5 Jackson Stevens. Exposure of Nicaraguan undercover operation, Criticism of U.S. failure to protect Seal, President's Commission on Organized Crime, "Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 years ago helped expose Iran-Contra debacle", "Louisiana governor denies parole for man who helped kill Barry Seal for Escobar's cartel", "Slain drug smuggler Barry Seal's daughter sues to halt movie on her father's life", "Family of murdered drug smuggler sue Universal over Tom Cruise film Mena", "North's name bandied about on news leak", "Special Reports - Interview - Drug Wars", "Informants murder puts head on authorities", "TV Reviews: 'Doublecrossed': Story of Drugs and Politics", "Who Killed Barry Seal? [64] Citing testimony of DEA Administrator John C. Lawn, the report of the Kerry Committee released in December 1988 pinned the leak on North stating he "decided to play politics with the issue". American Made is a fascinating biopic about Barry Seal, a commercial pilot who worked with the CIA to run drugs and guns in South America. They agreed to a sentence for Seal's Louisiana activities no greater than the sentence he received for his Florida smuggling, with both sentences to run concurrently. [51], On the evening of February 19, 1986, Seal was shot to death in front of the Salvation Army Center, three weeks into his probation. The memorable scene never happened in real life. Operative Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) approaches Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) and tells him, "We need you to deliver stuff for us." [5], Ironically, Seal's operations received an important boost when he was arrested and jailed in Honduras on the return leg of a drug-smuggling trip to Ecuador. Considering . That was until, believing himself smarter than the Colombian . The state narcotics agents who were investigating Seal in Baton Rouge sued over their depiction in the series, but the lawsuit was dismissed. The DEA felt this would be impossible to explain away, and Seal returned to the U.S. without cargo. "I fly airplanes. "You know, we're not making a biopic," said director Doug Liman. After this look at the brazen smuggler Barry Seal, check out how the Medelln cartel became one of the most ruthless crime syndicates in history. Starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. [57], Uribe-Munera was a Colombian drug smuggler for the cartel. On 1st July, 1972, Barry Seal was arrested in New Orleans and accused of sending C4 explosives to anti-Castro Cubans in Mexico. When asked how, he replied, "Oh, Barry stole an airplane from me. On June 25, 1984, the CIA placed hidden cameras in Seal's 123K plane that was directed to Los Brasiles, in Nicaragua: the photos that were taken show 'some Nicaraguan soldiers', Barry Seal, Pablo Escobar, Federico Vaughn, Emile Camp ('Seal's co-pilot') placing over one thousand kilos of cocaine onto the plane (Peet 2002). The scene was actually inspired by something that happened while director Doug Liman and Tom Cruise were training for the movie. While there, he had a chance meeting with Jorge Ochoa's New Orleans business manager. They married in 1974. The story of Barry Seal has since been made into films such as Doublecrossed (1991), Infiltrator (2016) and American Made (2017). He was the primary witness in three trials: the trial of Saunders and the other Turks and Caicos officials in July; the trial of the cartel distributors in Miami in August; the trial of the cartel distributors who had arranged the shipment of cocaine from Bolivia to Las Vegas, also in August. a secret camera in Seal's C-123 cargo plane snapped photos of an alleged Sandinista official loading cocaine aboard the aircraft. As a progressive group, we believe that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information. He was married three times throughout his life. [25] The drugs were unloaded by the military and Seal and his co-pilot were taken to detention in downtown Managua, where they were released to the cartel's Nicaraguan contact, Federico Vaughan. To muffle the sound, Seal turned on all the planes generators and he got his photographic evidence. But the 1984 investigation got derailed when Seal told his handlers that cocaine was being trans-shipped through Nicaragua with the permission of high . The Charmed, Doomed Life of Barry Seal. Once he flew into U.S. airspace, Seal would drop his plane to 500 feet and slow to 120 knots to mimic a helicopter on the radar screen of anyone who was watching, as the small aircraft frequently flew between oil rigs and the coast. This leads to the CIA recruiting him to take reconnaissance photos in Central America. No. In fact, it was Seal who provided the DEA with the photos of Escobar that exposed him as a major drug kingpin. The most important witnesses were Max Mermelstein and Luis Carlos Uribe-Munera. The extent of Barry Seal's involvement with the CIA in the 1980s has provided fuel for speculation and conspiracy theories. In 2017, Seals life became the subject of a Hollywood adaptation titled American Made, starring Tom Cruise. 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. Yet, some believe that Seal was working for the CIA in the 1980s to fly guns and money to Nicaraguan rebels, a detail that the movie embraces. Like in the movie, the American Made true story reveals that Barry made a living as a commercial airline pilot for several years. And Tomas Borges, the Ortega brothers equivalent of the Gestapo chief, was one of the overseers of drug shipments of planeloads destined to Mena air strip, in Arkansas, in 1983. They were then picked up by Seal's ground team and transported to the Colombian distributors in Florida. Hed work at the drop of a hat, and he didnt care, a fellow smuggler later recalled of Seal. -The Hollywood Reporter, Debbie Seal insists that she was unaware of what her husband was up to. Three Colombians supposedly sent by the Ochoas, including Cruz and Velez, were later arrested at the airport. Barry Seal made a killing selling drugs for the Ochoa brothers, but after being outed as a key DEA informant, he was a marked man. However, when a drug shipment was seized by the DEA, the Medellin Cartel blamed Seal for the loss. [35], Following the exposure of the Nicaraguan investigation, the DEA had to move quickly to arrest the cartel distributors in Miami. Barry Seal was able to get photos of Pablos Escobar himself loading cocaine onto Barry's cargo plane in Nicaragua. He also provided testimony that led to drug charges against high-level government officials in Nicaragua and Turks and Caicos. 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. All three were found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. A witness identified Vlez as the driver of the vehicle in the halfway house parking lot. -Vulture.com, Yes. The photos quickly leaked, boosting Washington's anti-Sandinista effort but likely putting a . hiding a camera on Seal's plane to catch photos and confirmed the Nicaragua-Medellin link, Jacobsen said. [21], Participants at the meeting included Pablo Escobar and Jorge, Fabio Jr., and Juan David Ochoa. [5] By 1978, he had expanded to flying significant loads of cocaine, pound-for-pound a much more profitable enterprise than marijuana smuggling. [27], The plane Seal acquired was a C-123K, a large aircraft used primarily for military transport. If not, they would continue on to drop sites over the Louisiana bayou, where duffel bags full of cocaine were tossed into the swamp. On June 29, General Paul F. Gorman, US Military Commander Southern Command, made a speech stating the US had evidence that elements of the Nicaraguan government were involved in drug smuggling, though Gorman did not mention Seal or the undercover flights. Seal became a federal informant in March 1984. [59] Another eyewitness saw Quintero-Cruz outside the car, handing the MAC-10 to the car driver through the window after the murder. His father was a candy wholesaler and an alleged KKK member, according to Spartacus Educational. Three of them, Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz, Miguel Vlez, and Bernardo Antonio Vsquez, were indicted on state charges for capital murder. Two weeks after his argument with Vice President GHW Bush, Barry Seal was pumped full of bullets and murdered outside his Baton Rouge halfway house on Feb. 19, 1986. [36], Despite the exposure, Seal was able to put together a second major undercover operation for the DEA later that year. Alder Berriman, or Barry Seal, was one of America's most notorious drug smugglers. The White House saw the pictures as proof of the communist Sandinista government's corruption and believed that the photos would help to convince the public of the need to support and arm the rebels (Contras) in Nicaragua. The photo was taken in Mexico when he was 24. . He testified that Vlez was present when he was given the contract and that Vlez later asked Mermelstein to turn the contract over to him. [46] He warned Seal that he intended to set strict probation provisions and that if Seal violated these, the plea bargain could be revoked and Seal re-sentenced. Investigators are still trying to separate myth from reality. In court documents, the family alleged that "lapses in planning, coordinating, scheduling, and flight safety" contributed to the fatal crash in the mountains of Colombia. With Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons. "Barry Seal was a friend of mine," Plumlee says. For example . He ultimately offered to act as an informant, passing along information about Escobar, the Medelln cartel, and high-level government officials in Central America who were involved in trafficking drugs to the U.S. [28], Seal returned to the Los Brasiles airfield in Nicaragua on June 25. "He stopped in there and, just like that, he asked me out," says Debbie. The DEA agreed to put surveillance equipment on Barry Seals plane and track him on his next flight to Central America. -Daily Mail Online. President Reagan displayed Seals photo in a nationally televised speech in March 1986. The case against the cartel had been engineered by Barry Seal, a convicted drug dealer turned informant who worked closely with Vice President George Bush's anti-drug task force in Washington. The box housing the camera was supposed to be soundproof, but when he took the first picture, it was loud enough for everyone to hear. . [12] The number of planes and the frequency of flights soon attracted the attention of Louisiana State Police and Federal investigators. That film finds Seal (portrayed by Michael Par) being assassinated in a motorcycle drive-by shooting while he is driving and Robert Mazur (Cranston) is his passenger. But before he