The Big White Lie: The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War

There have been several coups in Bolivia, but the "cocaine coup" of 1980 installed a military dictatorship that was financed by the nation's most powerful drug dealers, including Roberto Suárez Goméz. If that name is not familiar, think of the character from Scarface, "Alejandro Sosa," who is based on Roberto Suárez Goméz. His cousin Col. Luis Arce Gomez was appointed as Bolivia's Minister of the Interior and he was appropriately nicknamed, "The Minister of Cocaine. One of their top enforcers and distribution partners was an infamous Nazi fugitive, Klaus Barbie, aka "the Butcher of Lyon.”This may sound like something from a cheap spy novel, but this was reality and Michael Levine (a former DEA agent turned whistleblower) proved that the U.S. government was a firm supporter of this coup. "The Big White Lie" is Levine's inside account of his attempt to take down the network of Roberto Suárez. He also detailed the efforts taken by the federal government to protect these drug trafficking organizations. That included removing the names of prominent drug traffickers from the DEA database. Also, charges were dropped against prominent drug dealers and Levine faced internal retribution when he alerted the media. Why would this happen? Levine explains that the DEA's drug enforcement mandate takes a backseat to the CIA's national security objectives. That's particularly the case when the CIA allies with firmly anti-communist, right-wing dictators.My favorite moments in this book were when Levine included some perspectives from his colleagues who had already come to grips with the realities of the drug war.

Every man, woman and teenager in America should read this book.First, they would learn how long the corruption of the upper and mid levels of government have been going on.Second, drugs in America didn't just suddenly happen, now the very same government are getting billions to fix a problem they created. It will make you angry but it will wake you up. Michael Levine is a true American hero.

It has been widely established that U.S. government agencies have been complicit in the illicit drug trade. This book provides examples of specific cases where drug dealers were allowed to participate in the drug trade with impunity. Levine is a bit strident at times. He's a true believer. However, he brings up a good point; as long as American citizens create a multi-million dollar demand for drugs somebody will create the supply.

Levine wrote this book several years ago, but it has just recently come out in eBook form.It's an extremely important, very well written book. He exposes the falseness of our so called, but phoney, "War on Drugs." He speaks first person, as a 25 year high level DEA undercover agent, of the undercutting of his and other DEA agents, by not only the CIA, but high level DEA management and Justice Dpt. US Attorneys. This book is a condemnation of the drug war, from someone who had believed in it thoroughly, until he experienced, time after time, of his efforts gathering indisputable evidence against the highest levels of international drug leadership being deliberately negated by the CIA and his own management in order to insure that these drug lords remained free to continue their business. Not only the CIA, but the DEA own management violated our laws by deliberately destroying evidence against top drug lords.The DEA management so little appreciated his efforts to bring prosecutions that although he had a $200,000 contract out on his head by drug lords, the DEA would not give him protection. It even spent three years trying to find some administrative oversight for which to prosecute him.In 1996 the annual profit to international crime, due to the war itself, was about $400 billion. A couple years ago it was about $800 billion. I would expect it to be about one billion dollars by this time. And, of course, we as US taxpayers, have probably paid about $100 billion of our own dollars to insure the continuance of this phoney, destructive outrage, for the profit of the elite.In two or three places Levine alludes to the bankers. He does to get into this aspect, but these enormous profits, which would not exist in this magnitude without our "war," flow through the international banking system(s), thereby deriving further profits for the financial community and as a further derivative, Wall Street, due to price / earning ratios. These hundreds of billions of dollars are not buried in back yards - commercial, civil, political, and governmental leverage and control is purchased annually. Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, who was Joint Chief's liaison with the CIA, in one of his books, independently corroborates with more details, Levine's accusation of CIA role in Bolivia, e.g., Prouty: "Following an abrupt [Bolivia] coup d'état engineered by the CIA, ... "I want to here add recognition to the author Gary Webb, who in 1996 published his expose of the CIA involvement in the drug trade in his " Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion." Webb committed suicide (?) in 2004 (two! Shots to the head) after having been hounded out of his profession, as a Pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist, for daring to write about the CIA and the drug trade. As I read Levine's first hand experiences and condemnation of the CIA role, I couldn't help but recall the fate of Webb who should be honored by our nation.Both Webb and Levine blame the CIA for the 1980's cocaine explosion in the US.

The psychopaths running our government agencies, the ones Mike writes about, get rewarded while courageous heroes like Mike get persecuted, or worse. Just one example is how Clause Barbie, the Nazi butcher of Lyon, gets out of Germany through U.S. intelligence "rat lines" and starts the ever growing drug trade in South America. You know, the same drug trade that is ruining this country and all of the U.S.'s drug war money cannot seem to catch anyone except the competition of the cartels that Barbie created. Mike documents this whole repulsive story and the damage it has been done to this country. He also tells the story that hardly anyone else will tell about why the CIA would be interested in controlling the international drug trade in the first place. These and many more revelations are in this book. A well-spring of information and hidden history that all Americans need.Robert KirkconnellAuthor of:  American Heart of Darkness: Volume I: The Transformation of the American Republic into a Pathocracy (Volume 1)

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the hidden history behind the so called “War On Drugs”. Mr. Levine provides a riveting account of his experiences as a leading deep cover DEA agent at the forefront of that war and how his attempts to bring down the Kingpins were consistently thwarted by corrupt officials within the various intelligence agencies.

Ok book. Ok so it discusses a couple of instances. Have a great couple pages about the wider context, would love to have heard more about this context. I agree with him and understand the war in drugs is fake to keep people in jobs, but this book reads like just an annoyed disgruntled DEA agent, to someone that doesn't understand about the phony war and that the US drug deals big time.

This is a surprisingly well written tell all story of a DEA agent who was shunned and impeded from arresting the biggest cocaine dealers in Latin America. Why? Because throughout the 80's at the height of Bush/Reagan's War od Drugs the CIA was important tonnes of cocaine and flooding the streets od LA and Miami with cocaine to finance their intervention in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Guatemala. It is sickening. Olly North and George Bush presided over a genocide

Initially involving but ultimately unconvincing. Way too much chutzpah and too little context. Not expensive to buy on Kindle..... Which is probably why it sells... Next time I think I'll invest in something with a little more verifiable history and a little less egotistical swagger. We do all love to hate the CIA.

So it isn't a myth after all, the CIA were totally complicit in drug trafficking. Excellent book very well laid out, kind of feel almost desperate for the Author who was put in such a ridiculous position that I don't know how he had the sensibility to carry on or indeed survive, but he did, so you should read his book! I can't get the "Yellow Coke" out of my head, I mean they may as well have given him a weapon to shoot himself with. Ballsy dude.

Increadible story which tallies well with other descriptions of CIA influences on the “threat of Communism” in both South East Asia and South America.