View source for Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs

{{Short description|Former U.S. Department of Justice narcotics enforcement bureau}}
{{distinguish|text=the [[United States Department of Justice Criminal Division|Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section (NDSS)]], which was also established in 1968}}{{Infobox law enforcement agency
| badge             = File:Badge of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.png
| image_size        = 200
| formed            = April 8, 1968
| preceding1        = [[Federal Bureau of Narcotics]]
| preceding2        = [[Bureau of Drug Abuse Control]]
| dissolved         = July 1, 1973
| superseding       = [[Drug Enforcement Administration]]
| country           = United States of America
| sworntype         = Federal agent
| chief1name        = [[John Ingersoll]]
| chief1position    = Director, August 1, 1968
| parentagency      = [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]]
| aircraft1type     = Fixed wing aircraft
| aircraft1         = 24
}}
The '''Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs''' ('''BNDD''') was a [[Federal law enforcement in the United States|federal law enforcement agency]] within the [[United States Department of Justice]] with the enumerated power of investigating the consumption, trafficking, and distribution of narcotics and dangerous drugs. BNDD is the direct predecessor of the modern [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] (DEA).<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=January 1, 2020 |title=The Early Years |url=https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-05/Early%20Years%20p%2012-29.pdf |website=Drug Enforcement Administration}}</ref>
==History==
[[Image:DEAgenealogy.png|thumb|292x292px|right|The Bureau of Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs directly preceded the Drug Enforcement Administration.]]
[[File:Drug abuse coloring book, 1974 (27968329166).jpg|thumb|289x289px|Drug abuse coloring book, 1974]]
=== Merging the old guard ===
Prior to the creation of the BNDD, there were two law enforcement agencies dedicated to narcotics enforcement: the [[Federal Bureau of Narcotics|Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN)]] and the [[Bureau of Drug Abuse Control|Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (BADC)]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Study |first=Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Substance Abuse Coverage |title=A Century of American Narcotic Policy |date=1992 |work=Treating Drug Problems: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers on Historical, Institutional, and Economic Contexts of Drug Treatment |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234755/ |access-date=2024-08-23 |publisher=National Academies Press (US) |language=en |last2=Gerstein |first2=Dean R. |last3=Harwood |first3=Henrick J.}}</ref> These bureaus were organizationally within the structure of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of the Treasury]] and the [[Food and Drug Administration]].
On Feb. 7, 1968, [[Lyndon B. Johnson|President Lyndon Johnson]] wrote to Congress;
<blockquote>“This administration and this congress have the will and the determination to stop the illicit traffic in drugs. But we need more than the will and the determination. We need a modern and efficient instrument to transform our plans into action.”<ref name=":7" /></blockquote>This official executive request of the legislature was called '''Reorganization Plan #1'''. The text of the plan laid out the mission that the new BNDD would;
# Consolidate the authority and preserve the experience and manpower of the Bureau of Narcotics and Bureau of Drug Abuse Control;
# Work with state and local governments in their crackdown on illegal trade in drugs and narcotics, and help to train local agents and investigators;
# Maintain worldwide operations, working closely with other nations, to suppress the trade in illicit narcotics and marijuana;
# Conduct an extensive campaign of research and a nation-wide public education program on drug abuse and its tragic effects.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The DEA Years |url=https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-04/1970-1975_p_30-39_0.pdf |access-date=August 23, 2024 |website=Drug Enforcement Administration}}</ref>
Reorganization Plan #1 was passed by both houses of congress on April 7, 1968, and became effective the following day.<ref name=":7" />
The BNDD was established on April 8, 1968.<ref>{{USFR|33|5611}}, {{USStat|82|1367}} at 1368</ref> The new BNDD, as detailed in the plan, took the enforcement powers of Treasury and the FDA and transferred them to the singular [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]], under the authority of the [[United States Attorney General]].<ref name=":7" />
=== John Ingersoll ===
[[John Ingersoll]] was the first Director of the BNDD, being appointed on August 1, 1968, and its last. He departed the bureau in disgruntlement on June 29, 1973, and the bureau was merged into the new DEA two days later.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1973-06-30 |title=Drug Agency Chief Quits and Charges White House Interference |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/30/archives/drug-agency-chief-quits-and-charges-white-house-interference-a-talk.html |access-date=2024-08-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Ingersoll's timeline of tenure as the head of BNDD is similar to his two main predecessors in federal narcotics enforcement;
* [[Levi G. Nutt|Levi Nutt]] was the Deputy Commissioner of the [[Bureau of Prohibition|Narcotics Division]] from 1919 to 1930 - the entire length of its existence, leaving the new Bureau of Narcotics in scandal before it was taken over by Harry Anslinger.
* [[Harry J. Anslinger|Harry Anslinger]] was the Commissioner of the FBN from 1930 to 1965 - the FBN was merged into the BNDD only three years after his departure, in 1968.
