CHAPTER 42

END OF THE WAR ON DRUGS

BY BEN LEITER

[excerpt from upcoming book, BETRAYAL OF FATHER GARZA, to be available from Amazon]

“Accenna al savio e lascia far a lui.” Give the wise man a hint and leave him to act.

PAOLO NASRANI, FORMER VATICAN LINGUIST AND THESIS

COORDINATOR

I almost told him, but Owen’s plate was too full — yeah, cliché.

Yesterday when he called me, another mail delivery had already arrived with the usual sanitized note inside, sans fingerprints on the outside envelope.

No fingerprints verified the sender in the past, too clever for something obvious.

This note said — there was usually a note — “From your friend who belongs to the oldest lost cause still active in the Western world.” Insider joke about being Jewish. Served as a signature-verification, too.

I need to go to ground for a while. You will see why, eh? Explosive . . . interesting. May not present what you call convincing case, but is what I have. Will not name sources. Will say close friend of the son-in-law who knows my boss’s boss. Fill in the missing pieces. My source thinks this is dangerous idea.

Obviously this came from Nasrani. I asked him in Rome, way back, why he always added “eh” in his conversations and many times in writing, too. He said he learned his English from the British and observed how the upper classes often ended their sentences with a question. It would give his English responses a bit of panache, “Wouldn’t you say, old boy?”

Attached to the note:

NODIS

Mr. President, here’s our analysis and final recommendation, stamped NODIS — more secret than classified and means no distribution — easier to track leaks that way.

While it may appear cynical, it is the only way.

We forfeited the “War on Drugs” decades ago. The Baby Boomer mantra of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll created a revised counterculture. We pay for it today with acceptance of unwed pregnancies, an unskilled native-white workforce, and drugs everywhere as a form of recreation.

This strategy recognizes the new cultural shift and dramatically lowers the future body count. We will apply all DEA, FBI, CIA, and other law enforcement resources — even military intelligence — against the Mexican and Colombian cartels and the Mafia families, except for the family headed up by “The Nose,” whom you have chosen.

This particular New York Family has agreed to provide us with inside intelligence for the complete elimination of all competition. With the betrayal by “The Nose,” we will arrange for the other families and the cartels to wipe each other out. Once everyone else is terminated, you are positioned to move against the remaining family.

However, we urge caution against that. Former Attorney General Robert Kennedy, if he got elected in 1968, planned that kind of double-cross after they took out his brother in 1963.

This will be a bloody year. You must declare a national emergency against opioids. Our strategy will manufacture successful headlines with arrests and body counts of bad guys.

Unfortunately, the use of drugs will continue until there is a generational cultural shift. Realistically, we can only accomplish a short-term plateauing, before the decline in usage.

The Department of Commerce could assist the designated New York family in setting up new drug corporations which enable users to wean themselves away from their addictions.

Thus, our deal with the devil allows the remaining family to monopolize the trade, lower the long-term body count, level off addiction and secure a monopoly — through patents — to assist drug users to manage their habits.

This could entail the legalization of some drugs, which we believe will undo the cultural appeal of “forbidden” to the ever-rebellious, next youth-generation.

The Nose informed us he is prepared to deal. He likes the no-risk upside, plus the future morph into legitimate business. I heard he has a son hooked on something, but will never admit it.

In a remarkably short period The Nose et al. become sole distributors of illegal product, and then sole patent owners, and finally sole market distributors of the addiction management prescriptions.

***

Then I read the next pages, in a different type-font, no identification or date, just one word: TRANSCRIPT.

Leaving the room, Source said to Briefer, “Wanna know how ‘The Nose’s’ family was selected?”

“Yeah, how?”

“Several other New York families own more resources and contacts. But his outfit — totally ruthless — will double-cross the rest of the families if it leaves The Nose on top.

“In addition, the tie-breaker — The Nose holds special Russian tapes showing the Prez in a compromising position when he visited Moscow way before the campaign. Very compromising and, let’s say, ‘wet’ — you know, if you’ve been following the rumors. That’s always the catch with rumors — some truth there, but not always 100%.

“The wife is pissed about that. She blames The Prez because she never wanted him to run for office. She feared the 24/7 scrutiny. Seems like hubby isn’t always around and she gets bored. Man, I wish I was around when she got bored. Name of their sham marriage, ‘political convenience.’ Lot of that in Washington.”

“This whole thing — unbelievable.”

“Well, what’s more unbelievable is that the damn strategy will work.With one sole distributor of product, and no competition, the brutal turf wars will end and the silent death rate will start to reduce. Overdoses and addictions will remain high for the rest of this generation. But in about ten years, you’ll see a shift where drugs are just another form of alcohol. Most people can handle their booze . . . some don’t.”

I guess my game plan was to let things settle a bit with the other secret blockbuster revelations. This note felt more dangerous, dealing with folks who recognized even fewer boundaries than intelligence agencies. Or, maybe they all knew no limits?

If I had given the Mafia elimination strategy to my Kemosabe friend, I’m sure he would have looked paler than usual when he handed the sheets back to his Tonto. The real world was bleeding through. I too wanted to run away, somewhere, when I first read it, because the info could hurt someone, majorly.

***

Father Gabriel Garza waved Owen Friel’s car away with a “Vaya con Dios.”