Speaker 1: If pulling off one of the largest cash heights in
Speaker 1: US history was the easiest step in Victor Horaina's mission
Speaker 1: to help fund Puerto Rico's independence movement, it's what happened
Speaker 1: after that day in that became the more difficult part
Speaker 1: of the operation, getting himself and the stolen seven million
Speaker 1: dollars in cash out of the country. For that, Victor
Speaker 1: would need help, a lot of it. Fortunately for him,
Speaker 1: he had it. Remember those two car hanks the guards
Speaker 1: heard on the night of the robbery. According to police documents,
Speaker 1: they were to alert a senior member of Los macha
Speaker 1: Ros who was waiting outside the Wells Fargo depot in
Speaker 1: his own car. Nobody knew at the time was one
Speaker 1: Cigar and sat Hey Rios lurking around in the shadows
Speaker 1: as the masterminds of this thing, waiting for Victor to
Speaker 1: do what he was gonna do previously on White Eagle,
Speaker 1: and no only law enforcement had any clue that a
Speaker 1: group of radical independent east is at an island of
Speaker 1: the Caribbean. We're knocking off armored cars and Harker Kennectic.
Speaker 1: A lot of Puerto Ricans that joined probably independence movement
Speaker 1: in the sixties seventies, grew up facing discriminations raising some party.
Speaker 1: Even in the community. People would talk about it from
Speaker 1: a perspective of look, he took some of that and
Speaker 1: he gave out toys, and you know, he did it
Speaker 1: out of frustration the master arrests, who were upset that
Speaker 1: they were getting the attention that they thought they deserved
Speaker 1: for this patriotic expressionation and they wanted to get some
Speaker 1: p policy forward. My name is em William Phelps. I'm
Speaker 1: an investigative journalist and author of more than forty true
Speaker 1: crime books. What you were about to hear is the
Speaker 1: true story of a heist, one that funded an international
Speaker 1: independence movement and sparked an investigation spanning nearly four decades.
Speaker 1: This is White Eagle. There are a few key players
Speaker 1: in this story. Victor Harraina is one, Philiberto Ojeda Rios
Speaker 1: is another. A third, and the man I immediately set
Speaker 1: my sights on when I set out to do this
Speaker 1: podcast was Juan Zigara Palmer. At the time of the robbery,
Speaker 1: he was considered one of the Macha Tero's top soldiers
Speaker 1: and is often called one of its founders. And as
Speaker 1: Fred current reporter Ed Mahoney explains Jan was more than
Speaker 1: just an accomplice on the night of the robbery. He
Speaker 1: was a mentor to Victor Harrina in the months proceeding
Speaker 1: and following that night. The cigar is the big cup
Speaker 1: of tier on this thing, and so he's training Victor
Speaker 1: on what to do with the robbery and the money
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. In many ways, one was
Speaker 1: the go between for Victor and Los MACHOs. He claims
Speaker 1: to be the person who introduced Victor to Philiberto and
Speaker 1: other members of the group, and according to several sources
Speaker 1: I've spoken with, he remains in close contact with Victor's
Speaker 1: family to this day. His father was a well reputated
Speaker 1: lawyer in Puerto Rico who send his kids to this
Speaker 1: boarding school in New England and then he goes through hardbar.
Speaker 1: Doctor Jose Attila's, who you heard in the last episode,
Speaker 1: is an expert on anti colonial movements, which includes Los
Speaker 1: ma Teros the story. I'm sure that you might have
Speaker 1: access to him and to his history. He's really interesting.
Speaker 1: Dr Attila's is right. I did have access to one.
Speaker 1: I had interviewed him at length and planned to use
Speaker 1: hours of recorded conversations in the podcast. But after weeks
Speaker 1: of back and forth, One abruptly pulled out of the project,
Speaker 1: deciding it was in his best interest not to participate.
Speaker 1: It was disappointing, of course, here's a man who was there,
Speaker 1: an intricate spoken the wheel of the Wells Fargo operation,
Speaker 1: who expressed a great desire to share his side of
Speaker 1: the story, but then declines. Fortunately for us, though One
Speaker 1: is a talker, He's spoken at length about the heist
Speaker 1: and his time with Los mag Terro's, most notably in
Speaker 1: the Last American Colony, a documentary produced by Northern Light Productions.
