WEBVTT - CLASSIC: Contras, Cocaine and the CIA: The True Story of Barry Seal 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:04.960 Welcome to tonight's classic episode. You know what, three flavors 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:10.920 go great together. Contrast obviously cocaine, great edition and our 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:12.479 good friends at the CIA. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:17.439 Yeaham and Tom Cruise apparently because he starred in the 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.840 movie about this guy that we're going to talk about today. 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.160 Oh that's right. What was the movie Cause it's about 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.360 like a plane smuggling operation. 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:26.120 Right, it's called American Maid. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:26.880 That's the one. 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:32.400 Yes, Yes, And this is the true story of pilot 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.120 and smuggler named Barry Seal. 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:36.720 Let's get to it. 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.239 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.640 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.720 learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:53.279 production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.560 Welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, my 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:04.200 name is Nolan. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:06.440 They called me Ben. We were joined as always with 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:10.640 our super producer Paul Mission Control decand most importantly, you 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:14.120 are you. You are here and that makes this stuff 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:15.920 they don't want you to know. 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:18.800 Every time you do that, every time you do, I 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.480 feel like I'm about to get into some kind of 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.280 freestyle or something. There's a cadence to it when you 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.360 did did do? Didn't? Didn't? Did do? I get so hyped. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.880 Have you been listening to a lot of hip hop recently? 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:30.399 A little bit? 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.360 Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I've got to send you some 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:37.040 stuff as well. I've been listening to some amazing things. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:38.880 I almost caught. I was in Vegas. 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:39.160 Uh. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.800 Circumstances found me in Vegas this past weekend and I 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.800 almost ended up at at a weird party with some 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:51.720 notable people. But being lame, I went to my hotel 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:52.800 and read a book. 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:54.960 Yeah you did wink? 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:56.080 He did? 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.760 He totally ran that party, I think so. Yeah, I'm 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:00.680 looking at Noel over here, you dead dude. 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:02.040 I think he's telling the truth. 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:04.760 How do you guys have a good weekend? 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.000 Yeah? A great weekend. Hey, I played a lot of 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.840 that Detroit Becoming Human. It was the free game on 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.040 the PlayStation Network in July. Totally worth it, best game 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.240 I'm played in a long time. Highly recommend it. If 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:25.320 you're into story, if you want some complex gameplay, don't 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.440 do it. But if you just want to learn about 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.480 how androids will one day, you know, become a free 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.040 and independent people, go for it. 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.120 In Detroit. They'll become human in Detroit. 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.040 Yeah, they'll well, in my case, I don't spoil it 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.920 for anybody. Things turn out. Well, that's good. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.760 I've got to say. It's so it's so weird that 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:48.080 we don't do more video game stuff. I would love 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.200 to play a video game called stuff. They don't want 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.920 you to know that weird hand and you know, maybe 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.000 one day, maybe one day, Well, we'll mess with some 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:58.600 video game type folks. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.200 I really like old LIKEDEO games that tied in with 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:03.760 movies that look nothing like the movie, Like on Nintendo. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.720 You know, it would be like back to the future 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:07.120 of the game, but you'd just be like this little 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.840 block game Hardymonfly. Yeah, you know, like remember ET the game. 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.040 That was where I was just gonna mention that, yeah, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:18.160 ET the game one of the universally agreed worst video 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:18.880 games ever. 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.119 Yeah, I think I think there's an. 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.760 Yeah exactly, see, but in our video game, you'd get 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.600 to choose to be one of us or Paul, and 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.720 you would go through and you'd have to solve conspiracies 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:33.160 with the help of the others. It would be a 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.200 multiplayer game. You could have four people at once playing, right, 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.800 can you play solo? You can totally play so That's 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:40.760 how I would play it, Okay, But what I'm saying is, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.720 if you were into playing together, you guys could investigate, 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.480 go down different leads, you report back. Ben's found out 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.320 everything about the Black Hand. I've been busy over here 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.320 with an extraterrestrial angle for some reason. They're connected. Then 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.560 we figure out the next place to go. I'm telling 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.200 you this video game rules. Get at me and Ben 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.160 and Nol and Paul whoever you are, you video game 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:05.040 developers out. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.680 There, Yeah, tell us your idea if you had if 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.280 you had a video game about your own personal experience, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.080 what would it be. You don't have to write it 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.120 all out. You can call us and give us your 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:15.000 three minute pitch. 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.599 We are one eight three three std WYTK. 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.280 If you're a longtime listener, you can probably tell that 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:29.240 we're all we're all film buffs here or voracious sponges 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:34.680 of story and information. We enjoy that in terms of 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.120 video games, in terms of music, art and you know, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:42.159 film and books and so on. And we were talking 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.600 a little bit off air about Tom Cruise, who will 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.400 be familiar to all our fans of Tom Cruise Control 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.440 mentioned in earlier episode in twenty seventeen, the actor Tom 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.880 Cruise starred in a film called American Maid. American Maid 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:00.560 follows the highly fictionalized life and time of a real 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:02.640 life pilot named Barry Seal. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:04.599 A pilot amongst other things. 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.960 A pilot amongst other things. And we asked, oh, I 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.720 forget that, Paul Michigan control, how you doing today? All right? 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.120 We got a good thumbs up, and Paul, you also 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.000 gave a thumbs up to American Made. 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:16.600 Is that correct? 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:18.839 That's official? Double thumbs Wow. 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:20.039 Nobody wants to know how I'm doing. 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:22.960 Wait a second, I asked how you guys were doing. 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.560 That was my fault, Yeah, said, how are you guys 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:25.960 doing that? 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.279 I derailed it and I sent it to Ben. That 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:29.880 was my fault. 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:31.359 No, no, no, no, no, it's cool. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:33.760 Tell me what's cool? What's up in your life? Nol? 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.279 Did you go on that date we talked about? 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.279 I take it on a day. It's true. I saw 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.240 a fantastic movie that you guy should all see, called 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.679 The Last Black Man in San Francisco. I enjoyed it thoroughly. 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.080 It's kind of like a weird It kind of fits 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.160 in with our show because it's got this weird kind 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.000 of alternative history version of San Francisco, where like everyone 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:52.560 that grew up there has been forced out, which is 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.919 not made up at all. That's absolutely what's happening. But 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.040 there's this backdrop of this kind of like toxic event 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.000 that they never really name, but like the fish are 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.039 poison and like the water is all poison, and the 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.560 whole thing has this like kind of crazy Terry Gilliam 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.440 or like Michelle Gondry kind of vibe. I really recommend 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.279 it highly, very dreamlike, very powerful, very very special movie. 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:13.840 I liked it a lot. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.360 Done were the what were the ratings or reviews? 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.240 They were good, They're very good. But I just, yeah, 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:21.960 I think it's something it's hard to describe, and I'm 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.720 not even gonna bother trying too hard, but something that 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:24.480 you guys should all see. 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:28.080 I think, Well, the movie we're talking about today, American made, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.160 has some pretty dang good ratings, at least according to 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:32.080 Rotten Tomatoes. 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.560 Right, what are the premier rating sites? Can you lay 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:35.400 those numbers on us? 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.000 Yeah, let's give it to your critics gave it eighty 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.200 six percent. The audience gave it seventy eight. Now generally 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.080 gotta say those two numbers are flopped where the critics 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.919 will give it a slightly lower rating, and then audience 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.240 members will enjoy a movie a little bit better than 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:55.960 the critics perhaps gave it a give it credit for. Yeah, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.640 I don't know, but in this movie, in this case, 0:06:58.720 --> 0:06:59.920 the critics really liked it. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.880 And here's the question, would those ratings change if the 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.320 film were to follow the true story of Barry Seal, 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.760 the story that even today runs rife with the stuff 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.520 they don't want you to know. So here are the facts. 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:17.680 We've been throwing this name around a lot. Berry Seal. 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:19.440 Who is Barry Seal. 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:24.200 Barry Seal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July sixteenth, 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:29.480 nineteen thirty nine, and his father was a candy wholesaler 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.760 and a clansman. Yeah, he was a member of the 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.320 Ku Klux Klan, which you know that sounds like on 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.120 the conspiratorial side today, but at the time it was 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.960 pretty commonplace for white dudes in Baton Rouge. Sad but true. 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.800 So Barry grew up obsessed with airplanes and he took 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.680 his first solo flight at fifteen, one year before he 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.640 actually got his legit pilot's license, and then not too 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.120 long after that, he worked for one of those companies 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.360 that have like the banners that the toad behind the 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.119 planes for advertising, which is a thing that I've always 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.520 been fascinated by, like who is that person that does that? 