May 10, 1973.-A Federal Grand Jury in New York indicted former Attorney General John Mitchell, former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans and financier Robert Vesco in connection with charges that Mitchell and Stans tried to influence a Securities and Exchange Commission action against Vesco in return for Vesco's $250,000 campaign contribution to President Nixon's re-election.

May 10, 1973.-Douglas A. McCombs, a Senior Customs Narcotics. Agent, working out of the Washington Headquarters of the Service, wrote a memorandum in which he discussed the possibility that Conrad Bouchard might flee Canada and, at the same time, attempt to carry through on the massive heroin deal. McCombs pointed out in his memorandum that he and the RCMP thought it quite likely that Bouchard would enlist Frank Peroff and the Lear jet in both the heroin plot and the escape effort.

May 13, 1973.-Frank Peroff was directed to return to Montreal. He checked in at the Airport Hilton Hotel where he met with Cpl. Claude Savoie of the RCMP.

May 14, 1973.-Peroff checked into the Seaway Motor Inn in downtown Montreal and was paid a visit by two of Conrad Bouchard's associates, Louis Cote and Claude Lemoyne. The three men discussed the possibility of smuggling into North America a large shipment of hashish.

May 15, 1973.-Claude Lemoyne again talked over the possibility of a hashish smuggling effort and stated that the origin of the hashish would be Pakistan.

May 15, 1973.—Customs Agent Sidney Bowers, in Montreal, entered a notation in his diary in which he said that Special Agent Douglas McCombs was opposed to the hashish deal.

May 16, 1973.-Bowers noted in his diary that it was the judgment of drug agents of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that Peroff be taken out of Montreal and that he was to close out his involvement at that time in the proposed hashish operation.

May 16, 1973.-Peroff met with Bouchard in Bouchard's home and demanded $30,000 in advance. The advance money was to be used to make improvements on Peroff's Lear jet. Bouchard was outraged at this demand for advance money but later calmed down and said while he could not raise $30,000 he might be able to come up with $10,000. The Bowers diary entry noted that Bouchard warned Peroff that he could not walk out on the hashish deal and that "the Italians aren't going to let you back out."

May 17, 1973.-Peroff waited at the Seaway Motel for further instructions from Bouchard but he received no direction.

May 18, 1973.-Bouchard, Lemoyne and Cote came to Peroff's room at the Seaway and took him to a tavern where Peroff was confronted by the nephew of Tom Solarik. The nephew accused Peroff of being the police informant in the arrest of his uncle. Peroff denied the charge and persuaded the Solarik relative that he had not been a government informant in Paris.

May 19, 1973.-Peroff abruptly left Montreal and returned to New York, telling the Bouchard group that he needed to check on the repair work being made on his Lear jet.

May 21, 1973.-Peroff made telephone contact with Bouchard. Bouchard said the hashish plan had been cancelled. Bouchard said the original proposal involving 100 kilograms of heroin had now been reactivated.

May 21, 1973.-Bowers noted in his diary that the Bouchard group had discarded the hashish plan and had returned to their original concept of bringing in a large shipment of heroin.

May 22, 1973.-Peroff again spoke on the telephone with Bouchard. Bouchard said he now envisioned a shipment as large as 200 kilograms of heroin. Bouchard said the shipment would be executed within the next two weeks.

May 23, 1973.-The Bowers diary noted that Bouchard was now proposing that a heroin transaction was to be executed in early June "for twice original amount." The diary entry also recorded that Bouchard wanted Peroff to contact a New York hoodlum named James Episcopia, also known as Jimmy Legs. The purpose of the proposed meeting with Jimmy Legs was to work out an arrangement whereby Bouchard and Peroff could use Legs in obtaining sufficient funds to finance a large heroin transaction. Jimmy Legs was a known trafficker in stolen and bogus securities as well as illicit drugs.

June 26, 1973.-Customs Agent Octavio Pinol, working out of the San Juan office, received a phone call in which he was instructed by Customs officials that Peroff would remain an informant for the Customs Service after the transfer of narcotics functions to the new Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

June 28, 1973.-Customs Agent Octavio Pinol sent two cassette recordings of telephone conversations between Peroff and Conrad Bouchard to Richard Dos Santos in New York.

June 28, 1973.-The Puerto Rico Telephone Company cut off telephone service in Frank Peroff's home. Also on this date, Octavio Pinol took back from Peroff Customs tape recording equipment with which Peroff had been recording his telephone calls with Conrad Bouchard. Pinol had the telephone service cut off due to the nearly $3,000 in telephone bills Peroff had run up. Pinol took away the tape recording equipment because his supervisor, Jesus Martinez, told him to in light of the imminent transfer of narcotics functions from Customs to DEA. June 29, 1973.-John O. Brockman, Acting Assistant Commissioner in the Office of Investigations at the Customs Service, sent a wire to Customs offices in Miami and New York. The Brockman cable authorized payment of $500 for the Peroffs' rent for June and authorized the San Juan Customs office to pay the bill for the installation of a telephone in Peroff's apartment and to pay for Peroff's official phone calls. Brockman directed New York Customs office to pay Peroff per diem of $25.00 a day for 38 days-for a total of $950.00 for the period of May 24 to June 30, 1973. Another $148.38 was to be paid Peroff by the New York office for the costs involved in Peroff's having taken "suspects" for drinks and dinner and, in addition, for several telephone calls Peroff placed. Brockman's cable went on to say that "continuing delays" in the Bouchard inquiry meant that the investigation would not be completed by July 1, 1973 so that, as of that date, the case would be taken over by the DEA.

Mid or Late June of 1973.-Peroff, in a telephone conversation with his control agent, Richard Dos Santos, said that he could provide in

formation about Robert Vesco that might prove useful to the Federal Government. Dos Santos discouraged Peroff from this pursuit on the grounds that it might entail entrapment.

June 29 through July 16, 1973.-Frank Peroff continued to communicate with Conrad Bouchard about the proposed heroin transaction over the telephone, but Peroff was not able to make any of these phone calls from his own apartment and had to use the phone of his neighbors, pay phones or phones provided him at DEA offices in San

Juan.

July 1, 1973.-Under Reorganization Act No. 2 the Federal Government consolidated all of its narcotics functions in one agency, the new Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA, located within the Justice Department, took over virtually all the narcotics enforcement activities of the Customs Service, the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs and Narcotics (BNDD), the Office of National Narcotics Intelligence and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement. Frank Peroff, however, remained a Customs informant, receiving his expense money through the Customs Service but his directions were given by DEA agents. His control agent, Richard Dos Santos, was transferred to DEA and continued to give Peroff guidance.

July 1, 1973.-John J. O'Neill, DEA Group Supervisor, took over supervision of the Bouchard heroin inquiry as it related to the activities of Frank Peroff, the informant. Richard Dos Santos, transferred to DEA, was assigned to work under the supervision of O'Neill.

July 6, 1973.-From the apartment of his neighbor, Frank Peroff had a telephone conversation with Conrad Bouchard in which Bouchard told Peroff that Robert Vesco would finance the heroin deal. Peroff, who had turned over his government tape recording equipment to Octavio Pinol, was able to tape the conversation with recording equipment which Peroff himself owned.

Early July 1973.-Group Supervisor John J. O'Neill in a telephone conversation with Frank Peroff heard for the first time the July 6 tape of the conversation between Peroff and Bouchard in which Bouchard asserted that fugitive financier Robert Vesco intended to finance the $300,000 needed to purchase the 100 kilograms of heroin in Europe. Dos Santos testified that upon hearing this tape John J. O'Neill became excited and enthusiastic about the prospect of arresting Robert Vesco. O'Neill, however, testified that he did not, from the very beginning, have any confidence in the July 6 tape in which Bouchard implicated Vesco. O'Neill testified that the reference to Vesco was simply a ploy to keep Peroff interested and close by should Bouchard require the services of Peroff's Lear jet to escape Canada rather than face a long prison term.

July 7, 1973.-Peroff called Bouchard twice. He testified he taped both conversations on a single Scotch brand cassette. In both these conversations, Peroff testified, he tried to learn from Bouchard of any new developments in the heroin plot. Peroff said he made these calls from his neighbor's phone, again taping the calls on his own recording equipment.

July 8, 1973.-Peroff went to DEA offices in San Juan and at about 11 p.m. had a telephone conversation with Conrad Bouchard. Bouchard told Peroff that the planning meeting regarding the heroin transaction had been held and that Peroff was to go to Costa Rica and pick

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up $300,000 from Norman LeBlanc. LeBlanc is a close associate of Robert Vesco.

July 9, 1973.-Peroff reported to his control agent, Richard Dos Santos, about his four previous phone calls with Conrad Bouchard and about the purported involvement of Robert Vesco and Norman LeBlanc in the heroin transaction.

July 10, 1973.-Peroff, Dos Santos and Group Supervisor John J. O'Neill had a three-way conversation in which O'Neill raised the possibility that Peroff travel to Costa Rica as Bouchard had directed, but that he go commercial and not in the private jet. Peroff protested that his only involvement in the heroin inquiry stemmed from the access he would have to a private jet and that he would not wish to go to Costa Rica aboard a commercial airline.

July 10, 1973.-Following the three-way conversations with Dos Santos and O'Neill, Peroff again made contact with Bouchard. In this conversation Bouchard told him that Giuseppe Cotroni was the "mastermind" behind the heroin transaction. Peroff said Bouchard explained that Norman LeBlanc and Cotroni had been long time associates and were close friends.

