
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments.
...
, with the enumerated powers of pursuing crimes related to the possession, distribution, and trafficking of listed narcotics including cannabis, opium, cocaine, and their derivatives.
Headquartered in
Washington, D.C., the FBN carried out operations and missions around the world.
The bureau was in existence from its establishment in 1930 until its dissolution in 1968. FBN is considered a predecessor to the
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...
.
History
The FBN was established on June 14, 1930, consolidating the functions of the
Federal Narcotics Control Board and the
Bureau of Prohibition (BOI) Narcotic Division. These preceding bureaus were established to assume enforcement responsibilities assigned to the
Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 and the
Jones–
Miller Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act of 1922.
Levi Nutt
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was the brainchild of
Colonel Levi G. Nutt, who had for two decades been the head of the
Bureau of Prohibition Narcotics Division. In June of 1930, Nutt was appointed by President Hoover to be the first Commissioner of Narcotics. He was a registered pharmacist, and led the Division to the arrest of tens of thousands of drug addicts and dealers in the
Prohibition era. However, Nutt was hit with a scandal that rocked him.
In February 1930, after the investigation was concluded, a grand jury found no criminal impairment of Narcotics Division activities, but the flak was too much for the government.
In March 1930, Nutt was demoted to Field Supervisor. In September, his duties were passed on to
Harry J. Anslinger, the future Commissioner of the FBN.
Fallen Officers
Source:
# Special Agent Mansel Ross Burrell. December 19, 1967. Gunfire.
# Special Agent Wilson Michael Shee. December 12, 1957. Gunfire
# District Supervisor Anker Marius Bangs. September 24, 1950. Gunfire.
# Agent Andrew P. Sanderson. September 23, 1944. Automobile crash.
# Inspector Spencer Stafford. Thursday, February 7, 1935. Gunfire.
# Agent John W. Crozier. November 16, 1934. Automobile crash.
Harry Anslinger
Harry J. Anslinger was the "personification of the antinarcotic regime," and ran the bureau for the majority of its existence. He had been the Assistant Commissioner of the
Bureau of Prohibition and took over the Bureau's Narcotic Division in 1929.
With the establishment of the FBN a year later, Anslinger was appointed the first Narcotics Commissioner of the United States by
Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.
Under Anslinger, the FBN lobbied for harsh penalties for drug usage.
He had little regard for addicts, saying once: "The best cure for addiction? Never let it happen."
This problematic slogan is similar to the phrase "
just say no." He is also quoted as saying: "We intend to get the killer-pushers and their willing customers out of selling and buying drugs... The answer to the problem is simple—get rid of drugs, pushers and users. Period."
This approach treated all users equally, and did not differentiate casual usage from clinically defined addiction. According to Anslinger, all usage of narcotics was a criminal act.
The Drug War
The FBN is credited for criminalizing drugs such as
marijuana
Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
with the
Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, as well as strengthening the
Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914. Even so, the main focus of the FBN was fighting
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 ...
and
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
smuggling. One instance against opium was the
Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942.
Malachi Harney, Assistant Commissioner of the FBN, wrote in an article for the
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
on the enumerated powers of the agency:
"It should be borne in mind that the Bureau are confined to a rather narrow range of specifically enumerated drugs. These are 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 ...
... alkaloid
Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids.
Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...
s and derivatives of opium (including such products as morphine
Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...
, heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
, codine, dilaudid), and semisynthetic derivatives of opium... wholly synthetic substances... opiate
An opiate is an alkaloid substance derived from opium (or poppy straw). It differs from the similar term ''opioid'' in that the latter is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain ( ...
s... the coca leaf and its derivatives (cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
)... marihuana... cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
... The Federal Bureau of Narcotics ''does not'' have responsibilities in connection with many other chemicals generally described as dangerous drugs such as... barbiturates, amphetamines
Substituted amphetamines, or simply amphetamines, are a chemical class, class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative (chemistry), derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substitution reacti ...
, tranquilizers... hallucinogen
Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mo ...
s..."
In this article, Harney defined marijuana as being the ground substance of the plant called cannabis.
Marijuana was not originally intended by the agency as a word to refer to the cannabis plant.
Billie Holiday
FBN Special Agent
George Hunter White arrested jazz singer
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...
at the Mark Twin Hotel in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
At a conference of the DEA in 2014, historian John C. McWilliams presented the evidence that White consumed most of the narcotics he was pursuing.
He was most likely high when he arrested Holiday for possession.
Years later, in 1959, Holiday died in police custody, handcuffed to a hospital bed and surrounded by FBN agents.
The agents did not allow her to see family or friends, and denied her doctors from administering methodone.
World War II and the OSS
When
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 ...
broke out in Europe in 1939,
William J. Donovan
William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan (January 1, 1883 – February 8, 1959) was an American soldier, lawyer, intelligence officer and diplomat. He is best known for serving as the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to ...
,
Millard Preston Goodfellow, and
David K. E. Bruce requested a list of names from Commissioner Anslinger to use in the effort against the Axis powers in their new wartime intelligence agency - what was at that time called the
Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), the direct precursor to the
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...
(OSS), and what would eventually become the
Central Intelligence Agency
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 ...
(CIA).
FBN special agents that were loaned to special duty at COI/OSS include
George Hunter White and
Garland H. Williams, among others.
These men were sent to attend training at a British
Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...
training camp outside of Toronto, Canada, called
Camp X.
White is quoted as calling this the "school of mayhem and murder."
In the Spring of that year, White became one of the cadre of instructors at the COI schoolhouses in Washington, D.C. under the command of his FBN Supervisor and COI Training Director
Garland H. Williams, where he taught counterintelligence to hundreds of would-be and hopeful undercover operatives and guerrilla warfighters.
Those operatives and operators who were successful were then deployed all around the world to fight the Axis powers.
Another effort that OSS and the FBN undertook during the war was the pursuit of the Nazi "truth drug," or "T drug," and the two agencies collaborated in experiments on unwitting American citizens to see the effects of certain narcotics.
These experiments primarily targeted gangsters, pimps, prostitutes, and other "undesirable" classes of American citizens.
FBN agents would dose their targets with narcotics against their knowledge, and document what would happen over the course of several months to years.
These experiments would eventually become a part of
Operation Midnight Climax, part of the umbrella
MKUltra program, managed by FBN special agent George Hunter White and CIA chemist
Sidney Gottlieb.
These experiments lasted into the 1960s, and are allegedly responsible for the death of
Frank Olson.
The French Connection
In 1934, an FBN field report indicated that heroin in
New York was being distributed from
Corsica
Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
.
The "connection" refers to the relationship between the
Corsican Brotherhood and the
Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of ...
. The FBN was the major American federal law enforcement agency responsible for uncovering the networks of the
French Connection.
By the 1950s and 1960s, over 80 percent of all heroin consumed in the United States was originated in Southern France, distributed by the
Unione Corse. These drugs were shipped to the USA through Cuba.
FBN agents were routinely sent to Cuba during the 50s, and FBN undercover operative
Jacques Voignier was stationed in Cuba with the dual assignment to gather information for the CIA on an unknown Cuban operator named Fidel Castro.
Lucky Luciano

FBN agents immediately resumed to full-time status at the end of the war, and Anslinger gave Garland H. Williams and George Hunter White the assignment to track down and bring to justice
Lucky Luciano - the Italian Chicago mob boss that the OSS and the
Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) had heavily depended on to guarantee safety of shipbuilding in Chicago and New York.
ONI and OSS during the war had also used Luciano as an asset to ensure protection of American forces by the Italian criminal underworld as they invaded the country and advanced northward against the Germans.
Lucky Luciano had still been running his mob from behind bars, but the US granted him reduced sentence in 1945 for "wartime services to the country."
Williams charged that three months after Luciano's return
o Italyfrom Cuba in 1947, the first large shipment of heroin, worth $250,000, was smuggled into the United States. -- ''The Luciano Story''
In 1950, special agent
Charles Siragusa was assigned to take over the hunt for Luciano from White and Williams. The hunt for Luciano would dominate the next decade of his life. On one particular occasion, Luciano was asked by a group of reporters what he would like for Christmas. His response was "Siragusa in a ton of cement!"
Luciano died in
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
from a heart attack before Siragusa could bring a case against him. Siragusa later starred as himself in the 1973 film
Lucky Luciano.
Overseas offices
The FBN over time established several offices overseas in;
*
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
*
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
*
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
*
Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
*
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
Other hotspots of international narcotics smuggling also maintained offices.
These internationally deployed special agents (never totaling more than 17 at one time) cooperated with local drug enforcement agencies in gathering intelligence on smugglers and also made
undercover busts locally.
Vietnam War
The work against heroin and opium was however hamstrung by US
foreign policy
Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
considerations: during 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 ...
for instance great importance was placed on investigating minor Vietnamese smugglers that could be connected to the resistance while investigations of large scale smugglers from the US ally Thailand were left unfinished.
Dissolution
Anslinger retired in 1962 and was succeeded by
Henry Giordano, who was the commissioner of the FBN until it was merged in 1968 with the
Bureau of Drug Abuse Control, an agency of the
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...
(FDA), to form the
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, an agency of the United States Department of Justice and a predecessor agency of the current
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...
, which was established in 1973.
Legal disputes
In ''
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents'', the FBN was sued for violating the 4th Amendment rights of Bivens, through the illegal search and seizure of drugs without a warrant.
See also
* ''
Sherman v. United States'': A U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Bureau.
*
List of United States federal law enforcement agencies
*
Garland H. Williams
*
George Hunter White
*
Charlie Siragusa
*
Jacques Voignier
*
Malachi Harney
Notes
{{authority control
Defunct agencies of the United States government
United States Department of the Treasury agencies
Federal Bureau of Narcotics
Defunct federal law enforcement agencies of the United States
Drugs in the United States
Government agencies established in 1930
1930 establishments in the United States
1968 disestablishments in the United States
Government agencies disestablished in 1968