WEBVTT - Inquiry - E5

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<v Speaker 1>Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. Previously on

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<v Speaker 1>Murder in Miami.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, the world knows Vias Happy Miles.

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<v Speaker 1>If you'd wager a former cocaine smuggler with eighty three

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<v Speaker 1>years under their belt would have some pretty interesting stories

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<v Speaker 1>to share with Happy, you'd hit the jackpot.

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<v Speaker 2>Lamar Chester had a bunch of airplanes he couldn't pay for,

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<v Speaker 2>so I bought them, and that's how I met Lamar. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>Lamar wasn't afraid of anything. One time I went up

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<v Speaker 2>to his apartment and he opened a foot locker and

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<v Speaker 2>got a couple machine guns out of it. He was

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<v Speaker 2>flying guns then to Nicaragua.

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<v Speaker 1>And did he tell you who he was running the

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<v Speaker 1>guns for?

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<v Speaker 3>This CIA?

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<v Speaker 2>I would imagine the CIA was running that show.

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<v Speaker 3>Hey, I forgot to tell you something, but I'll tell

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<v Speaker 3>you tomorrow.

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<v Speaker 2>Remind me.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, gorgeous, Hey, you wanted me to remind you to

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<v Speaker 1>tell me a story about landing on Lamar's island.

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<v Speaker 2>Lamar Chester he never ran anything with Grass until I

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<v Speaker 2>turned over that load of coke to him on the island.

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<v Speaker 1>So this would have been one of his firsts.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, do you think.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the first time that he ever ran coke.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, I know it, because he told me that he

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<v Speaker 2>had made more money off of that run than he

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<v Speaker 2>had made his entire life running grass out of Columbia

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<v Speaker 2>and Jamaica.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow, I'm Lauren Bradfacheko, and this is murder in Miami.

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<v Speaker 1>The story Happy's about to share about setting Lamar up

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<v Speaker 1>with his first load of cocaine is set in nineteen eighty. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>just explain to me. You were running coke from where.

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<v Speaker 2>South America from Colombia. The trip had gone. It kind

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<v Speaker 2>of ragged the trip before I barely got off this

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<v Speaker 2>muddy Levy bank, and I knew I couldn't come out

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<v Speaker 2>with full fuel because it had been raining ever since

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<v Speaker 2>the last trip, and it would even be muddier, and

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<v Speaker 2>so I decided I would only come out with a

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<v Speaker 2>partial load of fuel.

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<v Speaker 1>Weather had already complicated Happy's departure from Columbia in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of flying out with a full tank of fuel, which

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<v Speaker 1>would have made the plane too heavy to take off,

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<v Speaker 1>But after he fueled up in South Cakos, weather would

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<v Speaker 1>also complicate handing off the load in Florida to his

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<v Speaker 1>associate Don too Well.

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<v Speaker 3>The weather was so bad in Florida.

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<v Speaker 2>That don didn't think I was going to come, or

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<v Speaker 2>where the hell could I have gone? I mean, the

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<v Speaker 2>trip was on. I was leaving Columbion. I needed to

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<v Speaker 2>get there, and my plan was to land, give the

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<v Speaker 2>load to down and him get out of their right away.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, they went to lunch.

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<v Speaker 1>While his cocaine unloading crew was lunching. Happy says he

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<v Speaker 1>encountered a different sort of welcoming committee, and not the

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<v Speaker 1>sort he welcomed.

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<v Speaker 2>As I crossed the channel from Bimini to Opalaca, I

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<v Speaker 2>realized they were on me, and I finally found out

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<v Speaker 2>what frequency they were working on, and I was listening

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<v Speaker 2>to home. In hell, there was a dozen of them

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<v Speaker 2>on me. They were coordinating.

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<v Speaker 1>A dozen planes were following you.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, everything DEA and Customs had was on me, and

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<v Speaker 2>some state birds too.

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<v Speaker 1>So you had gotten all the way back to Florida

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<v Speaker 1>and realize that you have everybody on your tail.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>So, a rather unhappy Happy was left to formulate an

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<v Speaker 1>escape on the fly.

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<v Speaker 2>Literally, I turned around and headed east, not knowing what

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<v Speaker 2>I was going to do, And as I came out of.

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<v Speaker 3>A cloud, I wass to know.

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<v Speaker 2>With their low helicopter and a helicopter. I mean we

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<v Speaker 2>were three hundred and five hundred feet away from each

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<v Speaker 2>other with a closure rate of over three hundred miles

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<v Speaker 2>an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh. So you come out of a cloud

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<v Speaker 1>and you are facing a helicopter.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes. So he dropped the collective and went right under me,

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<v Speaker 2>and I went right over the top and he landed

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<v Speaker 2>in a field, and I circled him, and he was

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<v Speaker 2>throwing up in the middle of the field.

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<v Speaker 1>Because he thought he was gonna die.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>And so then I decided, Well, I'll go out to

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<v Speaker 2>the Bahamas and probably end up ditching the airplane in

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<v Speaker 2>deep water somewhere, but close enough that I can swim

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<v Speaker 2>to the shore and the airplane will be so deep

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<v Speaker 2>that they'll never be able.

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<v Speaker 3>To get it, or they won't go get it, and

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<v Speaker 3>I'll be home free.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I realized I had the two airplanes still following me.

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<v Speaker 3>The Jetstar was on me, and the aero commander was

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<v Speaker 3>on me.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, Commander, I knew you didn't have radar and had

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<v Speaker 2>to stay on me visually. And then I heard the

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<v Speaker 2>jet Star landing in NASA, and he told the tower,

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<v Speaker 2>it's an emergency. Can you get us a fuel truck out,

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<v Speaker 2>and the guy in the tower said.

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<v Speaker 3>Mon, who you think I is? You fewel and lucky,

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<v Speaker 3>get your own fuel truck.

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<v Speaker 1>That is mister Miles's impersonation of a behavian accent.

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<v Speaker 2>So I knew he'd be on the ground for a

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<v Speaker 2>while trying to get fuel.

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<v Speaker 1>So the whole time they're following you, you're going through

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<v Speaker 1>the different frequencies and picking up their transmissions. You're eavesdropping

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<v Speaker 1>on them.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm eavesdropping on them.

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<v Speaker 2>So there's a great big thundercloud between me and NASA,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'm headed like I'm going to Hawksbill ron Elliot's

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<v Speaker 2>Island property is hotel.

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<v Speaker 3>So I flew right.

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<v Speaker 2>Into the thunderstorm, which they will never do because if

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<v Speaker 2>you're not lucky, you get sucked up in the vortex

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<v Speaker 2>and spit out at forty thousand feet in pieces. Till

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<v Speaker 2>the minute I went in, they went around to the north.

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<v Speaker 2>It was the shortest distance around the thunderstorm, and the

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<v Speaker 2>minute I was in and they couldn't see me, I

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<v Speaker 2>made a ninety degree turn to the right, came out

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<v Speaker 2>the bottom of the thunderstorm headed south. So I'd been

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<v Speaker 2>in the air for over ten and a half hours,

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<v Speaker 2>at that time. Wow, and I only had eleven hours

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<v Speaker 2>of fuel.

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<v Speaker 1>And that is the point that Happy says. He happened

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<v Speaker 1>upon international drug smuggler Lamar Chester, who happened to own

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<v Speaker 1>two nearby islands.

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<v Speaker 2>I come up on Captain America Lamar's red white and

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<v Speaker 2>bleach two O seven.

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<v Speaker 1>Just happened to pass him in the air.

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<v Speaker 4>It just happened to.

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<v Speaker 3>Be overtaking him.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>He was headed from NASA to his island.

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<v Speaker 2>And when you're coming on an airplane from the back,

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<v Speaker 2>you don't have anything to see. It's very hard to

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<v Speaker 2>see an airplane from the back. He got a rudder

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<v Speaker 2>and a horizontal and a wing, but nothing of mass.

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<v Speaker 3>And I almost ran him over. I came within a.

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<v Speaker 2>Quarter of a mile before I would have run him over,

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<v Speaker 2>and I saw him. So I pulled up alongside of him,

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<v Speaker 2>and we finally found each other on an obscure frequency

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<v Speaker 2>and I said, hey, and I want to rent a boot.

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<v Speaker 3>He said, I don't know if you can afford it.

