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administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
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Speechwriting, White House Office of
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Speech File Draft Files
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OA/ID Number:
13478
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13478-011
Folder Title:
DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] Field Office Address, 3/9/89 [2]
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25
6
1
5
014251ss
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
3/7/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/7/89 5:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTIONFYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
BENNETT
DEMAREST
GRIFFITH
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, by 5:00 PM TODAY, Tuesday, March 7, 1989, with
an info copy to my office. Sorry about the short turnaround.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One MAR
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
Howad
KEEP
to do, and I will not stay you long.
A624
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York City, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak, those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of considerable dignity and strength.
It has been quite an education. I understand the unique and
dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This area leads
Raud
the nation in overall consumption, distribution and importation
of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of ethnic groups
why
mention?
as diverse as the city itself. Your role in this battle is very
special. If the legions of state and local police officers
represent the infantrymen in this effort, then the DEA is
something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of narcotics
enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
Let's talk about the terror.
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years. It's about time.
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG." ((DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine
Guns") )
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
Bennett's drug education program. But first, I'd like to ask
your help in a little remedial education program of our own. Its
target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished, fast,
and quite possibly with your life.
it's been
Druggies used to know that. But with 25 years since
Holen
has
anyone faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
5178
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding guns
better choose fast. And they damned well better choose right.
The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing, at times meaningless like the body counts in
Vietnam.
And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won by
statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles, and
in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations our of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind of
Howard
sophisticated, long-term investigation several were among the
4624
first cases in the country to make use of the new drug kingpin
statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and the
pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to spectacular
effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may ultimately
total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This scourge
will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this war,
Hale
3120
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education, z) rehabilitation
1)
4) tough drug seatencing law
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
30% 1995
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
[we We also
?
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total.
intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995.
put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too many
Simply Janth Hale
criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
via
3120 phon
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
7:15
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
3/7
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
Raul
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over-5,000
Sog4
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
Holae
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
8215
and prevention
my request will go for education, in an initiative led by Bill
Bennett, who I hope will soon be the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. Earlier
this week I visited successful education programs in Pennsylvania
and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last
month, the amateur night performances were interrupted by
spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and chants from the
crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the
weak-kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are
up against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
There is no higher horror than what happened on the streets
of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an important
task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
MAR 7 '89 23:10
PAGE. 02
—
Bob Atutman
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
DEA -SIAC-NYC
212.399.5001
March 7,1989
MEMORANDUM FOR: Judd Swift
THRU:
Leo Tomeu
FROM:
Lenny Cherson
RE:
Meeting with the clain agente families.
Pursuant to my conversation with Mr. Robert M. Stutman, (S.A.I.C. of
the New York Field Office of D.E.A.) it has come to my attention that
there are four D.E.A. agents who have lost there lives in the line of
duty in the New York field office. Mr. Stutman has asked that THE
PRESIDENT pay a condolence call not only with Agent Hatcher's family
but with the other three families as well. Due to the fact that we
are meeting with the Hatcher family and then going to view drugs, weapons
and cash seized by the D.E.A. in New York we would need time to hold
so the press may return to the next floor to position for THE PRESIDENT'S
speech. It is at that time that Mr. Stutman would like to have THE
PRESIDENT meet with the other families to pay his respects.
The following is alist of the three other agents and the month and year
in which there lives were taken from them.
Agent Thomas Devine killed in the line of duty October, 1972.
Agent Frank Tummillo Injured in the line of duty October, 1972 died
of injuries sustained in that incident in 1982.
Agent Raymond Stasny killed in the line of duty January, 1987 while
on assignment in Atlanta, Georgia.
The families of these agents have agreed as did Mrs. Hatcher to have a
photographer present (1.e. Dave Valdez) for a photo oppurtunity.
It should also be known that Agent. Bruce Travis who was shot in the
head and had to under go 16 hours of reconstructive surgery afew months
ago will also be in attendence for THE PRESIDENT'S speech. Agent Travis
received a personal letter from then THE VICE PRESIDENT when he was
critically injured and was in the hospital. Agent Travis will be living
next week to go to the Mayo Clinic for more reconstructive surgery for
the injury sustained while in the line of duty.
Enclosed is alist of the family members as compiled by D.E.A.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 7, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
LEE S. LIBERMAN
it
FROM:
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: DEA New York Field Office
The general theme of these comments is that the attack on
Hatcher's killers is too specific, given that they have not been
convicted.
On the first page, in the first paragraph, first sentence, I
recommend replacing "the cowards" with "those", for the reasons
indicated in my comments on p. 6. I also recommend being very
sure that the fact stated there is true, i.e. that nobody else
heard the shots. What if a critical witness at the trial turns
out to be somebody who did hear them?
On the last three lines of p. 2, I recommend deleting everything
after "The rules on our side have changed, too" to the end of
that sentence. That could be interpreted as the President
prejudging whether the U.S. Attorney should ask for the death
penalty against the particular people involved, which is not
appropriate.
