Mr. King, who was born in Texas, and worked for a number of newspapers in that state, was a leading light of the "New Journalism" movement of the 1960s and early '70s. His personal essays and investigative pieces frequently appeared in the pages of Harper's Magazine. His most fruitful article, however, was published by Playboy in 1974. It was about the Chicken Ranch, a notorious, and highly profitable brothel that operated for decades in La Grange, TX. Though illegal, the cathouse was tolerated by local officials, who often used the whorehouse as a way to glean information that led to criminal arrests.