First published by Verso 2004
This edition published by Verso 2006
© Douglas Valentine
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the authors and translators have been asserted
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eISBN: 978-1-78168-338-5
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v3.1
to Alice,
with love
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
CAST OF MAIN CHARACTERS
INTRODUCTION
1 THE BIRTH OF A BUREAU
2 THE COMMISSIONER AND HIS CLIQUE
3 ANSLINGER’S ANGST
4 INSIDE THE FBN
5 GOD’S WORK
6 CREATING A CRIME
7 CONTINENTAL CAPERS
8 THE BEIRUT OFFICE
9 THE SECRET POLICEMAN
10 TRUE DETECTIVES
11 ST. MICHAEL’S SERGEANT AT ARMS
12 GANGBUSTERS
13 ANGLOPHILES AND FRANCOPHOBES
14 A SHOOFLY IN THE OINTMENT
15 THE MAGIC BUTTON
16 MAKING THE MAFIA
17 AGGRAVATING EDGAR: BOBBY KENNEDY AND THE FBN
18 THE FRENCH CONNECTION
19 VALACHI
20 THE FBN AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK
21 NO INNOCENTS ABROAD
22 THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION
23 THE NEW FRENCH CONNECTION
24 THE NEW BARBARIANS
25 THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE
26 GOLDEN TRIANGLE ENTERPRISES
27 MY ONLY FRIEND
28 ANDY’S GANG
EPILOGUE
APPENDIX
NOTES
CAST OF MAIN CHARACTERS
Acampora, Colonel Tulius – US Army counterintelligence officer assigned to Rome and Saigon; confidant of Charles Siragusa and Henry Manfredi; friend of Andrew Tartaglino, Michael Picini, Fred Dick and John Cusack.
Amato, Joseph – Joined the FBN before the Second World War; was the original leader of the International Group and its forerunner, the Mafia Squad; was the respected and knowledgeable leader of Enforcement Group Four in New York until his transfer to Boston in 1964.
Angleton, James J. – Worked with George White and Charlie Siragusa in the OSS; was chief of counterintelligence at the CIA, and in that capacity was the CIA’s liaison to FBN agents Charlie Siragusa and Hank Manfredi; was also in touch with the Mafia through labor lawyer Mario Brod, and, through his staff, with the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad.
Anslinger, Harry J. – Employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Police; joined the State Department in 1918, served at the Hague, in Hamburg, Venezuela and Bermuda; brought by his wife’s uncle, Andrew Mellon, into the Treasury Department in 1926 as chief of the Prohibition Unit’s Division of Foreign Control; Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1930–1962. Shaped the FBN’s policies and procedures in his own image.
Attie, James – Honest, dedicated, much decorated undercover agent who worked alone in the Middle East, Europe, and Mexico, as well as Chicago and New York. Adversary of Anslinger and Charlie Siragusa; believed the Mossad was involved in drug trafficking.
Belk, George M. – Joined the FBN in 1948; worked with Howard Chappell on an integrity case in Chicago; became district supervisor in Chicago in 1958; aligned with Henry Giordano against George Gaffney; became district supervisor in New York in 1963; managed the CIA’s safehouse in New York, and became embroiled in Andy Tartaglino’s anti-corruption investigation, 1967–68.
Benjamin, Mortimer L. – Worked in New York on the French Connection, Castellani–Brown, and Nebbia cases, among others, and was a close friend and partner of Lenny Schrier, perhaps the FBN’s most effective case-making agent.
Biase, Patrick – Undercover agent in the Cotroni and Air France cases in Canada and France; member of the Gambling Squad and the Gaffney–Ward–Dolce clique that competed with Lenny Schrier in New York.
Bransky, Joseph – Arrested Lucky Luciano in 1923 as a member of the Prohibition Unit’s Narcotics Division; known as the dean of the FBN’s district supervisors; served most of his career in Philadelphia.
Chappell, Howard W. – A decorated OSS veteran; met Garland Williams at the OSS training school and was hired by Williams into the FBN in 1947; befriended by George White; served as an agent in Cleveland, New York, Houston, and Toledo, and as agent in charge in Los Angeles; made many undercover cases in Mexico; resigned rather than accept a transfer to New York in 1961.
Coursey, John T. – Very successful undercover agent in New York for many years; responsible with Jack Peterson for the “panic” of 1962.
Cunningham, George W. – Agent in the 1920s in many locations, and in the FBN served as district supervisor in New Orleans and New York; would finance undercover agents out of his own pocket; friend of vice president Alben Barkley; respected Deputy Commissioner of the FBN from 1949 until his death in 1958; Anslinger’s liaison to the Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Cusack, John T. – Accompanied Charlie Siragusa to Rome in 1951; leader of the Court House Squad in New York; district supervisor in Atlanta, Rome, and Kansas City; later chief of foreign operations at FBN headquarters.
Davis, William B. – Outstanding undercover agent in New York, Detroit, and Europe; resigned from the FBN in 1959 over Anslinger’s policies toward Black agents and addicts; joined the United States Information Agency.
DeFauw, Robert J. – Talented agent, started in Chicago; assigned to Marseilles in 1965; participated in many important cases across Europe.
Dick, Fred T. – Agent in New York and Kansas City until 1958, then field inspector investigating agent wrongdoing; participated in Lee Speer’s thwarted investigation of agent wrongdoing in New York in 1961; a Giordano loyalist, he replaced Chappell as agent in charge of Los Angeles and later replaced George White as district supervisor in San Francisco.
Dolce, John M. – Always in New York as an agent, as leader of Enforcement Group Three, and as enforcement assistant to George Belk until his transfer to Miami in 1965, after which he quit the FBN; instrumental in the Cotroni case with his mentor, Pat Ward and his friend, Patty Biase; Lenny Schrier’s archrival.
Dolce, Frank – Well-liked veteran of the Second World War; John Dolce’s brother; a member of the Gambling Squad and Group Three; later joined the Nassau County Sheriff’s office and was arrested with his partner Jack Gohde for selling heroin.
Dunagan, Richard J. – Started his career as a Spanish-speaking federal agent in the Border Patrol, then joined the FBN in Miami; in 1964 was the third FBN agent assigned to Mexico.
Durkin, William J. – Joined the FBN in Pennsylvania; agent in charge in Pittsburgh; was George Belk’s enforcement assistant in Chicago starting in 1958; did a review of Lee Speer’s corruption investigation in New York in late 1961, and exonerated the New York agents; opened the FBN’s first office in Mexico City in 1962 and remained there until 1967.
Dyar, Charles B. – Joined the State Department in 1906; met Anslinger at the Hague in 1918; served in the Narcotics Division of the Prohibition Unit; recruited by Anslinger into the Flying Squad of the Division of Foreign Control; recruited by Anslinger into the FBN in 1930 to
run European operations; worked briefly for Customs, back into the FBN, then to the OSS, back to the FBN; no records about his service after 1947.
Enright, John R. – Agent in New York; managed the Genovese case at the Court House Squad; district supervisor in Atlanta; consultant to the McClellan Committee; acting district supervisor in New York; the FBN’s assistant for enforcement at headquarters under Henry Giordano.
Evans, John G. – Agent and enforcement assistant under district supervisor Ross Ellis in Detroit and a member of Detroit’s “Purple Gang”; district supervisor in Atlanta; a member of Andy Tartaglino’s Task Force that investigated agent corruption in New York in 1968.
Feldman, Ira – Army counterintelligence officer in Korea; hired into the FBN in 1955 in San Francisco where he managed, under George White’s direction, a CIA MKULTRA Program safehouse; later an agent and group leader in New York.
Fitzgerald, Benjamin – Respected agent and group leader in New York; confidant of James C. Ryan; head of the Court House Squad in the mid-1960s.
Fluhr, Arthur J. – Always in New York, as an agent, group leader, and executive assistant to District Supervisor George Belk. Demoted in October 1967 after the “Day of Infamy.”
Frias, Ralph – Successful and multilingual undercover agent in Los Angeles, then Europe, especially in Sicily. Resigned in 1958.
Gaffney, George H. – Protégé of Pat Ward; agent, group leader, and first representative to the Court House Squad in New York; district supervisor in Atlanta (1956–57) and New York (1958–62); brought by Bobby Kennedy to Washington as the FBN’s enforcement assistant in 1962; in 1964 became Deputy Commissioner under Henry Giordano. Led the New York office from 1958 to 1962 during its most successful case-making era.
