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-RDP90-00965R000100550012-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

4 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100550012-1
9k 1QRS
APTICLE APPEAR
ON PAQEE.
Mengele Link to Drug Trafficking
Is Reported in C.I.A. Document
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
The Central Intelligence Agency
began receiving reports in 1971 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 thqC.LA. for a Senate 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
an not establish the truth of the reports,
and leave many questions unanswered
about Dr. Mengele, who was chief doc-
tor 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
fugitives.
`No One Pursued This'
"They just let the information twang
there." said Senator Alfonse?M.
D'Aznato, Republican of the New York.
"No one pursued this." Senator
D'Amato obtained the documents in
conjunction with Senator Arlen Spec-
ter, Republican of Pennsylvania. The
two Senators said they would discuss
the documents at a news conference set
for today in Washington. -
A spokesman for 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
Customs Service and the Treasury.
The spokesman, Kathy Pherson, said
she could not discuss whether or not the
information was forwarded to other
governments, such as West Germany,
which has an outstanding warrant for
Dr. Mengele's arrest.
Further Information sought ' ,
The documents, which were obtained
by The New York Times, offer these
new accounts, among others:
'The C.IA.'s Strategic Narcotics
Team 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. i
The article was later withdrawn and
could not be immediately located by
the agency, according to Senators
D'Amato and Specter.
gA.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
Paraguayan passport files showed Dr.
Mengele after the plastic surgery.
cThe same source, possibly a writer
from-the context of the document, also
/reported an account that around 1968
Dr. Mengele was living in Paraguay
with Martin Bormann, Hitler's desig-
nated successor, who is believed by
most authorities to have died in Berlin
in 1945.
$1 Million Award
In . a separate development, the
Simon Wiesenthai 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
alive. He said the center did not want
Dr. Mengele dead and was not seeking
vigilante action. The $1 million comes
in addition to rewards pledged earlier
that total X375,000.
According to one C.I.A. document,
Dr. Mengele arrived in Paraguay for
the first time around 1951 and lived
there-and in Brazil, Argentina and Uru-
guay-. He has been sought for extradi-
tion by West Germany since 1962, ac-,
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, 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 Encarnacibn, 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 he 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 Stroessner.
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-
ment 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 in
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 Administration 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," he said of the
C.I.A. "We'll get it."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100550012-1