Myles Joseph Ambrose (July 21, 1926 – June 3, 2014) was an American lawyer and United States federal government official. He served as the

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

under President Richard M. Nixon and paved the way for the establishment of 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 ...

Early life

Myles Ambrose was born on July 21, 1926, in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York. His father, Arthur Ambrose, was a stockbroker on Wall Street. His mother, Ann Campbell, was a singer. Ambrose was educated at the

New Hampton School New Hampton School is an independent university-preparatory school, college preparatory high school in New Hampton, New Hampshire, United States. It has 330 students from over 30 states and 22 countries. The average class size is eleven, and the ...

. He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

in 1948 and his law degree from

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...

in 1952.

Career

Ambrose started his career as a lawyer in New York City. He served as an assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1954 to 1957. He joined 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. ...

in 1957, when he was appointed as chief coordinator of law enforcement and he prosecuted gang members. From 1960 to 1963, he served as the executive director of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, where he prosecuted organized crime figures. He returned to legal practice in

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 ...

, in 1963. In 1969, Ambrose was appointed as the

under President Richard M. Nixon. Under his leadership, he oversaw the implementation of Operation Intercept, which consisted in searching vehicles entering the United States from Mexico. The program was discontinued within weeks; instead, the Mexican police was expected to search for illicit drugs in cars driving into U.S. soil. Meanwhile, it was Ambrose who promoted the use of dogs to look for drugs like heroin and marijuana. In 1971, he successfully completed the seizure of 200 pounds of pure heroin entering the United States in three batches. In January 1972, he became the director of the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE), a drug enforcement agency tasked primarily with the US federal government aiding local drug enforcement. He proposed the creation of the more encompassing

in 1973. Ambrose returned to legal practise in Washington, D.C., upon retiring from the federal government. He served on the inaugural committee of the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980. He served as the chairman of the board of Daytop, a drug addiction treatment organization.

Personal life and death

With his first wife, Elaine Miller, he had three sons and three daughters. After she died in 1975, he married Joan Fitzpatrick, but he later divorced. At the time of his death he was married to Lorraine Genovese. He wed Lorraine Genovese, a mother of three sons and two daughters, in 1994. He attended Mass at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn, Virginia. He resided in Lansdowne, Virginia and later Leesburg, Virginia, where he died of a congestive heart failure at the age of 87. 2]

References

External links

Interview Myles Ambrose, Frontline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambrose, Myles James 1926 births 2014 deaths Lawyers from the Bronx Manhattan College alumni New York Law School alumni Commissioners of the United States Customs Service People from Loudoun County, Virginia People from Leesburg, Virginia 20th-century American lawyers New Hampton School alumni