Weeding out Williamsburg: Book recalls the years when marijuana grew wild across New York and the special squad called in to destroy it


In the summer of 1951 New York City was a marijuana jungle.



From underpasses in the Bronx to empty lots on Avenue X, 10 foot tall Cannabis sativa plants could be seen all around the city.



Weed grew everywhere, with seven foot high plants sprouting in fields from Williamsburg to Cobble Hill to East New York.



But New York was no friend to pot and over the course of the summer about 41,000 pounds of marijuana were uprooted and destroyed during a campaign to eradicate the plants from the city.

The following pictures come from the Brooklyn Public Library.

Root and branch: Chief Sanitation Inspector John Gleason directs three aides as they uproot a patch of marijuana near Fairfield Ave. Workers are, left to right, Howard Schaaf, John Tinyes, and Charles Friscia." Note: At the time of cataloging, Fairfield Avenue does not exist in Brooklyn

Marijuana crops up again: Ready for picking is this lofty stand of weed from which reefers are made, discovered at Avenue X and West 11th St. in Gravesend. Getting ready to harvest the crop are ... Deputy Inspector Peter Terranova, left, head of Police Narcotics Squad, and General Inspector Frank Creta and Associate Superintendent Augustine Ferretti of the Sanitation Department

Weeding out operation: Police Inspector Peter Terranova, commanding officer of the narcotics squad, flanked by Anthony Cristiano, a Department of Sanitation workman, and Frank Creta, general inspector of the department, exhibit part of a haul of more than 100 pounds of marijuana found growing at 82 Butler St. the dope weed was burned in department incinerators.

In 1951, there was a major crackdown on the plants, with a Sanitation division called the "White Wing Squad" confiscated and destroyed 41,000 pounds of the plant, led by Sanitation Department Chief Inspector John E. Gleason. Brooklyn alone accounted for about 17,200 pounds. This White Wing Squad, so named after their white duck cloth uniforms, were held to strict moral standards by Gleason. Among other things, they were barred from entering saloons, using foul language, and neglecting horses.

In the summer of 1951, the Brooklyn Eagle reported on some "daring marijuana farmers" who had established a "farm" in a lot at the heart of Brooklyn's projected Civic Center.

When the White Wing Squad busted them, the Eagle estimated that about $6 million worth of marijuana had been incinerated in Brooklyn up to that point. August haul-: In the shadow of Brooklyn Federal Building, one block north of Tillary St., a new crop of marijuana is cut down by sanitation workers. Inspector Frank Creto, left, Sanitation Department, and Deputy Inspector Peter E. Terranova, Police Department, survey the operation, latest in joint efforts by the two departments to rid the city of the weed.=

Evil harvest: Inspector John E. Gleason of the Sanitation Department supervises as departmental workers load uprooted marijuana onto truck. Weeds found growing near Williamsburg Bridgfe were dug up as part of citywide campaign to eradicate marijuana from lots and outlying roadsides

The General Inspector of the city's Sanitation Department, John E. Gleason, was responsible for all this destruction.

He was in charge of a special 'White Wing Squad' whose sole purpose was to harvest and incinerate the crop. In 1937, the U.S. Treasury Department introduced the Marijuana Tax Act. This Act imposed a levy of $1 per ounce for medicinal use of Cannabis and $100 per ounce for recreational use.

Physicians in the United States were the principal opponents of the Act. The American Medical Association (AMA) opposed the Act because physicians were required to pay a special tax for prescribing Cannabis, use special order forms to procure it.

But in 1942, Cannabis was removed from the U.S. Pharmacopoeia because of persistent concerns about its potential to cause harm.

Finally, in 1951, Congress passed the Boggs Act, which for the first time, grouped Cannabis with narcotic drugs. Plenty of dream stuff: There seems to be no end to the marijuana 'plantations' unearthed in the borough. Here Sanitation Department Chief Inspector John E. Gleason examines a plant taller than he, found in a lot at 81 N. 4th St. With him is Dennis Healy, Sanitation District Superintendent for Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Millions of dollars worth or the plant have been dug out here in the last 60 days

Potential reefers: Assistant Borough Superintendent Arthur McMahon and Chief Inspector John E. Gleason supervising the destruction by Sanitation Department men of a clump of marijuana discovered

Big marijuana haul: Seizing 80 pounds of stuff that reefers and bad dreams are made of, are Deputy Inspector Peter Terranova, head of narcotics squad, left, and Assistant D. A. Norman Felig. Cache was grabbed along with 'importer' Homer Jackson, in Bedford Stuyvesant rooming house

Marijuana and girl from Texas: Marguerite Gooden, 31, of San Antonio, sits dejectedly by while Assistant District Attorney Norman Felig examines $80,000 marijuana cache detectives had found in her Hotel St. George room

Dope destroyed: A quartet of Sanitation Department workers reap a potentially unhappy harvest of marijuana weeds from the rear lot at 51 Concord St. Once ferreted out of the ground, the growth is immediately destroyed. Supervising the anti-dope squad are Borough Sanitation Superintendent James E. Walsh, left, and Chief Inspector John E.Gleason