Heroin purity is a core quality problem in the drugs trade.

Evidence

Quality was another worry. Giovanni Bontade asked Mannoia re test the purity of some heroin. Mannoia (who described his test to Judge Falcone with a wealth of technical detail) concluded that it was not up to standard, for it melted at around 170 degrees centigrade. Bontade was “dismayed,” for the produce was Turkish and there was nothing he could do. It had to be reprocessed at a considerable loss (FMM: 160). Bontade himself, however, was not above reproach Mannoia reports: “Bontade told me with a smile that he had sold [Leonardo] Greco as pure heroin merchandise which had been diluted with benzoyltropane, and that nobody realized this since … if mixed with this substance, its melting point remains high” (FMM: 177). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 651

Categorization

• CANDY: Hydrochloride dilution with benzoyltropane that keeps melting point high is a wonderfully specific fraud detail.