Barry Seal was fired from TWA in 1974 for falsely citing medical leave when he was actually off trafficking weapons. By 1983, his earnings totaled $60 million, making him one of the wealthiest people in America. 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. After Brown told Sealand Clintonthat he would no longer take part in the drug flights, Seal contacted Brown again. Yes. Seal, according to Brown, was familiar with the biographical information he had given the agency. Patterson was being deposed in a legal suit filed against Buddy Young, the former head of Clintons security detail, and another man by Terry reed, who says he trained Contra pilots, under Seals supervision, at Nella, Arkansas. Seemingly panicked, the White House mistakenly presumed that Brown was talking to ABC News about his involvement with Mena when he was actually discussing Whitewater. But there were still questions regarding the Mena airport and people who worked there, according to the FBI memo. Then it was refueled while Sale and the kickers got off. Dr. Faucis "SHADY" Gain of Function Research! The pine and hardwood forests of the Ouachita Mountains surrounding it have long been an outlaws paradise, home to generations of moonshiners and red-dirt marijuana farmers. It was also just seventy miles south of the sprawling Fort Chaffee Army Base at Fort Smith, Arkansas. One mission involved a C-123K cargo plane that was outfitted at the Mena airport. One passage discusses the deductibility of charitable donations, and another the length of residency required in Washington before tax liability is incurred. Steal $20 Mil in U.S. COVID Relief Funds. All were wearing jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. Using pilots like Barry Seal was a means to an end. ", Copyright 2023, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. At present, although there is no reason to believe any of the allegations, we are declining to comment publicly, pending exhaustive searches of DO files, as tasked by ICA. She was an experienced writer and had prepared for the legal review. The Ochoa Family, along with Pablo Escobar and others, were the founders of the Medelln Cartel. The explosives were supposedly going to anti-Castro Cuban fighters. He says he feared he was being set up made a conspirator in an operation he despised. Seal was shot dead in 1986 at a safe house in Baton Rouge . "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. 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. I knew the agency had an extensive file on Seal, Leveritt wrote, because Id read it decades earlier, shortly after Seals murder. Brown says Seal told him theres good money to be had. But Brown, says he was out of that game for good. In the film, his abductors take him to a secret airstrip in the Colombian jungle where three businessmen, including Pablo Escobar, make him an offer he can't pass up. No one responded when she asked if the newly arisen concerns might be political., In the Arkansas Times article, Leveritt pinned her hopes on the new Cruise movie, which opened in 2017 to good reviews. Reprints and media inquiries: [emailprotected]. They married in 1974. His daybook records one visit to Mena by Clinton on May 21, 1984, and he says that he accompanied Clinton to Mena on several other occasions. The mysteries of Mena revolve around a drug-smuggling pilot named Barry Seal. 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: Subsequently, Brown says, Seal called him at home, and set up a meeting at Cajuns Wharf, a popular Little Rock watering hole. He was not only Gov. Hagan said he didn't know how many pages of material on Seal have yet to be made public by the FBI. I first traveled to Mena in 1994, reporting for the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Approximately 30 minutes later, Brown says, the C-123K landed in what he later learned what Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The story took on a new life when Bill Clinton ran for president. He later claimed to have made as much as $50 million running 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month from Colombia. The poster for the movie "American Made," to be released Friday, Sept. 29, shows a grinning, cocky Tom. He then, he says, signed a secrecy agreement, and was told he would be contacted further. Documents and a surviving crew member tied the shipment to the CIA and the White House, dragging a Seal connection into the Iran-Contra affair. In the movie, Lucy's brother JB (Caleb Landry Jones) steals money from Barry (Tom Cruise). When asked how, he replied, "Oh, Barry stole an airplane from me. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, 1986) murdered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He carried out his smuggling operation under the nose of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. Browns break with Clinton came after Brown made what he says was his second flight from Mena to Central America. In the 1980s the smallairportin Arkansas known as Mena became part of the largest covert operation in history. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. The first is a CIA internal memo on an article written about Mena in 1995. Yes. Buddy Young that little beady-faced fellow, and said he was with Clinton at Mena. It was dark almost black, and had only the minimal tail markings necessary for civilian operation. According to Del Hahn's book Smuggler's End, Barry Seal was not chummy with the cartel bosses. And for thirty years, every attempt to get to the bottom of events at Menafederal, state, judicial, journalistichas failed. The name of another person under investigation was redacted. The real Barry Seal claimed that he started running covert operations for various government agencies as early as the late 1950s, while he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol in New Orleans, well before he became a TWA pilot. The Louisiana attorney general would tell the Justice Department that Seal had "smuggled between $3 billion and $5 billion in drugs into the U.S." But Brown says he is lying. 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. Her character in the American Made movie is much more aware and suspicious of her husband's activities, stating that she flat out doesn't trust him, which is the opposite of Seal's real-life wife. He was hired by Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1964 and at age 26 became one of the youngest Captains operating a Boeing 707. Copyright 2023, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. No. Instead, he says, he found this huge military plane that was not actually a military plane. var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; In its review of the 2017 movie "American Made" -- about Seal -- the New York Times called it the Conspiratorial Industrial Complex. He didn't meet Pablo Escobar and the Ochoa brothers in person until 1984, after his arrest when he was working as an informant for the DEA on an undercover operation. Contributions are received from Goodwin told me and ABC that Brown had passed it. Then, Brown says, Seal reached again into the duffel bag and pulled out a kilogram of cocaine. As stated in the previous question, there is no strong evidence to confirm that Barry Seal was working with the CIA prior to becoming an informant after his arrest in 1983. In 1986, he was convicted of drug distribution, and lost his state securities license. "The estimated value of the narcotics smuggled through the facility is $3 [billion] to $5 billion. Eight months later, Seals C-123 was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of ammunition and supplies for the anti-Sandinista Contra rebels. 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 . They were all sentenced to life in prison. 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 . Three Colombians eventually were arrested and convicted of the murder. 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. The Judicial Watch lawsuit seeks the report of a November 1996 CIA investigation into drug running, money laundering and intelligence gathering at Mena. 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. In an effort to reduce or altogether avoid his 10-year prison sentence, Seal first tried to make a deal with a U.S. attorney, volunteering to give up information on the Ochoa family, but the deal was rejected. Arthur, the chief council, investigated the CIA and questioned Col. Oliver North, who is depicted in American Made. Meanwhile, Brown says, he confronted Clinton, asking him if he knew that Seal was dealing in drugs and unreported currency. It does seem, however, that Clinton was far less cautious. He was shot to death by two machinegun-wielding men while behind the wheel of his Cadillac in the . Brown still has books that Clinton gave him, one being a bar exam study book in which the politician had made some ironic under-linings. 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 Independent, Not likely. Barry's widow, Deborah Seal, says that he began smuggling drugs in 1975, first focusing mainly on marijuana. The second is the article they reference. (323) 771-9819. info@arcadiainc.com. Watch an interview with the real Barry Seal where he discusses his undercover mission, and listen to President Ronald Reagan talk about the photos Seal obtained on the mission. For good while behind the wheel of his Cadillac in the drug flights, Seal Brown... Memo on an article written about Mena in 1994, reporting for the legal review the... 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