1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. Previously on 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Murder in Miami. 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 2: Well, the world knows Vias Happy Miles. 4 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: If you'd wager a former cocaine smuggler with eighty three 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,080 Speaker 1: years under their belt would have some pretty interesting stories 6 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: to share with Happy, you'd hit the jackpot. 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 2: Lamar Chester had a bunch of airplanes he couldn't pay for, 8 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 2: so I bought them, and that's how I met Lamar. Yeah, 9 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 2: Lamar wasn't afraid of anything. One time I went up 10 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,319 Speaker 2: to his apartment and he opened a foot locker and 11 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 2: got a couple machine guns out of it. He was 12 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 2: flying guns then to Nicaragua. 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: And did he tell you who he was running the 14 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: guns for? 15 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 3: This CIA? 16 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 2: I would imagine the CIA was running that show. 17 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 3: Hey, I forgot to tell you something, but I'll tell 18 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 3: you tomorrow. 19 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 2: Remind me. 20 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: Hey, gorgeous, Hey, you wanted me to remind you to 21 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: tell me a story about landing on Lamar's island. 22 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 2: Lamar Chester he never ran anything with Grass until I 23 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 2: turned over that load of coke to him on the island. 24 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: So this would have been one of his firsts. 25 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 3: Right, do you think. 26 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: That's the first time that he ever ran coke. 27 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 2: Yes, I know it, because he told me that he 28 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 2: had made more money off of that run than he 29 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,919 Speaker 2: had made his entire life running grass out of Columbia 30 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 2: and Jamaica. 31 00:01:51,520 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: Wow, I'm Lauren Bradfacheko, and this is murder in Miami. 32 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: The story Happy's about to share about setting Lamar up 33 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,839 Speaker 1: with his first load of cocaine is set in nineteen eighty. Now, 34 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: just explain to me. You were running coke from where. 35 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:24,519 Speaker 2: South America from Colombia. The trip had gone. It kind 36 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: of ragged the trip before I barely got off this 37 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 2: muddy Levy bank, and I knew I couldn't come out 38 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 2: with full fuel because it had been raining ever since 39 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 2: the last trip, and it would even be muddier, and 40 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 2: so I decided I would only come out with a 41 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 2: partial load of fuel. 42 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 1: Weather had already complicated Happy's departure from Columbia in terms 43 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:54,920 Speaker 1: of flying out with a full tank of fuel, which 44 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: would have made the plane too heavy to take off, 45 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: But after he fueled up in South Cakos, weather would 46 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: also complicate handing off the load in Florida to his 47 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: associate Don too Well. 48 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 3: The weather was so bad in Florida. 49 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 2: That don didn't think I was going to come, or 50 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 2: where the hell could I have gone? I mean, the 51 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 2: trip was on. I was leaving Columbion. I needed to 52 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 2: get there, and my plan was to land, give the 53 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 2: load to down and him get out of their right away. 54 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 3: Well, they went to lunch. 55 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: While his cocaine unloading crew was lunching. Happy says he 56 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: encountered a different sort of welcoming committee, and not the 57 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: sort he welcomed. 58 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 2: As I crossed the channel from Bimini to Opalaca, I 59 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 2: realized they were on me, and I finally found out 60 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 2: what frequency they were working on, and I was listening 61 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 2: to home. In hell, there was a dozen of them 62 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 2: on me. They were coordinating. 63 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: A dozen planes were following you. 64 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, everything DEA and Customs had was on me, and 65 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 2: some state birds too. 66 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: So you had gotten all the way back to Florida 67 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: and realize that you have everybody on your tail. 68 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 3: Exactly. 69 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: So, a rather unhappy Happy was left to formulate an 70 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: escape on the fly. 71 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 2: Literally, I turned around and headed east, not knowing what 72 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 2: I was going to do, And as I came out of. 73 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 3: A cloud, I wass to know. 74 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 2: With their low helicopter and a helicopter. I mean we 75 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 2: were three hundred and five hundred feet away from each 76 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 2: other with a closure rate of over three hundred miles 77 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 2: an hour. 78 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. So you come out of a cloud 79 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: and you are facing a helicopter. 80 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 2: Yes. So he dropped the collective and went right under me, 81 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 2: and I went right over the top and he landed 82 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 2: in a field, and I circled him, and he was 83 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 2: throwing up in the middle of the field. 84 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: Because he thought he was gonna die. 85 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 3: Yeah. 86 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 2: And so then I decided, Well, I'll go out to 87 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 2: the Bahamas and probably end up ditching the airplane in 88 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 2: deep water somewhere, but close enough that I can swim 89 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 2: to the shore and the airplane will be so deep 90 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 2: that they'll never be able. 91 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 3: To get it, or they won't go get it, and 92 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 3: I'll be home free. 93 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 2: Well, I realized I had the two airplanes still following me. 94 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 3: The Jetstar was on me, and the aero commander was 95 00:05:58,400 --> 00:05:58,720 Speaker 3: on me. 96 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 2: Well, Commander, I knew you didn't have radar and had 97 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 2: to stay on me visually. And then I heard the 98 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 2: jet Star landing in NASA, and he told the tower, 99 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,359 Speaker 2: it's an emergency. Can you get us a fuel truck out, 100 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 2: and the guy in the tower said. 101 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 3: Mon, who you think I is? You fewel and lucky, 102 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 3: get your own fuel truck. 103 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: That is mister Miles's impersonation of a behavian accent. 