“In its comprehensive investigation of the principal aspects of the traffic, the subcommittee gave particular attention to the sources of narcotic drugs in foreign countries, to the complex strata of international criminal operations along the trade routes, to the laboratory processes which are required to convert raw opium to heroin, and to transportation and smuggling techniques of the criminal network. The hearings identified the principal operators in the narcotics traffic both at home and abroad, and followed their activities along the chain of traffic from source to consumer.” – pg. 56. In 1963, mobster Joseph Valachi gave a series of testimonies to Congress about the hierarchy, operations, and rituals of the Mafia in the United States. He was the first ‘made man’ to break the code of silence known as Omerta, providing a rare window into the workings of organized crime. The televised hearings were overseen by the Permanent Senate Subcommittee on Investigations and led by Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan – the first glimpse at ‘Cosa Nostra’ for the American public. This report from McClellan’s committee, published by the Government Printing Office in 1965, outlines important findings about global narcotics operations of the Mafia. Summaries of the well-organized crime structure, lists of family members, regional summaries of drug production (mostly heroin), and information on addiction are all provided. A bar chart outlines foreign and domestic prices for opium and heroin, rising from $350/kilo in Turkey and Syria to $225,000/kilo in the U.S. Three large, but somewhat rudimentary maps, are included. Shaded relief maps of North America, Europe, and Asia are overprinted with basic symbols noting the transportation and production networks.
