Oral history interview with Rock Cordero, 1981

Biographical Note

Rock Cordero was born to Cuban immigrants on June 12, 1912 in Tampa, Florida. He attended school through ninth grade. Cordero left Florida at the age of fifteen to hitchhike across the United States, visiting Utah, Wyoming, and California, among other places. He settled down in New York City at the age of seventeen. In his late teens and twenties, Cordero worked as a cook, chauffeur, and house painter. He served in the army from 1942 to 1944. Cordero began selling cocaine and heroin after being discharged from the military. In 1946 he was arrested for possession of cocaine. In 1950, he developed an addiction to heroin. In 1953, he served two years in the Atlanta penitentiary, and after being released, he stopped selling all drugs. In the late 1960s, Cordero resumed selling drugs, and in 1968, spent eighteen months in Phoenix House after getting arrested for dealing. In 1971, he began attending Project Create. In 1973, he joined a methadone program, and detoxed from all drugs three years later. Rock Cordero was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Rock Cordero discusses his life in New York City with a focus on his drug use. He discusses moving to New York City alone at the age of seventeen. He describes jobs he held in his late teens and twenties such as a cook, chauffeur, and house painter. He describes his service in the army from 1942 to 1944. Cordero discusses his experience selling cocaine and heroin. He discusses his arrest record, and time he spent incarcerated at Rikers Island, Atlanta penitentiary, and Phoenix House. He describes his cycles of heroin use and detox, both independently, and at Manhattan General Hospital. He compares the quality and price of the heroin he sold in the 1950s to the heroin he sold in the 1960s. He describes attending Project Create. He discusses his experience in the methadone program. Cordero discusses his perception of addicts in the 1980s, and compares it to that of addicts in the 1950s and 1960s

Subjects

• Cordero, Rock,--Interviews.
• Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Drug dealers--United States.
• Drug traffic--United States--History--20th century.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Imprisonment--United States.
• Interviews.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Phoenix House (Organization)

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright