", The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. From its very inception, the CIA has been embroiled in the murky underworld of drug trafficking. In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (the Kerry committee) concluded a three-year investigation by stating: There was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region. CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking Central Intelligence Agency A number of writers have alleged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in the Nicaraguan Contras ' cocaine trafficking operations during the 1980s Nicaraguan civil war. In sum, the CIA's role in the Southeast Asian heroin trade involved indirect complicity rather than direct culpability. The first one, "The California Story", was issued in a classified version on December 17, 1997, and in an unclassified version on January 29, 1998. One of those groups is The Finders, which Gunderson said is operated by the CIA. General Manuel Noriega, head of Panama's government, had been giving military assistance to Contra groups in Nicaragua at the request of the U.S.which, in exchange, allowed him to continue his drug-trafficking activitieswhich they had known about since the 1960s. The third article, by Mitchell and Fulwood, covered the effects of crack on African Americans and how it affected their reaction to some of the rumors that arose after the Dark Alliance series. This short documentary is evidence that proves The CIA has been importing drugs into our country. In 1949, two of Chiang Kai-shek's defeated generals, Li Wen Huan and Tuan Shi Wen, marched their Third and Fifth Route. [2] Investigation by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General, and United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence rejected the main charges. "In 1984, CIA received allegations that five individuals associated with the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE)/Sandino Revolutionary Front (FRS) were engaged in a drug trafficking conspiracy with a known narcotics trafficker, Jorge Morales," the report found. On October 3, 1996, LA County Sheriff Sherman Block ordered a fourth investigation into Webb's claims that a 1986 raid on Blandn's drug organization by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had produced evidence of CIA ties to drug smuggling and that this was later suppressed. Asking why crack became so prevalent in the black community of Los Angeles, the article credited Blandn, referring to him as the Johnny Appleseed of crack in California.It also found disparities in the treatment of black and white traffickers in the justice system, contrasting the treatment of Blandn and Ross after their arrests for drug trafficking. Before the creation of the CIA in 1947, Allen Dulles assembled the Flying Tigers, an inner clique within the Office of Strategic Services . The CIA has a long history of being involved in global drug trade in all parts of the world under the control of the US or where it has considerable influence. Gunderson discovered that in the U.S. there is a secret widespread network of groups who kidnap children and infants, and subject them to Satanic ritual abuse and subsequent human sacrifice. [33], The Honduran drug lord Juan Matta-Ballesteros was the owner of SETCO, an airline which the Nicaraguan Contras used to covertly transport military supplies and personnel in the early 1980s. But while calling the flaws in the series "unforgivably careless journalism," Overholser also criticized the Post's refusal to print Ceppos' letter defending the series and sharply criticized the Post's coverage of the story. The first article, by Katz, developed a different picture of the origins of the crack trade than "Dark Alliance" had described, with more gangs and smugglers participating. Despite the numerous, documented and fully admitted examples of CIA involvement in drug dealing in the past, the idea that the agency is still tied in with . U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua. [42] McCoy alleges that the CIA protects local warlords and incentivizes them to become drug lords. Webb's series led to three federal investigations, all of which concluded there was no evidence of a conspiracy by CIA officials or its employees to bring drugs into the United States. They were operated by narcotics traffickers who provided weapons for the Contras. They identified the Cuban-Americans as members of Brigade 2506, an anti-Castro group that participated in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. A Russian man accused of trying to smuggle about 900 pounds of cocaine from Argentina to Russia said the CIA was behind the massive drug-trafficking operation and that he has been set up. And my brother is the last major obstacle to them in the south. It was this heroin network that eventually became known as "the French Connection". The series examined the origins of the crack cocaine trade in Los Angeles and claimed that members of the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua had played a major role in creating the trade, using cocaine profits to support their struggle. Americans, 5% of Earths population, take 60% of painkillers on Earth. "[29], In 1996, Gary Webb wrote a series of articles published in the San Jose Mercury News, which investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had smuggled cocaine into the U.S. which was then distributed as crack cocaine into Los Angeles and funneled profits to the Contras. And I know so because I was told by some of these pilots that in fact they had done that."[54]. [23], During a PBS Frontline investigation, DEA field agent Hector Berrellez said, "I believe that elements working for the CIA were involved in bringing drugs into the country. ", Many follow-ups to the original series published over the next three months are in the series archive at. [19][15] McCoy stated that: In most cases, the CIA's role involved various forms of complicity, tolerance or studied ignorance about the trade, not any direct culpability in the actual trafficking [t]he CIA did not handle heroin, but it did provide its drug lord allies with transport, arms, and political protection. Long Island is home to some of the wealthiest communities in New York State which goes to show that heroin is affecting all neighborhoods rich and poor. Snowfall (2017- ) A 1986 investigation by a sub-committee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the Kerry Committee), found that "the Contra drug links included", among other connections, "[] payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies. So How Did It Become the Cloak-and-Dagger Capital of America? Apparently it worked so well, that they did it in a big way at least