WEBVTT - The Bare Truth About the Cocaine Snorting Bear - B6

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<v Speaker 1>Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. In the

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<v Speaker 1>early eighties, cocaine was having an impact on many more

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<v Speaker 1>places in the United States than Miami. C. B. Hackworth

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<v Speaker 1>was a young newspaper reporter in Northern Georgia at the time.

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<v Speaker 2>In September of nineteen eighty two, we had the first

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<v Speaker 2>and biggest case of cocaine literally dropping from the sky.

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<v Speaker 2>It was almost six hundred pounds of uncut cocaine, worth

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<v Speaker 2>an estimated half a billion dollars. It was a big story,

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<v Speaker 2>and that's not the case that the movie Cocaine Bear

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<v Speaker 2>is based on. That came several years later. As it

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<v Speaker 2>turned out, it was more like climate change. It turned

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<v Speaker 2>out cocaine falling out of the sky on a continual basis.

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<v Speaker 2>It wasn't just one case or two cases. It took

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<v Speaker 2>us a minute to figure it out. But the driving

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<v Speaker 2>force behind this new phenomena was that North Georgia, with

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<v Speaker 2>its cliched, quiet little communities up in the mountains, is

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<v Speaker 2>as far as you can get from South America or

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<v Speaker 2>the Bahamas to the United States. With a large shipment

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<v Speaker 2>of drugs in a plane that is modified to carry

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<v Speaker 2>extra fuel as well as the drugs. This first case

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<v Speaker 2>in Gilmour County seemingly would not necessarily be directly related

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<v Speaker 2>to lamar Chester. Nevertheless, in retrospect, to look at an

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<v Speaker 2>old article of mine and see that that far back

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<v Speaker 2>before I'd ever even heard of Lamarchester. Roy Harris, the

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<v Speaker 2>agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's field

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<v Speaker 2>office in Atlanta, told me that they felt like there

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<v Speaker 2>was a mastermind behind this and other cocaine cases we

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<v Speaker 2>were experiencing in North Georgia.

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<v Speaker 1>And the phenomenon of cocaine falling from the sky seemingly

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<v Speaker 1>inspired certain sorts to seek out the woods of Northern Georgia.

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<v Speaker 2>There was a noticeable increase in the number of people

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<v Speaker 2>going up to Gilmour County and exploring the outdoors. I

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<v Speaker 2>think both we as journalists and law enforcement were concerned

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<v Speaker 2>that people were coming to North Georgia on weekends recreationally

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<v Speaker 2>who had not ever previously been inspired to enjoy our

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<v Speaker 2>beautiful North Georgia mountains.

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<v Speaker 1>It's this specific era of specific snow covered mountains that

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<v Speaker 1>inspired the hit movie Cocaine Bear, a gory comedy from

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<v Speaker 1>Universal Pictures and director Elizabeth Banks featuring a five hundred

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<v Speaker 1>pound black bear on a killing spree in a Georgia forest,

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<v Speaker 1>spurred on by consuming a considerable amount of cocaine.

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<v Speaker 2>The movie Cocaine Bear. When they say inspired by true events,

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<v Speaker 2>that's a phrase that Hollywood uses very very liberally to

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<v Speaker 2>promote a movie. It's loosely inspired by case in which

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<v Speaker 2>the pilot of an airplane jumped out of it with

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<v Speaker 2>cocaine strapped to his body. It had already dumped a

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<v Speaker 2>large amount of cocaine, which he apparently intended to go

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<v Speaker 2>back and get. He also probably thought that he was

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<v Speaker 2>being pursued by drug agents. It appears that that was

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<v Speaker 2>not his plan to jump out, but greed got the

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<v Speaker 2>better of him, because he strapped some of the cocaine

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<v Speaker 2>to his body. He was wearing a parachute. However, that

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<v Speaker 2>cocaine provided enough extra weight that his parachute did not work,

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<v Speaker 2>so he and his cocaine plummeted to earth, and that

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<v Speaker 2>gentleman perished. But the story about the bear is so

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<v Speaker 2>fictional every aspect of it is inflated. The actual bear

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<v Speaker 2>was found in close proximity to cocaine, and subsequent tests

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<v Speaker 2>indicated that it had ingested an amount of cocaine. It

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<v Speaker 2>was not a five hundred pounds bear as the movie suggests.

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<v Speaker 2>It was I think about one hundred and twenty five

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<v Speaker 2>pounds or something like that. And it's not that it

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<v Speaker 2>shed the weight because of chronic cocaine use.

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<v Speaker 1>The Gainesville Times, Hackworth's former newspaper, has tackled the task

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<v Speaker 1>of weeding fact from fiction in the case of the

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<v Speaker 1>cinematic cocaine snorting Bear.

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<v Speaker 2>The movie has riled a number of former GBI agents

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<v Speaker 2>who were directly involved in this case. The Times, where

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<v Speaker 2>I used to work as a good article you can

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<v Speaker 2>look up that sets the record straight. They did an article,

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<v Speaker 2>tracked down the former agents and got quotes from them,

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<v Speaker 2>and they're really not happy about this movie. This was

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<v Speaker 2>indicative of a real problem that we were having. And

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<v Speaker 2>I don't mean by that the problem is wildlife dying

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<v Speaker 2>from cocaine. I'm telling about the importation of cocaine. So

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<v Speaker 2>I think something that agents and former agents dedicated a

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<v Speaker 2>significant portion of their life and energy attempting to curtail.

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<v Speaker 2>The agents feel so strongly about this that friend Wiley,

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<v Speaker 2>one of many agents I knew well. She's quoted in

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<v Speaker 2>the Times as saying, I think it's just evil, and

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<v Speaker 2>another agent said it was a total farce.

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<v Speaker 1>But that doesn't mean Hackwerre thinks Cocaine Bear is entirely

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<v Speaker 1>without merit.

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<v Speaker 2>It is almost entirely fiction. I'm not even trying to

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<v Speaker 2>diss the movie, especially having not seen it, but I

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<v Speaker 2>am going to diss the degree to which they are

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<v Speaker 2>playing the based on a true story tagline used for

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<v Speaker 2>lots and lots of movies and all of those tape

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<v Speaker 2>liberties with the facts, But this one is a fabrication

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<v Speaker 2>almost whole claw. The only part that is true is

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<v Speaker 2>that a man plunged to his death with some cocaine

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<v Speaker 2>and a bear got into it and turned up dead.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't even think they ended up believing that the

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<v Speaker 2>cocaine was the cause of its death, or that it

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<v Speaker 2>had ingested enough cocaine to die from it. I think

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<v Speaker 2>Elizabeth Banks is enormously talented. I can understand why the

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<v Speaker 2>subject matter of this script would be a movie that

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<v Speaker 2>somebody might make. It happens to be Rayleioda's last movie

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<v Speaker 2>is a really great actor. I will see it. I'm

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<v Speaker 2>looking forward to seeing it, although I'm going to wait

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<v Speaker 2>until it's on one of my streaming services.

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