On p. 3, in the sixth paragraph, I would recommend replacing
"druggies" with the statutory term ("drug kingpins?") I would
make the same change in the next paragraph (replace "druggies
holding guns" with "drug kingpins involved in murder" if that is
who is covered by the statute).
On p. 5, the first sentence in the first full paragraph actually
isn't a sentence.
On p. 6, in the first full paragraph, I recommend deleting the
sentence beginning "Indeed." The reference to the suspect who
"had twice been arrested for assaulting policemen" and the
statement that "neither of the suspects in last week's killings
had any business being out on the street in the first place" are
particularly troublesome. The first reference opens the
President up to the charge of presuming guilt on the basis of
arrests as opposed to convictions, and the second has him making
a judgment in a particular case different from the one reached by
a court that has not been reversed. The references could also
give rise to arguments that the President is exciting prejudicial
pretrial publicity.
For similar reasons, on p. 7, I recommend deleting the first
sentence or changing it to "Those who take the lives of DEA
agents should be given no rest. "
ID #
CU
WHITE HOUSE
CORRESPONDENCE TRACKING WORKSHEET
O OUTGOING
H INTERNAL
I . INCOMING
Date Correspondence
Received (YY/MM/DD)
/
/
Name of Correspondent: James Ciccone
MI Mail Report
User Codes: (A)
(B)
(C)
Subject: Presidential Remarks: DEA new york
Field office; Everett Hatcher, drugs
ROUTE TO:
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89/03/07
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Cuatoz
Referral Note:
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89/03/07
89,03,07
Referral Note:
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R - Direct Reply w/Copy
B - - Non-Special Referral
S Suspended
D Draft Response
S For Signature
F - . Furnish Fact Sheet
X Interim Reply
to be used as Enclosure
FOR OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE:
Type of Response = Initials of Signer
Code = "A"
Completion Date = Date of Outgoing
Comments:
Keep this worksheet attached to the original incoming letter.
Send all routing updates to Central Reference (Room 75, OEOB).
Always return completed correspondence record to Central Files.
Refer questions about the correspondence tracking system to Central Reference, ext. 2590.
5/81
RECORDS MANAGEMENT ONLY
CLASSIFICATION SECTION
No. of Additional
Correspondents:
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Time:
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DSP
Time:
Media:
SIGNATURE CODES:
MEDIA CODES:
CPn Presidential Correspondence
n - 0 Unknown
B Box/package
C Copy
n 1 George Herbert Walker Bush
D Official document
n 2 George Bush
G Message
n - 3 George
H Handcarried
L Letter
CLn First Lady's Correspondence
M Mailgram
n 1 Barbara Bush
O Memo
P Photo
n 2 Barbara
R Report
n - 3 Bar
S Sealed
n - 4 Mrs. Barbara Bush
T Telegram
V Telephone
CBn Presidential & First Lady's Correspondence
X Miscellaneous
n . 1 - Barbara & George Bush
Y Study
n - 2 Barbara & George
014251ss
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
89 MAR 7 P2:00
3/7/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/7/89 5:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTIONFYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
BENNETT
DEMAREST
GRIFFITH
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, by 5:00 PM TODAY, Tuesday, March 7, 1989, with
an info copy to my office. Sorry about the short turnaround.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One MAR
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not stay you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York city, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak, those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of considerable dignity and strength.
It has been quite an education. I understand the unique and
dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This area leads
the nation in overall consumption, distribution and importation
of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of ethnic groups
as diverse as the city itself. Your role in this battle is very
special. If the legions of state and local police officers
represent the infantrymen in this effort, then the DEA is
something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of narcotics
enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
Let's talk about the terror.
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
(Gray)
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years It's about time.
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG." ((DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine
Guns"))
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
Bennett's drug education program. But first, I'd like to ask
your help in a little remedial education program of our own. Its
target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished, fast,
and quite possibly with your life.
Druggies used to know that. But with 25 years since
anyone's faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding guns
better choose fast. And they damned well better choose right.
The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing, at times meaningless, like the body counts in
Vietnam. And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won by
statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles, and
in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations our of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind of
sophisticated, long-term investigation several were among the
asked
first cases in the country to make use of the new drug kingpin
statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and the
pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to spectacular
effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may ultimately
total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This scourge
will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this war
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. We also
intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995. Simply
put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too many
criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for education, in an initiative led by Bill
Bennett, who I hope will soon be the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. Earlier
this week I visited successful education programs in Pennsylvania
and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last
month, the amateur night performances were interrupted by
spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and chants from the
crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the
weak-kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are
up against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
There is no higher horror than what happened on the streets
of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an important
task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
(McNally)
March 8, 1989
11:00 a.m.
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the prosecutors and
each of you on the frontline with us today -- thank you for
honoring me with your presence. You have important work to do,
and I will not keep you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York city, as in other cities across the
country, the war on drugs is no metaphor. Before we could bury
Everett Hatcher last week another officer was gunned down, felled
by a single shot fired point blank beneath his bullet-proof vest.
