1980 - 1985
During the 1980s, international drug trafficking organizations reorganized and
began operating on an unprecedented scale. The rise of the Medellin cartel,
the influx of cocaine into the United States, and the violence associated with
drug trafficking and drug use complicated the task of law enforcement at all
levels.
One of the first wireless phones to be used in enforcement.
DEA
Francis
M. Mullen, Jr.
Administrator, DEA
July 10, 1981 (acting) - March 1, 1985
Francis M. "Bud" Mullen, Jr., a career FBI agent of
almost 20 years, was appointed Acting Administrator of the DEA
on July 10, 1981. He began his FBI career in May 1962 at the Bureau's
Los Angeles office, serving from 1963 to 1969. From there, he was
assigned to the Administrative Services Division in Washington
(1969-1972), the Planning and Inspection Division (1972), and was
Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Denver, Colorado (1973-1975).
Later, he served as Special Agent in Charge in Tampa, Florida (1975-1976)
and in New Orleans, Louisiana (1976-1978), and he was the FBI's
Inspector and Deputy Assistant Director, Organized Crime & White
Collar Crime (1978-79); Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative
Division (1979-80); and Executive Assistant Director, Investigations
from 1980 until his appointment to DEA Administrator. He continued
to serve in an acting capacity from July 1981 until he was confirmed
by the U.S. Senate on September 30, 1983, and sworn in as the DEA's
third administrator on November 10, 1983. He is currently the Director
of Mohegan Tribal Gaming Commission in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Administrator Mullen began his term at a time when the tremendous
impact of drug abuse was being felt across the United States. The
problem was especially acute in southern Florida, where unprecedented
drug-related violence accompanied the cocaine transit routes of
the Colombian cartels. It was clear to the Reagan Administration
that U.S. drug fighting agencies needed help.
Acting Administrator Mullen stressed multi-agency
cooperation with other members of the enforcement and intelligence
communities.
He made the policy official in a July 14, 1981, memo to DEA employees: "On
policy, strategy and tactical levels, your cooperation with other
agencies in all current and future DEA efforts is hereby ordered."
|
During
the early 1980s, international drug trafficking organizations reorganized
and began operating on an unprecedented scale. The rise of the Medellin
cartel, the influx of cocaine into the United States, and the violence
associated with drug trafficking and drug use complicated the task of
law enforcement at all levels. Violent crime rates rose dramatically during
this period and continued to rise until the early 1990s. The "normalization"
of drug use during the previous two decades continued as the U.S. population
rediscovered cocaine. Many saw cocaine as a benign, recreational drug.
In 1981, Time magazine ran a cover story entitled, "High on Cocaine"
with cover art of an elegant martini glass filled with cocaine. The article
reported that cocaine's use was spreading quickly into America's middle
class: "Today...coke is the drug of choice for perhaps millions of solid,
conventional and often upwardly mobile citizens." Drug abuse among U.S.
citizens in the early 1980s remained at dangerously high levels.
The Rise of the Medellin Cartel
By
the early 1980s, the drug lords of the Medellin cartel were well established
in Colombia, where they used murder, intimidation, and assassination to
keep journalists and public officials from speaking out against them.
Law enforcement officers and judges were favored targets of these brutish
drug cartels that controlled entire towns and economies to support their
criminal business. By 1985, Colombia had the highest murder rate in the
world. In Medellin alone, 1,698 people were murdered, and the following
year, that number more than doubled to 3,500. The Medellin cartel was
fast becoming the richest and most feared underworld crime syndicate the
world had ever encountered.
Special Agents
1980......1,941
1985......2,234
DEA Budget
1980.....$206.6 million
1985.....$362.4 million
|
During the period 1980 through 1985, the Medellin mafias delivered to the United States a large
measure of the wholesale violence and terror that their drug trafficking activities had inflicted on
their home country. In a grim parody of their campaign to control Colombia, they insinuated
themselves into legitimate, and useful, sectors of the U.S. economy, such as the banking and
import industries. The United States suffered badly from the cartel's presence as local drug gangs
began to form, communities were terrorized, and drug use among teens continued to climb.
Colombian Marijuana
Colombian marijuana continued to be a problem in the early 1980s as Colombia-based
traffickers brought boatloads of high-potency marijuana to the shores of
the United States. Consequently, the DEA ran several investigations targeting
these smugglers, including Operations Grouper and Tiburon.
In 1981, Operation Grouper was conducted in cooperation with the U.S.
Coast Guard and 21 other federal, state, and local government agencies.
