WEBVTT - The Damage Done 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.640 This is a production of Journalista Podcast LLC and iHeartRadio. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:16.000 See this cute little vial here. 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.680 That's crack rock cocaine, the most addictive form. You think 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:22.880 it's the glamour drug of the eighties. Well that's the 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.680 point of this front and little reminder. It can kill you. 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.960 And if you've got to die for something this sure 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:30.600 as hell ain't it. 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.519 Say no to drugs and say yes to life. 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.479 What would I do if someone offered me these drugs? 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:40.240 I tell them to take. 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:47.800 A hike, punk, Welcome to the Journalista Podcast. When we 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.160 first met Cookie, she had just picked up a pound 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.040 of wheat and stood in front of a firing squad. 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.639 She survived. Her Missus Scarface Era got her job at 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:02.000 CBS because she partied and the party never stopped. In 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:10.080 this episode, it might just kill her. I want to 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.360 warn you some of the things you'll hear in this 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.600 story might be hard to listen to. I know it 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:21.200 was for me. Well before we get to that, did 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.959 you ever think to yourself? For my next vacation, I 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.800 want to go see a bloody civil war in Nicaragua. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:29.880 They called it revolution tourism. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:35.200 Any dignitary, any famous person throughout the whole war years, 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.440 anyone that came to town, whether it's to make a movie, 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.160 to check out the revolution, just to be a tourist, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.559 because it was a tourist destination during the war, because 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.440 the war never made it to the capitol, it never 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:49.920 went into Monagua. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.080 Well, since you're talking about that, let's just go with 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.040 that for a minute and talk about some of the 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.800 crazy people that you got to meet up on that floor, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:59.360 from presidents. 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:08.800 To prime ministers, people in Reagan's cabinet, rock stars, movie stars, actors, writers, directors. 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:13.000 We had Jackson Brown staying there with Daryl Hannah. 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.639 Cookie just got me and my wife third row seats 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.840 to his concert in New Orleans. Great time until my 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:19.640 car got booted. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:24.639 Richard Gear came through, Peter Gabriel came through. President Jimmy 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.880 Carter and Ms. Rosalind stayed on that floor with the 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.679 Secret Service. Jesse Jackson came, Chris Christoffers and different actors. 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.880 We had ed Harris Marley, Mattlin. The funny thing is 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:41.480 that everyone was there doing something, but at nighttime, everybody 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.320 also heard that the place to be was at that 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.720 CBS office on the seventh floor. At the end of 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.080 the hall, and so people would just show up. We 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:55.720 had US newspapers Miami Harold, Washington Post, New York Times. 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.640 We had direct dial telephones to the US, all the 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.000 things that the rest of the country and the rest 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.600 of the people did not have access to. We had 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.720 the famous new fax machine. We had balconies where people 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.840 would come and lay out sunbathe in the middle of 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:17.080 the war. So it was a very eclectic crowd during 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.119 the day would mostly be journalists coming in and out. 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.480 With CBS unique in that way. At NBCA, they didn't 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:24.079 have that kindry. 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.560 NBC had their offices in the same hotel, a floor 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:32.040 above us, but they weren't the cool people. At six 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.960 the office is closed. Even the NBC people came down 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.920 to hang out at the CBS office. I think it's 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.040 because I was running it. 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:40.680 I bet you had a nice bar and. 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.560 I had a setup bar. I had something new that 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.280 had just come out. Well, we started the war with 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:51.320 Walkman's and then CD players came out with little bitty 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.200 speakers and that little setup could cost five six hundred dollars. 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:56.800 I was the first one to bring it to the 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.920 country with all the latest music. Oh, we even had 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.880 cable TV. I don't know how they rigged that up, 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.160 but we had that. It was just the place to 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.000 be come six o'clock, you know, everybody would come down 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.720 for cocktails or come up for cocktails. 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:12.720 Did you go out at night with some of these 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:14.320 people or go to bars and clubs? 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.520 There were bars, there were clubs, there were discos at 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.160 the time. Sure we went out. 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.520 Well, what was the craziest experience you had with somebody 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:23.280 who'd come to visit? 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.600 It's so many of them. One night were out there 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.520 by the pool and U two was there. They were 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.160 on a fact finding mission. A lot of people would 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.080 come just fact finding missions. They wanted to see what 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.680 the revolution was all about. That's how I wanted them there. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.000 I was just graduated from Loyola and I wanted to 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.400 see what the revolution was about. It was a common occurrence, 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.680 just like congressmen and senators would come to their fact 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:54.280 finding missions. And so you two was there, and I 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.080 sent the tables some drinks, and then they asked me 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.160 over and we started to talk, and even though it 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.800 was nighttime, they wanted to pick a tour of the city. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:09.039 We went around with my driver in Nicaragui's points of direction, 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.280 up meant towards the airport, down meant towards the cemetery, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:18.080 east west, north south, and then points of direction where 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:23.040 the coffee house used to be, ten blocks north, three 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.719 blocks south. I still don't understand it to this day. 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.480 I kept telling that the streets had no names. Bono 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.640 just really couldn't understand it. How do you not have 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.039 names on the streets? And I said, I don't know. 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.159 It's called pod points of direction. He just got the 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.039 biggest kick out of it. Many months later, you know 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.680 that song came out streets with no name. I don't 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.560 know if there's any connection, but I just thought it 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.080 was funny because he was really just thrown for a 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.000 loop that how could you have a whole city with 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:55.599 no street names? 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.320 The debate still rages about that song and what city 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.960 you two was referring to, not much doubt. In Monagua, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.560 Time magazine weighed in with the story titled Postcard from Monagua, 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.719 How far are you from the place Bono sang about. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.479 A year after Irish rocker Bono visited Nicaragua in nineteen 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.040 eighty six in an effort to raise awareness about Central 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.240 American war refugees. You too, released its smash hit album 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.719 The Joshua Tree, and Nicaraguans immediately recognized that one of 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.679 the songs was written about their country. Twenty years later, 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.240 most people here still hold his fact that Where the 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:39.039 Streets Have No Name was written about Monagua, a squat 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:43.640 and sprawling capital city where well the streets are unnamed. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.599 Stephen Kinzer, a former New York Times bureau chief based 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.080 in Monagua in the nineteen eighties, accurately describes the fine 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.000 art of giving directions in Monagua as a Socratic technique 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.839 based on first determining what the direction asker knows, then 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.640 working backward from there. The funniest part about giving directions 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.200 in this corner of the world is that some streets 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.920 actually do have names, but no one knows what they are. 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.840 In a press release, ad agency McCain Nicaragua said, this 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.040 unique and unreal aspect of Monagua's life caught the attention 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.000 of an inspired Bono, the lead singer of global supergroup 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:22.920 U two, to compose the hit song Where the Streets 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.720 Have No Name, after visiting Managua in nineteen eighty six. 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.560 The campaign is focused on adding street signs to Monagua streets, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.200 identifying these locations on Google Maps by tagging them with 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:37.520 historical information. You told me about a one particular friend 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.400 that has become famous in the news in the last 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.120 few years, Randy Cretico. For people who are listening to this, 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.640 Randy Cretico is now known for being the go between 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:53.000 between Roger Stone and Julian Massage correct and getting Hillary's 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:53.840 emails and that. 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.160 Sort of thing in the Russia investigation. At this hour, 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.280 new details about the relationship between a long time Trump 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.560 associate and Wiki leaks. We now know the name of 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.560 the person who was the go between for Roger Stone 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.680 and Julian Assange money. Roger was out front on Capitol 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:10.720 Hill and Mono, you're breaking the story. What more are 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:11.720 you learning at this hour? 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.080 Yeah, that's right. Roger Stone revealed to the House Intelligence 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.960 Committee the name of this intermediary, a person who had 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.120 contacts with Julian Assane during the campaign season and who 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:23.720 also had a conversation with Roger Stone himself, and the 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:27.120 name of the individuals. Randy Kredeco now Randy Credeco is 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.600 a New York radio personality who did have conversations with 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.880 both Stone and as Songe during the campaign season. In fact, 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.160 they were guests on both of his shows. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.840 He was a comedian, and we don't know him that way, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.560 although when you did a lot of his appearances, you know, 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:42.880 on the news interviews. 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:47.760 He tried to make jokes. Yeah, and he was almost 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.760 on the cusp of becoming successful, but he chose to 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:55.480 be a political comedian and his politics were always way left. 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.720 And he was thrown off to Johnny Carson Show for 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.120 telling a joke that they told them not to tell. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.040 And the way we met, he was hanging out at 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.520 the Intercontinental Hotel because he always liked to be in 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.160 the middle of things, and he saw me walking through 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.560 it wearing a little hat and a pretty floral cotton dress, 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.719 and under his breath he says, where does she think 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.560 she is on the east side? And I looked at 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.959 him and I said, no, I'm in Monagua. You're on 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.440 my turf. Where are you from. That's how the friendship began, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.520 and for the next twelve to fifteen years, every time 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.559 he'd come to Nicaragua, he would stay in my quarters 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.840 or the office, he'd hang out, and he became just 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.840 a fixture among all the journalists, some of them liked him, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.320 some of them hated him, depending on your politics. He 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.280 loved to just hang out and be a part of everything. 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.360 He was the comedic relief during those war years. He 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.760 could make you laugh no matter what. 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:52.640 He casually count. 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:54.679 You had three hundred thousand Iraqis killed. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.200 By the Allies and you had one hundred and forty. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.800 Eight Allies killed by the Allies, and. 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.840 Bush is still working on the guy's name sat Tam Hassen, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.199 Satan Hassen, Sandino Hasidic. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.520 We are not at war with that people of Iraq. 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.000 We are at war with the Iraqi papal. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.880 He could do Impressions, he could do Reagan, he could 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.400 do Ortega, he could do anybody. 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.240 Isn't it ironic though, that he's sort of defined himself 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.800 with the far left politics and comedy and ends up 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.840 being a tool for the right at this time of 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:33.599 his life. 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.160 Because he had no idea that that's what was going on. 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.160 I told him from the beginning, I said, you're going 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.840 to get in trouble if you're dealing with Roger Stone 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.960 Julian Assange. Oh no, you don't know what you're talking about. 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:50.560 And here we are. Man, He's still struggling because of 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:51.079 all of that. 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.040 It's important to note that before all this bullshit with 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.400 Roger Stone at Wiki Leaks, Randy Kretico had dedicated his 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.960 life to helping the poor, expanding public house fighting, mass incarceration, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.440 criminal justice reform, and so many things that matter to 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:10.840 everyday Americans, and I want to honor that. You know, 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.760 one time I was sitting in a Chili's in Abbeyville, Louisiana, 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.640 with the wife and kids, getting ready to order some burgers. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.199 In walked four guys dressed like commandos, carrying AR fifteen's, 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.599 you know the types. For some reason, it reminds me 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.360 of this story, another kind of tourism. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:33.760 It's a crazy story. So all these years, everybody's covering war. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.200 Everybody wants the big story, and we all knew what 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.520 the big story was. It was just proving it. And 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.880 the big story was us involvement in trying to overthrow 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.959 a government. We all knew it, and everyone knew what 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.080 was going on. You can't prove it, you can't take 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.400 film of it, you can't take video, you can't take pictures. 0:11:55.880 --> 0:12:00.160 One day we're summoned, the journalists are summoned by State security, 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:06.680 a US mercenary working for the CIA has been caught 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.559 trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. We knew it was 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.000 going to be a dog and pony show. You know 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:14.720 they're going to make a big deal about it. 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:16.360 At that moment, you don't know what it's about. 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.120 We don't know what it's about. It could be something big. 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.560 But remember we would be called to press conferences all 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.880 the time. You never knew what the story was going 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.520 to be. So when we get there, you've got this 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:35.120 obviously American guy looking very scared and very distraught, sitting 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:39.400 next to heads of State Security the Secret Police. 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.840 Sam Hall was a silver medallist in the nineteen sixty 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.640 Olympics in Rome and a former member of the Ohio 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.800 House of Representatives, which makes the story even crazier. 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:52.960 The State Security guy makes a statement and his name 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.400 was Lenine Serno. He proceeds to tell us how this 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.840 is an American that's been caught near the border try 0:12:59.920 --> 0:13:04.880 to infiltrate and do some terrorist acts on Nicaraguan soil 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:09.000 at the behest of the US government. So everybody's thinking, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:14.240 oh wow, this is this is big. So Lenin Serena 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.920 tells the guy to give some background on himself. Well, 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.760 right away, I'm like, who's told by their captors? Can 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.679 you give background on yourself? Obviously he had been questioned 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.920 and interrogated by them. So the guy starts to tell 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:34.800 us how he has worked covertly for the CIA and 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.800 for different places in the world. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.920 The Washington Post reported on Hall's arrest. 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:44.120 Sam Hall, an American, claimed he was on a spy 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.080 mission after he was arrested last month in a restricted 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:51.320 military area near Managua. Nicaraguan officials said after Hall's arrest 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.280 near the punte Je Airbase, thirteen miles northeast of Managua, 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.960 that he had maps of the installation in his shoe. 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.679 Hall said at a news conference in Mina that he 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:04.320 was spying on military installations on behalf of three men 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:08.880 code named Tinker, Evers and Chance. He also claimed in 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.760 a CBS News interview that he was the only remaining 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:15.000 member of the Phoenix Battalion, which he described as a 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.400 counter terrorist paramilitary organization. 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.000 And he says that he went to the Sixth Day 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.480 War in Israel, but he got there on the seventh day. Well, 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:27.680 everybody starts either laughing or they can't believe what they're 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.960 hearing or they're not understanding what they're hearing. And he 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.160 says he had been an Olympic swimmer, and I mean, 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:39.080 the story just kept going in all kinds of different directions. 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.480 But he had been caught with a map in his 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.040 shoe and he said he was just using it for 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.320 his arches. I mean, this guy was just coming across 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.720 as a bona fide kook. This is not going the 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.680 way the Sandinista government thinks it's going to go. This 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.800 guy has no connection to the CIA. This guy is 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.080 not working for the US government. This is some kind 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.520 of lone kook out there on a great adventure. 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:12.360 You ended up in Nicaragua, inside Sandinista army base, arrested, captured, 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:16.040 whatever stopped held. Got to put it real bluntly, they 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:18.160 said you were crazy. Anybody in this business has to 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:19.880 be a little bit crazy. The reason they were saying 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:21.160 that I was never allowed to say. I had to 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.160 sign a disavowl agreement in nineteen eighty four, the CIA says, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.320 and I've talked to them, says you weren't reporting to them. 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.240 But of course that's on the surface, but. 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:29.320 That's part of the disabown. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.320 I knew I would be disabout I didn't care. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.120 I'm looking at the head of the secret Police and 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.680 I'm looking at him and I'm just shaking my head 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.560 and kind of making a motion across my neck saying cut. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.920 This is not going the way you guys think it's going. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.040 All of a sudden, the head of the secret Police 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.240 stands up says, that's the end of this press conference, 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.840 no more questions, no more anything. They quickly took this 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:56.560 guy away. 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:01.840 So you're basically signaling to the head of the secret 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:03.960 police that this is fucking nuts. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.720 This is nuts. This is not a story you want 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:07.360 out there. 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:09.200 And he's looking at you, going oops. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.440 He's looking at me the whole time for guidance, because 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.440 I don't think he spoke good English, and so when 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.080 I make the motion cut, he knew cut. He didn't 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.160 know why, but he knew cut. And then of course 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.400 he found out that this guy was a kook. 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:26.560 But Mario called him a wanna be spy. 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.840 That's what he was, A wanna be spy, A wanna 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.560 be mercenary. I wanna be That was it. 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.440 That was kind of a thing too in Nicaragua, wasn't it. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.520 Yeah, just like the people would want to fly there 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:43.080 to check out the revolution, you know, famous people and politicians. 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.680 He also had nutcases trying to be a part of 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.560 the story, just like you had people that playing like 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.320 they were journalists. It was sort of a free for all. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.240 It kind of reminds me of like right now or' 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.720 is these guys that their flack jackets on and play 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:00.200 like they're like military and they're walking around and. 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.760 Starbucks with the AR fifteen and yeah. 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.040 Except it's in Nicaragua and that really is a war 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.199 going on. Yeah, how did it play out? Do you remember? 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.120 I think that they just let him go. 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:12.560 That's hilarious to me. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:14.720 It was just an insane story. 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:18.400 You know. The weird thing about this particular story. It's 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.600 a very small little footnote and a very bigger story. 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.359 But the head of the secret police is taking a 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:25.120 cue from you. 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.199 I thought that was funny too. I sort of felt 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.320 like you had to help him. I need to help 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.920 this guy. He's drowning here, and he doesn't even realize 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:34.800 that he's drowning. 