As we speak, those accused of ambushing Eddie Byrne, one of New
York's finest, are standing trial in this city. And this week
the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's funeral
is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about the
attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital. Bruce, all of us
here are glad that you're recovering so well. Last week, Matthew
Byrne joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And
earlier today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher,
a woman of enormous dignity and strength.
2
It has been quite an education. I understand the special
and dangerous challenges that all New York drug enforcement
officers face. This area leads the nation in overall
consumption, distribution and importation of narcotics, run by a
well-armed cross-section of drug traffickers as diverse as the
city itself. Your role in this battle is very special. You put
your life on the line every day. If the legions of state and
local patrolmen represent the infantrymen in this effort, then
you are something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of
narcotics enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, many of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
You know, it used to be unthinkable to shoot a cop.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too. It's about
time.
3
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen -- all of you --
deserve all the protection that tough laws can offer. I've asked
Bill Bennett to look into what can be done to prevent fully
automatic assault weapons from falling into the hands of the
criminals you face.
Drug dealers need to understand a simple fact: You shoot a
cop, and you will be severely punished, fast, and quite possibly
with your life.
Drug traffickers used to know that. But it's been 25 years
since anyone has faced the death penalty in this state, and they
may have gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately, we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any drug traffickers
holding guns better choose fast. And they damned well better
choose right. The killing must stop.
Of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependent on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, vou
4
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing; as well as mind-boggling. Wars aren't won by
statistics. We know wars are won by winning battles, and in this
war, battles are won by putting particular drug organizations out
of business. It's done the old-fashioned way, one group at a
time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved
sophisticated, long-term investigations and several were among
the first cases in the country to make use of the new drug
kingpin statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and
5
the pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to
spectacular effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may
ultimately total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps even the
odds, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains turns the
tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps you've
heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in America
takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little
on office supplies."
Experts have estimated that today drugs alone account for a
$110 billion industry in our country. We are hurting the drug
kingpins where they live when we take their money, and we are
going to get even better at it.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win this war on
drugs. This scourge will end. I mean to lead the fight, with
Bill Bennett, our nation's first Drug Czar, at my side.
And although we "meet on a crucial battlefield of this war,"
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: rehabilitation, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of budget
constraints, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget
outlays to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. By 1995, we
also intend to reduce prison overcrowding by 50%.
6
Beyond enforcement, other monies will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for prevention and education, to let that
casual user know the risks they take and the price they may have
to pay. And to tell our children that drugs are wrong.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. At the
Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last month, the amateur
night performances were interrupted by spontaneous anti-drug
messages from the stage and chants from the crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and Bill Bennett and I
will be briefed by him tomorrow. I know that many of you have
also served or will serve your own tours in South America, a
tribute to our increased cooperation.
7
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to anyone who
doesn't seem to understand what it is you are up against out
there on the street: The killing must stop.
What happened on the streets of Staten Island last week was
a horrible tragedy. Which means you have an important task
ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
1
(McNally)
March 8, 1989
9:45 a.m.
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
the prosecu toro and
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
each of you on the frontline with us today
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not keep you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York City, as in other cities across the
country, the war on drugs is no metaphor. Before we could bury
Everett Hatcher last week another officer was gunned down, felled
by a single shot fired point blank beneath his bullet-proof vest.
one of new yorks front
As we speak, those accused of ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing
trial in this city. And this week the DEA group that helped
handle security for Everett's funeral is in yet another New York
courtroom, testifying about the attempted murder of Special Agent
Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
us
Buce, all oftere are
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
glad that you're
relief that he recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
2
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of enormous dignity and strength.
drug
It has been quite an education.
I
understand the special
Call new york 1 enforcement offeres)
and dangerous challenges that DEA faces. in New York This area
leads the nation in overall consumption, distribution and
importation of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of
drug traffickers as diverse as the city itself. Your role in
you put your life on the
this battle is very special. If the legions of state and local
police officers represent the infantrymen in this effort, then you
line every day.
Patvolmen
are
the DEA is something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of
OK
narcotics enforcement.
stet.
Like Everett Hatcher, mony most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
COP.
You know, it used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal
agent trank present policentficer.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
THE white house
washington
mont A
I've asked Bee
Bennett to look into
what con be done to
prevent fullyoutomation
assoult weapons from
fading into the hands
of the criminals you
face.
3
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too. It's about
time.
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
of
you-
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
msert
A
Drug dealers need to understand a simple fact: You shoot a
cop, and you will be severely punished, fast, and quite possibly
with your life.
