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Speaker 1: Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio, previously on

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Speaker 1: Murder in Miami. I think I actually found Leslie Bickerton.

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Speaker 2: She's been hiding for forty years. That's it's no way

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Speaker 2: to live Phil.

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Speaker 1: She's still afraid for her life.

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Speaker 3: I've realized this over the years. What happened to me

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Speaker 3: forty one years ago has been with me my entire life.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it stole my life and I stole my voice.

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Speaker 1: By the time Leslie Bickerton, who also dabbled in modeling

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Speaker 1: while living in Hawaii, crossed paths with Lamar Chester, she

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Speaker 1: was barely thirty years old.

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Speaker 3: Before I had even heard of Lamar Chester. I was

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Speaker 3: working in the Caymans because I have a CPA background

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Speaker 3: and an international tax background.

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Speaker 1: In addition to accepting the challenge of living on the

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Speaker 1: island and the job with him, Leslie Bickerton would also

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Speaker 1: become romantically involved with Chester. All three of those things

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Speaker 1: come back to haunt her.

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Speaker 3: Just boom boom boom. And then about somebody that had

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Speaker 3: been killed off. Yeah, I was going to talk about him,

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Speaker 3: I guess. And there were contracts out on his life

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Speaker 3: and contracts that I was also in danger.

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Speaker 1: So in the fall of nineteen eighty one, a frantic

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Speaker 1: Leslie Bickerton is trying to figure out how to undo

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Speaker 1: the damage done by crossing paths.

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Speaker 2: With international drug smuggler Lamar Chester.

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Speaker 1: Though she only worked with him off and on over

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Speaker 1: the course of seven months, in many ways, she's still

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Speaker 1: trying to figure out the ripple effect of that time period.

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Speaker 3: Changed the course of my life, and still today it's

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Speaker 3: like it just happened yesterday. In one sense, forty one years.

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Speaker 3: It's not like I was allowed then to go back

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Speaker 3: to a normal life.

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Speaker 1: Those months forever, I'll your life, oh completely, It's set

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Speaker 1: a course that I didn't even know.

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Speaker 3: I wasn't setting the course. Somebody else was setting the

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Speaker 3: course and I didn't even know it.

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Speaker 1: Having been told by Chester that her life was in danger,

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Speaker 1: not knowing who was behind that threat, and isolated on

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Speaker 1: his farm in a time before cell phones or the internet,

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Speaker 1: Bickerton's fears are left to fester.

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Speaker 3: Just sort of left me there. So emotionally me just

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Speaker 3: a wreck, scared to death. But at the same time,

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Speaker 3: so when my brain works anyway kind of a little

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Speaker 3: bit analytically, it's like, Okay, what do I need to do? Right, okay, one, two, three, four,

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Speaker 3: immediately coming up with the names in my mind that

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Speaker 3: I had to take me into consideration. It wasn't just

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Speaker 3: about me. It was about those that could be at

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Speaker 3: risk and protecting everybody just in case, because I didn't

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Speaker 3: know what I was dealing with. I mean, I knew

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Speaker 3: I was dealing with something that was big, really big,

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Speaker 3: and way out of control. That's all that I knew.

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Speaker 1: It must have felt like being unknowingly exposed to a

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Speaker 1: very contagious, very deadly disease.

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Speaker 3: Beyond that, horrific. That's the impact that it had on me.

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Speaker 1: And how do you disprove that if someone tells you, well,

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Speaker 1: now you're in a lot of trouble and someone's out

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Speaker 1: to kill you.

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Speaker 3: Right, and you isolate them? M hmm, right, that's one

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Speaker 3: of the other parts of that. The more you isolate

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Speaker 3: a person, you keep them right separate from everybody, You

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Speaker 3: keep them separate from their families, friends, people who can

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Speaker 3: help them, and you war and more psychologically feel like

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Speaker 3: you're out there on your own.

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Speaker 1: And that would have broken you down pretty quickly.

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Speaker 3: Oh very much, so, very much so.

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Speaker 1: I'm Lauren brad Pacheco, and this is murdered in Miami.

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Speaker 1: Feeling trapped, Bickerton was also terrified of confiding to anyone

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Speaker 1: she knew, bearing it could place them in danger too.

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Speaker 3: I think sometimes you draw deep withinside yourself, even though

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Speaker 3: you don't have the answers, you'll figure it out, you know,

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Speaker 3: a survival mechanism.

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Speaker 1: And in that mode, Bickerton remembered a group of Army

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Speaker 1: rangers stationed nearby she'd befriended after coming to Georgia.

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Speaker 3: I went up to this event in Helen, Georgia, these

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Speaker 3: hot air balloons and it saw place Touristco And that's

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Speaker 3: on the big grounds that they had there for the

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Speaker 3: hot air balloons. That's where I met them. Just stuck

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Speaker 3: up a conversation. I don't drink drink, but had a

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Speaker 3: beer with them and just kind of like clicked. And

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Speaker 3: they were really great. And they were just funny, great

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Speaker 3: sense to humor.

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Speaker 1: Wholesome and friendly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they were also oddly suited to understand the situation

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Speaker 1: and danger. Bickerton suddenly found herself.

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Speaker 3: In the Airborne Ranger. Guys that I met were staff sergeant.

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Speaker 3: I mean these were like the top top guys in

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Speaker 3: the training and I know one of them was like

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Speaker 3: one of the top snipers. They were telling me about

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Speaker 3: their adventures overseas, what they were doing, and that's who

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Speaker 3: I immediately thought to reach out to. That's the only

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Speaker 3: people I knew up there were those military guys.

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Speaker 1: Rangers are the Army's elite and premier infantry force, rigorously

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Speaker 1: trained to carry out intricate operations such as raids and

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Speaker 1: assault missions well within enemy territory. It's a position requiring

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Speaker 1: a daunting degree of mental, physical and moral fortitude.

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Speaker 3: I have a contract all my life. So I did

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Speaker 3: reach out to the military guys and we kind of

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Speaker 3: figured out a game plan.

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Speaker 1: A plan that plays like a movie plot.

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Speaker 3: I would marry one because that would then they could

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Speaker 3: legitimately bring me over to the camp so that Lamar

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Speaker 3: couldn't get near me and nobody could get near me,

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Speaker 3: that I would be physically protected. They were concerned about me,

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Speaker 3: like being at war. You know, all right, strategy immediately

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Speaker 3: thinking outside the box. You got to think on your

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Speaker 3: feet what can be done right now? What can be

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Speaker 3: done next? What can be done next? And by marrying

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Speaker 3: in name only as that allowed.

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Speaker 1: So you thought the plan that you hashed out with

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Speaker 1: these guys. Was that you would make a public show

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Speaker 1: of marrying one of them, so Lamar would be intimidated

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Speaker 1: to no longer mess with you. Exactly, And apparently that's

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Speaker 1: exactly what did immediately planning a wedding, which seemed a

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Speaker 1: sensical option given her surreal situation.

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Speaker 3: I knew Lamark was not going to mess with these

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Speaker 3: guys period. Instinctively, people liked Lamar. They just know who

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Speaker 3: not to mess with. We actually had a ceremony as well.

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Speaker 1: A ceremony Bickerton's family attended, fully believing to be real.

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Speaker 3: From the outside, it all looked real or unreal, but legitimate.

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Speaker 1: Almost like for the same reasons people fake their own death.

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Speaker 1: You wanted your own family to believe it. You wanted

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Speaker 1: to really sell it so that you could then disappear. Yes,

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Speaker 1: was it a marriage and name only?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? And it was a note within two months or

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Speaker 3: something like that.

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Speaker 1: While it may sound like a far fetched plan, Bickerton

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Speaker 1: sent me photos of the small outdoor wedding. In them,

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Speaker 1: Leslie's wear ring a somber expression and a simple white

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Speaker 1: sleeveless gown while clutching a simple bouquet of wild flowers.

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Speaker 1: She's standing next to her groom, whose name she doesn't

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Speaker 1: want revealed, but is formally decked out in full Rangers

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Speaker 1: dress uniform. The couple is surrounded by other fully outfitted

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Speaker 1: Airborne Rangers, and the small group of gathered well wishers

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Speaker 1: include Leslie's family. Her mother is standing in front of

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Speaker 1: a goateed and grinning Lamar Chester, who's sporting a sport coat,

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Speaker 1: alongside his wife Artist, who's wearing white slax, a pink

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Speaker 1: top and dark sunglasses, while leaning to her left so

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Speaker 1: as to get a better view of the bride. The

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Speaker 1: photo also provides something else.

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Speaker 3: My father loved photography. He took the photos, and my

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Speaker 3: father labels everything. It's meticulous. So that's how I could

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Speaker 3: get the date. It said September nineteen eighty one, because

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Speaker 3: I couldn't remember the month when I was married to

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Speaker 3: this military person.

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Speaker 1: I want to quickly point out. Leslie says she hastily

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Speaker 1: arranged the wedding immediately after Chester told her about a

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Speaker 1: Clayton being murdered and fed to the alligators. Williams went

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Speaker 1: missing mid September, but his body wasn't found until October tewod,

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Speaker 1: which gives weight to the theory Chester knew of the

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Speaker 1: murder before the body was found, and to Bickerton's concern

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Speaker 1: for her safety at the time.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I'm just grateful for the military guys in Georgia,

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Speaker 3: that group of guys, because I don't know if I

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Speaker 3: would have ever been able to even get out of Georgia,

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Speaker 3: but it bought me enough time. Without them, i'd be

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Speaker 3: I'd probably did. I'm almost sure of it. I owe

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Speaker 3: my life to them.

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Speaker 1: After the nuptials, Bickerton says she hit out with the

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Speaker 1: rangers until she could put together a plan to flee

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Speaker 1: to another location. Interestingly, Dan Davis, the reporter slash River

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Speaker 1: Hills publicist who was on Chester's payroll, would later be

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Speaker 1: interviewed by CEB Hackworth in nineteen eighty three for an

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Speaker 1: article in the Citizen Chester series. In that article, Davis

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Speaker 1: would offer a pretty scathing interpretation of the wedding, characterizing

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Speaker 1: the groom as quote one of those gung home military

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Speaker 1: types who enters the service at sixteen unquote, and Bickerton,

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Speaker 1: who was thirty one at the time as quote Leslie

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Speaker 1: who was maybe thirty five or forty, and there's this

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Speaker 1: Rick twenty and she wanted to get married so they did. Unquote.

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Speaker 1: The same article quotes Chester reacting to Leslie being referenced

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Speaker 1: as his mistress and public record. Quote. He balks at

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Speaker 1: that description and refers to her instead as an occasional

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Speaker 1: girl I saw unquote. Now keep in mind that Chester

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Speaker 1: was married and that Davis was basically his hired mouthpiece.

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Speaker 1: Here's Leslie.

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Speaker 3: This whole article basically was a smear campaign against me.

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Speaker 3: If it was nowadays and this was happen, I take

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Speaker 3: them to court like it's nobody's business and I would win.

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Speaker 3: And again, nobody has ever bothered to approach me back

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Speaker 3: then or any time to get my side of the

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Speaker 3: story or exactly what was happening during that time period.

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Speaker 1: And you had never seen this article until I sent

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Speaker 1: it to you. Correct.

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Speaker 3: Correct, So it's interesting looking at it now and going

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Speaker 3: through all of this several comments. I'm going to make

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Speaker 3: this emphasis on age and this was somebody that I

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Speaker 3: had married that was young and naive, and that's not

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Speaker 3: true at all. None of it that they wrote down

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Speaker 3: is true.

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Speaker 1: They somehow tried to discredit you by claiming there was

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Speaker 1: an age difference between you and your groom, when Chester's

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Speaker 1: the one who's twenty years older. Right, he had children your.

