Sergeant Smack, page 12
AS THE MONTHS rolled into years, the ring continued to encounter little security in the long pipeline that moved the heroin from Bangkok through the U.S. military transportation system to domestic military bases. Yet, as successful as the drug ring was in using couriers, Ike always looked for new and better ways to move the contraband. After all, using couriers still involved the risk of human foible. What if, despite the best planning, one of the couriers made a careless or stupid mistake, got busted, and began singing like a canary. He could blow the entire operation. Ike worried about that. As his drug ring expanded, the risk of failure would increase, and for a gambler who always strived to put the odds in his favor, that possibility was unacceptable. Ike noticed that some of his couriers were getting over confident, even cocky. One day, Ike was furious to learn that during one smuggling trip, some of his couriers had actually started a craps game in the bathroom of the airport at the military air base in Okinawa. Talk about drawing attention to yourselves!
AT ONE OF the poker games at Ike’s house in 1969, Ike met Robert Ernest Patterson, an administrative specialist at the U.S. Air Force Post Office in Bangkok. Ike liked Patterson from the start. The postal clerk played cards like a pro and carried himself as a military man should. Tall and lean, with short-cropped hair, Patterson was well groomed, and Ike noticed that each day he wore a fresh, immaculately pressed shirt and pants. When Ike went to the military post office, he watched Patterson and was impressed with his work ethic. Patterson looked like the type of brother one could count on.
Ike never was comfortable with the way he had to move heroin and money between Bangkok and the U.S.—personally carrying it in AWOL bags or else having to depend on somebody else to carry it—inherent with the element of human risk. One day, while Ike was at the post office, seeing Patterson at work, the idea hit him like a revelation from above. Why not send the heroin and money through the postal system? After asking Patterson some questions and doing a little research, Ike learned that the military’s postal system was as lax security-wise as its transportation system. The postal clerks frequently failed to follow prescribed regulations in accepting material for posting, and once the mail arrived in the U.S., postal officials failed to give the mail cursory inspection.
It did not take much coaxing for Ike to persuade Patterson to become the point man in Ike’s new scheme for smuggling drugs and money. Patterson’s job was simple: make sure that packages Ike gave him were sent via one of the three weekly flights from Bangkok to Seymour Johnson Air Force base in Ike’s hometown of Goldsboro. Ike would go the mailroom at Seymour Johnson AFB and pick up his packages containing the drugs. Ike, in turn, would send packages containing money back to Bangkok to buy more drugs or to pay people for services rendered. When those packages arrived at Bangkok, Patterson would handle them as well. For his efforts, Patterson would get $1,000 per delivery.
Soon, with Ike frequently flying frequently between Bangkok and Goldsboro, the new smuggling scheme was operating and running as smoothly as the courier system. Ike, however, never got used to how the dependable well-groomed Patterson would deliver the packages to him. Ike’s new partner in crime would strap on a helmet, tie down the package of money to the back of his motorcycle and then drive through the chaotic and often bewildering traffic of Bangkok. When Ike was in Bangkok, Patterson would arrive at Ike door and hand him the package with a friendly greeting and nary a wrinkle in his clothes. It was truly a mission accomplished.
CHAPTER SIX
Busted In The Big Apple
IN JULY 1968, the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), the predecessor of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), established contact with a cooperating individual (CI) who had penetrated the Atkinson-Jackson drug ring. The CI, Bobby Clemons, a petty drug dealer from New York City, began providing information about its inner workings. Clemons had established a criminal working relationship with Pratt Benthall, Ike’s old friend and one of his major buyers in New Jersey. Richard Patch, a 38-year old BNDD agent, had arrested Clemons in early 1968 on a narcotics charge, but the agent decided that Clemons could be a good informant working the streets, and he worked out a deal to let him go. For the next several months, Clemons proved to be a reliable source of tips, which led to 20 to 25 arrests.