twice. U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York City experienced a rise in crime and disease. This is all easily obtainable information. It was a way to raise large amounts of "hard to trace" cash. In his book "Politics of Heroin",[43] McCoy alleges CIA complicity in the global drug trade in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, and Colombia, arguing that the CIA follows a similar pattern in all their drug involvement. [52], The report stated that the CIA had requested the Justice Department return $36,800 to a member of the Meneses drug ring, which had been seized by DEA agents in the Frogman raid in San Francisco. During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. But the director of the Drug Enforcement Agency initially praised him for his "vigorous anti-drug trafficking policy." Eventually . Mid-1980s to early 199Os, HAITI. [32], In October 2013, two former federal agents and an ex-CIA contractor told an American television network that CIA operatives were involved in the kidnapping and murder of DEA covert agent Enrique Camarena, because he was a threat to the agency's drug operations in Mexico in the 1980s. [50], The first volume of the report found no evidence that "any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing" with Ross, Blandn, or Meneses or that any of the other figures mentioned in "Dark Alliance" were ever employed by or associated with or contacted by the agency. By the end of September, three federal investigations had been announced: an investigation into the CIA allegations conducted by CIA Inspector-General Frederick Hitz, an investigation into the law enforcement allegations by Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Bromwich, and a second investigation into the CIA by the House Intelligence Committee. [27] McManus found Blandn and Meneses's financial contributions to Contra organizations to be significantly less than the "millions" claimed in Webb's series, and no evidence that the CIA had tried to protect them. From August 1820, 1996, the San Jose Mercury News published the Dark Alliance series by Gary Webb,[15][16] which claimed: For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Webb was following the trial of a Contra leader named Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes who testified as to the C.I.As involvement in cocaine trafficking into Inner city Los Angeles in the 1980s. [45] They raised allegations about his brother Ahmed Wali's involvement in the drug trade, hoping that the President would agree to move his brother out of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, American journalists Anthony Avirgan and Martha Honey claimed that the perpetrator of the La Penca bombing was linked to a drug-financed "Secret Team" of FDN Contras and CIA agents. The Royal Laotian Air Force had almost no light planes that could land on the dirt runways near the mountaintop poppy fields. Webbs Dark Alliance series, appeared in the. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross testimony in the corruption case. in Central America", "Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal", "Clandestination: Arkansas; Mena Is a Quiet Little Place. The charges linked the Contra trafficking to Sebastin Gonzlez Mendiola, who was charged with cocaine trafficking on November 26, 1984, in Costa Rica. According to Tim Weiner, the Central Intelligence Agency "has been accused of forming alliances of convenience with drug traffickers around the world in the name of anti-Communism" since its creation in 1947.[1]. In the early 1970s, Alfred McCoy "accused American officials of condoning and even cooperating with corrupt elements in Southeast Asia's illegal drug trade out of political and military considerations"[2] and stated that the CIA was knowingly involved in the production of heroin in the Golden Triangle of Burma, Thailand, and Laos. CIA and Drug Trafficking Drug Trafficking in Recent Years Drug trafficking in the United States dates back to the 19th century. [3] The United States Department of State responded to the initial allegations stating that they were "unable to find any evidence to substantiate them, much less proof. One of the businesses that relocated there was Rich Mountain Aviation Inc.that did illegal modifications to the planes which allowed Seal to fly weapons to Nicaragua and transport cocaine back into the United States. [41], Alfred McCoy has argued that the CIA had fostered heroin production in Afghanistan for decades to finance operations aimed at containing the spread of communism, and later to finance operations aimed at containing the spread of the Islamic state. A former CIA officer, John Stockwell, as well as 2 former DEA officers, Michael Levine and Celerino Castillo III, have all written books that discussed CIA drug trafficking, and a former head (administrator) of the DEA, Robert Bonner, who was later also the head (commissioner) of the US Customs Service, also accused the CIA of drug trafficking, as did former DEA . Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Bernthal Votes: 430,211 | Gross: $46.89M 3. Contents 1 Early reports 2 FBI probe 3 Reagan Administration admits Contra-cocaine connections 4 Kerry Committee 5 Gary Webb "[59] It also found no evidence to support Webb's suggestion that several other drug smugglers mentioned in the series were associated with the CIA, or that anyone associated with the CIA or other intelligence agencies was involved in supplying or selling drugs in Los Angeles. Im not making up the stories; we saw it on television. Attorneys' Offices. Southern Air Transport, formerly CIA-owned, and later under Pentagon contract, was involved in the drug running as well. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. 7.6 Rate this 82 Metascore An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. "[44], In 2006 the US Ambassador in Kabul, the CIA station chief and MI6/SIS's station chief held meetings with President Hamid Karzai, according to several participants in those meetings. The San Jose Mercury News series documents just one thread of the interwoven operations linking the CIA, the contras and the cocaine cartels. Comment Removing Scanfee from Billable Books scanned before June 2011 which appear to have manually set scanfees Donor internetarchivebookdrive hammsam Edition Ross was also released early after cooperating in an investigation of police corruption, but was rearrested a few months later in a sting operation arranged with the help of Blandn. "[44], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. Now the question is why heroin use has dramatically increased since 2002? When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unchanged. 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