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and George Corcoran. Peroff said these agents were now convinced that Solarik and Silverman had come to Europe primarily to buy narcotics-and that passing counterfeit currency was a secondary goal.

The law enforcement agents except Leyva, who stayed behindtook Peroff to Customs Agent Vernon Pitsker's office where the discussions continued. The talks went on for the next two days, during which time, Peroff said, he was asked to try to penetrate the alleged drug conspiracy (p. 16).

Peroff said he agreed to their request even though it was against his better judgment. But, mindful that he was already deeply involved, he concluded he had no choice but to keep on cooperating. Peroff explained to Senators:

I was very reluctant to do what they had asked because I had never been involved in narcotics before as I considered it a dirty business. I finally consented, mainly because of the fact if I didn't, I felt that I would have a problem in explaining to anyone interested what happened to the counterfeit money (p. 17).

PEROFF BECOMES A DRUG INFORMANT

Once Peroff agreed to work on the drug inquiry, the second Customs Agent, George Corcoran, told Peroff to call Tom Solarik and Conrad Bouchard in Canada. Peroff said he placed the call from Corcoran's desk. He said he arranged to meet with Solarik in Paris the next day. The agents then told him to move into the P.L.M. Hotel St. Jacques in Paris, Peroff said.

Tom Solarik, a man named Kelly Amon and a Russian woman whose name Peroff could not remember met with Peroff at a Chinese restaurant in Paris. Peroff said that a few days later a man named Werner Patek arrived in Paris carrying what Peroff described as "a large sum of money." Peroff said Mike Silverman also arrived in Paris from Montreal.

Peroff said he was now able to confirm for American law enforcement agents that a narcotics deal was about to take place. Peroff said he even "found out where they were hiding the heroin." Peroff said he reported all his findings to a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) agent, Dick Falanga.

Subsequently, French police raided a room in the Rome Hotel in Paris, Peroff said, where they found a heroin cache and arrested Tom Solarik, Mike Silverman, Werner Patek and the Russian woman. Peroff said the next day five Frenchmen were arrested. French authorities. seized 25 kilos of heroin in all, Peroff said.

Peroff said that after the arrests were made BNDD Agent Falanga took him to the American Embassy where he was given a reward of $7,000. This sum, Peroff said, was also to cover his expenses. Peroff said he then took a flight back to Rome (pp. 17, 18).

OFFICIAL REPORTS CONFIRM PEROFF'S TESTIMONY

Richard A. Falanga, a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs agent, wrote an account of the Solarik-Silbermann heroin case that confirmed virtually everything Frank Peroff told the Subcommittee about

the episode, except the amount of heroin seized. Peroff said 25 kilos; Falanga said 10. Copies of the Falanga document, dated February 14, 1973 and identified as BNDD Report of Investigation No. 57490, coupled with an Interpol Report No. 1295 of February 9, 1973, were obtained by the Subcommittee.

The reports said that on February 8, 1973 French police, working with U.S. Customs and BNDD agents, seized 10 kilograms of heroin and arrested Thomas (Tommy) Solarik, Nikolaye (Mike) Silbermann and Werner ("The Kraut") Patek in a raid on Solarik's room in the Hotel Rome at 18 Rue de Constantinople, Paris.

Also arrested in connection with the heroin seizure, the reports said, was a Hungarian woman, Julia Kovacz Szige, identified as being a 30 year old singer from Budapest who was Silbermann's girlfriend. Another man, Kalev Amon, a Turk travelling under a Canadian passport, was suspected of being part of the heroin plot and was believed to have returned to Montreal.

BNDD Agent Falanga referred in his report to Frank Peroff but never by name. Peroff was termed "CI" for confidential informant; or he was called "SXA-3-0004" which was Peroff's identifying number given him by BNDD; or he was referred to simply as "the informant." By whatever name, Frank Peroff, Falanga made clear, was the principal and most often the only source of information law enforcement authorities had to go on in investigating this heroin plot.

Typical of the language used in the Falanga report-and reflective of the dependence of agents on Peroff for information-are these excerpts:

On or about January 15, 1973, SXA-3-0004 provided U.S. Customs with the information that Thomas Solarik and his associate, Nikolaye Silbermann, were planning to travel from Rome, Italy to Paris, France for the purpose of buying a quantity of heroin.

