Oral history interview with West Indian John, 1981

Biographical Note

West Indian John was born in Trinidad and migrated with his family to the United States as a young child, growing up in New York City. Prompted by trouble with the law to enlist in the Navy as a teenager, he served in the South Seas during World War II before receiving a Section 8 discharge for marijuana possession. In addition to life as a hustler perpetrating a wide range of scams, he worked as a pimp and as a lieutenant for Nicky Barnes refining and selling heroin. Experiencing about fifteen arrests across the period of 1945-1972 on drug, theft, and other charges, he spent cumulatively between fifteen and seventeen years incarcerated before his final release from prison in 1969. In 1972 he entered a methadone program and remained on it through the interview in 1981. West Indian John was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project. In the book, West Indian John was referred to by the pseudonym "West Indian Tom"

Scope and Contents

This interview begins with a discussion of West Indian John's birth in Trinidad, migration to the United States, childhood and family, and upbringing in Harlem. He describes his introduction to marijuana, barbiturates, heroin, and morphine as a teenager, including methods of use and needle maintenance, the sensations associated with different substances, and connections between jazz musicians and drug use. After covering his stint in the Navy, including his drug use and racial tensions, the interview touches on his return to New York City, renewed heroin addiction, and first arrests, including description of the declining quality of commercially available heroin since the 1930s and techniques for adulterating it. West Indian John details the range of illegal activities he used to earn money, ranging from theft to selling false jewelry to pimping to various cons and swindles, as well as the processes by which he acquired and sold heroin, including his work as a lieutenant for Nicky Barnes. After narrating stretches in prison, panics, and health problems, he describes his experiences using methadone, as well as his relationships with women, time spent in the Lexington, KY addiction recovery hospital program and other clinics, and his perceptions of contemporary drug culture

Subjects

• African American sailors--Social conditions--20th century.
• 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.
• Jazz musicians.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Narcotic Farm.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• West Indian John,--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright