Thank you for the warm welcome. Yes I am new here.

I think part of the challenge in establishing the sources for the factoid about the heroin oranges is the fact that the factoid originates from the Palermo Questura. So this is not a simple freedom of information act request to an American law enforcement agency to give up files. This is Sicilian law enforcement from 80 years ago. The Questura are supposed to be the ones who taped the conversation about the oranges.

Looking into the issue, there is a strong case to be made about Mafia heroin trafficking from even the time of the establishment of the commission. But back then it wasn't the French Connection, it was the Burmese Chinese Connection with Sicily (Profaci's Villabate, Castellemmare Del Golfo, Palermo, Trapani, etc?) being the last point in refinement and shipment before reaching the United States as with the French Connection.

PS; Apparently with the anti Narcotics Acts being passed in the 1920's, there is legal evidence of a heroin issue in the United States before the establishment of the Commission. Evidently, drug prohibition ran concurrently with alcohol prohibition, and the mafia capitalized on both laws to enrich themselves. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that prohibition against drugs and alcohol in the 1920's was meant to give the Mafia a monopoly.