died, the photographs he captured made Pablo Escobar a wanted criminal and ultimately played an important part in the drug kingpins downfall in 1993. I guess he also thought Colombians would stick out like a sore thumb in Louisiana and they wouldn't come here." [20], The Florida Task Force plan called for Seal to set up a cocaine purchase with the Ochoas and other cartel members, providing the basis for indictments in the U.S. Seal had previously dealt with the cartel through another associate so that they were unaware of his real name. An Investigative Obituary. Twitter/VICEBarry Seal likely never worked for CIA, as shown in American Made. Bush's anti-drug task force in hopes of convincing them of his value as an informant. Originally planned for mid-April, the flight did not take place until the end of May. [14], By 1981, DEA agents in Florida were aware of Seal's smuggling activities. Synopsis. [60] All three men's fingerprints were found in the vehicle. Barry Seal was fired from TWA in 1974 for falsely citing medical leave when he was actually off trafficking weapons. This led to photos of key Nicaraguan government officials . Alder Berriman Berry Seals life has become somewhat distorted over the years, and it isnt really a mystery why: such an exciting and controversial story is bound to be reproduced or exaggerated. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel. Born: 19-Jul-1939 Birthplace: Baton Rouge, LA Died: 19-Feb-1986 Location of death: Baton Rouge, LA Cause of death: Murder Remains: Buried, Greenoaks Memorial Park, Baton Rouge, LA Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Criminal, Government Nationality: United States Executive summary: DEA informant, CIA contract pilot . The guns were then flown to the contras in Nicaragua, the suit said. Debbie, who was 21 at the time, met Barry, 33, while working as a cashier at a restaurant. This past weekend, American Made lost out on the top box office spot in a neck and neck race with It, missing first place by a scant $300,000 . [33], A more detailed account of American efforts in Nicaragua appeared on July 17 in an article by reporter Edmond Jacoby, published on the front page of the Washington Times. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. He was murdered on February 19, 1986 by contract killers hired by the cartel. [2], In 1964, Seal joined TWA as a flight engineer and was soon promoted to the first officer, then captain, flying a Boeing 707 on a regular Western Europe route. Barry Seal modern day outlaw, adventurer, and drug smuggler, full of fun, full of folly . "He would tell me, 'I'm going to such and such places,' and I wouldn't see him for days. 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. He was then shot 5 times by cartel gunmen, but survived and eventually sought asylum at the U.S. embassy in Bogota. He was one of the youngest 707 command pilots in the TWA fleet. Arthur, the chief council, investigated the CIA and questioned Col. Oliver North, who is depicted in American Made. There is no information on Barry Seal's net worth, but it must have been substantial. Particularly suspicious is the role of Federico Vaughn, the supposed Sandinista official, who appears to have been a US spy all along. A leak regarding the operation came to light before Seal's second trip. [25] Vaughan was an aide to Tomas Borge, Nicaraguan Minister of the Interior. -Daily Mail Online, "Mena" refers to the small town in Arkansas where Barry Seal moved his operation, smuggling in drugs to a clandestine airfield under the nose of then-Governor Bill Clinton. YouTubeThe photograph taken by Barry Seal that outed Pablo Escobar as the Medelln cartels drug kingpin. Concurrently, they had to make sure not to raise the suspicions of the ruthless Colombian drug lords. Seal's active duty began in July 1962. AKA Adler Berriman Seal. In yet another conspiracy-stoking morsel, the C-123 used by Seal was the same one later piloted by Eugene Hasenfus when he was shot down over Nicaragua while piloting illegal U.S. arms shipments . The DEA had been informed before the publication of the Jacoby article, so they were still able to have Seal set up a meeting with the chief cartel supervisor in Miami, Carlos Bustamonte, and arrested him on July 17, along with other cartel employees. The story of Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s in a clandestine operation that would be exposed as the Iran-Contra Affair. His character is inspired by the stories we learned about Barry." The cartel was happy, as was Seal, who loved evading law enforcement as much as he loved the money. -Daily Mail Online, No. [7], To expand his smuggling capacity, Seal also hired William Bottoms, his ex-brother-in-law, as a pilot. Before returning to Nicaragua, the DEA arranged for CIA technicians to install hidden cameras inside the plane. 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. "Barry Seal, the charismatic narcotics air smuggler of the early . Yes. The film stars Tom Cruise as Barry . -Daily Mail Online, No. Times Staff Writers. The gunman was later identified as Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz. Plumlee also said he is in the infamous "Mexico City" picture, seated across the table from Seal and peering out from behind his jacket. In the American Made movie, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) crash lands a plane in a suburban neighborhood in an effort to escape the DEA who ordered him to land. WASHINGTON . [59], In January 2023, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards denied Vsquez's request for clemency. It is not clear whether Seal and his crew were informed of this before they returned to Nicaragua. Barry Seal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Mary Lou (ne Delcambre) and Benjamin Curtis Seal, a candy wholesaler. 