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The Big White Lie
s/t: The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War-An Undercover Odyssey
Michael Levine is a former senior United States law enforcement agent and has been called "America's top undercover cop for 25 years" by 60 Minutes. A 25 year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) he has gained much attention for his criticisms of the CIA and the DEA. He has even gone as far as claiming the CIA created La Corporacion, the "General Motors of cocaine".
As an author, Mike´s books include the New York Times best-seller Deep Cover; national best-seller The Big White Lie; fact-based fiction Triangle of Death and the community anti-drug plan Fight Back.
Michael Levine is a former senior United States law enforcement agent and has been called "America's top undercover cop for 25 years" by 60 Minutes. A 25 year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) he has gained much attention for his criticisms of the CIA and the DEA. He has even gone as far as claiming the CIA created La Corporacion, the "General Motors of cocaine".
As an author, Mike´s books include the New York Times best-seller Deep Cover; national best-seller The Big White Lie; fact-based fiction Triangle of Death and the community anti-drug plan Fight Back.
448 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 1993
About the author
Michael Levine
4 books10 followerswww.MichaelLevinebooks.com
Michael Levine, called “America’s top undercover agent for 25 years” by 60 Minutes, is the New York Times bestselling author of Deep Cover, The Big White Lie and Triangle of Death. , Not only was Levine one of the most decorated undercover agents in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration but he is also one of only a handful of agents that was known for excelling at the most dangerous of all undercover assignments: “Deep Cover.” Levine would travel the globe posing as an American Mafia don armed with nothing but a false passport and a pocket full of cash to conduct face-to-face multi-ton drug trafficking deals with the world’s top drug barons. He beat the odds and lived to become a writer. He is also active as a court qualified expert and trail consultant in Covert Operations, International Narcotics Trafficking, Informant Handling and Police Use-of-force. He is currently lecturing on Undercover Survival Tactics & Informant Handling for the US State Department in Brazil. His New York City radio show can be heard on WBAI 99.5 FM as well as Sticher.com and iTunes.
www.expertwitnessradio.org
Michael Levine, called “America’s top undercover agent for 25 years” by 60 Minutes, is the New York Times bestselling author of Deep Cover, The Big White Lie and Triangle of Death. , Not only was Levine one of the most decorated undercover agents in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration but he is also one of only a handful of agents that was known for excelling at the most dangerous of all undercover assignments: “Deep Cover.” Levine would travel the globe posing as an American Mafia don armed with nothing but a false passport and a pocket full of cash to conduct face-to-face multi-ton drug trafficking deals with the world’s top drug barons. He beat the odds and lived to become a writer. He is also active as a court qualified expert and trail consultant in Covert Operations, International Narcotics Trafficking, Informant Handling and Police Use-of-force. He is currently lecturing on Undercover Survival Tactics & Informant Handling for the US State Department in Brazil. His New York City radio show can be heard on WBAI 99.5 FM as well as Sticher.com and iTunes.
www.expertwitnessradio.org
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 18, 2012
Levine is no leftist. He was a career DEA agent, a true believer in the "war on drugs" whose eyes were opened when he was assigned overseas to Latin America. There he learned that while the war raged at home against users, certain cocaine interests on the supply side were being actively protected, sometimes promoted, by agencies of the United States government including especially the CIA.
Levine is also no great writer. His style is a first person, autobiographical narrative written with spy thrillers in mind. Dialogues are dubiously reconstructed. Still, given the importance of the material and of the testimony of such a witness, the book deserves attention.
P.S. Some years ago a female acquaintance of mine introduced me to her boyfriend who was just back from a military tour in Columbia. After introductions and my asking him about his work down there he launched into an account of how our military units which were supposed to be fighting the drug war were in fact putting down some cocaine cartels (publicized) in order to support others (unpublicized). Being from a community where the externalities of the illegal drug trade are a big problem, he was rather heated about the subject. The congressional revelations about the Reagan adminstration's Iran-Contra, drugs and weapons, dealings had, of course, prepared me a bit for this latest bit of information, but, then, I always have some reserve in believing that our government is really so bad, all evidence notwithstanding. Levine's book substantially confirmed what the soldier told me.
Levine is also no great writer. His style is a first person, autobiographical narrative written with spy thrillers in mind. Dialogues are dubiously reconstructed. Still, given the importance of the material and of the testimony of such a witness, the book deserves attention.
P.S. Some years ago a female acquaintance of mine introduced me to her boyfriend who was just back from a military tour in Columbia. After introductions and my asking him about his work down there he launched into an account of how our military units which were supposed to be fighting the drug war were in fact putting down some cocaine cartels (publicized) in order to support others (unpublicized). Being from a community where the externalities of the illegal drug trade are a big problem, he was rather heated about the subject. The congressional revelations about the Reagan adminstration's Iran-Contra, drugs and weapons, dealings had, of course, prepared me a bit for this latest bit of information, but, then, I always have some reserve in believing that our government is really so bad, all evidence notwithstanding. Levine's book substantially confirmed what the soldier told me.
July 16, 2012
This is THE classic Must-Read book on what went wrong with the so-called "War on Drugs" -- and it's written by a DEA star who was right there in the trenches, watching it all go to hell and back. Very serious stuff, but very seriously recommended.
It's on a Need-to-know basis and you NEED TO KNOW.....
April 16, 2007
Makes you believe that the CIA created the current drug epidemic in a misguided, messianic, counter-productive, and ultimately futile effort to stop communism in Central and South America.
July 16, 2012
This is THE classic Must-Read book on what went wrong with the so-called "War on Drugs" -- and it's written by a DEA star who was right there in the trenches, watching it all go to hell and back. Very serious stuff, but very seriously recommended.
It's on a Need-to-know basis and you NEED TO KNOW.....
October 26, 2009
Mr Levine takes the reader from the point of view of a gung ho DEA agent to oen who has seen the actual result of the drug policy of the US and its corrupt influence
May 2, 2023
BEFORE THERE WAS GARY WEBB, THERE WAS MICHAEL LEVINE…
Former undercover drug agent Michael Levine wrote in the ‘Author’s Note’ of this 1993 book, “The story you are about to read is true… I have reconstructed the incidents, events, and conversations I was party to... A good portion of the evidence gathered in Operation Hun… were mysteriously destroyed by the Drug Enforcement Administration… The Prologue is a fictionalized dramatization of a meeting and transaction that actually occurred and is based on my personal knowledge of all the parties, informants’ statements, and statements made to me by drug dealers during my deep cover assignment in Operation Hun. The ‘suits’ are the drug war bureaucrats---the armchair generals who direct the drug war from behind desks and in front of television cameras, and for whom for the most part are more concerned with their own careers and images than the lives of the men and women they command.”
He states in the Introduction, “Senator John Kerry, after hearing evidence of our own government’s massive involvement in drug trafficking during his Iran-Contra Senate hearings… said that ‘…[our covert agencies] had converted themselves into channels for the flow of drugs into the United States.’ He noted with astonishment that while American taxpayers were taxed more than $100 billion to stop drugs, their own government was complicit in flooding their country with them… [Yet] not a single U.S. Official was ever officially charged with violating our drug laws. Evidence… was heard by Kerry’s committee in secret session and will never be revealed to the American people. This secrecy was allegedly for reasons of national security. After you read this book, you will know that this reason could not be true; more damage was done to our national security by those responsible for this falsehood and the flood of drugs that has followed than any foreign enemy…
“In these pages I will lead you through the deep cover odyssey that I lived for six years. You will… learn the real reasons behind our cocaine and crack epidemic---the ones your elected representatives hid from you behind closed doors… I will give you a … look at how the CIA perverts the American justice system by protecting drug dealers and murderers from prosecution… at how a beautiful South American woman known as the ‘Queen of Cocaine’ [Sonia Atala], responsible for shipping more cocaine into the United States than any one person I had ever known of---was able to seduce the CIA into destroying her competitors, protecting her from prosecution as she sold drugs to Americans, and paying her a small fortune in taxpayer dollars for her ‘services’; at how the only ruling government of Bolivia… that ever wanted to help DEA defeat their drug barons was paid for its faith in our sincerity with torture and death at the hands of CIA-sponsored paramilitary terrorists….
“These lies have caused the worst deterioration in American life and family values in our history… and two generations of brain-damaged crack babies whom sociologists tell us are destined to become conscienceless sociopaths. And none of those responsible for these lies has gone to jail…”
He recounts the ‘Cocaine Coup’ in Bolivia: “it was clear that the primary goal of the of the revolution was the protection and control of Bolivia’s cocaine industry. All major drug dealers in prison were released, after which they joined the neo-Nazis in their rampage… Government employees were tortured and shot, the women tied and repeatedly raped by the paramilitaries and the freed traffickers… The Cocaine Coup had tuned Sonia Atala into … beyond any doubt the biggest drug dealer in the world.” (Pg. 58-60) Later, he adds, “If the Cocaine Coup were part of a worldwide plot by the CIA to throw the election to Reagan, Carter would not have played into their hands any better. His administration … ordered DEA to close its offices there. A State Department spokesman called Bolivia the ‘first government in history to be taken over by drug traffickers.’ Arce-Gomez, the new Bolivian Minister of Interior… promised to ‘flood’ the United States with cocaine, and then made good his promise. It was truly the beginning of the cocaine explosion of the 1980s.” (Pg. 76)
He recounts, “Ronald Reagan had been elected President and redeclared the war on drugs. The media suddenly discovered that the cocaine economy was taking over South America and were ‘astonished’ to learn that Bolivia was actually run by drug dealers… The media coverage was so incomplete that anyone watching it would come away with the impression that our leaders were really trying to win the drug war.” (Pg. 102)
He observes, “I had come to South America full of hatred for those druglords… I had laid my life on the line believing in the virtue of the drug war. I had been betrayed. The war on drugs was only an illusion that I had been fool enough to believe in… I had been one of those for whom being a DEA agent had become their reason for living… Perhaps we kept at it because we never doubted that what we were doing was right; that we were putting evil people in cages… and that in the end, the rightness of what we were doing would prevail… But the war I now found myself engaged in wea one I had never prepared myself for. I was on my way to … work among the very people who were trying to steal my reason for living… and I wasn’t sure I knew how to stop them.” (Pg. 124)
He reports a conversation with a man he calls ‘The Rabbi’ [“who was one suit who had the respect of a lot of street agents’; pg. 51], who told him, “The DEA doesn’t function in a vacuum… maintaining our strength and defending our way of life are priorities that come before everything… Especially the drug war… The point is, Michael, we cannot let them [the communists] take Bolivia, no matter what… [In] countries like Bolivia … drug crops feed a lot of people. These people have to keep eating… or they become vulnerable to change. And ‘change’ in our hemisphere is something America must keep a tight control over.” (Pg. 390-391)
He records, “Papo Mejia’s drones were found guilty on all charges. Not long after the trial, the suits began the cover-up. In violation of a DA and Department of Justice regulations, administrative procedures were begun with the intention of destroying all evidence and closing Operation Hun. That was how the special interests in our government wanted the operation to end, for as long as that evidence existed and the spotlight was on Sonia, their secret was in danger… If it was up to the suits, no one else would have been arrested in Operation Hun.” (Pg. 402)
He asserts, “From the Bolivian point of view the whole drug war was a choreographed show run for the benefit of visiting U.S. politicians and media for the purpose of keeping American aid dollars flowing. There were also those disquieting rumors that at least one of the biggest cocaine labs… was run by the CIA to finance covert South American operations like the Contras. Some eyewitnesses claimed to have seen Oliver North, American hero, at [this] lab.” (Pg. 455)
He summarizes, “the Columbian economy was far too dependent on drugs to make real war against coca… drug money was the only thing repaying the huge debts owed by countries like Columbia, Bolivia, and Peru to already nervous U.S. bankers… the new offensive in Columbia was turning out to be a godsend to American and Columbian politicians… Americans were once again told they were winning the drug war, and President Bush got $9 billion … toward the new militarized war on drugs. For the American politicians who had supported the militarized drug war, as long as there were action headlines they could keep winning elections. For the drug war bureaucrats, there was more funding and bigger empires.” (Pg. 456-457)
He concludes, “So with the help of American bureaucrats and gutless politicians, they put on a … show to demonstrate to the American taxpayers how they committed they are to our war on drugs… Yet incredibly, after almost three decades of international cooperation and statistic-spouting politicians who tell us again and again how we are now ‘turning the corner in the drug war,’ drugs keep pouring across our borders at an ever-increasing rate. But … there is hope on the horizon… People are looking for the truth about the drug war, and when they find it, that will be the doom of the Underground Empire.” (Pg. 463-464)
This book will be “must reading” for those studying the ‘drug \war,’ and related topics.