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Speaker 3: Age, Oh right, and I knew his children. Looking back

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Speaker 3: at it now, in the pattern that Lamar Chester presents

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Speaker 3: himself to the media, presenting themselves in such a way

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Speaker 3: that they can't be touched. And so how do you

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Speaker 3: present you discredit the other person, right, You create your

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Speaker 3: own storyline to raise your own image as a so

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Speaker 3: called family man, which he wasn't. I mean, Lamar had

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Speaker 3: relationships with other women. I know that for a fact.

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Speaker 1: So interesting that he quote bulks at the description of

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Speaker 1: you as his quote mistress and public record, it almost

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Speaker 1: sounds like it's Chester's way of appeasing his bruised male ego.

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Speaker 3: A lot of it is ego. And by dismissing who

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Speaker 3: I am, then it takes the judgment off of him, right,

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Speaker 3: which is sort of a classic and by ment. And

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Speaker 3: I thought about this. I wasn't as mistress, I mean,

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Speaker 3: now you know, I look at it, give the definition

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Speaker 3: of a mistress. I wasn't. I wasn't being kept right

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Speaker 3: as a kept woman. Kept have sort of here's my

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Speaker 3: dark humor coming again, right, you know, Yes, I was

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Speaker 3: kept as a hostage. In one sense, I would never

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Speaker 3: have gone to Georgia had not been for my dog.

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Speaker 1: After the rushed and staged wedding, Bickerton would land in Houston,

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Speaker 1: which was also the location of the Lone Star investigation,

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Speaker 1: something of which Bickerton a test. She was unaware.

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Speaker 3: It was inferred that I went to Houston and that

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Speaker 3: I just showed up at the Federal Building, turned myself

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Speaker 3: in to the Feds of the Federal Building and gave

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Speaker 3: them all this information. And that is not true. So

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Speaker 3: you're moving really fast, and it's like, where can I

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Speaker 3: go next? Try to figure what would be my next step,

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Speaker 3: and didn't want I jeopardized my own family, so I

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Speaker 3: would not have gone back up to New England. I

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Speaker 3: would not have gone back to the Cayman Islands because

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't have put anybody in jeopardy there that had

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Speaker 3: nothing to do with Lamar. So I had some friends

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Speaker 3: in Houston, so I made a call and stayed with

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Speaker 3: friends actually initially, but didn't want to put them in

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Speaker 3: jeopardy because I didn't know how extensive this was. I

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Speaker 3: knew it was serious, so I rented a small apartment

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Speaker 3: and just took a temporary job. Had no plans of

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Speaker 3: staying there. It was just temporary. And then that's when

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Speaker 3: I got that phone call saying that Houston people, Feds

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Speaker 3: in Houston were going to come after me. And so

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Speaker 3: that's when I met the people in Houston. I think

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Speaker 3: it was the grand jury first.

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Speaker 1: The only reason you went to Houston was because you

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Speaker 1: had a friend there who could get you employment and

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Speaker 1: you could live under the radar there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, temporary, it was where can I go immediately? I mean,

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Speaker 3: I'm just thinking on my feet, knowing that my life

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Speaker 3: was probably in jeopardy and knowing what Lamar was now

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Speaker 3: more involved with.

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Speaker 1: You left Georgia and then the FED show up at

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Speaker 1: the military base looking for you. Yes, yes, and you

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Speaker 1: get the heads up that they're looking for you while

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Speaker 1: you're in Houston.

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Speaker 3: So that then would have been getting a phone call

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Speaker 3: that Houston people were going to come looking for me.

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Speaker 3: That also meant the CIA, because don't forget, Lamar told

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Speaker 3: me about that he was involved with the CIA. So

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Speaker 3: I didn't know what was Houston. All I knew was

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Speaker 3: the FEDS, which could have been anybody, were looking for me,

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Speaker 3: and that would have been October is when they tried

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Speaker 3: to find me on the military base and the guys

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Speaker 3: were protecting me.

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Speaker 1: And when they found her, the prosecution already seemed to

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Speaker 1: have honed in on Bickerton's fears in terms of safety

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Speaker 1: and her other vulnerabilities too.

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Speaker 3: Houston had promised me that they were going to get

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Speaker 3: my dog.

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Speaker 1: And so they promised you that they would go to

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Speaker 1: the Derby Islands and get your dobermen.

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Speaker 3: Yep, no problem.

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Speaker 1: And did they no? Oh no, But you had no

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Speaker 1: idea that there was an investigation into Lamar in Houston.

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Speaker 3: No, no, And didn't know about Lance Eisenberg either, investigation

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Speaker 3: with Smythe.

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Speaker 1: Smythe was the name of the Cayman's account.

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Speaker 3: I mean, that's what Euston was after, was Smythe with

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Speaker 3: Lance Eisenberg and his clients.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like a line out of Casablanca. But of

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Speaker 1: all the the states in the country, you end up

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Speaker 1: in the one state, in the one city.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you're right, He knew right. So here's

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Speaker 3: my dark New England humor. You know the old cartoons Bullwinkle,

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Speaker 3: my God, watch me pull a rabbit out of my

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Speaker 3: hat and the lion comes out roaring and blow Winkle

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Speaker 3: goes wrong, hat wrong hat.

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Speaker 2: No.

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Speaker 3: I had no idea. I didn't know anything about Houston

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Speaker 3: and their investigation. I didn't know that Houston was looking

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Speaker 3: for me.

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Speaker 1: Phil Stanford finds Leslie's explanation of her move to Houston

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Speaker 1: in keeping with many surreal aspects we've covered.

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Speaker 2: Coincidences have happened all through this story, my meeting Playway

290
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Speaker 2: in the bar, Happy, flying over the ocean, and meeting

291
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Speaker 2: Lamire at several thousand feet, So I don't have any

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Speaker 2: problem with it being a coincidence she ended up in Houston,

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Speaker 2: as she says that the FEDS went to her soldier

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Speaker 2: friends in Georgia said where is she? And they said

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Speaker 2: she's in Houston, and then they tracked her down. In

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Speaker 2: any case, they would have found her anyway.

