bad combination of drugs and his still undiagnosed mood disorder. After the bust
he hightailed it out of the country because he was sure he would be busted too.
The Stones didn't appreciate being abandoned like that and the rest is history (cf Turd on the Run)

Then: Feb 12, 1967 (After walking back from the beach - Keith decided to lay down in front of the Rose Cottage which is right around the corner from Redlands) - Photo by Michael Cooper


Now: May 2015 (The Rose Cottage with a new extension added) - Screen capture from Google Maps