Former undercover drug agent Michael Levine wrote in the ‘Author’s Note’ of this 1993 book, “The story you are about to read is true… I have reconstructed the incidents, events, and conversations I was party to... A good portion of the evidence gathered in Operation Hun… were mysteriously destroyed by the Drug Enforcement Administration… The Prologue is a fictionalized dramatization of a meeting and transaction that actually occurred and is based on my personal knowledge of all the parties, informants’ statements, and statements made to me by drug dealers during my deep cover assignment in Operation Hun. The ‘suits’ are the drug war bureaucrats---the armchair generals who direct the drug war from behind desks and in front of television cameras, and for whom for the most part are more concerned with their own careers and images than the lives of the men and women they command.”
He states in the Introduction, “Senator John Kerry, after hearing evidence of our own government’s massive involvement in drug trafficking during his Iran-Contra Senate hearings… said that ‘…[our covert agencies] had converted themselves into channels for the flow of drugs into the United States.’ He noted with astonishment that while American taxpayers were taxed more than $100 billion to stop drugs, their own government was complicit in flooding their country with them… [Yet] not a single U.S. Official was ever officially charged with violating our drug laws. Evidence… was heard by Kerry’s committee in secret session and will never be revealed to the American people. This secrecy was allegedly for reasons of national security. After you read this book, you will know that this reason could not be true; more damage was done to our national security by those responsible for this falsehood and the flood of drugs that has followed than any foreign enemy…
“In these pages I will lead you through the deep cover odyssey that I lived for six years. You will… learn the real reasons behind our cocaine and crack epidemic---the ones your elected representatives hid from you behind closed doors… I will give you a … look at how the CIA perverts the American justice system by protecting drug dealers and murderers from prosecution… at how a beautiful South American woman known as the ‘Queen of Cocaine’ [Sonia Atala], responsible for shipping more cocaine into the United States than any one person I had ever known of---was able to seduce the CIA into destroying her competitors, protecting her from prosecution as she sold drugs to Americans, and paying her a small fortune in taxpayer dollars for her ‘services’; at how the only ruling government of Bolivia… that ever wanted to help DEA defeat their drug barons was paid for its faith in our sincerity with torture and death at the hands of CIA-sponsored paramilitary terrorists….
“These lies have caused the worst deterioration in American life and family values in our history… and two generations of brain-damaged crack babies whom sociologists tell us are destined to become conscienceless sociopaths. And none of those responsible for these lies has gone to jail…”
He recounts the ‘Cocaine Coup’ in Bolivia: “it was clear that the primary goal of the of the revolution was the protection and control of Bolivia’s cocaine industry. All major drug dealers in prison were released, after which they joined the neo-Nazis in their rampage… Government employees were tortured and shot, the women tied and repeatedly raped by the paramilitaries and the freed traffickers… The Cocaine Coup had tuned Sonia Atala into … beyond any doubt the biggest drug dealer in the world.” (Pg. 58-60) Later, he adds, “If the Cocaine Coup were part of a worldwide plot by the CIA to throw the election to Reagan, Carter would not have played into their hands any better. His administration … ordered DEA to close its offices there. A State Department spokesman called Bolivia the ‘first government in history to be taken over by drug traffickers.’ Arce-Gomez, the new Bolivian Minister of Interior… promised to ‘flood’ the United States with cocaine, and then made good his promise. It was truly the beginning of the cocaine explosion of the 1980s.” (Pg. 76)
He recounts, “Ronald Reagan had been elected President and redeclared the war on drugs. The media suddenly discovered that the cocaine economy was taking over South America and were ‘astonished’ to learn that Bolivia was actually run by drug dealers… The media coverage was so incomplete that anyone watching it would come away with the impression that our leaders were really trying to win the drug war.” (Pg. 102)
