Ex UN anti-narcotics chief & mob expert says US Treasury running ‘mafia racket’ against Venezuela

Pino Arlacchi, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Prevention, says US is behaving like an organized crime unit in its treatment of Venezuela.

By Anya Parampil

Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Pino Arlacchi, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Prevention, about the US decision to charge Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with drug trafficking. Arlacchi explains that in his 40 years of anti-narcotic work, he never came across evidence of Venezuela’s involvement in the drug trade – instead saying that the US and Colombia drive drug production and consumption. As an expert on the Italian mafia, Arlacchi says the US government is actually the party behaving like an organized crime unit in its treatment of Venezuela. Arlacchi also discusses his work at the UN, which included a push to end the heroin trade in Afghanistan. He says his efforts were undermined by US officials after the 2001 invasion of the country.