Part 7: Drugging America....FBI Veteran Reveals CIA-Mafia Drug Ties...

And gets 32-90 years for his troubles! Only in America are people naive enough to believe the country does not have political prisoners.The only reason I can see that anyone would want to work for the FBI,CIA, or any other of these corrupt foreign agencies(yes I mean foreign)is to get dirty themselves.I have read enough damn accounts of the REAL story,to know that there is no such thing as a 'good guy' involved in any of these agencies as the good ones either get locked up themselves for doing their job right,or they get suicided.There is no justice in this country unless you are an illegal alien,the corporation needs your vote, and will hook you right up.... 

Drugging America 

A Trojan Horse 

By Rodney Stich
CHAPTER EIGHT 

FBI Veteran Reveals CIA-Mafia Drug Ties 

A veteran FBI agent and highly-decorated Vietnam veteran provided still further corroboration to the fact that the CIA has been smuggling drugs for the past 40 years, that the CIA has been engaging in drug trafficking with Mafia segments, and that the FBI and other Justice Department divisions have covered up for these interrelated crimes. 

Richard M. Taus had been a Special Agent for the FBI from 1978 to 1988, during which time he was assigned to organized crime and foreign counterintelligence operations. He held the responsible position of relief Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) in the New York City area. In addition to his FBI duties, Taus was a Pilot-In-Command (PIC) flying missions for the FBI’s New York Field Office. The New York Times Reference Book For the Year 1988 lists Taus under “FBI Events.” In the 1980s he conducted an undercover operation as part of a group consisting of 17 special agents. He also held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the aviation branch, U.S. Army Reserve. 

A Brief History of Richard Taus 

Taus had two tours of duty flying combat missions in Vietnam during which he received three Bronze Star Medals and seven Air Medals, as well as several decorations for meritorious service. In 1967-68, as an Armed Forces Courier officer, Taus fought in the Tet Offensive and flew in the siege of Khe Sanh. In 1970-71, as a Helicopter Unit Commander for the First Cavalry Division, Taus, then Captain, flew Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters directing rescue-and-recovery operations. 

On that last Vietnam tour, Taus adopted a Vietnamese orphan he brought back to the United States and who now bears the name, David Taus. This adoption was historic and received national media attention. It required obtaining specific approval and assistance from President Thieu and President Johnson, and amending U.S. Immigration and Naturalization laws. David Taus would later work for the FBI in the mid-1980s as a personnel analyst in the New York Field Office. 

Taus Reporting CIA Drug 

Trafficking in Vietnam 

While he was a helicopter unit commander in Vietnam, Taus discovered and reported to his supervisors, widespread drug trafficking by the Central Intelligence Agency. Taus described how the CIA transported drugs that were sold to American GIs in Vietnam and Laos, causing over a third of the armed forces in Vietnam to become drug addicts. These GIs were often too drugged out to either fight or defend themselves. In addition, in that condition, they often killed their own officers, a practice known as “fragging.” 

Hesitant About Revealing 

Government Corruption 

I first made contact with Taus in 1997, and he was hesitant about revealing government corruption that he discovered while an FBI agent. I explained to Taus that there was a U.S. Supreme Court decision rendered about 15 years earlier stating that a federal employee had a greater duty to report criminal activities by his superiors than a duty to cover up for such crimes because of any employee secrecy agreement. I also explained that in my opinion, the statutory requirement to report federal crimes, such as required by federal criminal statute Title 18 USC Section 4, superseded any secrecy agreement required to be signed by government employees or agents. Failure to take unusual actions to circumvent the massive government and non-government cover-ups, and expose these criminal activities, would make us culpable of aiding and abetting the activities that were inflicting such great harm upon the people of the United States. 

It wasn’t as if we were endangering lawful secret operations or deep-cover operatives. We were making known serious criminal and even subversive activities that required circumventing the cover-ups by government and nongovernment checks and balances. If we did not do that, we would be joining the complicity of cover-ups and obstruction of justice responsible for the continuation of these corrupt conditions. Government retaliation upon Taus had silenced his ability to report these matters, but exposing them in a book would at least make some of the people aware of what was occurring behind the scenes in government. 

Internal FBI Cover-Ups Too Pervasive 

Taus said he did all he could to report these criminal activities, but the cover-up was too pervasive. The cover-up included senior FBI officials such as Oliver “Buck” Revell, who had earlier stalled and stopped legitimate FBI investigations concerning both the Irangate and Iraqgate scandals, similar to his boss, J. Edgar Hoover, protecting organized crime for many years. 

Discovering Criminal Activities 

in CIA, White House 

He stated in general terms about discovering evidence of major criminal activities involving the CIA, the White House, and other government operations. Over a period of several years, Taus provided me with sufficient data to write a book solely on his discoveries as a military pilot and then an FBI agent. This chapter covers a small part of what Taus conveyed to me. 

CIA Hauling Drugs 

While Taus was piloting a helicopter in Vietnam he heard over the aircraft radio a distress call from the pilot of an Air America C-46 aircraft about to make a crash landing. Taus proceeded to the crash site and landed, offering to fly the unharmed pilots to their base of operations. But the crew refused to leave the aircraft, saying they would wait for Air America people to arrive. The reason for refusing to leave the aircraft was suggested by the nature of the cargo; it consisted of heroin, estimated at about 4000 pounds. (Air America and its predecessor airline, Civil Air Transport, among others, was one of many CIA airlines. While I was flying captain for Japan Airlines out of Tokyo, where many of these CIA-associated pilots went for recreation, I learned from them that the CIA was hauling drugs.) 