Gentry, Ernest M. – An agent in New York right after the war; district supervisor in San Francisco and Dallas; deputy assistant for administration at FBN headquarters, 1965–68.
Giordano, Henry L. – Pharmacist and agent in Seattle; agent in charge in Minneapolis; district supervisor in Kansas City; served as a consultant to the Boggs Committee; field supervisor, enforcement assistant, Deputy Commissioner, and from 1962 to 1968 Commissioner of the FBN.
Gohde, Jack L. – Member of Group Three and the Gambling Squad; quit the FBN to join the Nassau County Sheriff’s office; arrested with Frank Dolce for selling heroin.
Gonzalez, Angel L. – Successful and well-liked undercover agent in New York, Miami and New Orleans; caught up in Tartaglino’s Task Force investigation in 1968.
Greenfeld, Irwin – Agent in New York before the war; well-liked group leader in New York; acting district supervisor in New York; district supervisor in Baltimore; field supervisor at Washington headquarters investigating agent wrongdoing.
Habib, Albert – Former Tunisian policeman; recruited by Ike Feldman into the FBN in 1955; an agent and manager of a MKULTRA safehouse in San Francisco; an agent in Bangkok and throughout Southeast Asia starting in 1964.
Harney, Malachi L. – In the early 1920s served as a supervisor in the IRS Intelligence Unit; established a reputation as a “gang buster” while overseeing Eliot Ness and the legendary Untouchables in their successful pursuit of Al Capone in Chicago; served in Anslinger’s Flying Squad, and as FBN enforcement assistant until the mid-1950s, when he was appointed assistant to the Treasury Secretary for law enforcement.
Hayes, Crofton J. – Agent in New York; agent in charge of the Newark field office; died under mysterious circumstances of a heroin overdose in September 1953.
Knight, Paul E. – Agent in New York; joined Siragusa in Rome in 1952; first agent in charge in Beirut in 1954; helped make the First Ambassador case in 1960, then assigned to Paris; joined the CIA in 1963 and returned to Beirut where he worked undercover as an FBN agent and chief of security for Pan Am.
Manfredi, Henry L. – As an Army CID agent worked with Charlie Siragusa in Italy in 1950; joined the FBN in 1951; was an FBN and CIA agent in Rome until 1967, when he returned to work at FBN headquarters as chief of foreign operations, as well as other capacities.
Mangiaracina, Anthony – Known as “Tony Grapes”, did the undercover work for Schrier on the Orlandino case; transferred to Rome in 1959; then back to New York in 1961; jumped to BDAC in 1966.
Maria, Victor G. – Joined the FBN in San Francisco; studied under Howard Chappell in Los Angeles; fluent in Lebanese; replaced Paul Knight in Paris and made many cases across Europe; involved in the controversial Ben Barka Affair of 1965.
Marshall, Eugene J. – Agent in New York; agent in charge of Miami; arrested in Miami in 1965 for taking bribes.
McDonnell, Charles R. – Undercover agent and member of Group Three in New York, then in Los Angeles; jumped to BDAC; was arrested and imprisoned for selling heroin in 1968.
O’Carroll, Patrick P. – Agent in New York; chief of the Treasury Department’s training school in Washington.
Oyler, Ralph H. – Top narcotic agent of the 1920s, he made the case through which the Supreme Court found latent police powers in the Harrison Narcotic Act; made the case that led to the Jones–Miller Act of 1922, which standardized licensing and registration practices, and provided for a federal narcotics commission, later chaired by Anslinger, which controlled the importation and exportation of narcotics; district supervisor in New York and Chicago in old Narcotics Division; FBN district supervisor in Detroit until his death in 1947.
Panich, Walter – Joined the FBN in 1942 as a clerk in Detroit and became an agent in 1948; served almost continually in Detroit until Henry Giordano brought him to headquarters in late 1961 as his personal assistant on administrative matters.
Pera, Martin F. – Joined the FBN in Chicago; traveled to Europe with Charlie Siragusa in 1951; worked on a special case with George White in 1952; leader of the International Group in New York; acting district supervisor in Rome in 1961; consultant to the McClellan Committee; resigned and joined the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1963.