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Speaker 1: She's adamant that it was a coincidence, and either which

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Speaker 1: way it certainly wasn't beneficial for her.

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Speaker 2: She does say that they got involved. She does say

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Speaker 2: that she took a job knowing that he was looking

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Speaker 2: for an accountant and a mistress. It's easy enough to

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Speaker 2: falter her judgment on that all sorts of people have

303
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,800
Speaker 2: made mistakes along the way in this story and just

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Speaker 2: about any other story.

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Speaker 1: I suppose what I think is interesting, though you have

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Speaker 1: this young woman. He's her employer. Then at that point

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Speaker 1: then I felt that she was pretty maligned in the

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Speaker 1: press as being of less moral character because she was

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Speaker 1: as mistress. When he's the one who's married, he's the

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Speaker 1: one with the wife and kid. He's the one who's

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Speaker 1: twenty years older. And I thought it interesting that not

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Speaker 1: a single reporter, not one, ever reached out to her.

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Speaker 1: But there was pretty widespread coverage of the nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: three grand jury in Atlanta, sensationalized by the fact the

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Speaker 1: foundation of it was built upon the Houston leg of

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Speaker 1: Operation Lone Star, which would be mired in controversy and

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Speaker 1: allegations of corruption and misconduct. Here again is phil The.

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Speaker 2: Real corruption was in the US Attorney's office in Houston.

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Speaker 2: The investigators had been touring the Caribbean for some time

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Speaker 2: on the government tab. A new junior US attorney had

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Speaker 2: come in and tried to report them and gotten crosswise.

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Speaker 2: The whole office was in turmoil. In fact, one of

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Speaker 2: the US attorneys had actually contacted Jeff Bogart, one of

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Speaker 2: Lamar's lawyers, and offered to tell him about the illegal

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Speaker 2: tactics that they were using, including altering the documents for

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Speaker 2: the grand Jury offered to sell it for a couple

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: That chaos spilled into the tone and content of Atlanta's proceedings.

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Speaker 4: It was a mess, a hot mess. It sounds like

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Speaker 4: some hotshot crosscutors were trying to bring in some big

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Speaker 4: money or hundred indictments and fell down at rabbit hole

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Speaker 4: and found up an alice in wonder owner.

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Speaker 1: That's reporter Tracy Thompson's take. She's now a prolific author

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Speaker 1: and journalist, but was then reporting for the Atlanta Constitution.

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Speaker 1: In addition to covering the Atlanta Grand Jury, she had

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Speaker 1: also extensively covered the charismatic council representing Lamar Chester in

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Speaker 1: the case. Bobby Lee Cook a man known for his

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Speaker 1: flamboyant personal style and equally fetching eloquence.

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Speaker 4: He had a type of charisma that very few people have.

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Speaker 4: It was an interesting thing when he walked into the room.

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Speaker 4: Everybody who bodyly Cooked was there. He could easily have

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Speaker 4: walked out of the nineteenth century. He parted his hair

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Speaker 4: in the middle. He had gold spectacles that he bore

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Speaker 4: on the tip of his nose so he could look

345
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Speaker 4: at you over them. He had a gold pocket watch

346
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Speaker 4: and this very large chain that he kept on He

347
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Speaker 4: very easily could have walked out of eighteen seventy. He

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Speaker 4: cultivated that damage. He also had a Rolls Royce and

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Speaker 4: a chauffeur. And somebody asked him once if he was

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Speaker 4: afraid that that would be off putting to jurors, and

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Speaker 4: he said no. He said, I think they see me

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Speaker 4: with a Rolls Royce and they know I'm a smart guy.

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Speaker 4: Got my money because of smart and and trust me because.

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Speaker 1: Of that, and they could trust he would ruthlessly defend

355
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Speaker 1: his clients.

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Speaker 4: People were scared of him, and I needed to be

357
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Speaker 4: scared of him because he was. He was vicious and

358
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Speaker 4: cross examinations. You didn't want to tell bobbyly Cook a

359
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 4: story with any holes in it, because he would find

360
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Speaker 4: it and ruth was late with them.

361
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Speaker 1: Here's Phil Stamford's take.

362
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Bobby Lee Cook is certainly one of the more

363
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Speaker 2: formidable people I've ever run across. Extremely smart lawyer. Never

364
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Speaker 2: seen anyone who could talk on his feet like that.

365
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Speaker 2: He lived in this tiny town in North Georgia that

366
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Speaker 2: was half boarded up. When I finally went down there

367
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Speaker 2: and talked to him. He had a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce,

368
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Speaker 2: and he looked so homespun that was part of his act.

369
00:22:54,480 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 2: He wore hush puppies, suspenders, had a beard, and he

370
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,120
Speaker 2: could adapt to just about anything. I mean. He represented

371
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:07,359
Speaker 2: the Rockefellers and the Carnegies in some dispute. He represented

372
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Speaker 2: a lot of the Southern mob who's a wonderful lawyer.

373
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Speaker 2: At one time he was thought to have been the

374
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 2: model for this TV character, Matt Locke, a serious about

375
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Speaker 2: a Southern lawyer who was also very homespun and very effective,

376
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Speaker 2: like Bobby Lee Cook.

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Speaker 1: Tracy Thompson has agreed to read excerpts from one of

378
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Speaker 1: her pieces at the time, which really paints a picture

379
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Speaker 1: of the courtroom dynamic. As one of the former prosecutors

380
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Speaker 1: from Lone Star's Houston leg John Johnson, was questioned by

381
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Speaker 1: Bobby Lee Cook.