It was one of the largest enforcement operations launched against marijuana
traffickers from Colombia. The operation targeted 14 separate Florida,
Louisiana, and Georgia-based trafficking organizations that were smuggling
large-scale, multi-ton quantities of marijuana and millions of dosage
units of methaqualone into the United States. For 22 months, nine DEA
special agents operated undercover, some posing as off-loaders to a number
of smuggling organizations. The smuggling network had negotiated deliveries
to states as far away as Maine and New York. As a result of the operation,
agents ultimately arrested 122 out of the 155 indicted subjects, and
seized more than $1 billion worth of drugs, and $12 million worth of
assets, including 30 vessels, two airplanes and $1 million in cash.
The following year, the DEA concluded Operation Tiburon, another major
operation targeting marijuana smuggling from Colombia. Tiburon resulted
in the arrest of 495 people and the seizure of 95 vessels, 1.7 million
pounds of marijuana in the United States, and 4.7 million pounds of marijuana
in Colombia. U.S. Attorney General William French Smith praised this
operation as a "classic example of how agencies, and indeed entire governments,
can work together sharing intelligence and expertise and zeroing in on
the sea and air routes used by major smugglers."
Operation Swordfish (1980)
In December 1980, the DEA launched a major investigation in Miami aimed against international
drug organizations. The operation was dubbed Operation Swordfish because it was intended to
snare the "big fish" in the drug trade. The DEA set up a bogus money laundering corporation in
suburban Miami Lakes that was called Dean International Investments, Inc. The DEA agents
teamed up with a Cuban exile who had fallen on hard times and was willing to lure Colombian
traffickers to the bogus bank. In addition to spending time in Cuban prisons after the Bay of Pigs
invasion, the exile had also served jail time in the United States for tax fraud and was heavily in
debt to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. During the 18-month investigation, agents were able
to gather enough evidence for a federal grand jury to indict 67 U.S. and Colombian citizens. At
the conclusion of the operation, drug agents seized 100 kilos of cocaine, a quarter-million
methaqualone pills, tons of marijuana, and $800,000 in cash, cars, land, and Miami bank
accounts. Operation Swordfish was a significant attack on South Florida's flourishing drug
trade.
Notable Cases
International Security & Development
Cooperation Act of 1981
The International Security and Development Act, Public Law 97-113, was passed
in 1981. Among its provisions, this act authorized appropriations for the International
Narcotics Control program under section 482 of the Foreign Assistance Act, specifically,
$37.7 million for each of the fiscal years 1982 and 1983. The act allowed for
the use of herbicides in drug crop eradication while requiring the Secretary
of Health and Human Services to monitor any potentially harmful impacts of the
use of such herbicides. Finally, the act directed the President to make an annual
report to Congress on U.S. policy for establishing an international strategy
to prevent narcotics trafficking. This mandated report was the forerunner of
the International Narcotics and Controlled Strategy Report (INCSR), which the
President issues every March and which highlighted the drug control efforts in
every foreign country that receives aid from the
United States.
Concurrent Jurisdiction with the FBI (1982)
In January 1982, Attorney General William French Smith
announced a federal law enforcement reorganization. In an effort to bolster
the drug effort with more anti-drug manpower and resources, the FBI
officially
joined forces with the DEA. The DEA would continue to be the principal
drug enforcement agency and continue to be headed by an administrator,
but instead of reporting directly to Associate Attorney General Rudy
Giuliani, as Administrator Bensinger had, Administrator Mullen would
report to FBI
Director William H. Webster. Therefore, the FBI gained concurrent jurisdiction
with the DEA over drug offenses. This increased the human and technical
resources available for federal drug law enforcement from 1,900 FBI agents
to almost 10,000.
Administrator Mullen was the
first FBI special agent to head the DEA. The Administration intended to
increase cooperation between the two agencies by combining the street savvy
of DEA agents with the variety of unique FBI investigative skills, especially
in the area of money laundering and organized crime.
During the previous summer, high-ranking Justice Department officials had formed a committee
to study the most effective method of coordinating the efforts of the DEA and FBI. Although the
committee had considered an outright merger of the two agencies, they decided that formalizing a
closer working relationship would be the most effective way to enhance the nation's drug
fighting effort.
In order to implement concurrent investigations, the two agencies began an intensive cross-training program, and similar programs were established to coordinate intelligence gathering
efforts and laboratory analyses. Several DEA executives were reassigned to make room for
additional FBI agents who assumed managerial responsibility for the DEA.
Over time, the FBI and the DEA shared many administrative practices, and the years between
1981 and 1986 proved to be a time of growth and development for both agencies. The DEA
expanded its global responsibilities and placed greater emphasis on conspiracy and wiretap cases.