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<v Speaker 2>And I said, well, put an M on the end,

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<v Speaker 2>and that should make you happy.

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<v Speaker 3>What runway do you want me to use?

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<v Speaker 1>And by putting an M on the number, mister Miles

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<v Speaker 1>means one million dollars bail.

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<v Speaker 2>He couldn't make up his mind, the big island, the

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<v Speaker 2>little island, and finally at the last minute he said,

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<v Speaker 2>land on the on the short strip. Well, he only

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<v Speaker 2>has about nine hundred feet up there by the house

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<v Speaker 2>on the hill, and you can land the command shee

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<v Speaker 2>in six or seven hundred feet eight out of ten times.

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<v Speaker 3>But the other two times are gonna get you. The airplane.

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<v Speaker 3>It's gonna float and you're not gonna make it.

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<v Speaker 2>And it ended into a blunt cliff, so you know

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<v Speaker 2>you're gonna die. So I went in and I was

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<v Speaker 2>only a few hundred feet from landing, and the left

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<v Speaker 2>engine quit ran out of fuel. Well, when that happens,

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<v Speaker 2>the airplane veers right away. So I had a hell

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<v Speaker 2>of a time getting it back on track and a

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<v Speaker 2>couple hundred feet and still landing.

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<v Speaker 1>Holy moly.

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<v Speaker 3>And luckily I.

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<v Speaker 2>Touched down right at the start of the runway where

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<v Speaker 2>it went straight after it came out of his undergown

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<v Speaker 2>hangar and got the airplane stopped and six hundred feet.

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<v Speaker 3>So he said, what do you got And I.

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<v Speaker 2>Said, well, I've got four hundred and forty pounds of stuff.

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<v Speaker 3>I need you to fly it in for me.

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<v Speaker 2>He said, well, I'll fly it to georgiash, I'll give

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<v Speaker 2>a shit where you fly it. Just take it in

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<v Speaker 2>for me, and I'll give you a million bucks.

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<v Speaker 3>That's what happened.

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<v Speaker 1>So you offered Lamar a million dollars to land at

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<v Speaker 1>his island and to bring the coke back to the

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<v Speaker 1>United States, right, and that million it came out of

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<v Speaker 1>the shipment. Happy was flying for Pablo Escobar. Yes, that

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<v Speaker 1>Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug lord and narco terrorist who

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<v Speaker 1>founded the Madayen cartel.

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<v Speaker 2>Even when I took a million dollars of coke out

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<v Speaker 2>of the load, I wasn't worried about getting rubbed out

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<v Speaker 2>or anything because it was a legitimate expense. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>I was resourceful enough to still get the majority of

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<v Speaker 2>the load through. I had two hundred and twenty keys

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<v Speaker 2>and I lost thirty five of them to pay Lamar.

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<v Speaker 3>Big deal.

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<v Speaker 1>Uh, it is a big deal that Happy live to

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<v Speaker 1>tell about it. But that's another story.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, I did what I had to do and

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<v Speaker 3>it worked out.

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<v Speaker 1>You've got to have like a cat, but instead of

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<v Speaker 1>nine lives, you must have like nine hundred. By the way,

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<v Speaker 1>Happy says he shared the same story about losing a

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<v Speaker 1>dozen government agency planes trailing him with the federal agent

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<v Speaker 1>who helped broker his equally incredible immunity deal, which we'll

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<v Speaker 1>cover later. While the agent prefers not to be named,

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<v Speaker 1>he was able to verify it.

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<v Speaker 2>When started to tell the story I had told him

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<v Speaker 2>to his Coharts, they said, it never happened.

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<v Speaker 3>He's full of shit.

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<v Speaker 2>So went down and chase my steps and finally found

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<v Speaker 2>my motel receipt for that night when I was going

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<v Speaker 2>back to Miami. And then he found the guys that

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<v Speaker 2>were flying that day, and they said, oh, yeah, but

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<v Speaker 2>Billy wrote the report. Go to Billy, Billy, did you

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<v Speaker 2>write No Harry who was going to the report?

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<v Speaker 3>Go to Harry. No, Charlie was going to write the report.

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<v Speaker 3>They never wrote a report on it.

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<v Speaker 2>I was worried they had my end number, but they

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<v Speaker 2>never wrote a report on it.

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<v Speaker 1>Why do you think, Oh, they had so much.

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<v Speaker 2>Egg on their face that I could screw them all.

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<v Speaker 1>Over by flying into that storm cloud. I mentioned earlier

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<v Speaker 1>that Happy's dabbled in the film business before well. He

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<v Speaker 1>sent me a DVD that contained a movie he made

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<v Speaker 1>about the Bahamas Family Island Regatta, a celebrated sailing event

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<v Speaker 1>and crowd pleaser since nineteen fifty four. Happy Foot of

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<v Speaker 1>the bill for the extravagant production, which he places at

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<v Speaker 1>a quarter of a million dollars and opens with a

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<v Speaker 1>very formal mister Miles promoting his signature plane in conjunction

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<v Speaker 1>with the film.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the pby and I'm Happy Miles.

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<v Speaker 3>Together we fly around the world to a joy.

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<v Speaker 2>Of fulfillment in communities both large and small.

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<v Speaker 1>Happy walks as he reads his lines, frequently stopping and

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<v Speaker 1>changing directions along with the camera, making for some amusing edits.

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<v Speaker 3>Come with me to see what it is.

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<v Speaker 2>It rewards men and women with the sense of knowing

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<v Speaker 2>they are the best that they can be.

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<v Speaker 1>When you're doing your stand up and they have you

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<v Speaker 1>walk three feet this way and then stop and then

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<v Speaker 1>walk three feet that way to camera.

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<v Speaker 5>Oh, because you should see the outtakes. I'm tuck at

0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:39.880
<v Speaker 5>dyslexic and I can't read two cards. We had just

0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.720
<v Speaker 5>come from lunch, and I've had about more Roman chokes,

0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:46.320
<v Speaker 5>so I.

0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.520
<v Speaker 2>Had a hell of the time getting my lines done.

0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:53.840
<v Speaker 1>What follows is a lush and slick overview of the Regatta.

0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.080
<v Speaker 1>But what makes the footage exceptionally interesting is the access

0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.840
<v Speaker 1>at highlights between Happy and the Hamian government.

0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.760
<v Speaker 6>The stage is set as Prime Minister Linden Pendling, along

0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.440
<v Speaker 6>with the visiting dignitaries and island officials, gather for speeches

0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.160
<v Speaker 6>and congratulations to all regatta participants.

0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.000
<v Speaker 2>Do you know that I'm the only American allowed to

0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:20.800
<v Speaker 2>race with the Behamans?

0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:22.480
<v Speaker 1>Is that still true?

0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:23.680
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?

0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.880
<v Speaker 2>I'm a citizen one week out of the year and

0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:32.360
<v Speaker 2>that week to be designated by out Island Regatta.

0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:34.239
<v Speaker 1>How did you pull that off.

0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:41.360
<v Speaker 3>Oh, Penling, the Prime Minister. Yeah, we just made a declaration.

0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.280
<v Speaker 6>Prime Minister Pendling acknowledges the people of Exuma and all

0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.800
<v Speaker 6>of those who have maintained the high standards over the

0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:51.720
<v Speaker 6>years for the Family Island Regatta.

0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:58.880
<v Speaker 1>Linden Pendling is perhaps the most famous and controversial Bahamian politician.

0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.960
<v Speaker 1>He served as the first black Premier of the Colony

0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.120
<v Speaker 1>of the Bahama Islands from nineteen sixty seven to nineteen

0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.200
<v Speaker 1>sixty nine and as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from

0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.840
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty nine to nineteen ninety two. Known as the

0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.200
<v Speaker 1>Father of the Nation, he's also known for helming the

0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:20.320
<v Speaker 1>darkest period in modern Bahavian history nineteen seventy seven to

0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.240
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety two, a time when the Bahamas served as

0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:29.000
<v Speaker 1>a convenient and corruptible stopover for contraband bound for the US.

