-Caveat Lector-
an excerpt from:
The Great Heroin Coup - Drugs, Intelligence, & International Fascism
Henrik Kruger
Jerry Meldon, Translator
South End Press©1980
Box 68 Astor Station
Boston, MA 02123
ISBN 0-89608-0319-5
240pps - one edition - out-of-print
Orginally published in Danish
Smukke Serge og Heroien
Bogan 1976
--[9]--
NINE
THE HEROIN TRAILS
As the 1970s began the French were the undisputed kingpins of the
international narcotics traffic. Opium, the raw material, was extracted from
the poppy harvest by the Turks, who either converted it themselves into
morphine base, or sent it to refineries in Syria and Lebanon. Essentially all
morphine base made from Turkish opium went to Marseilles' heroin
laboratories. Until around 1966 it went by sea. But Marseilles' harbor was
too easily patrolled, and so after 1966 roughly 70 percent of the morphine
base went via Bulgaria and Yugoslavia to Munich.
For the first half of this century, most Marseilles heroin was sent to
Tangiers, Morocco, the main embarkation point for drugs bound for the United
States. Tangiers eventually gave way to such European ports as Barcelona,
Lisbon, and Antwerp. In addition some of the heroin went by air.
At the close of the sixties there began what at first resembled a routine
adjustment in the narcotics traffic. As time would show, however, this one
involved such a colossal upheaval, that it might better be described as a
tremendous political coup—yet a coup that apparently went unnoticed. At its
source lay shifts in international politics, and friction between the CIA and
the French SDECE. Later I will support this claim with a myriad of
circumstantial evidence.
The United States, during the first presidential administration of Richard
Nixon, began cracking down on Turkish opium cultivation.
While it slowed the delivery of morphine base to Marseilles, the Corsicans
then — and now — had other sources to tap. They had long been connected
closely with the Chinese Mafia. The latter organized the production of
enormous quantities of opium on the rugged hillsides of the
Burma-Laos-Thailand junction known as the Golden Triangle.[1]
The sale of harvested opium is in the hands of well-organized Chiu Chao
Chinese from the region between Canton and Fukien in southeast China.
Hundreds of thousands of these Chinese emigrated to Southeast Asia, where
they have resisted assimilation and control by local authorities.
The Golden Triangle accounted, until very recently, for some twothirds of the
world's illicit opium production, or 1300 tons of opium annually -enough to
produce 130 tons of heroin at a retail value on the U.S. market of between 50
and 120 billion dollars. Conservative estimates place the yearly heroin
consumption of U.S. addicts between twelve and twenty tons. The New York
street price lies in the neighborhood of $300,000/kilo (1 kilo = 2.2 pounds),
but many pushers dilute the heroin up to three or four times. The same kilo
can then bring in close to $1 million.
A major slice of the profits of organized crime in the U.S. derives from
the wholesaling of illegal drugs. The trafficking of heroin, co-caine,
morphine base, etc., along with marijuana, hash, LSD and other hallucinogens,
yields an annual turnover estimated as high as $75 billion.[2] That is an
enormous sum, even in the context of the U.S. economy.
A very large portion of the U.S. market can be covered by derivatives of
Southeast Asian opium. However, as late as 1969 only Marseilles Frenchmen
produced snow-white heroin in quantities large enough to satisfy the American
market. Obtaining absolutely pure white no. 4 heroin is no easy matter. The
chemist generally ends with sligh[t]ly brownish no. 3 heroin, or "brown
sugar." Though the Chinese Mafia had ample opium, they could not produce no.
4 heroin in sufficient quantities. Excluding them from direct entry onto the
U.S. scene, it limited the Chinese to delivery of raw materials to Marseilles
and sale of second-rate products elsewhere.
In the golden era that culminated, at the start of 1970, with Christian David
joining the Ricord gang hierarchy, Marcel Francisci and Dominique Venturi led
the Corsican Mafia, and Jo Cesari was the wizard of the Marseilles labs. They
were but the visible portion of the iceberg. The other 99 percent was
comprised of politicians and men of responsibility and influence in French
intelligence.
"Mr. Heroin" Francisci was the man with the international perspective, with
direct connections to politicians and the capos of the Italian Mafia. When
international agreements were to be made, Francisci usually did the
negotiating. Venturi and Joseph Orsini were in charge of effectively all drug
import and export.
