Has "Deep Throat" Died?

Woodward? Bernstein? Was it Fred LaRue?

Fred LaRue, a Watergate figure and high-ranking Nixon administration official who once was rumored to be Deep Throat, has died of natural causes. He was 75.

His body was discovered Tuesday by a maid who entered his hotel room in Biloxi, Coroner Gary Hargrove said. The coroner said he believes LaRue died Saturday.

LaRue was known as the "bagman" who delivered payoffs to keep participants in the Watergate break-in quiet, and served 41/2 months in federal prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice.

LaRue served as special assistant to John Mitchell, the former attorney general who later headed President Nixon's re-election committee.

LaRue was present at a 1972 meeting with Mitchell and Nixon aide Jeb Stuart Magruder at Nixon's vacation home in Key Biscayne, Florida, where the plan to break into the Watergate complex in Washington allegedly was hatched. The building housed Democratic Party headquarters and LaRue said he advised against the burglary.