48 hours before being shot by Mark Chapman, former Beatles member John Lennon recorded an interview with Andy Peebles of BBC Radio One, from his home in New York. The tapes were made available by the BBC in early 1981 but I believe are now out of print.
An advert in 1981 for BBC Publications – ‘The Lennon Tapes’
Throughout 1981, there was constant chatter – particularly in the music press – over allegations that the FBI had been complicit in the killing of John Lennon.
Obviously this was strenuously denied by the forces of law and order in the US. That’s not to say that Lennon had not severely irritated the political Right in the US and that he didn’t have a sizeable FBI file, because he did. His espousal of various causes including Irish Republicanism was not likely to endear him to certain people.
The issue of secret service involvement in Lennon’s death still resurfaces and this is an article from the Daily Mail regarding accusations that the CIA was involved.