Southwest Asian Heroin
Year |
Foreign Office Opened |
1981 |
Athens, Greece |
1981 |
Tegucigalpa, Honduras |
1982 |
Cairo, Egypt |
1982 |
Barranguilla, Colombia |
1982 |
Curacao, Netherlands Ant. |
1982 |
Nicosia, Cyprus |
1982 |
Peshawar, Pakistan |
1982 |
Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. |
1984 |
Bern, Switzerland |
1984 |
Santa Cruz, Bolivia |
After years of aggressive law enforcement efforts aimed against heroin traffickers,
several significant benefits were achieved. During the 1970s, the heroin addict
population was reduced from over a half million to 380,000 addicts; heroin
overdose deaths dropped by 80 percent; and heroin-related injuries decreased
by 50 percent. In 1981, it was estimated that there was 40 percent less heroin
available than in 1976. But, by the early 1980s, a new wave of heroin from
the poppy fields of the "Golden Crescent" countries in southwest Asia--primarily
Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan--began to flood the U.S. East Coast. Heroin
traffickers reopened the notorious French Connection drug route of the 1970s,
using many of the same organized crime smugglers in Italy, France, and West
Germany. In 1980, DEA and U.S. Customs intercepted one of the largest illicit
shipments of heroin since the French Connection. In Staten Island, New York,
U.S. Customs detector dogs pointed to a shipment of furniture imported from
Palermo, Italy. Inside the furniture, officers discovered 46 pounds of 65 percent-pure
southwest Asian heroin. DEA agents then posed as truck drivers to make a controlled
delivery of the furniture in New York City and Detroit, resulting in the Detroit
arrest of a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sicily. In addition, three others
were arrested in New York City.
Chemist Romulo Reyes reviewed a drug analysis at the Southwest Regional Laboratory.
Methaqualone (1982)
Methaqualone, also called "Quaalude," was
first marketed in the United States in 1965 as a sedative. By 1972, methaqualone
had become one of the most popular drugs of abuse in the United States.
Methaqualone abuse then increased suddenly in the late 1970s and early
1980s. According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) survey, methaqualone
abuse in 1979 increased almost 40 percent.
One contributing factor to the increase of methaqualone abuse was the establishment of "stress
clinics" in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. The sole purpose of these clinics was to issue
prescriptions for methaqualone. Investigation of these clinics was complicated by the fact that
patients underwent physical examinations so that there was a facade of legitimate medical
treatment.
Responding to the alarming increase in methaqualone abuse in the early 1980s, the DEA targeted
the major stress clinics. By mid-1982, these investigations resulted in 38 indictments. In
addition, Florida and Georgia placed methaqualone in Schedule I, eliminating its medical use in
those states.
At the peak of the U.S. methaqualone problem in the early
1980s, an estimated 85 percent of the methaqualone tablets that were being
abused in the U.S. were counterfeit Quaalude tablets from overseas sources.
In response, the DEA Diversion Control Program (renamed in 1982 from the
Office of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs), in cooperation with the
U.S. Department of State, launched a series of successful diplomatic initiatives
with the major drug manufacturing and exporting countries in Europe and
Asia. As a result, five source countries placed more stringent controls
on the exportation of methaqualone. Also, cooperative investigations with
foreign law enforcement agencies and the development of a "Drug and Chemical
Watch Manual" by the DEA and the U.S. Customs Service resulted in more
effective interdiction measures.
By the end of 1982, there were clear signs that the comprehensive effort against methaqualone
diversion was working. Then, in 1984, Congress rescheduled methaqualone into Schedule I,
effectively eliminating its domestic production and medical use. That same year, the United
Nations reported that there were only two countries in the world manufacturing methaqualone.
By 1985, there were so few methaqualone emergency room mentions (down 83 percent from
1980 levels) that it no longer showed up on the DAWN Top 20 controlled substance list. The
results of the coordinated domestic and international actions were described as a total victory
against methaqualone abuse.
Reorganization of DEA Headquarters Functions
In 1982, when the FBI gained joint jurisdiction over drug investigations with the DEA, CENTAC
was replaced with drug-specific operations, and the headquarters functions of the DEA were
restructured into major drug enforcement investigations sections, known as the heroin, dangerous
drugs, cocaine, and cannabis "drug desks." Each drug desk assumed responsibility for the
direction, funding, and coordination of worldwide investigations for that drug category.
Individual CENTAC investigations were renamed Special Enforcement Operations (SEOs), were
removed from any central, overall control, and assigned to the drug desks. The new structure
replaced the former geographical organization (domestic and foreign) with the expectation that it
would improve the control and coordination of major investigations.
Centralizing Operations (1982)
With the FBI being assigned concurrent jurisdiction, Administrator Mullen reorganized the nine-year-old DEA structure to centralize operations. Upper-level management positions were moved
from the regional offices to headquarters. Field divisions reported directly to headquarters in
accordance with FBI management procedures. Administrator Mullen also raised the
qualifications bar for new recruits, making college degrees mandatory for new agents, and
reorganized the office responsible for investigating internal cooperation. Cross-training
programs were developed and each of the 10 field offices received a training coordinator
(previously, training coordinators were located only at the five regional offices). The major
policy shift, however, was to eliminate quotas or arrest goals once mandated for all DEA regions,
and then to establish pursuing major traffickers as an agency-wide goal. "In the past," Mullen
explained, "we concentrated on arrests. Now we're concentrating on convictions at the highest
levels."
