The Case of William Leonard Pickard....

[laughingwillow]

While I've read bits and pieces of this story for years, today is the first time I've been able to put this much information together, thanks to the net. This reads like a book or movie plot to me.

Anyway, Pickard is one of the guys who was busted back in the 90's for making large quantities of sacrament. From what I gather, these guys were probably providing doses for the Dead scene in the 80's rather than the usual suspect, Owsley. But at the time, most folks I knew on the edge of that scene also thought Bear was responsible for our spiritual health and development. It also appears that his right hand man was the guy producing the synthetic mesc available in the bay area in the late 80's as well.

quote from the first link: Authorities found less than six ounces of ergotamine tartrate during the arrest. However, they claim they normally produced a kilogram of LSD every five weeks. The DEA estimates this would produce approximately 10 million 100µg doses. Although the DEA claims this would be worth $40 million on the street, this is misleading, because Pickard did not sell anywhere near the "street" or retail level. Government informant Skinner testified Petaluma Al and the largest wholesale customers of Pickard paid 29.75¢ (or a little under 30¢) per 100 µg dose, which would put the cost at around $2.97 million for a kilogram of LSD.[2]

Both men were eventually found guilty at trial of conspiring to manufacture, distribute and dispense ten grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD); Pickard received two life sentences, while Apperson received 30 years imprisonment.

Pickard, currently 64 years old, is serving out his sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary at Tucson, Arizona.

Apperson, currently 54 years old, is serving out his sentence at FCI Victorville Medium I near Adelanto, California. He will be released on May 8, 2029.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Leonard_Pickard

quotes from the second link: The whole thing fell apart due to the actions of one man, Gordon Todd Skinner, known by his associates as Todd. Skinner had a party on April 29, 1999 at the missile silo where the lab was located in Wamego, Kansas. At the party, as he was well known to do, he gave an injection to a Tulsa, OK man named Paul Hulabek. This time he had put too much dope (most likely fentanyl) in the syringe, probably because he was tripping on some obscure psychedelic, which he usually was. This person was having a classic OD reaction (eyes rolled back, extremely shallow breathing), so Skinner thought he could fix it by injecting the man with other drugs (he kept a suitcase of drugs on him at all times that would put Hunter Thompson to shame). This didn't work, so he loaded the guy into his car, and instead of driving to the hospital 30 minutes away, he drove to one 8 hours away to keep attention off of the silo and because he is completely mad. By the time he arrived, the man was dead and Skinner went into a panic.(3) He decided that the only thing he could do to save his own skin would be to contact every last branch of law enforcement and arrange a criminal immunity deal in exchange for some juicy info on how to bust the largest LSD manufacturing gig in history.

But wait, there's more!: ........ During a seminar on psychedelic research at this conference, a blotter artist named Mark McCloud stood up and accused preeminent psychedelic researcher and distinguished Harvard doctor John Halpern of acting as a DEA snitch in the investigation and trial of Len Pickard and Clyde Apperson. Understandably, this accusation stirred up quite a controversy at the conference, and after the seminar, the room was abuzz with demands for answers. McCloud read aloud a list of seven points detailing Halpern's cooperation with the DEA. After this event, more evidence surfaced that implicated Halpern in involvement with the LSD operation. The web of involvement stretched across several states and many, many people. Though Halpern's contribution was evidently a small money laundering role, it is known that he received over $300,000 from Len Pickard in the form of cash-stuffed cigar boxes between 1996 and late 1999. What he did with this money is unknown. Apparently Dr. Halpern couldn't resist the money and underground fame associated with helping produce almost all of the US acid supply. He was probably pleased that it was being made cleanly by professionals.(9)

Halpern's involvement as a DEA informant has been confirmed by the public release of transcripts from his frequent meetings with DEA agents in San Francisco and Boston in which he implicated many of his close friends in the drug manufacturing scheme. He even sunk so low as to surreptitiously record phone conversations with friends whom he prodded to make statements implicating themselves. In order to avoid facing the repercussions of his own actions, this ignoble character finked on all his friends in exchange for criminal immunity.(9)

The main victim of Halpern's moral crimes was a man named Alfred Savinelli, known affectionately by his friends as Bad Shaman (bad as in naughty).

http://people.tribe.net/prometheus_vult ... 1258e1c8cd

I urge you to poke around the linked articles if you have any interest in this bit of history. "Petaluma Al" appears to remain a free man and Skinner the killer who ratted out the operation in the first place appears to finally be in prison where he has belonged for a long time for his actions at a Burning Man awhile back.

Enjoy...

lw

[Amomynous]

I've read a little bit about this case, but you had some interested sources there, presenting information I hadn't seen before.

It's a good case to read about should you find yourself developing an unreasonable optimism about the species