Chapter One: Butterfly

A friend and fellow Navy veteran who visited Olongapo in the Philippines while serving in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War asked to read Olongapo, the crime thriller I’ve written and hope to soon publish.

I told him that I had posted five of the chapters on my website, and he asked that I repost the chapters.     

Below is chapter one, Butterfly.

The below story originally appeared in American Crime Magazine. 

Butterfly 

By Paul Davis 

I lived in what we considered a tough neighborhood in South Philadelphia when I was a teenager in the 1960s. I ran with a tough crowd on the mean streets of South Philly, but I would later discover that Olongapo in the early 1970s was a truly tough town. 

I recall an old Navy chief telling me and other young sailors on the USS Kitty Hawk about the notorious port city as the aircraft carrier sailed towards the Philippines in November of 1970. The chief, who had been around the world while serving many years in the U.S. Navy, told us that Olongapo was the wildest place he had ever seen.

 “Once you walk across the bridge over Shit River into Olongapo, you’ll be corrupted quickly by sexy bar girls, cheap booze, available drugs, and all sorts of crime,” the old chief said with a mischievous grin.

During the Vietnam War, Olongapo, the city located next to the massive U.S. Navy Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines, was like Dodge City, Las Vegas, and Sodom and Gomorrah all rolled into one. The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet ships that operated off the coast of Vietnam during the war were frequent visitors to Subic Bay, as the naval base provided repairs and replenishment to the warships.

As the pent-up American sailors left the ships and swarmed into Olongapo, the city’s shadier elements were waiting. Sailors walked out of the naval base’s gate and crossed over the small bridge above the Olongapo River, called “Shit River” by the Americans due to its muddy brown color and pungent smell. Despite the filth and pollution, several small children on boats were willing to slip into the river and dive for the coins the sailors tossed from the bridge into the water. 

On the other side of the bridge was Olongapo’s main street, Magsaysay Drive. Known as the “Strip,” there was a seemingly endless line of bars, restaurants and hotels all lit up in colorful neon lights. The street was noisy and crowded with passing American sailors and Marines, street vendors, drug dealers, pickpockets, thieves, con artists, armed robbers and innocent-looking young shoeshine boys who were known to hold a razor against a sailor’s heel until he handed over his wallet.

Also on the crowded street were scores of young, attractive Filipinas enticing sailors to come into their bar with blown kisses, swaying hips, pushed out breasts, and shaking derrieres. Occasionally a girl would use strong-arm tactics, such as grabbing a young sailor by the arm and yanking him into the bar and announcing loudly that she had a “Cherry Boy” virgin. 

Crossing Magsaysay Drive was often a case of bravery or foolhardiness, as one could be hit by one of the ubiquitous “jeepneys,” Olongapo’s colorfully decorated minibuses that were converted from American jeeps abandoned after World War II.

The American dollar was like gold in the early 1970s, and one could spend a wild night in Olongapo drinking, eating, dancing, and staying in a hotel room with a local beauty for only about $20.

I was 18 years old when I first visited Olongapo in 1970. I was a cocky, street-smart South Philly kid, as well as a lean and muscular amateur middleweight boxer, so I was not intimidated by the barrage of sights, sounds and smells of this strange town like so many other young sailors who first experience it. I was also not fazed when a bar girl grabbed my arm outside of a bar and yanked me towards the bar’s entrance.

“You so young and handsome,” the pretty Filipina said as she tugged my arm.  “You Cherry Boy?” I pulled my arm loose from her grip and replied, “Not hardly.”

Thankfully, I had good friends on the aircraft carrier who had visited Olongapo during the Kitty Hawk’s previous combat cruise, and they warned me about the dangers and pitfalls, as well as the delights, of the notorious city. As an aspiring crime writer, Olongapo sounded like just the place for me.

All American servicemen were duly warned of the dangers when visiting Olongapo’s bars and other establishments. One rule pounded into the sailors by the older sailors was not to “Butterfly” in individual bars. To butterfly was to associate with two bar girls, called “Hostesses,” in any one bar. The bar girls were protective of their claimed sailors and the money they earned from the sailors buying them whisky (actually Coke) and champagne (actually 7-Up). The price of a drink for the girls was only about a buck, so the sailors didn’t mind paying this apparent scam. But the bar girls resented another bar girl poaching on their moneymakers.

When a sailor would butterfly, whether on his own initiative or by the encouragement of another bar girl, the aggrieved bar girl would often fly into a rage and attack the other bar girl, and sometimes the offending sailor. 

Even before I set foot in Olongapo, I heard the much-repeated cautionary tale about an American sailor who committed the offense and paid a dear price. The bar girl he had been seeing was so mad when he flirted with another bar girl that she attacked the girl on the dance floor. To the consternation of the bar’s manager and the utter delight of the American sailors, the two girls pulled hair, and kicked and punched each other. 

 The Filipino manager and his waiters pulled the two girls apart. The offended girl then went to her purse and pulled out her Batangas knife, a weapon more commonly known as a “Butterfly” knife. The knife had two handles with the sharp blade concealed in the groves of the handles. When flashed, flipped and fanned by someone who knew what they are doing, the butterfly knife was a most scary and deadly thing. 

 This bar girl knew how to use the butterfly knife and she charged the butterflying sailor and slit his throat as he sat in a chair. He died on the way to the base hospital.

 

On my first visit to Olongapo in early December of 1970, I went into one of the bars with some shipmates and met a pretty girl who sat with me as I bought her drinks. I had fun drinking and dancing with her, and we ended up in a hotel room for the night. I returned to the ship the following morning and we soon shoved off for our first “Yankee Station” line period in the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam.   

We spent Christmas on Yankee Station, but we pulled back into Subic Bay on December 31st, New Year's Eve. Not everyone was glad to see us. The American sailors stationed on the base and on smaller ships hated when an aircraft carrier pulled into port. With the carrier’s 4, 700 men going ashore with money in their pockets and eager for action, the city’s inhabitants went all out to receive them. 

In a case of reverse butterflying, two sailors stationed on the base at Subic Bay resented the Kitty Hawk’s sailors taking over the city on that first night in port. One base sailor was truly angry, as his regular girl at the bar ignored him and cuddled up to a young Kitty Hawk sailor. The base sailor got drunk along with his pal and when the girl went to the restroom, the two base sailors pounced on the Kitty Hawk sailor. They beat him to the floor and one of the two assailants broke a bottle of beer over his head. 

The Kitty Hawk sailor was beaten unconscious before other sailors and the Filipino waiters could break it up. The Philippine police and the U.S. Navy Shore Patrol rushed into the bar and took hold of the two base sailors. The Kitty Hawk sailor was gravely injured, and he was taken by two Shore Patrol petty officers to the base hospital. The two base sailors were released by the Philippine police into the custody of two other Shore Patrol petty officers and a junior officer. The Shore Patrol petty officers handcuffed the pair and escorted them to the base, where they were charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder by civilian Naval Investigative Service (NIS) special agents.

 

The story of the assault on the Kitty Hawk sailor spread quickly all over Olongapo. I heard the story from another sailor as I sat in the Starlight bar with two of my shipmates from the Kitty Hawk’s Communications Radio (CR) Division. Dino Ingemi was a solid six-footer with thinning dark hair. He was an outgoing and funny guy from the Bronx and everyone in the division liked him. Mike Hunt was also a popular guy. He was a  brawny, laid-back Californian whose light brown hair, ski nose and easygoing manner belied his background as an outlaw biker prior to enlisting in the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army. Both Ingemi and Hunt were Olongapo veterans, having visited the wild city the year before during Kitty Hawk’s previous combat cruise. 

 As I was half-Italian on my mother’s side and I grew up in a predominantly Italian American South Philadelphia neighborhood, I called Dino Ingemi my paisan. 

"Just another fun night in Olongapo, Paul," my paison said. "That kind of shit won't happen here at the Starlight."

The Filipino band at the Starlight had everyone jumping and dancing to their renditions of popular American songs of the time. The Filipino musicians were incredible mimics, sounding like Sly and the Family Stone with one song, the Four Tops with another, and then went on to sound eerily like the Beatles in yet another number. 

We were all dressed in “civies,” as sailors called civilian clothes, and I was wearing a short-sleeved tan and black Italian knit shirt and black slacks. I was something of a clotheshorse, and I differed from most of the other sailors, who were usually clad simply in tie-dyed t-shirts and jeans. Thankfully, the then-chief of naval operations, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, the enlisted man’s hero, allowed sailors to go ashore in civies rather than in uniform.

We sat at a table drinking bottles of San Miguel, the local beer, when I was approached by Linda Divita, a slim, pretty girl who swayed around me to the music and then pulled me up from my chair to dance with her.  Linda had long dark hair and long lovely legs beneath her short black dress. The low cut of her dress afforded one the view of her mostly exposed small breasts.

 Dino Ingemi approved.  

“She’s got a great ass and cute little tits,” Ingemi said to me when we finally sat back down. I nodded in agreement as Ingemi was smacked on the arm by Marlena Abadiano, the pretty girl he had been seeing since he first visited Olongapo the year before. 

Dino Ingemi was very social and made friends easily. He had become close with the Starlight manager, Samuel Rosalita, during the previous cruise. Rosalita joined us at our table and laughed and drank with us. He gave me his business card and another card that read “Welcome to the Starlight: Charming A-Go-Go dancers, Beautiful Ladies and Outstanding Combos.”

I mentioned to Ingemi that Rosalita looked like the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr, and Ingemi began to call him “Sammy,” much to the manager’s delight. Rosalita chuckled and shook his head at everything Ingemi said.  

 

I had a fun night drinking and dancing with Linda that New Year's Eve at the Starlight, and when the bar closed, I took her to a nearby hotel. I was drunk and worried that the girl would steal my money when I fell asleep, so when she was in the bathroom, I looked for a place to hide my slim black leather wallet that held my Navy ID and my cash. I looked up at the light fixture mounted on the ceiling six feet above me. Thinking I was clever, I tossed my wallet up onto the glass fixture underneath the light bulb.

Linda came out of the bathroom and threw her arms around me and laughed crazily. She was loopy drunk, but she was wild, sexy and fun in bed with me right up until the moment she passed out in my arms. In the morning, I could not wake her. I knew she was alive, as she moaned and muttered, but she would not move from her face down position on the bed. I found a handful of “Red Devils,” a barbiturate, on the bedside table next to her purse. I didn’t know how many of the pills she took, but I was concerned.

I dressed her and left the room. Rosalita’s business card did not have a telephone number on it, so I went to the front desk and I slipped five dollars to one of the clerks and asked him to go and get the Starlight manager.  

I went back to the room and saw that Linda was still out. About a half hour later, there was a knock on the door. Rosalita came in, accompanied by one of his waiters and an older woman who was the Mama-San for the bar. Rosalita thanked me for contacting him and then looked at Linda on the bed. He cursed her in Tagalog. The two men lifted Linda and took her out of the room. After they left, I looked up at the ceiling light and tried to retrieve my wallet, but it was beyond my reach. I went down to the front desk and asked the clerks for a ladder. They looked puzzled. I returned to my room with two Filipinos and a ladder in tow. They stood in the doorway in amazement as I climbed the ladder and retrieved my wallet.

I gave each of the hotel clerks a five-dollar bill for their trouble as I was leaving the hotel room. The two Filipinos took the money as they laughed uncontrollably.

“Fuck you,” I said to them, although I had to laugh along with them.

Back at the carrier, I took a shower, ate lunch in the galley and then I took a nap in my rack. When I awoke, I took another shower and changed into a black dress shirt and light gray slacks. I met up with Hunt and Ingemi and we all headed out to Olongapo and the Starlight. We took a table and Marlena came over with Hunt’s girl Carmelina and sat with us. I was thankful that I didn’t see Linda. Rosalita came over to the table with a waiter armed with a tray of San Miguel beers. 

Marlena whispered into Ingemi’s ear, and he nodded. Marlena got up and left the table. She returned to our table with a beautiful girl that she introduced to us as her sister, Zeny Abadiano.

Zeny had long, raven hair with bangs cut just above her dark, sultry eyes. She had a pretty face and an alluring figure. At 5’ 11,’ I towered over her five-foot stature when we danced. In addition to her being an exotic beauty, Zeny was sexy, smart and funny. I was drawn to her immediately.

And I forgot all about Linda. 

 

After the bar closed, Ingemi, Hunt and I took the girls to a nearby hotel. In my hotel room, I took Zeny in my arms, unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. I told her she was beautiful as I kissed her madly, and we fell across the bed. 

A couple of hours later, I heard a pounding on the door. I jumped up and retrieved my pocketknife from under the pillow. I heard Linda on the other side of the door. 

“Paul! Paul! Open up!” I heard her holler. “I want to talk to you!” 

Zeny pulled the sheet over her head and giggled. “Oh, you think this is funny?”  I told Linda to go away.

“Paul, open up. I want to talk to you!” Linda said in a screeching and blood-curdling voice. Of course, I didn’t open the door. I then heard what I presumed were hotel employees arguing with Linda in Tagalog, and thankfully the voices outside the door finally ceased. 

“So, you think a crazy, drugged girl coming to the room was funny,” I said to Zeny as I took her once again in my arms.  

 

I was awakened in the morning by a pounding on the door. Not again, I thought. But then I heard Ingemi’s voice. I hollered out to Ingemi that I would be ready in a half hour. I took a shower with Zeny and afterwards I sat in a chair, and she stood in front of me nude and dried my hair with a towel. She took my pocket comb and    combed my short, dark brown hair, carefully parting it on the left side. I pulled her wonderfully luscious body towards me and hugged her.

I met Ingemi and Hunt outside of the hotel and we grabbed a jeepney and headed back to the ship.

Later that evening, Ingemi and I returned to the Starlight.

Zeny and Marlena were waiting for us and the four of us took a table. Rosalita waved to us and motioned to a waiter, who quickly came over with San Miguel beers. While we were drinking at the table, Linda suddenly appeared by my side. Zeny grabbed my arm and snuggled up close to me. Linda was clearly angry and deranged. 

“You butterfly, you motherfucker!” 

“Get the fuck out of here,” I replied calmly, tilting my head slightly to the right while trying to sound like a South Philly half-a-hoodlum.

“I get you good, motherfucker,” Linda said with a snarl.  

Rosalita rushed over to the table and spoke harshly in Tagalog to Linda. She spat on the table and walked away. Rosalita apologized and left us. Zeny and Marlena were unfazed, and Ingemi was laughing uncontrollably. Linda sat at a nearby table with some poor sailor and began cursing me loudly in English and Tagalog.  

“She crazy,” Zeny said, kissing me to further anger Linda. 

Linda then began to fling lit cigarettes at us. Then she threw a beer bottle that hit our table. Ingemi, who was no longer laughing, got up and walked over to Rosalita. Rosalita listened briefly to Ingemi and then marched over to Linda, and he must have told her in no uncertain terms to cut it out. 

We resumed drinking, dancing, and having fun and I tried to ignore Linda. A while later I got up to go to the men’s room, which was on the other side of a wall that separated the bar from the rest rooms, the kitchen, and storerooms. When I came out of the men’s room, I encountered Linda in my path. 

“You butterfly me, you son a bitch,” Linda hissed. “I kill you.” 

From behind her back, Linda produced a Butterfly knife and began to twirl it in front of me. As she flashed and fanned the knife in a menacing fashion, I threw a short right punch that hit her square in the face. She went down, her nose and teeth bloody, and she lay motionless on the floor. 

Rosalita and two waiters rushed in, and my immediate thought was that I would have to fight them all. But Rosalita cursed Linda, who lay unconscious. The two waiters picked up Linda and took her away. 

Rosalita apologized profusely to me, and I walked back to the table and told everyone what happened. 

 

From then on, whenever the carrier visited Subic Bay, I went to the Starlight and stayed with Zeny. 

I never again saw Linda, and no one ever said what had become of her.

And I never asked.  

© 2022 By Paul Davis 

Note: You can read other chapters via the below links: 

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Salvatore Lorino'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: The Old Huk

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: Join The Navy And See Olongapo

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Boots On The Ground'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The 30-Day Detail'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Cat Street'

Paul Davis On Crime: Chapter 12: On Yankee Station

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The Cherry Boy'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The Hit'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: Welcome To Japan, Davis-San

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Murder By Fire'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Admiral McCain'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Hit The Head'

My Crime Fiction: Bunco Bill

 The below story first appeared in American Crime Magazine. 

Bunco Bill

 By Paul Davis

 I met Mike Palmer at a bar in South Philadelphia on a Thursday evening.

The silver-haired elderly man who stood next to me at the bar was a retired homicide detective. Over the years, I interviewed him and covered some of his cases in my crime column in the local paper.

As I was looking for a story, I thought a look back at the near legendary detective would make a good column.

Palmer was in a good mood, and he agreed to be interviewed. Palmer ordered a beer and I ordered a vodka on the rocks. I laid my small tape recorder on the bar between us, and I asked him what he thought was the most memorable case he had solved.

“That’s easy,” Palmer replied. “That would be my first case. 

"I solved the case when I was 15 years old.”

Palmer told me that his father died of cancer when he was 14 years old. His mother sold their large house and moved to another area of South Philadelphia. Palmer was upset at this further disruption to his life. He grieved the loss of his father and now he missed his old house, the street, the neighborhood, his school and his friends.

His mother rented an apartment over a candy store. The new apartment, street and neighborhood were nice, Palmer thought, but it was a different world. It was summer when they moved in and as Palmer had no friends here, he spent time during the day in front of the store. An elderly wizened man sat in a beach chair under the store’s awning. The man introduced himself as Charlie Kennedy. He told Palmer that his son owned the store and that he was a retired detective.

This intrigued Palmer as he wanted to be a police officer when he grew up. Kennedy told him he had been on the bunco squad. 

“What’s bunco?” Palmer asked. 

“Con artists, grifters, crooks that fool people and steal their money,” Kennedy said. “I was glad to put those crooks in prison.”

Palmer, who had no friends his own age, loved listening to Kennedy's cop stories. Palmer's mother worked long hours as a waitress in a bar, and Palmer was often alone. The lonely, elderly man and the lonely teenager who dreamed of becoming a cop bonded on the sidewalk in front of the candy store.    

Palmer’s mother was a beautiful woman and a year after the death of her husband, she began dating. Her young son resented this, but he kept his feelings to himself.

But when his mother brought home Bill Jennings, Palmer told his mother he thought Jennings was a creep. His mother became angry and slapped him. This was the first and only time she had ever raised her hand to her son.  

Bill Jennings, a tall, dark, handsome and well-dressed man, told the young boy that people called him “Bronco Bill,” as he “rode hard” in every one of his endeavors. Palmer scoffed. 

Jennings believed he was slick, Palmer thought, and as his mother had money from his father’s life insurance policy and the sale of their house, he suspected that Jennings was a bunco artist. 

One evening after Jennings left the apartment, Palmer called him “Bunco Bill.”

“He’s called Bronco Bill,” his mother said. “What did you call him?”

“Bunco Bill. I think he’s a con artist after our money.”

“Go to your room,” his mother ordered.

In his bedroom, Palmer heard his mother crying, and he was sorry that he hurt her feelings, but he believed that he was protecting her. Palmer realized at that moment that his mother was as lonely as he was, and that she missed his father as much as he did. He cried into his pillow.

The following morning, Palmer told old Kennedy about Jennings. Kennedy nodded as Palmer told his story, and he wrote down Jennings’ name and his Bronco Bill nickname in an old notebook.

"My nephew is a detective,” Kennedy said. “I’ll ask him to check Jennings out.”

 A week went by, and Jennings had dinner that night with his mother in the apartment, as he had for the previous nights. Jennings talked all through dinner and Palmer noticed that Jennings made his mother smile and sometimes laugh. She appeared to be happy.

Palmer was lying in his bed when he heard loud voices coming from his mother’s bedroom. He got up and left his bedroom and stood outside his mother’s bedroom. With the bedroom door open, he saw Jennings holding his mother’s arms as he pressed her up against the wall.

"What are you looking for in my bedroom?” his mother cried out.

"I need some cash and I know you have money in here, so give it to me or I’ll break your neck,” Jennings said.

“Leave my mother alone!” Palmer yelled as he charged the larger and stronger man.

Jennings let go of his mother’s arms and punched the teenager. Palmer fell to the floor as his mother grabbed hold of Jennings. The two struggled as Palmer lay on the floor, dazed from the punch.

As Palmer attempted to get up and help his mother, Charlie Kennedy came through the door, pointing a long-barreled revolver.

“Let her go and drop to the floor or I’ll shoot,” Kennedy said.

“What, old man?” Jennings replied. He let go of Palmer’s mother, but he stood defiantly in front of Charlie, seeming unafraid of the old detective’s raised gun.

Kennedy fired a round into the wall and Jennings dropped to the floor.

“I surrender. Please don’t shoot me.”

“Well, it came out that Jennings was in fact a bunco con artist, and he was a wanted fugitive,” Palmer said to me at the bar. “Old Charlie Kennedy told me I was right to suspect Jennings. He said I had good instincts and that I would make a good detective one day.’

“And you have,” I said.

Note: You can read my other crime fiction short stories via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction Stories  

Social Security And Scam Awareness

Dawn Bystry, the Acting Commissioner, Office of Strategic and Digital Communications for the Social Security Administration, offers a piece on Social Security scams:

Social Security imposter scams continue to be widespread across the United States. Scammers use targeted, sophisticated tactics to deceive you into providing sensitive information or money.

If you receive a suspicious letter, text, email, or call, do not respond. We want you to know how to identify a scammer and avoid becoming a victim.

We will NEVER:

• Text or email images of an employee’s official government identification.
• Suspend your Social Security number.
• Threaten you with arrest or other legal action unless you immediately pay a fine or fee.
• Require payment by retail gift card, wire transfer, internet currency, or cash by mail.
• Promise a benefit increase or other assistance in exchange for payment.
• Mail or email “official” letters or reports containing your personal information.

We only send text messages if you have opted in to receive texts from us and only in limited situations, including the following:

• When you have subscribed to receive updates and notifications by text.
• As part of our enhanced security when accessing your personal my Social Security account.

If you owe money to us, we will mail you a letter with payment options and appeal rights.

We encourage you to report suspected Social Security imposter scams — and other Social Security fraud — to the OIG’s website. You can find more information about scams on our webpage Protect Yourself from Scams. Please share this information with your friends, family, and colleagues to help spread awareness about Social Security imposter scams.

Kicking The Soviets Out Of Afghnistan And Helping To Takedown Bin Laden: My Q&A With Michael G. Vickers, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense For Intelligence

Counterterrorism magazine published my piece on former Green Beret, CIA officer and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Micheal G. Vickers.

You can read the piece via the below pages or the below text:

The IACSP Q&A With Michael G. Vickers 

Interviewed by Paul Davis

Dr. Michael G. Vickers’ career as a special operator, CIA operations officer, national security policy maker and Intelligence Community leader spanned the last two decades of the Cold War through a decade and a half of our war with al-Qaeda, its allies and its offshoots – service that saw unprecedented senior tenure across Republican and Democratic administrations.

From 2011 to 2015, Dr. Vickers served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, exercising authority, direction and control over the National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, Defense Security Service, and the intelligence components of the Military Services and Combatant Commands.

As the USD(I), he conceived and led a comprehensive transformation of defense intelligence capabilities, encompassing the signals intelligence system and overhead space architecture, penetrating and persistent remotely piloted aircraft, the Department’s strategic human intelligence posture, its corps of all-source analysts, and its cyber operations forces.

From 2007 to 2011, he served as the first and only Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Low-Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities. As the ASD SO/LIC&IC, Dr. Vickers was the “Service” Secretary for all Special Operations Forces and had policy oversight of all of DoD’s operational capabilities – strategic forces (nuclear forces, missile defense, space, cyber), conventional force transformation (air, ground and maritime), and Special Operations Forces.

He conceived and led the largest expansion of Special Operations Forces in our nation’s history and oversaw several other major capability investments ranging from next generation long-range strike to undersea warfare to deter future great power war.

Throughout his nearly decade-long service as a national security policy maker and Intelligence Community leader, Dr. Vickers was heavily involved in operations. He was a key operational strategist for the campaign to dismantle and defeat core al-Qaeda and played a major policy and planning role in the operation that killed Usama bin Ladin. He oversaw counterterrorism operations in multiple countries and a wide range of other operations, from the surge of forces in Afghanistan to sensitive intelligence collection operations, paramilitary support to opposition forces battling despotic regimes, operations against rogue state nuclear weapons and missile programs, and operations against drug cartels.

During the decade and a half that spanned the operational phase of his career, he served as a Special Forces Green Beret weapons and engineer sergeant, as the commander of a classified counterterrorism unit, and as CIA operations officer.  As a Special Forces soldier and officer, he was trained to parachute behind Soviet lines with a “backpack” nuclear weapon and led hostage rescue operations and sensitive intelligence collection operations. As a CIA officer, he played key roles in the invasion of Grenada, the US government’s operational response to the Beirut bombings, and the covert effort to drive the Red Army out of Afghanistan.

As the principal strategist for the multi-billion-dollar Afghanistan covert action program – the largest and most successful covert action program in CIA’s history – Dr. Vickers developed the winning strategy when very few thought it was possible to win. His contributions to the first war the Red Army had ever lost and US victory in the Cold War were chronicled in the film and New York Times best seller, Charlie Wilson’s War.

Dr. Vickers has received the nation’s highest awards in the fields of intelligence and defense, including the Presidential National Security Medal and the OSS Society’s William J. Donovan Award. He holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. from the University of Alabama. 

He currently serves as an Executive Vice President at In-Q-Tel, a Principal with the Telemus Group, and a senior advisor to the Boston Consulting Group. He also serves on several corporate boards, including BAE Systems, General Atomics, FedData, and Orbis Operations, and several non-profit and government boards.

Dr. Vickers is the author of “By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy.’

Dr. Vickers was interviewed by Paul Davis.

Editor’s Note: The interview took place prior to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

IACSP: I read your memoir, and I enjoyed it. You’ve led an interesting life, from an enlisted Green Beret to a CIA officer to the assistant secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Why did you write the book and what takeaways from the book you hope your readers will glean from it? 

Vickers: I wrote it for three reasons. One of them is that I played a part in some major historical events; the covert action program that we drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the 1980s as a CIA officer, our campaign against al Qaeda around the world between 2007 and 2015, and the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. So I felt that I had a duty to history to write about that from the operator level to the policy maker level. And secondly, after several decades, we are able to tell a little more about secret operations. For the public in a democracy, if you want to maintain your support for American foreign policy, the most important thing is to share what you can. Where we did well, where we didn’t, and what we learned, etcetera. 

Finally, I wanted to pass on what I could to future generations of special operators, intelligence officers and national security professionals. Some of the best things that stand a chance at keeping America number one.  

IACSP: What made you want to become a Green Beret and later a CIA officer?  

Vickers: I thought that being a Green Beret was interesting in its own right, but then also it would provide a path to being a CIA officer. I wanted something different where an individual could really make a difference. I was intrigued by national security, and I wanted to make a contribution there. Something that would combine adventure and intellectual challenges and test me to the utmost. So I went into Special Forces.    

IACSP: Did you become a CIA Officer for the same reasons? 

Vickers: Yes. The CIA was kind of the front lines of the Cold War and where one can make a difference. So when I was ready after I got my degree, I had been enlisted and then an officer, so I thought the time was right to become a CIA officer. 

IACSP: I found your account in the book of the covert operation to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan to be really interesting. I previously saw the movie about the operation, “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Can you give us a brief overview of the covert operation? 

Vickers: Sure. The Soviets staged a communist coup in Afghanistan in April of 1978 and the situation deteriorated as Afghanistan is not the easiest place to introduce communism. The Soviets recognized the situation, so they invaded over Christmas 1979. President Carter signed a Lethal Finding after the Soviet invasion, and the CIA began providing weapons and other assistance to the Afghan resistance within ten days of the invasion. The war and Soviet occupation lasted almost ten years and then they withdrew in February of 1989, but the first five years of the war, which spanned President Carter and most of President Reagan’s first term, the objective was just to make the Soviet occupation as costly as possible.

As the movie showed, Congressman Charlie Wilson gave a lot more money to the CIA in 1984, quadrupled it, and that led to a series of events such as President Reagan changing our mission to driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan. And we gave a lot more to the Afghan resistance, eventually culminating to the U.S. Stinger anti-aircraft missile. There was dramatically more assistance, and we escalated at the same time as the Soviets did in 1985, and by early 1986, General Secretary Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, started aiming to withdraw from Afghanistan and then completed that three years later. 

This was a decisive battle of the Cold War. It helped to bring an end to the Soviet Empire. It didn’t do it by itself, but it was the only defeat the Red Army in its history.             

IACSP: I’ve always thought that our helping to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan was payback for the Soviets supporting the North Vietnamese against us in the Vietnam War. 

Vickers: That’s certainly how Charlie Wilson saw it. It was also strategic in a sense in that they had made themselves vulnerable. So it was a unique opportunity and there were also geostrategic concerns that they might not stop at Afghanistan.

IACSP: Another fascinating account in your book was your involvement in the takedown of bin Laden. Can you tell our readers about your involvement in this historical event?

Vickers: Sure. I was the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, and for part of the period, I was Assistant Secretary for Defense for Special Operations and lots of other things…

IACSP: Yeah, that is a long title.

Vickers: Long, long, long title. We had a long hunt for Osama bin Laden. We lost him in Tora Bora in December of 01, and then we finally found him by tracking his courier back to the house where bin Laden was in Abbottabad in late August in 2010, almost nine years after he escaped from Afghanistan. We worked on the intelligence case for the rest of 2010. It was the biggest secret in Washington and there were only four of us in the Department of Defense briefed on it; the Secretary of Defense, me, the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs and the Vice Chairman. Right around Christmas time, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates told CIA Director Leon Panetta that we ought to start developing options. So I was brought to CIA to work with them, you know, a former CIA officer and the head of our special operations, to start developing options ranging from a V-2 airstrike to various kinds of ways. And then we started taking those to the NSC Deputies and Principals, the immediate set up cabinet officials, and then to the cabinet officials, such as the Secretaries of Defense and State, etcetera. We developed five options including work with the Pakistanis, or by air, or by a raid.

Initially, President Obama and a lot of the top leaders said an air strike and then shifted to the idea of a special operations raid by late March. So we refined that plan and worked it and went to all of the rehearsals that we had and continued to make the case of why we should do this. So my role was more of a policy role in the White House, describing the special operations and the intelligence community. Getting the intelligence and why this was the best way to do it. The reason we chose the raid was because, one, it had the least chance of killing innocent civilians by dropping a lot of bombs on the house, which would not only kill the kids, the wives but also the neighbors. Second, it was give us proof. If we just bombed the city in Pakistan, there would be all kinds of what are you doing? Whereas if you actually had bin Laden’s body and the DNA, you could make the case. So that was ultimately what the president decided.                                       

IACSP: As someone who led the effort to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan, what is your view of President Biden’s abrupt withdrawal? 

Vickers: Well, I didn’t think it was a good decision. Of course, President Trump had made a deal the Taliban in 2020. I think it was a mistake. We sent a real bad signal to our allies, and two, over time, it raises our terrorism threat to our country. We had transitioned the war essentially to the Afghans, so as long we provided a small footprint of advisors and intelligence professionals and backed that up with air power as necessary, the Taliban could never win. It was a frustrating stalemate. It was a long war, but a denied victory is better than losing a war in my view.  

IACSP: Do you agree with the U.S. support of Ukraine’s fight against the Russians?  

Vickers: I do. I think that like Afghanistan in the 1980s, it’s a chance to really weaken Russia. The Ukrainian people have a threat to their existence, and they fought remarkable well. And you can look at it in cold investment terms of indirect conflict, as they are doing the fighting. It is a relative bargain to set back the Russian army, who is an ally of China. It sends a good signal that we stand behind allies and partners.

IACSP: Today we have the Defense Department and the CIA primarily working against China and Russia. Has counterterrorism taken a back seat? In your view, is terrorism still a major threat, and if so, what should the DOD and the CIA be doing about it?

Vickers: The thing we don’t want to have happen is another 9/11. So we don’t need to have big wars in the Middle East. We don’t need to do nation building in countries we invaded. But we do need to make sure we keep the global Jihadist terrorist threat down.  That requires the presence of intelligence personnel, the Predator aircraft that we use, and the armed reconnaissance drone. You could do that at a reasonable low cost. Counterterrorism is not just in the Middle East and South Asia, but Africa and Southeast Asia, with a global network of partners, working with security services throughout the world.

And you can do that and China and Russia and North Korea and Iran at the same time. Because some of these things are fungible. The forces that you develop to deter China are also applicable to Russia, Iran and North Korea. Things you need for counterterrorism are inexpensive by comparison. It is not a lot of big military equipment. There is a cost to CIA in terms of having enough people to cover it in different countries, but they can also use those platforms that are used against the Chinese and Russians as well. It not an either/or. Yes, terrorism is not the central focus, as we don’t want to ignore China and Russia. But we also don’t want to go back to the pre-9/11 days when we were not taking the threat of terrorism seriously enough and we had something on the scale of 9/11.                 

IACSP: Thank you for your service and thank you for speaking to us.

A Look Back At The Lie And Crimes Of Dario Antonio Usuga David, The Most Dangerous Drug Trafficker In the World

Counterterrorism magazine published my piece on the Colombian drug lord who has been called the “Most dangerous drug trafficker in the world.” 

You can read the piece via the pages below or the below text:

 A Look Back at the Life and Crimes of Dario Antonio Usuga David,

The Most Dangerous Drug Trafficker in the World 

By Paul Davis

Like the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, notorious Colombian drug lord Dario Antoino Usuga David, also known as “Otoniel,” is currently a guest of the U.S. government. 

Usuga David, 51, dubbed “the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world,” was sentenced to federal prison on August 9^th. He is serving a 45-year sentence for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise as the leader of a multibillion-dollar paramilitary and drug trafficking organization as the “Clan del Golfo.” 

After pleading guilty to all charges, Úsuga David was also sentenced to 45 years in prison for engaging in a maritime narcotics conspiracy and 45 years in prison for engaging in a narcotics importation conspiracy. The federal judge ruled that the sentences would run concurrently. The judge also ordered Úsuga David to pay $216 million in forfeiture.

“Otoniel led one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations in the world, where he directed the exportation of massive amounts of cocaine to the United States and ordered the ruthless execution of Colombian law enforcement, military officials, and civilians,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland after the sentencing. “This sentence sends a clear message: the Justice Department will find and hold accountable the leaders of deadly drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people, no matter where they are and no matter how long it takes.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray added, “The FBI’s goal is to save lives by stopping the supply of deadly narcotics before they reach our borders and targeting the leadership of these criminal enterprises, The success of this case is due to the collaborative efforts of partners who work to dismantle these dangerous drug trafficking organizations and stop these criminals from harming our communities.”

According to the Justice Department, between June 2003 and October 2021, Úsuga David was the leader of a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for exporting multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and Central America for ultimate importation into the United States. Úsuga David also participated in conspiracies to distribute narcotics via maritime vessels and also to manufacture and distribute cocaine, knowing and intending that the narcotics would be illegally imported into the United States.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Usuga David was the leader of the Clan Del Golfo (CDG), one of the most violent and powerful criminal organizations in Colombia and one of the largest distributors of cocaine in the world.

With an estimated 6,000 members, the CDG exercises military control over vast amounts of territory in the Urabá region of Antioquia, Colombia, which is one of the most lucrative drug trafficking areas within Colombia due to its proximity to the Colombia-Panama border and the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

CDG members dress in military uniforms and employ military tactics and weapons to reinforce their power and incite wars and violence against rival drug traffickers, paramilitary organizations, and Colombian law enforcement authorities who threaten the CDG’s control.

“The CDG funds its operations primarily through a multi-billion-dollar drug trafficking operation. It imposes a “tax” on any drug traffickers operating in territory under its control, charging fees for every kilogram of cocaine manufactured, stored, or transported through areas controlled by the organization,” the Justice Department stated “The CDG also directly exports cocaine and coordinates the production, purchase, and transfer of weekly and bi-weekly multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia into Central America and Mexico for ultimate importation to the United States.

“To maintain control over CDG territory, Úsuga David and the CDG employed an army of “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out acts of violence, including murders, assaults, kidnappings, torture, and assassinations against competitors and those deemed traitors to the organization, as well as their family members. The CDG murdered and assaulted Colombian law enforcement officers, Colombian military personnel, rival drug traffickers and paramilitaries, potential witnesses, and civilians. Úsuga David and the CDG used violence to promote and enhance the reputation and position of the CDG with respect to rival criminal organizations; preserve, protect, and expand the CDG’s power and territory; finance the CDG’s operations and enrich its leaders through the collection of drug debts; maintain discipline among its members and associates; and protect CDG members from arrest and prosecution by attempting to silence potential witnesses and retaliating against law enforcement authorities and those assisting law enforcement.”

The Justice Department further noted that Úsuga David served as a high-ranking leader within the CDG from its inception and was its principal leader for more than 10 years.

“During his reign, Úsuga David oversaw all of the CDG’s activities and directed its members to engage in extensive criminal acts, including acts of violence, mandated shutdowns of all business activities and civilian movement within designated regions of Colombia, retaliation against law enforcement authorities and potential witnesses, the exertion of control over drug manufacturing facilities and trafficking routes, and the exportation of cocaine in multi-ton quantities,” the Justice Department stated. “Úsuga David assumed power and territorial control over vast swaths of the Colombian coastline and personally directed members of the CDG to commit acts of violence to reinforce that power. This included violence against civilians. For example, in early 2012, following the death of Úsuga David’s brother in a police raid, Úsuga David ordered a multi-day shutdown be imposed on towns and communities within the CDG’s control. During the strike, CDG members ordered that all businesses remain closed, and that residents stay in their homes. Úsuga David ordered CDG members to execute those who did not adhere to his orders.”

The Feds also noted that Usuga David personally ordered CDG members to commit murders of specific individuals, including the murders of rival drug traffickers and members of the CDG who betrayed him or the organization. For example, Úsuga David ordered the assassinations of multiple individuals who worked for a rival drug trafficking organization.

“Úsuga David regularly directed CDG members to use violence, intimidation, and murder to dissuade law enforcement authorities from performing their duties and to silence potential witnesses. For example, at Úsuga David’s direction, the CDG carried out organized campaigns, referred to as “Plan Pistolas,” to kill Colombian law enforcement and military personnel using military-grade weapons, including grenades, explosives, and assault rifles. Úsuga David offered bounties for the murder of Colombian police officers and military personnel to intimidate law enforcement authorities and prevent them from capturing him or interfering in the CDG’s business. Úsuga David’s organization made numerous attempts to assassinate individuals who were believed to be cooperating with law enforcement.

“Úsuga David was also extensively involved in the narcotics activities that funded the CDG and enabled its power. He oversaw the CDG’s drug trafficking exports and directed a network of “debt collectors” tasked with the enforcement and collection of taxes paid by drug trafficking organizations that operated in regions controlled by the CDG. In addition, Úsuga David controlled cocaine manufacturing facilities and used the CDG’s extensive distribution network to export cocaine independently for his own personal profit.”

The Justice Department stated that the investigation, extradition, and conviction of Úsuga David was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.

“OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks,” the Justice Department stated.   

Prior to his arrest, Usuga David spent a decade evading capture by bribing government officials and partnering with Colombian terrorist organizations. He also moved constantly through a series of rural safe houses and relied on couriers for communication rather than cell phones. He was finally caught by more than 500 Colombian soldiers on October 23, 2021, in the Antioquia province of Colombia, near the Colombia-Panama border.

 

According to press accounts, a Colombian special forces soldier asked a shirtless man hiding in a bush to identify himself. Usuga David identified himself, and said, “Cool it, soldier. Don’t kill me.” 

Colombian President Ivan Duque signed Úsuga David’s extradition to the United States on April 8, 2022. After signing the extradition order, Duque said “It shows nobody is above the Colombian state. 

“He is not only the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world, but he is a murderer of social leaders, abuser of boys, girls and adolescents, a murderer of policemen,” Duque added. 

After Usuga David’s sentencing in August, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram told reporters, “Today’s sentencing demonstrates DEA’s commitment to defeating deadly criminal networks who have no regard for human life. Under Otoniel’s leadership, the Clan del Golfo shipped massive quantities of cocaine into the United States, terrorized the Colombian people, and killed civilians, law enforcement officers, and rivals in Colombia who threatened the organization’s trafficking operations. I commend the men and women of the DEA for their many years of outstanding work that culminated in today’s sentencing.” 

Paul Davis, a long-time contributor to the Journal, also writes the online Threatcon column.