Heroin had become a $400 billion business, with two hundred million users throughout the world.23 The CIA’s share of this business was used to finance the mujahideen in Afghanistan, the guerrilla forces in Angola, the Contras in Nicaragua, the puppet regimes in South America, and the death squads in El Salvador.24 Paul E. Helliwell’s brainstorm had produced an intelligence agency with seemingly limitless funds for seemingly endless operations.