Military and Congressional Cover-up 

of CIA Drug Trafficking 

Upon return to base, Taus made a written report to his military unit commander describing the heroin on the Air America aircraft. He also sent a letter to his New York congressman, reporting the CIA’s drug smuggling operation. A congressional “investigation” followed, which covered up for the CIA’s drug smuggling—a congressional cover-up that has gone on for the past 40 years. 

Air America Crew Heavy Drug Consumers? 

The final congressional report stated that the heroin on the Air America aircraft was not for the CIA, but for the personal use of the crew. Four thousand pounds for the personal use of the crew? 

Discovering CIA Drug Trafficking 

in Vietnam and in United States 

Taus returned to the United States from Vietnam and became part of the New York National Guard, assigned to instructor duties for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College courses. While on military duty with the National Guard, he was sent to Central and South America several times on special missions, during which he learned more about the global drug trafficking business and the involvement in it of the CIA, State Department, and U.S. military. 

FBI Reports of CIA Involvement 

in Other Criminal Activities 

After leaving the military, Taus joined the FBI as a Special Agent, and continued his ties to the military as a senior officer in the Army Reserve. During his FBI investigations, Taus discovered covert CIA operations in the United States, including looting the savings and loans, and other criminal activities. These were all undercover operations that had been described to me over the years by undercover agents who were part of the CIA activities. Hearing it from a veteran FBI agent provided more corroboration. 

CIA Infiltrating the FBI 

Taus explained how the CIA had infiltrated the FBI and discovered the names of FBI agents and informants, and investigations that could expose covert and criminal CIA operations. The CIA knowingly gave false information to FBI agents, seriously jeopardizing FBI missions and misleading top Justice Department and White House personnel. Most of this false information is still in FBI records. 

20 Years of Reporting CIA Drug Trafficking 

Taus was very concerned about the CIA drug smuggling that he observed over a 20-year period of time while an Army officer and then while an FBI Special Agent. This concern was increased by his discovery that the CIA was actively involved in drug trafficking with organized crime figures in the New York area. And if this wasn’t enough, his concern was further heightened by FBI supervisors ordering him to shut down his investigation. 

Taus and other FBI agents discovered CIA drug trafficking as a result of their investigations into other organized crime activities, and aided by the Pennsylvania Crime Commission Report on drug trafficking among pizza outlets and cheese dealers. The Pennsylvania report described extensive interstate and international drug-trafficking involving Mafia figures throughout the United States and Canada. 

Pizza Connection Drug Cases 

Taus, while heading an FBI investigative team, discovered CIA involvement with the American Mafia in drug trafficking during the time when Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Louis Freeh was prosecuting the Italian Mafia’s drug trafficking activities in the Pizza Connection drug cases. Freeh’ s prosecution of these cases propelled him to prominence in the FBI and he eventually became the director of the bureau. 

It was Taus‘ belief there was a conflict between the Sicilian Mafia drug activities and those of the American Mafia, and that the CIA’s connections were with the American Mafia. He felt that the selective crackdown on the Sicilian Mafia was to eliminate competition to the CIA-backed American Mafia. Freeh was protecting the Mafia’s American segments that had CIA drug ties. Taus explained, “Other known figures with connections or associations to the CIA escaped federal prosecution.” Also, the Pizza Connection drug charges focused on low-level Mafia figures while protecting high-level drug kingpins and their accomplices in government. Taus explained the obstacles blocking prosecution by well-placed political figures, judges, and others. He explained how AUSA Freeh blocked the issuance of subpoenas for such companies as Cremosa and Drexel-Castle, which had CIA connections. 

Taus explained that the American Mafia was an entrenched third generation and that the Sicilian Mafia, which was more violent, was creating not only competition in the drug business but also causing too much friction. 

Difference Between Street Mafia 

and Higher-Level Mafia 

Taus explained the difference between the street Mafia represented by the five crime families in New York and the higher-level Mafia imbedded in bluechip Fortune 500 corporations and in high government positions. He described the situation in which the Sicilian drug trafficking involved in the Pizza Connection cases was interfering with other government drug-routes and supplies from the Middle East through Turkey, Bulgaria, Syria, and Lebanon. He said it was this competition that caused Justice Department personnel to eliminate the Sicilian Mafia from the drug business. 

The media gave Louis Freeh credit for developing the Pizza Connection cases but Taus explained that the credit belonged to the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. 

Discovering Other CIA Drug 

Connections, Including the K-Team 

During Taus‘ FBI investigations, he discovered that several of the people involved in the drug trafficking were members of a CIA group in Freeport, Long Island, known as the “K-Team.” Several of the CIA K-team operators were associated with a CIA-related firm, Drexel Company, which later changed its name to Castle Securities after its CIA-controlled Cayman Island parent, Castle Bank. One of the key figures in the K-Team was Sal Imbergio, who ran for mayor in Freeport. 

Drexel, Burnham, Lambert 

and Mafia Connections 

Taus explained that Drexel was connected to the larger business firm of Drexel, Burnham, Lambert, a junk-bond securities company with Mafia associates and high-ranking political connections in New York State. He explained that he tried to show Louis Freeh the connections between the Drexel firm and the drug activities of the Pizza Connection, but Freeh refused to act on the information, concentrating instead upon the Sicilian Mafia members while protecting CIA-related operations. 

