About Me
Oscar Zeta Acosta (April 8, 1935 – 1974?) was an American attorney, author, politician, and Chicano Movement activist. He is most famous for being the inspiration for the "Samoan" attorney character "Dr. Gonzo" in Hunter S. Thompson's book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.His first novel, Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, was published in 1972, followed in 1973 by The Revolt of the Cockroach People, a fictionalized version of the 1970 Chicano Moratorium.In the summer of 1967 Acosta met gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who would in 1971 write an article on Acosta and the injustice in the barrios of East L.A. for Rolling Stone magazine titled "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan." This article also discusses the murder of Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar. When working on the article, Thompson and Acosta decided a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada was in order so that Salazar and the racial injustice of L.A. could be discussed openly. The trip has now been immortalized in the book and movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.As Hunter Thompson wrote in "The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat", the legal department of the publishers of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas stated that they could not publish the book unless clearance were given by Oscar Acosta, due to the obvious references to the attorney. When written for permission, Oscar Acosta refused - on the grounds that he did not want to be referred to as a "300-pound Samoan". He did, however, understand that having this reference substituted by his name would mean the book could not be published on time, so he promised clearance provided that his name and picture would appear on the dustjacket.Quotes about Acosta:
"Oscar was not into serious street-fighting, but he was hell on wheels in a bar brawl. Any combination of a 250 lb [113 kg] Mexican and LSD-25 is a potentially terminal menace for anything it can reach - but when the alleged Mexican is in fact a profoundly angry Chicano lawyer with no fear at all of anything that walks on less than three legs and a de facto suicidal conviction that he will die at the age of 33 - just like Jesus Christ - you have a serious piece of work on your hands. Especially if the bastard is already 33 1/2 years old with a head full of Sandoz acid, a loaded .357 Magnum in his belt, a hatchet-wielding Chicano bodyguard on his elbow at all times, and a disconcerting habit of projectile vomiting geysers of pure blood off the front porch every 30 or 40 minutes, or whenever his malignant ulcer can't handle any more raw tequila."- Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone #254, Dec. 15, 1977..
