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Joey Gargan was an assistant U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts from 1961 to 1964, when he entered private practice in Boston. If Gargan failed to advise Kennedy to report his accident promptly, it was not through ignorance of motor vehicle laws; he had handled countless claims arising from car accidents. Gargan has been generally respected for his competence as a lawyer, yet the Kennedy family has absorbed almost all of his loyalty and attention. The son of Rose Kennedy's sister Mary Agnes Fitzgerald and Joseph F. Gargan, a prominent Lowell, Mass., attorney and World War I hero, Joey Gargan virtually grew up with the Kennedys. His parents died when he was young, and Rose saw to his school and college expenses. Almost Ted's age, Gargan became more like a brother than a cousin to Teddy, although Gargan has always found himself in a somewhat subservient role. He served as advance man for Kennedy's appearances and enjoyed total personal confidence.
Gargan has the gregarious wit of a Boston pol. In July he became president of a bank in Hyannisport, and moved his wife Betty and two children to a house there partly in order to live close to the Kennedy compound.
The other three men at the party were also friends and cronies of Ted's, although none knew him nearly so well as Gargan and Markham.
Jack Crimmins
An investigator for the Suffolk County, Mass., district attorney's office, Crimmins, 63, is a taciturn South Boston Irishman who has been driving cars for Ted Kennedy since his 1962 senatorial campaign. Apart from his chauffeur's role, Crimmins' principal contribution has been to relay the advice of some "Southie" voters: "Tell the kid to stop singing Sweet Adeline. He sings off key." Kennedy took the advice.
Ray La Rosa
LaRosa, 51, met Kennedy through "Boots" Moss, an aide who died in Kennedy's 1964 airplane crash. Now a civil defense adviser in Massachusetts, he was a professional fireman in Andover, Mass., for almost nine years. He was highly trained in all forms of rescue work and, had he been called upon, might have been invaluable on the night of Mary Jo Kopechne's drowning: even if Mary Jo was beyond saving, his presence would have strengthened Ted's claim to have done everything he could for the girl.
Charles Tretter
A Boston attorney and occasional sailing companion of Ted's, Tretter, 30, is typical of the smart, clean-cut young men whom the Kennedys have attracted to their campaigns. A 1960 dean's list graduate of Boston College, Tretter volunteered for Ted's first Senate race and worked as an advance man, mapping itineraries and revving up crowds for the candidate's appearance. He now works for the New England Regional Commission in Boston.