Hello Bob! , Was crazy all your photos, all those of you in the police, because when I see the pictures, I have the impression of being in a movie with Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry )!!!.
You know we French we had a lot of American films, including films policeman. As a kid, (80), my friends and I have often seen the police arrested addicts. He had even once an inspector general at the time appointed CHINESE, pick all the world, for Marseille was a time your hub for drugs trafficking. Hollywood will even make a movie French Connection
Hi Laurent!
You are absolutely correct. I actually had a contact with the Gendarmerie in Marseille. The heroin from there was called Turkish white. During the seventies, several major busts were made with the flow coming from Marseille, so it dried up for awhile. The French Connection movie was based on one of those major busts. Detective Eddie Egan was the real cop played by Gene Hackman, (In the movie, Popeye Doyle). Since the movie was about him, Eddie actually landed a role in the movie as a uniformed sergeant. I had worked with a couple of N.Y.P.D. narcs on a couple of different cases.
There was a major incident that took place after that bust. The millions of dollars worth of heroin seized from the rocker panels of the Lincoln Continental came up missing from the evidence vault. Lots of New York cops lost their jobs over that and it brought so much attention that Marseille slowed down. Then came the Mexican Brown. That was brought in for several years and then Marseille started back up later.
I remember those days like it was yesterday! Brings back a lot of memories!
Bob