@Hollander...during those days the Chicago Outfit already had better and closer political connections and also lucrative operations all around the world, than the CIA and so the agency needed or used those same connections with the help of the Mob. For example the ones in Brazil, Panama or the Middle East.
As early as 1937 , the Agency worked with the underworld.
French Connection
Illegal heroin labs were first discovered near Marseille, France, in 1937. These labs were run by Corsican gang leader Paul Carbone. For years, the Corsican underworld had been involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of heroin, primarily to the United States. It was this heroin network that eventually became known as "the French Connection". The Corsican Gang was protected by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the SDECE after World War II in exchange for working to prevent French Communists from bringing the Old Port of Marseille under their control.[1]
