The Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence & International Fascism

by Henrik Krüger, Jerry Meldon, Peter Dale Scott (Foreword)

The Great Heroin Coup probes into the netherworld of narcotics, espionage, and international terrorism and uncovers alliances between the CIA, French intelligence, Pakistani intelligence, the Mafia and right-wing extremists, including neo-fascist OAS and SAC veterans in France, anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami and Islamic fundamentalist warlords. It became a cult book when it was published in the U.S. and has been out-of-print for over thirty years. In this newly revised and updated edition, Henrik Krüger and Jerry Meldon have added extensive new material.

Danish investigative journalist/author Krüger set out to write a book about Christian David, a French gangster with a colorful past, and wound up writing one — originally published in Danish in 1976 and English in 1980 — that spans the globe and names names all the way up to Nixon. As Krüger saw it, the Nixon administration and CIA's hidden motives for eliminating the Corsican Mafia-controlled French Connection were to help their confederates in the Sicilian/American Mafia corner the market on Golden Triangle heroin, and to help finance intelligence operations in Southeast Asia — just as the French had done during their war in Indochina. Familiar names keep popping up — among them CIA veteran Howard Hunt, one of the spooks working for the Nixon reelection committee caught up in the Watergate scandal.

Far from spouting a bizarre conspiracy theory, this thoroughly researched and annotated book lifts the veil on global networks of para-fascist terrorists and drug kingpins, who have plotted, trafficked and murdered with impunity, thanks to their patrons in the intelligence agencies of the so-called "Free World." In short, this updated edition tells a story — which continues to the present moment in Afghanistan — that our own mainstream media have systematically failed to tell.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Conspiracy Theories, Politics, Crime, The United States Of America, Drugs

316 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Michael Bernard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five stars for the astonishing stories about government corruption in multiple countries. Lots of corroborating detail and meticulously noted evidence. One star for the laboured and disconnected narrative which is all but impossible to follow. Fascinating but needs a complete re-write.

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intelligence agencies never met an organized crime group they didn't love.

[Philip Zozzaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henrik Kruger had set out to tell the story of Christian David, a legendary French Drug Lord who never seemed to go away, despite incarceration. The Great Heroin Coup revolves around the hypocrisy of the Drug War that has spawned men like David. The Cold War and the psychotic hatred engendered towards Communism led to symbiotic entanglements with dictators and drug lords. The French connection devolves into the Golden Triangle....French gangsters become Laotian Warlords, Meo tribal warriors....The players change, the war drags on, casualties mount, profits exponentially rise, corruption ensues. David's up and downs are paralleled with the Nixon Administration's attempts to assume control of the Drug War in every facet. Hit squads run roughshod in fascist banana republics, drug use numbers are manipulated, alliances come back to haunt the US. The war is seen as being fruitless, at least for the true victims...Drug using soldiers, victims of drug & political violence, tax payers. But there is always hope, especially with this book seeing the light of day.

[Count Gravlax · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poorly written, confusing and badly sourced, at certain times resembling more of a rambling than a work either of history or journalism

Yet the central thesis of the book holds. That is:

1) The American intelligence services protected and gave logistical support to the international narcotics trade

2) Intelligence agencies use the collaboration of drug dealers and organized crime to suppress left-wing movements

3) Intelligence agencies use the profit of said trade to arm right wing guerrillas and plot military coup in the Americas

I think that for anyone interested in Intelligence, none of these are very controversial. I don't think that another central claim - that there was a coordinated clamp down on the Corsican Mafia in benefit of Latin American and Southeast Asian drugs - is well substantiated. A lot of it seems to hinge on he said, she said.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had the second edition, but only read up to the postscript of the first. Interesting stuff.

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on what happens when governments (following short-sightened policies) decide to look another way when it comes to crime because it hurts the other side (USSR in this case). As a consequence underground shadow state(s) emerged that just kept on with criminal activities. These organizations did not disappear with USSR but kept thriving and strengthening its links to official forces while now seeking some other common enemies as a reason for continuing existence.

Highly recommended.

[Daniel Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big caveat: The rating is based on information in the book, not the presentation or writing. Honestly, at many points, I got lost in a blur of arrests and names and links, but this is a very valuable reference work in terms of naming names for anyone interested in organized crime, the real history of drug wars, and hidden history.