The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN)

‘The Wolf’

The FBN was created in 1930 after a chain of events that would not look out of place in a Tom Clancy novel. However, before we begin our look into this clandestine government agency, let us first take a look at the main players of this agency 1 that merged with the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control in 1968 to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) the predecessor to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

'There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others. Harry J. Anslinger, May 20, 1892 – November 14, 1975.

Agents of the FBN

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 Cana- da 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; be- friended by George White; served as an agent in Cleveland, New York, Houston, and Toledo, and as agent in charge in Los Angeles; made many under- cover 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 arch-rival.

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 Pitts- burgh; 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 super- visor 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 super- visor 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 Fran- cisco; 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; travelled 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 wire- tapping 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 wrong- doing; and a consultant to the Daniel Committee; as enforcement assistant at headquarters launched a corruption investigation 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 under- cover 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; as- signed 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.

Waters, Francis E. – The agent most responsible for the 1962 French Connection case, later a group leader; a target of Andy Tartaglino, he resigned in 1967 rather than take a transfer to Texas; tried and acquitted of selling to Charlie McDonnell a small portion of the heroin from the French Connection case that may have gone astray.

White, George H. – Perhaps the FBN’s most flamboyant and controversial character, his claim to fame was making the 1937 Hip Sing T’ong case; joined the OSS in 1942 and worked with James Angleton in counter-intelligence; also worked on OSS Truth Drug operations; after the war served as district supervisor in Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco; in 1951 he hoped to become New York’s district supervisor, but the job went to James C. Ryan, so he took a contract with the CIA and managed its MK-ULTRA safehouse in New York until 1954; became the FBN’s supervisor at large; in 1955 became district supervisor in San Francisco, where he ran three CIA safehouses until his retirement in 1965.

Williams, Garland H. – Joined the customs service in 1929, worked for Anslinger in the Flying Squad on some of the Foreign Control Board’s most important cases; in 1936 negotiated an anti-smuggling agreement that allowed Treasury agents to operate inside Mexico, and formed the Southwest Border Patrol in El Paso; in 1937 became the FBN’s district supervisor in New York; left the FBN in 1941 to organize the Army’s Counterintelligence Corps; joined the OSS in 1942 in a senior position; returned to New York in 1945 as district supervisor; left the FBN in 1951 to organize and command the Army’s 525th Military Intelligence Group; in 1952 became assistant Commissioner of the IRS Intelligence Division, fired in late 1953 for some unknown reason, and vanished for two years; surfaced as a narcotic specialist for the State Department’s Office of Public Safety, where he remained until retiring in 1964.

Wurms, Ivan – Narcotic detective in Washington, in 1953 assigned to the US Attorney investigating Garland Williams and problems at FBN headquarters; joined the FBN in 1956; worked with Frank Selvaggi on the Valachi investigation; later worked as inspector with Andy Tartaglino investigating agent wrongdoing in New York, 1967–68.

Zirilli, Anthony – Perhaps the greatest FBN undercover agent ever, worked on top Mafiosi in New York and Europe; worked with Howard Chappell on an integrity investigation in the Chicago area in 1956; later targeted himself in New Orleans; said to Jim Attie, “They can’t pay me enough to do this job.” Then quit the FBN in disgust rather than apologize to Giordano.

The FBN was founded in June 1930 and was an amalgamation of many other older less-effective bureaus. Throughout its life, the FBN were locked in a constant battle with La Cosa Nostra, in particular the five families of New York. Ironically, it was the murder of Albert Rothstein on November 6, 1928 and the subsequent investigation that led to the creation of the FBN.

In 1921 the US Supreme court passed a law making it illegal for doctors to prescribe narcotics to addicts, this created a black market that Rothstein exploited to full effect. Rothstein created a huge international drug smuggling operation bringing in millions of dollars. Pure opium was secured through a Chinese syndicate based in Shanghai, smuggled to Europe where it was legally manufactured, then via France the drugs would be smuggled into the US, mainly through Canadian shipping ports. Following Rothstein’s murder in 1928 law enforcement officers were convinced he was killed over drugs. The investigation into his murder, in no small part to his bookkeeper who was a stickler for accurate records, uncovered a huge operation involving China, France, Holland, Canada and the US. This led to ‘the reorganization of the Narcotics Division of the Internal Revenue Services, an incredibly corrupt Prohibition Unit (fondly referred to as “the old PU”) and resulted in the creation of the Bureau of Narcotics in June 1930’.2

During its 38-year existence the FBN was never far away from the headlines. Not long after the formation of the CIA under Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter and J. Edgar Hoovers’ FBI, the FBN uncovered the CIA’s connections with international drug smuggling. The CIA either actively supported the supply of heroin and cocaine or turned a blind eye to certain individuals’ activities, all in the interests of national security.

George Hunter White, a former OSS Truth Drug Operations agent, overlooked for New York’s district supervisor position, joined the CIA and headed up a clandestine service known as MK-ULTRA. The department, operated from a CIA safehouse in New York, 81 Bedford Street, where LSD was administered to unsuspecting victims lured to the house by prostitutes. The drug fuelled victims would then be manipulated into becoming assassins.

- 81 Bedford Street, New York. The safehouse in which MK-Ultra operated experiments.

______

George Hunter White, "It was fun, fun, fun," White said. "Where else could a red- blooded American lie, kill, cheat, and rape, with the sanction of the all-highest?" -

The conflict between the FBN and CIA continued until the FBN lost and were forced to merge with the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control, a part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). After a spell as the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) the bureau ultimately became the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). An interesting side note about the BNDD is that on a visit to the Whitehouse on December 21, 1970 Elvis Presley asked President Richard Nixon if he could become an agent of the BNDD, the picture is of the actual badge given to Elvis by Nixon.

1 Valentine, Douglas. Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs online: https://www.scribd.com/book/290901349/Strength-of-the- Wolf-The-Secret-History-of-America-s-War-on-Drugs. Accessed 12/01/2018 .

2 Ibid.