Speaker 1: The producer graciously shared One's interviews from the documentary with
Speaker 1: me because in the end, to truly understand what really
Speaker 1: happened that night in West Harford and in the years
Speaker 1: that followed, to get both sides of this story, you
Speaker 1: need to hear from someone who was there every step
Speaker 1: of the way. I was waiting for him outside. It
Speaker 1: was the longest hour or whatever of my entire life.
Speaker 1: By the mid eighties, law enforcement knew about Juan Zigara
Speaker 1: and Los mata Tero's involvement in the Wells Fargo robbery,
Speaker 1: but the specifics, the detailed accounts of what actually happened
Speaker 1: took decades to unravel, thanks in a large part to Wangara.
Speaker 1: One has always been squirrely about his initial introduction to
Speaker 1: Victor Haraina, but has admitted that Victor traveled at some
Speaker 1: point to see Philiberto in Puerto Rico to discuss logistics
Speaker 1: of the robbery and future as a fugitive. After Victor
Speaker 1: was given the green light for the job, the group
Speaker 1: went into planning mode, and by March of Victor was
Speaker 1: having regular conversations with Wan Sagara using local pay phones
Speaker 1: to avoid a paper or electronic trail. For much of
Speaker 1: the spring and summer of nighte Wan Zigara and Los
Speaker 1: macha Ros were laser focused on Aguila Blanca White Eagle,
Speaker 1: the code name given to the West Tarford Wells Fargo operation.
Speaker 1: Then in August that same year, Juan and Philiberto flew
Speaker 1: to Connecticut to help Victor finished polishing every last detail,
Speaker 1: including rehearsing the more risky aspects of the robbery scheduled
Speaker 1: for the following month. We did several role plays in
Speaker 1: motels in the Hartford area. We rented a room so
Speaker 1: he practiced grabbing me by the nag and take me
Speaker 1: to the ground, so there was gonna be no question
Speaker 1: about him being able to a mobilized the guy with
Speaker 1: the element of surprise and then take him down. Wand
Speaker 1: told the producer of The Last American Colony that he
Speaker 1: and Victor also practiced driving from the Wells Fargo depot
Speaker 1: to local motels, timing each trip until they had it
Speaker 1: down to a science. After the robbery, they drove directly
Speaker 1: to the Swiss Chalet, in emptied the money out of
Speaker 1: the bugles saber, and took off. By the time they
Speaker 1: were gone, police would have just arrived at the Wells
Speaker 1: Fargo depot. I felt we had pulled off a great job.
Speaker 1: Nobody had been caught, nobody was hurt. Yeah, I was arrogant.
Speaker 1: From there, both men would help Victor embark on a
Speaker 1: daring interstate journey, the first part of which included a
Speaker 1: less conspicuous form of transportation. They bought a motorcycle. They
Speaker 1: put him on the motorcycle, and Victor left from there.
Speaker 1: During his drive north from West Tarford, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: Victor tossed his wallet at a rest stop along the
Speaker 1: Massachusetts Turnpike. That wallet, which contained his I D was
Speaker 1: later discovered by Department of Transportation employees. Victory eventually ended
Speaker 1: up in Boston, and the cash and up in Springfield,
Speaker 1: where it was hidden. The motorcycle was the perfect solution
Speaker 1: to Los Macha terros first obstacle, how to get one
Speaker 1: of the country's most wanted men safely out of West Tarford.
Speaker 1: The second, much larger hurdle, was how to get about
Speaker 1: a half ton of stolen cash where it needed to go.
Speaker 1: Turns out, Juanzagara and Philipperto oheed Rios had already thought
Speaker 1: that scenario out as well. It's a combination of the
Speaker 1: match terrists. Principally Ojeda and Cigar are up in Austin.
Speaker 1: They buy a loader home and they have somebody one
Speaker 1: of these Maga Terros is some kind of a carpenter,
Speaker 1: you know, pulls a bunch of false walls and things
Speaker 1: like that into this thing. About two weeks after the heist,
Speaker 1: one hit Victor and some of the money behind the
Speaker 1: walls of a camper trailer, and the pair headed to Mexico,
Speaker 1: taking some of the stolen cash with them. In the
Speaker 1: months that followed, other members of Los MACHOs and their
Speaker 1: associates would follow suit, traveled to New England, load up
Speaker 1: a car or camper, and take chunks of cash across
Speaker 1: the border into Mexico. In all, the group transported more
Speaker 1: than two thirds of the Wells Fargo money out of
Speaker 1: the US that first year, despite having some dangerously close
Speaker 1: calls with law enforcement. Case in point, in August of
Speaker 1: Juanzigara's cash heavy ampor trailer flipped over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Speaker 1: My friend loaned me his pickup truck and camper. We
Speaker 1: were on the turnpike in in Pennsylvania going down this
Speaker 1: pretty steep hill and this semi blew past us and
Speaker 1: we ended up flipped over, facing in the opposite direction
Speaker 1: on the right hand lane of the vehicle. The money
Speaker 1: that was hidden in the wall behind the walls of
Speaker 1: the of the trailer, you know, the panels burst. One
Speaker 1: of us jumped in the trailer and started throwing the
Speaker 1: money and bags and stashing it back before the state
Speaker 1: police arrived, and you know, sure got past that one.
Speaker 1: Mexico was the pit stop of choice for Los Macha Terras.
Speaker 1: It was also a place where they could easily communicate
Speaker 1: with operatives from the Cuban gu government, including the man
Speaker 1: who would help smuggle Victor Harana out of the country.
Speaker 1: I always called it a Cuban spy, and he was
Speaker 1: always upset with me for saying that, because he considered
Speaker 1: himself some kind of diplomatic. But you know, Cuba's had
Speaker 1: a diplomatic department called the Department of the America's whose
Speaker 1: function was to fallment, you know, left his insurgencies across
Speaker 1: Latin America, and he was associated with that. The Cuban spy,
Speaker 1: whose real name is Jorge Massetti, eventually became disillusioned with
Speaker 1: Fidel Castro and left his job with the government. He
Speaker 1: even wrote a book about it. But back in three
Speaker 1: he played an instrumental role in the Macha Teros as
Speaker 1: wells Fargo heist. According to Ed Mahoney, Massetti had met
Speaker 1: Juan Zigara and other members of Los Macha Teros in
Speaker 1: the months before the robbery and even gave them fifty
Speaker 1: tho dollars to help pull it off an investment. Perhaps
Speaker 1: they provided the bunch of terrells with the stuff that
Speaker 1: they injected the guards with, and some type of crazy
Speaker 1: radio transmitter that probably didn't work anyway, and a bunch
Speaker 1: of things like that. Massetti told Ed Mahoney that The
Speaker 1: group went to great lengths to help Victor get out
Speaker 1: of the country. They dyed his hair and Victor head
Speaker 1: out in Mexico's Cuban embassy, where they helped him acquire
Speaker 1: a fake passport. From there, Victor bordered a flight to Cuba,
Speaker 1: along with the first batch of cash tucked inside Cuba's
Speaker 1: diplomatic pouch. The thing is, the FBI is not doing
Speaker 1: anything because they don't know anything about this. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're still looking, you know, for some gang of Irish
Speaker 1: drugs from Charlestown, you know who came down and knocked
Speaker 1: off at Aubrey car I mean, they have no idea
Speaker 1: what's going on. By that time, Victor her own had
Speaker 1: been secreted in Cuba. The plan was they would get
Speaker 1: Victor over there and he would be out of their
Speaker 1: ancient American authorities. There's all kinds of people in Cuba there,
Speaker 1: you know, hiding out from American authorities. If you've grown
Speaker 1: up in the United States, chances are you've heard a
Speaker 1: lot about Cuba. Our time capsule island of a neighbor
Speaker 1: just ninety miles off the coast of Florida. The relationship
Speaker 1: between the two countries is far too complex to explain
Speaker 1: in one sitting. For that we'd need an entire episode,
Speaker 1: but here are some of the broad strokes. Like Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: Cuba was annexed by the United States after the Spanish
Speaker 1: American War. It was granted independence soon thereafter, but the
Speaker 1: United States retained large swaths of land, military bases like
Speaker 1: Guantanamo Bay, and a cho cold on Cuba's economy. All
Speaker 1: that changed into fifties when its enigmatic former leader, Fidel Castro,
Speaker 1: helped mount a revolution that toppled the country's American backed president.
Speaker 1: While the US initially recognized Cuba's new government, the relationships soured,
Speaker 1: American citizens fled the island, and the US government launched
Speaker 1: dozens of unsuccessful attempts to overthrow Castro's government economy. Fidel
Speaker 1: Castro died in t s after nearly a half century
Speaker 1: in power. Critics called him a terrorist and dictator who
Speaker 1: bankrupted Cuba's economy and ruthlessly punished all forms of dissent.
Speaker 1: Admirers saw him as a revolutionary icon who oversaw improvements
Speaker 1: to literacy and life expectancy, and helped mobilize anti imperialist
Speaker 1: movements around the world, including Puerto Rico. There is a
Speaker 1: famous song says that Cuba and Puerto Rico are the
Speaker 1: two wings of one bird. And so obviously our histories
Speaker 1: are tied through the Spanish American War, and we've always
Speaker 1: been kind of looking to see what the other is
Speaker 1: doing and in close connection among artists and intellectuals. That's
Speaker 1: Dr Yarimar Bonia Ramos. She's a political anthropologist and the
Speaker 1: director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter
Speaker 1: College in New York. For a long time, Puerto Rico
Speaker 1: is a kind of ambiguous zone, and during that time
Speaker 1: politics cemented around two main currents. There were the folks
Speaker 1: who wanted Puerto Rico to be part of the United
Speaker 1: States and who always imagined that to be what was
Speaker 1: to be expected. But other folks felt that that was
Speaker 1: not what they wanted and they wanted to be their
Speaker 1: own nation, and so there was always an independence movement
Speaker 1: growing and growing steadily. Castro and many others behind Cuba's
Speaker 1: revolution understood this, and while there were thousands of people
Speaker 1: who fled the islands in Cuba for Puerto Rico, others
Speaker 1: saw the Cuban Revolution as a model for sovereignty. Among
Speaker 1: them Philiberto Ojeda Rios, the leader of Los mace Teros.
Speaker 1: After the Bay of Pigs, I became aware of him
Speaker 1: initially in New York. Actually, Bob Hybel, who spoke in
Speaker 1: the last episode, spent twenty five years with the FBI,
Speaker 1: finishing his incredible career as a sack or special agent
Speaker 1: in charge. If there's an agent who knows the relationship
Speaker 1: between Puerto Rico and America and how Los mace Tero's
Speaker 1: factor into that equation, it's Bob. Now, the Cuban Intelligence Service,
Speaker 1: which was called G two at that time, to stay
Speaker 1: offensive and began to send sleeper agents out, and Philiberto
Speaker 1: was one of those sleeper agents. The G two is
Speaker 1: a military intelligence service, or as others call it, state security.
Speaker 1: Its agents were trained by the German Stasi and the
Speaker 1: Soviet KGB, and we're responsible for intelligence, counter intelligence and
Speaker 1: disinformation activities inside Cuba and abroad. So from the beginning,
Speaker 1: the Castro was a total supporter of Kenning independence for
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico and his modus OPERANDAI of course was supporting
Speaker 1: revolution to do that in any form that worked. In
Speaker 1: ninety six, Castro told the Group of World Leaders, quote
Speaker 1: any revolutionary movement in any corner of the world can
Speaker 1: count on the help of Cuban fighters, and he made
Speaker 1: good on that promise. About a decade later, right as
Speaker 1: the US of Cuba were in talks to improve diplomatic relations,
Speaker 1: Castro intervened in an armed operation of the African nation
Speaker 1: of Angola, and more important for US in Puerto Rico's
Speaker 1: pro independence organization to move the rail talks between Cuba
Speaker 1: and the US, but appeal to Filiberto or hey To Rios,
Speaker 1: who believed deeply that colonized people, which in his view
Speaker 1: included Puerto Ricans, had a right to arm struggle. What's more,
Speaker 1: he felt it was critical to reclaiming their identity. Filiberto
Speaker 1: is a very interesting fear. First of all, he was
Speaker 1: a trumpet player with one of the fifties bands that
Speaker 1: started moving to more pro independence radicalize if you wish,
Speaker 1: and at some point he started moving to ARMStrokes or
Speaker 1: more to left wing of the pro independence movement. At
Speaker 1: some point he ended up in Cuba getting in training.