Task Force on South Florida (1982)
As the drug trade grew in South Florida, murder and crime rates soared. In 1979, there were 349
murders--almost one drug killing per day in Miami. By 1981, murders had climbed to 621.
Local law enforcement and politicians pleaded for help. In February 1982, President Reagan
announced that "massive immigration, rampant crime, and epidemic drug smuggling have
created a serious problem" in South Florida. Soon, hundreds of additional federal agents were
detailed to the Southern Florida Task Force. The DEA added 20 agents and the FBI 43 agents to
their Miami offices. The U.S. Treasury Department contributed 20 analysts to track drug money,
and for the first time, the U.S. armed services became involved in drug interdiction. Meanwhile,
because drug traffickers were also establishing offshore banks to facilitate their money
laundering, the U.S. Government heightened its emphasis on financial investigations. Vice-president Bush stated that "Our investigative efforts will be as stringent on bankers and
businessmen who profit from crime, as on the drug traffickers, the pushers, the hired assassins,
and others. There will be no free lunch for the white collar criminal."
|
Administrator Mullen cuts cannabis plants during South
Dakota seizures in 1983. |
Domestic Marijuana
By the 1980s, more than 60 percent of American teenagers had experimented with
marijuana and 40 percent became regular users. Supply also continued to increase.
In addition to the smuggling of Colombian marijuana across U.S. borders, domestic
cultivation of marijuana continued to be a problem. As cultivation techniques
improved, the potency of marijuana (THC content) also climbed from 3.68 percent
in 1979 to 7.28 percent in 1985. To counter this trend, the Domestic Cannabis
Eradication/Suppression Program, initiated by Hawaii and California in 1979,
rapidly expanded
to encompass all 50 states by the close of 1985.
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (1982)
8-Point Crackdown on Organized
Crime- Establish 12 additional task forces, modeled after the South Florida Task
Force, in key areas of the United States.
- Create a 15-member panel to monitor
organized crime's influence, hold public hearings on the findings for legislative
recommendations and to heighten public awareness.
- Launch a project to enlist
the nation's governors' support to strengthen criminal justice reforms against organized
crime.
- Bring under a cabinet-level committee, chaired by the Attorney General,
all federal agencies and law enforcement bureaus to bring a comprehensive attack on organized
crime. The committee will review interagency and intergovernmental cooperation and report the
findings directly to the President.
- Found a national center for state and local
law enforcement training at the federal facility in Glynco, Georgia.
- Open a new
legislative offensive aimed to reform criminal statutes concerning bail, sentencing, criminal
forfeiture, exclusionary rule, and racketeering.
- Direct the Attorney General to
submit an annual report on the fight against organized crime and organized drug trafficking
groups.
- Allocate millions of dollars for prison and jail
facilities.
| On October 14, 1982, Attorney General William French
Smith announced an 8-point program (see side-bar) to crackdown on organized crime,
particularly syndicates involved with illegal drug trafficking. One highlight of the program was
to establish 12 additional Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), modeled
after the successful South Florida Task Force, which was initiated under the leadership of Vice
President George Bush. The President explained that "these task forces...will work closely with
state and local law enforcement officials.
Following the South Florida example, they'll utilize the resources of the federal government,
including the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the DEA, the IRS (Internal Revenue
Service), the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), Immigration and Naturalization
Service, United States Marshal Services, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Coast Guard. In
addition, in some regions, Department of Defense tracking and pursuit capability will be made
available...These task forces will allow us to mount an intensive and coordinated campaign
against international and domestic drug trafficking and other organized criminal enterprises."
OCDETF was one of the first multi-jurisdictional task forces to combat drug trafficking, and over
the years, the DEA has participated in 85 percent of all OCDETF investigations.
Scheduling of Dangerous Drugs
The scheduling of dangerous drugs and precursor chemicals has long been
a mainstay in DEA's arsenal in curtailing drug trafficking. For example,
in early 1980, phenylacetone (P2P), a precursor chemical favored by outlaw
motorcycle gangs in manufacturing methamphetamine, was placed in Schedule
II, which forced drug traffickers to search for alternative chemicals that
were more difficult to obtain and synthesize.
50th State Joins EPIC (1984)
On October 24, 1984, the State of Pennsylvania signed a participation agreement
with EPIC, becoming the 50th state to do so. A signing ceremony and news
conference were held at the Pennsylvania State Police Headquarters in Harrisburg.
Also announced at the conference was the opening of the DEA's new Harrisburg
office, comprised of a supervisor and three agents.
