The French Connection: Heroin, the CIA and Carmine Galante

During the mid-20th century, the Central Intelligence Agency protected a chain of drug traffickers that pumped heroin right back into the United States. The end result of this “French Connection“ would permanently disrupt the balance American Mafia, causing turmoil in organised crime. A key part of the French Connection was the island of Sicily, home to the original Mafioso, who had long battled radicals popular on the deprived island. In the early years of the Cold War, they would continue to do so, now with the backing of the CIA, which allowed them to assume the role of intermediary between the “Golden Crescent“ area and Corsican gangs active in the French city of Marseille. Like the Sicilian Mafia, the Corsicans had their own connections with American intelligence, fighting Communists on the waterfront while converting the French Connections opium paste into heroin powder. Much of the product would be smuggled into the United States through contacts such as Vito Genovese, who had briefly served as head of New York’s largest Mafia family in the 1930s before fleeing to Sicily on a murder charge and handing power to capo Frank Costello. In the land of his birth, Vito Genovese forged connections with local gangsters, and would also work with American intelligence during the war before being extradited back to the USA. When key witnesses in his case turned up dead however, Genovese was free to go. He chose to remain in New York, determined to wrestle back control of his criminal empire from Costello. Although Genovese’s contacts with the French Connection had given him power in the streets, retaking the family was more complex than just shooting it out. Over the years, Costello had established close links to the city’s political machine, Tammany Hall, as well as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Their friendship was aided by the Mafia’s ongoing war against radical unionists, a cause which Tammany and Hoover strongly backed. Along the New York waterfront for example, the International Longshoreman’s Association tightly controlled the docks, suppressing grassroots militancy in exchange for kickbacks from employers. ILA corruption also facilitated the smuggling of lucrative commodities such as the French Connection’s heroin, despite Costello’s opposition to the drug trade, especially when it came to neighbourhoods that were richer and whiter. Again, this was something that Hoover felt strongly about, with heroin strongly associated with such evils as Jazz and race-mixing. The agreement would be disrupted by Genovese’s own pact with the rival CIA, whose influence roughly matched that of the FBI’s. In 1957, Genovese moved against Costello, who relinquished the crown after being wounded in a shooting. It appears that Genovese moved too fast however, as he was only briefly able to enjoy his old spot for a couple of years before being convicted of heroin supply and sent to prison. Already, the French Connection had moved on. Even while Genovese had been maneuvering in the USA, a meeting had taken place in Sicily’s Palermo between a range of local Mafioso, as well as American guests such as Joe Bonanno, boss of one of New York’s Five Families, and Carmine Galante, a soldier of his who had murdered activist Carlo Tresca back in 1943. Afterwards, Bonanno took control of the dope trade, soon clashing with Carlo Gambino, a rival Mafia boss whose extensive interests in organised labour were threatened by the torrent of heroin. As the story goes, Bonanno sought to have several key rivals murdered, including Gambino in the early 1960s. This plot was soon exposed, and instead of waiting around for the inevitable death sentence, Bonanno disappeared. The Commission attempted to install their own candidate to replace him, who was quickly dragged into war with son, Salvatore Bonanno. Then, in 1966, Sal’s father returned just as suddenly as he had left, only to announce his retirement two years later. The family went through a succession of bosses after this period, culminating in the rise of Carmine Galante. Once again, this was based on his control of the heroin flow, and once again, it would not last. 1979 was a record year for New York homicides, fueled in large part by the spiraling use of drugs in the city. One of the victims was Galante himself, shot dead while eating at a local restaurant. His unsolved murder heralded the end of the Mafia’s dominance of crime in America. Rocked the decline of labour militancy, internal conflicts and the rise of new syndicates, old style Mobsters would become increasingly irrelevant. Although heroin continued to pour into the United States, it was now distributed by new syndicates, many of which had their own connections to the CIA. #CIA #Mafia #TheFrenchConnection