Bernie Houghton
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Maurice Bernard Houghton (1920,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
– 2000) was a US businessman with links to the US intelligence community, including involvement in the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
-connected
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
-based
Nugan Hand Bank Nugan Hand Bank was an Australian merchant bank that collapsed in 1980 after the suicide of one of its founders, Australian lawyer Francis John Nugan, resulting in a major scandal. News stories suggested that the bank had been involved in ille ...
in the 1970s. He settled in Sydney in 1967, and founded several bars in
Kings Cross, New South Wales Kings Cross is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-eastern locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...
, becoming a significant enough local figure to have a bust erected in his honour in 2002.


Career

After serving in the US military in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Houghton had various jobs over the next 20 years ( Alfred W. McCoy describes him as "knock ngabout the country for twenty years in various jobs with no particular direction"). From 1964 to 1967 Houghton spent three years in Southeast Asia taking advantage of the business opportunities offered by the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. Former US intelligence officers speaking to
Jonathan Kwitny Jonathan Kwitny (March 23, 1941 – November 26, 1998) was an American investigative journalist. Biography Kwitny was born in Indianapolis.
said that Houghton traded in many things, including
slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...
s and
opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...
. Australia's Joint Task Force looking into the
Nugan Hand Bank Nugan Hand Bank was an Australian merchant bank that collapsed in 1980 after the suicide of one of its founders, Australian lawyer Francis John Nugan, resulting in a major scandal. News stories suggested that the bank had been involved in ille ...
later reported that Houghton was "part of the intelligence community" at this time. In 1967 Houghton moved to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, founding several bars in
Kings Cross, New South Wales Kings Cross is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-eastern locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...
to take advantage of the $9 million a month trade of US servicemen taking rest and recreation from the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
; Houghton was said to have "reaped a good chunk" of this trade. His best-known establishment, the Bourbon & Beefsteak, survived until 2010.Michael Duffy, ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
'', 4 July 2010
A whiskey on the Bourbon
The Bourbon and Beefsteak was founded in October 1967, a month before the first US servicemen arrived, with the support of Australian property magnate Sir Paul Strasser. According to Alfred W. McCoy, Houghton's private guests at the Bourbon included
Robert Askin Sir Robert William Askin, GCMG (4 April 1907 – 9 September 1981), was an Australian politician and the 32nd premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, the first representing the Liberal Party. He was born in 1907 as Robin William Askin, b ...
and
Abe Saffron Abraham Gilbert Saffron (6 October 1919 – 15 September 2006) was an Australian hotelier, nightclub owner, and property developer who was one of the major figures in organised crime in Australia in the latter half of the 20th century. For sev ...
as well as John D. Walker, the CIA's Australian station chief from 1973 to 1975. Alfred W. McCoy (1991
972 Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recently held by the Kievan Rus', into six ...
,''"The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Drug Trade'', Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago; , pp. 461–472
Houghton's connections to the intelligence community, whilst unclear, were strong enough that when he arrived in Australia in 1972 without a visa, he called the state director of the
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is the Intelligence agency, domestic intelligence and national security agency of the Australian Government, responsible for protection from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign inte ...
, who vouched for him to enable entry. He had previously obtained a security clearance from the ASIO in 1969. In 1972 Houghton also met
Richard Secord Major general (United States), Major General Richard Vernon Secord (July 6, 1932 – October 15, 2024) was a United States Air Force officer who worked in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. avia ...
, whom he would occasionally meet socially throughout the 1970s.
Jonathan Kwitny Jonathan Kwitny (March 23, 1941 – November 26, 1998) was an American investigative journalist. Biography Kwitny was born in Indianapolis.
, '' Mother Jones''
Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA: Crimes of Patriots
Aug-Sep 1987, pp17-23
In 1975 Houghton flew to
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, with two
Nugan Hand Bank Nugan Hand Bank was an Australian merchant bank that collapsed in 1980 after the suicide of one of its founders, Australian lawyer Francis John Nugan, resulting in a major scandal. News stories suggested that the bank had been involved in ille ...
employees as part of supporting
Michael Jon Hand Michael Jon Hand (8 December 1941 — 7 November 2020) was a US ex- Green Beret known for co-founding the Nugan Hand Bank. He has more recently been the owner of TOPS Knives. Career Hand grew up in New York City, where he attended DeWitt Clint ...
's efforts to arrange arms deals supplying weapons to groups in southern Africa. As part of this venture Houghton made direct contact with
Edwin P. Wilson Edwin Paul Wilson (May 3, 1928 – September 10, 2012) was a former CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. It was later found that the United States Department of Justice had ...
, then working for the
Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serv ...
. The same year Houghton worked with Wilson to supply Iran with a high-technology spy ship, working with "funds…and…payouts" according to a key federal witness against Wilson in his 1982 trial. Australian immigration records showed Houghton flying to Iran in March 1975 in the company of a US Army Colonel. In 1976 Houghton began to take a more active role in
Nugan Hand Bank Nugan Hand Bank was an Australian merchant bank that collapsed in 1980 after the suicide of one of its founders, Australian lawyer Francis John Nugan, resulting in a major scandal. News stories suggested that the bank had been involved in ille ...
, following the bankruptcy of his bar business with debts of nearly $1M. Houghton recruited "an old friend", US Admiral Earl P. Yates, to become president of the bank in early 1977. In late 1978 Houghton joined the bank's staff (having worked with the bank informally for the previous five years), and opened a bank branch in
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
in January 1979. Here Houghton and his staff collected at least $5M in cash deposits from US expatriates, all of which disappeared with the bank's collapse in 1980. In 1979
Richard Secord Major general (United States), Major General Richard Vernon Secord (July 6, 1932 – October 15, 2024) was a United States Air Force officer who worked in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. avia ...
introduced Houghton to
Thomas G. Clines Thomas Gregory Clines (August 18, 1928 – July 30, 2013) was an American covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, and a prominent figure in the Iran-Contra Affair. Background Clines served in the 1950–1953 Korean War, and ...
, leading to a deal with the support of
Ted Shackley Theodore George "Ted" Shackley, Jr. (July 16, 1927 – December 9, 2002) was an American CIA officer involved in many important and controversial CIA operations during the 1960s and 1970s. He is one of the most decorated CIA officers. Due to his ...
to sell Philippine jeeps to Egypt. According to witnesses speaking to Australian federal investigators, shortly after Frank Nugan's death in January 1980 Clines and
Rafael Quintero Rafael "Chi Chi" Quintero Ibaria (September 16, 1940 – October 1, 2006) was a CIA operative. Biography Quintero was born in Camagüey, Cuba on September 16, 1940. In the 1950s, he joined the resistance movement against Cuban dictator Ful ...
went through a bag of Houghton's documents which he had left at
Edwin P. Wilson Edwin Paul Wilson (May 3, 1928 – September 10, 2012) was a former CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. It was later found that the United States Department of Justice had ...
's Geneva office aiming to keep Secord's name out of the investigation. Houghton left Australia in mid-1980 (around the same time as
Michael Jon Hand Michael Jon Hand (8 December 1941 — 7 November 2020) was a US ex- Green Beret known for co-founding the Nugan Hand Bank. He has more recently been the owner of TOPS Knives. Career Hand grew up in New York City, where he attended DeWitt Clint ...
), accompanied by Clines, returning in October 1981 when it appeared that the investigations were unlikely to legally endanger him. After Houghton's death in 2000, a plinth was erected in Sydney's Fitzroy Gardens in his honour in July 2002, with a sculpture of Houghton's head by a local artist. The move, partly in recognition of Houghton's circa $1.5M charitable donations, was approved by
South Sydney Council The South Sydney City Council was a local government area covering the inner-eastern and inner-Southern Sydney suburbs of Sydney. It was forcibly merged with the Sydney City Council by the Government of New South Wales in 2004. The council chamb ...
. Its mayor at the time said that it was because of Bernie that the King's Cross community was "vibrant, alive, and so diverse".Louis Nowra (2013),
Kings Cross: A Biography
', New South Books, pp182-3.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Maurice Bernard 1920 births 2000 deaths Businesspeople from Texas 20th-century American businesspeople American military personnel of World War II American expatriates in Vietnam American expatriates in Australia