Belated Book Review of "90 Church"

As a retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, I read a lot of scuttlebutt on chat sites dedicated to former agents like myself. Recently, there has been some discussion on these sites about a book that was written almost ten years ago by a former federal drug agent. The book is entitled, 90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad From Hell, and is advertised as a true account of the author's 4 years as an agent with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN-a DEA predecessor agency) between the years 1964-1968 in New York City. 90 Church (Street) is the address of what was the FBN office in New York. The author is Dean Unkefer. I should note that I do not know Mr. Unkefer and had previously never heard of him. The original publisher is Virgin Books in the UK. It seems that the ebook rights are held by Picador of New York.

If you go online, you can find the book easily and order it (I am not recommending anyone buy it). I have cut and pasted some sentences that appear with the book,

90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad from Hell Paperback – International Edition, September 1, 2014

by Dean Unkefer (Author)

Publisher Description

MAD MEN MEETS THE WIRE IN THIS GRIPPING TRUE-CRIME MEMOIR BY A FORMER AGENT AT THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS IN 1960s NEW YORK

Before Nixon famously declared a "war on drugs," there was the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

New York City in the mid-1960s: The war in Vietnam was on the nation's tongue—but so is something else. Clandestine and chaotic, but equally ruthless, the agents of the Bureau were feared by the Mafia, dealers, pimps, prostitutes—anyone who did his or her business on the streets. With few rules and almost no oversight, the battle-hardened agents of the bureau were often more vicious than the criminals they chased.

Agent Dean Unkefer was a naive kid with notions of justice and fair play when he joined up. But all that quickly changes once he gets thrown into the lion's den of 90 Church, the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, where he is shocked to see the agents he revered are often more like thugs than lawmen.

When he finally gets the chance to prove his mettle by going undercover in the field, the lines become increasingly blurred. As he spirals into the hell of addiction and watches his life become a complex balancing act of lies and half-truths, he begins to wonder what side he is really on.

90 Church is both the unbelievable memoir of one man's confrontation with the dark corners of the human experience and a fascinating window into a little-known time in American history. Learn the story of the agents who make the DEA look like choirboys.

Last week, after reading the advertisements about the book, which indicated that this was a non-fiction work, I purchased it on Kindle. I wanted to see for myself what the book was all about. I was tempted to put it down and forget about it after the first couple of chapters but ultimately decided to finish it in order to make a proper judgment.

What is controversial about this book-which again is advertised as non-fiction- is that it paints a pretty horrific picture of the New York FBN office and the agency in general. It tells the tale of how an eager young agent (the author) wanting to fight the drug scourge quickly became corrupted by those agents he was assigned to work with. The author purportedly watched as fellow agents planted evidence, stole drugs and money from the dealers, slept with dealers and informants, and even committed murders when somebody got in their way. The author describes his own descent into cocaine use, and crooked and corrupt practices which lead to the breakup of his marriage. The book is basically a Hollywood-style plot that apparently ends in 1968 with the disbanding of the FBN and creation of a successor agency.

 On this latter point, the writer incorrectly states that DEA was formed in 1970. In truth, FBN was succeeded by the newly-formed Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) in 1968, which lasted until 1973 when the Nixon Administration ordered a reorganization that created DEA, incorporating the agents and personnel from BNDD along with 500 US Customs Agency Service agents who had specifically been working drug cases. The intent behind this latter reorganization was to eliminate the lack of effective cooperation between Customs and BNDD. 

In 1973, I was a young Customs agent hired on in 1970. I was one of the 500 Customs agents who were assigned to DEA.

In the way of full disclosure, there had always been stories to the effect that FBN agents in the previous years had played fast and loose with the rules, especially in New York. But not anywhere near to the extent of what is told in Unkefer's book. I should also add that I have no personal knowledge of the incidents or people mentioned in the book. Nor was I ever actually assigned to the DEA New York office though I had several occasions to go there on cases or to testify in trials. I never saw anything close to what Unkefer describes.

Have there been cases of corruption in DEA, BNDD, and FBN over the long history of federal drug law enforcement? Of course, just as there have been cases of corruption in the FBI and all other law enforcement agencies. I myself knew a handful of agents who wound up going to prison and being fired for corruption, but they were rare cases. Many of the cases where agents got into trouble had to do with getting improperly involved with informants, drinking, and driving government vehicles while drinking.

It is my belief that from 1973, DEA developed into a world-class, professional organization that has been well respected by other law enforcement agencies around the world. Of all the agents I worked with, 99.9% were honest and dedicated.

Below is the publisher's disclaimer, which is interesting in itself.

 Publisher's disclaimer

These memoirs are based on the author's best recollections of events in his life. Where indicated, the names and characters of some people have been changed in order to protect their privacy and identities. In some instances, the author has recreated dialogue according to his best recollections and rearranged the details of events and chronologies in order to facilitate the narrative. Except in such instances, the author has stated to the publisher that the contents of this book are true.

Where indicated? I saw no such indications. I am assuming that all the names have been changed-or merely created. 

Rearranged details of events and chronologies.......? What does that mean? Did the author take some notorious incident involving an agent(s) in the 1930s or 1940s and insert it into the New York office of the 1960s? I have no idea, but I think it is a valid question. And this: "Except in such instances, the author has stated to the publisher that the contents of this book are true". Not exactly a ringing endorsement from the publisher.

Here are the author's own words from the preface:

"To understand the agent's moral dilemma, I have written a personal narrative. Because of the sensitivity of such activities, some of the events described in this book, including sequences, locations, and other details, although inspired by real cases, have been changed. It has also been necessary to protect the identity of some of my fellow agents by changing their names and other identifying characteristics."

It would be one thing for a writer-particularly a former agent- to write a clearly defined novel about agency corruption. What this author did was to paint, with very few exceptions, a picture of an office full of brutal, corrupt agents and cowardly supervisors. This book does not leave the uninformed reader concluding that FBN had a few bad apples spoiling the work of the majority of honest agents. This book leaves the reader concluding that FBN was basically, a criminal enterprise in itself. Again, FBN was disbanded in 1968, 2 years before I became a Customs agent and 5 years before I joined the ultimate successor agency, DEA. I have no personal experience with FBN, so I cannot speak from first-hand knowledge.

I have read several books written by former DEA agents describing their careers. Never have I seen one so dedicated to destroying the reputation of the author's former employer and his or her fellow workers. The author not only did a disservice to all former FBN agents, but also to succeeding generations of agents right up to the present day. And shame on the publisher for doing such a sloppy to non-existent job of making any effort to determine the veracity of what is so obviously an over-dramatized novel.

It gets worse: 90 Church is coming to Netflix.

If X-rated Mike Hammer novels are your cup of tea, this book is entertaining reading with all the twisted plots leaving a trail of dead bodies you can imagine. If you are expecting to learn anything about true drug enforcement, save your money. The real outrage is that this is all presented as non-fiction.