John R. Bartels Jr.

John Ries Bartels Jr. (born November 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and was the first Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was also the first Chief of the New Jersey Organized Crime Strike Force.

Early life Bartels was born in 1934 in New York to parents John R. Bartels and Anne Wilson. He spent time in Germany on exchange as a Fulbright scholar at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In an interview for Time Magazine, Bartels said: “I learned the extent of organized crime, the pervasive influence of mobsters.” While running this unit, Bartels coordinated the activities of ten federal agencies and local law enforcement. Bartels performed investigations, interviewed suspects, worked alongside federal agents, and arranged for witness protection. by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973, signed by President Richard Nixon on July 28. It proposed the creation of a single federal agency to enforce the federal drug laws as well as consolidate and coordinate the government's drug control activities. Congress accepted the proposal, as they were concerned with the growing availability of drugs. As a result, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE); approximately 600 Special Agents of the Bureau of Customs, Customs Agency Service, and other federal offices merged to create the DEA.

When John Finlator, Myles Ambrose, and John Ingersoll - all three men who had been on the short list to run the new agency - all quit their jobs, Bartels was appointed Acting Administrator of the new Drug Enforcement Administration. Bartels' predecessors represented great interagency rivalry and oppositional approaches to narcotics and drugs law enforcement; Finlator at BDAC treated addiction as a medical issue, Ingersoll at BNDD stressed the need for vast and long-term investigations of global syndicates, and Ambrose at Customs ran an agency that had been known for patting-down American citizens and mass arrests of low-level street dealers. In an interview with Playboy Magazine, Bartels said: "There are a great number of people who regard narcotics agents as corrupt Nazis who don't know how to open the door except with the heel of their right foot." Vince Promuto, the Director of Public Affairs at DEA, was rocked with a scandal. Bartels was accused by DEA chief of inspectors Andrew C. Tartaglino of improper behavior and knowledge of Promuto's alleged behavior. Bartels denied this in Congress.

On May 30, 1975, in the midst of the scandal, President Ford, whose administration did not want to be associated with further scandal following the resignation of Richard Nixon, accepted Bartels' resignation. His office was assumed by Henry S. Dogin, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

On July 23, 1975, Charles Rangel said to Congress:

"While we in no way condone the wrongdoing of any agency official, we believe that the dismissal of John Bartels without minimal due process, coupled with the Justice Department's nationwide circulation of a document containing unproved allegations against him, warrants an explanation."

Promuto was later cleared of all charges.