It’s coming up on the 25th anniversary of Herbert Huncke’s passing this weekend so want to pay tribute with a series of posts, starting with this one from Francois Bernardi’s must-see Original Beats: GREGORY CORSO and HERBERT HUNCKE Two lions of the Beat Generation, filmed shortly before Huncke’s death, August 8, 1996.
“The FBI caught Huncke and gave him some marijuana and said plant this in Ginsberg’s house and we won’t bother you any more. Huncke called up Allen and told (him) what the FBI said. I was there. Allen immediately called up Robert Kennedy (because Robert Kennedy had gotten in touch with Allen earlier on, getting the vote, lets say, with the people that Allen knew – and Allen knew a lot of people – and he (Kennedy) knew (that) he was an influence in New York. So Allen calls Robert Kennedy and says, “Look, get the FBI off my back! – they got this guy, Herbert Huncke, they wanna lay pot on him and plant it in my house, so I get busted”. And bam! – never again did it happen to Allen. Now that’s a fact of life.”