MENGELE LINK TO DRUG TRAFFICKING IS REPORTED IN C.I.A. DOCUMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120046-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: February 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

III J lil ~I I II_I I
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120046-0
i't:w 1V1.1\ i1111GD
2b February 1985
A;?TFj~LE APPEARED
Men ele Link to Drug Trafficking
Is Reported in C.I.A. Documents
By'RALPH BLUMENTHAL
The Central Intelligence Agency
began receiving reports in 1571 that Dr.
Josef Mengele, the Nazi war criminal,
was heavily involved with partners in
illegal.narcotics trafficking in Para-
guay, according -to declassified Gov-
ernment documents.
The documents,:provided in censored
. form by the.C'LA.-for ~aSenate inquiry
,
indicate that agency officials in Para-
guay gave credence to the reports and
forwarded them to headquarters -in
Washington, which, in turn, queried
other. Federal investigative agencies
on the matter as.recently as 1979..
The partially blacked-out documents
do not establish the truth of the reports,
and leave many-questions unanswered
about Dr. Mengele, who was.chief.doc-
for at the Auschwitz death camp,.
where millions perished. Among these
questions -are to what extent the. infor-.
mation was pursued in the -search-for
one of Nazi Germany's .most notorious
`No One Pursued This' -
"They just let.the information -hang
there," -said -Senator - Alfonser M. `
D'Amato, Republican of the New York-
-No one. Pursued, this." :Senator`
D'Amato obtained the.-documents -in
coniunction with_Senator:.Arlen'Spec-
ter, Republican.of Pennsylvania.::-The
two Senators-said they-would discuss
i the documents at a news conference set
for today. in Washington, A spokesmanfor the C.I.A.-.in Wash-
ington said late yesterday that;the--in-,
formation about Dr. Mengele was-
dis-seminated "as appropriate" to"other
Government agencies, including .the
State and. Defense Departments, the
' .
Further Information Sought
The documents, which were obtained
by. The 'New York Times, offer these.
new accounts, among others:
Tile C.IA.'s . Strategic Narcotics
T
a
e
m approached other Federal agen-
ties in 1979 for further information on
reports of drug trafficking by Dr. Men-.
gele,:seeking to back up an article that
the team had submitted for publication
in the International Narcotics Review. '
The article was -later withdrawn and
could not be immediately located by
the 'agency, . according to Senators
D'Amato and :Specter.
9A:1974 C.I.A. debriefing of a source
who interviewed. Nazis -in Paraguay
Produced information that Dr. Mengele
had undergone plastic surgery and ap-
peared to be much younger than his
age, which would now be 73. The source
also -reported that a photograph in
Paraguay passport files showed Dr.
Mengele after the. plastic surgery.
9The same source, possibly a writer
from-the context of the document, also
/reported an -account that -around 1965
Dr. Mengele was living in Paraguay
w1jth Martin Borman, Hitler's desig-
nated successor, who is believed by
most authorities to have died in Berlin
In -a separate :.development, .- e
Simon :W1esenthal center announced
yesterday that a $1 million reward was
being offered for information leading
--to the capture and extradition of . Dr.
Mengele.
Martin Mendelsohn, a lawyer for the
-the center, an institute for the study of
German war crimes that is based in
Los Angeles, said the money had been
put up by donors who wished to remain
anonymous, but who would be identi-
fied if Dr. Mengele was apprehended
Customs Service and t5e Treasury. alive. He said the center did not want
The spokesman,'Kathy Pherson, said Dr. Mengele dead and was not seeking
vigilante action. The $1 million comes
she could not discuss whether or not thein addition to rewards pledged earlier
information was- forwarded to other ..that total $375,000.
governments, such as West Germany, According :to one C.I.A. document,
which has an outstanding warrant for ? Dr: Mengele arrived in Paraguay for
Dr. Mengele's arrest. ' the f}rst time around 1951 and lived
thereand in Brazil, Argentina and Uru-
guay. He has been sought for extradi-
tion by West Germany since.1962, as
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
cording to one of the C.I.A. documents.
The West Germans also have a war-
rant for his arrest to stand trial on war
crimes charges.
Israeli intelligence teams also re-
portedly were seeking Dr. Mengele in.
the 1960's. The United States, which
has no jurisdiction to try war-crimi-
nals, nals, recently announced a Justice De-
partment investigation into reports
that Dr. Mengele may have : been in
Army custody in 1947
Reportedly: Protected
The first of the newly released C.I.A:
documents is -a - cable : dated July 12,
.1972, from the Asuncion station to head-
quarters. The cable reports -that a
"petty. criminal" hid out at a farm near
the town of. Encarnaci6n, which is 185'
miles southeast of Asuncion. The farm,
.the document said, was owned by a
man named. Mengele who was using
the name Dr: Henrique Wollman. It
added, "Report suggests be and others
heavily involved in narcotics traffic."
The cable said the office was seeking
to determine whether this was the Men-
gele who was the former Auschwitz
doctor. It quoted a report that Dr. Men-
gele "enjoys the protection" of 'Presi
dent Alfredo Stioessner: - .' - ` ' "
A second cable to headquarters a few
-weeks later confirmed that this was in-
deed the Nazi fugitive and said he lived
in a villa northeast of Asuncion, about
30 miles from the Brazilian border and
worked as an auto mechanic. ..
'Request for Information
In - 1979, the documents show-, the
C.I.A.'s special assistant for coordina-
tion of. foreign narcotics -information
asked officials of the..Drug Enforce-
meat Administration and the Customs
Service for any information they might
'.:have on drug trafficking by =Dr. Men-
gele. The C.I.A. also suggested that the
business owned by Dr. Mengele's fami-
ly, a German farm machinery manu-
facturing company with offices iii
South America, "could serve as a
mechanism to move or launder large
sums of money, as well as to cover the
movement of illicit narcotics." -
- The documents show that the Drug.
Enforcement Administ:r tion and "the :
Treasury . -Department - replied that
their records showed 'no information
about Dr. Mengele.-= :...-::.
Senators Specter and D'Amato said
-that they were not satisfied about the
thoroughness of that search and that
they would press the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration in .particular for
more information.
. Senator Specter said he was also
especially eager to get the C.I.A. arti-'
cle on drug trafficking that was cited in
the documents.
"I think they'll find it," be said of the
C.I.A. "We'll get it.-
2011/06/04: 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120046-0