Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War [Paperback]

Celerino III Castillo (Author), Dave Harmon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

The truth about the remaining dark secret of the Iran-Contra scandal- the United States government's collaboration with drug smugglers. Powderburns is the story of Celerino Castillo III who spent 12 years in the Drug Enforcement Administration. During that time, he built cases against organized drug rings in Manhattan, raided jungle cocaine labs in the Amazon, conducted aerial eradication operations in Guatemala, and assembled and trained anti-narcotics units in several countries. The eerie climax of Agent Castillo's career with the DEA took place in El Salvador. One day, he recieved a cable from a fellow agent. He was told to investigate possible drug smuggling by Nicaraguan Contras operating from the ilpango air force base. Castillo quickly discovered that Contra pilots were, indeed, smuggling narcotics back into the United States - using the same pilots, planes, and hangars that the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, under the Direction of Lt. Col. Oliver North, used to maintain their covert supply operation to the Contras.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mosaic Press (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889625786
• ISBN-13: 978-0889625785
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book highly. A cogent, stunning expose., May 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War (Paperback)

Castillo, a former DEA field agent, stationed in Central America became an unwitting witness to the CIA's, Oliver North's, and the Reagan Administration's involvement in the smuggling of cocaine to fund the Contra army. Published years before the 1997 San Jose Mercury News/Gary Webb article, "Dark Alliance", about the CIA's role in bringing crack to the streets of America, Castillo provides a shocking but entirely credible story from the inside. Castillo, during the course of his field investigations into cocaine smuggling, inevitably ran into the CIA's cocaine network. A fly-drugs-up/fly-guns-down network operated by Oliver North, Richard Secord, and CIA front company Southern Air Transport out of the Ilopango airbase in El Salvador. He was repremanded time and time again by his DEA superiors for sticking his nose places it didn't belong. Warned off by claims he was endangering missions critical to our National Security. Yet, Castillo continued to file tell-all reports to the DEA in Washington. This is the story of the uncovering of these revelations, and one man's fight to expose the truth and bring these injustices to light. I highly recommend it.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bush Crime Family involved in drugs? Say it isn't so!, October 29, 2005

By 

Worst President .Com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War (Paperback)

The foreward, written by Michael Levine, encourages the reader to cancel all appointments for the next several hours as the reader will not be able to put this book down. Levine wasn't kidding. This book is about the life of Cele Castillo. It begins with Cele's childhood under the rule of a military father. Cele ends up being drafted for the Vietnam war and his experiences in Vietnam are so amazingly vivid that it's impossible to put this book down. The drug use in Vietnam was so rampant that this is where Cele learns that narcotics were much more of a threat to America than Communism as he vows to fight the illegal drug industry if he ever makes it out of Vietnam in one piece. Cele survives the jungle, the snipers, and even his first helicopter crash. He's hired by the DEA and assigned to work in New York. He works hard, risking his life many times to bust drug dealers and ends up working in Central America. As if a second helicopter crash and being the guy responsible for upsetting powerful drug lords weren't risky enough, Cele stumbles upon the CIA and Oliver North's involvement in the illegal drug industry & illegal gun running during the Iran-Contra scandal, which also involved Bush Sr. & the Reagan administration. North & his crew were selling over-priced weapons to Iran as well as selling tons of cocaine to American cities as they used all of those profits to buy massive amount of weapons that they flew in to the Contras. As the cash and weapons were flown into the Contras, cocaine was brought back to America under the protection of the US military and CIA. The airplanes & airplane hangars were all CIA and NSA owned, and the pilots (Barry Seal & others) were contracted by the CIA. The corruption and involvement of our own CIA in the illegal drug industry wasn't enough to make Cele give up, he kept fighting to make a dent in the illegal drug industry. He was warned to stay away from the operations of Oliver North and the CIA but he pressed on anyway. That's when his career suffered as an internal investigation was launched against him. As if death threats and surviving a plane crash (his 3rd crash) weren't enough, trumped-up charges were used against him to end his career at the DEA. Cele risked his life countless times, got tons of cocaine off the streets of America & traded his marriage for dedication to his career. Senator John Kerry's investigation went nowhere, Bush Sr. pardoned North's crew as they only got a slap on the wrist (probation) while the DEA rewarded Cele by ending his career.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing account of the government's drug coverups., February 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War (Paperback)

Celerino Castillo III spent 12 years in the DEA raiding cocaine labs in South America, training anti-narcotics units, and investing drug rings. His account shocks and amazes. I have met Mr. Castillo, and he as he humbly recounts his stories, it astounds me what the government is really up to. This is a four star winner.