Fitness for EVERYONE
Deputy Administrator Jack
Lawn and
Administrator “Bud” Mullen stretch before a fitness
run.
OPBAT (1982)
Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands (OPBAT), launched in 1982, continued in the
1990s to combat the flow of illegal drugs through the Caribbean into the southeastern United
States. Historically, the United States had an excellent working relationship with both the
Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands (as a
dependent territory of the United Kingdom). The DEA, along with U.S. Coast Guard,
Department of State, Army, Customs Service, Southern and Atlantic Military Commands,
actively supported the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Royal Turk and Caicos Police Forces in
combating drug trafficking through 100,000 square miles of open water surrounding 700 islands
with a land mass of 5,382 square miles. With increasingly effective law enforcement efforts
along the Mexican border, there had been a resurgence of smuggling through the Caribbean. The
traffickers used turboprop twin-engine aircraft, large "go fast" high-powered vessels, global
positioning systems, cellular telephones, and Cuban territorial air and seas as cover for their
trade. All of these factors made OPBAT's law enforcement operations exceedingly difficult.
Joint DEA/FBI SAC Conference (1983)
In March 1983, the first joint DEA/FBI Special Agent in Charge Conference was held. Attorney
General William French Smith joined the assembly for the first day of the conference. In his
address, the Attorney General expressed his personal satisfaction with the progress of the
DEA/FBI relationship, and commended those present for working to ensure the program's
success. The Attorney General also spoke about the significance of drug law enforcement in the
Reagan Administration's overall crime control program and acknowledged the danger inherent in
the drug control mission.
First Joint DEA/National Narcotics Border Interdiction System
(1983)
In March 1983, President Reagan announced the formation of the National Narcotics Border
Interdiction System (NNBIS) to interdict the flow of narcotics into the United States. NNBIS
was headed by then Vice President George Bush, and had an Executive Board made up of
members from the State Department, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Transportation, Central
Intelligence Agency, and White House Drug Abuse Policy Office. Acting Administrator Mullen
also participated as a member of the board.
NNBIS was designed to coordinate the work of those federal
agencies with existing responsibilities and capabilities for interdiction
of seaborne, airborne, and cross-border importation of narcotics. The
role of NNBIS was to complement, but not to replace, the duties of the
regional Drug Enforcement Task Forces operated by the Department of Justice.
NNBIS monitored suspected smuggling activity originating outside national
borders that targeted the United States, and coordinated the seizure of
contraband and the arrest of suspects involved in illegal drug trafficking.
The DEA committed one agent and one analyst to each of the six regional
centers (South Florida, Los Angeles, El Paso, New Orleans, Chicago, and
New York City) in liaison capacities.
Career Board (1983)
The Career Board was established in 1983 by Acting Administrator Francis M. Mullen, Jr., as a
way to ensure a more comprehensive career mobility system within the DEA. In the words of
Administrator Mullen, "the Career Development Program has been designed to reinforce the
concepts of equal opportunity for advancement, mobility, diversity of assignment and centralized
selection of managerial personnel. The objective of the special agent career ladder is to assist
DEA criminal investigators in attaining the highest level of competence while, at the same time,
developing a highly capable managerial corps." When formed, the Career Board was composed
of the Deputy Administrator (as chairman) and three Assistant Administrators. A Senior Special
Agent at the GS-15 level was selected to serve as Executive Secretary for the Career Board to
provide administrative and technical support. This configuration assured diversity and tried to
ensure that the most qualified personnel for promotions were selected. To do so, the Board
evaluated each employee's overall record of experience and expertise, the Special Agent in
Charge's personal recommendations, the overall needs of the DEA, and most important, the fair
and equitable treatment of each individual.
Operation Pisces (1984)
In 1984, the DEA set up an undercover money laundering operation called Operation
Pisces with the IRS and several state and local agencies.
This two-year, undercover intelligence investigation successfully revealed
a direct connection between the Colombian cartels, including drug kingpin Pablo
Escobar, and street gangs in the United States, as well as deals negotiated
in Denmark and Italy.
During the operation, DEA agents, posing as money launderers, also discovered
that the drug lords were moving a ton of cocaine per week and reaping profits
of almost $4 million a month. The organizations used check cashing businesses
to launder the enormous proceeds from the sale of cocaine. When the operation
ended in 1987, law enforcement had arrested 220 drug dealers and seized $28
million in cash and assets and more than 11,000 lbs. of cocaine in Southern
California. The investigation was further proof of the continuous flow of drugs
and money between Colombia and the United States.