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.840 It was very seal, and it's a great idea for 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:11.000 prank two. It's on my secret list of dream pranks, 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.560 is to take one of those advertising banners. This is 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.920 the most sith lord version. Take an advertising banner. Hire 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.400 someone to fly out a banner that says will you 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.720 marry me? And just hear the relationships crumble around the 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.000 city for anyone who accidentally looks up and then their 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.200 their significant other goes, oh my god, yes I will. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:32.520 Yeah. 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.280 I've always thought that was a pretty like blunt instrument 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:39.400 way of doing that right, Like, you know, in general. 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:40.800 It's pretty inconsiderate, super. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:43.560 Ruin everybody's beach day. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.839 So to jump back to very seal really fast, you guys, Yes, 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.280 it's fascinating. Here is one of the first things we've 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.600 learned about him is that prior to even getting a 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.760 pilot's license, he's bending the rules a little bit and 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:02.760 taking a solo flight, something that is both irresponsible really 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:09.240 dangerous to himself, but also adventurous, right sure, Yeah, he's 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.000 adrenaline junkie. Adrenaline junkie living on the edge of the rules. 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:19.240 Yeah, and also has myopic obsessions. To be fair, it's 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.680 safe to say that many many people in this country 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.000 in the US do something similar when they're learning to 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.280 drive cars. Right, your parents are an older person or 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.200 someone with a license will take you out to a 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.600 parking lot, and generally law enforcement will look the other 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.320 way as this fourteen year old is just stripping a clutch, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.960 you know. But it's a little different, I would argue 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.000 with planes, right, and his obsession with flight in general 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.800 would lead him to the first steps on his long, controversial, conspiratorial, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:55.880 and ultimately fatal career. He joined the Civil Air Patrol 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.800 in fifty five and he stayed based in Baton Rouge, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.600 and he took part in a Civil Air Patrol joint 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.160 training mission with the New Orleans unit that was run 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:09.920 by a guy named David Ferry. David Ferry later will 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.679 be a peripheral figure in the JFK assassination. 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.520 And that's not all of the connection between this character, 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.280 Barry Seal and the JFK assassination. 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:21.280 Whatever do you mean? 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.400 I mean, there's somebody else that allegedly he met. At 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:31.079 least according to another Civil Air Patrol member person named 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:35.719 John Odum, they say that Seal actually encountered mister Lee 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.800 Harvey Oswald while he was training. 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.200 Oh oh, that's true. But wait, wait there's more. As 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:45.319 more as Billy Mays was wont to say. Yes, Tosh Plumbley, 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.719 another figure later related to the JFK assassination. 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:51.680 That is a great name, by the way, hash Plumbley. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.200 I love that sounds like a character and clue. 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.120 Yeah, it really does. He claims that Barry Seal began 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.520 working for the CIA in the mid nineteen fifties. We 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.319 have a quote from Toash on this. 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.160 I think Tosh Plumbley would sound like Berry. Seal was 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.880 involved with military intelligence in the early days. Military intelligence 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.120 was the real game, with the CIA just acting as 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:20.160 logistical people. Berry was a periveral player back then. But 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.720 he was a CIA contract pilot all the way back 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.840 to nineteen fifty six or fifty seven. 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.000 Now remember this is Matton Rouge. 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.400 Doesn't matter. This is how Plumbley sounds. My man. He's 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.520 an aristocrat of the highest order. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:40.480 And Seal would later in sworn testimony, deny any affiliation 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:47.480 with the CIA whatsoever in any shape, form or fashion. 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.440 That'll come up later. Let's keep going. In nineteen fifty eight, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.280 he began ferrying weapons to Fidel Castro fighting against the 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:59.800 Batista regime in Cuba. At the same time, a section 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:03.520 of the CIA was supporting the overthrow of the Batistas. 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.880 So if he said he had no involvement, I guess 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:11.280 he was. Who was just another contractor. And maybe maybe 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.360 Castro had like a four thirty pm appointment with a 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.000 CIA and a five p fifteen appointment with Barry Seal. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:18.160 Who knows, or. 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:22.880 Maybe he wasn't actually meeting. Here's the tough thing. It 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.480 seems as though if you are going to be flying 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:31.040 weapons in to a group, like at least any member 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.960 of Fidel Castro's resistance force you are going to, it's 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.160 going to be a known mission, right, There's gonna be 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.160 a lot of handling that occurs with that. It's not 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.920 just oh, hey, I'm gonna I'll be there around three. 