From Publishers Weekly
Before the Drug Enforcement Administration was created in 1973, before the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was founded in 1968, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) served as the country’s primary drug law enforcement agency. In this thoroughly researched history, Valentine (The Phoenix Program; The Hotel Tacloban, etc.) offers an in-depth look at the FBN’s obscure organization and its various activities, which lasted from 1930 until the end of the ‘60s. Valentine writes extensively about Harry J. Anslinger, the commissioner whose "personality, policies and appointments" defined the agency and the government’s war on drugs for more than 30 years. He describes how FBN officers were trained to "make arrests, gather evidence for presentation in court, test and handle seized narcotics, tail suspects without being seen, and rule their informants with an iron fist." Drawing upon interviews with former agents and federal officers (such as Howard Chappell, George Gaffney and Col. Tully Acampora), Valentine also provides firsthand accounts of bureau operations both at home and abroad, and of business relationships fostered among FBN ranks. Despite the volume’s ambitious premise and Valentine’s hard work, however, this lengthy history will probably fail to engross most casual readers since its material proves dense and, occasionally, difficult. But for political historians and those already interested in the history of the war on drugs, Valentine’s unearthing of rare primary sources should prove invaluable. 16 pages of b&w photos
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Review
“A thoroughly engrossing, thoroughly researched and thoroughly appalling look at what's really behind our ill-fated 'War on Drugs'. If the history presented here is any model for the future, our grandchildren (and theirs) will be locked into the same hopeless position in which we find ourselves today: war without end.” (
Gary Webb )
“
The Strength of the Wolf is a remarkable early history of America's war on drugs, as well as the Federal Bureau of Narcotics' war against the mafia – long before J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI even acknowledged its existence. Doug Valentine has performed an admirable and important public service by pulling all of this information together.” (
Dan Moldea )
“
The Strength of the Wolf is a ground-breaking work of investigative reporting that kept me up half the night. An expose of the never-ending lap-dance between organized crime and the national security establishment, Doug Valentine's book is a torch held high in the labyrinths of America's secret history.” (
Jim Houghan )
“A rollercoaster ride of a read! Douglas Valentine carries us from a brutal murder in a New York hotel room to a squalid CIA power grab forty years later – by way of Lucky Luciano, Dallas, the jungles of Vietnam, and the apprenticeship of the Watergate burglars. A Herculean exploration of the dark world of drugs and law enforcement.” (
Anthony Summers )
