There's much more to this story than you've so far published. And it involves the CIA, Air America, USAID, the DEA and the mafia.
The CIA's distribution of heroin actually had its beginnings right after WW II. In the late 1940s the newly formed CIA (Truman's replacement for WW II's OSS) contracted with Gen. Claire Chenault (founder/leader…
There's much more to this story than you've so far published. And it involves the CIA, Air America, USAID, the DEA and the mafia.
The CIA's distribution of heroin actually had its beginnings right after WW II. In the late 1940s the newly formed CIA (Truman's replacement for WW II's OSS) contracted with Gen. Claire Chenault (founder/leader of the American Volunteer Group - the "Flying Tigers" - during WW II) to form Civilian Air Transport (CAT) to fly opium into China's opium epicenter - the Yunnan Province - where it was processed and sold by the remnants of Chiang Kai-Shek's army - the Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT used the money to finance their ongoing civil war with the Communist Chinese. Truman "gifted" CAT with surplus US military aircraft to fly these missions. CAT was originally "owned" by the KMT and flown by US former military. The CIA "bought" CAT in 1950 and continued to operate it for the benefit of the KMT. In 1959 the CIA changed the airline's name to Air America. When the KMT were forced to abandon Yunnan Province, Air America then flew harvested opium to the KMT's new headquarters in northeastern Burma. KMT transported the opium to northwest Thailand (near Chiang Mai) where the opium was processed into heroin. Air America flew some KMT-sourced heroin to Saigon where it was trafficked to US service members. But the vast majority of KMT-sourced heroin was transported to Bangkok and sold to international wholesale dealers who in turn trafficked the heroin to Europe and California. This KMT-CIA-USAID heroin was the subject of the movie, "The French Connection."
By 1970, KMT-sourced heroin comprised 80% of the world's heroin market, thanks to the CIA, Air America and, as discussed next, USAID.
In 1961, Kennedy formed USAID. One of USAID's first activities was the stationing of "agents" in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Why? USAID's agents' "secret" mission was to coordinate with corrupt Thai military and police to ensure the KMT's opium/heroin shipments were "uninterrupted." USAID agents oversaw the uninterrupted shipment of these drug all around the world.
The Trafficante mafia family was one of KMT's drug wholesalers. The same Trafficante family who, in 1961, worked with the CIA to invade Cuba. [Air America trained personnel who transported the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion force.] The CIA also contracted with the Trafficante family in 1961 to attempt to assassinate Castro. The Trafficante family "controlled" Tampa and New Orleans, so we must assume that the CIA guaranteed the Trafficante family's "unobstructed" use of those two ports in exchange for their collaborations on Cuba.
Affiliates of the Trafficante family, in the 1980s, collaborated with the CIA in the financing of weapons sent to Nicaraguan anti-Sandinista revolutionaries, and sent to Iran in a (failed) attempt to free hostages. (Google: Oliver North, Iran/Contra Scandal).
On a personal note: I was stationed in Chiang Mai, Thailand (1972-73) performing a top-secret USAF mission to detect Chinese/Russian nuclear tests. Chiang Mai USAID agent Robert C. (Bob) Lightfoot befriended me and, while attempting to "recruit me," described his opium/heroin coordination activities. Lightfoot once took me with him and two Thai army generals on an Air America-flown helicopter trip to the Burma/China border where they coordinated opium/heroin shipments with local KMT drug lords. When the Drug Enforcement Agency was formed in 1973, the USAID agents, including Lightfoot, simply swapped business cards and became the DEA's initial cadre. Proof: Google my USAID-friend's name on the DEA memorial wall - Robert C. Lightfoot.
Here are links that describe all of the above in greater detail:
There's much more to this story than you've so far published. And it involves the CIA, Air America, USAID, the DEA and the mafia.
The CIA's distribution of heroin actually had its beginnings right after WW II. In the late 1940s the newly formed CIA (Truman's replacement for WW II's OSS) contracted with Gen. Claire Chenault (founder/leader of the American Volunteer Group - the "Flying Tigers" - during WW II) to form Civilian Air Transport (CAT) to fly opium into China's opium epicenter - the Yunnan Province - where it was processed and sold by the remnants of Chiang Kai-Shek's army - the Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT used the money to finance their ongoing civil war with the Communist Chinese. Truman "gifted" CAT with surplus US military aircraft to fly these missions. CAT was originally "owned" by the KMT and flown by US former military. The CIA "bought" CAT in 1950 and continued to operate it for the benefit of the KMT. In 1959 the CIA changed the airline's name to Air America. When the KMT were forced to abandon Yunnan Province, Air America then flew harvested opium to the KMT's new headquarters in northeastern Burma. KMT transported the opium to northwest Thailand (near Chiang Mai) where the opium was processed into heroin. Air America flew some KMT-sourced heroin to Saigon where it was trafficked to US service members. But the vast majority of KMT-sourced heroin was transported to Bangkok and sold to international wholesale dealers who in turn trafficked the heroin to Europe and California. This KMT-CIA-USAID heroin was the subject of the movie, "The French Connection."
By 1970, KMT-sourced heroin comprised 80% of the world's heroin market, thanks to the CIA, Air America and, as discussed next, USAID.
In 1961, Kennedy formed USAID. One of USAID's first activities was the stationing of "agents" in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Why? USAID's agents' "secret" mission was to coordinate with corrupt Thai military and police to ensure the KMT's opium/heroin shipments were "uninterrupted." USAID agents oversaw the uninterrupted shipment of these drug all around the world.
The Trafficante mafia family was one of KMT's drug wholesalers. The same Trafficante family who, in 1961, worked with the CIA to invade Cuba. [Air America trained personnel who transported the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion force.] The CIA also contracted with the Trafficante family in 1961 to attempt to assassinate Castro. The Trafficante family "controlled" Tampa and New Orleans, so we must assume that the CIA guaranteed the Trafficante family's "unobstructed" use of those two ports in exchange for their collaborations on Cuba.
Affiliates of the Trafficante family, in the 1980s, collaborated with the CIA in the financing of weapons sent to Nicaraguan anti-Sandinista revolutionaries, and sent to Iran in a (failed) attempt to free hostages. (Google: Oliver North, Iran/Contra Scandal).
On a personal note: I was stationed in Chiang Mai, Thailand (1972-73) performing a top-secret USAF mission to detect Chinese/Russian nuclear tests. Chiang Mai USAID agent Robert C. (Bob) Lightfoot befriended me and, while attempting to "recruit me," described his opium/heroin coordination activities. Lightfoot once took me with him and two Thai army generals on an Air America-flown helicopter trip to the Burma/China border where they coordinated opium/heroin shipments with local KMT drug lords. When the Drug Enforcement Agency was formed in 1973, the USAID agents, including Lightfoot, simply swapped business cards and became the DEA's initial cadre. Proof: Google my USAID-friend's name on the DEA memorial wall - Robert C. Lightfoot.
Here are links that describe all of the above in greater detail:
https://museum.dea.gov/wall-honor/robert-c-lightfoot
https://www.catassociation.org/history/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/01/the-us-opium-wars-china-burma-and-the-cia/
https://library.utdallas.edu/special-collections-and-archives/history-of-aviation-archive/leeker-history/
WOW and more. This reads like one of the best spy novels, already made into a few movies, none as good as this.