Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy dies at age 90
WASHINGTON, DC -- G. Gordon Liddy, the central figure in the 1970's Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation, has died at the age of 90.
The Washington Post reported Liddy's death on Tuesday evening. It quoted family members as saying that Liddy died at his daughter's suburban D.C. home. No cause of death was given, but the family said it wasn't Covid-19.
Liddy, a former FBI official who served as as adviser to Nixon, organized and directed the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building in 1972 under Nixon's orders.
After five of Liddy's operatives were arrested inside the DNC offices on June 17, 1972, subsequent investigations of the Watergate scandal led to Nixon's resignation in 1974.
Liddy was indicted as the mastermind of the scheme. He was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping and served nearly five years in prison before his sentence was commuted by then-President Jimmy Carter.
In the later years of his life, an unrepentant Liddy wrote an autobiography about his work for Nixon, appeared playing the role of villainous characters in several TV shows and movies, and spent a couple decades as a right-wing radio talk show host.
