Vietnam War heroin extended the mafia’s drug market into the United States.

Evidence

In 1971 President Richard Nixon declared heroin “public enemy number one” (although in 1973 the CIA was apparently still flying opium from Laos to South Vietnam; Posner 1989). American soldiers returning from Vietnam brought the habit back, and it spread. Data from the Internal Revenue Service confirm that drug consumption in the United States more than doubled between 1973 and 1982 (Santino 1988). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 1032

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Connects to the demand-side shock that expanded the Sicilian supply network Gambetta documents.

Broader Connections

• U.S.-funded Central American wars increased drug trafficking and migration to the U.S. #corroborates (0.80) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 312
• American mafia arose where supply met demand, not from export #contradicts (0.75) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 665