Clemons gained the trust of Benthall and while posing as a prospective buyer over a period of several months, he managed to obtain information about the Atkinson-Jackson drug ring in what one DEA intelligence report described as “bits and pieces.” Clemons learned that sometime in October or early November 1968, the ring had smuggled a large quantity of heroin to Baltimore, Maryland, where the buyers had complained to Ike and his brother Edward about its quality. Ike explained to the buyers that they were just not use to the China White type of heroin he was selling them. China White, Ike explained, was a fine baking soda type of heroin compared to the coarser and less pure French Connection heroin they had bought in the past from La Cosa Nostra, and much more potent.
Ike, always cordial and personable, was not shy about sharing stories with prospective buyers of his heroin, whether he knew them well or not. On February 3, 1969, Ike and an unidentified CI met to arrange a heroin buy. During their conversation, Ike recounted a story about the time he and Herman Jackson brought 10 kilograms of heroin back to the U.S. in two army duffle bags and had a problem at U.S. Customs. The drug dealers became separated from the bags at the Customs Inspection Area, and being new to the trade, they almost panicked, thinking they had lost the contraband. Ike and Jackson, however, were hustlers who were used to thinking on their feet. They retained their composure, showed their military IDs to Customs Inspection and were given their duffle bags, still padlocked. Ike and Jack then moved the heroin to the buyers in Baltimore.
But four days later, the two partners were not so lucky. Thanks to Clemons’s information, the BNDD knew they had arrived in New York City from Bangkok on February 1, 1969, with a substantial quantity of China White heroin that would be cut and sold in the markets in New York City, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, DC, and several other states.
“We landed in the U.S. at Travis Air Force Base in California and took a military hop cross-country to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey,” Ike recalled. “We rented a car and put the dope in the trunk. We then called Pratt and told him we had arrived safely in the U.S. But not too far from the airport, Jack, who was driving, said: ‘I think a car is following us.’ Every time Jack turned, the car turned. When Jack slowed down, the car slowed down. I suggested to Jack that maybe we should not go to Pearl’s (Ike’s sister’s) house with the drugs, but he said it would be okay. We were still pretty cocky and thought nobody was on to us. So I didn’t push the matter. When we got to the house and went inside somebody said that a neighbor had come by to say that a car was parked outside on the street and that the people sitting in it were watching the house. We joked about it, then I left Pearl’s house and took a bus back to Goldsboro. I didn’t know it at the time, but Richard Patch had followed us to the house.”
IT WAS FEBRUARY 7, 1969, and the address to which Ike and Jack went was 103-105 179th Street, Queens, New York, the residence of Pearl Parks, Ike’s sister, and her husband Mathew. Before Ike left, he handed three packets of heroin wrapped in tin foil to a CI who was at the house. It was a heroin sample that Ike had brought from Bangkok. Immediately, the CI took the packets to the BNDD where they were tested. The sample turned out to be 83 to 85 percent pure China White, and the BNDD had the evidence to obtain a search warrant for the Parks’s residence. The next day, the authorities raided the place and arrested Herman Jackson; Pearl Parks; Matthews Parks; Edward Atkinson, Ike’s brother; Linda Atkinson, the daughter of Dallas; Linda’s friend, Jane Burton, as well as David Horton and Rodney Raiford. The suspects had hoped to dance, chat and groove the night away, but the authorities were party-poopers.
During the raid Jackson tried to hide a set of keys that belonged to the rental car he had driven to the house, but the authorities found them. In opening the rental car’s trunk, they discovered 22.75 pounds of heroin, which was later calculated to be worth $200,000 at wholesale price. They also found eight pounds of marijuana and $8,730 in cash. The suspects were taken to the Federal detention center to be processed. Edward Atkinson was released on $25,000 bond and Pearl and Mathew on $5,000 bond.
Not every suspect was so lucky. “I was detained for fighting with a police office at the detention center,” Linda Atkinson revealed. “ I was nervous; I had never been in jail before. I got into an argument with a police officer. She ripped my glasses off and scratched my face and I was arrested for felonious assault. I was in jail for four or five days. It was snowing so hard nobody could come and get me. Finally, my father came and took me away. I was afraid I would lose my job at the telephone company’s business office at Columbus Circle and 69th Street. My father said; ‘I hate to tell you this but it’s all over the papers.’ The only reason the police took me to jail was because they found some reefer (marijuana) in Herman Jackson’s sports coat. My lawyer got the charge reduced from felonious assault to a misdemeanor, and I paid a $50 fine. Later, the authorities realized I was in just the wrong place at the wrong time, and the drug charge was thrown out of court. But I did lose my job.”
The authorities had booked all of the people at the Parks’ residence, except one: Herman Jackson. The authorities had left Jack alone in a room, but when they got ready to book him, he was nowhere to be found. Jack had waited and waited until, finally, he decided to walk out of the detention center to freedom. Later, the embarrassed authorities claimed that Jack escaped because of the defective lock on the door. On February 10, the authorities declared Jack a fugitive and issued a warrant for his arrest.
The BNDD feared that Ike and Jack had fled to Thailand. In reality, Ike had returned to Goldsboro, not knowing the chaos he was about to leave behind, and Jack, the fugitive, was trying to get in contact with Ike. When Ike got home, his wife Atha told him the bad news: The police arrested Pearl, Jack, and several other people at Pearl’s house. Ike wondered what the hell was happening! Then Jack called.
“Where are you?” Ike asked.
Jack let out a soft laugh and said: “They arrested me, but I broke out of jail.”
Ike burst out laughing. “Are you serious? Didn’t they handcuff you?”
“No, I walked away,” Jack revealed.
“Walked away?” Ike said incredulously. “How did you that?”
“Can you believe this? Jack said. “The Man was too busy trying to rip off our dope and money to worry about me. Those were some dirty cops!”
”Okay, buddy,” Ike said. “We can talk about it when you come to Goldsboro. Take a bus and I’ll pick you up.”
Peter Rabbit’s mother had left Goldsboro to visit her sister. Ike told his friend that Jack was on the run and needed a place to hide. Jack had his safe house.
IKE WAS ON the run, having been part of the smuggling attempt, but he realized that to keep running was not his best interest. Once Jack was safe in his hiding place, Ike and Jack discussed the situation. They agreed Ike would turn himself in, but Jack would remain the drug-dealing partner who stayed out in the cold. On March 19, 1969, Ike surrendered to local law enforcement and was incarcerated in the county jail in Wilson, North Carolina. The North Carolina authorities had notified BNDD Dennis Hart, Patch’s 31-year old partner, that they had Ike Atkinson in custody. Hart came down to talk to Ike. The two agents were a sharp contrast in appearance. Patch was slim and wore a moustache and black cowboy hat. Hart was stocky and looked a little rumpled in appearance. They had both worked for the St. Louis Police Department and had plenty of law enforcement experience. But to Ike, Hart and Patch looked more like Fatty and Skinny than professional narcotics agents.
Later in court, Patch, who had been with the BNDD since 1968, admitted that he was one of the BNDD’s “old school agents.”
Prosecutor: You told us you had courses in breaking and entering.
Patch: Yes, sir.
Prosecutor: And wiretapping?
Patch: Yes, sir.
Prosecutor: Were you one of the agents who felt justified in breaking the law to nab dope pushers?
Patch: To a degree, yes, sir.
Prosecutor: Did you engage in some other practices that aren’t written into our Constitution?
Patch: Yes, sir.
Prosecutor: Like posing as a defense lawyer to get a confession?
Patch: Yes sir.
Prosecutor: Have you ever done that?
Patch: Yes, sir.
Prosecutor: Is that called the lawyer’s trick?
Patch: Yes, sir.
Jack’s claim that the narcotics agents had ripped off some of the dope was credible, given the corruption that had permeated the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) New York Office in the 1960s. In December 1968, just two months before the bust at Pearl and Matthew Parks’ residence, the same year the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) was created to replace the FBN. The New York Times reported that 32 former FBN agents from the New York office had resigned since the FBN launched an investigation in August 1967. U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark told the press that the investigation had uncovered “significant corruption” that involved “illegally selling and buying drugs, retaining contraband for personal use and sale, taking money allocated for informants and failing to enforce the law.” As part of the investigation, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scrutinized the tax returns of the former FBN agent suspects. In some instances, the dirty agents acted as if they were working as mobsters. The authorities, for example, arrested two agents in 1967 and indicted them in August 1968 on the charge of conspiracy to use thousands of dollars in seized genuine and counterfeit bills to buy narcotics for re-sale on the illegal market.