0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.640
<v Speaker 1>Something exposed, and in nineteen eighty three NBC investigative Peace

0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:38.240
<v Speaker 1>titled the Bahamas a nation for Sale. The report alleged,

0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.720
<v Speaker 1>among other things, that Carlos later the German Colombian drug lord,

0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.960
<v Speaker 1>and members of his infamous made aen cartel used Norman's

0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.440
<v Speaker 1>key in Exuma as a lay of our point to

0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:53.640
<v Speaker 1>traffic cocaine into the United States. It also implied the

0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:58.000
<v Speaker 1>Bahamas government and Peddling profited by turning a blind eye

0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:02.760
<v Speaker 1>to drug smuggling, assisted by a prominent Behavian attorney named

0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:04.600
<v Speaker 1>Nigel bo Well.

0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:09.560
<v Speaker 2>Nigel was an attorney who was Pindling's bag man.

0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:13.440
<v Speaker 1>Mainly for somebody who doesn't understand that expression, what does

0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:14.200
<v Speaker 1>bagman mean?

0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:20.560
<v Speaker 2>Well, it means that when later moved into the Bahamas,

0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.159
<v Speaker 2>he paid a lot of money to be able to

0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:29.480
<v Speaker 2>operate out enormous key like he did, and Nigel would

0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.520
<v Speaker 2>go over and pick up the money and deliver it

0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:33.280
<v Speaker 2>to Pinling.

0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.800
<v Speaker 1>So bagman is the guy who's transporting the money from

0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:37.960
<v Speaker 1>one party to the other.

0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:39.320
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:44.359
<v Speaker 2>So whatever Nigel said with the police or customs or

0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:49.960
<v Speaker 2>anything was the same as probably Pendling saying it.

0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:52.000
<v Speaker 3>He had a lot of clout.

0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.560
<v Speaker 1>So if somebody wanted to get away with something illicit

0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.560
<v Speaker 1>in the Bahamas, Nigel was the person you had to

0:17:58.600 --> 0:17:59.040
<v Speaker 1>go through.

0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:00.560
<v Speaker 3>He was the man.

0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:05.240
<v Speaker 2>It was the man, yeah without Adell.

0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.480
<v Speaker 1>Though Pendling and bo denied the accusations, the public outcry

0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:11.960
<v Speaker 1>led to the creation in nineteen eighty four of the

0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.639
<v Speaker 1>Royal Commission of Inquiry into drug trafficking and government Corruption

0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.439
<v Speaker 1>in the Bahamas. A review of Pendling's personal finances by

0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.440
<v Speaker 1>the Commission found that he had spent eight times his

0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:26.800
<v Speaker 1>reported total earnings from nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty four,

0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.080
<v Speaker 1>finding the Prime Minister and Lady Pendling have received at

0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.679
<v Speaker 1>least fifty seven point three million dollars in cash.

0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:35.040
<v Speaker 3>Explanations.

0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.639
<v Speaker 1>First, some of these deposits were given but could not

0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.679
<v Speaker 1>be verified, and also pulled into that inquiry a former

0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:47.199
<v Speaker 1>Eastern Airlines pilot Lamar Chester. So how did Chester end

0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.480
<v Speaker 1>up getting pulled into the Bahamas inquiry anyway?

0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.239
<v Speaker 7>I'm really not sure just how he got pulled into it,

0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.640
<v Speaker 7>but he certainly wanted to go. He had to get

0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.440
<v Speaker 7>permission from the judge in his trial.

0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.119
<v Speaker 4>He'd already been indicted.

0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:05.840
<v Speaker 7>To leave the country, and after going through the ropes

0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:08.120
<v Speaker 7>on that, he did flew down there.

0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.480
<v Speaker 1>Remember, having been indicted in the US, Chester would have

0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.680
<v Speaker 1>needed court permission to leave the country.

0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.119
<v Speaker 7>As he knew at the time it was his chance

0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:22.320
<v Speaker 7>to make a public statement of his gray Mail defense.

0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:23.760
<v Speaker 4>That he did it for the CIA.

0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.040
<v Speaker 7>He also knew that there weren't going to be any

0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.719
<v Speaker 7>legal consequences for him, certainly in the Bahamas, because the

0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.200
<v Speaker 7>inquiry didn't have the authority to indict anyone anyway.

0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:40.080
<v Speaker 1>That's really interesting. So it's possible that Chester was just

0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.320
<v Speaker 1>incentivized to go there because it provided him with a

0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:47.560
<v Speaker 1>platform and a megaphone to state the gray mail defense.

0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.800
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, I'm sure he is assumed that he would get

0:19:50.920 --> 0:20:00.320
<v Speaker 7>national publicity.

0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:05.359
<v Speaker 8>One of the most significant things in this whole case

0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:11.879
<v Speaker 8>was Lamar Chaster's appearance before a Royal Commission of Inquiry

0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:16.960
<v Speaker 8>in the Bahamas, and that was at the time a

0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:21.280
<v Speaker 8>really upsetting thing for the Bahamas because it was their

0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:22.359
<v Speaker 8>version of Watergate.

0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:28.119
<v Speaker 1>That's Atlanta based journalist, producer and documentarian C. B. Hackworth.

0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:34.800
<v Speaker 8>Sir Lindon Pendling was the hero of Bahamian independence, and

0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:40.280
<v Speaker 8>there were swirling allegations that he was corrupt of receiving

0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:46.600
<v Speaker 8>payoffs through an attorney named Nigel Bow who also represented

0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:51.680
<v Speaker 8>lamar Chester, that those payments were to permit drug smuggling

0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:52.440
<v Speaker 8>in the Bahamas.

0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.240
<v Speaker 1>Today seebe presents as a seasoned Southern journalist with at

0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:01.080
<v Speaker 1>certain angles a passing resemblance to Robin Willilliams, which is

0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:05.000
<v Speaker 1>reinforced by his fondness for suspenders, even when wearing jeans

0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.480
<v Speaker 1>and a T shirt. But when Hackworth's path first crossed

0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.920
<v Speaker 1>with lamar Chester and subsequently the Coconut Grove Guys in

0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.520
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty three, he was a twenty five year old

0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.640
<v Speaker 1>reporter working at the Gainesville Times, a local paper in Georgia.

0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:24.520
<v Speaker 8>I became aware of Lamarchester both through some earlier reporting

0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.919
<v Speaker 8>in the newspaper where I was working, and because I

0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:34.520
<v Speaker 8>was covering a cocaine smuggling trial in federal court in

0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:39.480
<v Speaker 8>which one of the defendants ended up being an unindicted

0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.399
<v Speaker 8>co conspirator in the lamar Chester case. So that was

0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:45.800
<v Speaker 8>a tie between those two cases, and who was the

0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:50.400
<v Speaker 8>tie in That was Grover Alexander, who was a local individual.

0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:56.200
<v Speaker 8>Grover Alexander had been convicted of murder at some point,

0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.800
<v Speaker 8>but was a car dealer in White County and he

0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:05.399
<v Speaker 8>had repeatedly been arrested and was indicted with lamar Chester.

0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.120
<v Speaker 8>It was not convicted in the case that I was covering,

0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:15.920
<v Speaker 8>But while covering the biggest drug smuggling case in Georgia history,

0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:21.880
<v Speaker 8>I overheard some conversations in which Lamarchester's name came up,

0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:26.720
<v Speaker 8>and some federal officials were speculating that la Marchester was

0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:31.600
<v Speaker 8>going to be indicted soon. So with those nudges, I

0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:35.280
<v Speaker 8>took another look at what had already been reported, which

0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:37.680
<v Speaker 8>was pretty substantial.

0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.360
<v Speaker 1>And the work of a local reporter named Lavignia Miyese.

0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:45.960
<v Speaker 8>Laviniam Miese was the correspondent in White County. I knew her,

0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:49.480
<v Speaker 8>I came to know her well. We really worked together

0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:54.280
<v Speaker 8>very closely in the Chester case, and I give her

0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:59.159
<v Speaker 8>a real tip of the hat. Lavinia wrote about the

0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:05.479
<v Speaker 8>River Hills project in White County, which was ill faded.

0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.639
<v Speaker 1>River Hills was a short lived concept. Chester apparently created

0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:12.960
<v Speaker 1>as a campsite for college kids, but was suspected to

0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.879
<v Speaker 1>be a money laundering front, but that's not what upset

0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:17.919
<v Speaker 1>local folks.

0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:23.960
<v Speaker 8>It's strange because apparently by the time the controversy arose,

0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:28.800
<v Speaker 8>they actually already had opened River Hills for a season

0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.480
<v Speaker 8>I'm not sure how many weeks, and it had lost money.

0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:39.399
<v Speaker 8>The River Hills had intended to be an outdoor recreational

0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:45.280
<v Speaker 8>area for college students to come and drink and probably

0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:48.840
<v Speaker 8>whatever else they wanted to do, and folks in White

0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:53.040
<v Speaker 8>County aren't going to stand for that going on in

0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:56.240
<v Speaker 8>their river. I mean, the people in North Georgia are

0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.800
<v Speaker 8>kind of what you would expect, mostly salt of the earth, hard,

0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:04.080
<v Speaker 8>war working. One of the county commission members was very

0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:08.240
<v Speaker 8>upset by a flyer that he had found for River Hills,

0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:10.320
<v Speaker 8>and he brought it up in a County commission meeting

0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:14.320
<v Speaker 8>and it was come and drink and float down the river,

0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:19.560
<v Speaker 8>and the county commissioner, he was just pretty upset.

0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:23.160
<v Speaker 1>If River Hills didn't exactly sit well with the locals,

0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:27.360
<v Speaker 1>it would prove very valuable to the federal investigators driving

0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:32.200
<v Speaker 1>Operation Loan Star. You'll eventually hear more about Leslie Bickerton,

0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:35.880
<v Speaker 1>the woman Chester brought in to oversee the River Hills project.

0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:40.359
<v Speaker 1>She would become a very valuable and very controversial witness

0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:43.880
<v Speaker 1>for both the prosecution and the defense. But we'll get

0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:46.200
<v Speaker 1>into all of that a bit later. Back to C. B.

0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:50.119
<v Speaker 8>Hackworth, Lavina had been speaking to Chester for a year

0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:54.840
<v Speaker 8>or more. I mean, she had been trying to tell us,

0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.600
<v Speaker 8>trying to tell the world this was a really big story,

0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:04.520
<v Speaker 8>and nobody was really paying attention to her because she

0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.840
<v Speaker 8>was just, you know, the White County correspondent.

0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:09.160
<v Speaker 4>But CEB.

0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:13.280
<v Speaker 1>Hockwartz says her journalistic instincts were on point. Here's Lavina

0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:17.120
<v Speaker 1>meies Hex in her own words, sharing her written thoughts

0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:18.080
<v Speaker 1>on Lamar Chester.

0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:21.480
<v Speaker 9>Personally, I do not know whether or not Chester was

0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:24.080
<v Speaker 9>guilty of the charges in the nineteen eighty three of

0:25:24.119 --> 0:25:28.439
<v Speaker 9>Aged Dregs smuggling indictment. He claimed he was innocent and

0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:31.359
<v Speaker 9>he had been working for the government and the CIA.

0:25:32.000 --> 0:25:34.920
<v Speaker 9>He told me that the CIA had been attempted to

0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:38.240
<v Speaker 9>overthrow the government in the Bahamas.

0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:41.199
<v Speaker 8>And it was such a huge story that it sounds

0:25:41.240 --> 0:25:44.359
<v Speaker 8>fantastical at first. Blush, but I've got to tell you.

0:25:44.480 --> 0:25:48.639
<v Speaker 8>She had kept clippings and she had dug up in

0:25:48.720 --> 0:25:54.000
<v Speaker 8>corporation papers, and it was one of the best guides

0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:57.760
<v Speaker 8>and briefings I've ever had. I referred to it throughout

0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:01.480
<v Speaker 8>the next year and a half that I ended up

0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:05.680
<v Speaker 8>covering the Chester case on a daily basis.

0:26:06.240 --> 0:26:09.919
<v Speaker 1>Lavigna Maize provided Cbe's introduction to Lamar Chester.

0:26:10.760 --> 0:26:15.959
<v Speaker 8>At that time, Lamar was under very strict orders not

0:26:16.080 --> 0:26:20.800
<v Speaker 8>to talk to reporters anyone connected to the media anyone

0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:25.480
<v Speaker 8>period outside of his family and his legal team, and

0:26:26.240 --> 0:26:30.680
<v Speaker 8>he violated that as much as he could. I think

0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:35.439
<v Speaker 8>it was as much to prove that the government couldn't

0:26:35.760 --> 0:26:39.480
<v Speaker 8>make him be quiet as it was to disseminate information.

0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:44.679
<v Speaker 8>I also believe he enjoyed the coverage and being a

0:26:44.720 --> 0:26:45.719
<v Speaker 8>local celebrity.

0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:51.320
<v Speaker 1>That was his ego, and Chester did not disappoint in person.

0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:53.919
<v Speaker 8>The first time I met him, I drove up to

0:26:53.960 --> 0:26:58.360
<v Speaker 8>White County and out to the dirt road where his

0:26:58.400 --> 0:26:58.959
<v Speaker 8>farm was.

0:27:00.119 --> 0:27:01.320
<v Speaker 10>Used. The word farm.

0:27:01.160 --> 0:27:07.560
<v Speaker 8>Very liberally because it was a sprawling piece of property

0:27:08.000 --> 0:27:13.120
<v Speaker 8>with a grass landing strip. It's the biggest house in

0:27:13.160 --> 0:27:17.359
<v Speaker 8>White County. Although not gaudy in any way, it was

0:27:17.400 --> 0:27:21.800
<v Speaker 8>actually very tastefully done, but it was just so huge.

0:27:22.119 --> 0:27:26.439
<v Speaker 8>The main room where I sat was enormous and it

0:27:26.600 --> 0:27:31.119
<v Speaker 8>was a combination of a huge living room and a

0:27:31.280 --> 0:27:36.600
<v Speaker 8>huge dining area. And Lamar met me shook my hand.

0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:42.600
<v Speaker 8>He had a very warm, magnetic personality. I think he

0:27:42.680 --> 0:27:45.919
<v Speaker 8>knew that and was able to use it to his

0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:50.720
<v Speaker 8>advantage in many many situations, including dealing with the media.

0:27:51.640 --> 0:27:56.160
<v Speaker 8>He had compromised some people who had reported on him.

0:27:56.480 --> 0:28:02.000
<v Speaker 8>And I knew that Lamar was tall, he had a mustache,

0:28:02.520 --> 0:28:07.120
<v Speaker 8>and he struck me as a man's man. Lavinia had

0:28:07.160 --> 0:28:12.159
<v Speaker 8>described him in an article as a Marlborough man, really

0:28:12.440 --> 0:28:17.080
<v Speaker 8>alpha male. I've met a few people like that. Sam

0:28:17.119 --> 0:28:19.720
<v Speaker 8>Elliott is like that. You know, I'm in the presence

0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:23.320
<v Speaker 8>of a real man. I remember Lamar smiling a lot,

0:28:23.440 --> 0:28:26.960
<v Speaker 8>even though the circumstances you would think were kind of

0:28:27.000 --> 0:28:30.359
<v Speaker 8>grim for him. I know there was a lean on

0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:34.760
<v Speaker 8>the farm that had been placed by his lawyers, and

0:28:34.800 --> 0:28:37.879
<v Speaker 8>of course he was facing indictment.

0:28:38.120 --> 0:28:41.000
<v Speaker 1>And Ceb knew the meeting was serving a purpose, at

0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:42.440
<v Speaker 1>least on Chester's end.

0:28:42.960 --> 0:28:46.680
<v Speaker 8>Lamar was very open to meeting with me, and he

0:28:46.800 --> 0:28:51.200
<v Speaker 8>was very open when I met him. I never made

0:28:51.280 --> 0:28:55.960
<v Speaker 8>any agreement, nor was I asked to to protect him

0:28:56.560 --> 0:29:02.000
<v Speaker 8>from himself from the fact that he was violating a

0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:08.120
<v Speaker 8>court order, and he had already been significantly warned because

0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:12.360
<v Speaker 8>of a television report that Fars Sawyer had done on

0:29:13.160 --> 0:29:15.920
<v Speaker 8>WAGAATV in Atlanta.

0:29:16.200 --> 0:29:20.160
<v Speaker 1>Phil Stamford has already referenced that infamous interview, but I'll

0:29:20.240 --> 0:29:23.400
<v Speaker 1>let Ceb remind you of what Chester claimed during it.

0:29:24.000 --> 0:29:26.720
<v Speaker 8>Well, he boasted to Fara Sawyer, and he said to

0:29:26.880 --> 0:29:32.920
<v Speaker 8>me separately, he said that he had flown a shipment

0:29:32.960 --> 0:29:38.480
<v Speaker 8>of marijuana, a large shipment directly over wherever Ronald Reagan,

0:29:38.800 --> 0:29:41.320
<v Speaker 8>who was then president was speaking at the time. I

0:29:41.320 --> 0:29:44.880
<v Speaker 8>think it was Homestead Air Force Base, and that he

0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:48.440
<v Speaker 8>could have shoved a bail out and dropped it at

0:29:48.440 --> 0:29:53.720
<v Speaker 8>the President's feet if he wanted to. That's my recollection.

0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:58.960
<v Speaker 8>He completely admitted to being one of the world's most

0:29:59.000 --> 0:30:04.840
<v Speaker 8>prolific drugsugglers, that he had smuggled large shipments of marijuana

0:30:05.360 --> 0:30:11.560
<v Speaker 8>from the Bahamas into the United States Florida, but primarily Georgia.

0:30:12.920 --> 0:30:16.680
<v Speaker 8>Two hundred shipments or more is what I think he said.

0:30:17.400 --> 0:30:20.880
<v Speaker 1>And the reaction that statement received seemed to be the

0:30:20.920 --> 0:30:22.480
<v Speaker 1>intention behind making it.

0:30:23.000 --> 0:30:28.040
<v Speaker 8>Lamar was talking to a lot of reporters and he

0:30:28.120 --> 0:30:32.560
<v Speaker 8>wanted to stir this up. I wasn't oblivious to any

0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:34.560
<v Speaker 8>of that stuff, even though I was young.

0:30:35.160 --> 0:30:39.600
<v Speaker 1>But did you have any idea when you left his

0:30:39.840 --> 0:30:45.680
<v Speaker 1>farm that day how intense and complicated your relationship with

0:30:45.760 --> 0:30:46.360
<v Speaker 1>him would get.

0:30:47.080 --> 0:30:47.240
<v Speaker 3>Well?

0:30:47.280 --> 0:30:51.120
<v Speaker 8>You would think I would answer no, but I kind

0:30:51.200 --> 0:30:54.480
<v Speaker 8>of did. The scope of what he had laid out

0:30:54.520 --> 0:30:55.880
<v Speaker 8>was huge.

0:30:56.400 --> 0:31:01.320
<v Speaker 1>Chester's interaction with Hackworth would intensify as the legal proceedings advanced.

0:31:02.240 --> 0:31:08.200
<v Speaker 8>Lamar would call me often late at night, and sometimes,

0:31:08.240 --> 0:31:12.240
<v Speaker 8>if not usually after he'd been drinking. Now I'm not

0:31:12.400 --> 0:31:16.640
<v Speaker 8>saying he was bad to drink. I don't know that

0:31:16.680 --> 0:31:19.120
<v Speaker 8>to be a fact, but I do know that sometimes

0:31:19.160 --> 0:31:22.400
<v Speaker 8>he drank at night and sometimes he called me, and

0:31:22.600 --> 0:31:27.280
<v Speaker 8>these were not short little conversations. We would discuss what

0:31:27.520 --> 0:31:31.959
<v Speaker 8>was going on with the case. He guided me toward things.

0:31:33.240 --> 0:31:38.479
<v Speaker 8>I recorded all of my conversations with Lamar Chester. Georgia

0:31:38.560 --> 0:31:41.920
<v Speaker 8>is a one party consent state. You do not have

0:31:42.000 --> 0:31:46.600
<v Speaker 8>to have permission from another person to record a conversation

0:31:46.840 --> 0:31:50.800
<v Speaker 8>as long as you are a participant in that conversation.

0:31:52.720 --> 0:32:00.760
<v Speaker 8>Down you're trying to stall until after the US they

0:32:00.840 --> 0:32:01.160
<v Speaker 8>want to.

0:32:03.360 --> 0:32:07.600
<v Speaker 1>Hear what you were listening to. Are the recordings of

0:32:07.640 --> 0:32:12.360
<v Speaker 1>those actual conversations. Which C. B. Hackworth is sharing for

0:32:12.400 --> 0:32:13.120
<v Speaker 1>the first time.

0:32:13.920 --> 0:32:17.240
<v Speaker 11>Washington was prepared to a set one flee to anything,

0:32:17.640 --> 0:32:21.720
<v Speaker 11>anything with a five year cat stand silent and sentence

0:32:21.800 --> 0:32:27.480
<v Speaker 11>him say just to let me walk out, or sins

0:32:27.520 --> 0:32:29.640
<v Speaker 11>being no more than five years, which you know I'll

0:32:29.680 --> 0:32:33.400
<v Speaker 11>do ten to a month. But Washington would take a

0:32:33.480 --> 0:32:37.680
<v Speaker 11>plea to anything taxivation at this point, and bear in

0:32:37.760 --> 0:32:43.240
<v Speaker 11>mind this is June is indety Mars. Yeah, but they'd

0:32:43.280 --> 0:32:45.840
<v Speaker 11>take anything, and if they give them minds a bow,

0:32:45.920 --> 0:32:50.080
<v Speaker 11>I could walk clean with money. Now they also made

0:32:50.120 --> 0:32:53.440
<v Speaker 11>this offer getting they make this off for the Bogart

0:32:53.720 --> 0:32:56.520
<v Speaker 11>just prior to them that they want the Prime Minister

0:32:56.640 --> 0:32:57.680
<v Speaker 11>also clean more.

0:32:58.680 --> 0:33:01.959
<v Speaker 1>Lamar Chester is claiming the prosecutors offered to drop charges

0:33:02.000 --> 0:33:05.320
<v Speaker 1>against him if he turned on the Bahamian Attorney Nigel

0:33:05.360 --> 0:33:07.680
<v Speaker 1>bo and Prime Minister Pendling.

0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:12.680
<v Speaker 8>But again, never once, despite everything he ever said to me,

0:33:12.800 --> 0:33:17.200
<v Speaker 8>he never once did he say, hey, don't put this

0:33:17.280 --> 0:33:21.400
<v Speaker 8>in the paper. Not once. When I wrote a five

0:33:21.520 --> 0:33:25.720
<v Speaker 8>part series on lamar Chester, the heading on that rack

0:33:25.800 --> 0:33:30.080
<v Speaker 8>card said master criminal or secret agent.

0:33:31.040 --> 0:33:34.560
<v Speaker 1>It was pretty dramatic, as would be the travel assignment.

0:33:34.640 --> 0:33:39.240
<v Speaker 1>Hackworth's paper Greenlet as the young reporter continued to cover Chester.

0:33:40.000 --> 0:33:43.960
<v Speaker 8>He told me he was going to testify before this

0:33:44.080 --> 0:33:47.760
<v Speaker 8>Royal Commission, and he told me what he was going

0:33:47.800 --> 0:33:51.520
<v Speaker 8>to say, and he told me f Lee Bailey would

0:33:51.560 --> 0:33:55.480
<v Speaker 8>be the attorney for the Prime Minister of the Bahamas,

0:33:55.560 --> 0:34:00.160
<v Speaker 8>then he would be doing the questioning. I played a

0:34:00.360 --> 0:34:07.480
<v Speaker 8>very short, perhaps sixty second excerpt of that conversation with

0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:10.480
<v Speaker 8>Lamar for the publisher of the newspaper.

0:34:10.800 --> 0:34:13.759
<v Speaker 11>Through my relations with government of Bahamas and businessmen there

0:34:13.760 --> 0:34:16.640
<v Speaker 11>in elsewhere, I have contacts all over the world, in

0:34:16.719 --> 0:34:19.720
<v Speaker 11>particular Central and South America, Europe and the parties.

0:34:20.239 --> 0:34:26.360
<v Speaker 8>And they supported my outrageous quest for this story. The

0:34:26.440 --> 0:34:29.920
<v Speaker 8>publisher he told me to go to the Bahamas when

0:34:30.320 --> 0:34:33.880
<v Speaker 8>Lamar was there to testify. This was not a newspaper

0:34:33.880 --> 0:34:38.000
<v Speaker 8>that routinely sent a reporter to the Bahamas. I stayed

0:34:38.040 --> 0:34:42.640
<v Speaker 8>at the same resort hotel that Lamar stayed at. His

0:34:42.760 --> 0:34:46.120
<v Speaker 8>lawyers did not know I was going to be there.

0:34:46.640 --> 0:34:50.239
<v Speaker 8>They did not know the extent to which he was

0:34:50.280 --> 0:34:55.319
<v Speaker 8>talking to me, and likely others. His lawyers could not

0:34:55.440 --> 0:34:56.279
<v Speaker 8>control him.

0:34:57.200 --> 0:35:01.520
<v Speaker 1>Seebee also taped the proceedings, and Bill has those recordings

0:35:01.520 --> 0:35:04.440
<v Speaker 1>on micro cassettes, which he shared with me when we

0:35:04.480 --> 0:35:05.120
<v Speaker 1>met in person.

0:35:06.120 --> 0:35:10.440
<v Speaker 8>He was being questioned by f Lee Bailey, who, not

0:35:10.680 --> 0:35:14.440
<v Speaker 8>by accident, was one of the most famous lawyers in America.

0:35:14.960 --> 0:35:17.800
<v Speaker 8>An extremely talented, brilliant man.

0:35:18.560 --> 0:35:24.560
<v Speaker 1>What do you mean, Cherry Well about to airport here?

0:35:24.719 --> 0:35:29.359
<v Speaker 1>Attorney Flee Bailey questions Chester about his interaction with a

0:35:29.400 --> 0:35:34.280
<v Speaker 1>man named Morgan Cherry specifically.

0:35:33.600 --> 0:35:34.480
<v Speaker 4>Did he wants you to.

0:35:36.239 --> 0:35:38.000
<v Speaker 11>He really didn't want me to come back, but I

0:35:38.040 --> 0:35:38.560
<v Speaker 11>didn't come.

0:35:38.520 --> 0:35:41.239
<v Speaker 1>Back to not reveal his identity.

0:35:41.520 --> 0:35:45.239
<v Speaker 11>I believe you not reveal Morgan Cherry, Morgan Cherry's but

0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:48.320
<v Speaker 11>his request was that you go back on her promises,

0:35:48.360 --> 0:35:50.160
<v Speaker 11>commission and not return.

0:35:50.200 --> 0:35:50.680
<v Speaker 4>That's fact.

0:35:51.160 --> 0:35:52.440
<v Speaker 10>Believe you use the word to.

0:35:52.520 --> 0:35:57.920
<v Speaker 11>Keep your shot as to indicate why his employers.

0:36:00.880 --> 0:36:02.120
<v Speaker 7>And interested silence.

0:36:04.200 --> 0:36:05.200
<v Speaker 10>They just didn't want to know.

0:36:05.360 --> 0:36:09.960
<v Speaker 11>That they were engaged, that they had been uh instrument

0:36:10.080 --> 0:36:10.760
<v Speaker 11>and the Bryan.

0:36:10.640 --> 0:36:15.640
<v Speaker 1>Rosser, the Brian ross Report, that was the nineteen eighty

0:36:15.640 --> 0:36:20.840
<v Speaker 1>three NBC investigative Peace titled the Bahamas a Nation for Sale?

0:36:21.320 --> 0:36:25.480
<v Speaker 1>And the man named Morgan Cherry. Chester's referring to is

0:36:25.560 --> 0:36:30.440
<v Speaker 1>his allegedly CIA connected link to the assignments he claims

0:36:30.480 --> 0:36:33.360
<v Speaker 1>to have conducted on behalf of the US government.

0:36:33.480 --> 0:36:36.279
<v Speaker 8>F Lee Bailey. He was very good that day. He

0:36:36.360 --> 0:36:40.120
<v Speaker 8>was representing the Prime Minister of the Bahamas Times that

0:36:40.320 --> 0:36:41.120
<v Speaker 8>that Morgan.

0:36:40.920 --> 0:36:43.400
<v Speaker 3>Cherry claimed to be a person who.

0:36:43.160 --> 0:36:47.000
<v Speaker 10>Had helped the NBC broadcast to begin with, and whose

0:36:47.000 --> 0:36:50.640
<v Speaker 10>clients were profit by an investigation shore to follow such

0:36:50.680 --> 0:36:52.239
<v Speaker 10>a broadcast to the point where he.

0:36:52.239 --> 0:36:56.400
<v Speaker 11>Could promise you Besidey's representation. That pretty much sums of.

0:36:56.440 --> 0:37:04.160
<v Speaker 1>That that was taped. Cebe recalls a very interesting interaction

0:37:04.360 --> 0:37:07.480
<v Speaker 1>which led to an after court meeting at the hotel

0:37:07.520 --> 0:37:10.160
<v Speaker 1>casino with Chester and two young women.

0:37:11.960 --> 0:37:15.880
<v Speaker 8>Lamar went to get a drink of water and he said,

0:37:16.520 --> 0:37:19.279
<v Speaker 8>if you have any questions, I'll be in the casino

0:37:19.400 --> 0:37:23.480
<v Speaker 8>tonight at ten thirty in the hotel where we were staying.

0:37:23.960 --> 0:37:26.640
<v Speaker 1>So did you go down to the casino at ten

0:37:26.680 --> 0:37:27.359
<v Speaker 1>thirty that night?

0:37:27.880 --> 0:37:28.120
<v Speaker 10>Yeah?

0:37:28.120 --> 0:37:29.880
<v Speaker 8>I went down to the casino and I think I

0:37:29.920 --> 0:37:35.520
<v Speaker 8>had sixty four dollars that I was going to gamble with.

0:37:36.520 --> 0:37:40.120
<v Speaker 8>I'm twenty five years old, working for a small daily newspaper,

0:37:40.640 --> 0:37:45.760
<v Speaker 8>paying child support, so all I had on my first

0:37:45.800 --> 0:37:51.080
<v Speaker 8>trip ever anywhere out of the country sixty four dollars

0:37:51.160 --> 0:37:56.200
<v Speaker 8>to gamble with. I got there early and my sixty

0:37:56.200 --> 0:38:00.000
<v Speaker 8>four dollars did not last long. I blew that money

0:38:00.080 --> 0:38:05.320
<v Speaker 8>at the roulette wheel very quickly. So I did find

0:38:05.600 --> 0:38:09.560
<v Speaker 8>Lamar standing at a slot machine, one that you fed

0:38:10.000 --> 0:38:14.240
<v Speaker 8>dollar tokens in three at a time. I had played

0:38:14.440 --> 0:38:19.799
<v Speaker 8>the slots earlier with quarters, and to me, this was

0:38:20.160 --> 0:38:23.040
<v Speaker 8>like bordering on real money. And not only was he

0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:25.600
<v Speaker 8>doing that, he was winning. You know, he put three

0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:28.440
<v Speaker 8>things in and we're beginning to talk, and he'd pulled

0:38:28.440 --> 0:38:32.680
<v Speaker 8>the lever and beat about to answer question, and tokens

0:38:32.719 --> 0:38:35.960
<v Speaker 8>would pour out. He didn't care about the money that

0:38:36.040 --> 0:38:37.799
<v Speaker 8>he was winning. He didn't care about the money he

0:38:37.840 --> 0:38:39.760
<v Speaker 8>was putting into the slot machine.

0:38:40.360 --> 0:38:41.720
<v Speaker 10>He just raded wealth.

0:38:41.760 --> 0:38:43.759
<v Speaker 8>And that's part of what I think made him a

0:38:43.840 --> 0:38:47.120
<v Speaker 8>track do to a lot of people, men as well

0:38:47.160 --> 0:38:50.840
<v Speaker 8>as women. I don't mean sexually, but I mean wanting

0:38:50.880 --> 0:38:54.600
<v Speaker 8>to be in his inner circle. And we weren't standing

0:38:54.640 --> 0:38:59.920
<v Speaker 8>there very long before the young lady walked up and

0:39:00.600 --> 0:39:04.360
<v Speaker 8>just started hanging around him. At first I thought it

0:39:04.440 --> 0:39:08.560
<v Speaker 8>might be someone he knew, or a legal assistant or something,

0:39:08.640 --> 0:39:10.480
<v Speaker 8>but it was she was a stranger.

0:39:11.520 --> 0:39:12.160
<v Speaker 10>I guess it was.

0:39:12.840 --> 0:39:15.960
<v Speaker 8>You know, people have described him as good looks or

0:39:16.239 --> 0:39:21.840
<v Speaker 8>magnetic personality, whatever, and in addition the fact that money

0:39:21.920 --> 0:39:24.759
<v Speaker 8>kept pouring out of this slot machine. I think the

0:39:25.280 --> 0:39:31.279
<v Speaker 8>sound was some sort of mating call, but since I

0:39:31.400 --> 0:39:34.319
<v Speaker 8>was standing there, I guess the young lady said, well,

0:39:34.360 --> 0:39:37.600
<v Speaker 8>I'll be right back, and she came back with her friend.

0:39:38.520 --> 0:39:40.800
<v Speaker 10>They were both pretty, they were both.

0:39:41.000 --> 0:39:46.759
<v Speaker 8>Young, just having a good time on vacation in the Bahamas.

0:39:48.960 --> 0:39:52.920
<v Speaker 8>There was a bar overlooking the casino. Next thing, I know,

0:39:54.080 --> 0:39:57.279
<v Speaker 8>the drink I was supposed to have with Lamar, as

0:39:57.280 --> 0:39:59.000
<v Speaker 8>we'd already said we're going to go upstairs and have

0:39:59.040 --> 0:40:03.560
<v Speaker 8>a drink, ends up being these two young ladies following

0:40:03.640 --> 0:40:04.480
<v Speaker 8>us up there.

0:40:04.880 --> 0:40:06.520
<v Speaker 1>So it's starting to feel like a double date.

0:40:07.320 --> 0:40:12.640
<v Speaker 8>Yeah, And that bothered me because, you know, on the

0:40:12.680 --> 0:40:16.920
<v Speaker 8>one hand, I was a twenty five year old, fairly

0:40:16.960 --> 0:40:22.239
<v Speaker 8>recently divorced young man and you know, a beautiful young

0:40:22.280 --> 0:40:25.560
<v Speaker 8>woman sitting next to me. Now, I remember what I

0:40:25.680 --> 0:40:30.239
<v Speaker 8>was thinking was, you know, they didn't really cover this

0:40:30.480 --> 0:40:34.600
<v Speaker 8>specific thing in journalism school, in any of the classes

0:40:34.640 --> 0:40:39.760
<v Speaker 8>I took. But I am fairly sure you're not allowed

0:40:39.760 --> 0:40:43.080
<v Speaker 8>to pick up girls with the drug smuggler.

0:40:43.120 --> 0:40:44.080
<v Speaker 10>That you're covering.

0:40:45.160 --> 0:40:51.200
<v Speaker 8>And at the same time, it's very socially awkward because

0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:56.799
<v Speaker 8>it was superficially a very nice, happy little group. But

0:40:56.960 --> 0:41:00.879
<v Speaker 8>fortunately for me, as I'm sitting there trying to think

0:41:01.080 --> 0:41:03.439
<v Speaker 8>how am I going to get out of this gracefully,

0:41:03.840 --> 0:41:09.720
<v Speaker 8>Lamar actually provided me with the inspiration, not intentionally.

0:41:09.640 --> 0:41:12.600
<v Speaker 1>And apparently did so with his signature style.

0:41:13.239 --> 0:41:18.319
<v Speaker 8>When the conversation fairly quickly led to you know, who

0:41:18.440 --> 0:41:20.680
<v Speaker 8>are you and what do you do? After they have

0:41:21.320 --> 0:41:25.440
<v Speaker 8>talked about being a nurse and etc. Well who are you?

0:41:25.800 --> 0:41:30.359
<v Speaker 8>And Lamar said something pretty instantly about, well, I'm one

0:41:30.360 --> 0:41:33.880
<v Speaker 8>of the biggest drug smugglers in the world, and this

0:41:33.960 --> 0:41:37.359
<v Speaker 8>guy's a reporter that has been following me, and you know,

0:41:37.400 --> 0:41:39.480
<v Speaker 8>he writes about a lot of the things that I do.

0:41:40.560 --> 0:41:42.960
<v Speaker 10>And I don't think that they believed in.

0:41:43.600 --> 0:41:44.680
<v Speaker 1>Did they just kind of laugh at all.

0:41:44.760 --> 0:41:45.440
<v Speaker 10>I think they kind of.

0:41:45.480 --> 0:41:50.080
<v Speaker 8>Laughed it off, like oh sure. I was like, well, damn,

0:41:51.320 --> 0:41:54.600
<v Speaker 8>that doesn't scare him off. And some people I've told

0:41:54.600 --> 0:41:57.560
<v Speaker 8>this story to have said that may have made somebody

0:41:57.600 --> 0:42:01.680
<v Speaker 8>more attractive. Well it didn't really, It was that they

0:42:01.719 --> 0:42:04.160
<v Speaker 8>didn't believe it. I don't think the way that he

0:42:04.360 --> 0:42:09.360
<v Speaker 8>said it, and again it's consistent with what he always said.

0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:13.200
<v Speaker 8>He never shied away from it. You just can't believe

0:42:13.480 --> 0:42:16.719
<v Speaker 8>that anybody was this upfront, but I guess that was

0:42:16.719 --> 0:42:19.320
<v Speaker 8>his strategy. If you know you're going to be accused

0:42:19.800 --> 0:42:23.799
<v Speaker 8>of smuggling massive amounts of marijuana, get in front of it.

0:42:24.040 --> 0:42:26.520
<v Speaker 10>I think that was what he tried to do always.

0:42:26.880 --> 0:42:29.200
<v Speaker 1>And it's not as if these ladies had like cell

0:42:29.239 --> 0:42:31.640
<v Speaker 1>phones in their hands where they could google it quickly.

0:42:32.000 --> 0:42:32.880
<v Speaker 10>Couldn't google it.

0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:37.680
<v Speaker 1>That's when Ceb realized he could actually prove Chester's claim

0:42:38.200 --> 0:42:40.920
<v Speaker 1>to their doting wanta be dates.

0:42:40.800 --> 0:42:41.920
<v Speaker 10>My secret weapon.

0:42:42.560 --> 0:42:45.440
<v Speaker 8>I suddenly realized it was like a light bulb going

0:42:45.440 --> 0:42:50.440
<v Speaker 8>off over my head. I had a major series about

0:42:50.520 --> 0:42:56.320
<v Speaker 8>Lamar Chester, five part series called Citizen Chester was running

0:42:56.960 --> 0:43:00.480
<v Speaker 8>in my newspaper. I ran up to the room and

0:43:00.600 --> 0:43:05.799
<v Speaker 8>got the card that is inserted into a newspaper rack

0:43:06.120 --> 0:43:08.880
<v Speaker 8>that you put money in and pulled down the front

0:43:08.880 --> 0:43:11.680
<v Speaker 8>of and get a paper out of. And this one

0:43:11.719 --> 0:43:14.600
<v Speaker 8>had a photograph of Lamar Chester that I had taken

0:43:15.080 --> 0:43:18.480
<v Speaker 8>on that first visit to the house, with a banner

0:43:18.640 --> 0:43:23.040
<v Speaker 8>headline master criminal or secret Agent. And I took it out,

0:43:23.239 --> 0:43:26.440
<v Speaker 8>went back downstairs, went right up to that table and

0:43:26.719 --> 0:43:32.920
<v Speaker 8>unrolled it. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that

0:43:32.960 --> 0:43:36.839
<v Speaker 8>the color drained from their faces. There may have been

0:43:36.880 --> 0:43:40.439
<v Speaker 8>women who would have been attracted by that, but these

0:43:40.480 --> 0:43:44.480
<v Speaker 8>two were not. They soon made excuses.

0:43:43.920 --> 0:43:45.600
<v Speaker 9>To leave, call it a night.

0:43:46.040 --> 0:43:49.839
<v Speaker 8>And you know what, I don't think that bothered Lamar

0:43:49.960 --> 0:43:53.239
<v Speaker 8>Chester at all. I think he was very happy that

0:43:53.280 --> 0:43:54.560
<v Speaker 8>they knew who he was.

0:44:01.920 --> 0:44:05.400
<v Speaker 1>So at the time that the inquiry was happening in

0:44:05.440 --> 0:44:08.640
<v Speaker 1>the Bahamas, were you even aware that it was going on?

0:44:09.200 --> 0:44:10.960
<v Speaker 4>No, I wasn't following it.

0:44:11.000 --> 0:44:14.440
<v Speaker 7>I was back in DC for a few months, and

0:44:14.640 --> 0:44:17.799
<v Speaker 7>my mind was elsewhere when it was happening, and I

0:44:17.880 --> 0:44:19.759
<v Speaker 7>wasn't even aware of it. Later, when I came back

0:44:19.760 --> 0:44:22.279
<v Speaker 7>and Bob Adams came up to me and said, do

0:44:22.360 --> 0:44:25.400
<v Speaker 7>you know who Morgan Cherry is? Well, it was shortly

0:44:25.440 --> 0:44:29.640
<v Speaker 7>after this that the mysterious Morgan Cherry mentioned that I

0:44:29.680 --> 0:44:33.320
<v Speaker 7>got a call from Bob who said that Lamar wanted

0:44:33.320 --> 0:44:36.520
<v Speaker 7>to hire me as a consultant. There was going to

0:44:36.560 --> 0:44:40.560
<v Speaker 7>be a pre trial hearing in Atlanta and he wanted

0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:42.000
<v Speaker 7>me to be there as a consultant.

0:44:42.000 --> 0:44:43.040
<v Speaker 4>I said what he.

0:44:42.960 --> 0:44:49.279
<v Speaker 7>Said, you know, look over transcripts, catch inconsistencies, that sort

0:44:49.320 --> 0:44:51.720
<v Speaker 7>of thing. He said he'd pay me a couple hundred

0:44:51.719 --> 0:44:55.800
<v Speaker 7>dollars a day plus travel. I decided, I guess I

0:44:55.840 --> 0:44:57.120
<v Speaker 7>could be a consultant.

0:44:56.760 --> 0:45:00.600
<v Speaker 1>After all, consultant for what using your ex tease as

0:45:00.600 --> 0:45:03.200
<v Speaker 1>a journalist, because it almost seems as if it would

0:45:03.239 --> 0:45:05.760
<v Speaker 1>be more a legal standpoint.

0:45:05.920 --> 0:45:09.040
<v Speaker 7>Well, I was used to looking over government documents and

0:45:09.080 --> 0:45:12.560
<v Speaker 7>finding discrepancies and that sort of thing, believe it or not.

0:45:13.000 --> 0:45:15.840
<v Speaker 7>At this point, it still didn't seem real to me

0:45:16.800 --> 0:45:21.719
<v Speaker 7>that they thought I was with the CIA. So it

0:45:21.800 --> 0:45:25.080
<v Speaker 7>was just an extension of the craziness that had begun

0:45:25.640 --> 0:45:28.799
<v Speaker 7>when I started working for Intercept and started getting paid

0:45:28.840 --> 0:45:33.200
<v Speaker 7>for blowing assignments, and if they wanted to pay me,

0:45:33.960 --> 0:45:34.680
<v Speaker 7>I figured why not.

0:45:35.160 --> 0:45:37.200
<v Speaker 4>Of course I shouldn't have done it.

0:45:37.440 --> 0:45:40.440
<v Speaker 7>I knew it had something to do with their belief

0:45:40.480 --> 0:45:41.880
<v Speaker 7>that I was with the CIA.

0:45:42.320 --> 0:45:44.520
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, a couple hundred dollars a day plus

0:45:44.600 --> 0:45:48.520
<v Speaker 1>travel doesn't sound that bad and probably seemed like much

0:45:48.560 --> 0:45:50.160
<v Speaker 1>more in the early eighties.

0:45:50.280 --> 0:45:52.360
<v Speaker 4>It was certainly enough for me, that's for sure.

0:45:52.560 --> 0:45:55.040
<v Speaker 1>And if they did believe you were with the CIA,

0:45:55.360 --> 0:45:57.640
<v Speaker 1>they might have thought they were compromising you. At the

0:45:57.680 --> 0:46:02.200
<v Speaker 1>same time, they did compromise me that I wasn't with

0:46:02.320 --> 0:46:02.960
<v Speaker 1>the CIA.

0:46:03.600 --> 0:46:06.880
<v Speaker 7>I mean I was digging myself in pretty deep with

0:46:07.080 --> 0:46:09.680
<v Speaker 7>people who I really didn't want to offend.

0:46:10.360 --> 0:46:12.839
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's the other thing I would point out. You

0:46:12.920 --> 0:46:16.520
<v Speaker 1>didn't worry that you were getting into something that you

0:46:16.640 --> 0:46:18.560
<v Speaker 1>might not escape from.

0:46:19.400 --> 0:46:22.440
<v Speaker 4>I just sort of walked right into it.

0:46:22.160 --> 0:46:24.840
<v Speaker 1>And that seems to have been the plan. Here's Chester

0:46:25.000 --> 0:46:27.759
<v Speaker 1>talking to CB about Phil Stamford.

0:46:29.600 --> 0:46:32.880
<v Speaker 8>I have a guy me together.

0:46:40.000 --> 0:46:40.480
<v Speaker 2>He wouldn't.

0:46:46.960 --> 0:46:48.760
<v Speaker 10>I am not, by.

0:46:48.680 --> 0:46:54.480
<v Speaker 11>Any means commn not currently in active one of the

0:46:54.520 --> 0:46:54.840
<v Speaker 11>guys that.

0:46:59.440 --> 0:46:59.800
<v Speaker 4>Comedy.

0:47:00.880 --> 0:47:05.239
<v Speaker 1>You heard that right? Lamar Chester claims someone working with

0:47:05.400 --> 0:47:10.080
<v Speaker 1>the CIA confirmed Bill Stamford was also in the agency's

0:47:10.120 --> 0:47:16.160
<v Speaker 1>employ On the next murder of Miami, Bill Stamford leaves

0:47:16.200 --> 0:47:18.880
<v Speaker 1>the Amstdam Palace for a farm in Georgia.

0:47:19.320 --> 0:47:21.120
<v Speaker 4>It was kind of strange. First thing.

0:47:21.120 --> 0:47:23.640
<v Speaker 7>They put Bob up in the guesthouse and I'm staying

0:47:23.680 --> 0:47:26.879
<v Speaker 7>at the main house with Lamarren artists, who I can

0:47:26.920 --> 0:47:29.319
<v Speaker 7>tell right off really doesn't want me there at all.

0:47:29.880 --> 0:47:33.120
<v Speaker 1>As the scope of Operation Loan Stark titans around La Marchester.

0:47:33.600 --> 0:47:38.840
<v Speaker 8>Frankly, with what the government stating witnesses fed to alligators,

0:47:39.080 --> 0:47:44.120
<v Speaker 8>I could not understand how someone who had just made

0:47:44.120 --> 0:47:47.680
<v Speaker 8>a deal to testify against him would be anywhere near it.

0:47:47.920 --> 0:47:50.840
<v Speaker 1>But I was going to find out and re ignites

0:47:50.840 --> 0:47:52.680
<v Speaker 1>a cold case mystery from Miami.

0:47:53.080 --> 0:47:55.120
<v Speaker 7>And this was right out of the blue because we've

0:47:55.120 --> 0:47:58.840
<v Speaker 7>never spoken about Clay Williams, the Intercept detective who was

0:47:58.880 --> 0:47:59.600
<v Speaker 7>found dead in the.

0:47:59.560 --> 0:48:00.759
<v Speaker 4>Everglyn we will wait.

0:48:01.200 --> 0:48:05.400
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry he brought up Clay Williams, leading to a

0:48:05.440 --> 0:48:08.880
<v Speaker 1>possible break in the Clay Williams murder that leads back

0:48:09.080 --> 0:48:15.880
<v Speaker 1>to Intercept. Murder of Miami is a production of iHeartRadio.

0:48:17.000 --> 0:48:21.880
<v Speaker 1>Executive producers are Lauren Bright Pacheco, Taylor Chackoine, and Phil Stamford.

0:48:22.680 --> 0:48:27.120
<v Speaker 1>Written by Phil Stamford and Lauren Bright Pacheco, Audio editing

0:48:27.160 --> 0:48:31.279
<v Speaker 1>and sound design by Nicholas Harder, Evan Tyer, and Taylor Chacoine,

0:48:32.160 --> 0:48:36.040
<v Speaker 1>featuring music by Evan Tyer, Phil Mayer, John Murchison and

0:48:36.120 --> 0:48:41.640
<v Speaker 1>Taylor Chacoine. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

0:48:41.719 --> 0:48:45.160
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories that matter

0:48:45.320 --> 0:48:45.680
<v Speaker 1>to you.