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Levi G. Nutt

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Colonel Levi Nutt
Chief of Internal Revenue Agents
In office
1917–1920
Deputy Commissioner of Bureau of Prohibition Narcotics Enforcement Division
In office
1920 – March 1, 1930
Appointed byTreasury Secretary Carter Glass
Acting Commissioner Federal Bureau of Narcotics
In office
June 14, 1930 – September 1930
Appointed byPresident Herbert Hoover
Succeeded byHarry J. Anslinger
Personal details
BornDecember 10, 1865
Buckingham, Illinois
DiedApril 16, 1938
Washington, D.C.
Resting placeEldridgeville Cemetery, Illinois
SpouseMary Eulalia (Armitage) Nutt
Children
  • Rolland L. Nutt
  • Edna Lorena Miller
  • George S. Nutt
  • Clarence W. Nutt
Parents
  • William Nutt
  • Mary Gamble Nutt
NicknameLefty Nutt

Levi Gamble Nutt was the Chief of the Narcotics Division within the Prohibition Unit of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1919 to 1930, prior to the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN).[1] He was a registered pharmacist, and led the Division to the arrest of tens of thousands of drug addicts and dealers in the Prohibition era.[2]

Treasury Agent

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Nutt joined the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1900, and rose rapidly through the ranks.[3]

The Moonshiner's Skyscraper

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Prior to popular misconception, moonshining was a crime in many cities of the United States even before the Prohibition Act. The unregulated production of improperly distilled alcohol with too much methanol can cause intense medical problems, blindness, and even death.[4] Moonshiners are also considered in violation of practicing business without a license.[5] The Treasury Department was responsible for ensuring quality control and tax regulation of alcoholic beverages.

In December, 1903, then Revenue Agent Nutt arrived at the location of a skyscraper in the city Chicago, at the corner of State Street and Washington Street.[6] The building was owned by Columbus Laboratories. Nutt, in his official report, noticed "the sign of a distiller and making a mash fit for distillation in a place other than a dully authorized distillery."[6]

On December 23, United States Marshalls arrived at the building, following Nutt's investigation.[7] They arrested five officers and instructors of the Columbus Laboratories, including the prominent United States Commissioner Solomon.[8]

It would later be called "a school wherein pupils were taught to manufacture limitations of various liquors and cocktails."[6]

Deputy Commissioner of The Narcotics Division

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Levi Nutt in his office at the Narcotic Field force at Internal Revenue, around 1920.

With the establishment of the Prohibition Unit in 1920, leadership established a Narcotics Division with the enumerated powers to investigate all violations of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act,[9] taking over the duties of investigations and enforcement from the narcotics agents of Revenue's Miscellaneous Division.[10] Narcotics Agents and Narcotics Inspectors in these early days primarily were responsible for investigating medical licenses for the distribution of narcotics, but their duties evolved over the course of the decade.[11] Narcotics Agents overall secured more convictions to federal prison for Harrison Act violations than their Dry Agent counterparts did for Volstead Act violations.[10]

Nutt developed this Narcotics Division - sometimes called the Narcotics Field force prior to 1927, and was appointed the position of Assistant Commissioner for Narcotics.[12]

The 'Edict of Nutt'

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Nutt was not known for being friendly to addicts, and refused to differentiate between addicts and any other class of criminal violations of the Harrison Act. Many physicians of the day stressed that he did not understand addiction.[13] These medical assertions are re-stressed by modern historians of medicine.[13] It was and remains the belief of these medically trained doctors that addiction should not be the concern of law enforcement, but for the medical community.[13]

Nutt directed his division to close all addiction clinics they encountered - calling them "dealers" - even though the primary source of all painkilling medication is derived specifically from the opium poppy.[14] The division closed all maintenance clincs except for those administering to the elderly and medically incurable patients near the end of their life.[14] The medical community created the term "The Edict of Nutt," to describe Nutt's notorious practice of closing any medical clinic he deemed to be a dangerous supplier of narcotics.[15][16]

Secretary of Federal Narcotics Control Board

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His position as the Commissioner of Narcotics would absorb the dual capacity as Secretary of the Federal Narcotics Control Board with its establishment in 1922.[17] Appointed by the members, the Secretary had the vested powers of conducting correspondence on behalf of the board, and signing permits on behalf of the board.[18]

Nutt became the primary federal agent responsible for issuing all import licenses for opium and other drugs in the United States, and controlling the export of the same.[18] At this point, Nutt was the most powerful federal agent responsible for narcotics in the United States.

