Sergeant Smack, page 35
ABOUT A MONTH later, Ike was transferred back to the Terre Haute Federal Penitentiary. A decade had passed since Ike was last incarcerated at Terre Haute, but the prison had changed little. The gangs from Chicago and Detroit still dominated the prison, and it was still in a perpetual state of conflict. On the positive side, many of Ike’s old friends were still there, including Veronza Bowers and some of the Native Americans who once again invited Ike to “sweat’ with them. A model prisoner, Ike was allowed to live in the honor unit in a cell of his own with a TV.
After a few years at Terre Haute, the BOP told Ike he would be transferred to a Federal penitentiary in South Carolina. It was tough for his family to come and see him at Terre Haute and the facility in South Carolina was much closer to Goldsboro. It looked as if the transfer would be a good move for Ike, but he challenged it. “Why the hell are you sending me to South Carolina?” Ike told the authorities. “I live in North Carolina. I have a good record. I should be placed closer to my home. Ike appealed but the Board upheld its decision. Ike refused to go. He thought the BOP was jerking him around. The BOP decided to keep him at Terre Haute. On November 1, 1999, a few weeks before he turned 74 years old, Ike got his wish and was transferred to the federal pen at Butner, North Carolina. He was now a few miles from his family and close to his release date from the penitentiary.
IN APRIL 2007, the BOP released the octogenarian and one-time drug kingpin from prison. Ike had spent nearly 32 continuous years in the federal prison system. Both the inmates and guards were happy for Ike but sad to see him go. He had been a mentor to many young inmates as well as a stabilizing force among the prison population and that had helped to make the guard’s job easier. Although Ike was well known in the prison, his release from prison went unnoticed by the wider world. No newspapers or media announced his release. Ironically, Ike got out of prison at the time Hollywood was beginning to hype the movie release of “American Gangster,” the fantasy life story of Frank Lucas, his long time nemesis.
SINCE HIS RELEASE, Ike has adapted remarkably well to his new life in mainstream society. He is living quietly and alone in North Carolina in a modest two bedroom apartment. He is always in constant touch by phone and visits with his close although extended family. Ike’s son John was ten years old when Ike went off to prison for good. “I marvel at how dad survived and how his long stay in prison didn’t really change him,” John explained. “Most people would have gone crazy.”
As John pointed out, Ike remains in good mental and physical condition, given his time in prison and despite having to deal with bladder cancer. For a man who once arranged drug deals worth millions of dollars, the pleasures of life are now simple. He has his own “Stassi” trail in his neighborhood that he hikes every day to stay fit and a 1999 Honda Accord that he uses to stay independent. He loves watching pro football on TV as much as he disliked hearing, seeing or reading about the actions and policies of Bush –Cheney Administration and the way the country has been going since 2000. He keeps up with political events and is amazed that a Black man has become president of the U.S. in his lifetime. Still, Harry Truman remains Ike’s favorite president, mainly because of his move to integrate the army in 1948.
His favorite local haunts are a McDonald’s restaurant and a Borders bookstore, which he frequents nearly every day. The former “gentleman” gangster is still polite and courteous to all he meets. He takes his hat off before entering a building and addresses all men and women, no matter their status, as “Sir” and “Ma’am.” Ike has made contact with the retirement association of his beloved old army unit, the Triple Nickel, and plans to be active and to attend their annual meetings.
Ike is sad that so many members of the band of brothers who sought adventure with him in Europe and Asia, are no longer with him. William Herman ”Jack” Jackson, Jimmy Smedley and Eddie Wooten are all dead, either from diseases of old age or of modern society—prostrate cancer, Alzheimer’s and obesity. Some, like Robert Johnson and John Roy, have faded away. They may be dead or perhaps living out their lives in obscurity. Jasper Myrick is one whom we know for sure is living in obscurity in a small southern town. Freddie Thornton, the associate whom Ike considers his biggest mistake in the drug trade, died in 2001. Ike re-established contact with some of the surviving younger members of his band of brothers, including Dan Burch, and, once again he was enjoying their friendship. Unfortunately for Ike, his pal Scoop Jackson has since passed away.
Ike knows that Luchai Ruviwat returned to Thailand after being released from U.S. prison in 1994. He believes that after Herman Jackson died in 2006, Jack’s wife, Nitaya, left California and voluntarily returned to her native Thailand. Ike hopes to re-establish contact with them someday. Interestingly, Nitaya divorced Jack during his imprisonment and married a German man. But once Jack was free, she divorced the German and re-joined Jackson.
Ike lives simply on his military pension and social security benefits. Speculation still abounds, though, about what happened to the millions of dollars he supposedly garnered during his years in the drug trade. Legend has it that Ike may have $80 million stashed in an offshore bank account somewhere.
Legends often breed wild stories. One retired DEA agent familiar with the Ike Atkinson investigation asked me if Ike has two thumbs. As the retired agent explained the rumor, one of Ike’s children wanted to take out some of the money Ike had stashed in a Cayman bank account. They needed Ike’s thumbprint to do it, but he was in prison. You guessed it. Ike was supposed to have cut off one of his thumbs and sent it to his children for the sake of the family finances. I assured the retired DEA agent that Ike indeed still has two thumbs.
More than a few law enforcement officers and lawyers who once worked to put Ike behind bars have chatted with him on the phone, curious about the likeable ex-gangster who has survived more than a few years in prison. Ike always responds as if he is talking to one of his superior officers in the U.S. military and invariably assures the caller that he holds no grudges against them. “You were only doing your job, sir,” Ike says.
IKE IS THE first to admit that he has made some big mistakes in his life, but he is not a person who dwells on the past. Nor does he worry about things he has done and cannot change. He believes he has paid his debt to society.
Ike does have one regret, however. As his U.S. Army Service had ended, he began his life of crime and international drug trafficking, which, he says, for many years was one long adrenaline rush crammed with risks. But had he taken advantage of the GI Bill, it would have provided him with the money to go to college, which would have opened up opportunities to pursue an honest living, despite the racism prevailing in America at the time. “I know I would have done well in school,” Ike confides. “My life could have gone in a much different direction.”
One thing Ike does not regret, though: the opportunity, through this book, to set the historical record straight. Ike is confident this book has debunked the cadaver heroin connection hoax that has branded him with a kind of “scarlet letter.” And for better or for worse, our book has reclaimed Ike’s life story from Frank Lucas, the man who has impersonated the real American Gangster—Leslie “Ike” Atkinson.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A book of this scope and time frame could not have been completed without the help of many individuals who stepped forward and generously provided their time, resources, and sage advice. First, I would like to thank all the knowledgeable sources I interviewed during the time it took to complete the project. Those interviewees who agreed to talk on the record are listed in the bibliography at the end of the book.
Many individuals provided valuable documents and photographs or assisted me in finding them. They included Philip Atkinson, Dan Burch, Joe Cheshire, Paul Cooper, Alan Dawson, Rufus Edmisten, Peter Finucane, Gary Fouse, Doug Howard, Charles Murphy Gillis, Clarence “Scoop”Jackson, Steve Jarrell, John McBeth, Lowrey Leong, Charles “Chuck” Lutz, Mike Nerney, Wolfgang Preisler, Lew Rice, Thelma Scott, Bill Slaughter, Mike Schwartz, Jack Toal, Paul Wallace, Cuyler Windam and Howard Wright. A special thanks to Jack Toal for the generous sharing of his time in helping me to locate sources and leads to information. Thanks also to Lew Rice and Lou Diaz for their help with and support of my writing projects.
The following individuals read and edited the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions on how to improve it: Magdalena Chepesiuk, Charles Lutz, Davis Weeks, Garry Taylor and Stephanie and Larry Vezina. I appreciate their patience and time and being a big part of my writing career. Also, a special thanks to Charles Lutz for sharing his law enforcement expertise and helping to make this book much more accurate than it would have been without his generous assistance.
Thank you to Dan Burch and the late Scoop Jackson for allowing me to stay at their homes while I researched the book. One of the pleasures of writing this book was meeting many of the interesting people who became part of Ike Atkinson’s life. Dan and Scoop are certainly two of them. Thanks also to Linda Jordan for arranging the meeting with Juanita Atkinson, Ted Jordan, Jimmy Atkinson and Thomas Southerland that jump-started this book.
