Jul 04, 2022 12:40 P.M. In February 1986, Seal was killed outside . Barry emerges from the plane covered in cocaine. forgave the taxes on hundreds of millions in known drug and gun profits over the ensuing two-year period when Seal was officially admitted to be employed by the government. He carried out his smuggling operation under the nose of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. "I can state absolutely that Oliver North had nothing to do with my story as far as I knew, or as far as I know today," said Jacoby. Barry Seal was one of the most renowned American dealers that smuggled weapons and drugs in the USA Barry Seal became an aviator at only 16 years old, and as soon as he received his pilot licence, he started smuggling weapons He had strong relations with the Madelln Cartel, i.e. Meanwhile, others are now coming forward to confirm a Clinton connection to Mena. FBI agents in Miami wanted to know what Seal might have told people at Rich Mountain Aviation regarding his smuggling activities, according to the document. The goal was to expose the involvement of the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime as a major supplier of cocaine from Colombia.". The book was to be called, The Mena File: Barry Seals Ties to Drug Lords and U.S. Officials. Leveritt knew the story well and had researched it earlier, writing about Seals murder and other related events. Scared the s---- out of me just taking off. Brown says that when the plane took off, he was sitting on a bench behind the two pilots. var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); "I've heard that stated by a lot of people.". Walker said a huge dark-green military plane was parked there, and that when he expressed surprise at seeing a military plane at Mena, Clinton said it was not military; it served another purpose. Seal, a pilot, moved much of his smuggling operation from Baton Rouge to Rich Mountain Aviation at the Mena Intermountain Airport, according to the May 1986 FBI memo. -The Independent, In the movie, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) starts working for the Medelln Cartel after they abduct him while he is refueling his plane and then make him an offer he can't refuse. He is married to Lucy (Sarah Wright) and has two children with her, with a third on the way. Like Clinton, Brown passed through a radical stage when he attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In 1983, the DEA arrested him on drug smuggling charges. var sc_security="740aa5bc". Jeffrey Epstein: Predator, Spy plus FULL access to all newsletters. About 25 pages of that trove refer to Arkansas or Mena. Bushs Attorney General was William Barr. Mena, Arkansas, as a staging point for weapons supply flights. Author Del Hahn, a former FBI agent who wrote the book about Seal titled Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal, told Vice, "Seal thought he was smarter and cleverer than the Ochoas," who are one of the founding families of the Medelln Cartel. var sc_project=5585388; I'm a multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot," Cruise said in a Wired interview. "Tom did all his own flying in the movie," says director Doug Liman, who is a pilot himself (Vulture.com). "According to some reports, the [Mena] airport, from 1981 to 1985, was a major transit point for the entrance of cocaine and heroin into the United States," Sherwood wrote. Barr opposed the independent counsels investigation of wrongdoing in the White House and facilitated Bushs famous1992 Christmas Eve pardonsof six of the co-conspirators of Iran-Contra. Tom Cruise got his pilot's license in 1994. Barry Seal was fired from TWA in 1974 for falsely citing medical leave when he was actually off trafficking weapons. When he was deposed, Bender was shown a photograph of Buddy Young. No. Pablo Escobar and the Ochoas were going to be arrested at a celebration of Seal's successful cocaine transport. He had expected to find, he says, a Baron or King Air, the kind of plane in which he sometimes accompanied the Governor, and in which he had some training as a pilot. "Little Rock [FBI] is attempting to establish that [redacted] modified, maintained and stored Seal's aircraft with the knowledge that he was involved in cocaine smuggling activities prior to Seal's plea bargaining agreement on March 24, 1984," according to the memo. No convincing explanation was offered for this act of censorship. The CIAs inspector general investigated and released a terse statement saying no evidence has been found that the CIA was associated with money laundering, narcotics trafficking, arms smuggling or other illegal activities at or around Mena. There was, however, a classified two-week exercise and some contracting for routine aviation-related services.. When ABC News interviewed Brown in the fall of 1994, the White House tried to malign him. Barry Seal's widow, Debbie Seal, and others have wondered why the government didn't do more to protect Seal, whether he wanted the protection or not. Terms & conditions/privacy policy apply. Browns role, after all, was quite limited. On one CIA-involved mission in 1984, a secret camera in Seals C-123 cargo plane snapped photos of an alleged Sandinista official loading cocaine aboard the aircraft. Yes, at least according to his wife and others who knew him. Too many secrets have been kept for too long, she wrote, too much important history has been hidden, lost or destroyed. In the autumn of 1984, Brown found himself seated on a bench inside a cavernous C-123K cargo plane roaring over a Central American jungle. The gunman hurried into a waiting Buick, which sped away. Two years later, he would be shot dead in Louisiana. -Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal. All rights reserved. When Bill Clinton became president, Mena got a closer look. He said parts of it could have been provided to people under previous information requests. He then was able to get a meeting with Vice President George H.W. In 1986, he was convicted of drug distribution, and lost his state securities license. Upset that he has lost his pension and healthcare at TWA, he embraces