There were five main heroin export routes to the U.S.A., two by air and three
by sea. The shipping lanes emanated from Barcelona, Lisbon, and Antwerp and
either ended in Brazil/ Paraguay, Haiti and the French West Indies, or went
directly to the east coast of the United States. Heroin smuggled into the
U.S. from the French Antilles and Haiti, like that from Paraguay, went via
Florida or Mexico.
The busiest air lanes were from Luxembourg and Madrid to either Montreal or
Nassau.[3] Dominique Venturi's brother Jean received the shipments in
Montreal, but was obliged to pass them on to the Cotroni family. Led by
brothers Giuseppe, Vincent and Frank, the latter clan transported the heroin
to the U.S.A., and distributed it to the big time pushers in New York.
Heroin leaving Haiti, the Antilles, Nassau, and the Paraguay-based Ricord Mob
wound up in Florida, where Santo Trafficante, jr. and the Cuban Mafia
controlled the drug business in an axis that became the U.S.A.'s most
powerful narcotics organization.
For years the Corsicans had tried setting up their own U.S. network, but were
repeatedly foiled. It might have been easier for them to get around the
Italians and Cubans by way of Mexico, had the Cotroni and Trafficante
organizations not also decided to enter the picture there. At a grand
assembly of mobsters from Marseilles, Montreal, New York and Miami, the rules
were fixed for smuggling via Mexico. The site of the meeting was Acapulco,
the time was early 1970. Representing the French were Jean Venturi,
Jean-Baptiste Croce and Paul Mondolini. Croce and Mondolini became the
Corsicans' permanent men in Mexico.
The tight control over the U.S. market wielded by the Cotronis of Montreal
and Trafficante of Tampa was a legacy of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano's
reorganization of the U.S. heroin market. Lansky built himself a fantastic
empire headquartered in Havana, and literally governed Cuba over the head of
the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Lansky became the world's uncrowned narcotics
king. His decisions affected everyone, including the bigwigs in France and
Italy. He invested in the Marseilles labs and had the Corsicans reorganize
themselves more efficiently. When Castro drove him from Cuba, Lansky created
a similar gambling paradise in Nassau.
Nassau became a focal point in more ways than one. Besides the gambling take,
the greater part of the incredible bonanza from U.S. narcotics deals-the
Corsicans' share included-was laundered via Lansky's Miami National Bank, to
Nassau, and on to numbered accounts in Switzerland and Lebanon.
The Lansky fortune is estimated at $2 billion. Unable to reenter the U.S. in
1970, Lansky took temporary refuge in Israel, which eventually refused him
citizenship. It is difficult to say how much of his power he retains. His
operation has apparently been taken over by former subordinates. In narcotics
they are the Montreal Cotroni family and, above all, Santo Trafficante, jr.
in Florida, the man to whom the Ricord/David Mob consigned enormous
quantities of heroin.
pps. 87-90
--[Notes]--
1. In the 30 August 1963 issue of Life, Stanley Karnow named Bonaventure
Francisci the kingpin of opium smuggling from Laos. According to Alain
Jaubert (Dossier D ... comme Drogue, Alain Moreau, 1974), it was impossible
to determine whether Bonaventure and Marcel Francisci were related.
2. F.A.J. lanni: Black Mafia (Simon and Schuster, 1974) lanni's estimate is
the highest I have seen. The wide range of estimates demonstrates that no one
really knows, or is even close to knowing, how great the narcotics handle is.
3. It was often little things which made a smuggling route especially
attractive. For example, former French heroin smuggler Richard Berdin recalls
his colleague Andre Labay's description of the important role played by the
men's room at Nassau airport: "It's a small airport, and there's a common
waiting room, which means that after I've gone through English customs I go
straight to the American side, armed with apiece of hand luggage containing
nothing but toiletries and the usual knick-knacks. There I check my baggage
through to Miami. Assuming they check my hand bag, they'll wrap some kind of
selfadhesive ticket around the handle to show it's been OK'd. I'll arrange my
flight schedule so that my plane for Miami doesn't leave for at least an hour
after our arrival in Nassau. So now I go back to the passenger lounge to wait
for my flight. We meet in the men's room, where we exchange the contents of
our hand luggage. Now I've got the merchandise, safely stashed in a piece of
luggage bearing the customs seal of approval. When my flight is called, I
climb aboard the last leg of the trip without a worry in the world. I don't
see how it could miss." (R. Berdin: Code Named Richard, Dutton, 1974).
--[cont]--
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
