FBI REVEALS HUGH HEFNER DOCS: 'Mass-produced lewdness'

Hefner became embroiled in legal trouble because of racy Jayne Mansfield photos.

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Late Playboy poohbah Hugh Hefner was on the FBI’s radar for decades.

The founder of the iconic magazine and brand died two years ago.

Now, the feds have released their secret files on Hefner, who helped spearhead the sexual revolution.

The document is 58-pages with huge swaths heavily redacted.

Hugh Hefner and a gaggle of his Bunnies. GETTY IMAGES

Hefner launched the magazine in Chicago in 1953 with sex siren Marilyn Monroe on the cover. The feds began keeping tabs on the skin mag pioneer in 1958.

The documents reveal that agents interviewed Hefner on a number of occasions in the late 1950s and early 1960s over what the feds called “obscene material.”

Longtime FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover was publicly a moralistic prude but privately engaged in a gay romance with his deputy director.

After the interview, agents sent a memo to Hoover that the agency watch Hefner closely to determine whether the publisher was breaking porn laws.

Marilyn Monroe was the first cover girl for Playboy magazine in 1953″ (AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman, File)

The crux of the probe was whether Hefner and his photographer were scheming to transport “pornographic images” across state lines.

According to the report, the photographer frequently attended “frequent late hour parties” that sometimes lasted through the night.

But they determined that the shooter and publisher were not breaking any laws. However, in 1958 he was banned temporarily from sending the mag through the mails because someone complained Playboy was “obscene.”

“Persons interviewed advised that Hefner too clever to violate federal or local laws,” the summary reads.

In 1963, Hefner was arrested by cops in Chicago for publishing photos of bombshell Jayne Mansfield in bed with a man. They were deemed “obscene and suggestive.”

Hef being Hef.

“[The photos show] a well-endowed movie female sprawling about in various stages of nudity,” the report read.

“Our view is that mass-produced lewdness can have a weakening, damaging effect on the moral framework of a community.”

Hefner went on to beat the charges.

Other tidbits include the Playboy employee who left because of Hefner’s “moral” character and “heavy drinking.”

When a person of public interest dies, the FBI usually releases their file on its records website.

Among other celebs probed by the FBI include, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley.

Hefner died of natural causes in September 2017 aged 91 at his infamous $100-million Beverly Hills mansion.

He was buried in an Los Angeles cemetery next to Monroe.