=== Elvis Presley becomes a federal agent ===
[[File:Elvis-Nixon Meeting3.jpg|thumb|355x355px|Elvis and Nixon discussing with Bud Krogh how Elvis could obtain BNDD credentials, and what Elvis could do to assist narcotics enforcement, December 21, 1970.]]
[[Elvis Presley]], the famous "king" of rock and roll, had been on a campaign to collect a badge from every police department in the country, but the one that he desired most was the badge of a BNDD Federal Agent at Large.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Joanna Connors |first=The Plain Dealer |date=2016-04-23 |title=When Elvis met Nixon: The true story behind the gun, the badge, and the movie |url=https://www.cleveland.com/moviebuff/2016/04/when_elvis_met_nixon_the_real.html |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=cleveland |language=en}}</ref> Ingersoll insisted that in order for anyone to obtain a badge from the BNDD, they would need to be credentialed as a federal agent, take the oath of office, and agree to a training program.<ref name=":2" /> Federal Agent at Large was a position that had only existed once before in the entire history of narcotics enforcement, and it had belonged to George Hunter White.[[File:Elvis Presley BNDD narcotics badge.jpg|thumb|BNDD Badge belonging to Elvis Presley.]]
Upon hearing the news that Elvis had initiated a meeting with Nixon, [[H. R. Haldeman|Haldeman]] replied in the margins of [[Egil Krogh|Bud Krogh's]] memo with a single sentence: "You must be kidding." When Elvis did meet Nixon, he mentioned that he could infiltrate any group of "hippies or young people," and had "studied communist brainwashing and the drug culture."<ref name=":2" />
After Deputy Director of the BNDD [[John Finlator]] had initially denied Elvis's request for a BNDD badge, he informed Elvis that "his original decision had been changed by the President."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The President of the United States Meets the King of Rock ’n' Roll |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-president-of-the-united-states-meets-the-king-of-rock-n-roll |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=WHHA (en-US) |language=en}}</ref> Instead of the position of federal agent at large, Elvis was presented with an equally unique badge. This badge did not declare him an agent, a special agent, a supervisor, or a director. Instead, the badge declared that he was "Elvis Presley."<ref name=":2" /> This badge became one of Elvis's most prized possessions, and he would carry it in a leather wallet everywhere he went for the rest of his life.<ref name=":2" />
=== Ingersoll launches internal investigations ===
By 1970, Ingersoll suspected that the old Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was notoriously corrupt, and that this corruption had carried over to the new BNDD.<ref name="GWU62">
{{cite web |title=CIA's "Family Jewels" - Part 1 |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_pt1_ocr.pdf |accessdate=2008-06-16 |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] ([[National Security Archive]]) |pages=62}}</ref> In December 1970, Ingersoll requested the assistance of [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) director [[Richard Helms]] in rooting it out.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OFFICE OF SECURITY SURVEY - OFFICE OF SECURITY SUPPORT TO BNDD {{!}} CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov) |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/01430476 |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref>
In January 1971, Helms approved a program of "covert recruitment and security clearance support to BNDD."<ref name="GWU29">
{{cite web |title=CIA's "Family Jewels" - Part 1 |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_pt1_ocr.pdf |accessdate=2008-06-16 |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] ([[National Security Archive]]) |pages=29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=DEA History Book 1970 - 1975 |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/history/deahistory_01.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223195621/http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/history/deahistory_01.htm |archive-date=2008-02-23 |accessdate=2008-06-16 |publisher=Drug Enforcement Administration |quote=John E. Ingersoll served as Director of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) from 1968 until 1973.}}</ref>
The investigation, and many following investigations, prove that Ingersoll was not wrong in many of his suspicions. Evidence exists today that;
* FBN supervisory agent at large [[George Hunter White]] had extrajudicially killed several of his suspects during investigations.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=(VIDEO) McWilliams |first1=John C. |last2=Lutz |first2=Charles H. |last3=Fearns |first3=Sean |date=15 October 2014 |title=Standing In The Shadows: The Legacy Of Harry J. Anslinger, First Commissioner Of Narcotics |url=https://museum.dea.gov/video-archive/standing-shadows-Anslinger |access-date=29 June 2024}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Transcript of the above video |url=https://museum.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/Standing%20in%20the%20Shadows%2010152014--Accessible.pdf}}</ref> While White had retired in 1966, he still had many connections at BNDD.
* White's primary undercover operative after 1948, [[Jacques Voignier]], was an operative for the FBN while simultaneously running drugs for the Corsican Brotherhood and running cons for his own personal gain.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2010-05-04 |title=A Terrible Mistake: H.P. Albarelli's Investigation into CIA Scientist's Murder, at the Crossroads of Mind Control and Assassination |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-terrible-mistake-hp-alb_b_485774 |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref> Voignier was arrested in 1969, the year after the establishment of the BNDD.
