1
00:00:15,316 --> 00:00:28,156
Speaker 1: Pushkin, previously on deep cover. FBI agent Ned Timmins finally

2
00:00:28,236 --> 00:00:32,476
Speaker 1: had his victorious moment. The kingpin of the drug smuggling operation,

3
00:00:32,636 --> 00:00:36,196
Speaker 1: Lee Rich aka Mister Beach Club, was nabbed at the

4
00:00:36,196 --> 00:00:40,236
Speaker 1: airport in Jamaica, and then the authorities arrested Mike Vogel,

5
00:00:40,356 --> 00:00:44,156
Speaker 1: the grocery guy in Michigan. We had the whole swat

6
00:00:44,156 --> 00:00:47,956
Speaker 1: team out there lands place all night long waiting for

7
00:00:48,076 --> 00:00:51,116
Speaker 1: word that they had Lee and custody. And once we

8
00:00:51,196 --> 00:00:56,356
Speaker 1: got word, then we had Vogel's house, and Stephen Kaylish,

9
00:00:56,516 --> 00:01:00,196
Speaker 1: the smooth talking gentleman smuggler who'd gotten cozy with General

10
00:01:00,236 --> 00:01:04,556
Speaker 1: Noriega down in Panama, was also behind bars. If you recall,

11
00:01:04,996 --> 00:01:07,596
Speaker 1: Stephen had an escape plan in place. He had a

12
00:01:07,636 --> 00:01:11,516
Speaker 1: group of mercenaries forces guys that he kept on retainer

13
00:01:11,556 --> 00:01:16,756
Speaker 1: for this very purpose. I had a serious escape plan, oh,

14
00:01:16,836 --> 00:01:19,356
Speaker 1: I had one before I ever got arrested. A friend

15
00:01:19,356 --> 00:01:24,076
Speaker 1: of mine's brother ran a special Forces team. I put

16
00:01:24,156 --> 00:01:26,796
Speaker 1: him on one hundred thousand dollars retainer to come and

17
00:01:26,836 --> 00:01:30,716
Speaker 1: rescue me no matter where I was. But the Special

18
00:01:30,756 --> 00:01:33,916
Speaker 1: Forces guys told him there was a catch. They could

19
00:01:33,956 --> 00:01:37,516
Speaker 1: break him out, but in the process someone might get killed.

20
00:01:38,036 --> 00:01:41,196
Speaker 1: This was a problem because the gentleman's smuggler was a

21
00:01:41,236 --> 00:01:51,956
Speaker 1: declared pacifist. So what to do? Lee Rich and his partner,

22
00:01:52,076 --> 00:01:55,836
Speaker 1: Stephen Kaylish decided to fight the charges against them, so

23
00:01:55,956 --> 00:01:59,556
Speaker 1: they were prosecuted together down in Tampa. The trial began

24
00:01:59,596 --> 00:02:03,516
Speaker 1: in February of nineteen eighty seven. In his opening arguments,

25
00:02:03,596 --> 00:02:07,436
Speaker 1: the assistant US attorney at the time, Robert Kennedy, described

26
00:02:07,556 --> 00:02:11,156
Speaker 1: Lee Rich as the classic kingpin, living in a fancy

27
00:02:11,196 --> 00:02:15,156
Speaker 1: house in the Caymans, throwing lavish parties, flying around in

28
00:02:15,236 --> 00:02:19,876
Speaker 1: his lear jet, and raking in millions. And he depicted

29
00:02:19,876 --> 00:02:23,636
Speaker 1: Stephen Kaylish as the field general quote, a leader who

30
00:02:23,716 --> 00:02:26,556
Speaker 1: inspired other people to work for him and work for

31
00:02:26,636 --> 00:02:31,596
Speaker 1: him very efficiently. Quote. As the prosecution started making its case,

32
00:02:31,876 --> 00:02:35,596
Speaker 1: Stephen wasn't hopeful. We've been in tramper about six weeks

33
00:02:36,156 --> 00:02:40,036
Speaker 1: and they've been about fifty or sixty witnesses, and it

34
00:02:40,116 --> 00:02:49,196
Speaker 1: was a joke because we were cooked. The prosecutors had

35
00:02:49,236 --> 00:02:54,996
Speaker 1: an army of witnesses, truck drivers, pilots, boat captains, radio operators,

36
00:02:55,356 --> 00:02:58,196
Speaker 1: and even the bail throwers who had unloaded the drugs.

