February 8, 1988 The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force is a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. It primarily concerns itself with the disruption of major drug trafficking operations and related crimes, such as money laundering, tax and weapon violations, and violent crime. The task force was created in 1982, and employs approximately 2500 agents. In April 1992 a trial was held in Miami, Florida, at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in which he was tried and convicted on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering. At his trial, Noriega intended to defend himself by presenting his alleged crimes within the framework of his work for the US Central Intelligence Agency. The government objected to any disclosure of the purposes for which the United States had paid Noriega because this information was classified and its disclosure went against the interests of the United States. In pre-trial proceedings, the government offered to stipulate that Noriega had received approximately $320000 from the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency. Noriega insisted that "the actual figure approached $10000000, and that he should be allowed to disclose the tasks he had performed for the United States". The district court held that the "information about the content of the discrete operations in which Noriega had engaged in ...