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. Fact-checking American Made revealed that Monty Schafer is a fictional character created to represent Barry Seal's contacts at the CIA. And Seal never quit his job but was instead fired when Trans World Airlines learned hed been trafficking weapons instead of taking medical leave, as hed claimed. The narcotics runner, Barry Seal, allegedly . All three trials resulted in convictions for all defendants. In 1961, he joined the Louisiana Army National Guard and served with the 20th Special Forces Group for six years. From earning his pilots license at the age of 16 to his blood-soaked end at the hands of a notorious cartel, Seal certainly got the life of excitement that he so desired. 4 - July/August, Iran-Contra Affair. Barry also got lucky and captured photos of the communist leader of the Sandinistas . Click the button below! [19] Seal then pleaded guilty to the second indictment in Florida and was released with his sentence to depend on his performance as an informant. Helicopters would pick up the contraband and transport it to off-loading sites and then on to Ochoa distributors in Miami by car or truck. -Vulture. Tom Cruise got his pilot's license in 1994. He was murdered on February 19, 1986, by contract killers hired by the cartel. Liman has referred to the film as "a fun lie based on a true story" (TIME). . And by 1978, according to The Gentlemans Journal, he had moved on to cocaine. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, . What is certain is that Barry Seal did work for Pablo Escobar and the Ochoas as a drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel and single-handedly had one of the largest impacts on the cocaine epidemic in the U.S. in the early 1980s. [61], Seal was married three times. His first marriage, to Barbara Dodson, lasted from 1963 to 1971. When did you first hear about Barry Seal?. [40], Soon after the broadcast, the heads of the Florida and Louisiana task forces met to work out an agreement that would allow Seal to continue working with the Florida task force and testify as a witness at trial. [45], At Seal's sentencing hearing in January 1986, Judge Frank Polozola acknowledged that he was bound by the agreement, but informed Seal and his lawyer of his dissatisfaction with Seal's failure to receive jail time in Florida, forcing Polozola to sentence Seal to probation on much more serious charges in Louisiana. Sixteen year-old Baton Rouge Civil Air Patrol cadet Barry Seal boards a U.S. Air Force plane on July 23, 1955 to fly to a two week training camp at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he will meet fellow cadet Lee Harvey Oswald . Yes. But the media showed much less interest when subcommittee chairman Hughes recently disclosed he had new evidence that the entire Sandinista connection was a US intelligence fabrication. Barry Seal was one of the biggest drug smugglers in America in the 1970s and 80s. Seal's story is the focus of the . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Seal's attorney, Lewis Unglesby, told Polozola his ruling amounted to a death sentence for his client. 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. Seal frequently smuggled 1,000 to 1,500 kilos of the illicit substance between Nicaragua and Louisiana, and he quickly earned a reputation in the world of drug trafficking. And though the tale of Barry Seal - drug smuggler, double-crosser, pilot extraordinaire - has now been transformed into a raucous Hollywood caper with Tom Cruise at the helm, the true story would be too . Yet, it's also certainly possible that Seal had no involvement with the CIA in the early 1980s at all, given there is nothing to support the claim but rumors. In American Made, facts matter less than fiction. He then was able to get a meeting with Vice President George H.W. Through his cartel contacts in Miami, Seal arranged a meeting using the name Ellis McKenzie (the real name of another Seal associate). A principio de los aos 80 comenz a estar al servicio del Cartel de Medelln para transportar la cocana y en 1984 le . Questioned about the identity of the source, DEA agent Ernst Jacobson replied, "I heard that the leak came from an aide in the White House". In addition to implicating Escobar as a drug kingpin, Seals photos provided evidence that the Sandinistas, Nicaraguan revolutionaries who overthrew the countrys dictator in 1979, were being funded by drug money. She says that she thought he was an airplane broker and also that he rented out old anti-aircraft lighting for various promotional events. In her suit, Lisa, who is not depicted in the movie, also claimed that there were factual inaccuracies in the script, including the fact that Barry had five children, not three, and that the movie falsely suggests he was an alcoholic and a reckless pilot. Though hed done his job as an informant, Seal was still sentenced to six months of house arrest at a Salvation Army halfway house in Baton Rouge. Indeed, at age 26, Seal became one of the youngest pilots to ever fly for Trans World Airlines. In researching the American Made true story, we learned that Barry Seal was arrested by customs officers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1983 as he tried to smuggle 200,000 units of Quaalude, a recreational drug, into the country. It turns out Barry flew the plane all the way back to the United States. 