Carrie Volk and Ann Thomas of the Interlibrary Loan Department of Winthrop University in my hometown of Rock Hill, South Carolina, were invaluable in finding books, articles and microfilm and other research materials essential to the project’s completion. Patti Stafford and Jackie McFadden of the Documents Department of Winthrop University were also helpful in locating U.S. government books, articles and government reports. The staffs of the following institutions were also helpful with my research: the New York Public Library; the Public Affairs Office of U.S. Army Mortuary Affairs Center in Fort Lee, Virginia; the National Archives and Records Service in Atlanta; the U.S. District Court. Eastern District of New York; the Wayne County Court House in Goldsboro, North Carolina; and the Wayne County Public Library in Goldsboro.Billy Boggs, Ike’s parole officer, gave Ike and myself the flexibility to undertake and complete this project, and Ike and I appreciate it.
Thanks also to Dimas Harya, my talented business partner from Jakarta, Indonesia, whom I was lucky enough to meet on my Fulbright assignment to that country. Dimas played an important role in publishing this book. I look forward to working with him on other projects.
Finally, I would like to thank Ike Atkinson for sharing his experiences, anecdotes, photos and contacts with me. During the eleven months it took to research and write this book, I got a chance to spend many hours with Ike. He is one of the most remarkable individuals I have met in my life, and I hope I have done justice to his life story. In any case, it has been a great experience getting to know Ike and researching and writing his story.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTERVIEWS (ON THE RECORD)
Bennie Abruzzo, Dan Addario, Don Ashton, Roger Allen, Jerry M. Bullock, Jimmy Atkinson, Ike Atkinson, John Atkinson, Juanita Atkinson, Wade Atkinson, Milton Best, Jim Blackburn, Paul Brown, Dan Burch, Joe Cheshire, Paul Cooper, Drayton Curry, Pete Davis, Alan Dawson, Joe Dean, Christine Whitcover Dean, Dennis Dillon, Lee Dixson, Rufus Edmisten, Peter Finucane, Gary Fouse, Charles Murphy Gillis, Clarence ‘Scoop” Jackson, Steve Jarrell, Claude Helton, Laura Jones Holmes, Michael Hooks, Doug Howard, Haney Howell, Sterling Johnson, Eddie Jones, Linda Jordan. Ted Jordan, Subin Kheo-Urai, Lowrey Leong, Michael Levine, Frank Lucas, Charles Lutz, Michael Marr, Durward Matheny, Richard Mazer, John McBeth, Thomas McNamara, Tony Nardi, Mike Nerney, Charles Overton, Wolfgang Preisler, Brian Raftery, Lew Rice, Mike Schwartz, William Slaughter, Tolbert, Smith, Thomas Southerland, Al Spearman, Joe Sullivan, Steve Surratt, Tom Taylor, John Thompson, Jack Toal, Cuyler Windam and Howard Wright.
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Amorosa, Dominic, Attorney at Law, to Maren Christenson, Universal Studios, “American Gangster,” Letter, November 23, 2007.
Atkinson, Leslie, to Hon Adam C. Powell, Jr., Letter, May 26, 1956.
Atkinson, Leslie, to Carolyn Miller, “Return of Superfly,” Letter to the Editor, New York Magazine, “August, 2000.
Johnson, Sterling, “William Herman Jackson,” Letter to Hatfield Chilson, Office of Special Narcotics Courts, August. 22,1980.
United States Attorney’s Office, “Outline of Charges and Arrests, United States v. Leslie Atkinson and al., 1987.
United States Attorney’s Office, Raleigh, North Carolina, “Statement Made by Leslie Atkinson, (aka Ike Atkinson) and Counsel,” Feb. 6, 1975.
United States Department of Justice. Bureau of Prisons. “Atkinson, Leslie, Reg. No. 97886-131,” letter to Richard Mazur, Sept. 9, 1978.
United States Government memorandum from Eddie Robinson, Food Service Supervisor, “To Whom It May Concern”, U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Food Service Personnel File, Sept. 16, 1978.
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, CENTAC 9, “International Heroin Smuggling Conspiracy,” Intelligence Report, 1977.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, “Network Analysis of the Herman Jackson/Leslie Atkinson Organization, Intelligence Report, July 12, 1976.
U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Foreign Affairs, “Report of the Study Commission Composed of Morgan F. Murphy, Illinois, Chairman, and Robert H. Steel, Connecticut,” May 27, 1971.
U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Foreign Affairs, “United States Heroin Problem in Southeast Asia.” Report of the Survey Team,” U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, Jan. 12, 1973.
COURT RECORDS
United States of America v. Dennis Hart and Richard Patch, United States District Court. Eastern District of New York, No. 70 CR107, 1970.
United States of America v. Herman Jackson, Leslie Atkinson and al., United States District Court. Eastern District of New York, Superseding Indictment, 69CR, 1969.
United States of America v. John Jordan and Clarence Jackson, United States District Court. Eastern District of America, “Stenographer Notes,” 87-CR-271, 1987.
United States of America v. Leslie Atkinson and al, United States District Court. Eastern District of North Carolina, 76-20-CR-5, May 26 and 27, 1976.
United States of America v. Leslie Atkinson, United States District Court. Southern District of New York, 87-CR-271, 1987.
United States of America v. Leslie Atkinson and al., United States District Court. Southern District of New York, Complaint, CR87-0219M-02, 1987.
United States of America v. Leslie Atkinson, Philip Wade Atkinson and al, United States District Court. Southern District of New York, 87-0219M-02, March 18, 1987.
United States of America v. Robert Lee Jenkins and al, United States District Court. Eastern District of California, F-1303, 1997.
United States of America v. Second Lieutenant Leslie Atkinson, United States Army Board of Review, CM363479, June 5, 1953.
United States of America v.William Herman Jackson. United States District Court. District of Colorado, 72-CR-42, 1972.
BOOKS
Belanger, Francis W., Drugs, the U.S. and Khun Sa, Editions Duang Kamol, Bangkok, 1989.
Biggs, Bradley, The Triple Nickel: America’s First All Black Parachute Unit, Anchor Books, 1986.
Boriesson, Kristina, Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press, Prometheus Books, NY, 2004.
Bosworth, Mary, The U.S. Federal Penitentiary System, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA 2002.
Buchanan, A. Russell, Black Americans in World War II, Chia Books, Santa Barbara, CA 1971.
Chepesiuk, Ron. Gangsters of Harlem, Barricade Books, New Jersey, 2007.
Chepesiuk, Ron and Anthony Gonzalez, Superfly: The True Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster, Street Certified Entertainment, New York, 2007.
Davis, Anita Price, North Carolina During the Depression, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2003.
Goddard, Donald, Undercover, Times Books, New York, 1988.
Hickman, D.J., The United States Army in Europe, 1953-1963, Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe, 1964.
History of Wayne County, North Carolina: A Collection of History Stories, “Goldsboro News-Argus, 1976. Hurlimann, Martin, Bangkok, Viking Press, New York, 1963.
Jacobson, Mark, American Gangster and Other Stories of New York, Grove Press, New York, 2007.
Kirkup, James, Bangkok, Phoenix House, London, 1968. Lobe, Thomas, United States National Security Policy and Aid to the Thailand Police, Mills, James, The Underground Empire, Doubleday, New York, 1986.
McCoy, Alfred, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago, 2003.
Nalty, Barnard and Morris J. McGregor, Blacks in the Military: Essential Documents, Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, Delaware, 1981.
Pool, Frederick King, Bangkok, Asian Pacific Press, Singapore, 1970.
Powell, William, and Jay Mazzocchi, The Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 2006.
Queen, Howard Donovan, The Invisible Black Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier in World War II, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1975.
Raines, Roosevelt Montie, with Dorothy Hanic, Shadows in the Penitentiary, Privately Published, 2005.
Rundell, Walter, Black Market Money, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1964.
Schwan, Fred, Military Payment Certificates, BNR Press, New York, 1997.
Sims, Lewis R., and Aboul S. Said, Drugs, Politics and Diplomacy: The International Connection, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills CA, 1974.