Mafia, Drugs, Savings 

and Loans, and the CIA 

Taus listed some of the Mafia figures involved in drug trafficking who he investigated. These included Carmine Persico, a member of the Colombo crime family; Salvatore Piga, a Lucchese crime family member; Mario Renda, a Mafia untouchable heavily involved in looting of savings and loans during the 1980s; Angelo Ruggiero, a member of the Gambino crime family, and Giuseppe Lamberti and Salvatore Mazzurco, partners in the Mafia-controlled Pronto Demolition Company. 

Piga went to First United Company in Garden City, Long Island, a brokerage house dealing in credit exchanges that was owned by Mario Renda. Renda had numerous foreign operations, some of which were shell companies to confuse investigators and for diverting funds. Taus explained that some of these were associated with Oliver North‘s Enterprise operation in Central America. [Renda was seriously involved in the Savings and Loan debacle also D.C]

Ties With the CIA’s Southern Air Transport 

One of Renda’s firms, Amalgamated Commercial Enterprise (ACE), played an important role in the weapons and drug shipments to and from Central and South America and Florida. ACE was also doing business with and supporting Southern Air Transport‘s missions involving arms and drug shipments that were part of the White House’s National Security Council and CIA operations. 

Southern Air Connection 

to Drugs and the CIA 

Taus described how his investigations took him to Florida and discovery of Southern Air Transport’ s relationship to the CIA and drug trafficking, which provided more corroboration to what was revealed to me by my many CIA sources over the last decade. He discovered the involvement in drug trafficking by the National Security Council, Oliver North, and the White House. 

More Evidence of CIA Looting 

of Savings and Loans 

Taus described finding evidence of CIA connections in looting the savings and loans, adding: “The Freeport CIA station was involved in financial fraud with unsecured loans, unauthorized securities, dummy shell corporations, and the bilking of numerous savings and loans.” He described the CIA’s unlawful participation and meddling into areas handled by other government agencies, such as the State Department, Defense, and Commerce. He described how Irangate and Iraqgate were some of the consequences of the illegal CIA activities. 

Details of most of what Taus found during his FBI investigations had been told to me for the past ten years by my CIA and other deep-cover sources, some of who were carrying out these activities under orders of their superiors or handlers. Taus’ separate discovery of these matters, while an FBI agent, provided further corroboration to what others had told me was true. 

FBI Supervisor DeVecchio Refused 

to Act on Taus‘ Reports 

Taus described how his immediate supervisor, R. Lindley DeVecchio, refused to act on his reports of CIA-related drug trafficking. The reason why his FBI supervisor did not act on the CIA and American Mafia drug trafficking surfaced several years later. In late 1996, DeVecchio was charged with aiding Gregory Scarpa, a member of the Colombo organized crime family. The relationship between organized crime and Taus’ FBI supervisor came out during a hearing in federal district court in Brooklyn. 

Turncoat Responsible for 

Many New York Murders 

Federal prosecutor Valerie Caproni charged DeVecchio with lying, claiming that the FBI agent had fed confidential information to Scarpa, and that this information fueled murderous warfare between two Mafia factions in 1991 and 1992 as they each sought control of the Colombo crime family. Ten mobsters and an innocent teenager were killed. Caproni said Scarpa was a battle commander in one faction and played a leading role in bringing about the murders. 

CIA Assets in Congress 

Taus wrote, “Our infamous congressional leaders are either former CIA agents, such as congressman Henry J. Hyde, or stooges for them, such as Arlen Specter, Charles Schumer (now a senator), Alfonse D’Amato and even my own representative, Peter King of Nassau County.” 

CIA Arming the IRA 

He described discovering that the CIA provided arms to the IRA. In Defrauding America I mentioned Stephen Crittenden, the head of a covert CIA airline, who described to me flying a C-130 into Ireland with a load of arms for the IRA. 

Based upon his vast FBI background, Taus wrote about the Mafia‘s infiltration of government: 

There is a sanctioned Mafia organization that works within our government and industries. I know. I have discovered it under the veneer of the surface “street gangsters” such as Gotti, Scarpa, Bonanno, etal, who answer to an appointed Godfather (the late Paul Castellano ). In turn, Paul takes orders from his first cousin Vito Castellano who works for the Governor of New York in Albany, N.Y. Incredible? I do not know who is boss now. 

Taus told about his informant who had revealed the CIA drug route that was associated with the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster over Lockerbie. 

Investigating the CIA-Front, the K-Team 

In the 1970s, the FBI started receiving reports of criminal activities involving a group known as the “K-Team ” operating out of Freeport, Long Island. Taus‘ FBI superiors ordered him in 1981 to start an undercover operation to investigate this group. The cover for this FBI investigation was the Freeport Soccer Club, and enabled the FBI to infiltrate the K-Team operation. During that investigation, Taus discovered the K-Team operations included several CIA operatives. 

The Enterprise, Iraqgate and Irangate 

The K-Team had connections with the patriotic-sounding National Freedom Institute that conducted its operations under the name, “The Enterprise.” Taus said that this was the same “Enterprise” that repeatedly surfaced in the Iran-Contra congressional hearings. During this FBI investigation, Taus’ team discovered that the K-Team was a CIA operation and that it was engaging in drug trafficking, looting of savings and loans, and activities related to what later became known as Irangate and Iraqgate. 

Taus‘ team discovered in 1983 that K-Team members arranged for Iraq to obtain U.S.-backed loans for agricultural products and that the money was used to purchase war material. These loans for the purchase of war material continued until Iraq used the military weapons to invade Kuwait. The Reagan-Bush team knew of the diversion of U.S. funds for military use years before the 1989 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Their cover-ups, or active role in the funding and military buildup, made possible the Gulf War and the events that followed. 

Discovering Scandals Several 

Years Before Media Exposure 

Several years before the public heard about the National Security Council’s “Enterprise ” involving among others, Lt. Col. Oliver North, Navy Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter, and Air Force Major General Richard V. Secord, Taus was reporting their illegal activities in his FBI reports. 

Taus‘ team discovered that one of the Iraqi players in the U.S. loans for commodities was Fadhil Al-Marsoumi, Baghdad’s largest weapons dealer, that the money for commodities was being diverted to military purchases, and that the Reagan White House knew this in 1983. 

Terminating the FBI 

Investigation and Informants 

Shortly before the 1988 presidential elections, Taus‘ supervisors instructed him to shut down the undercover FBI operation and terminate the informants working for him. Three of the FBI informants failed to remain silent and sought to give their stories to the media. In 1988 and 1989, they were really terminated. One was an electrician, Ritchie Roberts, acting like the “plumbers” in Nixon’s Watergate, rigging electrical devices such as bugging equipment, and also deactivating security alarm systems. Another informant who refused to remain quiet was Thomas Ziegler (alias Charles Schering ), a carpenter, who worked with Roberts. Both lived in Queens, New York. Roberts and Ziegler, working for the CIA’s K-Team, broke into the Grenadian Mission at the United Nations building in New York, obtaining documents, and planting evidence to falsely discredit people. Taus said that CIA agents assassinated them. 

“I never thought the FBI would 

do something like this” 

Taus said the third assassination, of Steve Lopez, was conducted by FBI agents, and received media attention in The Staten Island Advance and the New York Post. Taus said, “I never thought the FBI would do something like this.” 

Taus said that he reported these assassinations to his FBI supervisor, Manny Gonzalez, who replied he “could do nothing to assist me with these revelations.” In 1993, Gonzalez was appointed by Louis Freeh to be an Assistant Director-In-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

FBI’s Assassins 

For years I had been told by some of my CIA contacts that the FBI had assassins in their employ, and I found this hard to believe. Although CIA assassinations were admitted to me by my CIA contacts—at least two of whom participated in assassinations early in their CIA careers—I had difficulty accepting the fact that the FBI would stoop to this level. Hearing it from Taus, an FBI veteran gave support to what other deep-cover operatives had told me in the past. One of the FBI names that were frequently repeated as a assassin for the FBI was Chuckie Peters.

Circumventing the FBI Obstruction of Justice 

Outraged at the FBI’s cover-up of the CIA drug trafficking, the corruption leading up to the arming of Iraq through sham agricultural loans, the cover-up of assassinations, and other crimes, Taus wrote to FBI Director William Sessions, reporting the criminal activities that his group had discovered, and the cover-up by his FBI supervisors. When Sessions did not respond, Taus wrote letters to members of Congress. None responded 

“Desist or you will be in great trouble” 

Foreign newspapers started exposing the Iran-Contra activities, circumventing the U.S. media cover-up and forcing Congress to address the issues, at least the minor issues. Taus wrote: 

When the revelations occurred in November 1986, the Team became increasingly desperate. The FBI files were being filled with misinformation about the “Enterprise ” and its team members. There were assassinations. I was instructed by my FBI supervisor, Patrick Groves, to “eliminate” my informants and cooperatives who were no longer interested in cooperating with the K-Team’s own investigation. The FBI case agent on the “K-Team” case, Carmine Rivera, told me that I would be seriously hurt by my continuing investigation into Oliver North’ s Enterprise. Finally, supervisory FBI officials warned me “to desist or you will be in great trouble.” 

The FBI was doing everything possible to cover up the criminal activities that independent prosecutor Lawrence Walsh was empowered to investigate. Taus wrote that the FBI cover-up was in part unnecessary because Walsh covered up for the hard-core criminal aspects associated with the Iran-Contra affair, as did members of Congress. 

Independent Counsel Cover-

Up of CIA Drug Trafficking 

Walsh had received boxes of hard evidence on the government involvement in drug trafficking associated with the Contra affair from state and federal investigators and from insiders sending him evidence, including the evidence that I sent to him. Taus identified this cover-up as he wrote, 

Walsh conducted his investigations into the Irangate affair using the same FBI agents who tried to cover up the matter at the direction of the CIA. 

Taus wrote that a young staff attorney for Walsh, Jeffrey Toobin, was continually stifled by the FBI under the umbrella of the phony “national security” label. (Toobin wrote a book, Opening Arguments, about these cover-up problems.) 

Using a Standard Justice Department Tactic 

On November 4, 1988, shortly before the presidential elections, the FBI took steps to silence Taus. He was arrested by his own FBI associates on sham charges. At first, the FBI charged Taus with using a government credit card to obtain ten dollars worth of fuel for his personal car. (Taus had used the credit card to fuel his personal car used on a government assignment when a government car was not available.) Then the FBI charged him with molesting young boys allegedly occurring almost a year earlier. (My FBI sources say this was not a federal offense.) 

Using State Agencies in the Conspiracy

The quickly concocted federal charges were dropped as soon as New York state prosecutors filed charges alleging Taus had sexual conduct with several young boys who were members of the Freeport Soccer Club (the organizational structure used by the FBI for undercover cases). By transferring the charges to state courts, federal prosecutors prevented Taus from claiming the charges were retaliation for reporting government personnel involved in high-level criminal activities. 

Bail was set by the Nassau County district attorney and cooperating state judge at an unprecedented $2,500,000, insuring that Taus would not be free to publicize the government corruption that he discovered. Prior to that time, Taus’ FBI performance ratings were outstanding, as were his military records. 

Judge Blocked Presentation 

of Exculpatory Evidence 

Taus explained how New York State Judge Edward Baker refused to allow the jury to hear any testimony or disclosures about the government’s motivation for arresting him. (This is a standard tactic by cooperating judges.) Judge Baker refused to allow evidence to be presented showing that the boys who made the charges had first denied that there were any sexual violations. 

Prosecutors Threatening the 

Alleged Sexual Victims 

Baker also refused to allow testimony showing that the families of the boys had been earlier charged with criminal offenses and that the charges were dropped after the boys testified as the prosecutors wanted them to do. Also, that the boys were themselves threatened with incarceration if they did not testify as prosecutors wanted. There were other judicial violations that denied Taus a fair trial. 

The trial record included sworn testimony by senior FBI supervisory agents stating that “Taus was involved in highly sensitive national security cases,” and that “his arrest was ordered at the highest level in Washington.” 

32 to 90 Year Prison 

Sentence Insured Taus‘ Silence 

Psychiatrists and psychologists hired by the prosecutor admitted that Taus told them that there was a major cover-up and conspiracy involving the Iran-Contra scandal, told them of the CIA drug trafficking activities and that it reached into the highest office in the country, and included Vice President George Bush. They testified that Taus described the cover-up of high-level criminal activities, adding that in their many years of experience they felt Taus was telling the truth. The jury, probably believing that surely the government would not be charging Taus with the offenses if he weren’t really guilty, held Taus guilty in November 1990, and Judge Baker sentenced Taus to prison for 32 to 90 years! 

This sentence was outrageous even if, for argument, Taus had been guilty of relatively minor sexual encounters. Contrast this with the refusal to prosecute (or the relatively minor charges against) the hundreds of Catholic and other priests who actually preyed on boys. Over a period of years I discovered that sham child molestation charges are common tactics to silence or discredit state or federal agents who blow the whistle on high-level government corruption. 

Limited Media Publicity 

Taus‘ attempts to report the criminal activities did get some media publicity after his January 1991 sentencing. An article in the October 28, 1991, issue of Time was titled, “Reagan Knew Everything.” An October 26, 1992, article in US News & World Report was titled, “Cover-Up.” Other disclosures of what Taus discovered were later contained in an article by Ben Bradlee appearing in Guts & Glory. 

The media reported the existence of the K-Team that Taus and other FBI agents discovered to be a CIA operation in Freeport, and that it was the home of the infamous “Enterprise ” operated by the National Security Council’s Oliver North. The K-Team met the requirement of CIA-Director William Casey and the NSC’s Oliver North when the Reagan Administration fueled the war in Nicaragua, undermining the government that had replaced the brutal CIA backed Somoza regime. An informative article on the K-Team activities was found in the December 4, 1992 issue of Washington City Paper. 

The CIA reacted to this publicity with the standard practice of releasing a report with some truth to it and then building on it with false information, denying that it had any part in the K-Team operation. 

Help From Old Friends 

MIT Professor Norm Chomsky tried to help Taus by referring him to John Kelly, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and Asian Affairs. Kelly wanted to do a story about the FBI cover-up on his 1994 Public Broadcasting Series (PBS-TV), Inside the FBI, but Taus declined, fearing possible violations of the Secrecy Agreement Act. Kelly later testified before Congress after Iraq invaded Kuwait, falsely explaining that the State Department was unaware of Iraq’s intentions. The CIA and the White House knew what was coming; they made it possible for Iraq to build up its military might to conduct such an invasion. 

Asked to Falsify Reports 

Taus explained that one of the events that triggered retaliation against him was his refusal to falsely sign the FBI’s yearly statement requiring FBI agents to certify that they know of no unreported criminal activities. His supervisor wanted him to sign that he knew of none, when in fact he knew of a great amount of high-level criminal activities which his supervisor wanted covered up. When Taus refused to falsely state on that yearly form that he knew of no criminal activities, his Supervisory Special Agent warned him that he wasn’t on the team. That warning, and his reporting of the CIA’s criminal activities and the FBI’s cover-up to FBI Director Sessions and Congress were followed by the false charges against him that resulted in a virtual life sentence in prison. 

Removal of His Accusers For 

Sex and Other Offenses 

After Taus was convicted and sentenced, nearly all of his opponents were fired or resigned. The prosecutor and Deputy Chief District Attorney J. Kenneth Littman, who prosecuted Taus for alleged sexual violations, was ousted by the District Attorney for soliciting sex with a minor in the Nassau County courthouse. A November 6, 1993, New York Daily News article addressed the matter with the title, “Prober A Heel: Long Island Teen.” A November 5, 1993, article in Newsday was titled, “Prosecutor Ousted.” Taus’ trial judge, Edward Baker, retired under questionable circumstances while making front-page headlines in the August 13, 1993, issue of Newsday.

FBI Sessions and FBI ASIC 

Fox Were the Next Ones Fired 

FBI Director William Sessions was later fired by President Clinton after Sessions stated he would make an investigation of government corruption. The Assistant Director-In-Charge of the FBI’s New York office, James Fox, who was present when Taus was falsely arrested, was suspended shortly before he was to retire. He refused to retract a statement that he made to the media declaring the innocence of another government agent being falsely charged to silence his exposure of high-level drug activities and political bribery: Immigration and naturalization Agent Joseph Occhipinti. Occhipinti is described in other pages. Occhipinti had sought to expose Dominican drug trafficking and drug money bribes to U.S. politicians and ended up being charged by DOJ prosecutors with violating the civil rights of crime families. The stress on Fox may have contributed to his subsequent demise. 

Confirmation of His FBI 

Reports on Criminal Activities 

In seeking to obtain evidence revealing the probable retaliatory acts originating from within the Justice Department, Taus requested under the Freedom of Information Act files concerning him and his reports of criminal activities involving Iraq, Iran, and CIA drug trafficking. The FBI replied in an October 1995, letter that the FBI had over 2,400 pages containing both his name and matters relating to Irangate, but refused to give him copies. Taus had no copies of the records that he prepared as an FBI Special Agent, and as he said, if he had kept copies, they would have been seized when the FBI ransacked his home after the false charges were made. 

Mysterious Death of FBI Assistant Director 

Taus wrote about the mysterious death of William Sullivan, Assistant Director of the FBI who resigned from the FBI after more than 36 years of service. He quit because of the cover-ups by the FBI, including the cover-up of Mafia activities by former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Sullivan was responsible for Taus’ entry into the FBI and the two of them had a close relationship. Sullivan’s attempt to expose some of the FBI’s cover-up activities was halted by his suspicious death in a 1977 hunting accident.

Two of my sources had sensitive information on matters relating to Taus‘ activities. My friend of many years, Jim Rothstein, described what he discovered and reported while a vice squad detective on the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in the 1960s and 1970s. During his many years as a vice squad detective he frequently reported CIA involvement with organized crime and drug trafficking. 

He described the reports that he had filed of CIA drug sales to the blacks in New York City, naming some of those who were involved. His reports described how CIA operatives sold drugs directly to black distributors from about 1967 to 1972, after which time organized crime groups took over the distribution. The CIA then concentrated on supplying drugs to the crime groups. Rothstein described his contacts with a key black that acted as an intermediary between the CIA and minor drug dealers. 

“Take a disability retirement 

or suffer the consequences”! 

Rothstein‘s supervisors didn’t want Rothstein’s reports of CIA activities that threatened to expose high-level people in the New York Police Department (NYPD) and local politicians. His NYPD supervisors gave him a choice: take a disability retirement or suffer the consequences. He took the disability retirement in 1981. 

Rothstein described how a package of evidence exposing the CIA drug and Mafia links was put into the safe of New York district attorney Robert Morgenthau, and how the evidence disappeared by the following morning. He described how New York City and county authorities refused to prosecute high level drug bosses while concentrating on low-level street vendors. 

Military Involvement With Organized Crime 

Referring to Army Colonel Edward Cutolo, referred to in earlier pages, Rothstein said that he had seen Cutolo’s involvement with the Mafia in drug trafficking. He explained that Cutolo, like other military people involved in the drug trafficking, would often have second thoughts and seek to extricate themselves from the operation. That desire may have ended deadly for Cutolo. 

Daughter of Mafia-CIA Insider 

Another source whose information dovetailed with Taus‘ information was the daughter of a Mafia-CIA figure. She provided me additional information about some of the crime figures Taus described. Dee Ferdinand, the daughter of Albert Carone, described the bizarre and complex relationships between her father, the Mafia, and the CIA. Al Carone was a member of the Gambino family and had connections to other crime groups in the eastern United States. He was also a detective on the New York City vice squad, a member of the military, and a CIA operative. 

Dee said that her father was in the OSS during World War II (the predecessor to the CIA), working in military intelligence (CIC). After the war, he returned to New York, continued his relationship with the Mafia families, and also became a member of the New York Air National Guard, 27th brigade of the 42nd Infantry division. His earlier army rank was Sergeant, which eventually was raised to the rank of Colonel when he died in 1991. He is buried in the national cemetery at Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Carone was a white-shield detective in the 42nd and 81st precincts while working with the New York City police department. He took frequent leaves of three or four months at a time to carry out operations for the CIA, using military cover. His connections with the NYPD ended in 1966, after which he concentrated on Mafia related activities with the CIA. 

Activities With Sicilian and American Mafia 

Dee described some of the Mafia‘s meeting places and front-operations. She referred to a restaurant and catering place in New Jersey called “The Tides” and the “Riviera Club” in the Bronx. She said Cosmo Fish and Shrimp Company in Nevada had connections to organized crime. 

She described some of the drug trafficking names that she heard in her home, including Shavey Lee’s in Chinatown, New York, where her father frequently visited. Dee said that Shavey Lee had drug connections in Hong Kong. She described the relationship between the Sicilian and American Mafia, and how the Sicilian Mafia first got started working with the CIA during World War II. She said that it was the Sicilian Mafia in Italy that controlled the American Mafia. She describe how Vito Genovese kind of adopted her father when her father was growing up in Brooklyn, and that relationship eventually got him into key positions within the Mafia families. Her father called Genovese, Uncle Vito. 

JFK Assassination Ties 

Referring to what her father and Marita Lorenz had told her (Marita Lorenz worked for the CIA. She was a girl friend to Fidel Castro and bore a son from their romantic relationship. She played a little-publicized role in the JFK assassination), Dee said: 

My father knew Frank Fiorini, the alias for Frank Sturgis. One and the same person. Frank Fiorini was there also [Dallas]. Jack Ruby was the payoff man involved with the JFK assassination. Marita had given me information about traveling by car with three Mafia-CIA figures from New Orleans to Dallas, arriving in Dallas the day before the assassination, and facts that strongly implicate this group with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

Dual CIA-Mafia Ties 

Dee described her father’s concurrent relationship with the Mafia, the New York City police department, and the CIA. Key points that she described were confirmed by independent sources, including Jim Rothstein of the New York Police Department and CIA operatives Gunther Russbacher and Oswald LeWinter. She filled in missing Mafia and CIA links that FBI Special Agent Richard Taus had suspected during his FBI investigations. Having grown up in a Mafia family and being friends with top Mafia bosses, Dee was very helpful in explaining the complex relationship between the Mafia and the CIA. She explained details of her father’s activities as a CIA paymaster, moving money to and from the Mafia families in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the CIA, the Mossad‘s involvement, and payoffs to the New York City police department. 

