CIA and drug trafficking: Genesis and Reasons for Involvement.

At the beginning of 1942, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was established under the U.S Joint Chiefs of Staff. Its main goal was planning and carrying out special operations. After the war, in 1947, it transformed into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as we know it today. In the early post-war years, the American intelligence service, both OSS and later CIA, faced many financial problems. However, a young lawyer named Paul Edward Helliwell found a solution to these problems. Helliwell joined OSS as a result of the mobilization of young Americans into the army after the U.S. entered the war. Thanks to his legal education, he was assigned to serve in the U.S. Army administration, and his organizational skills caught the attention of his superiors. This resulted in a recommendation of Helliwell to the chief of the U.S. intelligence agency, General William Donovan. Helliwell's idea for obtaining funds was based on supplying African Americans from large American cities with drugs that had a high demand. Helliwell believed that the best partner for this purpose would be the mafia, particularly "Lucky" Luciano, one of its most powerful figures. To carry out this endeavor, Helliwell believed that the best partner would be the mafia, specifically "Lucky" Luciano, who was then incarcerated but had experience in trading heroin illegally imported to the U.S. from China and Turkey. After the OSS chief, General Donovan, accepted the idea, Luciano was intensively urged by the governor of New York, Thomas J. Dewey, to return to the United States. As a result of these actions, Luciano found himself in Havana, Cuba. Without wasting time, Luciano organized a meeting with the most trusted mobsters, such as Alberto Anastasio, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Vito Genovese, to present them with a proposition for a new business. Despite initial reluctance to trade narcotics, the mafia elite ultimately agreed to this proposal. In early 1947, another meeting took place between OSS representatives and the mafia, where the details of their cooperation were agreed upon. On the OSS side, Frank Wisner and James Angleton participated, and on the mafia side, Meyer Lansky. The pilot transport, containing 200 kg of heroin purchased from the Italian pharmaceutical company Schiaparelli, was successfully transported from Italy to Cuba by Luciano. The heroin was hidden in crates of oranges, packages of Italian cheese, olive oil, and sardines. After safely arriving in Cuba, the drug was divided into portions and sent to New York. In New York, it was mainly distributed in Harlem's jazz clubs. To ensure smooth distribution, Albert Carone, a high-ranking official of the New York Police Department collaborating with the mafia, effectively bribed his fellow police officers to overlook the distribution of heroin. This pilot transaction proved to be a huge success, confirming the effectiveness of Helliwell's plan. The involvement of the CIA in the drug trade contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of drug addicts from 20,000 to 150,000 between 1947 and 1967.