104 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 2: So I knew he'd be on the ground for a 105 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 2: while trying to get fuel. 106 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: So the whole time they're following you, you're going through 107 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: the different frequencies and picking up their transmissions. You're eavesdropping 108 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: on them. 109 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm eavesdropping on them. 110 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 2: So there's a great big thundercloud between me and NASA, 111 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 2: and I'm headed like I'm going to Hawksbill ron Elliot's 112 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 2: Island property is hotel. 113 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 3: So I flew right. 114 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 2: Into the thunderstorm, which they will never do because if 115 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 2: you're not lucky, you get sucked up in the vortex 116 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 2: and spit out at forty thousand feet in pieces. Till 117 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 2: the minute I went in, they went around to the north. 118 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 2: It was the shortest distance around the thunderstorm, and the 119 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 2: minute I was in and they couldn't see me, I 120 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 2: made a ninety degree turn to the right, came out 121 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 2: the bottom of the thunderstorm headed south. So I'd been 122 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 2: in the air for over ten and a half hours, 123 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 2: at that time. Wow, and I only had eleven hours 124 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 2: of fuel. 125 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: And that is the point that Happy says. He happened 126 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: upon international drug smuggler Lamar Chester, who happened to own 127 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: two nearby islands. 128 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 2: I come up on Captain America Lamar's red white and 129 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 2: bleach two O seven. 130 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: Just happened to pass him in the air. 131 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 4: It just happened to. 132 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 3: Be overtaking him. 133 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 5: Yeah. 134 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 3: He was headed from NASA to his island. 135 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 2: And when you're coming on an airplane from the back, 136 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 2: you don't have anything to see. It's very hard to 137 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 2: see an airplane from the back. He got a rudder 138 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 2: and a horizontal and a wing, but nothing of mass. 139 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 3: And I almost ran him over. I came within a. 140 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 2: Quarter of a mile before I would have run him over, 141 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 2: and I saw him. So I pulled up alongside of him, 142 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:54,439 Speaker 2: and we finally found each other on an obscure frequency 143 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 2: and I said, hey, and I want to rent a boot. 144 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 3: He said, I don't know if you can afford it. 145 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 2: And I said, well, put an M on the end, 146 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 2: and that should make you happy. 147 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 3: What runway do you want me to use? 148 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: And by putting an M on the number, mister Miles 149 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,680 Speaker 1: means one million dollars bail. 150 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 2: He couldn't make up his mind, the big island, the 151 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 2: little island, and finally at the last minute he said, 152 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 2: land on the on the short strip. Well, he only 153 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 2: has about nine hundred feet up there by the house 154 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 2: on the hill, and you can land the command shee 155 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 2: in six or seven hundred feet eight out of ten times. 156 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 3: But the other two times are gonna get you. The airplane. 157 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,319 Speaker 3: It's gonna float and you're not gonna make it. 158 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 2: And it ended into a blunt cliff, so you know 159 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 2: you're gonna die. So I went in and I was 160 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 2: only a few hundred feet from landing, and the left 161 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 2: engine quit ran out of fuel. Well, when that happens, 162 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 2: the airplane veers right away. So I had a hell 163 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 2: of a time getting it back on track and a 164 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 2: couple hundred feet and still landing. 165 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: Holy moly. 166 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 3: And luckily I. 167 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 2: Touched down right at the start of the runway where 168 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,959 Speaker 2: it went straight after it came out of his undergown 169 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 2: hangar and got the airplane stopped and six hundred feet. 170 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 3: So he said, what do you got And I. 171 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 2: Said, well, I've got four hundred and forty pounds of stuff. 172 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 3: I need you to fly it in for me. 173 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 2: He said, well, I'll fly it to georgiash, I'll give 174 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 2: a shit where you fly it. Just take it in 175 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 2: for me, and I'll give you a million bucks. 176 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 3: That's what happened. 177 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: So you offered Lamar a million dollars to land at 178 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: his island and to bring the coke back to the 179 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: United States, right, and that million it came out of 180 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: the shipment. Happy was flying for Pablo Escobar. Yes, that 181 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug lord and narco terrorist who 182 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 1: founded the Madayen cartel. 183 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 2: Even when I took a million dollars of coke out 184 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 2: of the load, I wasn't worried about getting rubbed out 185 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 2: or anything because it was a legitimate expense. I mean, 186 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 2: I was resourceful enough to still get the majority of 187 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 2: the load through. I had two hundred and twenty keys 188 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 2: and I lost thirty five of them to pay Lamar. 189 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 3: Big deal. 190 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: Uh, it is a big deal that Happy live to 191 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: tell about it. But that's another story. 192 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 3: I mean, I did what I had to do and 193 00:11:58,760 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 3: it worked out. 194 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: You've got to have like a cat, but instead of 195 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: nine lives, you must have like nine hundred. By the way, 196 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: Happy says he shared the same story about losing a 197 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: dozen government agency planes trailing him with the federal agent 198 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: who helped broker his equally incredible immunity deal, which we'll 199 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: cover later. While the agent prefers not to be named, 200 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: he was able to verify it. 201 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 2: When started to tell the story I had told him 202 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 2: to his Coharts, they said, it never happened. 203 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 3: He's full of shit. 204 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 2: So went down and chase my steps and finally found 205 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 2: my motel receipt for that night when I was going 206 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 2: back to Miami. And then he found the guys that 207 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 2: were flying that day, and they said, oh, yeah, but 208 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 2: Billy wrote the report. Go to Billy, Billy, did you 209 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 2: write No Harry who was going to the report? 210 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 3: Go to Harry. No, Charlie was going to write the report. 211 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 3: They never wrote a report on it. 212 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 2: I was worried they had my end number, but they 213 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 2: never wrote a report on it. 214 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 1: Why do you think, Oh, they had so much. 215 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,959 Speaker 2: Egg on their face that I could screw them all. 216 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: Over by flying into that storm cloud. I mentioned earlier 217 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 1: that Happy's dabbled in the film business before well. He 218 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: sent me a DVD that contained a movie he made 219 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: about the Bahamas Family Island Regatta, a celebrated sailing event 220 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,599 Speaker 1: and crowd pleaser since nineteen fifty four. Happy Foot of 221 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: the bill for the extravagant production, which he places at 222 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 1: a quarter of a million dollars and opens with a 223 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:53,119 Speaker 1: very formal mister Miles promoting his signature plane in conjunction 224 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: with the film. 225 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 2: This is the pby and I'm Happy Miles. 226 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 3: Together we fly around the world to a joy. 227 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 2: Of fulfillment in communities both large and small. 228 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 1: Happy walks as he reads his lines, frequently stopping and 229 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: changing directions along with the camera, making for some amusing edits. 230 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 3: Come with me to see what it is. 231 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 2: It rewards men and women with the sense of knowing 232 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 2: they are the best that they can be. 233 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: When you're doing your stand up and they have you 234 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: walk three feet this way and then stop and then 235 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: walk three feet that way to camera. 236 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 5: Oh, because you should see the outtakes. I'm tuck at 237 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 5: dyslexic and I can't read two cards. We had just 238 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 5: come from lunch, and I've had about more Roman chokes, 239 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 5: so I. 240 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 2: Had a hell of the time getting my lines done. 241 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: What follows is a lush and slick overview of the Regatta. 242 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: But what makes the footage exceptionally interesting is the access 243 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: at highlights between Happy and the Hamian government. 244 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 6: The stage is set as Prime Minister Linden Pendling, along 245 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 6: with the visiting dignitaries and island officials, gather for speeches 246 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 6: and congratulations to all regatta participants. 247 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 2: Do you know that I'm the only American allowed to 248 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 2: race with the Behamans? 249 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: Is that still true? 250 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 4: Yeah? 251 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 2: I'm a citizen one week out of the year and 252 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 2: that week to be designated by out Island Regatta. 253 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,239 Speaker 1: How did you pull that off. 254 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 3: Oh, Penling, the Prime Minister. Yeah, we just made a declaration. 255 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 6: Prime Minister Pendling acknowledges the people of Exuma and all 256 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 6: of those who have maintained the high standards over the 257 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 6: years for the Family Island Regatta. 258 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 1: Linden Pendling is perhaps the most famous and controversial Bahamian politician. 259 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: He served as the first black Premier of the Colony 260 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: of the Bahama Islands from nineteen sixty seven to nineteen 261 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 1: sixty nine and as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 262 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine to nineteen ninety two. Known as the 263 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: Father of the Nation, he's also known for helming the 264 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: darkest period in modern Bahavian history nineteen seventy seven to 265 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two, a time when the Bahamas served as 266 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: a convenient and corruptible stopover for contraband bound for the US. 267 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: Something exposed, and in nineteen eighty three NBC investigative Peace 268 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: titled the Bahamas a nation for Sale. The report alleged, 269 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: among other things, that Carlos later the German Colombian drug lord, 270 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: and members of his infamous made aen cartel used Norman's 271 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: key in Exuma as a lay of our point to 272 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: traffic cocaine into the United States. It also implied the 273 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: Bahamas government and Peddling profited by turning a blind eye 274 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: to drug smuggling, assisted by a prominent Behavian attorney named 275 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: Nigel bo Well. 276 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 2: Nigel was an attorney who was Pindling's bag man. 277 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: Mainly for somebody who doesn't understand that expression, what does 278 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:14,200 Speaker 1: bagman mean? 279 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 2: Well, it means that when later moved into the Bahamas, 280 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 2: he paid a lot of money to be able to 281 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 2: operate out enormous key like he did, and Nigel would 282 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 2: go over and pick up the money and deliver it 283 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 2: to Pinling. 284 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: So bagman is the guy who's transporting the money from 285 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: one party to the other. 286 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 3: Yeah. 287 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 2: So whatever Nigel said with the police or customs or 288 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 2: anything was the same as probably Pendling saying it. 289 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 3: He had a lot of clout. 290 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: So if somebody wanted to get away with something illicit 291 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: in the Bahamas, Nigel was the person you had to 292 00:17:58,600 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: go through. 293 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 3: He was the man. 294 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 2: It was the man, yeah without Adell. 295 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 1: Though Pendling and bo denied the accusations, the public outcry 296 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: led to the creation in nineteen eighty four of the 297 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,639 Speaker 1: Royal Commission of Inquiry into drug trafficking and government Corruption 298 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,439 Speaker 1: in the Bahamas. A review of Pendling's personal finances by 299 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 1: the Commission found that he had spent eight times his 300 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: reported total earnings from nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty four, 301 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: finding the Prime Minister and Lady Pendling have received at 302 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,679 Speaker 1: least fifty seven point three million dollars in cash. 303 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 3: Explanations. 304 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: First, some of these deposits were given but could not 305 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,679 Speaker 1: be verified, and also pulled into that inquiry a former 306 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:47,199 Speaker 1: Eastern Airlines pilot Lamar Chester. So how did Chester end 307 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,480 Speaker 1: up getting pulled into the Bahamas inquiry anyway? 308 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,239 Speaker 7: I'm really not sure just how he got pulled into it, 309 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 7: but he certainly wanted to go. He had to get 310 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 7: permission from the judge in his trial. 311 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:01,119 Speaker 4: He'd already been indicted. 312 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 7: To leave the country, and after going through the ropes 313 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 7: on that, he did flew down there. 314 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: Remember, having been indicted in the US, Chester would have 315 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,680 Speaker 1: needed court permission to leave the country. 316 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,119 Speaker 7: As he knew at the time it was his chance 317 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 7: to make a public statement of his gray Mail defense. 318 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 4: That he did it for the CIA. 319 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 7: He also knew that there weren't going to be any 320 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:31,719 Speaker 7: legal consequences for him, certainly in the Bahamas, because the 321 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,200 Speaker 7: inquiry didn't have the authority to indict anyone anyway. 322 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: That's really interesting. So it's possible that Chester was just 323 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: incentivized to go there because it provided him with a 324 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: platform and a megaphone to state the gray mail defense. 325 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm sure he is assumed that he would get 326 00:19:50,920 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 7: national publicity. 327 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 8: One of the most significant things in this whole case 328 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 8: was Lamar Chaster's appearance before a Royal Commission of Inquiry 329 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 8: in the Bahamas, and that was at the time a 330 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 8: really upsetting thing for the Bahamas because it was their 331 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 8: version of Watergate. 332 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: That's Atlanta based journalist, producer and documentarian C. B. Hackworth. 333 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 8: Sir Lindon Pendling was the hero of Bahamian independence, and 334 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 8: there were swirling allegations that he was corrupt of receiving 335 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 8: payoffs through an attorney named Nigel Bow who also represented 336 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 8: lamar Chester, that those payments were to permit drug smuggling 337 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 8: in the Bahamas. 338 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: Today seebe presents as a seasoned Southern journalist with at 339 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: certain angles a passing resemblance to Robin Willilliams, which is 340 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: reinforced by his fondness for suspenders, even when wearing jeans 341 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: and a T shirt. But when Hackworth's path first crossed 342 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 1: with lamar Chester and subsequently the Coconut Grove Guys in 343 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, he was a twenty five year old 344 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,640 Speaker 1: reporter working at the Gainesville Times, a local paper in Georgia. 345 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 8: I became aware of Lamarchester both through some earlier reporting 346 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 8: in the newspaper where I was working, and because I 347 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 8: was covering a cocaine smuggling trial in federal court in 348 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 8: which one of the defendants ended up being an unindicted 349 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,399 Speaker 8: co conspirator in the lamar Chester case. So that was 350 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 8: a tie between those two cases, and who was the 351 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:50,400 Speaker 8: tie in That was Grover Alexander, who was a local individual. 352 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:56,200 Speaker 8: Grover Alexander had been convicted of murder at some point, 353 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 8: but was a car dealer in White County and he 354 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 8: had repeatedly been arrested and was indicted with lamar Chester. 355 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 8: It was not convicted in the case that I was covering, 356 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 8: But while covering the biggest drug smuggling case in Georgia history, 357 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 8: I overheard some conversations in which Lamarchester's name came up, 358 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 8: and some federal officials were speculating that la Marchester was 359 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 8: going to be indicted soon. So with those nudges, I 360 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 8: took another look at what had already been reported, which 361 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:37,680 Speaker 8: was pretty substantial. 362 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,360 Speaker 1: And the work of a local reporter named Lavignia Miyese. 363 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 8: Laviniam Miese was the correspondent in White County. I knew her, 364 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 8: I came to know her well. We really worked together 365 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 8: very closely in the Chester case, and I give her 366 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:59,159 Speaker 8: a real tip of the hat. Lavinia wrote about the 367 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:05,479 Speaker 8: River Hills project in White County, which was ill faded. 368 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,639 Speaker 1: River Hills was a short lived concept. Chester apparently created 369 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: as a campsite for college kids, but was suspected to 370 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: be a money laundering front, but that's not what upset 371 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: local folks. 372 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 8: It's strange because apparently by the time the controversy arose, 373 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 8: they actually already had opened River Hills for a season 374 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 8: I'm not sure how many weeks, and it had lost money. 375 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 8: The River Hills had intended to be an outdoor recreational 376 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 8: area for college students to come and drink and probably 377 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 8: whatever else they wanted to do, and folks in White 378 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 8: County aren't going to stand for that going on in 379 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 8: their river. I mean, the people in North Georgia are 380 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 8: kind of what you would expect, mostly salt of the earth, hard, 381 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 8: war working. One of the county commission members was very 382 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 8: upset by a flyer that he had found for River Hills, 383 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 8: and he brought it up in a County commission meeting 384 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 8: and it was come and drink and float down the river, 385 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 8: and the county commissioner, he was just pretty upset. 386 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: If River Hills didn't exactly sit well with the locals, 387 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,360 Speaker 1: it would prove very valuable to the federal investigators driving 388 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: Operation Loan Star. You'll eventually hear more about Leslie Bickerton, 389 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,880 Speaker 1: the woman Chester brought in to oversee the River Hills project. 390 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 1: She would become a very valuable and very controversial witness 391 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: for both the prosecution and the defense. But we'll get 392 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: into all of that a bit later. Back to C. B. 393 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 8: Hackworth, Lavina had been speaking to Chester for a year 394 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 8: or more. I mean, she had been trying to tell us, 395 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 8: trying to tell the world this was a really big story, 396 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 8: and nobody was really paying attention to her because she 397 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 8: was just, you know, the White County correspondent. 398 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:09,160 Speaker 4: But CEB. 399 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: Hockwartz says her journalistic instincts were on point. Here's Lavina 400 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: meies Hex in her own words, sharing her written thoughts 401 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: on Lamar Chester. 402 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 9: Personally, I do not know whether or not Chester was 403 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 9: guilty of the charges in the nineteen eighty three of 404 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 9: Aged Dregs smuggling indictment. He claimed he was innocent and 405 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 9: he had been working for the government and the CIA. 406 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 9: He told me that the CIA had been attempted to 407 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 9: overthrow the government in the Bahamas. 408 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,199 Speaker 8: And it was such a huge story that it sounds 409 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 8: fantastical at first. Blush, but I've got to tell you. 410 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 8: She had kept clippings and she had dug up in 411 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 8: corporation papers, and it was one of the best guides 412 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 8: and briefings I've ever had. I referred to it throughout 413 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 8: the next year and a half that I ended up 414 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,680 Speaker 8: covering the Chester case on a daily basis. 415 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,919 Speaker 1: Lavigna Maize provided Cbe's introduction to Lamar Chester. 416 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:15,959 Speaker 8: At that time, Lamar was under very strict orders not 417 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 8: to talk to reporters anyone connected to the media anyone 418 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 8: period outside of his family and his legal team, and 419 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 8: he violated that as much as he could. I think 420 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,439 Speaker 8: it was as much to prove that the government couldn't 421 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 8: make him be quiet as it was to disseminate information. 422 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,679 Speaker 8: I also believe he enjoyed the coverage and being a 423 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:45,719 Speaker 8: local celebrity. 424 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: That was his ego, and Chester did not disappoint in person. 425 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:53,919 Speaker 8: The first time I met him, I drove up to 426 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 8: White County and out to the dirt road where his 427 00:26:58,400 --> 00:26:58,959 Speaker 8: farm was. 428 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 10: Used. The word farm. 429 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 8: Very liberally because it was a sprawling piece of property 430 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 8: with a grass landing strip. It's the biggest house in 431 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 8: White County. Although not gaudy in any way, it was 432 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 8: actually very tastefully done, but it was just so huge. 433 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,439 Speaker 8: The main room where I sat was enormous and it 434 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 8: was a combination of a huge living room and a 435 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 8: huge dining area. And Lamar met me shook my hand. 436 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 8: He had a very warm, magnetic personality. I think he 437 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,919 Speaker 8: knew that and was able to use it to his 438 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 8: advantage in many many situations, including dealing with the media. 439 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:56,160 Speaker 8: He had compromised some people who had reported on him. 440 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 8: And I knew that Lamar was tall, he had a mustache, 441 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 8: and he struck me as a man's man. Lavinia had 442 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 8: described him in an article as a Marlborough man, really 443 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 8: alpha male. I've met a few people like that. Sam 444 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,720 Speaker 8: Elliott is like that. You know, I'm in the presence 445 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 8: of a real man. I remember Lamar smiling a lot, 446 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 8: even though the circumstances you would think were kind of 447 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 8: grim for him. I know there was a lean on 448 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 8: the farm that had been placed by his lawyers, and 449 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:37,879 Speaker 8: of course he was facing indictment. 450 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: And Ceb knew the meeting was serving a purpose, at 451 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: least on Chester's end. 452 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 8: Lamar was very open to meeting with me, and he 453 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 8: was very open when I met him. I never made 454 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 8: any agreement, nor was I asked to to protect him 455 00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 8: from himself from the fact that he was violating a 456 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 8: court order, and he had already been significantly warned because 457 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 8: of a television report that Fars Sawyer had done on 458 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 8: WAGAATV in Atlanta. 459 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: Phil Stamford has already referenced that infamous interview, but I'll 460 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: let Ceb remind you of what Chester claimed during it. 461 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 8: Well, he boasted to Fara Sawyer, and he said to 462 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 8: me separately, he said that he had flown a shipment 463 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 8: of marijuana, a large shipment directly over wherever Ronald Reagan, 464 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 8: who was then president was speaking at the time. I 465 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 8: think it was Homestead Air Force Base, and that he 466 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 8: could have shoved a bail out and dropped it at 467 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:53,720 Speaker 8: the President's feet if he wanted to. That's my recollection. 468 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 8: He completely admitted to being one of the world's most 469 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 8: prolific drugsugglers, that he had smuggled large shipments of marijuana 470 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 8: from the Bahamas into the United States Florida, but primarily Georgia. 471 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 8: Two hundred shipments or more is what I think he said. 472 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: And the reaction that statement received seemed to be the 473 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:22,480 Speaker 1: intention behind making it. 474 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 8: Lamar was talking to a lot of reporters and he 475 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 8: wanted to stir this up. I wasn't oblivious to any 476 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 8: of that stuff, even though I was young. 477 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: But did you have any idea when you left his 478 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 1: farm that day how intense and complicated your relationship with 479 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: him would get. 480 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 3: Well? 481 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 8: You would think I would answer no, but I kind 482 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,480 Speaker 8: of did. The scope of what he had laid out 483 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 8: was huge. 484 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: Chester's interaction with Hackworth would intensify as the legal proceedings advanced. 485 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:08,200 Speaker 8: Lamar would call me often late at night, and sometimes, 486 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 8: if not usually after he'd been drinking. Now I'm not 487 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 8: saying he was bad to drink. I don't know that 488 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 8: to be a fact, but I do know that sometimes 489 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 8: he drank at night and sometimes he called me, and 490 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:27,280 Speaker 8: these were not short little conversations. We would discuss what 491 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:31,959 Speaker 8: was going on with the case. He guided me toward things. 492 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:38,479 Speaker 8: I recorded all of my conversations with Lamar Chester. Georgia 493 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 8: is a one party consent state. You do not have 494 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 8: to have permission from another person to record a conversation 495 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 8: as long as you are a participant in that conversation. 496 00:31:52,720 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 8: Down you're trying to stall until after the US they 497 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 8: want to. 498 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: Hear what you were listening to. Are the recordings of 499 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:12,360 Speaker 1: those actual conversations. Which C. B. Hackworth is sharing for 500 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: the first time. 501 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 11: Washington was prepared to a set one flee to anything, 502 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 11: anything with a five year cat stand silent and sentence 503 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 11: him say just to let me walk out, or sins 504 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 11: being no more than five years, which you know I'll 505 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 11: do ten to a month. But Washington would take a 506 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 11: plea to anything taxivation at this point, and bear in 507 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 11: mind this is June is indety Mars. Yeah, but they'd 508 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 11: take anything, and if they give them minds a bow, 509 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 11: I could walk clean with money. Now they also made 510 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 11: this offer getting they make this off for the Bogart 511 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 11: just prior to them that they want the Prime Minister 512 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:57,680 Speaker 11: also clean more. 513 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,959 Speaker 1: Lamar Chester is claiming the prosecutors offered to drop charges 514 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: against him if he turned on the Bahamian Attorney Nigel 515 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: bo and Prime Minister Pendling. 516 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 8: But again, never once, despite everything he ever said to me, 517 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 8: he never once did he say, hey, don't put this 518 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 8: in the paper. Not once. When I wrote a five 519 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 8: part series on lamar Chester, the heading on that rack 520 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 8: card said master criminal or secret agent. 521 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: It was pretty dramatic, as would be the travel assignment. 522 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: Hackworth's paper Greenlet as the young reporter continued to cover Chester. 523 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 8: He told me he was going to testify before this 524 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 8: Royal Commission, and he told me what he was going 525 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 8: to say, and he told me f Lee Bailey would 526 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 8: be the attorney for the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, 527 00:33:55,560 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 8: then he would be doing the questioning. I played a 528 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 8: very short, perhaps sixty second excerpt of that conversation with 529 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 8: Lamar for the publisher of the newspaper. 530 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,759 Speaker 11: Through my relations with government of Bahamas and businessmen there 531 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 11: in elsewhere, I have contacts all over the world, in 532 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,720 Speaker 11: particular Central and South America, Europe and the parties. 533 00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:26,360 Speaker 8: And they supported my outrageous quest for this story. The 534 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 8: publisher he told me to go to the Bahamas when 535 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,880 Speaker 8: Lamar was there to testify. This was not a newspaper 536 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 8: that routinely sent a reporter to the Bahamas. I stayed 537 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:42,640 Speaker 8: at the same resort hotel that Lamar stayed at. His 538 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,120 Speaker 8: lawyers did not know I was going to be there. 539 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:50,239 Speaker 8: They did not know the extent to which he was 540 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:55,319 Speaker 8: talking to me, and likely others. His lawyers could not 541 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:56,279 Speaker 8: control him. 542 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,520 Speaker 1: Seebee also taped the proceedings, and Bill has those recordings 543 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: on micro cassettes, which he shared with me when we 544 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:05,120 Speaker 1: met in person. 545 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:10,440 Speaker 8: He was being questioned by f Lee Bailey, who, not 546 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,440 Speaker 8: by accident, was one of the most famous lawyers in America. 547 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,800 Speaker 8: An extremely talented, brilliant man. 548 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: What do you mean, Cherry Well about to airport here? 549 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:29,359 Speaker 1: Attorney Flee Bailey questions Chester about his interaction with a 550 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:34,280 Speaker 1: man named Morgan Cherry specifically. 551 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 4: Did he wants you to. 552 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 11: He really didn't want me to come back, but I 553 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 11: didn't come. 554 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:41,239 Speaker 1: Back to not reveal his identity. 555 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,239 Speaker 11: I believe you not reveal Morgan Cherry, Morgan Cherry's but 556 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 11: his request was that you go back on her promises, 557 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 11: commission and not return. 558 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 4: That's fact. 559 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:52,440 Speaker 10: Believe you use the word to. 560 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 11: Keep your shot as to indicate why his employers. 561 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:02,120 Speaker 7: And interested silence. 562 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 10: They just didn't want to know. 563 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 11: That they were engaged, that they had been uh instrument 564 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:10,760 Speaker 11: and the Bryan. 565 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: Rosser, the Brian ross Report, that was the nineteen eighty 566 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: three NBC investigative Peace titled the Bahamas a Nation for Sale? 567 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:25,480 Speaker 1: And the man named Morgan Cherry. Chester's referring to is 568 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:30,440 Speaker 1: his allegedly CIA connected link to the assignments he claims 569 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,360 Speaker 1: to have conducted on behalf of the US government. 570 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,279 Speaker 8: F Lee Bailey. He was very good that day. He 571 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 8: was representing the Prime Minister of the Bahamas Times that 572 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 8: that Morgan. 573 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 3: Cherry claimed to be a person who. 574 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 10: Had helped the NBC broadcast to begin with, and whose 575 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 10: clients were profit by an investigation shore to follow such 576 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,239 Speaker 10: a broadcast to the point where he. 577 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:56,400 Speaker 11: Could promise you Besidey's representation. That pretty much sums of. 578 00:36:56,440 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: That that was taped. Cebe recalls a very interesting interaction 579 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: which led to an after court meeting at the hotel 580 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: casino with Chester and two young women. 581 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,880 Speaker 8: Lamar went to get a drink of water and he said, 582 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,279 Speaker 8: if you have any questions, I'll be in the casino 583 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,480 Speaker 8: tonight at ten thirty in the hotel where we were staying. 584 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: So did you go down to the casino at ten 585 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:27,359 Speaker 1: thirty that night? 