I originally wrote this as a comment on the post having the period poster about “Oh, those Beatniks,” living in “hobo love” and seeking “strange kicks.” Michael de Bethencourt suggested I expand it to an article for the Snub Noir blog.
The picture in the post first made me think of the Beatnik era author, Jack Kerouac, who published his novel about them, “On The Road,” in 1957. The central character, Dean Moriarty, is very immersed in Beatnik life, including smoking marijuana and casual sexual practices.
The picture also made me think of a HIDTA money-laundering/asset seizure school I attended in 1998. It was taught by 3 retired IRS criminal investigators, some of the sharpest LE professionals I ever met. They had CPAs and could’ve been successful in banking but were dedicated to chasing bad guys and dirty cash.
According to them, drug trafficking as we know it has stems in large part from another 1957 event, the famous mob summit meeting in Apalachin NY.
According to these instructors, were several major items on the Appalachian mob summit agenda: priorities included settling a NY war, and divvying up which families got which hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City.
Eventually, they turned to drugs. Several of the Dons agreed the demand existed and was increasing, among the “Beatniks,” jazz musicians, live theater and comedians, Hollywood stars, and in cities having significant black and Hispanic populations. The Dons suspected those last two groups preferred drugs to liquor because “they must be ok for people because they grow in nature.” (Quoting him) Fatalities and blindness from the bootleg liquor of Prohibition were not forgotten in those communities.
The Detroit Don pointed out that was the exact situation he had, but the police and court system there, corrupt as they were, drew a line at drugs. Gambling, prostitutes, moving stolen goods, l no problem. Other Dons agreed they had the same thing.
The potential money in drugs was too great to be ignored, however, and their smuggling and money laundering systems from Prohibition lay dormant; remember that wasn’t that long ago. They used Canadian banks that operated under British privacy and banking laws at the time, just a matter of small boats crossing Lake Huron in the dark.
One of the instructors noted that Castro’s ascent to power in Cuba in 1959 resulted in organized crime losing its Havana casinos/banks, making Swiss and Canadian ones vital.
Because of police and court system intolerance even in corrupt jurisdictions, it was decided Apalachin to stay out of the drug business until such time that major, serious social upheaval would interfere with the government being able to watch them every minute.
As the instructors pointed out, in less than 10 years; they got their wish, the anti-Vietnam war protests, civil rights unrest, and an unpopular administration.
There was a young police officer sitting next to me who blurted out “I didn’t know all this!” The instructor paused and said, not unkindly “Officer, did you think a bunch of bearded stoned-out hippies in rusty VW minivans could move that much dope and wash that much cash? We are talking professional lawbreakers with major logistics assets for moving contraband and cash.”
I was young in the 1960s and watched the poison trickle, then flow, and finally cascade. There was no quality control; I didn’t understand people paying to put unknown illegal substances into themselves to show they were angry about the war or a century of discrimination. Deaths from overdoses or toxics in the dope weren’t unusual.
I lost a brother to drugs and several people very close to me as well. One of the reasons I went to night law school was in the hope of becoming a prosecutor and working against the drug traffickers; I served the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office 1985-2007. I was lucky there and my wish came true.
To be continued …