Operation Pipeline (1984)
As drug traffickers established their networks within U.S. borders, they began to rely heavily on
the highway system to move their wares from entry points to distribution hubs around the
country. Beginning in the early 1980s, New Mexico state troopers grew suspicious when they
noticed a sharp increase in the number of motor vehicle violations that resulted in drug seizures
and arrests. At the same time, and unknown to the troopers in New Mexico, troopers in New
Jersey began making similar seizures during highway stops along the Interstate-95 "drug
corridor" from Florida to the Northeast. Independently, troopers in New Mexico and New
Jersey established their own highway drug interdiction programs. Over time, as their seizures
mounted, law enforcement officers found that highway drug couriers shared many
characteristics, tendencies, and methods. Highway law enforcement officers began to ask key
questions to help determine whether or not motorists they had stopped for traffic violations were
also carrying drugs. These interview techniques proved extremely effective. The road patrol
officers also found it beneficial to share their observations and experiences in highway
interdiction.
The success of the highway interdiction programs in New Jersey and New Mexico led to the
creation of Operation Pipeline. This DEA-funded training program featured state police and
highway patrol officers with expertise in highway interdiction who provided training to other
officers throughout the country. Pipeline, a nationwide highway interdiction program, was one of
DEA's most effective operations and continued to provide essential cooperation between the
DEA and state and local law enforcement agencies. The operation was composed of three
elements: training, real-time communication, and analytic support. Each year, state and local
highway officers delivered dozens of training schools across the country to other highway
officers. These were intended to inform officers of interdiction laws and policies, to build their
knowledge of drug trafficking, and to sharpen their perceptiveness of highway couriers. Training
classes focused on: (1) the law, policy, and ethics governing highway stops and drug prosecution;
and (2) drug trafficking trends and key characteristics, or indicators, that were shared by drug
traffickers. Also, through EPIC, state and local agencies shared real-time information with other
agencies, obtained immediate results to their record checks, and received detailed analysis of
drug seizures to support their investigations.
In December 1984, over 1,600 pounds of cocaine were seized in the New York
area as a result of a six-month investigation by the New York Drug Enforcement
Task Force. Pictured with the cocaine seized are, from left to right: Raymond
Jones, Chief of the Organized Crime Control Bureau, New York City Police Department;
Thomas A. Constantine, Deputy Superintendent of the New York State Police;
Raymond Dearie, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; New York
Field Division SAC Bruce Jensen; and John Luksic, U.S. Customs SAC at the JFK
airport office.
The Crime Control Act (1984)In 1984, the Crime Control Act targeted various aspects of civil and criminal
sanctions related to drug trafficking. Specifically, federal criminal and civil
asset forfeiture penalties were expanded and increased. The law also established
a determinate sentencing system for drug offenses. In addition, it amended
the Bail Reform Act to target pretrial detention of defendants accused of serious
drug offenses. The National Drug Policy Board was created by the Act to coordinate
international and criminal justice issues related to drugs. Chaired by the
Attorney General and composed of members of the Departments of Treasury and
Defense, it was the forerunner to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Explorers wait for a signal from DEA agents participating in a mock exercise
at the 1984 National Law Enforcement Explorer Conference at Ohio State University.
This was the third year that the DEA took part in the conference, which is
sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America.
Tranquilandia (1984)
In March of 1984, another very important discovery signaled just how sophisticated the Medellin
cartel's operations had become. Colombian law enforcement officials conducted a raid against
Tranquilandia or "Quiet Village." It was much more than a cocaine lab located 160 miles south
of San Jose del Guaviare. What they found was a fully equipped cocaine factory, complete with
living quarters for 100 people, several storage rooms for chemicals and supplies, and workshops
for automobiles and airplanes. With this efficient production line, traffickers were synthesizing
20 tons of cocaine a month, putting $12 billion in the coffers of the Medellin cartel in only two
years. Authorities seized more than 10 tons of cocaine and cocaine base at Tranquilandia and
found more labs and similar compounds in the surrounding jungle. The police destroyed drugs
and material conservatively estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.
This startling discovery had actually begun when the DEA country attache in Bogota asked for a
study on chemical imports, especially ether and acetone entering Colombia. The study
determined that 98 percent of the imported ether (90 percent originating from the United States
and West Germany) was being used to make cocaine. Due to the findings of the chemical report,
the DEA contacted U.S. chemical companies to ask for their cooperation in alerting law
enforcement about unusually large chemical orders.
When an individual from Colombia walked into the chemical company office in New Jersey
requesting to pay cash for nearly two metric tons of ether--an amount equivalent to half of all the
legitimate ether imports for the entire country of Colombia for 1980--the chemical company
notified the DEA.
Seizing this opportunity, the DEA set up a sting in Chicago
code-named Operation Scorpion. A front company called North Central Industrial
Chemical (NCIC), purposely using the same initials as the National Crime
Information Center, was established and contacted the individual with
an offer to fill his order. Eventually, 76 drums of ether were sent to
New Orleans. Two of the drums had been wired with electronic tracking
devices. By satellite, agents were able to monitor the movements of the
chemicals. After several days, the chemicals were traced to a dense jungle
area in Colombia. The DEA worked with the Colombian National Police to
help raid the site, never anticipating the magnitude of the operation.
