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Mark Lane (1927-2016) was a controversial lawyer, state legislator, and investigator from New York City. He is best known for his public opposition to segregation, his shadow investigation during the Warren Commission’s inquiry that blamed Lee Harvey Oswald for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and a screenplay that resulted in the 1973 movie Executive Action.
Lane became involved with Peoples Temple during the summer of 1978 when he and Donald Freed (co-writer of the Executive Action screenplay) visited Jonestown. Jones hired Lane to represent the Temple and investigate Jones’ suspicion that the United States government was involved in a conspiracy against the Temple and had infiltrated its ranks with secret agents (Hall 1987, 252 [PDF]; Scheeres 2011, 192-193 [PDF]).
Lane held a press conference in Georgetown, Guyana on his way back to the United States and released a document upon his return claiming a government led conspiracy against the Temple. He returned to Jonestown in November to represent the Temple during the investigative trip of Leo Ryan.
After the events of November 18, Lane returned to the United States, began representing Debbi Blakley and recorded his memories in the Diary that he later released to the FBI. Lane wanted to write a book based on his experience (it appeared in 1980 as The Strongest Poison – PDF of the book). His diary remained redacted in subsequent releases of the FBI investigation and was finally revealed in 2017, after Lane’s death.