The Frogman Case was the largest cocaine bust in the history of the [[United States]] West Coast at the time of its occurrence in January 1983. The case exposed direct links between cocaine traffickers in [[San Francisco]] and the [[Contras|Contra]] movement in [[Central America]], connections that were suppressed through [[Central Intelligence Agency]] intervention.[^1] ### The Bust On January 17, 1983, during the heaviest fog of the winter, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] agents staking out Pier 96 in San Francisco watched as seven men emerged from a swamp carrying heavy duffel bags. Two wore divers' wet suits. When agents moved in, one suspect fired a short burst from an Uzi submachine gun. No one was injured. The men were carrying 430 pounds of cocaine unloaded from the Gran Colombiana freighter Ciudad de Cúcuta.[^1] It was the first case made by President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s new federal Drug Task Force in San Francisco. U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello told reporters the street value was $750 million after "routine dilution." The [[DEA]] corrected the estimate to $100 million at most, or $11–12 million wholesale.[^1] ### Earlier and Related Seizures The bust followed a December 22, 1982 seizure in [[Los Angeles]] of 39 pounds of cocaine from the Gran Colombiana freighter Ciudad de Nieva. Two weeks after the Frogman bust, agents in Los Angeles raided the Gran Colombiana freighter Ciudad de Santa Maria and arrested fifteen people with 150 pounds of cocaine. Cocaine continued arriving on Gran Colombiana freighters through 1986. The Ciudad de Cúcuta itself was found in [[Houston]] the following year with $18 million worth of cocaine hidden behind a steel wall.[^1] ### Contra Connections The Frogman case directly connected to [[Julio Zavala]]'s and [[Carlos Cabezas]]'s drug network, which was funneling cocaine profits to the Contras. On February 15, 1983, federal agents raided fourteen locations, arresting Cabezas, Zavala, Colombian supplier Álvaro Carvajal Minota, and others. Police found five flyers for "Nicaraguan Benefit" in a bookcase at one location.[^1] Neither [[Norwin Meneses]] nor any of his family members was charged. Former Meneses aide Renato Peña told the Justice Department in 1997 that Norwin Meneses had a DEA agent on his payroll who warned him of the impending arrests weeks beforehand.[^1] ### The CIA Cover-Up When Zavala's defense attorney, Judd Iverson, obtained letters from Contra officials [[Francisco Aviles]] and [[Vicente Rappaccioli]] claiming the $36,020 seized from Zavala belonged to [[UDN-FARN]], the CIA launched an operation to prevent the letters from becoming public.[^1] The Costa Rican CIA station cabled Langley warning that both Aviles and Rappaccioli were Contra officials and CIA assets belonging to an organization that had "unwittingly received CIA support." CIA lawyer Lee S. Strickland flew to San Francisco and asked prosecutor Mark Zanides to ensure the depositions did not go forward. The CIA told its Costa Rican station the matter could blow over "if planned legal action is successful."[^1] The government returned the $36,020 to Zavala and Aviles in October 1984 in exchange for dropping the Costa Rican depositions. A CIA cable declared: "CIA equities are fully protected."[^1] U.S. Attorney Russoniello later claimed the money was returned to save the cost of travel. The Justice Department Inspector General concluded the CIA intervened because of "a desire to protect the public image of the Contras or the CIA." CIA cables described Russoniello as "most deferential to our interests." A secret 1987 DEA report noted that a defendant in the Frogman case had made 51 phone calls to the [[FDN]] office in San Francisco.[^1] ### Suppression of Contra Links The involvement of [[Horacio Pereira]] and the Sánchez brothers in supplying cocaine was never disclosed, nor were they charged. The Meneses family's connection to the ring was also suppressed. Defense lawyers obtained a court order forcing the Justice Department to reveal earlier searches targeting Jairo Meneses and Julio Bermúdez, and accused the FBI of "serious misrepresentation" for concealing the identities of individuals "who are, clearly from the government's point of view, either distributing cocaine obtained from some of the principals in this case, or supplying it to them."[^1] The pro-Sandinista daily Barricada reported the Contra-drug connection immediately: "Somocistas traffic in drugs," the February 20, 1983 headline read. It would take another three years before an American journalist made the same connection.[^1] ### 1986 Media Expose In spring 1986, San Francisco Examiner reporter [[Seth Rosenfeld]] broke the story, exposing the Justice Department's handling of the $36,000 found in Julio Zavala's nightstand. Rosenfeld reported Zavala's claim from prison that he had personally delivered about $500,000 in drug profits to the Contras in [[Costa Rica]]. He also unearthed Carlos Cabezas's long-buried testimony about selling Pereira's cocaine to raise money for the Contra revolution. [[Joseph Russoniello|U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello]] responded with a four-page letter calling Rosenfeld's work "one of the most blatant attempts at contrived news-making we have witnessed in recent years," insisting there was "absolutely no evidence of CIA involvement" and "no evidence to warrant the insinuation the defendants were connected to the Contras." The State Department issued a White Paper portraying Cabezas and Zavala as liars.[^2] When Senator [[John Kerry]]'s investigators sought to interview Carlos Cabezas about the case, the Justice Department announced he could not be questioned because he was going to be a federal witness in an upcoming trial. Cabezas called that "bullshit. I was never a witness in that case. They just didn't want anyone talking to me." On October 15, 1986, [[Oliver North]] noted in his diary: "46 boxes of transcripts of SF Frogman case. Justice never provided."[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom" [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 15: "This thing is a tidal wave"