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.760 See see in a little bit, Fidel guys, Fidel's dudes. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.040 I guess just what I'm saying is it was certainly 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.400 under the radar when it was occurring right with authorities, 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.560 or at least he would have to be unless it 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.559 was explicitly known that this was occurring as a mission 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:00.760 in part of the CIA. 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.400 So yeah, that's another part, because astute listeners you just 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.240 heard us say the CIA was at the time supporting 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.560 the overthrow of Bautista. However, the policy changed soon after 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:18.080 Castro gained power and Barry Seal apparently started taking part 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:23.040 in air attacks on the emergent new government. Either way, 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.120 they liked what he's doing. Nineteen fifty nine, he became 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.160 a CIA pilot in Guatemala. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.760 It's true, and we were I'm just trying to point 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.280 out some things here that have to do with themes 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.800 with Barry's life. Right, This idea of possibly playing both 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.959 sides there, of both supplying the new regime with weapons 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:45.360 but then also participating in tax once they've gained power, exactly. 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.800 Kind of a fair weather friend at the very least exactly. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.640 So let's go let's go to nineteen fifty nine. Now 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.960 he's in Guatemala and he's officially a CIA pilot. 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:59.240 He has officially a CIA pilot in Guatemala. It's also 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.040 believed He was involved in training Cuban exiles on No 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.800 Name Key Another Excellent Name in Florida and on the 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.600 north shore of Lake Ponch Train in Louisiana. He also 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.120 ran a couple of companies based in his hometown, Baton Rouge, 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:19.360 Seal Sky Service and Aerial Advertising Associates. That's the banner 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.520 thing we talked about earlier. He had an office in 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.440 the International Trade Center run by Clay Shaw. 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.920 Can we just talk about Aerial Advertising Associates? Sure, Triple A. 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.240 I mean, first of all, you're gonna get in trouble 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.840 just with those a's, right, you can't. You can't just 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.560 use all three a's. Come on, there's a big company 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:38.360 out there. They're gonna take you down. But the other 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.120 thing is it sounds like some kind of CIA front, 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.960 doesn't it. When we've over the course of this show, 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.280 every CIA FBI front has the most banal name to 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.280 it of the most This is exactly what this thing is. 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.280 It feels very much like that to me, not saying 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.320 it was a CIA front, just saying. 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.440 Sure, it's like Legitimate Business Partners Associated LLC. 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.200 Yeah, American No, not American Airlines. What was it called? 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.160 Was the big one are America? 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.920 Yeah, how could you hate that? Do you hate America? 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.880 So in nineteen sixty two December, he joins the twenty 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.080 first Special Forces Group. He attends the Fort Benning Jump 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.400 School in sixty three. The next year, he's assigned to 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.200 Company D, Special Operations Detachment of the twentieth Special Forces 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.440 Group Airborne. In sixty four, he joins the two hundred 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.520 and forty fifth Engineer Battalion based in Saint Louis. He 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.600 leaves there in sixty six. He serves in the Louisiana 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:42.840 RB National Guard the Army Reserve. He joins TWA trans 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.880 World Airlines in nineteen sixty eight as a flight engineer 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.400 and later becomes one of the youngest command pilots in 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.480 the entire fleet. So he loves flying. He's good at it. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.080 You just can't entirely trust that he will have your 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:00.000 back with the chips are down. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.320 Yeah, and he has had a lot of involvement with 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:11.000 various military groups. It's he's an experienced guy by the time. 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:14.160 He's not that old. 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:16.160 Yeah exactly? 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:17.240 Was he born thirty nine? 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:17.840 Yep? 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.000 Wow, so not even thirty. 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:25.520 And his shady and at times contradictory career finally caught 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.920 up with Barry Seal. On July one, nineteen seventy two, 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.880 he was arrested in New Orleans. He was accused of 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:36.120 sending C four explosives to anti Castro Cubans based in Mexico. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.640 A DC four on the plane news Line was seized 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.560 at the Shreveport Regional Airport, loaded with around seven tons 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.680 of plastic explosives, seven thousand feet of explosive primer cord, 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:52.000 and two thousand, six hundred electric blasting caps. So this 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:53.600 was going to be one hell of a party. 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:58.480 And then James Miller, Richmond Harper, and Marlon Hagler and 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.560 also somebody Murray Kessler were arrested along with Cel and 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.000 Kessler's partner, man by the name of Manny Gambino, was 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.960 kidnapped around the same time the others were arrested. Very 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.720 fishy in Gambino's course, was later found in a New 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.600 Jersey garbage jump some mob stuff right here, right, This 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.280 is that Gambino clearly exactly. 