Drug traffickers used to know that. But it's been 25 years
since anyone has faced the death penalty in this state, and they
may have gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any drug traffickers
holding guns better choose fast. And they damned well better
choose right. The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependent on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
4
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged.
with your federal, state and local counterparts stet.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing; as well as mind-boggling. Wars aren't won by
statistics. We know wars are won by winning battles, and in this
war, battles are won by putting particular drug organizations out
of business. It's done the old-fashioned way, one group at a
time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind
sophisticated, long-term investigations and several were among
the first cases in the country to make use of the new drug
kingpin statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and
5
the pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to
spectacular effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may
ultimately total $30 - 50 million.
even
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Experts have estimated that today drugs alone acount for a
$110 billion industry in our country. We are hurting the drug
kingpins where they live when we take their money, and we are
going to get even better at it.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win this war on
drugs. This scourge will end. I mean to lead the fight, with
Bill Bennett, our nation's first Drug Czar, at my side.
And although we "meet on a crucial battlefield of this war," "
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: rehabilitation, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of budget
constraints, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget
outlays to fund these new efforts.
(stet) federal
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. By 1995, we
also intend to reduce prison overcrowding by 50%.
6
?
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for prevention and education, to let that
casual user know the risks they take and the price they may have
to pay. And to tell our children that drugs are wrong.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. At the
Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last month, the amateur
night performances were interrupted by spontaneous anti-drug
messages from the stage and chants from the crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and Bill Bennett and I
will be briefed by him tomorrow. I know that many of you have
also served or will serve your own tours in South America, a
tribute to our increased cooperation.
7
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight. Femina D
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to everyone amyone who
doesn't seem to understand what it is you are up against out
there on the street: The killing must stop.
What happened on the streets of Staten Island last week was
a horrible tragedy. Which means you have an important task
ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
or any of you working WITH Them 10 and
this scourge,
014251ss
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
3/7/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/7/89 5:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTIONIFYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
BENNETT
DEMAREST
GRIFFITH
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, by 5:00 PM TODAY, Tuesday, March 7, 1989, with
an info copy to my office. Sorry about the short turnaround.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
No comments
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One NAR -7 77
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not stay you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York city, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak, those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of considerable dignity and strength.
It has been quite an education. I understand the unique and
dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This area leads
the nation in overall consumption, distribution and importation
of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of ethnic groups
as diverse as the city itself. Your role in this battle is very
special. If the legions of state and local police officers
represent the infantrymen in this effort, then the DEA is
something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of narcotics
enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
Let's talk about the terror.
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years. It's about time.
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG." ((DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine
Guns") )
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
Bennett's drug education program. But first, I'd like to ask
your help in a little remedial education program of our own. Its
target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished, fast,
and quite possibly with your life.
Druggies used to know that. But with 25 years since
anyone's faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding guns
better choose fast. And they damned well better choose right.
The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures-or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing, at times meaningless, like the body counts in
Vietnam. And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won by
statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles, and
in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations our of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind of
sophisticated, long-term investigation several were among the
first cases in the country to make use of the new drug kingpin
statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and the
pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to spectacular
effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may ultimately
total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This scourge
will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this war,
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. We also
intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995. Simply
put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too many
criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for education, in an initiative led by Bill
Bennett, who I hope will soon be the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. Earlier
this week I visited successful education programs in Pennsylvania
and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last
month, the amateur night performances were interrupted by
spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and chants from the
crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the
weak-kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are
up against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
There is no higher horror than what happened on the streets
of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an important
task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
THE WHITE HOUSE
washington
March 7, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHIEF OF STAFF
BOBBIE KILBERG
BRENT SCOWCROFT
PATTY PRESOCK
DAVID BATES
ROBERT GUTTMAN
RICHARD BREEDEN
TIM MCBRIDE
ANDREW CARD
LANNY GRIFFITH
JAMES CICCONI
ROSE ZAMARIA
DAVID DEMAREST
TONY LOPEZ
MARLIN FITZWATER
DAVID VALDEZ
BOYDEN GRAY
BILLY DALE
FRED MCCLURE
BRUCE ZANCA
BONNIE NEWMAN
JAY ALLISON
ROGER PORTER
LAURIE FIRESTONE
STEPHEN STUDDERT
CASEY HEALEY
CHASE UNTERMEYER
JEAN LAMB
SUSAN PORTER ROSE
SPEECHWRITING OFFICE
ED ROGERS
USSS/PPD OPS
JOE HAGIN
WHCA AUDIO/VISUAL
JIM WRAY
WHCA OPERATIONS
CHRISS WINSTON
PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS
MEDICAL UNIT
THRU:
STEPHEN M. STUDDERT
FROM:
JOHN G. KELLER, JR.
JGK
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND
DIRECTOR OF PRESIDENTIAL ADVANCE
SUBJECT:
TRIP OF THE PRESIDENT TO NEW YORK, NEW YORK
MARCH 9, 1989
For your use and planning purposes, the attached is the outline
schedule for the Trip of the President to New York, New York, on
Thursday, March 9, 1989.
SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1989
2:05 pm
MARINE ONE departs White House en route Andrews
Air Force Base.
2:15 pm
MARINE ONE arrives Andrews Air Force Base.
2:20 pm
AIR FORCE ONE departs Andrews Air Force Base en route
New York, New York.