Speaker 1: I think it was a revolution that show a lot
Speaker 1: of Puerto Ricans that they could have an arm move
Speaker 1: and that created a condition for mass moblization. Cuba's revolution
Speaker 1: in the fifties. Inspired Philiberto, and Castro's government gave him
Speaker 1: the tools he needed to try and replicate it. He
Speaker 1: viewed himself as a patriot and he was fighting for truth,
Speaker 1: justice to the American white He thought he was at
Speaker 1: George Washington and Puerto Rico. After Cuba, Philiberto went to
Speaker 1: New York and later Puerto Rico, eventually recruiting Juan Zigara,
Speaker 1: whom he met in nineteen seventy two. Like Philiberto, Juan
Speaker 1: was born in Puerto Rico. His family was wealthy, and
Speaker 1: he had a long history of resistance to Spanish and
Speaker 1: American colonialism. As a teen, he attended the prestigious Phillips
Speaker 1: Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and later Harvard University, where in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine Juan witnessed the violent suppression of hundreds
Speaker 1: of students protesting the Vietnam War. Then trying take was
Speaker 1: that Vietnam had one The Cuban Revolution at that time
Speaker 1: was like a beacon to a lot of Latin America.
Speaker 1: The tide of history is on the side of anti colonialism.
Speaker 1: We should be able to prevail. In those years. After Harvard,
Speaker 1: wand began training with Philiberto and in nineteen seventy six
Speaker 1: helped found Los Materos. Like Cuba's revolutionaries, Los mach Teros
Speaker 1: used a clandestine cell system to organize its activities. A
Speaker 1: central committee led the organization, but individual cells carried out
Speaker 1: operations and information was kept to a need to know basis.
Speaker 1: Government documents show that Los Machteros cultivated dozens of fake identities.
Speaker 1: For example, in order to buy weapons for the group,
Speaker 1: one would troll graveyards, picking out and then using names
Speaker 1: of the deceased to apply for birth certificates and driver's license.
Speaker 1: He also led weapons training, having learned to fire a
Speaker 1: gun at the Harvard Shooting Club. My expectation was that
Speaker 1: either we won or I would end up in prison
Speaker 1: or dead. Those were the three options, and you know
Speaker 1: felt that more likely than not the prison or death
Speaker 1: would be the more likely outcomes. But at that time
Speaker 1: of my life, I was I was ready to take
Speaker 1: on that that risk and that responsibility. In many ways,
Speaker 1: Philiberto and Juan were the ideal match for the pro
Speaker 1: independence mission. Intellectual, courageous and ready and willing to give
Speaker 1: up their lives for a cause they believed in deeply.
Speaker 1: After founding Los macha Ros. They would go on to
Speaker 1: mastermind more than a dozen violent attacks against the U.
Speaker 1: S Government and major institutions in Puerto Rico in the
Speaker 1: name of independence. Then in January, the group made international
Speaker 1: headlines as part of its protest to a draft registration
Speaker 1: on the island. A Puerto Rican independence group which calls
Speaker 1: itself the Maschity Wielders, claims that knocked out half the
Speaker 1: planes or the island's Air National Guard order Today time
Speaker 1: bombs planted at uns Air Base blew up nine jet
Speaker 1: fighters and damage to others. Nobody was injured. Damage was
Speaker 1: put at forty five million dollars. One Cigara was integral
Speaker 1: and planning and carrying out that attack, even touring the
Speaker 1: Munese Air National Guard base with his family and taking
Speaker 1: pictures in front of the planes to indicate where the
Speaker 1: bombs would go. The final gift was when the National
Speaker 1: Guard had an open house on the base, so I
Speaker 1: brought my kids in to look at the planes when
Speaker 1: right up to the blades, took pictures of them, and
Speaker 1: that helps us to stay which is exactly where the
Speaker 1: explosives was going to be located. To fund its efforts,
Speaker 1: Los Mater's frequently robbed major corporations. In fact, before the
Speaker 1: West Harford success, the group made at least four attempts
Speaker 1: at robbing Wells Fargo armored vehicles in Puerto Rico, the
Speaker 1: last of which involved a number of heavily armed militants
Speaker 1: who got away with five and eighty seven thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in cash and checks before shooting and killing the driver.
Speaker 1: While the money from these robberies helped, the group kept
Speaker 1: many members on its payroll and needed cash for salaries,
Speaker 1: so after recruiting Victor Harrina, they jumped at the Wells
Speaker 1: Fargo opportunity. There's no way to really know the complete
Speaker 1: or even true story of how Los MACHOs first connected
Speaker 1: with Victor he Rena, but in the Last American Colony documentary,
Speaker 1: Wan tells his version about how he met Victor. The
Speaker 1: sky approached me and he says, you know, he's working
Speaker 1: on an armored truck and he transports between seven to
Speaker 1: ten million dollars every Monday, and he wants to donate
Speaker 1: it to the struggle. It's like, whoa, it's almost too
Speaker 1: good to be true. Six weeks after the West Harford heist,
Speaker 1: Los Mao's grew even Boulder. Hours after they fired the
Speaker 1: law rocket on the FBI's federal building in San Juan,
Speaker 1: a woman phoned the local Associated Press offices on behalf
Speaker 1: of Los Macha Tero's taking credit for the attack. What
Speaker 1: she said was launched in support of the people of
Speaker 1: Grenada at the height of the US invasion. There here's
Speaker 1: reporter Ed Mahoney one Cigaris. You know, protests about this
Speaker 1: being a non violent situation that wasithstanding. The FBI at
Speaker 1: a different point of view. They thought it was very violent,
Speaker 1: and they thought there was a lot of property damage.
Speaker 1: And you know, there was aqua ducts getting blown up,
Speaker 1: their bombard cars getting ripped off, the thanks getting knocked off,
Speaker 1: there were saras getting shot, there were jet planes getting
Speaker 1: blown up. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on.
Speaker 1: And you know, somebody in Washington said, you know something,
Speaker 1: we can't let this continue to go down, and stop it.
Speaker 1: However careful It's soldiers tried to be Mistakes like the
Speaker 1: one Los Macha Teros made after firing the law rocket
Speaker 1: were costly. Take for example, that seemingly inconsequential parking ticket
Speaker 1: found in a car near the Federal building. That one
Speaker 1: scrap of paper set off a chain of events that
Speaker 1: eventually led to the FBI surveying Philiberto Ohada Rios's car
Speaker 1: and a number of Los Macha terrorist is safe houses.
Speaker 1: Pilaberto was on everybody's top ten list because you know,
Speaker 1: Philiberto was a member Boma to Charter, member of the
Speaker 1: Cuban Director in General with intelligence, So that got everybody's
Speaker 1: at catching. It was in April when federal agents obtained
Speaker 1: the warrant to go inside one of the safe houses.
Speaker 1: There they found dozens of internal Machtero's documents, including code
Speaker 1: names for various operatives and proof of a relationship with
Speaker 1: the Cuban government. It was more than enough to justify
Speaker 1: installing wire taps. And then those conversations. They learned about
Speaker 1: the group's involvement in the Wells Fargo robbery, and heard
Speaker 1: conversations between Wan and Philip Berto discussing whether to smuggle
Speaker 1: Victor's fiancee, Anna Soto out of the US and into
Speaker 1: Cuba as they had promised Victor from the start. They're
Speaker 1: talking about trying to smuggle Victor into Cuba so they
Speaker 1: can be together again. You know, the Cubans are saying
Speaker 1: to forget about him. You know, what do you think
Speaker 1: we're running here? You know, this isn't some kind of
Speaker 1: lonely hearts that we've got going over here. The wire
Speaker 1: tapped conversations would also highlight the ideological differences in the organization,
Speaker 1: as we saw with Wells Fargo, Los Macha. Taro's weren't
Speaker 1: shy about taking credit for their work, but how and
Speaker 1: when to seek out the press became a major point
Speaker 1: of contention within the organization. Should they send money to
Speaker 1: local publications, When was the right time to take credit
Speaker 1: for the heist? Most importantly, who should have access to
Speaker 1: all that stolen cash? They split up the money, But
Speaker 1: what happens was Casper didn't have a lot of money,
Speaker 1: but he gave him guns, and he gave him trading,
Speaker 1: and he gave him encouragement, and he gave him support,
Speaker 1: and he gave him back up. I think the money
Speaker 1: went to Cuba on the plane with Victor. And in
Speaker 1: the final analysis, they said, is our money? And they
Speaker 1: ast us at one money and they said the money
Speaker 1: at we still we said, when you could have it,
Speaker 1: that we're going to take half of it. And that
Speaker 1: caused a lot of adja among the macha tarots because hey,
Speaker 1: we stole the money. It's our money. But money, especially
Speaker 1: stolen money, changes everything, particularly as Ed Mahoney explains, for
Speaker 1: folks planning big things for the cash. But they were
Speaker 1: gonna launch diplomatic initiatives with the insurgents of nic owaugu
Speaker 1: Or and El salad Or. They're going to finance revolutions
Speaker 1: and said, and these people were kind of crazy with
Speaker 1: their ideas and being doctor near Maoists and Marxists. They kept,
Speaker 1: you know, beautiful notes that really internal discussion and the
Speaker 1: date they ever had, and there was a lot of
Speaker 1: the scent and disappointment that they didn't get to keep
Speaker 1: all their money because the Cubans took halfol it or
Speaker 1: Castor took cabinet. There was actually some conversation from Philiberto saying, hey, buddies,
Speaker 1: love with it, all right, what are we gonna do
Speaker 1: about it? We're gonna attack you. But but forget about it.
Speaker 1: They got the money. They got the money. That's the
Speaker 1: way it goes. Here's former FBI agent Bob Hybel. Again,
Speaker 1: what the money did was corrupted the man who had
Speaker 1: them break into different groups. Some wanted to keep the money.
Speaker 1: They didn't want to send any more money to Cuba.
Speaker 1: You had some of them who had access to the
Speaker 1: money and began to spend the money. My source in
Speaker 1: the organization agrees, he said. By late nineteen four, the
Speaker 1: group had started to fracture. Even publicity efforts like the
Speaker 1: toy giveaway on three Kings, they became controversial in a
Speaker 1: point of contention. They wanted to own it, and they
Speaker 1: wanted to create the impression of being a group that
Speaker 1: you know, looked out for the poor, just to get
Speaker 1: their name out. Lo Sma Terros wanted to own it,
Speaker 1: and they did. But all that talk about the money,
Speaker 1: how to spend it, when to admit they've taken it
Speaker 1: now those discussions would have major consequences and forced the
Speaker 1: first domino in a long line to topple over next
Speaker 1: time a White Eagle, The FBI raids began after dawn
Speaker 1: in San Juan and nearby cities. Eleven people were rounded
Speaker 1: up in Puerto Rico, Another was arrested in Dallas, one
Speaker 1: more in Boston. Things fall Apart. White Eagle is written
Speaker 1: and executive produced by me Em William Phelps and I
Speaker 1: Heart executive producer Christina Everett. Additional writing by our supervising producer,
Speaker 1: Julia Weaver. Our associate producer and script supervisor is Darby Masters,
Speaker 1: Audio editing and mixing by Christian Bowman. Our series theme
Speaker 1: forms Regal or Grand is written by Aaron Offer. Thanks
Speaker 1: to Arlene Santana and Will Pearson at I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: and a very special thank you to Northern Light Productions
Speaker 1: and Bester Cram for allowing us to use clips from
Speaker 1: the documentary The Last American Colony, which is available to
Speaker 1: stream on demand. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.