Comparing Notes Between 

FBI and Mafia Families 

Taus had given me a list of some of the Mafia figures that he investigated, and I asked Dee what she knew about them. She said that some of the people were her family. For example, she said, “Angelo Ruggiero was my father’s cousin.” Neil Dellacroce was related to her father. Referring to Joe Percillia by his alias, Joe Pickle, Dee said that he was with the Genovese family and the Gambino family as they merged. He was also with the Colombo family. 

Dee said that her father’s primary connections were originally with the Genovese and then with the Gambino family, and also the Colombo family through Joe Percillia. She said her father also had lesser connections to other Mafia groups. 

Growing Up in a Mafia Family 

Dee described life growing up in a Mafia family, explaining: 

You have to understand when I was growing up, there was no such thing as organized crime being spoken. It was a way of life with certain people in your home, or you were in their home, or whatever. You didn’t know what these people did. Everybody’s dad was like everybody else. They went to work every day and that’s it. 

Would they talk about killing people? No. Nothing seemed dysfunctional. It was just a family. You didn’t think anything odd. What you saw in your home and how you were treated by these people was not how they were on the outside. You didn’t think about it. You didn’t know what these people did. It came out after a while as you got older. You wouldn’t talk about something like that. What is spoken in the home never goes beyond the home. 

Referring to Santos Trafficante, Dee said, “He was a good friend of my dad. He was at my wedding. Uncle Sonny. That’s what I called him.” Referring to Sam Giancana, she said, “Giancana was a good friend of my dad.” 

Drugs and the New York Police Department 

Dee said her father was a detective and “bag man” in the New York City police department, collecting money that was distributed to captains and inspectors as payoffs for “looking the other way” where drugs were involved. Dee explained that her father, while a plain-clothes detective in the New York City police vice squad, paid money to the captains and inspectors of different precincts, and paid off mob figures. Referring to Inspectors Jack Lustig and Vince Nardiello, Dee said, “They were involved in the payoffs, and these are the people my father worked with.” 

CIA Paymaster 

“My father was not only part of organized crime, but also a CIA paymaster.” When I asked where that money came from, she replied, “The monies always came from the agency or the mob, in cash.” When I asked what crime families were paid off, she said, “All the families.” 

Mob Boss Castellano As 

Frequent Breakfast Guest 

She described how Paul Castellano, the boss of the New York crime families, was a frequent breakfast visitor at her home, and how she knew him as Uncle Paul. (Castellano was later murdered on orders of John Gotti.) Dee explained that Castellano was a brother-in-law to the former mob boss, Paul Gambino, and got the job because his wife was Gambino‘s sister. 

Assassins For the CIA 

Dee described how the Mafia handled assassinations in the United States that were requested by CIA personnel, explaining, “When the Agency needed  people assassinated in the United States, the mob was used.” (The CIA does its own assassinations overseas. Deep-cover operatives Gunther Russbacher and Russell Bowen had reluctantly described their role in assassinations many years earlier.) 

Drug Deals Between 

the Mafia, CIA, and Mossad 

Dee said that her father started in drug trafficking in the Vietnam days, for the CIA and the Mafia. Explaining other aspects of the Mafia’s drug dealings, Dee said, “Sam Giancana did a lot of drug deals with the Agency.” She added that organized crime and the CIA had regular drug dealings with Noriega and the Mossad, and that former Mossad operative Michael Harari was routinely involved. “A lot of this money was split with the Mossad and the Agency. They had to use the mob; there isn’t too much difference between the CIA and the mob. They worked together.” 

Frequent Contacts With CIA Agent Shackley 

Dee described the frequent contacts that her father had with CIA agent Theodore Shackley relating to drug trafficking. (Several CIA operatives described Shackley’s drug involvement to me over the past ten years.) Dee described how she called Shackley several years ago, demanding that her father’s grave marker be changed, showing him as colonel instead of staff sergeant. (Sergeant was Carone’s permanent military status and colonel was his temporary commission status.) Within two weeks, the marker was replaced, showing his rank as Colonel. 

Operation Amadeus: Joint CIA-

Mafia Drug Smuggling Operation 

Referring to the CIA-Mafia drug trafficking, she said she knew from what her father said that the drugs coming from South America went to the Colombo, Genovese, and Gambino families, and that it was a joint CIA-Mafia drug operation under the code name Operation Amadeus. She said that during World War II, Operation Amadeus was involved in transporting Nazi officers from Germany into South American countries. According to her father’s notes, Operation Amadeus split into several other operations, including Operation Sunrise and Operation Watchtower. 

CIA-Mafia Drug Money Trail 

Repeating what she learned from her father, Dee said part of the money trail went through a bank in England, to the Bahamas, Bank of Zurich in Switzerland, among others. She said her father carried cash between Mafia figures and the CIA. 

Targeting the Blacks in Harlem 

I told Dee what Rothstein had told me about CIA drug sales to the blacks in Harlem, and Dee gave me another side of that operation. She confirmed that the CIA and the Mafia did target the blacks in Harlem for drug consumption, adding: 

In Harlem, the blacks, definitely. It was their [CIA-Mafia] mainstay. That’s how their money came, but it backfired on them. They really didn’t think it would get into the white communities as much as it did. They targeted blacks and Puerto Ricans. My father was always saying, “Who gives a shit about the niggers!” 

Dee told me about calling Congresswoman Maxine Waters‘ office and explaining who she was and about the drug trafficking, including the targeting of the blacks, and the lack of interest shown by Waters’ staff. That reflects similar lack of interest shown by Waters’ office when some of my drug trafficking sources also volunteered information about their CIA-DEA drug trafficking knowledge. 

False Sexual Charges 

Dee explained how internal politics within the NYPD resulted in her father being falsely charged with child-molestation offenses, causing him to be sent to the psychiatric unit of South Oaks Hospital. He was then given a choice of retiring or being prosecuted. “My father wound up with a full pension. Charges were dropped. This is how they set them up.” Other CIA operatives, including long-time CIA veteran Gunther Russbacher, had told me years earlier about the CIA’s use of pornographic and prostitution services used to get incriminating evidence on key political figures for blackmail purposes. 

“I’m not long for this world; it’s over.” 

After being ousted from the New York City police department, Carone moved his family to New Mexico (August 1980). He continued his military and CIA connections, traveling frequently to various military bases, including Kirkland Air Force Base, Fort Bliss (El Paso), and others. Eventually Carone fell out of favor with the CIA. Following a trip made to Mexico in 1984, Carone told Dee that he “wasn’t long for this world; it’s over.” Dee said her father felt the CIA had poisoned him, which prompted him to start revealing other CIA-Mafia secrets to her, asking that she eventually make the information known. Before his death, Carone was diagnosed with chemical toxicity of unknown ideology by doctors who sought to determine the cause of his medical symptoms. 

Oliver North‘s Involvement 

with CIA-Mafia Activities 

Dee described how her father made frequent reference to a John Cathey and his contacts with Cathey involving drug trafficking activities in the Contra operation. Cathey was the alias frequently used by Oliver North. 

Input from CIA Operative 

Gunther Russbacher 

Because of Gunther Russbacher‘s varied CIA background and dealings with organized crime families, I called him in England and asked if he knew Al Carone. He did, and started giving me additional information, including the fact that Carone was known as “Big Al,” and that one of his aliases with the Chicago mob was “Pincheron. ” Russbacher said that Carone was working with the Delente and Bufalino crime groups. 

Input from CIA Operative Oswald LeWinter 

Oswald LeWinter, another long-time CIA operative with whom I had been in contact for years, said he also knew Carone. During that conversation, LeWinter told me that in the Pizza Connection cases, Justice Department prosecutors filed charges against certain Mafia figures such as Gaetano “Don Tanino” Badalamenti, while protecting higher figures in the drug trafficking organization. This coincided with what Taus had told me. LeWinter described how Tomasso Buscetta, the mob witness used by Justice Department prosecutors in the Pizza Connection cases, was a CIA operative who would testify, and who would cover up, as desired by government prosecutors. LeWinter said that New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato was heavily involved with the Mafia.

The following is an affidavit prepared by former FBI Special Agent Richard Taus relating to high-level corruption that he discovered as part of his official duties, and the related cover-ups. 

Affidavit of Richard M. Taus 

I, Richard M. Taus, declare and state: I am a former Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation assigned to the New York Field Office and the Brooklyn-Queens Metropolitan Resident Agency from July 1978 to November 1988. I was assigned to both the Foreign Counter-Intelligence Division and the Criminal Division. 

During this period of time, my investigations into these matters revealed criminal activities and operations which I reported and documented to my superiors in the FBI, as follows: 

The involvement of officials, agents and operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with organized crime members and drug-trafficking activities. And the participation by members of the CIA who engaged in the looting of the Savings & Loan (Thrift) Industries, financial scams and fraudulent securities transactions. 

The involvement of people from the National Security Agency Staff and Council and the White House in criminal activities associated with funding the acquisition of military supplies and equipment, arms and ammunition which were referred to as the Iran-Contra Area Initiative, known as Irangate, and the Iraqi Scandal, known as Iraqgate. 

The association between known and suspected members of the Mafia and CIA agents in conducting drug-trafficking activities and financial frauds. 

I was ordered by my supervisors in the FBI to halt these investigations, destroy my written reports, terminate my informants and make no reference to these criminal and subversive activities implicating high-ranking government officials, politicians, Mafia and business leaders who controlled and manipulated government agencies and operations. 

Without any support from my superiors at the FBI New York Field Office, I then sent a letter describing what I had discovered in my official status as an FBI Special Agent to the FBI Director, William Sessions, and this was ignored. I proceeded to write Congressional officials, among them Senators Arlen Specter, Alfonse D’Amato, John Kerry and Congressman Norman Lent, Charles Schumer,, and many others who were on both the Senate and House Intelligence Oversight Committees. None of the above officials or representatives provided any support or assistance in exposing the CIA-White House corruption and the obstruction of justice tactics by my FBI superiors. 

My sole purpose in preparing this affidavit, to be used by the former FBI Special Agent In-Charge of the Los Angeles Field office, SAC Ted Gunderson, is to bring to justice the criminal and subversive activities that I and other government agents and operatives have discovered during our official and government related duties. 

I declare and affirm under penalty of perjury that these statements are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Executed this 13th day of August 1997, in the County of Clinton, State of New York. 

Linda O’Connor Richard M. Taus 
Notary seal

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