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:37.520 I don't know if Sam Hall was full of shit 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.399 or what the fuck he was doing in Nicaragua, but 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.440 he was a self proclaimed patriot and freedom fighter. Sound 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:52.960 familiar coming up. Cookie gets arrested, and that's the easy part. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:18:15.240 We'll be right back. Welcome back. Cookie's been living the 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.800 highlight for a long time, always managing to stay a 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:22.359 couple of steps ahead of the law. Her luck is 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:26.399 about to run out. Obviously, you were always out in 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.439 the world. You always had your party favors with you. 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.639 Correct. But usually when I did stories, when I was 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:37.040 in the field, I wasn't partying. Well. On this one trip, 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.159 I forget what crew I was with. I do remember 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:44.680 what producer had been flown in. John Seiseloff was his name. 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.080 You might remember him from episode four when he had 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.600 to file a bullshit story about cookies helicopter crash under 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:53.160 pressure from the Sandinistas. 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.680 We're in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains. 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.760 Somewhere covering what, just. 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:02.879 Looking for a story. It wasn't all the time a 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:06.040 big story or a breaking news story. The day to 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:10.520 day was usually just covering your ass, looking for something, 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:15.080 possibly stumbling into something. I don't know where. We were, 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.760 probably some shithole. And now remember I had a little 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:23.639 weed in one of those plastic film cases. We've been smoking. 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.920 You know, the crew, myself, not the producer, he was 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:31.640 a really straight laced kind of guy. A soldier apparently 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.960 smelled the weed, whether it was on myself or the 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:40.920 crew or somebody, and they decided she's got drugs on her, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.760 which I did. It was just a little weed. So 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.520 when we get back to the barracks, he rats me out. 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.879 All of a sudden, I'm confronted by the head of 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.000 the battalion or whatever it was, and he says, we 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:58.840 know you have marijuana. Your crew was seen smoking it. 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:00.680 We're gonna take you in. 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:03.880 Probably should remind people that they are very strict drug 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:05.800 laws in Sandinista, Nicaragua. 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.520 Yeah, there are no drugs. I would have to import 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.360 drugs from the United States to Nicaragua. The next thing 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.680 I know, the commander and I guess what they call 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.200 their MPs come grab me by both arms and they're 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.680 gonna lead me away to I don't know, jail whatever 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.240 on the base. And I know at that moment, I've 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.240 got this plastic film case on me and I got 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.560 to get rid of it between right now and wherever 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.680 it is they're taking me. Now, remember we're in the 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.800 middle of nowhere. This is all every man for himself. Oh, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.600 I'm in charge. No, I'm in charge kind of thing. 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.720 So as we're walking, I don't even know how far 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.159 I've got to walk, but I know I got to 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.359 act quickly. I play like a trip to get the 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.399 film case out of my pocket. So now it's in 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.320 my hand and I'm being held by my arms, not 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.560 by my hand, and I've got fist clenched so that 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.240 it doesn't look suspicious. And so I know that I 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.800 have to fall again and get rid of this film 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.480 container and somehow get rid of it. I can't throw 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.760 it because they'll see it. I make myself fall again, 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:17.880 and as I fall, I make sure that I take 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.200 that film case and just bury it in the mud, 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.040 because again we're in the jungles. There's no roads, there's 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:29.320 no highways, it's just dirt. And then I got up 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.240 and I'm acting like I hurt myself, and they're all 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.159 trying to help me, the soldiers, so they take me 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.080 to the Comandante. I of course call the guy that 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.760 turned me in a liar. You know, he must hate Americans. 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.720 When I'm with the commandante and he's searching me and everything, 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:49.120 I said, listen, all you need to do is make 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:53.399 a call to the president. What president, President Ortega and 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:56.520 he'll vouch for me. And they're like, listen to this 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.720 one and saying, what call the president? I said he 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.320 would be who of you guys to get in touch 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:04.800 with someone that can get in touch with the president. 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.560 And they're like, yeah, right, I need you to contact 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:12.080 President Danielle or Tega. And I just kept saying it 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:16.160 over and over, and I remember one of them said, 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:20.800 she's still high. She's claiming she knows Danielle Ortega, the president, 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.240 our president. And I just kept saying it over and over, 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.800 and finally somebody must have said to themselves, there must 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:32.399 be something to this. Maybe there is, Maybe there is it, 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:35.200 but it would behoove us to follow up on it. 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.960 And I saw a couple of guys leave where they 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.160