CIA Dirty Deeds Detailed in Documents

Assassination plots, illegal wiretapping and spying at political conventions were among the lowlights illuminated in hundreds of pages of CIA documents from the Watergate era declassified yesterday. Illicit acts known in the agency as the "family jewels" included a $150,000 CIA payment to a mobster to kill Fidel Castro and a plan to poison an African premier.

The documents are "reminders of some things the CIA should not have done," conceded current agency director Michael Hayden. Much of the information, in the form of memos and correspondence with politicians and bureaucrats, was turned over to Congress in the '70s, and resulted in stricter rules and increased oversight of the CIA. (More CIA stories.)