New Orleans mayor thought CIA agents were trying to POISON him after Hurricane Katrina



The former mayor of New Orleans has revealed how he became so paranoid after Hurricane Katrina he was convinced the government was trying to poison him.

Ray Nagin also tells the bizarre story of how heavily-armed men in combat suits allegedly stormed his command centre and attempted to plant bugs, as he led the response to the 2005 disaster.



He makes the revelations in a self-published memoir, Katrina's Secrets: Storms After the Storm.

Bizarre revelations: Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans, has described how he believed the government was trying to poison him

In the book, he portrays himself as a lone ranger desperately trying to save his hometown against the ineptitude of government officials - and even racist forces.

But Mr Nagin, who left office last year, says he also became deeply paranoid.

He said it first started after his infamous rant on September 1, in which he attacked two U.S. Senators who allegedly boasted 'about how well things were going', even though evacuees were still living in terrible conditions.

He wrote: 'I thought to myself, ‘I’m a dead man! I have just publicly denounced the governor, U.S. Senators, FEMA and the president of the United States.

Paranoia: Ray Nagin, pictured with George W. Bush during the disaster operation, has revealed how he believed CIA agents were trying to kill him

'I started wondering if during the night I would be visited by specially trained CIA agents. Could they secretly shoot me with a miniature, slow-acting poison dart?'

His paranoia reached new heights the Monday after the hurricane, when he visited the USS Iwo Jima, an assault ship which served as the base for the federal rescue operation.

When he arrived, he was taken to the infirmary, where two doctors 'had orders to examine me and give me shots.'

He wrote: 'I was still a little paranoid and again started imagining a secret CIA plot where in six months I would be gone,.

'After thinking for a minute, I said to them, "Okay, you can give me shots, but I want you to do the same for my two security guys".

'My thinking was it would have been easier to spin that stress ultimately took me out, but it would be much harder to explain all three of us suddenly dying mysteriously.'

Devastation: The then-president, George W. Bush, joins Ray Nagin as they survey the flood waters in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

He also describes how he and his aides were in the command room when a group of 20 men stormed, 'dressed in black combat outfits and adorned in bulletproof vests, rifles, and leg straps holding at least two very large handguns each.'

He said they claimed they needed to install satellite lines, and said: 'We’re here to protect the mayor. Everybody else get out.'

Mr Nagin says he believes the men were from defence firm Blackwater. He explains that his aides managed to kick them out and stop them installing the bugs.

In the 330-page paperback, he also describes how a small group of white police officers turned into a 'modern-day Ku Klux Klan.'