As early as 1982, his firm had been censured by the Arkansas security commissioner for cheating customers. The Ochoa Family, along with Pablo Escobar and others, were the founders of the Medelln Cartel. As part of his reduced sentence, the judge had ordered Barry to spend his nights, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., at a Salvation Army halfway house for six months. Approximately 30 minutes later, Brown says, the C-123K landed in what he later learned what Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He also says he was mindful of the secrecy agreement he had signed with the CIA. He said parts of it could have been provided to people under previous information requests. Debbie, who was 21 at the time, met Barry, 33, while working as a cashier at a restaurant. Yes. Hahn told Vice that Barry was likable but "not as smart and clever as he thought he was. As part of the application process, Brown had written an essay: Marxist Influence in Central America. The DEA eventually took him up on his offer because of his knowledge and connections to the cartel. A 1983 document in the recently released trove referred to a telephone conversation between the FBI and Polk County Sheriff A.L. Miguel Velez was the man driving the getaway car. Seal, Brown says, had also prescribed the dress code, and insisted that no one carry identification, not even keys or jewelry. He took it out for a test flight and never came back." Tom Cruise is set to play murdered DEA informant Barry Seal in Doug Liman's film Mena. He was unaware that a Colombian assassin was hiding behind one of the donation drop boxes. The scene was actually inspired by something that happened while director Doug Liman and Tom Cruise were training for the movie. 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. Inside the plane, according to Brown, were another pilot and two beaners common laborers who looked like Central American Indians. No other name is perhaps more associated with the Iran-Contra affair than Oliver North, but his involvement in exposing Barry Seal's mission and blowing his cover is unknown and entirely speculation. 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. In 1986, he was convicted of drug distribution, and lost his state securities license. In the 1980s, the Mena airport was the reported base of a drug-smuggling, money-laundering and arms-smuggling ring run by Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal, according to an Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on the airport. In the American Made movie, Barry Seal's boredom with piloting commercial flights leads him to perform stunts that cause the oxygen masks to fall and frighten passengers. In 1983, the DEA arrested him on drug smuggling charges. And while Clinton would later correctly note that events at Mena were primarily a matter of federal jurisdictionmeaning that Republicans probably had more to lose than Democrats if the truth was exposedits also true that a Clinton friend and supporter named Dan Lasater was under investigation for drug smuggling at the same time Seal was operating in Arkansas. -Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal. I mean I didnt have a chance to tell him anything about it. Yes. Just prior to the movie's release, news broke that the family of deceased stunt pilot Alan Purwin was suing American Made's producers for wrongful death. Seal, Brown says, talked knowledgeably about airplanes, and spoke of an operation he was planning. Thats when he said, You having any fun yet.. 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. "The apparent reason was that the prosecution might have revealed national security information, even though all of the crimes which were the focus of the investigation occurred before Seal became a federal informant.". Later Seal confirmed Browns suspicions: the palettes contained M-16s for the Contras. View Alex Mena results in Phoenix, AZ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. "I resigned from the office in November of 1985, and my successor took over the investigation. Though the Clinton machine feared him the most, he showed no intention of breaking his silence until a chain of random events made it inevitable. Clinton appeared to have pressured Hale, the head of an Arkansas lending agency, into making loans to Susan McDougal, the Clintons Whitewater real estate partner. In the 1980s the smallairportin Arkansas known as Mena became part of the largest covert operation in history. During the past few years, the activity at the airstrip has aroused the interest of local law enforcement, who then attempted to conduct some investigations but were blocked by the U.S. attorney.". Not by the United States government. According to a 1988 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, Seal's associates at the Mena airport were also being investigated. Seal flipped, becoming a valuable government informant. "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. Asa Hutchinson was U.S. attorney for Arkansas' Western District in the early 1980s. "He would tell me, 'I'm going to such and such places,' and I wouldn't see him for days. -Daily Mail Online, No. Other photos like the one below show Federico Vaughan (center, striped shirt), a man that Seal claimed was a top aide of Tomas Borge, the Sandinista Minister of the Interior. 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. Welsh said it had not, but Youngs concern was intriguing. 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. Strange events unfolded at Mena, a small city in remote western Arkansas, in the 1980s. Alexander said he has been meeting weekly with the GAO investigating team and has been in touch with the House and Senate subcommittees . Its now referred to as theIran-Contrascandal. Seal was shot dead in 1986 at a safe house in Baton Rouge . While there, he had a chance meeting with Jorge Ochoa's New Orleans business manager. Rafael Mena; Arizona; Phoenix; Rafael L Mena; Rafael L Mena, Age 71. aka Rafael J Mena. The pilot of the plane was Barry Seal, a legendary drug trafficker. In the movie, Lucy's brother JB (Caleb Landry Jones) steals money from Barry (Tom Cruise). BARRY SEAL: He imported drugs and laundered money while working for the federal government. According to Del Hahn's book Smuggler's End, Barry Seal was not chummy with the cartel bosses. In the 1980s, the Mena airport was the reported base of a drug-smuggling, money-laundering and arms-smuggling ring run by Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal, according to an Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Suddenly, though, the Arkansas State Police were uncooperative. It was dark almost black, and had only the minimal tail markings necessary for civilian operation. Three Colombians eventually were arrested and convicted of the murder. "In other words, the charges of drug smuggling and money laundering were not enough to warrant the release of information about the use of the airport in the Iran-Contra Affair," wrote Sherwood for the Arkansas encyclopedia. Because no one Reprints and media inquiries: [emailprotected]. . Bill Clintons favorite bodyguard, but also a close friend. An "extensive joint investigation" by the FBI, Arkansas State Police and IRS revealed that Barry Seal used the Mena airport for "smuggling activity" from late 1980 until March 1984, according to an internal FBI document released last week. Like in the movie, the American Made true story reveals that Barry made a living as a commercial airline pilot for several years. The cartel tells Barry that they'll deal with JB, a suggestion that Barry opposes. Hadaway. var sc_click_stat=1; Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The DEA had been onto him for a long time. About 25 pages of that trove refer to Arkansas or Mena. 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. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, 1986) murdered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While at a small airport in rural Mena, Arkansas, the notorious smuggler Barry Seal was given protection by Governor Bill Clinton to continue his drug-smuggling, gun-running, money laundering operation but now as a DEA informant and a CIA contract pilot, also set up by Bush. In 1994, Brown told Daniel Wattenberg of The American Spectator that Jim Guy Tucker, then the Arkansas governor had asked him and trooper Larry Patterson for compromising information on Clintons private life in 1990, when Tucker was contemplating a race for governor. In fact, even the Wikipedia links Ive included in this paragraph are mostly lies. Barry Seal was an American-born Trans World Airlines pilot who . Indeed, when Clinton was a law professor in Fayetteville, Brown was working on an off-campus magazine, the radical Grapevine. "Allegations later surfaced that many of the gun shipments sent to Nicaragua as part of the Iran-Contra Affair were sent from the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport. At the time Seals flights took place, Lasater was contributing to Clintons political campaigns. It does seem, however, that Clinton was far less cautious. When I got back from that first trip he knew I had been out doing something, Brown insists. Jul 04, 2022 12:40 P.M. "I trusted him so I didn't ask questions," says Debbie. (Brown maintains that he never flunked the test; in fact, he was nominated four months after taking it for employment with the agency.). The story took on a new life when Bill Clinton ran for president. Later Brown would come to know them as kickers. Benjamin /Mary Seal son Adler M 1940 census address 315 Lovers Lane Baton.Rouge Louisiana (next hwy73/North blvd).lovers lane White house Barry was the 1st son.Seal Entrepreneur.Texaco Service station .called B.C. The is the latest repackaging of allegations previously made by the Wall Street Journal. This doesn't add up with the true story. He spent his spare time hanging around the old Downtown Airport, now Independence Park, working odd jobs in exchange for flight time. However, some still allege the opposite, that the government turned a blind eye to Seal's drug running in order to use him to deliver weapons to the Nicaraguan rebels. Jacoby mentioned Seal's mission as evidence, which effectively outed Seal as a government agent. There is no real-life Monty. But twenty-three years later, Judicial Watch says it is time for answers. But there were still questions regarding the Mena airport and people who worked there, according to the FBI memo. 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. Buddy Young that little beady-faced fellow, and said he was with Clinton at Mena. Three Colombians supposedly sent by the Ochoas, including Cruz and Velez, were later arrested at the airport. In its review of the 2017 movie "American Made" -- about Seal -- the New York Times called it the Conspiratorial Industrial Complex. Ochoa was arrested in Spain on a U.S. warrant, but due to pressure from the cartel was never extradited to the U.S. -Court Documents (STATE of Louisiana v. Miguel VELEZ, Bernardo Vasquez, and Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz), Yes. FITTON: Heavy Lifting Needed By Congress on Corruption! Bill Duncan, an IRS investigator, told me that he had numerous reports of automatic weapons fire, men of Latin American appearance in the area, people in camouflage moving quietly through streams with automatic weapons, aircraft drops, twin-engine airplane traffic. Duncan, along with Arkansas State Police investigator Russell Welch, started digging into Seal and the Mena connection, suspecting a drug smuggling and money laundering operation. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); 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. Brown recalls that on the morning of this particular flight, Seal had told him to drive to Mena Intermountain Regional Airport, a remote air strip near the Oklahoma border. They shared an interest in books, ideas, and night life. attorney.". "Despite the availability of evidence sufficient for an indictment on money laundering charges, and over the strong protests of state and federal law enforcement officials, the cases were dropped," according to the report. Counterrevolutionaries, known as Contras, were battling the Sandinistas. pennymac insurance claim check tracker. ", No. No. He carried out his smuggling operation under the nose of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. Past Addresses: See available information. "I've heard that stated by a lot of people.". The lawsuit claims that the pilots were overworked and that the crash happened after a 12-hour workday. The FBI in Little Rock began investigating Seal's operation at the Mena airport in February 1984, according to the recently released FBI document. The CIA stonewalled the release of information now sought by Judicial Watch on the Mena Airport controversy, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. Young has since been made head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration in Denton, Texas. The Sandinistas overthrew Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, ending 46 years of dictatorship by the Somoza family. The explosives were supposedly going to anti-Castro Cuban fighters. "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. A month before that, the Southwest personnel representative for the CIA, Ken Cargile, in a letter to Brown, wrote that I am pleased to nominate you for employment with the Central Intelligence Agency. Another entry in Browns daybook indicates that he had met with another CIA representative only a few days before that.

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