Kenneth C. Bucchi was a captain in the US Air Force for six years. He fought in the Gulf War and worked four years as both a private and undercover corporate investigator. He has authored books on his experiences and holds a B.S. in Criminology and Political Science from Murray State University. [1]
He claimed to have been a CIA narcotics officer, but this was later denied by the CIA. [2] He previously convinced various media that his story was true, being interviewed on CNN, Greta Van Susteren's talk show, and Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. [3] [4]
Project MKUltra was a human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture. The term MKUltra is a CIA cryptonym: "MK" is an arbitrary prefix standing for the Office of Technical Service and "Ultra" is an arbitrary word out of a dictionary to denominate this project. The program has been widely condemned as a violation of individual rights and an example of the CIA’s abuse of power, with critics highlighting its disregard for consent and its corrosive impact on democratic principles.
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist. He started working for The Washington Post as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs him.
A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible.
Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel. When Seal was convicted of smuggling charges, he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration and testified in several major drug trials. He was murdered on February 19, 1986, by contract killers hired by the cartel.
A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrepresentation of someone's allegiance. The term was originally used to describe a ruse in naval warfare whereby a vessel flew the flag of a neutral or enemy country in order to hide its true identity. The tactic was initially used by pirates and privateers to deceive other ships into allowing them to move closer before attacking them. It later was deemed an acceptable practice during naval warfare according to international maritime laws, provided the attacking vessel displayed its true flag before commencing an attack.
Matthew Colin Taibbi is an American author, journalist and podcaster. A former contributing editor for Rolling Stone, he is the author of several books and publisher of Racket News on Substack. He has reported on finance, media, politics and sports.
The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was an organization of drug users and distributors that operated from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s in Orange County, California. They were dubbed the Hippie Mafia by the police. They produced and distributed drugs in hopes of starting a "psychedelic revolution" in the United States.
Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo and Anne Heche appear in supporting roles. The film, written by Paul Attanasio, is based on the 1988 nonfiction book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley.
The Plame affair erupted in July 2003, when journalist Robert Novak revealed that Valerie Plame worked as covert employee of the Central Intelligence Agency, although the seeds of the scandal had been laid during 2001 and 2002 as the Bush administration investigated allegations that Iraq had purchased Nigerien uranium.
The Plame affair was a political scandal that revolved around journalist Robert Novak's public identification of Valerie Plame as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer in 2003.
Rowan Scarborough is an American journalist. For two decades, Scarborough worked as a Washington Times reporter who wrote a weekly column with fellow reporter Bill Gertz called "Inside the Ring", reporting on national security and defense issues. Starting in February 2007, he worked at the Washington Examiner as its national security correspondent for a few months, before returning to the Times. Scarborough also writes freelance articles on national security issues for Human Events and other publications.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been accused of involvement in the trafficking of illicit drugs. Books and journalistic investigations on the subject that have received general notice include works by the historian Alfred McCoy, professor and diplomat Peter Dale Scott, journalists Gary Webb and Alexander Cockburn, and writer Larry Collins. These claims have led to investigations by the United States government, including hearings and reports by the United States House of Representatives, Senate, Department of Justice, and the CIA's Inspector General. The various investigations have generally not led to clear conclusions that the CIA itself has directly conducted drug trafficking operations, although there may have been instances of indirect complicity in the activities of others.
Jay Anthony "Jaybird" Dobyns is a retired Special Agent and veteran undercover operative with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), author, public speaker, high school football coach, and University of Arizona adjunct professor.
Michael Levine is a former senior United States law enforcement agent, who was called "America's top undercover cop for 25 years" by the television show 60 Minutes. A 25-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he is best known for his criticism of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the influence it has played on DEA operations. Levine has claimed the CIA was instrumental in the creation of the Bolivian drug cartel La Corporación, which he called the "General Motors of cocaine".
Kaj Larsen is an American journalist, correspondent, and producer who has worked for Vice News, CNN, NowThis News and Current TV. He worked for the Vanguard international news documentary investigative reporting show on Current TV beginning in 2005. He produced the documentary series LOCKUP Maricopa County and LOCKUP RAW for MSNBC from 2010 to 2011. In 2010, he became a producer and correspondent for CNN until he was laid off in 2012 after CNN abolished their investigative news departments. Following CNN he became a correspondent for VICE News and hosted the series VICE on HBO. In 2016, Larsen hosted “The Runner” original series with Executive producers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. He was the senior correspondent for NowThis News.
Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia is an American memoir by Kenny "Kenji" Gallo, a former member of the Colombo Crime Family and The Milano Brothers who became an informant in the federal witness protection program. The book, which was titled after the undercover code name the FBI gave him, was released by Phoenix Books in August 2009, with co-writer Matthew Randazzo V.
American Made is a 2017 American action comedy film directed by Doug Liman, written by Gary Spinelli, and starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Alejandro Edda, Mauricio Mejía, Caleb Landry Jones, and Jesse Plemons. It is inspired by the life of Barry Seal, a former TWA pilot who became a drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel in the 1980s and then, in order to avoid jail time, became an informant for the DEA.
Death in the Desert Is a 2015 American love-drama film directed and produced by Josh Evans, and starring Michael Madsen, Shayla Beesley, John Palladino, Paz de la Huerta and Roxy Saint. Principal filming completed in February 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the second film collaboration between Madsen and Evans, who produced The Price of Air in which Madsen starred.
Elaine Shannon is an American investigative journalist and former correspondent for Newsweek and Time considered an expert on terrorism, organized crime, and espionage. Describing her also as "a leading expert on the evil alliances of drug kingpins and corrupt officials", Newsweek said Shannon "could rightly claim to be the Boswell of thugs and drugs."