* FBN Agent Dean Unkefer admits in a memoir released in 2015 to having been addicted to narcotics within only a few years of his recruitment into the organization, despite never having done them before joining the bureau.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unkefer |first=Dean |title=90 Church: Inside America's Notorious First Narcotics Squad |date=June 2, 2015 |publisher=Picador |isbn=978-1250067333}}</ref>
== Activities ==
=== Foreign Offices ===
By 1970, BNDD had nine foreign offices;<ref name=":0" />
* [[Italy]]
* [[Turkey]]
* [[Panama]]
* [[Hong Kong]]
* [[Vietnam]]
* [[Thailand]]
* [[Mexico]]
* [[France]]
* [[Colombia]]
=== New York Task Force ===
[[File:French Connection Seizure of Drugs.png|thumb|288x288px|BNDD special agents with French narcotics agents of OCRTIS in Paris, 1973]]
The first federal narcotics task force was established in 1970 in New York City.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:French connection seizure 257.jpg|thumb|261x261px|The same agents asked Commissioner Le Mouël to join the photo.]]
=== French Connection ===
The BNDD carried on the work of the FBN in investigating the [[French Connection]].<ref name=":0" /> In 1967, BNDD Deputy Director [[Andrew C. Tartaglino|Andrew Tartaglino]] declared that: "France has been identified as the source of more than 75% of the heroin consumed by our drug addicts."<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Marchant |first=Alexandre |date=2012-08-09 |title=La French Connection, entre mythes et réalités |url=https://shs-cairn-info.translate.goog/revue-vingtieme-siecle-revue-d-histoire-2012-3-page-89?lang=en&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp |journal=Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire |language=fr |volume=115 |issue=3 |pages=89–102 |doi=10.3917/vin.115.0089 |issn=0294-1759}}</ref> Most of those narcotics transactions were being controlled from the city of [[Marseille|Marseilles]], where there was an established power base in the Marseilles mafia - an extension of Union Corse.<ref name=":4" /> BNDD worked closely with French narcotics agents of the [[Office Central pour la Répression du Trafic Illicite des Stupéfiants]] (OCRTIS) to investigate the [[Corsican mafia|Corsican Mafia]], [[Union Corse]], and the Corsican Brotherhood in their dominance of the European narcotics trade.<ref name=":7" /> This effort was successful, and the French Connection was completely dismantled by 1974.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-01-01 |title=1970-1975 by DEA Museum - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/deamwebmaster/docs/1970-1975/10 |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}</ref>
However, French historian Andrew Merchant writes that the narcotics trade which had so successfully interrupted by the BNDD and the OCRTIS in "Franco-American cooperation," by 1981 was now no longer centralized within a few families, but had become a drugs milieu, where there was already a present crimes milieu.<ref name=":4" /> This is a result of what he calls the rise of the "user-dealer."<ref name=":4" />
=== Air Wing ===
In 1971, Special Agent Marion Joseph, a former US Air Force pilot, noted that "a single plane could do the work of five agents in five cars on the ground," and he bought one plane with an allocated BNDD budget of $58,000.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=DEA In The Air |url=https://museum.dea.gov/exhibits/online-exhibits/dea-air-land-and-sea/dea-air |access-date=September 3, 2024 |website=DEA Museum}}</ref> The Bureau did not have enough funds to purchase a new aircraft, so he bought one under the [[United States Air Force]] Bailment Property Transfer Program.<ref name=":5" /> It was a surplus Air Force [[Cessna Skymaster]] that had been used in the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name=":5" /> The experimental program grew quickly, and by 1973, BNDD had 41 Special Agent/Pilots and a fleet of 24 aircraft - mostly single engine, piston driven, fixed-wing aircraft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Air Wing Helmet |url=https://museum.dea.gov/museum-collection/collection-spotlight/artifact/air-wing-helmet |access-date=September 3, 2024 |website=DEA Museum}}</ref>
=== Personnel ===
In 1971, the BNDD was composed of 1,500 agents and had a budget of some $43 million (which was more than fourteen times the size of the budget of the former Federal Bureau of Narcotics).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Narcotics Business:John Ingersoll's Version |url=https://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/aof/aof11.html |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=www.druglibrary.org}}</ref>
== Dissolution ==
On July 1, 1973, the BNDD was merged into the newly formed [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] (DEA).
==See also==
* ''[[United States v. Russell]]'': U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Bureau.
* [[List of United States federal law enforcement agencies]]
* [[Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970|Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act]]
{{clear}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050204094823/http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/agency/genealogy.htm Genealogy], DEA History.
{{authority control}}{{United States Department of Justice}}
[[Category:History of drug control in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct federal law enforcement agencies of the United States]]
[[Category:Drugs in the United States]]
[[Category:Drug Enforcement Administration]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1968]]
[[Category:1973 disestablishments]]
[[Category:Central Intelligence Agency]]