Messick,H. Of Grass and Snow. 1979
Messick, Hank. Of Grass and Snow: The Secret Criminal Elite. Englewood
Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. 190 pages.
This book is Messick's attempt to expose the new elements behind the
drug trade: blacks and Cubans, South Americans, and the counterculture. He
describes the trade in marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, and the efforts of
U.S. federal and local authorities to curb the supply. Richard Nixon's war
on drugs -- which involved Lucien Conein and 14 ex-CIA agents assigned to
him, all operating through the DEA -- is discussed in one chapter. Rumors
that this was some sort of assassination squad are still circulating today.
Hank Messick's many books on organized crime are widely respected. In
1965 he was hired by the Miami Herald for a series on Meyer Lansky, and his
first book, The Silent Syndicate (1967), reported on crime and gambling in
Kentucky and Ohio. Messick makes a distinction between the syndicate and the
Mafia. The former is international and multicultural, and often includes
the latter as a subset. But beginning with the Joseph Valachi hearings in
1963 and J. Edgar Hoover's "La Cosa Nostra" hype, the Mafia got all the
attention while Lansky was left alone. Messick was the first to hint at the
reason for this: Hoover had been compromised by Lansky, as Anthony Summers
recently confirmed in "Official and Confidential" (1993). This debate is
significant today for assassination theorists, because most "Mafia did it"
authors still give Lansky a mere footnote or two at best.
ISBN 0-13-630558-X
- ABASCAL MARIO (112-20)
- ALBERNAZ THOMAS J (89-95, 102)
- ALDERGUIA SALVADOR GALLEGO (178-80)
- AMBROSE MYLES J (18-20, 30, 38-9)
- ANSLINGER HARRY J (10-5)
- ARGOMANIZ ALBERTO (171-2, 175)
- ARGOMANIZ ENRIQUE KAKI (174-5, 178)
- ARRINGTON MICHAEL OTIS (160)
- ATKINSON KAREN (80, 84)
- ATKINSON LESLIE (IKE) (159-60)
- BALDWIN DON (130-2, 135)
- BANANA SUPPLY COMPANY (2-3)
- BARNES NICKY JR (39, 147-52)
- BARTELS JOHN R (39)
- BENSINGER PETER B (39, 107)
- BERCKMANS BRUCE JR (110-3, 116-7)
- BERRIN LARRY (186)
- BOUCAN MARCEL (1)
- BOYD DARRELL (65-7, 69)
- BOYD TRACY W (65, 69, 165-6)
- BRENNAN ROBERT E (68)
- BRUCE PROMISE (148-9)
- BUCHALTER LOUIS (LEPKE) (11-3)
- BUNDY MCGEORGE (32)
- BURKE J.HERBERT (R-FL) (182-5)
- BURNSTINE KENNETH GORDON (73-83)
- CAMERON WILLIAM (BABE) (27-8, 35-6)
- CAPO DAVID F (129)
- CHIANG KAI-SHEK (158)
- CIRILLO LOUIS (26)
- CONEIN LUCIEN (30-3, 75, 82-4, 169)
- CONSALVO CARMINE (157)
- CORNFELD BERNIE (168)
- CUNNINGHAM GERALD (81)
- DAWSON DAVID (FLORIDA) (174-5)
- DAWSON GUY (174-5)
- DAWSON JOHN (173-4)
- DERBER HAROLD (63-9)
- DEWEY THOMAS E (11-3)
- DIEM NGO DINH (31-2)
- DOGIN HENRY (39)
- DOMINION MORTGAGE CORPORATION (177-8)
- DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION (33, 38-9, 122-3, 160, 169)
- EDWARDS JAMES B (137-8)
- EL PASO INTELLIGENCE CENTER (86)
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- GOODCHILD RICHARD W (104)
- GORDON KEITH (60)
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- GREENE RALPH (135)
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- HARVEY JAMES SCOTT (75)
- HEATH EDWARD (DEA) (5, 7-8)
- HERNANDEZ CARTAYA GUILLERMO (175-80)
- HERNANDEZ CARTAYA MARCELO (177)
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- HICKS EUGENE (66-7)
- HIM GONZALEZ JOAQUIN (28)
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- HUNT E HOWARD (30, 32)
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- LANSKY MEYER (166-8, 170)
- LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION (18, 30)
- LAWRENCE AL (S.CAROLINA) (137)
- LAWRENCE LANNY (45-6)
- LIDDY G GORDON (30, 55)
- LIMEHOUSE J SIDI III (137-8)
- LODGE HENRY CABOT (32)
- LOFTON LIONEL (137)
- LUCIANO LUCKY (CHARLES) (13-4)
- MANFREDI RICHARD (66-7)
- MARANGELLO NICHOLAS (156)
- MARGER EDWIN (83-4, 131-3)
- MARTINS WILLIAM J (91)
- MATTHEWS FRANK (DURHAM NC) (24-8, 30, 33-6, 39)
- MATTINGLY L P (10)
- MCCUTCHEON JOHN D (DEA) (89-97)
- MEDINA FRANCISCO (111-3)
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- MERTENS ERNEST (5-8)
- MILLER GERARD (27, 30, 33-6, 51)
- MITCHELL JOHN N (37-8, 168-9)
- MODESITT DON (130-2)
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- NIXON DONALD SR (F.DONALD) (168)
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- NUTT LEVI G (8-10)
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- OBRIEN THOMAS W (16)
- OWEN DAVID E (55-6)
- PEARSON SKIP (44-8, 154-6)
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- REBOZO CHARLES G (BEBE) (171-2)
- REID WILLIAM F (59)
- REITER NORM (55)
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