Building the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

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In June 1930, Nutt was appointed by President Hoover to be the first Commissioner of Narcotics in the newly established Federal Bureau of Narcotics.[19] This organization had been his brainchild alongside Stephen G. Porter.

Scandal and removal from office

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Nutt's son Rolland Nutt and son-in-law Lawrence Mattingly were attorneys for racketeer Arnold Rothstein in tax matters.[20][21] Mattingly, coincidentally, also interceded with the Treasury on behalf of Al Capone, and the letter that he wrote on Capone's behalf was submitted into evidence during Capone's trial.[22] Another person on Rothstein's payroll was George W. Cunningham, narcotics District Supervisor for New York City.[23]

In 1929, an investigation into the relationship between Nutt and his son's professional work began. In February 1930, after the investigation was concluded, a grand jury found no criminal impairment of Narcotics Division activities, but Nutt lost his position as chief of the Narcotics Division.[24] In March 1930, Nutt was demoted to Field Supervisor.[25] In September, his duties were passed on to Harry J. Anslinger, the future Commissioner of the FBN.[24]

Nutt would assume the leadership of the Alcohol Tax Unit for one year.[3]

Nutt remained in the Department of the Treasury until 1935, when he retired from the federal government.[3]

Nutt died in Washington on 16 April, 1938.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Study, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Substance Abuse Coverage; Gerstein, Dean R.; Harwood, Henrick J. (1992), "A Century of American Narcotic Policy", Treating Drug Problems: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers on Historical, Institutional, and Economic Contexts of Drug Treatment, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-08-19
  2. ^ Mabry, Donald J. (1989). The Latin American Narcotics Trade and U.S. National Security. Greenwood Press.
  3. ^ a b c "Obituary for LEVI G. COL NUTT (Aged 72)". Evening star. 1938-04-16. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  4. ^ "Can Moonshine Make You Go Blind?". www.tnshineco.com. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  5. ^ "Home Distilling". TTB Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c The Atlanta Constitution 1903-12-23: Vol 36. Internet Archive. December 23, 1903.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ "The Utica Observer 22 December 1903 — The NYS Historic Newspapers". nyshistoricnewspapers.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  8. ^ "The Utica Observer 22 December 1903 — The NYS Historic Newspapers". nyshistoricnewspapers.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  9. ^ "Opium Order Form". DEA Museum. February 10, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "The Early Years" (PDF). Drug Enforcement Administration. January 1, 2020.
  11. ^ Study, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Substance Abuse Coverage; Gerstein, Dean R.; Harwood, Henrick J. (1992), "A Century of American Narcotic Policy", Treating Drug Problems: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers on Historical, Institutional, and Economic Contexts of Drug Treatment, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-08-19
  12. ^ Pietrusza, David (2003). Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf.
  13. ^ a b c Study, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Substance Abuse Coverage; Gerstein, Dean R.; Harwood, Henrick J. (1992), "A Century of American Narcotic Policy", Treating Drug Problems: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers on Historical, Institutional, and Economic Contexts of Drug Treatment, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-08-23
  14. ^ a b Musto, David F. (1973). The American disease : origins of narcotic control. Yale University Press.
  15. ^ Williams, Henry Smith (1938). Drug addicts are human beings: the story of our billion-dollar drug racket: how we created it and how we can wipe it out. Shaw Publishing Co.
  16. ^ Cameron (2018-06-15). "War On Drugs 3.16". The BS Filter. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  17. ^ Laurence F. Schmeckebier (1929). The Bureau Of Prohibition Its History, Activities And Organization. pp. 136–137.
  18. ^ a b Laurence F. Schmeckebier (1929). The Bureau Of Prohibition Its History, Activities And Organization. pp. 136–137.
  19. ^ Jones, Mark (Gerald Mark) (2005). Criminal justice pioneers in U.S. history. Internet Archive. Boston : Pearson Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 978-0-205-35919-6.
  20. ^ Pietrusza, David (2003). Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf.
  21. ^ "Feb 28, 1930, page 3 - Times Union at Brooklyn Public Library". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  22. ^ "Capone lawyers unable to suppress damaging letters - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  23. ^ "Tell Me Who is Using My Money for Dope - Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series". erenow.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  24. ^ a b "The Roaring Twenties". DEA Museum. January 1, 2020.
  25. ^ "Tri-County News 28 March 1930 — Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive". virginiachronicle.com. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  26. ^ "Apr 17, 1938, page 15 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Brooklyn Public Library". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
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