During the period Jan. 20-27 SXA-3-0004 was in periodic contact with the defendants.

On Jan. 27, prior to their departure, the defendants told the informant that the details for the heroin transaction. had been satisfactorily worked out and that they were returning immediately to Montreal, Canada in order to gather the necessary money.

On Feb. 2, 1973, during a joint debriefing of SXA-30004 by BNDD and Customs in Paris, it was learned that Solarik was preparing to return to Paris. The CI placed a long distance telephone call to Solarik's residence in Montreal and was told by Solarik that he (the CI) should remain in Paris.

...SXA-3-0004 contacted Solarik at the Hotel Rome on Feb. 3, as he had been instructed to do, and learned that although Solarik had arrived in Paris alone, he was in the company of one Kalev Amon.

Sunday, Feb. 4. . . Solarik mentioned to the CI that the third partner, known as the "Kraut" would arrive from Montreal with the balance of the money needed to purchase the heroin.

Feb. 6 the CI was told by Solarik that all arrangements concerning the purchase of the heroin had been completed. In addition, the CI learned that the heroin would be transported to Montreal, Canada concealed in canvasses (paintings) which would be bought in Paris. . . Surveillance of Solarik, Silbermann and Patek on Wednesday, Feb. 7 revealed that Solarik and Silbermann were visiting a number of art galleries . . .

. . . information was received from the CI that the group was in possession of a Peugeot 204 which had been rented a week earlier from the Hertz Co. in Paris under the name of Kalev Amon.

...

Feb. 8 Solarik and Silbermann were observed as they exited their hotel and traveled by taxi to an art gallery located nearby. There they picked up a considerable number of canvasses which they then brought directly to the hotel. Approximately one-half hour later, Patek was observed as he left the hotel and walked one block to where the White Peugeot 204 was parked. Arriving at the vehicle Patek opened the trunk and removed a brown leather suitcase which he then carried with him to the hotel. Patek re-entered the hotel and went directly to the room registered to Solarik where he met with Solarik and Silbermann. At this time all three were placed under arrest and the 10 kilograms of heroin, which were discovered in the suitcase being carried by Patek, were seized.

On February 9, 1973-the day after the raid-a cable was sent from the American Embassy in Paris to the Washington headquarters of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and the U.S. Customs. In the cable, a summary of the previous day's heroin arrests was given. The final paragraph of the cable said:

BNDD/Customs Paris will share reward expenses for
SXA-3-0004, each agency contributing $3,000...

PEROFF LEARNS OF THE FLORIDA WARRANTS

At various times in his undercover work in Paris, Peroff said, Frank Leyva of the Secret Service, Richard Falanga of the BNDD and Vernon Pitsker of Customs told him that a routine check had been made on his background and that two warrants were discovered to have been issued on him in Florida for bad checks. The agents also explained that Judy Peroff was also the subject of a Florida warrant for alleged theft of draperies, Peroff said.

Peroff said he told the agents the warrant against his wife "was impossible and probably based on false information" and that the bad check charges against him may have been valid as he had left the United States "in a haphazard way and had presigned checks on my business there." It was possible, he said, that two of the checks could have bounced.

Peroff said the agents told him one check was for $1,000; and the other was $1,200. Peroff said the agents seemed unconcerned about the warrants.

Peroff testified:

It was explained to me [by the agents] that these were not federal warrants and that, in fact, I should not worry about them. This, in effect, was relayed to me over a period of time by Dick Falanga, Vern Pitsker, Frank Leyva and later by Mario Cozzi (pp. 18, 19).

PROGRESS ON THE COUNTERFEIT MONEY CASE

While Peroff served as an informant on the narcotics investigation in Paris, Customs Attache Mario Cozzi went forward on the counterfeit money case. Peroff said that while he was still in Rome he had turned over some of the bogus bills to Cozzi and that Tom Solarik had also taken some. Of the original nearly half million dollars in phony bills, Peroff said, he was now left with about $430,000. The bogus currency was still hidden away in his home at 16 Via Barballo in Rome. Only his wife, Judy, knew where the money was.

Peroff testified that while he was in Paris, Customs Attache Cozzi picked up about $350,000 in counterfeit from Judy Peroff in Rome. Peroff said Cozzi and he had previously agreed to this transfer (pp. 15,16, 18).

