In at least one report, Presley was said to have been despondent over the book’s publication.

It also tells of Presley’s sexual appetite before, during and after his marriage and begins with a graphic recounting of an obsessed Elvis in Las Vegas literally climbing his hotel walls, demanding that his faithful bodyguards secure a “hit” on karate instructor Mike Stone, for whom, according to the book, Priscilla Presley left Elvis.

The book also reveals Presley’s affection for guns, his contempt for singers he considered competitive (he once blasted a TV with a gun, the book says, when Robert Goulet appeared) and his fascination with death (breaking into a mortuary with some friends and giving lectures - using corpses - on the embalming process). It alleges heavy use of uppers and downers, one try with LSD and a nearly fatal experience involving a young female fan. Published by Ballantine Books, Elvis What Happened? is riddled with references to Presley’s drug habits. The West cousins had been loyal to Presley for some 16 years when the three men were dismissed in July 1976 by Elvis’ father, Vernon. They were prominent members of the so-called “Memphis Mafia,” the group that had surrounded Elvis since his discharge from the Army in 1960. FOUR DAYS BEFORE ELVIS PRESLEY’S death, a paperback book appeared with this questioning title: Elvis What Happened? The book is an “as-told-to” affair written by Australian writer Steve Dunleavy (of publisher Rupert Murdoch’s World News Corporation) with the help of three former Presley bodyguards - Red West, a friend of Elvis’ since high school Red’s cousin, Sonny West, and karate expert Dave Hebler.

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