A long-standing, but often troubled, partnership binds the United States and the Republic of Turkey. Shared national security interests, first brought on by the onset of the Cold War, lies at the heart of this relationship. This paper will address the construction and early evolution of one element of America’s security relationship with Turkey: the development of joint counter-narcotics operations in the city of Istanbul. In exploring how American officials came to influence the policing of narcotics trafficking in Turkey’s largest city between the years 1948 and 1960, this paper will address two key issues. Firstly, it will survey how American narcotics and intelligence officers contributed to Turkish approaches to policing drug (particularly heroin) trafficking in advance of the official declaration of the so-called “war on drugs”. Secondly, it will attend to how and why elements of the Istanbul police department (as well as the Democratic Party) abetted or collaborated with many of the powerful figures within the Turkish underworld. The significance of this study, I would argue, contributes to ongoing studies of both America’s impact upon construction of modern Turkey as well as the roles played by criminals in building Turkey’s contemporary security apparatus.