For fans of true crime stories and tireless detective work, last week’s Rotary Meeting was like Christmas in March.
Guest speaker DEA Agent John Grella took us for a ride into the harrowing world of stake outs and drug busts. For 20 minutes we had a front row seat in the on-going deadly game of cat and mouse between good guys and bad.
Currently the superintendent for professional standards in a sheriff’s department, Grella spent 27 years working for the DEA. Here the sole purpose is drug interdiction, a cause that has taken Grella to Columbia more than 50 times, not to mention London and many local communities like Malden, Lawrence and Dorchester.
There are ten thousand people in the DEA, Grella explained, including 4,500 special agents. We have a $3.3 billion-dollar budget.
Agents are not viewed as spies, he said. Instead, DEA partners with police departments and other countries and communities where there is no infrastructure.
We are a grass roots organization, Grella pointed put. Columbia is the DEA’s best partner.
The effort to stop the flow of deadly fentanyl pills into the mainstream is working, but far too many folks are still dying. In 2021 there were 106,000 fentanyl-related deaths. That number reached 112,000 in 2022 but declined to 93,000 in 2023. The elicit trafficking of drugs in the US has become a $100 billion dollar business.
That’s why we want to put handcuffs on people, Grella said. We want to put them in jail.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilos of dangerous drugs continue to stream through Boston.
We’re always looking to cease the flow of drugs, Grella explained. We are always looking to develop confidential sources. We’re plugged in at the state and local level and we have formed task forces. Especially partnering up with local cops.
To that end, DEA agents do a lot of surveillance, spending much time in the car and elsewhere to develop evidence.
Grella told the story of a bust in Malden where DEA followed an individual based on intel that he was selling counterfeit Adonal. Agents scrambled a team to follow the bad guy from his house up Interstate 93 where a state trooper made a bogus traffic stop. He searched the car, discovering four bags with 1000 fentanyl-laced pills disguised to look like Adonal.
Another individual was followed from the same house and apprehended in a parking garage where three more surveillance cars were waiting. They discovered 1,000 pills, which prompted a search warrant to get into the house. Once inside, a sophisticated meth lab was discovered.
At another Malden target we found $200,000 dollars in a bag, Grella said. In the bathroom, cash was discovered stashed behind the tiles along with five kilos of coke. Another time we discovered 50 kilos of coke hidden in a truck carrying oranges to the local Market Basket.
During Q&A Grella admitted that the illicit growing of marijuana is a problem although fentanyl is the drug of choice. Here most of the stuff flowing over our borders comes from Mexico and not so much Canada.
The Mexican border is an absolute nightmare, Grella said.
A sobering, but highly entertaining and interesting program.
Thank you, Priscilla MacInnis, for inviting your very cool next-door neighbor.
For the Record
Ashley Madden gave our inspirational moment from Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope.”
Recognizing St. Patrick’s Day, Yvonne and Juan combined for another duet, this time When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
Inducted as new members were Elizabeth Boudreau and Lisa Zhe, sponsored by Katie and President Midge, respectively.
Guests included Barb Miller’s husband Ed, Ashley Hudson and Susan Dewhirst invited by Ian Oneail and PMAC Development Director Eli Kaynor, guest of Russ Grazier.
Midge encouraged all to join the “Rocking Rotarians” Trivia Team that counts ten of us, so far, in its ranks. See the top of this Bulletin for more information.
 | Angela Salb won the $40-dollar 50-50 raffle, one of the bigger pots we’ve seen recently. But the $350 dollar bonus goes unclaimed. |
Respectfully submitted by Juan Arroz
Photos by Don Chick
Photos by Don Chick