382
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 4: John Johnson, a baby former federal prosecutor from Houston that

383
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Speaker 4: gripping the size of the witness box like a man

384
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Speaker 4: driving a tractor. Before him stood Somerville's defense attorney Bobby

385
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Speaker 4: Lee Cook, who surveyed Johnson over the rims of his

386
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 4: glasses like a cat contemplating a cage canary. The subject

387
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 4: a four year old federal drug probe named Operation Lone Star,

388
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:09,880
Speaker 4: and the secret government informant named Leslie Bickergon MS Vickerton,

389
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 4: Chester's former office bookkeeper, told Houston investigators that Chester eliminated

390
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 4: one potential snitch from his organization by having him murdered

391
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,119
Speaker 4: and feeding his courts to alligators in Florida. Quickly became

392
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 4: the unofficial master of ceremonies, striding about the room waving

393
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 4: his arm glaring that witnesses like a pale, blue eyed,

394
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Speaker 4: rapid god preacher. The flamboyant Somerville lawyer dominated the proceedings.

395
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Speaker 1: In a phone conversation we had C. B. Hackworth recalls

396
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Speaker 1: bumping into Cook that day, right before he headed into

397
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Speaker 1: the courtroom to question Johnson.

398
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:53,679
Speaker 5: We were outside the program after a lunch break. Bobby

399
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,880
Speaker 5: Lee Cook was pacing back and forth in the hallway.

400
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,239
Speaker 5: He was obviously getting his thoughts together to go in

401
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 5: and begin his cross examination of John Johnson, who had

402
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 5: said some potentially damaging things. And just as the bailiff

403
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 5: came out and said that the magistrate, Allan Chancey was

404
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 5: coming back in, I got a Bobby Lee turned to me,

405
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,199
Speaker 5: looked right at me. Because I was sitting there, not

406
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 5: because I was special, and said let's go feed somebody

407
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,920
Speaker 5: to the gators, and he was referring to John Johnson,

408
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 5: and in my estimation, he pretty much did exactly that.

409
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 5: He dismantled John Johnson in a way that I can't

410
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 5: remember ever seeing before or since, anyone just so completely humiliated.

411
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:51,400
Speaker 2: In the courtorate.

412
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,040
Speaker 1: Bobby Lee Cook would also question Leslie Bickerton in court,

413
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 1: and perhaps his skill as an attorney is most apparent

414
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 1: in that Bickerton herself had a very different personal experience

415
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:05,879
Speaker 1: than those observing the interaction.

416
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 3: I had no idea what I was walking into that courtroom.

417
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 3: I didn't even know who Bobby the Cook was. Nobody

418
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 3: had ever mentioned his name to me. Leafeds never told

419
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,679
Speaker 3: me about who this attorney was and what to expect

420
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,679
Speaker 3: that day, and so again I'm just set out there.

421
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: It's interesting that he was able to really ingratiate himself

422
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 1: to you because he completely understood your plight.

423
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 3: The way that he started off the conversation, and I

424
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 3: distinctly remember, was about dogs and about his bloodhounds and

425
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 3: about my dog Covina that was stuck down on the

426
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:55,720
Speaker 3: Darby Islands.

427
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 1: Stolen from you.

428
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:03,080
Speaker 3: Really, yeah, I'm never given back. And that's what Bobby

429
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 3: Lee Cook started right off my dog Covino and put

430
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,800
Speaker 3: me at ease. I don't remember even how long I

431
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 3: was on that witness stand. I just I don't, but

432
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 3: I do remember at some point whatever the questions were

433
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 3: that mister Cook was directing at me, I just I flose.

434
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 3: It was like being in a road in the semi's

435
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 3: coming straight at you. You know you have to move,

436
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 3: but you can't move. C. B.

437
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: Hackworth wrote about the exchange.

438
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:44,199
Speaker 5: A key prosecution witness wept yesterday as she admitted to

439
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 5: defense attorneys having lied at the behest of government agents

440
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 5: in an attempt to ensnare accused White County drugs muggler

441
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:56,680
Speaker 5: Lamar Chester, saying that, quote, it wasn't right. From the beginning,

442
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 5: it wasn't right. None of it was right, said Leslie

443
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 5: Bickerton thirty three. She said she was physically afraid of

444
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 5: John Johnson, a former US attorney in Houston. Quote. I

445
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,360
Speaker 5: felt like he didn't have any regard for anybody, Miss

446
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,960
Speaker 5: Bickerton said, or for the truth, added Chester's lead defense attorney,

447
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,199
Speaker 5: Bobby Lee Cook of Summervil. Yes, sir, he wanted you

448
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 5: to lie, charged Cook. Yes, Sir, said Miss Bickerton, dabbing

449
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,679
Speaker 5: her eyes. Miss Bickerton testified that Johnson told her he

450
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,160
Speaker 5: believed there was a link between Chester and the Baamian

451
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 5: Prime Minister Lyndon Pendling.

452
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: It also became apparent that Bickerton felt she was being

453
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: played and manipulated by both sides.

454
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 3: I remember Bogarth and others in that courtroom laughing at

455
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 3: me while mister Cook was asking questionsself for me, and

456
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 3: that was a joke. I'll never forget that. And I remembered,

457
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 3: I don't know what answers I was giving at that point.

458
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 3: I just froze. That stuck with me.

459
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 1: Back to Cebe's reading of his article.

460
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,720
Speaker 5: She said her knowledge of what the government agents and

461
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 5: prosecutors were willing to do made her fear them. Miss

462
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,720
Speaker 5: Bickerton said she also came to the conclusion she was

463
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 5: being used by the government and decided to stop cooperating

464
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 5: immediately after her appearance before a federal grand jury in Atlanta.

465
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:37,600
Speaker 1: Phil Stanford recalls Cook's questioning also exposed something else Bickerton's

466
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: feelings for Chester.

467
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 2: Bobby Lee Cook was questioning Leslie about this and it

468
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 2: was remarkable. I mean, he's a remarkable talker. He was

469
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 2: creating this novel on his feet and drawing her into it.

470
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 2: And he says, and this is I think when she

471
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 2: had left Houston and go back to Atlanta to tell

472
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 2: Lamar and his lawyers about the changes she'd made to

473
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:13,640
Speaker 2: the records, and he's sort of drawing her into this story,

474
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 2: into her story as he would see it, of how

475
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 2: she felt at this time. And he said, and there

476
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,239
Speaker 2: was this big pirate of a guy that you know

477
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 2: she obviously couldn't resist, and he just swept you off

478
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 2: your feet. And the US attorney Gaffney stands up in

479
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 2: his double soled wingtips and says, I object, your honor,

480
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,520
Speaker 2: and she says, no, no, let him continue. It was

481
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 2: for me the high point of the hearing. But it showed, yeah,

482
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 2: there was an emotional tie between the two of them.

483
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 1: But how and why Bickerton got tied up in that

484
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 1: emotional relationship and the crosshairs of a federal investigation is

485
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 1: something she continues to grapple with, particularly since some of

486
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 1: it seemed orchestrated by Chester. You mentioned that he was

487
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: controlling and calculating for lack of a better word. Looking back, now,

488
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,240
Speaker 1: do you see his advances on you as part of

489
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 1: that calculation?

490
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,840
Speaker 3: Mm hmm, yep, mixed feelings because I liked Lamar. But

491
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,200
Speaker 3: then you also know that you've just been betrayed and

492
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 3: that you've been set up that this is a person

493
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 3: who is a threat that can hurt me, really hurt me.

494
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: And at the same time somebody who who is presenting

495
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 1: themselves as your protector and your predator at the same time.

496
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 1: Right after telling her her life was in jeopardy, Chester

497
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,720
Speaker 1: offered to sneak Bickerton out of the country, which she

498
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: immediately took as another potential threat, further indicative of their

499
00:31:55,320 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 1: dysfunctional personal relationship, something she's still processing. So when he

500
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 1: crossed the line over the professional relationship into a personal

501
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 1: and romantic for lack of a better word, when did

502
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: that happen and what was the context of it?

503
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 3: Looking back at it, I'd say it makes you feel comfortable.

504
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 3: And I'm not just saying this for myself, because I

505
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 3: know a lot of other people that have been connected

506
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 3: with him, and I've asked, is it just me a predator?

507
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 3: Time is on their side in most cases, and they're

508
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 3: just waiting for the right person, right mark, to come along. Psychologically,

509
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 3: what predators can do is to make you feel very comfortable,

510
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 3: and it's done on purpose, so that you're not even

511
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 3: asking questions that you should be asking and being a

512
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 3: little bit more careful given that he's you know, this

513
00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 3: person's a stranger. So psychologically it's very subtle and it's deliberate,

514
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 3: and it's extremely manipulative and controlling, so subtle that you

515
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 3: don't see the signs. You just don't. So when I

516
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 3: first met him, he was cordial and maybe comfortable, you know,

517
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 3: because I was interested in going to Darby Island and

518
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:25,720
Speaker 3: did so. The romantic side of it, if you want

519
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,840
Speaker 3: to call it that, I don't know, maybe a month

520
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 3: or two months something like that, But there wasn't. It wasn't.

521
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 3: I didn't fall in love with them. And it's hard

522
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 3: to explain, Lauren, it really is.

523
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,080
Speaker 1: It was part of the manipulation, part of getting you

524
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 1: to trust him and then also being beholden to him,

525
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: right and then it's like you see the opposite side

526
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 1: of the coin.

527
00:33:53,360 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 3: It's evil. It's pure evil, a darkness that is emotionally, mentally,

528
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 3: physically beyond human comprehension. It changes you forever. There's just

529
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 3: something that you're always always on your guard. So nineteen

530
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:18,279
Speaker 3: eighty one what to nineteen eighty five. So four intense

531
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:22,520
Speaker 3: years of hiding because I never knew who was going

532
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 3: to come at me and everything that was going on

533
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 3: at that time. So you have that period of time.

534
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 3: But then the ripple effects was ongoing.

535
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:47,040
Speaker 1: As for Chester, his growing desperation and belief that Phil

536
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 1: Stanford would somehow facilitate CIA efforts to sweep in and

537
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 1: make his legal issues disappear continued.

538
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 2: Lamar sends me to DC to talk to my people.

539
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 2: I go and just spend some time. And Lamar asked

540
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 2: me over the phone when I found out, and I

541
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 2: say nothing. You know, as usual, I'm not very talkative.

542
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:15,840
Speaker 2: And at that point, from then on, Lamar really didn't

543
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:21,320
Speaker 2: expect anything from me. In Miami, things was really falling apart.

544
00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,520
Speaker 2: I was doing some other investigative work that was leading

545
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 2: in sort of dark directions. I had to get out.

546
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 2: I loaded everything in my car and drove back, moved

547
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:37,800
Speaker 2: back to DC and went back to all the usual

548
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 2: places on the hill, congressional offices, magazines, trying to get

549
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 2: a job and I remember going back to one of

550
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,359
Speaker 2: the places where I used to work and I said, yeah,

551
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,279
Speaker 2: you used to be someone, And it didn't mean that

552
00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 2: much to me then, but I see what he meant now.

553
00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 2: One of the people I did I do some work

554
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:02,640
Speaker 2: for was Danny who had the Christic Institute, and at

555
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,439
Speaker 2: that time they were in the course of their own

556
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 2: investigations into El Salvador and then the death squads. There

557
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 2: come across information about what the United States was doing

558
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 2: in Nicaragua and other places in Central America and the

559
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 2: drugs for guns trade they were trying to expose that.

560
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: That's so interesting, particularly if you go back to Chester's

561
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 1: claim that he was running guns into Nicaragua, and then

562
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: also in court filings and in articles with CB Hackworth,

563
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:43,920
Speaker 1: Chester claimed that he was involved with flying Samosa, you know,

564
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,480
Speaker 1: Nicaragua's then president before he was overthrown and assassinated in

565
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty by the Sandinistas. Chester claimed he flew Somosa's

566
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 1: son in and out of Florida at the request of

567
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 1: the US government. So it's it's just interesting that Shean's

568
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 1: looking into Nicaragua and Chester's claims back up what he

569
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 1: seems to be looking into.

570
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:14,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, and have to remember that this was at least

571
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 2: a year and a half, two years before any of

572
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 2: this really started surfacing in the press in the United States,

573
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:28,480
Speaker 2: So it was still hard even for me. I wasn't

574
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 2: convinced that Chester was telling the truth about this. It

575
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:35,120
Speaker 2: all seems so crazy and it could have been true,

576
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,320
Speaker 2: it might have been false.

577
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 1: I think it's also interesting that Bobby Lee Cook has

578
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 1: a Nicaragua Somemosa connection because Simosa hired Bobby Lee Cook

579
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 1: basically to clean up a report about Nicaragua in terms

580
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,400
Speaker 1: of its reputation in terms of human rights because he

581
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 1: wanted to get more aid from the US State Department.

582
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm not sure what connection, if any, that has

583
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 2: to Lamar's activities, but it's more an indication to me anyway,

584
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 2: Bobby Lee Cook's connections to people in high places.

585
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,280
Speaker 1: And if Chester started to sound paranoid about perceived threats

586
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,800
Speaker 1: to his life, it's hard to know where they'd be

587
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 1: coming from. As in addition to his claims of CIA connections,

588
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: multiple reports tied him to mob connections and Colombian cartels,

589
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 1: but his legal issues weren't exactly mild or insignificant either.

590
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,360
Speaker 1: He was openly boasting about being a prolific drug smuggler

591
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,280
Speaker 1: and having run hundreds of trips into the United States.

592
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,080
Speaker 1: Contrasts that to the sentence we mentioned linked to the

593
00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 1: Black Tuna Gang in episode one, and you can see

594
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: why Chester might have felt desperate.

595
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 6: Drug smuggling was also the topic at federal court today

596
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 6: with the beginning of testimony in the government's Black Tuna case.

597
00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 1: As a recap, the Black Tuna Gang ran Miami's drug

598
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:04,120
Speaker 1: trade in the nineteen seventies. All in all, the gang

599
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:07,000
Speaker 1: was accused of importing around five hundred tons of marijuana

600
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: and to the United States over the course of sixteen months.

601
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 6: Federal Judge James King listened as one time smuggler turned

602
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,759
Speaker 6: government informant Luke McLeod told of the eight tons of

603
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 6: marijuana which he claims to have delivered to the key defendants,

604
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 6: Robert Meinster and Robert Plattshorn in nineteen seventy four.

605
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:25,840
Speaker 2: Nineteen seventy five. They charged Platshorn under a Kingpin statute

606
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:29,799
Speaker 2: that was meant for much heavier drug offenses. But I

607
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 2: really remembered about that is that he got sixty years

608
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 2: for smuggling marijuana in the United States.

609
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 1: Bobby Platshorn was actually sentenced to sixty four years and

610
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:46,480
Speaker 1: served thirty until recently earning the dubious distinction of being

611
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 1: America's longest imprisoned nonviolent marijuana offender. Now in his mid seventies,

612
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:55,480
Speaker 1: Platshorn says the magnitude of his crimes was a fraction

613
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,320
Speaker 1: of what he was accused.

614
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 7: Prison for importing marijuana, first offense, non violent. I caught

615
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 7: the first kingpin charge they ever gave for marijuana, and

616
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 7: I was prosecuted for eight forty eight continuing criminal enterprise,

617
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,239
Speaker 7: also known as the kingpin statue. When I first saw that,

618
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:25,040
Speaker 7: I had no idea what it meant, because I don't

619
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 7: think I was even a safety pit, let alone a kingpin,

620
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:30,839
Speaker 7: but the government hung on me.

621
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: Today, plat Storm's a marijuana legalization activist and an entrepreneur

622
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 1: putting to use his knowledge of the law that was

623
00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:39,799
Speaker 1: weaponized against him.

624
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:42,080
Speaker 7: I put it to work when I got out of

625
00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:47,200
Speaker 7: prison by starting the Silver Tour to change minds about marijuana,

626
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 7: to cater to the senior demographic who have the all

627
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 7: important vote in just about every state in the Union.

628
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:01,120
Speaker 7: And I'm known for thirty eight years in prison and

629
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 7: the last ten years, legalizing one state after another.

630
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:08,840
Speaker 1: In addition to now being a pioneering pot advocate for

631
00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:11,799
Speaker 1: the elderly, which is the fastest growing segment of the

632
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: medical marijuana market, Platshorn's made his mark in the legalized

633
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:20,040
Speaker 1: weed world with his aptly named and super popular Black

634
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:24,400
Speaker 1: Tuna marijuana strain. He's also written Black Tuna Diaries, a memoir,

635
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:27,680
Speaker 1: and is featured in the documentary Square Grouper. And she

636
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: remains adamant that his noteworthy and notorious sentence was actually

637
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 1: more connected to corruption than cannabis.

638
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:42,320
Speaker 7: Corruption Here funny of corruption. Here an attorney who I

639
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:46,759
Speaker 7: knew to be the bagman for federal judge said, the

640
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:50,960
Speaker 7: judge wants three million bucks, which would gladly give him

641
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 7: If we had three million bucks. We had put the

642
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:58,279
Speaker 7: money in our homes, in our businesses. Between Robbie and

643
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 7: I we were able to scrape up about a million

644
00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 7: three a million and a half, and the judge send

645
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:07,000
Speaker 7: us a message, you'll be.

646
00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:09,839
Speaker 2: Sorry, and we were.

647
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 1: Plat Shorn says he sat through his trial knowing the

648
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: whole thing was a farce.

649
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,160
Speaker 7: It was a show trial beginning to end. Half the

650
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,040
Speaker 7: things that happened or were set at the trial just

651
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 7: were made up out of thin air.

