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northern Connecticut, but not decimally definitive. After tracing hundreds of possible trucking routes from Atlantic seaboard piers and airports relative to the Marseilles operation, the vicinity of Carlyle was placed under maximum surveillance.
    As part of the surveillance, telephone taps were ordered on persons known to be involved with narcotics distribution from such points as New York, Hartford, Boston, and New Haven. Tapes were made of conversations of underworld figures. All calls regarding narcotics to and from the Carlyle area were placed to and from public telephone booths. It made the intercepts difficult, but not impossible. Again, restricted methods.
    As the information files grew, a startling fact became apparent. The Carlyle group was independent. It had no formal ties with structured organized crime; it was beholden to no one. It
used
known criminal elements, was not used
by
them. It was a tightly knit unit, reaching into the majority of New England universities. And it did not—apparently—stop at drugs.
    There was evidence of the Carlyle unit’s infiltration into gambling, prostitution, even postgraduate employment placement. Too, there seemed to be a purpose, an objective beyond the inherent profits of the illegal activities. The Carlyle unit could have made far greater profit with less complications by dealing outright with known criminals, acknowledged suppliers in all areas. Instead, it spent its own money to set up its organization. It was its own master, controlling its own sources, its own distribution. But what its ultimate objectives were was unclear.
    It had become so powerful that it threatened the leadership of organized crime in the Northeast. For this reason, leading figures of the underworld had demanded a conference with those in charge of the Carlyle operation. The key here was a group, or an individual, referred to as
Nimrod
.
    The purpose of the conference, as far as could be determined, was for an accommodation to be reachedbetween Nimrod and the overlords of crime who felt threatened by Nimrod’s extraordinary growth. The conference would be attended by dozens of known and unknown criminals throughout the New England states.
    “Mr. Kressel.” Loring turned to Carlyle’s dean and seemed to hesitate. “I suppose you have lists—students, faculty, staff—people you know or have reason to suspect are into the drug scene. I can’t assume it because I don’t know, but most colleges do have.”
    “I won’t answer that question.”
    “Which, of course, gives me my answer,” said Loring quietly, even sympathetically.
    “Not for a minute! You people have a habit of assuming exactly what you want to assume.”
    “All right, I stand rebuked. But even if you’d said yes, it wasn’t my purpose to ask for them. It was merely by way of telling you that we
do
have such a list. I wanted you to know that.”
    Sam Kressel realized he’d been trapped; Loring’s ingenuousness only annoyed him further. “I’m sure you do.”
    “Needless to say, we’d have no objection to giving you a copy.”
    “That won’t be necessary.”
    “You’re pretty obstinate, Sam,” said Matlock. “You burying your head?”
    Before Kressel could reply, Loring spoke. “The dean knows he can change his mind. And we’ve agreed, there’s no crisis here. You’d be surprised how many people wait for the roof to cave in before asking for help. Or accepting it.”
    “But there aren’t many surprises in your organization’s proclivity for turning difficult situations intodisasters, are there?” countered Sam Kressel antagonistically.
    “We’ve made mistakes.”
    “Since you have names,” continued Sam, “why don’t you go after them? Leave us out of it; do your own dirty work. Make arrests, press charges. Don’t try to deputize
us
.”
    “We don’t want to do that.… Besides, most of our evidence is inadmissible.”
    “That occurred to me,” interjected Kressel.
    “And what do we gain? What