586 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 10: Yeah? 587 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,880 Speaker 8: I went down to the casino and I think I 588 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 8: had sixty four dollars that I was going to gamble with. 589 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,120 Speaker 8: I'm twenty five years old, working for a small daily newspaper, 590 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,760 Speaker 8: paying child support, so all I had on my first 591 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:51,080 Speaker 8: trip ever anywhere out of the country sixty four dollars 592 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 8: to gamble with. I got there early and my sixty 593 00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 8: four dollars did not last long. I blew that money 594 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:05,320 Speaker 8: at the roulette wheel very quickly. So I did find 595 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 8: Lamar standing at a slot machine, one that you fed 596 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:14,240 Speaker 8: dollar tokens in three at a time. I had played 597 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:19,799 Speaker 8: the slots earlier with quarters, and to me, this was 598 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 8: like bordering on real money. And not only was he 599 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,600 Speaker 8: doing that, he was winning. You know, he put three 600 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,440 Speaker 8: things in and we're beginning to talk, and he'd pulled 601 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:32,680 Speaker 8: the lever and beat about to answer question, and tokens 602 00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,960 Speaker 8: would pour out. He didn't care about the money that 603 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:37,799 Speaker 8: he was winning. He didn't care about the money he 604 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:39,760 Speaker 8: was putting into the slot machine. 605 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:41,720 Speaker 10: He just raded wealth. 606 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 8: And that's part of what I think made him a 607 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 8: track do to a lot of people, men as well 608 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,840 Speaker 8: as women. I don't mean sexually, but I mean wanting 609 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 8: to be in his inner circle. And we weren't standing 610 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:59,920 Speaker 8: there very long before the young lady walked up and 611 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 8: just started hanging around him. At first I thought it 612 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:08,560 Speaker 8: might be someone he knew, or a legal assistant or something, 613 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 8: but it was she was a stranger. 614 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 10: I guess it was. 615 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,960 Speaker 8: You know, people have described him as good looks or 616 00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:21,840 Speaker 8: magnetic personality, whatever, and in addition the fact that money 617 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,759 Speaker 8: kept pouring out of this slot machine. I think the 618 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 8: sound was some sort of mating call, but since I 619 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,319 Speaker 8: was standing there, I guess the young lady said, well, 620 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 8: I'll be right back, and she came back with her friend. 621 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:40,800 Speaker 10: They were both pretty, they were both. 622 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:46,759 Speaker 8: Young, just having a good time on vacation in the Bahamas. 623 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:52,920 Speaker 8: There was a bar overlooking the casino. Next thing, I know, 624 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,279 Speaker 8: the drink I was supposed to have with Lamar, as 625 00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 8: we'd already said we're going to go upstairs and have 626 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 8: a drink, ends up being these two young ladies following 627 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 8: us up there. 628 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: So it's starting to feel like a double date. 629 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 8: Yeah, And that bothered me because, you know, on the 630 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 8: one hand, I was a twenty five year old, fairly 631 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:22,239 Speaker 8: recently divorced young man and you know, a beautiful young 632 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 8: woman sitting next to me. Now, I remember what I 633 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:30,239 Speaker 8: was thinking was, you know, they didn't really cover this 634 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 8: specific thing in journalism school, in any of the classes 635 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:39,760 Speaker 8: I took. But I am fairly sure you're not allowed 636 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,080 Speaker 8: to pick up girls with the drug smuggler. 637 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:44,080 Speaker 10: That you're covering. 638 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 8: And at the same time, it's very socially awkward because 639 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:56,799 Speaker 8: it was superficially a very nice, happy little group. But 640 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:00,879 Speaker 8: fortunately for me, as I'm sitting there trying to think 641 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,439 Speaker 8: how am I going to get out of this gracefully, 642 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:09,720 Speaker 8: Lamar actually provided me with the inspiration, not intentionally. 643 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: And apparently did so with his signature style. 644 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:18,319 Speaker 8: When the conversation fairly quickly led to you know, who 645 00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 8: are you and what do you do? After they have 646 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,440 Speaker 8: talked about being a nurse and etc. Well who are you? 647 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:30,359 Speaker 8: And Lamar said something pretty instantly about, well, I'm one 648 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,880 Speaker 8: of the biggest drug smugglers in the world, and this 649 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,359 Speaker 8: guy's a reporter that has been following me, and you know, 650 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:39,480 Speaker 8: he writes about a lot of the things that I do. 651 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 10: And I don't think that they believed in. 652 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 1: Did they just kind of laugh at all. 653 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:45,440 Speaker 10: I think they kind of. 654 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:50,080 Speaker 8: Laughed it off, like oh sure. I was like, well, damn, 655 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:54,600 Speaker 8: that doesn't scare him off. And some people I've told 656 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,560 Speaker 8: this story to have said that may have made somebody 657 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 8: more attractive. Well it didn't really, It was that they 658 00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 8: didn't believe it. I don't think the way that he 659 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 8: said it, and again it's consistent with what he always said. 660 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:13,200 Speaker 8: He never shied away from it. You just can't believe 661 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 8: that anybody was this upfront, but I guess that was 662 00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:19,320 Speaker 8: his strategy. If you know you're going to be accused 663 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,799 Speaker 8: of smuggling massive amounts of marijuana, get in front of it. 664 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 10: I think that was what he tried to do always. 665 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,200 Speaker 1: And it's not as if these ladies had like cell 666 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:31,640 Speaker 1: phones in their hands where they could google it quickly. 667 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:32,880 Speaker 10: Couldn't google it. 668 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 1: That's when Ceb realized he could actually prove Chester's claim 669 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,920 Speaker 1: to their doting wanta be dates. 670 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:41,920 Speaker 10: My secret weapon. 671 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,440 Speaker 8: I suddenly realized it was like a light bulb going 672 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:50,440 Speaker 8: off over my head. I had a major series about 673 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:56,320 Speaker 8: Lamar Chester, five part series called Citizen Chester was running 674 00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:00,480 Speaker 8: in my newspaper. I ran up to the room and 675 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:05,799 Speaker 8: got the card that is inserted into a newspaper rack 676 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 8: that you put money in and pulled down the front 677 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,680 Speaker 8: of and get a paper out of. And this one 678 00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:14,600 Speaker 8: had a photograph of Lamar Chester that I had taken 679 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,480 Speaker 8: on that first visit to the house, with a banner 680 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:23,040 Speaker 8: headline master criminal or secret Agent. And I took it out, 681 00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:26,440 Speaker 8: went back downstairs, went right up to that table and 682 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:32,920 Speaker 8: unrolled it. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that 683 00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:36,839 Speaker 8: the color drained from their faces. There may have been 684 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,439 Speaker 8: women who would have been attracted by that, but these 685 00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 8: two were not. They soon made excuses. 686 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:45,600 Speaker 9: To leave, call it a night. 687 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:49,839 Speaker 8: And you know what, I don't think that bothered Lamar 688 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 8: Chester at all. I think he was very happy that 689 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:54,560 Speaker 8: they knew who he was. 690 00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:05,400 Speaker 1: So at the time that the inquiry was happening in 691 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:08,640 Speaker 1: the Bahamas, were you even aware that it was going on? 692 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 4: No, I wasn't following it. 693 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,440 Speaker 7: I was back in DC for a few months, and 694 00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:17,799 Speaker 7: my mind was elsewhere when it was happening, and I 695 00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:19,759 Speaker 7: wasn't even aware of it. Later, when I came back 696 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:22,279 Speaker 7: and Bob Adams came up to me and said, do 697 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,400 Speaker 7: you know who Morgan Cherry is? Well, it was shortly 698 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:29,640 Speaker 7: after this that the mysterious Morgan Cherry mentioned that I 699 00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:33,320 Speaker 7: got a call from Bob who said that Lamar wanted 700 00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:36,520 Speaker 7: to hire me as a consultant. There was going to 701 00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:40,560 Speaker 7: be a pre trial hearing in Atlanta and he wanted 702 00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:42,000 Speaker 7: me to be there as a consultant. 703 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:43,040 Speaker 4: I said what he. 704 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:49,279 Speaker 7: Said, you know, look over transcripts, catch inconsistencies, that sort 705 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:51,720 Speaker 7: of thing. He said he'd pay me a couple hundred 706 00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:55,800 Speaker 7: dollars a day plus travel. I decided, I guess I 707 00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:57,120 Speaker 7: could be a consultant. 708 00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:00,600 Speaker 1: After all, consultant for what using your ex tease as 709 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 1: a journalist, because it almost seems as if it would 710 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:05,760 Speaker 1: be more a legal standpoint. 711 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 7: Well, I was used to looking over government documents and 712 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:12,560 Speaker 7: finding discrepancies and that sort of thing, believe it or not. 713 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:15,840 Speaker 7: At this point, it still didn't seem real to me 714 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:21,719 Speaker 7: that they thought I was with the CIA. So it 715 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:25,080 Speaker 7: was just an extension of the craziness that had begun 716 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,799 Speaker 7: when I started working for Intercept and started getting paid 717 00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:33,200 Speaker 7: for blowing assignments, and if they wanted to pay me, 718 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:34,680 Speaker 7: I figured why not. 719 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:37,200 Speaker 4: Of course I shouldn't have done it. 720 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 7: I knew it had something to do with their belief 721 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:41,880 Speaker 7: that I was with the CIA. 722 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:44,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, a couple hundred dollars a day plus 723 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:48,520 Speaker 1: travel doesn't sound that bad and probably seemed like much 724 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:50,160 Speaker 1: more in the early eighties. 725 00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:52,360 Speaker 4: It was certainly enough for me, that's for sure. 726 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,040 Speaker 1: And if they did believe you were with the CIA, 727 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:57,640 Speaker 1: they might have thought they were compromising you. At the 728 00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:02,200 Speaker 1: same time, they did compromise me that I wasn't with 729 00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:02,960 Speaker 1: the CIA. 730 00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:06,880 Speaker 7: I mean I was digging myself in pretty deep with 731 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,680 Speaker 7: people who I really didn't want to offend. 732 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the other thing I would point out. You 733 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:16,520 Speaker 1: didn't worry that you were getting into something that you 734 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,560 Speaker 1: might not escape from. 735 00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,440 Speaker 4: I just sort of walked right into it. 736 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,840 Speaker 1: And that seems to have been the plan. Here's Chester 737 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,759 Speaker 1: talking to CB about Phil Stamford. 738 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:32,880 Speaker 8: I have a guy me together. 739 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:40,480 Speaker 2: He wouldn't. 740 00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:48,760 Speaker 10: I am not, by. 741 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:54,480 Speaker 11: Any means commn not currently in active one of the 742 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:54,840 Speaker 11: guys that. 743 00:46:59,440 --> 00:46:59,800 Speaker 4: Comedy. 744 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:05,239 Speaker 1: You heard that right? Lamar Chester claims someone working with 745 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:10,080 Speaker 1: the CIA confirmed Bill Stamford was also in the agency's 746 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:16,160 Speaker 1: employ On the next murder of Miami, Bill Stamford leaves 747 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:18,880 Speaker 1: the Amstdam Palace for a farm in Georgia. 748 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:21,120 Speaker 4: It was kind of strange. First thing. 749 00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,640 Speaker 7: They put Bob up in the guesthouse and I'm staying 750 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:26,879 Speaker 7: at the main house with Lamarren artists, who I can 751 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,319 Speaker 7: tell right off really doesn't want me there at all. 752 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,120 Speaker 1: As the scope of Operation Loan Stark titans around La Marchester. 753 00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:38,840 Speaker 8: Frankly, with what the government stating witnesses fed to alligators, 754 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:44,120 Speaker 8: I could not understand how someone who had just made 755 00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 8: a deal to testify against him would be anywhere near it. 756 00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:50,840 Speaker 1: But I was going to find out and re ignites 757 00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:52,680 Speaker 1: a cold case mystery from Miami. 758 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:55,120 Speaker 7: And this was right out of the blue because we've 759 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:58,840 Speaker 7: never spoken about Clay Williams, the Intercept detective who was 760 00:47:58,880 --> 00:47:59,600 Speaker 7: found dead in the. 761 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:00,759 Speaker 4: Everglyn we will wait. 762 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:05,400 Speaker 1: I'm sorry he brought up Clay Williams, leading to a 763 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:08,880 Speaker 1: possible break in the Clay Williams murder that leads back 764 00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:15,880 Speaker 1: to Intercept. Murder of Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. 765 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:21,880 Speaker 1: Executive producers are Lauren Bright Pacheco, Taylor Chackoine, and Phil Stamford. 766 00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:27,120 Speaker 1: Written by Phil Stamford and Lauren Bright Pacheco, Audio editing 767 00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:31,279 Speaker 1: and sound design by Nicholas Harder, Evan Tyer, and Taylor Chacoine, 768 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:36,040 Speaker 1: featuring music by Evan Tyer, Phil Mayer, John Murchison and 769 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:41,640 Speaker 1: Taylor Chacoine. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 770 00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:45,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories that matter 771 00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:45,680 Speaker 1: to you.