#DrugTrafficking
20 entries tagged DrugTrafficking.
People (3)
- Eric Swenson Former assistant U.S. attorney who reported Norwin Meneses's Contra drug activities to the Justice Department and stated that the CIA was fully aware of Meneses's criminal operations.
- Ivan Gomez Pseudonym of a Venezuelan CIA contract agent who handled logistics on the Southern Front for the Contras, identified by Carlos Cabezas as the conduit for drug money from the Meneses organization to the Contras.
- Manuel Noriega Military dictator of Panama who simultaneously served as a CIA asset and facilitated Colombian drug trafficking, was ousted by U.S. invasion in 1989, and had his 40-year sentence reduced to 10 years after former CIA officials testified on his behalf.
Organizations (5)
- Air America CIA proprietary airline that provided covert transportation services during the Vietnam War, linked to heroin trafficking out of the Golden Triangle region.
- FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization founded in 1964 that financed operations through cocaine taxation and drug trafficking, fielding approximately 20,000 fighters at its peak before a 2016 peace agreement produced a formal dissolution.
- Meridian International Logistics Meridian International Logistics was a holding company associated with Robert Booth Nichols, who was a principal in the organization.
- Nugan Hand Bank Australian merchant bank (1973-1980) that functioned as what investigators described as a CIA financial network, with branches in thirteen countries staffed by American military and intelligence veterans, collapsing after Frank Nugan was found shot dead in January 1980 and Michael Hand disappeared.
- The Company 'The Company' was a drug and arms organization consisting of approximately 300 members, many of whom were former military men, ex-police officers, or ex-intelligence personnel.
Events (2)
- Frogman Case Largest cocaine bust in West Coast history at the time (January 1983), which exposed direct links between Contra drug traffickers in San Francisco and the CIA, connections suppressed through direct CIA intervention.
- Pan Am Flight 103 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, connecting international terrorism to drug trafficking and intelligence operations.
Concepts (1)
- The Octopus The Octopus is a term used by investigative journalist Danny Casolaro to describe a sprawling alleged criminal network linking the PROMIS software theft, Iran-Contra, the October Surprise, BCCI, and intelligence-connected drug trafficking under a single self-perpetuating criminal enterprise.
Places (9)
- Australia Australia is the country where Nugan Hand Bank, the CIA-connected financial institution co-founded by Michael Hand and Frank Nugan, operated until its 1980 collapse amid drug trafficking and intelligence connections, after which Hand disappeared with alleged CIA assistance.
- Colombia South American nation that was the world's primary source of cocaine during the 1980s, profoundly shaped by the operations of the Cali Drug Cartel and the Medellín cartel whose product flowed through Contra-connected trafficking networks.
- Cyprus Cyprus is an Eastern Mediterranean island nation whose capital Nicosia, through the DEA/CIA front company Euramae Trading, served during the 1980s as a hub for Bekaa Valley heroin transit, PROMIS software sales to Middle Eastern countries, and CIA arms dealer communications.
- Golden Triangle The Golden Triangle is a region in Southeast Asia, primarily encompassing parts of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, historically known as one of the world's largest opium-producing areas.
- Guanacaste Province Guanacaste Province in northern Costa Rica served as headquarters for Contra drug and weapons trafficking operations during the 1980s, equipped with rural landing strips and corruptible local officials.
- Laos Laos is a Southeast Asian country that served as the theater for a secret CIA war and intelligence-connected drug trafficking operations in the Golden Triangle, where vault subjects Ted Shackley, Tom Clines, Michael Hand, and Bo Gritz all operated.
- Lebanon Lebanon is a country in the Middle East that became a focal point for intelligence operations, drug trafficking, and international arms dealing during the 1980s civil war period.
- Panama Central American nation that was a major conduit for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, ruled by military dictator Manuel Noriega who simultaneously worked for the CIA and Colombian drug cartels.
- Syria Syria is a Middle Eastern country whose Hafez al-Assad government controlled the Bekaa Valley heroin trade, maintained back-channel relations with Washington during the hostage crisis, and appears in this vault through its drug trafficking networks and connections to Lebanon-based intelligence operations.