90 Church
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Pike left immediately, carrying them to Blanker’s office, like getting them was a big deal. I helped myself to coffee and donuts and waited for the press conference and the inevitable. I hoped that I wouldn’t show fear and trembling the way Agent Brown did when they led him out, but I kept remembering my visit to Del Ridley when he was in prison, with his bashed-out teeth and blank stare. It was nine-thirty. Ten o’clock came quickly.
We all filed toward the large conference room past Blanker’s office. The press was everywhere. There were three mounted cameras, pointing at the podium. Flowers, Blanker, and three others I didn’t recognize were seated in front. I assumed the strangers were from the Justice Department. They looked the type. All of this, just to arrest me and drag me out. How ridiculous – but I was ready. I only felt a deep sadness for my mother and father, Daisy and Mark, but I would stand up and the terrible plague of betrayals would end with me. In time they would understand and get over the shame.
Blanker loved the limelight. Press conferences always made him smile and wave his arms when he made his point. First he introduced the press and thanked them for coming. Then he said, “As some of you have heard, Judge Carl Wineburg is retiring. He has been a great friend to the agents and will be missed. Andy Flowers has the details on his retirement party.” He paused and grinned over the podium. Then the strangers nodded their heads together in agreement. “The reason you’re all here,” he continued, “the Investigative Task Force has accomplished their objectives; their final action will to be announced momentarily.”
I knew that meant my arrest, their number-one undercover agent and major target. Then Blanker said it. He said my name. Everyone turned to look at me. I grew cold and clenched my teeth, trying not to remember Del Ridley’s face when he was in prison. He continued, “This brave agent has made twenty-four undercover buys this year alone, and was responsible for bringing Henri Manasso, Charles Moon, the Medalley family, John Belonconi, and four other major crime figures under indictments. He shot and killed a drug dealer to save Agent Giovanni’s life. He was stabbed in the side by a mugger trying to steal government money. Now I am proud to announce that he has been named Head of the Justice Department Covert Operations Division, and will be relocating to Washington. Accordingly, he is being promoted to GS17, the highest jump in grade in the Bureau’s history, and of this moment he is no longer employed here at 90 Church. Congratulations, my boy.”
When his words hit me, I didn’t feel a sense of shock. Instead, I felt like a drunk who has just heard an outrageously funny joke. I started to make a hooting noise, partly to catch my breath, but I couldn’t stop. The hoots became louder and louder. I could see the cameras pointing at me, but I couldn’t help it. I saw the shocked expressions of everyone. I began to laugh – not a simple laugh but loud maniacal laughter. Every time I looked at someone – Blanker, Flowers, Pike, Silkey, and poor Michael – I would laugh harder and louder. I stood up and tried to leave. But I had to say it, I had to tell everyone. I almost yelled, “I know truth and justice. Now I understand the American way. I get it. This is the American way.” I laughed so hard I was gagging. I started to fall over and reached for a chair. Silkey grabbed my arm and tried to settle me. He said, “Jesus Christ, stop this!”
I staggered from the room, into the hall, and down to the men’s room. I wiped the tears off my face and looked in the mirror and started laughing all over again … at the short-haired agent in the three-button suit who had just been promoted, and said to my reflection, “Just like Michael always says: When you’re guilty you assume the worst.” Tears were streaming down my face as I walked out down the corridor to the elevator, and finally, laughing uncontrollably, into the street. I began talking to innocent strangers walking by, “I found the American way!”
I was two blocks away from the office before I could stop laughing. The first thing I did was to call Daisy from a pay phone. I stood in the hot New York sun, talking to her for a half hour, still crying. Daisy was crying too, the terrible nightmare was over. I caught a cab and paid sixty dollars for lunch at the Plaza Hotel’s opulent tea room. I tried to pretend I was someone important. Then I took the subway back to 90 Church and walked into Blanker’s office.
Before I could say anything Blanker said, “You just missed it; they arrested your friend Dewey.”
“What? I don’t believe it! Flowers?”
“No, three Navy officers, they had a felony warrant for murder, but it wasn’t a typical arrest.”
I was shocked. “What do you mean it wasn’t a typical arrest?”
Blanker looked away from me and answered, “Pike took his gun and credentials and brought him up here, but when he saw the arresting officers they all started hugging and laughing. Then they collected Dewey’s black gun and just walked out the door. I could hear them laughing and yelling all the way to the elevator.”
I hoped I wouldn’t start laughing about Dewey finally meeting up with his Navy buddies. “I’m resigning. I don’t want the promotion. All I want to do is leave.”
Blanker slumped down in his chair and said, “All of the investigations are over and Michael is on medical leave because of his drinking. The Task Force could find nothing wrong with any of your cases. They thought they could find Heyman’s body, but they couldn’t. They tried all sorts of ways to spell the name. They’re starting a new agency to fight drugs; it’s called the DEA. Agents here will have an opportunity to join the DEA if they want to, but I understand all the jobs are already filled. I don’t think they’re going to take any of us. They’re going to do things differently over there. They really wanted to put you in Washington. They thought you were something special. The truth is, they couldn’t indict anyone. Couldn’t make even one case … on the money, the reports, anything. Sooner or later some of Michael’s boys in the street would have started taking out the Task Force. Incidentally, how was your vacation? Looks like you got some sun.”
I smiled at him, nodded yes, and walked out of his office. To this day I do not know who arranged my Mexican vacation.
EPILOGUE
I resumed a normal life working for charitable organizations, and then later started my own business. As the years passed I began to look back upon my experience with great pride.
After bringing down five Mafia families the Federal Bureau of Narcotics had become the most effective law-enforcement agency in America’s history. It had also become very controversial and was terminated in 1968. Its files and cases were taken over by other agencies, including the FBI and CIA, who took credit for the Bureau’s accomplishments. In 1972 after years of political turmoil the Bureau was replaced by over 4,500 agents in the newly created DEA with a budget of over a billion dollars.
90 Church succeeded because its sinister network of informants enabled the agents to execute elaborate cases. Unlike the millions of dollars the DEA now spends on cases and paying informants, we were only given $5,000 per case and informants were paid a maximum of $50, including travel, to betray the most dangerous killers in America.
The files could never show that the agents secretly confiscated drug money from overseas and domestic operations to fund their cases and pay informants. It was, of course, this free flow of illicit money and protecting informants that brought 90 Church down. There were only about thirty agents in New York City who made major cases and worked with me. Many of them were indicted for drug trafficking or charged with misappropriation of funds.
Today there is little recorded history of 90 Church except for a large collection of pictures in the files of hundreds of Mafia killers and drug dealers such as Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, and Joe Valachi. Under each mug shot is the line: Arrested by Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 90 Church. We worked in an environment of desperation, in a war that threatened to destroy America. The agents did what had to be done.
Years ago in New York City I encountered a man beating an old lady while attempting to steal her purse. There was a short scuffle and the three of us ended up in the NYPD Preci
nct. A seasoned captain commented that it was odd that a charity worker could disarm a mugger. I told him I used to be at 90 Church. He stared at me for a moment, then turned to the mugger and said “For what you have done, you are going to do five years in prison. But today is the luckiest day of your life. You see I’ve heard things about the agents at 90 Church. It’s a miracle that you’re still alive.”
There are people who still remember.
SUGGESTED READING
Mafia: The Government’s Secret File on Organized Crime (No Author), Harper, 2007
The Trail of the Poppy: Behind the Mask of the Mafia by Charles Siragusa, Prentice Hall, 1966
The Strength of the Pack: The Personalities, Politics and Espionage Intrigues that Shaped the DEA by Douglas Valentine, Trine Day, 2010
The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War on Drugs by Douglas Valentine, Verso Books, 2006
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEAN UNKEFER is a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Epigraph
Publisher’s Disclaimer
Preface
Chapter One: THE ROOKIE
Chapter Two: THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE
Chapter Three: THINGS ARE LOOKING UP
Chapter Four: SETTLING IN
Chapter Five: DANGEROUS LIAISONS
Chapter Six: A TANGLED WEB
Chapter Seven: HONOR AMONG THIEVES
Chapter Eight: ALL IN THE FAMILY
Chapter Nine: SMALL-TOWN SPORT
Chapter Ten: LAW AND ORDER
Chapter Eleven: A GUILTY CONSCIENCE
Chapter Twelve: TURNING THE TABLES
Chapter Thirteen: A CAREER MOVE
Epilogue
Suggested Reading
About the Author
Copyright
90 CHURCH. Copyright © 2013 by Dean Unkefer. All rights reserved. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-06733-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-06734-0 (e-book)
Originally published in Great Britain by Virgin Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing, a Random House Group Company
This edition is published by arrangement with Ebury Publishing, a part of the Penguin Random House group of companies
First U.S. Edition: June 2015
eISBN 9781250067340