NAZI FUGITIVE LINKED TO DRUG TRAFFICKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120037-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: February 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120037-0
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WASHINGTON POST
27 February 1985.
KN z Fugitive Linked.
Two Senators Release CIA Documents
o Trafficking
By Bill Peterson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Josef (Mengele the Nazi doctor
known as'.the "Angel of Death":'at.
the Auschwitz concentration ' vamp,
may have been "heavily involved in
narcotics traffic" from .his home in
Paraguay in the 1970s, according to
CIA,documents, released yesterday.
Thee declassified material shows
that Mengele,' the most notorious
accused Nazi war criminal believed
to. be still at large, traveled freely in
South America, did not tryto hide
his identity, and may have lived un-
der the protection of Paraguayan
President Alfredo Stroessner.
The Central Intelligence Agency.
began receiving reports of. Men-
gele's alleged involvement in drug
trafficking in 1972, and as recently'
as 1979 it asked other federal agen-.
cies if they had any information on
Mengele, wanted-for prosecution in
West:Germany and Israel.
Sens.' Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) -and
Alfonse M. D'Amato'(R-N.Y.), who
released, the documents, charged
that federal officials. failedto'follow
up leads`about:Mengele and asked
the U.S.; government:.to' lead. a
worldwide hunt for him.
Nazi atrocities are'"a chapter.in
history . that the United 'States
wants to sweep. under the rug,"
Specter said.-"Nobody really gives a
damn about Nazi war criminals."
Mengele, who would be-. 73-i f
alive, was a physician and former
major in'the.Nazi secret police'who
allegedly sent thousands of concen-
tration-camp prisoners` to-;' their'
deaths in gas chambers and used
-others, including many children, in
painful medical experiments.
.The Simon Wiesenthal Center in
Los Angeles has offered a $1 mil-
lion reward for information leading
to his capture and extradition.
The 28 pages of.heavily-censored
CIA :documents provide manytfas-
cinating glimpsesof Mengel e's.Iife;
but. iris. difficultto determine ow
f nmch of. the information .is-creditiie
or is hearsay:
A 19,72 document said that IVTe
gele arrived m Paraguay' for, tie
first-,time :1951: and lived alter`:
natel' there and in-;Brazil Argen=
tina and'Uruguay `:working at times
as a salesman-for `a'`West German
farm-machinery,firm 'owned by Adis
family, and.as an auto mechanicT'N*
Mengele .'never tried -to hide.his
identity in his early years in,Sont
America' : and in..1959:.-was::natur
ized as a Paraguayan citizen under
-his own -name,:another document
said. In 1970 the CIA reported ri -
mars that Mengele lived at a- well-
guarded ranch in eastern Paragua,1
"protected by Stroessner." . .
One source told. the. CIA 'that that.
Mengele underwent plastic surgery
-in -19-74 and "looks-much- -younger
than his age," a document said. The
- -same source. said that, -in 1968,
Mengele `lived with Martin Bor-
mann, Adolf Hitler's designated
successor, widely believed to bav.`e
died in. Berlin in .1945:
Another.source who reportedly'
knew Mengele ,well,.told the CIA
that Mengele was "a ;nice. personZ
who provided free medical care.
Mengele apparently was first
brought to CIA attention bya "petty
criminal," who told them Mengele;
using the name Dr. Henrique .Wo1x-
man, lived: on a farm near' Encar=
nation,. Paraguay,-and, was._ "heavily.
involved in narcotics traffic."
In 1979, the CIA's Strategic Nar-
cotics Team submitted an.article`ta
the International NarcoticsRevievu
mentioning the drug reports; T ie
article was withdrawn because-it
was based on very circumstantial,
evidence, according to a CIA memo.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120037-0