652
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 1: At sentencing, Judge James Lawrence King said, quote, the price

653
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 1: for participation in this traffic should be prohibitive. It should

654
00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:37,400
Speaker 1: be made too dangerous to be attractive. Unquote. Now this

655
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 1: is only mister Platshorn's version of the events, but it

656
00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:44,759
Speaker 1: does show the potential impact that law used to make

657
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: a statement an example, could have had on someone as

658
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 1: public and vocal about their illicit activities as lamar Chester.

659
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:54,520
Speaker 1: I did reach out multiple times to the office of

660
00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:58,600
Speaker 1: Judge King for a statement, but received no response. It

661
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:02,760
Speaker 1: is interesting to note that Judge King was also responsible

662
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,560
Speaker 1: for the ruling in nineteen eighty nine which would put

663
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:08,839
Speaker 1: an end to the Christian Institute the Public Interest law

664
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,760
Speaker 1: firm which employed Phil Stamford for a time.

665
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,040
Speaker 2: I had first come across the Judge James King when

666
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:19,520
Speaker 2: I was covering the Black Tuna trial down in Miami.

667
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 2: I was working at the newspaper. Then I went back

668
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:25,880
Speaker 2: to the files and looked him up, and it turned

669
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,960
Speaker 2: out he had been on the board of a mob

670
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 2: bank back in the sixties. The board of directors of

671
00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:39,719
Speaker 2: a Mayer Lansky bank that's connected to the Teamsters Central

672
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 2: Fund and Central States Fund.

673
00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:45,000
Speaker 1: Phil remembers talking to Danny Sheen about Judge King, who

674
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,040
Speaker 1: was presiding over Shean's case.

675
00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 2: He'd made this a a court case of I think

676
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,480
Speaker 2: it was a ReHO case in federal court, and he

677
00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 2: was going to prove that the US government was complicit

678
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:04,399
Speaker 2: in this drugs and arms trade in the wars in

679
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 2: Central America. So what do you think of the judge?

680
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 2: What do you think of Judge King? He said, Oh,

681
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 2: I think he's been pretty fair up to now. Well,

682
00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 2: it turns out that King was just giving them enough

683
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:19,680
Speaker 2: rope to hang themselves with. And after about a year

684
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 2: of Danny's trial in DC, he threw out Danny's case,

685
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 2: said he didn't have the evidence he needed to argue it,

686
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:32,760
Speaker 2: and charged him in the Christic Institute with legal fees

687
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,360
Speaker 2: for the other side, which came to a million dollars,

688
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 2: effectively bankrupted the Christic Institute.

689
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: Okay, back to our timeline and story. It's now June

690
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,560
Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty five, and.

691
00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:50,799
Speaker 2: So I'm back in DC for about a year and

692
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,920
Speaker 2: I get a call from Bob Adams down in Miami

693
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,160
Speaker 2: and he says, you're not going to believe it. Lamar

694
00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:02,640
Speaker 2: just died. He was in a plane crash at his

695
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 2: farm in Georgia. Remember how Lamar was fighting to get

696
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:10,640
Speaker 2: his pilot's license back. Trial's coming up in a few weeks.

697
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,279
Speaker 2: The Fed inside to give him his pilot's license back,

698
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,600
Speaker 2: so to celebrate, he took his Piper cub up little

699
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:20,439
Speaker 2: daughter Ajs, five years old with him for a joy

700
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:24,640
Speaker 2: ride around his farm and they crashed.

701
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:27,920
Speaker 1: What happened to his daughter, she was in the hospital.

702
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:29,880
Speaker 2: She'd broken her back and no one knew what was

703
00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 2: going to happen to her. And the official explanation of

704
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:37,399
Speaker 2: the crash was that he ran out of fuel, but

705
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:41,439
Speaker 2: no one believed that an experienced pilot like Lamar would

706
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:45,040
Speaker 2: check the fuel levels before he took off. And the

707
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,040
Speaker 2: first person on the scene was a GBI agent who

708
00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 2: Lamar had had some run ins with.

709
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 1: Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

710
00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:55,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, he just happened to be there at the scene.

711
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,959
Speaker 2: He even got to the crash before Lamar's father, who

712
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:01,440
Speaker 2: was living on the property.

713
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:06,839
Speaker 1: So you found the story about the crash suspicious.

714
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 2: Not just suspicious, unbelievable. He was murdered.

715
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 1: On the next murder in Miami, Ron Elliott shares his

716
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 1: version of being at Chester's farm on the night before

717
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 1: he died in the crash.

718
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,279
Speaker 2: I yelled at him, be careful that two cars out there.

719
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:27,000
Speaker 2: The cars tore off towards the gate. Lamar yelled at

720
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 2: me to get in the pickup. He was coming with a.

721
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,960
Speaker 1: Shotgun and an expert on the coport activities of the

722
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 1: CIA weighs in on the plausibility of the Gray Maale

723
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 1: defense of international drug smuggler Lamar Chester.

724
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:42,360
Speaker 2: Absolutely credible, that's credible.

725
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:44,320
Speaker 3: All that makes absolute sense.

726
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:51,960
Speaker 1: Murder of Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. Executive producers

727
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:56,720
Speaker 1: are Lauren Bright Pacheco, Taylor Chicogne, and Phil Stamford. Written

728
00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:00,719
Speaker 1: by Phil Stamford and Lauren brag Pacheco, Vidio editing and

729
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 1: sound design by Nicholas Harder, Evan Tyre and Taylor Chakoyne.

730
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:09,160
Speaker 1: Featuring music by Evan Tyre, Phil Mayer, John Murchison, and

731
00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:14,080
Speaker 1: Taylor Chacoyne. Archival elements provided by Lennon Lewis Wolfson the

732
00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:18,799
Speaker 1: Second Florida Moving Image Archives. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

733
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:23,000
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

734
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: the stories that matter to you,