Picini, Michael G. – An undercover agent in New York, Washington, DC, and California; then group leader in New York; then district supervisor in Boston; district supervisor in Rome under Commissioner Henry Giordano from 1963 until 1968.
Pohl, Anthony S. – A French-speaking agent recruited into the FBN from the Army CID in 1960; sent to Paris in 1961 and established the FBN’s first official office in Marseilles in 1962; transferred to Chicago in 1963.
Salmi, Richard E. – Joined the FBN in Los Angeles, worked undercover there and in Mexico and Las Vegas; involved in the controversial Bobby Baker wiretapping incident; transferred to Turkey in 1966 where he made many important undercover cases.
Schrier, Leonard S. – Considered by many to be the premier case-making agent in New York; competed with the Gaffney–Ward–Dolce clique; leader of Enforcement Groups One and Two in 1964, and the International Group from 1965 until his resignation in 1967.
Seifer, Matthew – Pharmacist and agent in the FBN before the Second World War; served in New York, Buffalo and Boston.
Selvaggi, Francis J. – Controversial agent married to Charlie Siragusa’s niece, made the Joe Valachi case and the Rinaldo–Palmieri case; targeted by the FBI as a result of the Valachi case; accused by Valachi of being a member of the Bronx mob; resigned in 1967 rather than take a transfer to San Francisco; perhaps the greatest case-making agent of his era.
Siragusa, Charles – Joined the FBN before the Second World War; protégé of George White; served in the OSS; group leader in New York; opened the FBN’s first overseas office in Rome in 1951; became the FBN’s liaison to the CIA in 1959 when he returned to Washington as field supervisor; competed with Giordano to replace Anslinger as Commissioner, served as Deputy Commissioner until his retirement in December 1963.
Speer, Wayland L. – A pharmacist and agent in Texas; served in Japan for four years after the Second World War; field supervisor investigating agent wrongdoing; and a consultant to the Daniel Committee; as enforcement assistant at headquarters, launched a corruption investiga
tion in New York in 1961; his investigation failed and he became district supervisor in Denver.
Tartaglino, Andrew C. – Started as an agent in New York, went to Rome in 1956 and became Charlie Siragusa’s protégé; opened the Paris office in 1959 and helped make the First Ambassador case; member of the New York Court House Squad; Gaffney’s assistant at headquarters before his transfer to Main Treasury where, in 1965, he organized a corruption investigation focused on the New York agents. The investigation began in earnest in 1967 and climaxed in 1968 with the formation of a four-member Task Force that helped bring about the FBN’s abolition in April 1968.
Taylor, Bowman – An agent in Texas until his transfer to Bangkok, where he opened the FBN’s first office in the Far East in 1963; while working undercover in Vientiane, arrested General Vang Pao, head of the CIA’s secret army in Laos, for selling fifty kilograms of morphine base; expelled from Laos by the CIA as a result; a member of Tartaglino’s Task Force that investigated agent corruption in New York in 1968.
Taylor, Thomas P. – Former NYPD detective and IRS inspector, became an FBN agent in 1967 to work for Andy Tartaglino during his corruption investigation in New York.
Tripodi, Thomas C. – First an FBN agent in New York, then an assistant to Charlie Siragusa at headquarters; joined the CIA for five years; returned to the FBN in 1967 to work for Andy Tartaglino during his corruption investigation in New York.
Vizzini, Salvatore – Joined the FBN in Atlanta in 1953; transferred to New York in 1955 and to Miami in 1957; performed lots of undercover work in Cuba; assigned to Rome in 1959, where he made a case on several of Lucky Luciano’s associates; opened the FBN’s first office in Istanbul in 1961; worked in Bangkok before Bowman Taylor; returned to Miami and went on disability after getting mugged in Puerto Rico; resigned in 1966.
Ward, Charles G. – Joined the FBN in New York as a clerk; leader of Enforcement Group Three and mentor to many of the FBN’s finest agents, including George Gaffney and John Dolce; enforcement assistant to New York district supervisors Ryan and Gaffney; head of the Gambling Squad; district supervisor in Chicago starting in 1964.
The Strength of the Wolf Page 1