July 11, 1973.-Peroff had another three-way telephone conversation with Dos Santos and O'Neill. In this conversation Peroff explained to the two men the substance of his previous day's talk with Bouchard. O'Neill now insisted that Peroff fly to Costa Rica in a commercial airline. Peroff refused. Peroff also complained about the amount of money he was receiving for expenses. O'Neill testified that the first time he had discussed the possibility of Peroff flying to Costa Rica in a commercial airplane was not July 9 or 10 but July 16, the day before Peroff left Puerto Rico to return to New York.

July 16, 1973.-DEA Agent Sidney Bowers entered in his diary for this day that Dos Santos had told him that Frank Peroff was troubled when he learned that Vesco would finance the heroin transaction. Bowers said that Dos Santos told him that what scared Peroff about the possible Vesco role was that "there might be security problems with Vesco's reported contacts in the government." Peroff feared that leaks inside the government would lead to his discovery as being an informant and that he would then be in danger for his life.

July 16, 1973.-DEA Agent Bowers asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police if they wanted Frank Peroff to return to Montreal. Bowers testified that he made this inquiry because Richard Dos Santos asked him to. Bowers testified that the RCMP did not want Peroff to return to Montreal. Bowers said that he also objected to the idea of Peroff returning to Montreal.

July 17, 1973-Wayne Valentine, Assistant Director of the DEA New York Region, sent a wire to the Puerto Rico DEA office in which travel was authorized for Frank Peroff from San Juan to New York City. Peroff was referred to in that telegram as code number D-73-1. The Valentine cable directed that the Puerto Rico office provide an air ticket-in the form of a government travel request-to New York to Peroff and also give him "$50.00 for expenses incurred by informant in the use of the telephone."

July 17, 1973.-The Peroff family arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. They were met by Richard Dos Santos and another agent named Dennis Perry. An argument ensued as to the correctness

of Peroff having brought his family with him to New York. The argument resolved nothing and Dos Santos and Perry left the airport, leaving the Peroff family alone in the airline terminal. Before leaving the Peroffs Dos Santos gave Peroff $1,093.38 as payment for expense money owned Peroff. Peroff went to a pay phone and called Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox. He was unable to get through to Cox. Peroff then took his family to the nearby Hilton Inn at the JFK Airport where they registered under their true name.

July 17, 1973. From the Hilton Inn, Peroff testified, he tried to call Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Customs Commissioner Vernon Acree and Acting Assistant Commissioner for Investigations at Customs John Brockman. It was Peroff's intention to complain to these officials that DEA agents were standing in the way of the Bouchard investigation. Peroff testified that he was unable to get through to any of these three officials.

July 18, 19, or 20, 1973.-Peroff called the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, and spoke with John R. Wing, who was prosecuting the Mitchell-Stans case. Peroff gave Wing details concerning his involvement as an undercover informant and his utilization by DEA in the Bouchard inquiry.

July 18, 19, or 20, 1973.-Assistant U.S. Attorney John R. Wing, upon receiving a telephone call from Peroff regarding the Bouchard inquiry, contacted Gerald Feffer of the narcotics unit of the U.S. Attorney's office, Southern District of New York. Wing told Feffer about the call and the Bouchard inquiry. Feffer, or an associate of Feffer, contacted Arthur Viviani, Assistant Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. Viviani called Wing for more details. Wing told Viviani that he did not know the name of the person who called him-at that point no one in the U.S. Attorney's office knew Peroff's name or how to get hold of him, Viviani testified that he was familiar with the names Cotroni and Bouchard and that, when he concluded his conversation with Wing, he contacted Wayne T. Valentine, the Assistant Regional Director of DEA for the New York Region. Viviani testified that he told Valentine about the call Wing had received and gave Valentine the names Cotroni, Bouchard and Vesco. Viviani said Valentine recognized the names as being subjects in a DEA inquiry in which DEA Agent Richard Dos Santos was working. Viviani testified that Valentine stated that the caller was Dos Santos' informant, Frank Peroff.

July 18, 1973.-Peroff placed a call to the White House and asked for J. Fred Buzhardt. At that time Buzhardt was Special Consultant to President Nixon. Buzhardt was working on matters related to the Watergate litigation. White House switchboard operators referred Peroff to a Secret Service agent, Peter Grant, who was assigned to the White House detail of protecting the President and other officials. Grant listened to Peroff's account of the Bouchard inquiry and how he, Peroff, felt that he was being mistreated by DEA officials and to Peroff's assertions that the DEA was not properly pursuing the Bouchard-Vesco investigation. Grant called DEA Agent Morris H. Davis, Jr. Davis took the information from Grant regarding Peroff's assertions. Davis passed this information to the DEA Regional Official in New York. He spoke to a DEA official whose name he could not remember.