The DEA had long understood the vital link of chemicals and drugs. Without chemicals,
traffickers could not manufacture their drugs. One of the DEA's early attacks on the chemical
trade had occurred in 1982 with Operation Chem Con, short for Chemical Control. The DEA
gradually expanded its efforts to control chemicals essential to the processing of coca to cocaine
with governments worldwide, and it was this chemical tracking that led to major laboratory
seizures in South America, including Tranquilandia.
|
Owners and Commissioners of Professional
Sports Leagues met with President Ronald Reagan to express their
support and to participate
in prevention efforts. DEA sponsored a series of posters featuring
the Washington Redskins which augmented Nancy Reagan’s “Just
Say No” campaign. |
Drug Prevention Programs
With skyrocketing drug seizures, trafficker arrests, and drug use, public
awareness about the drug issue was greatly heightened. Concerned citizens
called on their elected officials to do more to control the destructive
tide of drugs washing across the country. Parents of teens and young
children were particularly alarmed, and some 4,000 formal parent organizations
formed all over the United States. It was this national awareness and
outcry that led to First Lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" program that
was formally announced in February 1985.
The DEA realized that the unharnessed energy of parents, teachers, and
other concerned citizens in communities across the nation could be a
vital asset in reducing drug use among teens. Over the next few years,
the DEA ventured into a new and very important aspect of our nation's
drug problem--prevention and education. The DEA had long understood the
important equation between supply and demand, and knew that enforcement
efforts alone would not solve the drug problem. Law enforcement officials
recognized that without a dramatic reduction in the U.S. public's demand
for illegal drugs, the problem would never go away.
In September 1984, President Reagan signed a proclamation for National
Drug Abuse Education and Prevention Week, saying, "We are on the right
track."
In June 1984, the DEA joined forces with the National High School Athletic
Coaches Association in a cooperative education and prevention program
that focused on 5.5 million high school athletes. The Sports Drug Awareness
Program, as the program was called, began with Frank Parks, a high school
coach in Washington, D.C., who believed that high school athletes, with
their coaches as leaders, could serve as positive role models to help
young people resist the temptation of drugs. More than 40 organizations
of professional, college, and high school sports joined the program.
The DEA also recruited and trained many professional athletes to work
with the Sports Drug Awareness Program. These popular sports figures
captured the attention of the children and helped instill the message
that drug use was dangerous.
1984 Amendment to the Controlled Substances Act
Legislation passed in 1984 addressed many of the problems that had emerged
since passage of the CSA in 1970. The most important amendment was the
inclusion of a "public interest revocation" provision. This amendment
provided additional authority for the denial or revocation of a practitioner
controlled substance registration based on a demonstration that such registration
was contrary to the public interest.
This is the same authority that the DEA always had under the CSA with respect to manufacturers
and distributors. However, the DEA needed the tools to eliminate a source of diversion without
solely relying on a state regulatory action or having to go through a lengthy and labor intensive
criminal prosecution. For the practitioner, this provision also provided a means of removing
controlled substance privileges without affecting their medical license or giving them a criminal
record.
After the Public Interest Revocation (PIR) program was initiated, revocations
and surrenders rose from less than 100 per year, prior to PIR authority,
to more than 400 per year. Subsequently, by 1989, DAWN emergency room
mentions for prescription drugs had dropped to 33 percent of total mentions
for all controlled substances.
Another important enhancement to DEA's authority afforded by the 1984 amendments
was the inclusion of "emergency scheduling" authority.
In the rapidly changing world of synthetic drugs, there was a constant infusion
of new drugs of abuse into the illicit drug market. Under the provisions
of the CSA, the formal administrative scheduling process could take years
to complete. In the interim, the DEA was unable to take effective action
against the traffickers responsible for these new and often dangerous drugs.
The amendments provided for one-year emergency scheduling of a drug if the
abuse of that drug constituted an "imminent hazard to the public safety,"
while normal scheduling procedures were being pursued. As a result of this
amendment, incidents of controlled substance analogue abuse significantly
declined.
Training
Until 1981, the DEA continued its training at the National
Training Institute, located at DEA Headquarters, 1405 "Eye" Street, in
Washington, D.C. That year, DEA's Domestic Training Division was moved
to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia.
In addition to Basic Agent training, the program included subject matter
training, such as intelligence collection, executive development, and
technical skills, as well as occupational training for compliance investigators,
intelligence analysts, chemists, supervisors, mid-level managers, state
and local police officers, and international law enforcement officers.
