1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:11,040 Speaker 1: Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. In the 2 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: early eighties, cocaine was having an impact on many more 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: places in the United States than Miami. C. B. Hackworth 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: was a young newspaper reporter in Northern Georgia at the time. 5 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 2: In September of nineteen eighty two, we had the first 6 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 2: and biggest case of cocaine literally dropping from the sky. 7 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 2: It was almost six hundred pounds of uncut cocaine, worth 8 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,879 Speaker 2: an estimated half a billion dollars. It was a big story, 9 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 2: and that's not the case that the movie Cocaine Bear 10 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 2: is based on. That came several years later. As it 11 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 2: turned out, it was more like climate change. It turned 12 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 2: out cocaine falling out of the sky on a continual basis. 13 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 2: It wasn't just one case or two cases. It took 14 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 2: us a minute to figure it out. But the driving 15 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 2: force behind this new phenomena was that North Georgia, with 16 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 2: its cliched, quiet little communities up in the mountains, is 17 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 2: as far as you can get from South America or 18 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 2: the Bahamas to the United States. With a large shipment 19 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 2: of drugs in a plane that is modified to carry 20 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 2: extra fuel as well as the drugs. This first case 21 00:01:53,600 --> 00:02:00,080 Speaker 2: in Gilmour County seemingly would not necessarily be directly related 22 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 2: to lamar Chester. Nevertheless, in retrospect, to look at an 23 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 2: old article of mine and see that that far back 24 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 2: before I'd ever even heard of Lamarchester. Roy Harris, the 25 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 2: agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's field 26 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 2: office in Atlanta, told me that they felt like there 27 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 2: was a mastermind behind this and other cocaine cases we 28 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 2: were experiencing in North Georgia. 29 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: And the phenomenon of cocaine falling from the sky seemingly 30 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: inspired certain sorts to seek out the woods of Northern Georgia. 31 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 2: There was a noticeable increase in the number of people 32 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 2: going up to Gilmour County and exploring the outdoors. I 33 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 2: think both we as journalists and law enforcement were concerned 34 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 2: that people were coming to North Georgia on weekends recreationally 35 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 2: who had not ever previously been inspired to enjoy our 36 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:14,639 Speaker 2: beautiful North Georgia mountains. 37 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: It's this specific era of specific snow covered mountains that 38 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: inspired the hit movie Cocaine Bear, a gory comedy from 39 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: Universal Pictures and director Elizabeth Banks featuring a five hundred 40 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: pound black bear on a killing spree in a Georgia forest, 41 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: spurred on by consuming a considerable amount of cocaine. 42 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 2: The movie Cocaine Bear. When they say inspired by true events, 43 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 2: that's a phrase that Hollywood uses very very liberally to 44 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 2: promote a movie. It's loosely inspired by case in which 45 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 2: the pilot of an airplane jumped out of it with 46 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 2: cocaine strapped to his body. It had already dumped a 47 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 2: large amount of cocaine, which he apparently intended to go 48 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 2: back and get. He also probably thought that he was 49 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 2: being pursued by drug agents. It appears that that was 50 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 2: not his plan to jump out, but greed got the 51 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 2: better of him, because he strapped some of the cocaine 52 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 2: to his body. He was wearing a parachute. However, that 53 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 2: cocaine provided enough extra weight that his parachute did not work, 54 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 2: so he and his cocaine plummeted to earth, and that 55 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:48,919 Speaker 2: gentleman perished. But the story about the bear is so 56 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 2: fictional every aspect of it is inflated. The actual bear 57 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:59,279 Speaker 2: was found in close proximity to cocaine, and subsequent tests 58 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 2: indicated that it had ingested an amount of cocaine. It 59 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 2: was not a five hundred pounds bear as the movie suggests. 60 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 2: It was I think about one hundred and twenty five 61 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 2: pounds or something like that. And it's not that it 62 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 2: shed the weight because of chronic cocaine use. 63 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: The Gainesville Times, Hackworth's former newspaper, has tackled the task 64 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: of weeding fact from fiction in the case of the 65 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: cinematic cocaine snorting Bear. 66 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 2: The movie has riled a number of former GBI agents 67 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 2: who were directly involved in this case. The Times, where 68 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 2: I used to work as a good article you can 69 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 2: look up that sets the record straight. They did an article, 70 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 2: tracked down the former agents and got quotes from them, 71 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 2: and they're really not happy about this movie. This was 72 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 2: indicative of a real problem that we were having. And 73 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 2: I don't mean by that the problem is wildlife dying 74 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 2: from cocaine. I'm telling about the importation of cocaine. So 75 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 2: I think something that agents and former agents dedicated a 76 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 2: significant portion of their life and energy attempting to curtail. 77 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 2: The agents feel so strongly about this that friend Wiley, 78 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 2: one of many agents I knew well. She's quoted in 79 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,719 Speaker 2: the Times as saying, I think it's just evil, and 80 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 2: another agent said it was a total farce. 81 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean Hackwerre thinks Cocaine Bear is entirely 82 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: without merit. 83 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 2: It is almost entirely fiction. I'm not even trying to 84 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 2: diss the movie, especially having not seen it, but I 85 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 2: am going to diss the degree to which they are 86 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 2: playing the based on a true story tagline used for 87 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 2: lots and lots of movies and all of those tape 88 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 2: liberties with the facts, But this one is a fabrication 89 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 2: almost whole claw. The only part that is true is 90 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 2: that a man plunged to his death with some cocaine 91 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 2: and a bear got into it and turned up dead. 92 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 2: I don't even think they ended up believing that the 93 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 2: cocaine was the cause of its death, or that it 94 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 2: had ingested enough cocaine to die from it. I think 95 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 2: Elizabeth Banks is enormously talented. I can understand why the 96 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 2: subject matter of this script would be a movie that 97 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 2: somebody might make. It happens to be Rayleioda's last movie 98 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 2: is a really great actor. I will see it. I'm 99 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 2: looking forward to seeing it, although I'm going to wait 100 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 2: until it's on one of my streaming services. 101 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 102 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,239 Speaker 1: or wherever you get the stories that matter to you.