He began early on, with purges of the youth movements and teaching staff, joined in the denunciation of Ana Pauker's communist faction, and then focused his attention on the Hungarian-Romanian community.

Drăghici is also remembered for his participation in the show trial of Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, his quashing of the "Ioanid Gang", and his clampdown on religious groups—both Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox.

He was arrested in 1935 and tried in the 1936 Craiova Trial alongside future rival Ana Pauker, receiving a sentence of 9 years and 3 months imprisonment and being labeled a "notorious communist".

[9] Also according to Brătescu, Drăghici played a role in increasing the PCR's control over student activists, and then in persecuting non-communist fraternal bodies such as YMCA Romania.

[12] From 1954, he was assigned to supervise the politburo's own involvement in police work,[25] and drafted a list of "our most dangerous compatriots who have settled abroad", including those of the Romanian National Committee government-in-exile—one of them, Aurel Decei, was later kidnapped by Securitate operatives in West Berlin.

[27] In this position, he collaborated closely with Gheorghiu-Dej and Iosif Chișinevschi to orchestrate the judicial murder of estranged PCR ideologist Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu,[2][28] as well as spearheaded brutal campaigns of terror against the populace.

In compensation, Ceaușescu spoke against Drăghici during a series of meetings in March 1956, accusing him of taking advantage of his relations with the leader to bring the party under Securitate control.

Ceaușescu presented himself as a liberal in contrast with the brutality of the secret police under the command of Drăghici, who was labeled as "fanatical" and "merciless" by political scientist Vladimir Tismăneanu.

[32] Later that year, both Drăghici and Ceaușescu were part of a high command during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, charged with suppressing unrest by any means necessary, including ordering security forces to open fire.

In his opinion, the university promoted deviation from the party line, and "the ideas of Imre Nagy"—on such grounds, the academic institution was infiltrated by the Securitate, and ultimately shut down.

[47] Nevertheless, when the revolution leaders were arrested and brought to Romania, Drăghici was the only involved party who objected to their being sent to Moscow, which earned him sympathy from the Hungarian government in the early 1990s.

During May 1957, he told his subordinates that the Autonomous Region was riddled with saboteurs and collaborators of the anti-communist Ioan Faliboga, and implicitly accused local police of being too lenient.

[50] He also chided his subordinates for not purging "hostile elements" from among the Hungarian teaching staff, and called for a trial of community leaders Bishop Márton and Pál Fodor.

"[51] With Drăghici's consent, Bishop Márton was placed under house arrest, but the threat of popular revolt was high, and CC representative János Fazekas had to negotiate a deal with the protesters.

[52] Drăghici began issuing new directives, which state his purpose of placing the Securitate under full party control (in effect, under Gheorghiu-Dej's command), and further away from Soviet influence.

[53] Part of Drăghici's activity was focused on overturning the contributions of his predecessor, Pavel Ștefan, who had allowed prosecution to open a case against the wardens at Salcia labor camp.

Drăghici was involved in destroying the "Ioanid Gang", a small group of Jewish Romanian dissidents who had robbed the National Bank, and may even have forced them to act in the filmed reenactment.

[58] During August 1959, Drăghici, Nicolae Doicaru and Stasi agents managed to kidnap Oliviu Beldeanu, known for his 1955 attack on the Romanian embassy in Bern, Switzerland.

He notes that the main target for repression, the "Burning Pyre" prayer group (headed by the incarcerated Sandu Tudor), had no links whatsoever with the Guard, and suggests that Drăghici was merely trying to discredit Patriarch Justinian.

[63] Drăghici is said to have personally ordered the brutal incarceration of Valeriu Anania, writer and monk, who was officially accused of organizing an underground unit for the Iron Guard.

"[63] As the regime gained surer control over the country, Interior Ministry forces shifted from anti-resistance measures to less violent duties, and a substantial number of personnel were also freed up once political detainees were released in 1964.

[12] In tandem with suppressing most pockets of resistance, the regime experienced a growth in popularity: disagreements between Gheorghiu-Dej and Khrushchev saw Romania drifting away from the Soviet Union, and becoming more independent within the Eastern Bloc.

[73] The Romanian leadership registered with satisfaction the Declaration's genuine popularity, until Gheorghiu-Dej became aware that regular citizens were airing traditional Russophobia, defined as "bourgeois nationalism" in standard communist rhetoric.

According to historian Walter M. Bacon, Jr., Gheorghiu-Dej's attempt "to supplant 'bourgeois nationalist' feelings with 'socialist patriotic' ones" relied on a political program devised by Drăghici, but was "largely unsuccessful.

[76] When Gheorghiu-Dej died in March 1965, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Chivu Stoica, and Emil Bodnăraș, fearful of seeing Drăghici come to power, all backed Ceaușescu as the new leader.

[2][79] By talking about liberalization, Ceaușescu made predictable the neutralization of the two most prominent exponents of political repression and cultural dogmatism of the Gheorghiu-Dej era: Drăghici and Răutu, respectively.

[88] The communist regime fell in 1989 and in October 1991, after former political prisoners asked that the late 1960s case against Drăghici be reopened, he and his wife fled to Budapest to the flat of their daughter, who had moved there in 1988.

[18][89] In its bid to join the Council of Europe, the Romanian government cited the Drăghici case (and the indictments of his colleagues Gheorghe Homoștean, Tudor Postelnicu, etc.)

[1] By then, a controversy had erupted regarding the display of his portrait in an official gallery honoring the presidents of Romania's Lower Chamber (nominal successor to the Great National Assembly).

[1] Czikó, whose influence probably helped Pavel Aranici advance through the ranks,[21] was deeply disliked by Elena Ceaușescu, whose own career during the underground period had been far less impressive.