At the county jail, Hart took Ike into a room where they could have some privacy. Hart flashed his credentials and explained to Ike that he was the BNDD’s chief agent in Ike’s case. He then opened his briefcase, took out photos of Jack and Ike’s brother, Edward, and said: “We know everything that has taken place. Where is Herman Jackson?”
“I know where Jackson is,” Ike said coolly. “He wants to surrender.”
“That’s fine; let’s arrange it,” Hart replied, slightly taken aback by Ike’s straight forward answer.
On March 21, 1969, two days after his arrest, Ike posted a $25,000 cash bond, and at three or four in the afternoon, Ike took Patch and two other agents to his house on Neuse Circle. Waiting for them was Herman Jackson.
After Jack’s release on bail, Ike and Jack made frequent trips to New York City to confer with their lawyer Howard Diller, a former FBN agent and a former Assistant Counselor to the Commissioner of Narcotics in Washington, DC. “My sister Pearl learned that Howard Diller had done a good job of representing somebody she knew well and recommended him,” Ike recalled. “Howard had a nasal New York tone of voice and an abrupt big city manner, but I was crazy about him. I knew that when he gave us advice it was the best we could get. Jack and I ended up paying Howard $100,000 apiece to represent us in the 1969 case. The case made Howard Diller. He was able to leave his firm and start his own law practice on Broadway Avenue.”
ON JULY 30, 1969, a Federal grand jury indicted Ike and Jack, as well as Pearl Parks, Mathew Parks, Edward Atkinson and Pratt Benthall on drug trafficking charges. Benthall was still on the loose, and a bench warrant was issued in the Eastern District of New York for his arrest. In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped the charges against Linda Atkinson, Rodney Raiford, David Horton and Jane Burton. Ike pled guilty to unlawfully distributing 2.2 grams of heroin. Judge George Rosling sentenced him to ten years in prison and fined him $2,500. Ike’s legal counsel immediately appealed the case.
IT LOOKED AS if Ike would be going away to the Big House for a long time, but the case was far from over. On August 22, Hart met with Ike at a restaurant on Broadway Avenue in New York City. Ike sat down first in a chair that was facing the door, but Hart asked Ike to exchange seats. Then Hart patted Ike down.
“You know there are some rumors about missing heroin from the detention center,” Hart said. “Ike, have you talked to any other agents about it?”
Ike remembered what Jack had told him about the agents at the detention center who were too busy messing with their dope to worry about Jack. “No, sir,” Ike said. “You are the only agent I’ve talked with in private. I’ve talked to some other agents, but only in your presence.”
Hart shook his head like a parent scolding a child. “I wish I could trust you fully, Ike. My confidence in you has not gone up more than 5 percent since the last time we talked at that county jail (in Wilson).”
“I have not talked to anybody else,” Ike insisted.
When the conversation ended, Ike and Hart walked in silence around the corner to Church Street. As they were about to cross the street, Hart suddenly stopped and turned to Ike. “How would you like to go free in your case?” Hart asked.
Stunned, Ike blurted: “You got to be kidding, Mr. Hart.”
“No, I’m not kidding. What would you say if I told you everybody could walk in the case? Your sister could get back the car the police impounded, and Jack would get his money back.”
Excited at the prospects, Ike smiled and shook his head. “Man, that would be just fine.”
Hart was silent for a moment, and then he grabbed Ike’s arm tightly. “We could do business if you can come up with $50,000.”
Ike knew there had to be a catch but raising $50,000 would be no problem. “Let me see what I can do, Mr. Hart,” Ike said.
Hart concluded the meeting with a stern warning: “You will be in hot water, Ike, if you mention this matter to anyone. Understand?”