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. -Court DocumentsThe 2016 Bryan Cranston movie The Infiltrator also depicts Barry Seal's assassination, but it is historically inaccurate. Featured Image:The low-res image of Frederico Vaughn (in the striped shirt) that Ronald Reagan offered as proof of Sandinista drug trafficking. [18] Jacobsen was impressed with Seal's connections, especially the ones with the Ochoa family, and on March 28, Seal signed a letter agreeing to serve as a DEA informant. Basically, Seal would fly over the guns and smuggle back drugs on his return trip. On July 28, the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, chaired by Congressman William Hughes (D-NJ), held the first of a series of hearings into whether Reagan administration officials condoned drug smuggling and other criminal activities to further its Central America policy. He carries it around and begins spending it, which attracts the attention of the local authorities. 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." Barry Seal, The Most Important Witness In The History Of The Drug Enforcement Administration. [39] Seal attempted to push back against the investigation by appearing in a television news series broadcast by WBRZ in Baton Rouge in November 1984. But when he was busted in 1984, he decided to double-cross Escobar, and he soon became one of the Drug Enforcement Administrations most important informants. On Feb. 19, 1986, three Colombian hitmen that had been hired by the Medelln cartel tracked Seal down at the Salvation Army. No. Although Seal had pleaded guilty, with the support of his DEA supervisors, he was sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation. He is familiar with Barry's work as a pilot, but . Max Mermelstein, a high-level cartel distributor in Miami, later testified in court that he was shown the documentary a few days after it was broadcast and was told that the cartel wanted Seal either captured or killed: the price was $500,000 if Seal was killed, and $1,000,000 if he was captured alive. Barry Seal with his Wife Deborah DeBois and their kids. It's certainly possible and it's what the movie proposes. When shot down Sunday, the plane reportedly was carrying 50,000 rounds of ammunition for Soviet-made AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of automatic rifles, boots and other supplies . [29], Seal made one more trip to Nicaragua on July 7, bringing money to Escobar to pay the Nicaraguans for landing rights. Soon, Seal relocated his smuggling operations to Mena, Arkansas. The film never set out to be a documentary, according to films director Doug Liman, who described the blockbuster as a fun lie based on a true story, according to TIME. Wikimedia CommonsTom Cruise portrays Barry Seal in the 2017 film American Made.. -Good Morning America. Although Seals first foray into smuggling failed, by 1975, he had started trafficking marijuana between the U.S. and Central and South America. Facing major prison time, Seal attempted to cut various deals with the DEA. That aspect of who he was has never been disputed. I'm a multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot," Cruise said in a Wired interview. In his address, Reagan talks about a photo taken by a hidden camera on Barry Seal's plane. Funny how these people missed theFACT, now public knowledge, that Pablo Escobar was granted wide and free passage and full protection, by the Sandinistas. In Tom Cruise's latest film he plays the pilot, drug smuggler, and informant Barry Seal. Hahn told Vice that Barry was likable but "not as smart and clever as he thought he was. DEA Agent Ernest Jacobsen later said the technology they used was the most expensive cryptic radio communications we had ever seen at the time.. He made more than $50 million smuggling drugs into the United States from South America between 1977 and 1986. . CASA NO MINUTO. "The DEA agents who worked with Barry loved him," said director Doug Liman. According to author Del Hahn, who wrote the book Smuggler's End, next to Barry's yearbook photo was the description, "Full of fun, full of folly" (TIME). It proved impossible to impanel sufficient jurors in Baton Rouge, so the venue was moved to Lake Charles. When Seal was convicted of smuggling charges, he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration and testified in several major drug trials. Seal took a blurry snapshot which purported to show himself with a high-level Nicaraguan official named Federico Vaughn, and a Colombian drug czar unloading bags of cocaine at an airstrip in Nicaragua. Seals career as a pilot for Trans World Airlines crashlanded in 1974 when he was caught trying to smuggle explosives to anti-Castro Cubans in Mexico. [30] Unfortunately, the driver was arrested by local police, and the circumstances of the seizure raised the suspicions of the cartel.