With the exception of FBI training, all other federal law enforcement
training was conducted at FLETC. The first FBI/DEA firearms instructor
school was held in November 1984 at the FBI Academy in Quantico. Training
included current firearms training concepts practiced by the FBI, and
practical training in various combat shooting courses utilizing revolvers
and semiautomatic pistols. Shoulder weapons training included shotgun,
M-16, and H&K and K-MP5 machine guns. Additional training included
stress obstacle shooting courses, building entry and clearance, arrest,
and handcuff procedures.
Vehicle stops and ammunition ballistics were also addressed and applied
to practical situations. This was the first of several such schools that
fostered the sharing of ideas and concepts in the application and training
of firearms in federal law enforcement.
Special Agent Jerry Jensen, the Regional Director of
Los Angeles, headed up the new institute in Glynco. Special Agent Frank
Monastero, who had served as director of training, was reassigned to
the position of chief pilot.
On December 17, 1982, the DEA graduated its first class of Basic Agents
from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) located at Glynco,
Georgia. The BA-18 class was composed of 32 men and 2 women who ranged
in age from 23 to 35. The 34 members of BA-18 were selected from a pool
of more than 4,000 candidates. Admission to BA-18 was a highly prized
honor because it had been two years since the graduation of the previous
BA-17 class. The DEA continued to train at Glynco until it moved its
training facilities to the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, Virginia,
in 1985.
Aviation
Rocky Andresano and Vance Huffman in a DEA Aero Commander. |
In March 1980, the DEA Air Wing completed its 20,000th airborne law enforcement mission.
Working in close support of domestic regional and district offices, Air Wing personnel daily
provided a unique surveillance and role enhancement capability. Additionally, aviation resources
and special agent / pilots were called upon to support special operation both domestically and
overseas. Focusing on maximum use of current aircraft and assignment personnel, the Air Wing
brought this valuable support element to many priority investigations.
During fiscal year 1983, the DEA Aviation Wing logged more than 12,000 hours
of flight time in support of domestic and overseas enforcement missions. Because
the missions were
progressively more complex, demanding, and hazardous, a new safety program was
implemented. The Aviation Safety Council, which was a five-member group, composed
of four agents and one maintenance specialist, met on a regular basis for the
purpose of eliminating
conditions which represented hazards to DEA aviation operations.
Special Agents Charles R. Henderson
(left) and Dennis E. Checkoway displayed technological equipment
seized during the 1981 raid of a clandestine amphetamine laboratory
in Campe Verde, Arizona. Shown above are a voice stress analyzer,
a telephone scrambler, two scanners, and lab equipment capable
of producing six pounds of amphetamine a day.
In the early 1980s, communications
equipment operator Bobbie Peters transmitted messages on this
teletype machine.
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Technology
In 1981, the DEA, in coordination with the Department of State, represented
by Thomas M. Tracy, Assistant Secretary for Administration, signed an
agreement that provided the DEA with telecommunication facilities supporting
automated data processing (ADP) in the DEA's foreign offices.
The ADP support safeguarded the DEA's computerized data holdings worldwide. This program
formulated the procedures for the protection of DEA sensitive and administratively controlled
information promulgated by other federal agencies. This automated support also provided for the
rapid interchange of vast amounts of information with other federal and state law enforcement
agencies.
Laboratories
In 1977, field laboratory and headquarters personnel prepared
the first edition of the Clandestine Laboratory Guide for Agents and Chemists.
This was the first compilation of illicit drug manufacturing procedures
and investigative techniques published in a single volume. The Guide was
revised and reissued in 1981. This publication has since been revised
several times to keep up with changing clandestine laboratory practices
and newly encountered illicitly manufactured drugs.
The workload of DEA laboratories increased in the early 1980s. When the Attorney General of
the United States announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would be given
concurrent jurisdiction with DEA over federal drug law violations in 1982, DEA laboratories
became responsible for conducting analysis of all drug evidence purchased or seized by FBI
agents in connection with their investigations. Also, a dramatic increase in the number of
exhibits submitted by the District of Colombia Metro Police Department as a result of "Operation
Clean Sweep" gave rise to a period of mandatory Saturday overtime, as well as reinforcement
and support from the Special Testing and Research Lab in McLean and the North Central
Laboratory in Chicago.
Killed in the Line of Duty
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|
Thomas J. Devine
Died on
September 25,
1982
DEA Special
Agent Devine, a
Group
Supervisor at
the Newark
Field Division,
died in Passaic,
NJ, from
gunshot
wounds
received during
an undercover
investigation in
New York City. |
|
Larry N. Carwell
Died on
January 9,
1984
DEA Special
Agent Carwell
of the Houston
District Office
died in a
helicopter crash
during an
operations
flight near the
Bahamas. |
|
Marcellus Ward
Died on December 3,
1984
Detective Ward of the
Baltimore, Maryland
Police Department
was shot and killed
while working on an
undercover
assignment. He was
assigned to the DEA's
Baltimore District
Office Task Force. |
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