the idea of making $2,000 per kilo of cocaine smuggled into the United States. In exploring the American Made true story, we discovered that Doug Liman's father, lawyer Arthur L. Liman, ran the Senate investigation into Iran-Contra. Seal's Drug Enforcement Administration file also supports this, noting that he was smuggling marijuana as early as 1976, then adding cocaine to his resume in 1978. Dwayne Brown says he knew his brother had made some unexplained trips out of the country. The goal was to expose the involvement of the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime as a major supplier of cocaine from Colombia.". While there, he had a chance meeting with Jorge Ochoa's New Orleans business manager. I understand that Fred Hitz or someone from his staff, along with other CIA officers will brief Congressman Leach on Friday 21 July in an attempt to address his concerns about these and other allegations. Bill Clinton? he replied: Yes, sir. A July 17, 1984 front-page Washington Times article by Edmund Jacoby described a link between Nicaragua's Sandinista government and the Medelln drug cartel. Frankly, it will never be revealed. The man who made Baton Rouge headlines in the mid-1980s for the machine-gun killing of drug informant Adler "Barry" Seal died in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Aug. 25, Louisiana. The CIA stonewalled the release of information now sought by Judicial Watch on the Mena Airport controversy, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. They also claimed that the pilot who died lacked the necessary experience for the flight. Subsequently, Brown says, Seal called him at home, and set up a meeting at Cajuns Wharf, a popular Little Rock watering hole. "Doug and I are both aviators, so we both love to fly.". When asked who his source was, Jacoby implied that it was "an aide in the White House" and that Oliver North had the most motivation to release the information. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. apartments in dallas that allow airbnb Uncovering hot babes since 1919. In the movie, Lucy's brother JB (Caleb Landry Jones) steals money from Barry (Tom Cruise). On Watch: CROSSFIRE HURRICANE Targeting of Trump from A to Z. the Colombian drug cartel led by Pablo Escobar Biography Whatever the case, of all the Arkansas troopers who would later admit to knowledge of Clintons high life, Brown was the most hesitant to talk. He was murdered on February 19, 1986, by contract killers hired by the cartel. Back at Mena, Brown says, he and Seal waled to Browns car, a Datsun hatchback, and Seal put one of the duffel bags under the hatchback. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. The cartel tells Barry that they'll deal with JB, a suggestion that Barry opposes. The photos quickly leaked, boosting Washingtons anti-Sandinista effort but likely putting a target on Seals back: to his drug-running friends in South America, there could be no question where the photos came from. He had already been flying planes for nearly half his life, earning his student pilot's license at age 15 and pilot's license at 16. The scene was actually inspired by something that happened while director Doug Liman and Tom Cruise were training for the movie. See Rafael L Mena's age, phone number, house address, email address, social media accounts, public records, and check for criminal records on Spokeo. Indeed, Clinton had taken an active role in helping Brown. He later claimed to have made as much as $50 million running 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month from Colombia. The name of another person under investigation was redacted. By providing your phone number, you are consenting to receive calls and recurring SMS/MMS messages, including autodialed and automated calls and texts, to that number from the Judicial Watch. Barry Seal "'Fat Man' key to mystery" By Michael Haddigan THE ARKANSAS GAZETTE June 26, 1988 Allegations of cocaine smuggling and international intrigue swirled about the Mena Airport and Seal for years. Micah Morrison is chief investigative reporter for Judicial Watch. Miguel Velez was the man driving the getaway car. var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; Owing to a case that Brown was then working on that could have implicated Tucker, Brown believes the demotion was illegal. And the U.S. was covertly backing the Contras. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, 1986) murdered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He says that he wanted to go public with his revelations about Mena, but that he did not know whom to tell. At the time Seals flights took place, Lasater was contributing to Clintons political campaigns. The American Made true story confirms that the real Barry Seal and his wife Debbie had three children (Aaron, Dean and Christina). That didnt happen. Soon after, JB is killed by a car bomb. They could locate no files on Seal. American Made stars Tom Cruise as Barry Seal, a real-life former airline pilot who embarked on a wildly successful cocaine smuggling operation between Colombia and a tiny airstrip in Mena, Arkansas, in the 1980s. For a portion of this time, the alleged ringleader of the drug smuggling, Seal, appeared to have been working with the CIA and the Drug Enforcement Agency. A 1983 document in the recently released trove referred to a telephone conversation between the FBI and Polk County Sheriff A.L. Seal Texaco.located corner Acadian Thruway andGoverment Street ,Baton Rouge La.Father Benjamin C Seal and the Sons Benjy Jr,Dean ,Jason ,Aaron, Curtis R,Wendell K, work the gas . In a fruitless effort to curb irregular migration from Central America the Biden administration is sending the region hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian funding with From Breitbart: Money from the sale of weapons to Iran was used to help fund the rebels in Nicaragua. The C-123K also had a history. Tom Cruise is set to play murdered DEA informant Barry Seal in Doug Liman's film Mena. In fact, even the Wikipedia links Ive included in this paragraph are mostly lies. I was young and it was impressive." It was no coincidence when Donald TrumpappointedWilliam Barr as his Attorney General. var sc_click_stat=1; The real Barry Seal never had a brother-in-law who was killed by a car bomb. -Refinery29, Yes. Barry arrived that evening at approximately 6 p.m. and backed his white Cadillac into a parking space. Arcadia Inc Plant / Vernon. foundations, and corporations and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Brown says he never saw the bags again. The August issue ofThe American Spectatortakes up the Mena story in a way that is likely to resonate on the Hill (see attached article). The DEA had been onto him for a long time. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal grew up in south Baton Rouge in the 1950s. pennymac insurance claim check tracker. In the 2017 Doug Liman-directed movie "American Made," which was previously titled "Mena," Deborah DuBois, the third wife of Barry Seal, was portrayed by the character Lucy. "Prior to his death, Seal admitted to smuggling large quantities of cocaine from South America (Columbia) to United States and testified before Senate investigative committee," according to the FBI memo, which referred to a telephone call between agents in Little Rock and Miami. Images like the one earlier on this page show Medelln Cartel boss Pablo Escobar with Sandinista government officials and soldiers, who were loading cocaine onto Seal's plane, nicknamed the Fat Lady. Seal, he says, laughed, and told Brown that all he had wanted him to do was sit back for the ride. Then he gave Brown an envelope with $2,500 in cash not marked money, not banded money, just twenties, fifties, mostly twenties, used money, like you just went out and spent.. Hahn told Vice that Barry was likable but "not as smart and clever as he thought he was. Barry's widow, Deborah Seal, says that he began smuggling drugs in 1975, first focusing mainly on marijuana. Steal $20 Mil in U.S. COVID Relief Funds. An interesting fact we learned while researching the true story was that while training for the Civil Air Patrol in Baton Rouge, Barry Seal met President John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, 1986) was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel.When Seal was convicted of smuggling charges, he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration and testified in several major drug trials. One mission involved a C-123K cargo plane that was outfitted at the Mena airport. Lisa Seal Frigon, Barry's daughter from his first marriage, sued Universal, claiming that the studio should have purchased Barry's life rights from her, not his third wife Deborah who they paid $350,000. "I resigned from the office in November of 1985, and my successor took over the investigation. Ultimately, we may find out, as Brown tells us that he has been repeatedly questioned by lawyers working for the Whitewater independent counsel about Clintons association with Lasater at a time when illicit drugs allegedly were flowing into Mena airport. Then both men got into the front set of the car, and Seal reached into the duffel bag, and pulled out a manila envelope with $2,500 in it. Judicial Watch Victories: Courts Declare California Quota Laws Unconstituti BEST OF: Top Anti-Corruption Victories in 2022. No, in real life he had five children and was married three times. Conspiracy theorists have gone as far as suggesting that the government ordered the hit on Seal, not the cartel, a suggestion that has never been supported by any proof. Brown, a narcotics cop, got upset. How much did Clinton know about what he called Lasaters deal in that conversation with L.D. Counterrevolutionaries, known as Contras, were battling the Sandinistas. Hadaway said an informant told him a "narcotic smuggling operation" was headquartered out of the Mena airport and that a man named Barry from Baton Rouge was in charge of it. "I resigned from the office in November of 1985, and my successor took over the investigation. Judicial Watch Sues Air Force Academy for Records about Critical Race Theor DOJ & FBI Target Biden Political Opponents, Judicial Watch Warns: Critical Race Theory Rising. The gunman was later identified as Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz. The movie's loose interpretation of the true story is echoed in the trailer when a voice-over by Tom Cruise as Barry Seal tells us that only "some of this sh*t really happened." He relocated to a small regional airport in Mena, Arkansas, which had a population of only 5,000. Undercover cameras installed on Seal's plane captured photos on the tarmac of a Nicaraguan airport. The CIA does not talk about these things, and so Browns exact relationship with the agency may never be known. As early as 1982, his firm had been censured by the Arkansas security commissioner for cheating customers. He later claimed to have made as much as $50 million running 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month from Colombia. According to a 1988 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, Seal's associates at the Mena airport were also being investigated. "There are also allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency used the airport as a base of operations to help train pilots and troops for the intervention in the Nicaraguan uprising by the Contras during the 1980s," according to the encyclopedia entry, which was written by Robert Sherwood of Georgia Military College. He was hired by Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1964 and at age 26 became one of the youngest Captains operating a Boeing 707. In essence, not only was the airport used to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States, but it was also a departure point for weapons used to arm the Contras in Nicaragua.". Brown says he realized then that everything is going to come out. Nonetheless, he still seemed reluctant to disclose all he knew. The respected Arkansas journalist Mara Leveritt recently outlined what appears to be a continuing effort to cover up the Mena affair. End: the Life and Death of Barry Seal successful cocaine transport a long.... 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