FBI Agent Frank Storey on How FBI Shifted from Italian Mafia to Mexican Drug Cartels (Part 9)

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Former FBI executive Frank Storey sits down with Vlad to discuss his return to New York in 1989, where he oversaw the FBI’s largest field office and 1,100 agents. Storey explains how the Bureau’s priorities evolved from traditional organized crime and Italian Mafia cases toward white collar crime, counterintelligence, terrorism investigations, and a national strategy targeting Mexican drug cartels and major narcotics enterprises.

Storey details the creation of the FBI’s “enterprise theory” approach, designed to dismantle entire drug organizations rather than focus on street-level buys and arrests, and how it reshaped cooperation with the DEA under FBI Director William Webster. He also reflects on pre-1993 terrorism work before the World Trade Center bombing, his 1992 retirement after 30 years of service, and his later security role with Equitable Life Insurance Society in New York. A rare inside look at FBI history, law enforcement strategy, and organized crime investigations.