NARK!

by Joe Eszterhas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1974

A study of several narcotics busts made by the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs -- the nasty and illegal tactics of harks (from the French word narquois: ""A person who obtains information under seal of confidence and afterwards breaks faith; applied to the lowest class of informers."") The three investigations in question -- an endlessly delayed prosecution of the nark murder of unarmed Dirk Dickenson, whose country cabin was descended upon like a Vietnamese hamlet; a futile attempt to concoct a ""hippie Mafia"" in a non-existent Brotherhood of Love commune in Laguna Beach; and the interlocking crimes of Gerritt Van Raam, field supervisor of the BNE -- substantiate the author's claim that narcotics agents are essentially paid goons, perjurious and double-crossing, who systematically obtain illegal search warrants and plant false evidence, blackmail arrested youngsters to make them informers, carry out vendettas not against the Mafia but against the civil-libertarian lawyers who so often have their cases thrown out of court on ""Technicalities."" As for the informers, they are schitzy enough to be right out of Kafka -- a girl with 350 busts to her credit won't touch the Grateful Dead cause they're her heroes -- and Gerry Van Raam understands. Far out, and absolutely, absolutely insane -- these frenzied occassionally incoherent articles come courtesy of Rolling Stone from which pages they seem at times rather frantically culled.

Pub Date: April 30, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Straight Arrow Books/dist. by Quick Fox

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION