Damned from Memory

Damned from Memory, a confidential expose by an ex -narcotics agent traces the links from drug transit zones to the streets of the east coast, with straight lines to the White House, State Department, and the CIA following the truth; however inconvenient it is for a Washington heavyweight photographed at a fundraiser where illegal contributions were amassed from persons with ties to drug trafficking. The revealing, action-laced book shows how drug profits fuel election campaigns on both sides of the U.S. - Dominican Republic border. It’s the kind of true story that Hollywood brought to the screen in the real-life of “Serpico,” but on an international stage, revealing current administration ties to narco-traffickers.

Damned from Memory, a confidential expose by an ex -narcotics agent traces the links from drug transit zones to the streets of the east coast, with straight lines to the White House, State Department, and the CIA following the truth; however inconvenient it is for a Washington heavyweight photographed at a fundraiser where illegal contributions were amassed from persons with ties to drug trafficking. The revealing, action-laced book shows how drug profits fuel election campaigns on both sides of the U.S. - Dominican Republic border. It’s the kind of true story that Hollywood brought to the screen in the real-life of “Serpico,” but on an international stage, revealing current administration ties to narco-traffickers. Despite being warned to “take it on the chin” by the Attorney General, and supporting statements by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Ver.) on the floor in Congress, my testimony at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence created a thunderstorm. Supporters like Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News, and Joe Occhipinti of the National Police Defense Foundation respond; however my reputation and career were destroyed as various agencies, under apparent direction from the CIA, pulled every trick in their effort to punish me. A trusted informant was firebombed. The most audacious was that my police K-9 repelled an intruder, leaving a bloody trail on my kitchen floor after the ‘black bagger’ broke in searching through my files and attempted to plant a bug. I was forced to file a retaliatory lawsuit. I was censored by the Congreso Nacional de la República Dominicana. Parts of this shocking story were published in various major national magazines, and on the web, but now this suppressed story has come to life in my book – all backed by documentary evidence including web sites, court documents, news clippings, etc.

Coming from a Irish-Catholic, blue collar family in southwest Philadelphia, I joined the Philadelphia Police Department in 1977, made the K-9 unit three years later, then the Philadelphia Highway Patrol Line Squad four years after that. I moved to the Office of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigations Task Force in 1992 while still with the PD, and finally putting my foot though the door in 1995 as a Narc. I was in their employ throughout the period covered in “Damned from Memory”. "I spent most of my life as an undercover narcotic agent. Take it from me, John "Sparky" McLaughlin is one of a very few law enforcement officers whose talents, creativity and courage have brought him face-to-face with those highly placed criminals in our own government who have betrayed all of us with their covert support of international drug traffickers. Sparky did not back down. He obeyed his oath to protect and serve, went after them, and paid the price for his courage. Now he is left with his final weapon: the pen. When you read the first page of this book, it will hook you in the way it did me. What a ride." Mike Levine, author of New York Times Best-seller "Deep Cover" and "The Big White Lie". "John "Sparky" McLaughlin is a well-decorated and hard-hitting cop who is unafraid to expose people and agencies that "put their thumbs on the scales of justice." His documented conclusions and well-founded opinions deserve your closest attention. We need to recognize that "Sparky" McLaughlin made enormous personal and career sacrifices for the better good of all of us. With 30 years' experience as a DEA Special Agent serving ‘round the world, I am convinced that the drug war could actually be won with the likes of more John "Sparky" McLaughlin's and the "Bastard Squad" on the job. They are among the best of the best!" Richard A. "Rick" Horn Special Agent DEA (ret.) After 16 years of litigation, Horn won a $3 million dollar lawsuit against persons and agencies that sabotaged DEA Operations and were shown to have "put their thumbs on the scales of justice".