Crossan Andersen
Federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who took the Danilo Blandon case to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and described it as "a sensitive matter" involving CIA allegations.
Crossan Andersen was a federal prosecutor in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's office who agreed to take the Blandón-Meneses drug case to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) in November 1986.1
"A Sensitive Matter"
On November 25, 1986, Andersen wrote to the IRS criminal investigation division in Laguna Niguel, asking for agents to assist with the case. "As you know," Andersen wrote, "this is a narcotics investigation involving Federal Bureau of Investigation, DEA, and LASO units in Riverside and Whittier, California. It is a sensitive matter since it involves allegations of drug running in support of the Contra movement in Nicaragua and wholly unconfirmed allegations of Central Intelligence Agency involvement."1
The same morning Andersen dictated his letter, President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese were publicly announcing the Iran-Contra Affair, revealing that millions from Iranian missile sales had been illegally diverted to the Contras by Oliver North. The timing was not coincidental; the Blandón case and the Iran-Contra scandal were converging.1
Closing the Investigation
Andersen pulled the plug on the OCDETF investigation on July 17, 1987, less than seven months after it began. The investigation had accomplished nothing except to provide cover for Norwin Meneses and his CIA associate to visit the U.S. and create suspicions they were dealing dope. In May 1987, Andersen called DEA agent Sandalio Gonzalez in Costa Rica and told him to get the CIA operative known as "Roberto" to California for questioning. Gonzalez replied that Roberto would likely never come to California and added that he was being transferred to Bolivia.1
The Phantom Cooperation Agreement
After the investigation was shelved, Andersen was reported to have agreed to a deal under which Norwin Meneses would plead guilty to a cocaine charge as part of a "cooperation agreement" once the Los Angeles case was done. Justice Department investigators later found no record of any such deal, and Andersen specifically denied that an agreement ever existed. Prosecutor Eric Swenson also denied it. The claim appears to have been fabricated to placate FBI agents whose racketeering case against Meneses had been rejected.1
Sources
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 20: "It is a sensitive matter" ↩
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