He observes, “I had come to South America full of hatred for those druglords… I had laid my life on the line believing in the virtue of the drug war. I had been betrayed. The war on drugs was only an illusion that I had been fool enough to believe in… I had been one of those for whom being a DEA agent had become their reason for living… Perhaps we kept at it because we never doubted that what we were doing was right; that we were putting evil people in cages… and that in the end, the rightness of what we were doing would prevail… But the war I now found myself engaged in wea one I had never prepared myself for. I was on my way to … work among the very people who were trying to steal my reason for living… and I wasn’t sure I knew how to stop them.” (Pg. 124)
He reports a conversation with a man he calls ‘The Rabbi’ [“who was one suit who had the respect of a lot of street agents’; pg. 51], who told him, “The DEA doesn’t function in a vacuum… maintaining our strength and defending our way of life are priorities that come before everything… Especially the drug war… The point is, Michael, we cannot let them [the communists] take Bolivia, no matter what… [In] countries like Bolivia … drug crops feed a lot of people. These people have to keep eating… or they become vulnerable to change. And ‘change’ in our hemisphere is something America must keep a tight control over.” (Pg. 390-391)
He records, “Papo Mejia’s drones were found guilty on all charges. Not long after the trial, the suits began the cover-up. In violation of a DA and Department of Justice regulations, administrative procedures were begun with the intention of destroying all evidence and closing Operation Hun. That was how the special interests in our government wanted the operation to end, for as long as that evidence existed and the spotlight was on Sonia, their secret was in danger… If it was up to the suits, no one else would have been arrested in Operation Hun.” (Pg. 402)
He asserts, “From the Bolivian point of view the whole drug war was a choreographed show run for the benefit of visiting U.S. politicians and media for the purpose of keeping American aid dollars flowing. There were also those disquieting rumors that at least one of the biggest cocaine labs… was run by the CIA to finance covert South American operations like the Contras. Some eyewitnesses claimed to have seen Oliver North, American hero, at [this] lab.” (Pg. 455)
He summarizes, “the Columbian economy was far too dependent on drugs to make real war against coca… drug money was the only thing repaying the huge debts owed by countries like Columbia, Bolivia, and Peru to already nervous U.S. bankers… the new offensive in Columbia was turning out to be a godsend to American and Columbian politicians… Americans were once again told they were winning the drug war, and President Bush got $9 billion … toward the new militarized war on drugs. For the American politicians who had supported the militarized drug war, as long as there were action headlines they could keep winning elections. For the drug war bureaucrats, there was more funding and bigger empires.” (Pg. 456-457)
He concludes, “So with the help of American bureaucrats and gutless politicians, they put on a … show to demonstrate to the American taxpayers how they committed they are to our war on drugs… Yet incredibly, after almost three decades of international cooperation and statistic-spouting politicians who tell us again and again how we are now ‘turning the corner in the drug war,’ drugs keep pouring across our borders at an ever-increasing rate. But … there is hope on the horizon… People are looking for the truth about the drug war, and when they find it, that will be the doom of the Underground Empire.” (Pg. 463-464)
This book will be “must reading” for those studying the ‘drug \war,’ and related topics.
September 24, 2012
This book outlines very clearly the drug issues of the early 80's and today. It is crazy how the CIA and the DEA would allow drugs to come into our country to protect CIA assets, not to mention US Tax payer $$$'s and lives.
I want to believe that while the facts of this book are true, some of it has been sensationalized by Levine because he was the one going through all of this. Unfortunately, I believe that this type of stuff went on and still goes on in our world today.
I want to believe that while the facts of this book are true, some of it has been sensationalized by Levine because he was the one going through all of this. Unfortunately, I believe that this type of stuff went on and still goes on in our world today.
March 16, 2016
Wow, what an amazing story from an amazing man. You can really feel the frustration of Mr. Levine in the pages as he describes the situation. It was hard for me to keep track of who was a good guy and who was a bad guy, but I think that is the whole point of the book anyway. I would have preferred the book to be lighter on details and shorter. I think the story could have been told in a more succinct way. however it was eye-opening and I feel much more educated that prior to reading.
December 21, 2010
My other half wanted to read this book, that is until he saw how formidable it was—so I read it instead. This is crucial information if you don’t mind slogging through some very dense and very dry text.
March 19, 2026
Was This Book "Privished?"
Note that this review is 4 years after publication... four years of silence.
A book that tears the mask off the fraudulent "War on Drugs". It exposes the growth of the war from two (highly mutually destructive) agencies in 1971 (Customs and DEA) to 55 and counting. It describes very extensive, high-volume CIA involvement in smuggling itself to obtain unaccountable funding.
It documents the cost of the fraudulent war. In dollars misspent, in innocent lives lost through raids gone amok and witnesses silenced, in the credibility of government agencies and the news media, and in the harm resulting from the 5-fold increase (his figures) in drug usage during the time $1 trillion has been wasted in the fight.
Recommend finding this book used or in a library, or reading Levine's chapter in "Into the Buzzsaw" by Kristina Borjesson.
Note that this review is 4 years after publication... four years of silence.
A book that tears the mask off the fraudulent "War on Drugs". It exposes the growth of the war from two (highly mutually destructive) agencies in 1971 (Customs and DEA) to 55 and counting. It describes very extensive, high-volume CIA involvement in smuggling itself to obtain unaccountable funding.
It documents the cost of the fraudulent war. In dollars misspent, in innocent lives lost through raids gone amok and witnesses silenced, in the credibility of government agencies and the news media, and in the harm resulting from the 5-fold increase (his figures) in drug usage during the time $1 trillion has been wasted in the fight.
Recommend finding this book used or in a library, or reading Levine's chapter in "Into the Buzzsaw" by Kristina Borjesson.
April 22, 2020
Really excellent non-fiction account of the drug war, guaranteed to make you angry with the elements of our government who, according to the author, not only don't want to win it, they're on the other side.
September 20, 2018
An excellent look at the war on drugs and what a failure it is.
April 19, 2026
The Big White Lie was a really interesting look into the inner workings of the DEA, and how they handled undercover drug operations in South America during the 1980s. The story is told in a thriller-style through the eyes of Micheal Levine, and it's split up into 2 parts. The first part of the narrative focuses on Micheal Levine's motivation, and his time stationed in Argentina, and the second part focuses on Operation Hun, an undercover operation undertaken in partnership with Sonia Atala, a drug kingpin known as the "Queen with the Snow Crown".
I like the way Micheal Levine told his story, and I was disgusted by the many coverups the government perpetrated in an effort to protect special interest groups and the covert operations of some 3 letter agencies.
The American people were lied to and deceived. The War on Drugs was a government operation shrouded in secrecy, and the truth is far from what the American people were told.
I feel like even today, in 2025, many people are unaware of the role 3-letter agencies played in the drug epidemics of the 80s and 90s. In fact, the role that these agencies played in the proliferation of drugs in our communities that exists, to this day!
I hope that we get more accountability and that books like these continue to come out. As a proud American, I am disillusioned and disappointed with the actions taken by the government.
I like the way Micheal Levine told his story, and I was disgusted by the many coverups the government perpetrated in an effort to protect special interest groups and the covert operations of some 3 letter agencies.
The American people were lied to and deceived. The War on Drugs was a government operation shrouded in secrecy, and the truth is far from what the American people were told.
I feel like even today, in 2025, many people are unaware of the role 3-letter agencies played in the drug epidemics of the 80s and 90s. In fact, the role that these agencies played in the proliferation of drugs in our communities that exists, to this day!
I hope that we get more accountability and that books like these continue to come out. As a proud American, I am disillusioned and disappointed with the actions taken by the government.
July 31, 2016
Not what I expected. From the description, it seemed that the book would be a more in depth expose focused on the CIA. It turned out that the book was focused on the DEA's sabotage of the author's career. More specifically, the majority of the story involved a single undercover operation. The story was well written, but I was just expecting more.
February 24, 2017
this inside account exposes the CIA as the world's biggest mafia and drug trafficker
January 31, 2018
This book was great. An inside view of th hypocrisy of the U.S. government and their complicity in the corruption of nations.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews