Charlie Siragusa

Charles Siragusa, also known as "Charlie Cigars", was a lifelong special investigator, undercover operative, spymaster, and federal agent for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, a precursor to the modern Drug Enforcement Administration. During World War II, he worked in North Africa for the Office of Strategic Services. He is perhaps best known today for his 30-year pursuit of the Italian-American gangster Lucky Luciano, but also pursued other criminal personalities in his career; escaped Nazis in South America, deviant Italian Catholic monks, Soviet Communist cocaine smuggling networks, and many others. He is also remembered today as a facilitator and observer of the MKUltra experiments, managing the New York safehouses, eventually testifying before the United States Congress against members of his own agency and members of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Early life Siragusa was a second-generation American born in 1913 to Italian parents Giovanni and Rosa Siragusa. One of Siragusa's uncles was killed for refusing to pay a kickback on his wages.

Federal agent In 1939, Siragusa joined the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) as a special agent. He was then assigned to the office of Garland H. Williams, who managed the FBN District office of New York

In 1944, Siragusa attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy while on assignment for James Angleton in the Office of Strategic Services. The hunt for Luciano would dominate the next decade of his life.

Luciano also had Siragusa on his mind.

In 1951, Siragusa became the FBN Supervisory Agent (equivalent to an SAC) of an office in the United States Embassy in Rome that would be called "District 17," which covered the areas of Europe and the Middle East. Out of this office, Siragusa traveled to France, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and other locations to investigate narcotics.

In 1958, Siragusa was reassigned to Washington, and on behalf of Anslinger resumed contact with James Angleton and Counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency, working on a project in New York City for Angleton in partnership with Dr. Ray Treichler.

Siragusa claimed that the CIA approached him to coordinate domestic assassinations to be performed by his connections in the Italian Mafia, and he rejected them.

Cases Cases that Charles Siragusa pursued as a federal agent include;

The Green Trunk of Alcamo The hunting of Fritz Schwend

MKUltra and Midnight Climax Controversially, Siragusa was also involved in the US government's experiments in finding a truth drug and mind control, to include MKUltra and Operation Midnight Climax. Operatives running the experiments claimed that Siragusa was only a manager during this time, and had little knowledge of what the experiments actually involved. Siragusa later testified before Congress, however, that Ray Treichler "wanted me to deny knowing about the safehouse... He didn't want me to admit that he was the guy. . . . I said there was no way I could do that."

Authored works (with Robert Wiedrich)