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.240 Yeah, Well, then the plot just continues to thicken after 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.320 that because rue at this point, yes, very nice little 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:30.960 because that plane, the DC four, was actually owned by 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.280 this guy named James Boy who was in fact an associate, 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.480 a known associate of the CIA. 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:43.240 James Boy, a terrible terrible Jim Jimmy Boy, Jim plumbley 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:45.760 and Boy and James Boy. 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:47.760 Great the sounds like made up names. I love it. 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:51.000 Well here's again, there there are these weird. 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.879 This is a web. This is a string in the web. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.360 It's literally a Gary Webb. And uh so this guy, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:02.320 James Boy, his aircraft laid was used by Oliver North 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:07.119 essentially to send mercenaries hired by him to fly in 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.280 and out of Honduras. Which again we've got three points 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.760 of connection here already that are just mind. 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:17.960 Blowing right right, Maybe not enough connections to jump to 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.960 a conclusion, no, but three points is what you need 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.040 to climb up a conspiracy mountain. Right there you go. 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.600 So the man who organized the entrapment of Seal, the 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.240 reason he got caught with all these explosives and that 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:33.680 his friends got caught as well, was a guy named 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:38.440 Csario dil Stado, an official with US Customs. It took 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.800 the authorities over two years to bring Seal and co. 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.639 To trial, and then things got really fishy. So the 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:50.040 trial finally gets underway June nineteen seventy four. But government 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:54.720 prosecutors do something that automatically, without questions, sinks the case. 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.520 They introduce into evidence an automatic weapon that has nothing 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.080 to do with the charges against the defendants. None of 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.880 them have ever touched. The chain of custody is completely 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.560 unrelated to them, and so a mistrial is declared. Seal 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:13.440 and his buddies are released, no probation, no monitoring, no sentencing. 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:15.879 This was not to be his first arrest. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.159 And this is about a plane filled to the brim 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.800 with explosives. Okay, not quite that large, but enough explosives, 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.400 like we said, to do serious damage somewhere, and they 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:28.520 just get let off. 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.960 Yeah, this is also going to become a pattern in 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.760 the life of Seal. This was not to be, of course, 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.560 his final arrest. But what we can see is that 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.480 evidence indicates that at every step along the way, someone, 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:48.960 some suit would step in and take over the investigation. 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.680 After Barry's first arrest, his career takes off, or maybe 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.760 it's more appropriate to say it veers off in a darker, 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.320 more sinister direction, and we'll we'll ex i am in 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.080 a little bit about that, but first let's talk about 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:07.000 his death. This is the hinge of today's episode, and we'll. 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:09.160 Talk about it right after a quick word from our sponsor. 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:20.200 On February nineteenth, nineteen eighty six, Barry Seal was shot 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.320 to death by a machine gun in front of a 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:28.280 Salvation Army facility located on Airline Highway in his hometown 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:31.000 of Baton Rouge. And I believe we can play a 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:32.160 little clip of the reporting. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.680 Yeah, this will be a really short clip from NBC. 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.639 He used to smuggle drugs and he got caught and 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.240 he became one of the government's most valuable informants in 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.159 the war against cocaine. But last night in Louisiana, Barry 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:47.800 Seal's enemies caught up with him and killed him tonight. 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:54.960 So Barry's murder ends a DEA investigation. The investigator drug 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:59.000 Enforcement Agency, the investigation was never resolved, has not been 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.720 to this day, and according to some sources, the murder 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:05.480 was never truly solved either. 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.760 And just to continue with this web motif that we're 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.080 already starting to create here and all of the themes, 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.640 we realized that Barry's death connected directly to a two 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:18.760 part series we made in twenty sixteen called Banks, Drugs 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.920 and Money that was based on a film called The Infiltrader. 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:27.920 Right, Yeah, and Barry Seal appears in The Infiltrator, which 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:33.080 is inspired by true events. I believe he has a 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:35.679 different sort of death in this story though, Is that correct? 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.640 Yeah? Yeah, because you know in the series we're talking 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:43.400 to Robert Maser, right, and he was this DA agent 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.240 who went undercover and he ended up busting up part 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:50.680 at least of Pablo Escobar's drug trafficking cartel and then 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:55.120 sinking an international bank that was connected to that cartel. 0:21:55.560 --> 0:22:00.639