Episode 15 retired Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent James Conklin

Years of Service: 1971-1997Jim began his career in 1971, in New York City where he began working cases targeting organized crime and the Mafia. One of the cases he worked had ties to the French Connection and heroin trafficking. Jim was later transferred to San Ysidro, CA where he investigated cases involving drugs being smuggled across the southern border. Jim worked in several enforcement groups in the San Diego area and one case he worked on involved a group known as the Coronado Company who had convinced their high school Spanish teacher to negotiate with their Mexican suppliers and who began their smuggling operation after recruiting some of their high school swim team members to swim drugs into the United States. Jim later served 6 years in Bangkok Thailand working heroin and large-scale marijuana smuggling cases before being promoted and heading back to San Diego where he supervised a group targeting methamphetamine traffickers. Jim was finally transferred to DEA Headquarters where he served in the Foreign Operations section until he retired in 1991.