Portrait of a Narc: Death Is Never Far Away

THE 1,610 agents of the Justice Department's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs are the advance scouts and front-rank skirmishers in the U.S.'s war on narcotics. The BNDD agent's business is basically intelligence; he deals with small-time pushers and "mules" (couriers), as well as international traffickers, in any number of situations and any number of languages. He must be, in short, the compleat narc.

Roughly 45% of the BNDD'S agents are stationed abroad, in as many as 57 countries. They sometimes operate out of a U.S. Embassy or consulate but they have a passion for anonymity and independence. If they work with anyone, it is the local narcotics agents--especially in France. French narcs, says one U.S. agent, "work like we do. It's all in the approach. They will stay on the job 24 hours a day for as many days as it takes to break a case."

At any one time, an agent may be working on a dozen cases spread out over several countries. U.S. agents, with budgets that are the envy of their foreign counterparts, depend heavily on informants. Such sources, who have led the way to major busts, have been paid as much as $30,000--well over the average agent's annual salary. The overseas agent is usually careful to pass his information over to local authorities, and let them make the bust. Abroad, agents must not only be resourceful undercover operators but also diplomats, especially in countries sensitive to U.S. meddling in internal affairs.

One such agent-diplomat is Nick Panella, 39, a graduate of The Bronx, Manhattan's Hunter College, and most of the world's drug trade centers: New York, Rome, Istanbul, Marseille, Montreal and Paris. Dark and compact, Panella describes his appearance as "the stereotype of the Italian wise ass"--a distinct asset in the trade. "Up in East Harlem," he says, "nobody's going to introduce any bright-eyed, 6-ft. Ryan to anybody worth talking to in drugs. But I fit right in. They'll sell to someone who looks like me."

Panella, who earns $25,000 a year, lives with his Italian-speaking wife Sylvia and their three children in a comfortable Parisian suburb. In his current role as deputy director of BNDD'S key Region 17, which includes Marseille, Panella's wardrobe runs to sporty suits. When he operated as an agent, he added a big pinky diamond and, frequently, a cigar. "By the time you're through with a case," he says, "you sometimes think you're a trafficker. You sure as hell look like one."

The toughest place Panella has worked in was Turkey. Frequently he posed as a buyer and approached the wagon trains by which heavily armed Turkish opium farmers moved their wares at night. "I never made a case in the interior when there wasn't shooting," Panella says, "but nobody ever got hit. The confusion is unbelievable. You just close in when the time comes and grab as many farmers as you can."

"You're always nervous when it begins," says Panella. "You never get used to those first few minutes--you know, with the guns and all that." The closest call he has ever had was in Beirut, when he arranged the bust of a small-time dealer. "We got to the building where I was going to pick up the stuff. The police were supposed to stay at the top of some long narrow stairs until I climbed up there with the trafficker. But they started to come down too soon. I felt the automatic in my back. When I heard the hammer click, I dived forward and prayed. There were bullets all around, as usual, but none in me--or the smuggler, for that matter. He got away."

Eleven BNDD agents have been killed in the past four years. The chief occupational hazard is the "little guy," who is apt to panic when he finds he has been dealing with an agent. A regular trafficker would "just back off and split," says Panella. "These guys don't like messy stuff." They do not hesitate to rub out a suspected informer.

Many agents admit a respect for "the other team." Says Panella: "It's professional stuff. When you get them, they know you've played a good hand. When they get away, you know you've still got something to learn from them."

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