With the drug case out of the way and Peroff now back in Rome, he then gave the rest of the counterfeit currency-about $60,000 or $70.000 to Cozzi (p. 18).

Peroff said he had been assured by Frank Leyva of the Secret Service that a public account of the counterfeit seizures would be put out that would make it appear that authorities had come upon the phony money on their own, thereby diverting attention from Peroff. Peroff told Senators that Leyva put out no such cover story, to Peroff's disappointment, as he explained to the Subcommittee:

... Special Agent Leyva was to... protect me from exposure. This was never done. I made several requests to Mario Cozzi in reference to this and made requests of Dick Falanga and Vern Pitsker over the phone. I was unable to reach Leyva. Nothing was ever done on this and I was later forced to use my wits in explaining the situation to [Conrad] Bouchard and Solarik's relatives in Canada. It nearly cost me my life (p. 19).

LEYVA'S ACCOUNT OF PEROFF'S EUROPEAN WORK

Subcommittee investigators sought to verify the accuracy of what Frank Peroff said. At the Subcommittee's request, Frank Leyva, chief of Secret Service operations in Europe, wrote a memorandum January 7, 1974 in which he described his dealings with Peroff. In that memorandum, Leyva confirmed much of what Peroff told Subcommittee investigators and later testified to.

Levva said that on January 21, 1973 Peroff, calling from Rome, telephoned the Secret Service office in Paris to say that he had $500,000 in counterfeit money and that he was trying to obtain $2 million more.

Leyva said that Peroff called from Rome the next day-January 22-and that he, Leyva, told Peroff to take the counterfeit money to Customs Attache Mario Cozzi at the American Embassy in Rome.

Leyva said that on January 25, 1973 Peroff turned over to Cozzi $436,750 in bogus $100 and $50 bills. Leyva said that Peroff reported that the counterfeit money had been given him "on a consignment basis" by Thomas Solarik and Nikolaye Silbermann.

Leyva said that Peroff came to the Secret Service office in Paris February 2, 1973. Leyva said that Peroff asserted that Thomas Solarik and Nikolaye Silbermann were not only counterfeiters; they were also dealing in drugs. Leyva said Peroff was asked to give further information on Solarik and Silbermann to U.S. Customs and the BNDD. Leyva said Peroff gave this information and that

As a result, the suspects were arrested on February 8, 1973 by French authorities in Paris with 10 kilograms of heroin. Leyva said that there were outstanding warrants on Peroff from Florida in connection with two bad checks. Leyva said he learned of these warrants February 6, 1973. He said he raised the subject of warrants with Peroff but he did not tell Peroff that he knew of the two Florida warrants.

Leyva said Peroff denied that any warrants were out for him. Leyva said Peroff acknowledged that there had been warrants issued in Florida but that these warrants were the result of a "misunderstanding." Leyva said Peroff asserted that he had "straightened that out."

MARTIN'S ACCOUNT OF PEROFF'S EUROPEAN WORK

Harris J. Martin, working out of Washington, was in charge of the counterfeit division of the Secret Service when Frank Peroff was a confidential informant in Europe. In a memorandum of January 18, 1974, Martin described the role Peroff had played in the SolarikSilverman-Bouchard counterfeit and narcotics cases.

Martin's account was generally the same as Frank Leyva's. But Martin gave more details. Martin said the counterfeit $50 and $100 bills Peroff brought to the attention of the Secret Service in January of 1973 were identified by Secret Service agents as being part of a series of counterfeit notes being circulated in the Montreal area.

Martin, who had previous experience with Peroff in the John Sydney Barnes case, said he urged Customs Attache Mario Cozzi to work out "very specific arrangements" with Peroff on expense money to be paid him. Martin said the Secret Service agreed that at the completion of the inquiry it would pay the costs of transportation for Peroff and his family from Rome to either San Juan, Puerto Rico or Miami.

Martin said that a Secret Service check for $1,623 was sent February 8, 1973 to Frank Leyva to be given to Frank Peroff as his reward for working on the Solarik-Silverman counterfeit case. This sum, together with the $3,000 each given Peroff by Customs and BNDD, brought his total reward money for his European activities to $7,623.

Martin said the Secret Service traced the counterfeit money Peroff had given them to a plant in Passaic, New Jersey. Martin said the bills were printed there and then shipped to Montreal. He said the Secret Service found that Peroff had no known connection with the manu

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