(Flight Time: 50 Minutes)
3:10 pm
AIR FORCE ONE arrives John F. Kennedy Airport, New York
New York.
3:15 pm
MOTORCADE departs John F. Kennedy Airport en route Drug
Enforcement Administration.
(Drive Time: 30 Minutes)
3:45 pm
MOTORCADE arrives Drug Enforcement Administration.
*
Private Meeting with Widow of Slain DEA
Agent, Mrs. Everett Hatcher, and her two
children
- CLOSED PRESS
*
Address to DEA Agents and other Law Enforcement
Officials.
- OPEN PRESS
*
Meeting with DEA Undercover Agents
- CLOSED PRESS
5:00 pm
MOTORCADE departs Drug Enforcement Administration
en route Sheraton Center Hotel.
(Drive Time: 5 Minutes)
5:05 pm
Arrives Sheraton Center Hotel.
*
PRIVATE TIME: 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES
NOTE: Mrs. Bush will join at this time.
*
Meeting with Cardinal Law
- CLOSED PRESS
*
United Negro College Fund Dinner
- OPEN PRESS
- BLACK TIE
7:35 pm
MOTORCADE departs Sheraton Center Hotel en route
John F. Kennedy Airport.
(Drive Time: 30 Minutes)
8:05 pm
MOTORCADE arrives John F. Kennedy Airport.
8:10 pm
AIR FORCE ONE departs New York, New York en route
Andrews Air Force Base.
(Flying Time: 50 Minutes)
9:00 pm
AIR FORCE ONE arrives Andrews Air Force Base.
9:05 pm
MARINE ONE departs Andrews Air Force Base en route
White House.
9:15 pm
MARINE ONE arrives White House.
Pinkerton Comments
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS") Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not stay you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York City, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak, those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
[
of considerable dignity and strength.
immence Incomeus
X
It has been quite an education. I understand the unique and
dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This area leads
the nation in overall consumption, distribution and importation
of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of ethnic groups
as diverse as the city itself. Your role in this battle is very
special. If the legions of state and local police officers
represent the infantrymen in this effort, then the DEA is
something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of narcotics
enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs. line] of terror
Let's talk about the terror.
XX
talk terror
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years. It's about time.
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG." ((DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine
Guns"))
would
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
Bennett's drug education program. But first, I'd like to ask
your help in a little remedial education program of our own. Its
target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished, fast,
and quite possibly with your life.
Druggies used to know that. But with 25 years since
anyone's faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding guns
better choose fast. And they damned well better choose right.
The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing, at times meaningless, like the body counts in
Vietnam. And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won by
statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles, and
in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations our of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind of
sophisticated, long-term investigation several were among the
first cases in the country to make use of the new drug kingpin
statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and the
pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to spectacular
effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may ultimately
total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This scourge
will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this war,
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. We also
intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995. Simply
put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too many
criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for education, in an initiative led by Bill
Bennett, who I hope will soon be the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. Earlier
this week visited success ful education programs in Pennsylvania
A
and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last
month, the amateur night performances were interrupted by
spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and chants from the
crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the
weak
kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are
up against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
There is no higher horror than what happened on the streets
of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an important
task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 7, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS A. WINSTON
FROM:
WILLIAM L. ROPER WRR
SUBJECT:
Draft Presidential Remarks: DEA NY Field Office
I have reiviewed the draft remarks for this drug event.
It is firm and very tough, appropriately so.
I have two suggestions:
Page three, paragraph four, it should be
"
Bennett's
drug prevention program.
"
Page six, paragraph four, it should similarly be
"$1.1 billion of my request will go for prevention,
=
If you have further questions, I would be pleased to
help.
CC: James W. Cicconi
014251ss
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
3/7/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/7/89 5:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTIONIFYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
BENNETT
DEMAREST
GRIFFITH
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, by 5:00 PM TODAY, Tuesday, March 7, 1989, with
an info copy to my office. Sorry about the short turnaround.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One N/I:-7
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not stay you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York City, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak, those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of considerable dignity and strength.
It has been quite an education. I understand the unique and
dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This area leads
the nation in overall consumption, distribution and importation
of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of ethnic groups
as diverse as the city itself. Your role in this battle is very
special. If the legions of state and local police officers
represent the infantrymen in this effort, then the DEA is
something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of narcotics
enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
Let's talk about the terror.
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years. It's about time.
1.
3
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG." ((DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine
Guns"))
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
Bennett's drug éducation program. But first, I'd like to ask
your help in a little remedial education program of our own. Its
target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished, fast,
and quite possibly with your life.
Druggies used to know that. But with 25 years since
anyone's faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding guns
better choose fast. And they damned well better choose right.
The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing, at times meaningless, like the body counts in
Vietnam. And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won by
statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles, and
in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations our of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind of
sophisticated, long-term investigation several were among the
first cases in the country to make use of the new drug kingpin
statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and the
pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to spectacular
effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may ultimately
total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This scourge
will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this war,
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. We also
intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995. Simply
put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too many
criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for education, in an initiative led by Bill
Bennett, who I hope will soon be the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. Earlier
this week I visited successful education programs in Pennsylvania
and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last
month, the amateur night performances were interrupted by
spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and chants from the
crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the
weak-kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are
up against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
There is no higher horror than what happened on the streets
of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an important
task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 7, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS A. WINSTON
FROM:
WILLIAM L. ROPER WIR
SUBJECT:
Draft Presidential Remarks: DEA NY Field Office
I have reiviewed the draft remarks for this drug event.
It is firm and very tough, appropriately so.
I have two suggestions:
Page three, paragraph four, it should be "
Bennett's
drug prevention program.
"
Page six, paragraph four, it should similarly be
"$1.1 billion of my request will go for prevention,
=
If you have further questions, I would be pleased to
help.
CC: James W. Cicconi
014251ss
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
3/7/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/7/89 5:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
BENNETT
DEMAREST
GRIFFITH
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, by 5:00 PM TODAY, Tuesday, March 7, 1989, with
an info copy to my office. Sorry about the short turnaround.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One MAR - 33
REMARKS: DEA NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE
MARCH 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not stay you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots that
ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards who
fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York city, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak, those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of the
nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of considerable dignity and strength.
It has been quite an education. I understand the unique and
dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This area leads
the nation in overall consumption, distribution and importation
of narcotics, run by a well-armed cross-section of ethnic groups
as diverse as the city itself. Your role in this battle is very
special. If the legions of state and local police officers
represent the infantrymen in this effort, then the DEA is
something like our Special Forces, the Green Berets of narcotics
enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked undercover, in
effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your courage. In
my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly, sick and
paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared as I ever
expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the dry
mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your stomach
high up under the ribs.
Let's talk about the terror.
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the first
ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering array of
battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson of the
past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting season
is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years. It's about time.
3
The scales of justice are becoming more balanced because of
the newly enacted federal drug laws. Twelve times in twelve
years the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the
death penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG.' ((DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine
Guns") )
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
Bennett's drug éducation program. But first, I'd like to ask
your help in a little remedial education program of our own. Its
target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished, fast,
and quite possibly with your life.
Druggies used to know that. But with 25 years since
anyone's faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good. Our
new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding guns
better choose fast. And they damned well better choose right.
The killing must stop.
of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take lives.
This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin addicts, half
of all those in the United States. In the city alone another
600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent and
dedication and to the effective working relations you have forged
with your federal, state and local counterparts.
still, we in Washington understand that the importance of a
case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures-or the
numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have become
mind-numbing, at times meaningless, like the body counts in
Vietnam. And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won by
statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles, and
in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations our of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are as
familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are to
my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another news
conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind of
sophisticated, long-term investigation several were among the
first cases in the country to make use of the new drug kingpin
statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force cooperation and the
pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to spectacular
effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may ultimately
total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers helps make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little on office supplies."
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This scourge
will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this war,
it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month, I
spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these new efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal budgets a
record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. We also
intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995. Simply
put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too many
criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
babies born in New York last year already addicted to drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about the
responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual" cocaine
users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1 billion of
my request will go for education, in an initiative led by Bill
Bennett, who I hope will soon be the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, there
does seem to be some light coming in under the door. Earlier
this week I visited successful education programs in Pennsylvania
and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one Wednesday last
month, the amateur night performances were interrupted by
spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and chants from the
crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well. Your
boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is power in
us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and support your
work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the Johnny Kahn and
Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in which whole
apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack lords who
control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the
weak-kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are
up against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
There is no higher horror than what happened on the streets
of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an important
task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be given no
rest. But be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.
MAR-06-1989 22:01 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461 P.01
FACSIMILE COVER SHEET
* * U.S. 30128nt of OFFICE
US ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, SDNY
1 Saint Andrew's Plaza
New York, NY 10007
S.D.N.Y
From:
ASS'T U.S. ATTY. EDWARD E. Mc NALLY
(212) 791 - 1156
I
Office Phone No:
Fax No: (212) 791-9178 or (FTS) 662-9178
No. pages (including cover sheet):
9
Date sent:
3-6-89
CHRISS WINSTON - RM, 122 O.E.O.B,
To:
Office Phone No:
(202) 456-2930
Fax No:
(202) (202) 456-2461 456- 2461
REMARKS:
Verification Phone No: (212) 791-1060 or (FTS) 662-1060
MAR-06-1989 22:01 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461
P.02
DRAN
(McNally)
March 6, 1989
Draft One
Draft Remarks for the President
DEA New York Field Office
March 9, 1989
Mr. Stutman, Mr. Gallagher -- to all the Assistant and
Associate SAC's (("SACKS")), Group Supervisors, Special Agents,
Task Force officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- thank
you for honoring me with your presence. You have important work
to do, and I will not stay you long.
In the empty streets of an island borough, the shots
that ended Everett Hatcher's life were heard only by the cowards
who fired them. But the echoes of those four shots were heard in
Washington and across an America where decent men and women share
your sense of loss, and of outrage.
Here in New York City, the war on drugs is no metaphor.
Before we could bury Everett Hatcher last week another officer
was gunned down, felled by a single shot fired point blank
beneath his bullet-proof vest. As we speak those accused of
ambushing Eddie Byrne are standing trial in this city. And this
week the DEA group that helped handle security for Everett's
funeral is in yet another New York courtroom, testifying about
the attempted murder of Special Agent Bruce Travers.
You know that my personal interest, and the interest of
the nation, goes beyond today's visit. As Vice President, I
telephoned Bruce while he was in the hospital, and share your
MAR-06-1989 22:02 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461 P.03
KAFT
relief that he's recovering so well. Last week, Matthew Byrne
joined us for a private dinner at the White House. And earlier
today, I was privileged to visit with Mary Jane Hatcher, a woman
of considerable dignity and strength.
It has been quite an education. I understand the
unique and dangerous challenges that DEA faces in New York. This
area leads the nation in overall consumption, distribution and
importation of narcotics, run by a bewildering and well-armed
cross-section of ethnic groups as diverse as the city itself.
Your role in his battle is very special. If the legions of state
and local police officers represent the infantrymen in this
effort, then the DEA is something like our Special Forces, the
Green Berets of narcotics enforcement.
Like Everett Hatcher, most of you have worked under-
cover, in effect operating behind enemy lines. I admire your
courage. In my own war, I was behind enemy lines only briefly,
sick and paddling with my hands in Japanese waters and as scared
as I ever expect to be. Each of you has been there, and know the
dry mouth, the moist palms, the ball of ice that grips your
stomach high up under the ribs. This pressure is only aggravated
by the long commutes, long hours, endless paperwork and high cost
of living that also go with a posting in the nation's largest
city. I sympathize. One policeman described New York duty as 90
percent boredom and 10 percent sheer terror.
Let's talk about the terror.
It used to be unthinkable to shoot a federal agent.
- 2 -
MAR-06-1989 22:03 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461 P.04
DKA
No longer. Today narcotics agents are sometimes the
first ones shot, targeted by criminals armed with a staggering
array of battlefield weaponry. The explosive, expensive lesson
of the past year in New York is that the rules of the game have
dramatically changed.
Well, I have some bad news for the bad guys: Hunting
season is over. The rules on our side have changed, too, and the
killers of Everett Hatcher may well become the first New York
criminals to face execution in over 25 years. It's about time.
Unfortunately, that the scales of justice are becoming
because
more balanced is a credit to the newly- enacted federal drug laws.
rather than to any local progress. Twelve times in twelve years
the New York State Legislature has voted to restore the death
penalty for cop killers. Twelve times in twelve years that
legislation has been vetoed.
That's not right. New York policemen deserve all the
protection that tough laws can offer.
They -- and you -- also deserve to be better armed and
better armored than the bad guys you must face. As one DEA agent
summarized his simple rule of street survival: "Walk softly, and
carry a big, mean SMG." ( (DEA jargon for new "Sub-Machine Guns"))
In a moment I want to tell you something about Bill
first
Bennett's drug education program. But in the meantime, I'd like
to ask your help in a little remedial education program of our
own. Its target is drug dealers. The message is simple:
You shoot a cop, and you will be severely punished,
fast, and quite possibly with your life.
- 3 -
MAR-06-1989 22:03 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461 P.05
stat
Druggies Abosen used to know that. But with 25 years since
anyone's faced the death penalty in this state, they may have
gotten a little forgetful. Let's remind them.
Ultimately we all must choose between evil and good.
Our new weapons and our new laws mean that any druggies holding
guns better choose fast. And they damned well better choose
right. The killing must stop.
Of course, guns aren't the only way drug dealers take
lives. This state is home to an estimated 250,000 heroin
addicts, half of all those in the United States. In the city
alone another 600,000 people are believed dependant on crack or
cocaine.
Not surprisingly, the seizures you have made are
correspondingly huge. DEA New York is responsible for 30 to 50
percent of all heroin seized by DEA nationwide. Last year, you
seized more than 10,000 kilograms of cocaine in or destined for
New York, almost 20 percent of the nationwide DEA total. In
January you recovered nearly $20 million from a furniture store
delivery van, said to be the largest cash seizure in the world.
These impressive figures are a credit to your talent
and dedication and to the effective working relations you have
forged with your federal, state and local counterparts.
Still, we in Washington understand that the importance
of a case cannot be measured merely by the size of the seizures
or the numbers of arrests. Statistics in the drug war have
become mind-numbing, at times meaningless, like the body counts
in Vietnam. And as we learned in Southeast Asia, wars aren't won
- 4 -
MAR-06-1989 22:04 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461
P.06
DKA
by statistics or body counts. Wars are won by winning battles,
and in this war, battles are won by putting particular drug
organizations out of business. It's done the old-fashioned way,
one group at a time.
You in New York have done just that. And the names are
as familiar to you here as the battlefields of World War II are
to my generation. United States versus Torres. Monsanto. LIDO.
Based Balls. The Flying Dragons. Lai King Man. Reiter/Jackson.
These are more than buy/busts, more than just another
news conference with powder on the table. Each of these cases
represents an entire organization put behind bars and out of
business.
Most importantly, each of these cases involved the kind
and
of sophisticated, long-term investigation that only federal
agencies have the training and resources to conduct. Several
were among the first cases in the country to make use of the new
drug kingpin statutes. Nearly all involved Task Force coopera-
tion and the pioneering use of forfeiture laws, in some cases to
spectacular effect: The forfeitures from the Torres brothers may
ultimately total $30 - 50 million.
Just as the death penalty for cop killers help make the
odds more even, stripping our enemies of their ill-gotten gains
turns the tables in a dramatic and highly effective way. Perhaps
you've heard Woody Allen's wry observation: "Organized crime in
America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends
very little an office supplies."
- 5 -
MAR-06-1989 22:04 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461
P.07
DRAFT
Sometime during the years following our withdrawal from
Southeast Asia, the American people made a solemn, unspoken
pledge to the troops like you who defend our freedom on the front
lines: We will never again ask you to fight in an action we do
not intend to win.
Ladies and gentlemen: We do intend to win. This
scourge will end.
And although we meet on a crucial battlefield of this
war, it is a war that is being waged on many fronts. Last month,
I spoke to Congress about four areas: Treatment, education,
interdiction, and enforcement. And, in a time of cutbacks and
freezes, I asked for an increase of $1 billion in budget outlays
to fund these news efforts.
For you in federal law enforcement, our proposal
budgets a record $4.1 billion, fully 70 percent of the total. We
also intend to double the funding for federal prisons by 1995.
Simply put, prison overcrowding and weak judges have caused too
many criminals to go free after little or no punishment. Indeed,
neither of the suspects in last week's killings had any business
being out on the street in the first place -- one was a paroled
killer, and the other had twice been arrested for assaulting
policemen. It's outrageous. And it must stop.
Beyond enforcement, other moneys will go to expanded
treatment for the innocent and the poor, like the over 5,000
dd
babies born in New York last year already afflicted with drugs.
Other new funds will go to cut the waiting time for
treatment programs, perhaps along the lines of the innovative
- 6 -
MAR-06-1989 22:05 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461
P.08
DRAFT
oral methadone program at New York's Beth Israel Hospital,
designed to get the addicts off needles as well as heroin.
Mary Jane Hatcher spoke with eloquence last week about
the responsibility mainstream America and so-called "casual"
cocaine users must bear for her husband's death. Well, $1.1
billion of my request will go for education, in an initiative led
who I hope well soon loe)
by Bill Bennett, the nation's first drug czar.
While there may not be light at the end of the tunnel,
there does seem to be some light coming in under the door.
Earlier this week I visited successful education programs in
Pennsylvania and Delaware. At the Apollo Theatre in Harlem one
Wednesday last month, the amateur night performances were
interupted by spontaneous anti-drug messages from the stage and
chants from the crowd.
Things like this don't happen because of government
programs. They happen because attitudes are beginning to change,
because the American people are behind your efforts all the way.
Attitudes are beginning to change overseas as well.
Your boss the Attorney General returns today from meetings with
officials in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, and I will be briefed by
him tomorrow. I know that many of you have also served or will
serve your own tours in South America, a tribute to our increased
cooperation.
Obviously, the race is far from won. But there is
power in us yet. We in Washington will continue to watch and
support your work here. The Pizza Connection II trial, the
Johnny Kahn and Brooks Davis cases, the new seizure program in
- 7 -
MAR-06-1989 22:05 FROM U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE
TO
84562461
P.09
URAFT
which whole apartment buildings are wrested back from the crack
lords who control them -- all are important to the fight.
But first and foremost, the killing must stop. We must
repeat it until we are hoarse, repeat it until we are heard.
From the Apollo Theatre to the halls of Congress to the weak-
kneed judges who don't seem to understand what it is you are up
against out there on the street: The killing must stop.
The tale of bleached powder and pale addicts that is
New York today evokes the haunting chapter on whiteness in Moby
Dick, the original American novel of good and evil. Although the
passage talks about the Andes -- Peru -- the image it conjures
could be a vision of a cocaine-drenched New York of the late
1980's:
"The strangest, saddest city thou canst see
There
is a higher horror in the whiteness of her woe."
There is no higher horror than what happened on the
streets of Staten Island last week. Which means you have an
important task ahead.
The cowards who murdered Everett Hatcher should be
given no rest. We will find you. To paraphrase the rule set
some years ago by one federal agent: This case stays open until
they are not findable or found. And "not findable" means we find
their bones.
But
Be careful out there. Remember the tearful salute of
brave nine-year-old Zachery. And find these criminals. Bring
them to justice. Nobody, but nobody, is going to beat the DEA.
May God look after you, and God bless the United States.