37
00:02:58,836 --> 00:03:03,676
Speaker 1: Mountains of incriminating evidence started piling up. Stephen claims that

38
00:03:03,716 --> 00:03:06,716
Speaker 1: at some point he began encouraging people to testify against

39
00:03:06,796 --> 00:03:10,716
Speaker 1: him to save themselves, and turns out Stephen was making

40
00:03:10,756 --> 00:03:13,916
Speaker 1: plans of his own. One day, a few weeks into

41
00:03:13,956 --> 00:03:17,036
Speaker 1: the trial, Lee says that his partner in crime, the

42
00:03:17,116 --> 00:03:22,156
Speaker 1: gentleman smuggler, kind of vanished. They had moved him out

43
00:03:22,196 --> 00:03:24,476
Speaker 1: of the cell the night before, afraid, you know, somebody's

44
00:03:24,476 --> 00:03:27,516
Speaker 1: going to stick him. So my lawyer says, yeah, he

45
00:03:27,996 --> 00:03:31,516
Speaker 1: rolled Lee. He's become an informant. When your lawyer says

46
00:03:31,516 --> 00:03:34,596
Speaker 1: that you, what's your reaction. Well, I wasn't happy. I

47
00:03:34,596 --> 00:03:36,556
Speaker 1: can tell you that I was thinking that that's a

48
00:03:36,596 --> 00:03:39,636
Speaker 1: real dirt bag. I know he's saving his ass, but

49
00:03:40,076 --> 00:03:42,476
Speaker 1: I was looking at life in prison, no parole, and

50
00:03:42,516 --> 00:03:47,836
Speaker 1: so was he. Lee claims he would never have done this.

51
00:03:49,396 --> 00:03:53,796
Speaker 1: I'd never testified in a courtroom against anybody ever, never will.

52
00:03:54,836 --> 00:03:57,556
Speaker 1: It's not in my blood to turn in people and

53
00:03:58,076 --> 00:04:02,516
Speaker 1: never will be. Stephen remembers this all differently in his

54
00:04:02,756 --> 00:04:05,996
Speaker 1: telling of events. He doesn't just disappear one day during

55
00:04:06,036 --> 00:04:09,596
Speaker 1: the trial. Instead, he was candid with Lee and told

56
00:04:09,676 --> 00:04:14,236
Speaker 1: him exactly what he intended to do. I said, I'm

57
00:04:14,276 --> 00:04:17,756
Speaker 1: the only one that holds any cards here, and those

58
00:04:17,836 --> 00:04:23,156
Speaker 1: cards in Noriega. In my relationship with Noriega, I said,

59
00:04:24,156 --> 00:04:26,356
Speaker 1: I'm not going to sit through this trial any longer.

60
00:04:28,396 --> 00:04:32,076
Speaker 1: In fact, Stephen had been talking with prosecutors for months

61
00:04:32,116 --> 00:04:35,436
Speaker 1: sussing out the possibility of a deal because Stephen thought

62
00:04:35,676 --> 00:04:38,476
Speaker 1: he might have a get out of jail free card.

63
00:04:39,876 --> 00:04:43,876
Speaker 1: I just knew that the information that I could divulge

64
00:04:43,916 --> 00:04:49,516
Speaker 1: about Noriega and his activities were a bombshell. There's no

65
00:04:49,556 --> 00:04:53,356
Speaker 1: doubt in my mind that there's ramifications. They go all

66
00:04:53,396 --> 00:04:56,436
Speaker 1: the way to the top. I mean literally from Reagan

67
00:04:56,516 --> 00:05:06,956
Speaker 1: on down. I'm Jake Halbern and this is Deep Cover,

68
00:05:08,556 --> 00:05:39,156
Speaker 1: Episode eight, the Political shit Storm. Stephen Kaylish was a

69
00:05:39,196 --> 00:05:43,276
Speaker 1: man who always had a backup plan. Long before he

70
00:05:43,316 --> 00:05:46,516
Speaker 1: was ever arrested. He had hired those Special Forces guys

71
00:05:46,556 --> 00:05:49,396
Speaker 1: to break him out if need be, But in the end,

72
00:05:49,516 --> 00:05:53,716
Speaker 1: he couldn't stomach the possibility that someone might die. I said,

73
00:05:53,756 --> 00:05:56,916
Speaker 1: well that's a deal breaker. I said, I've never harmed

74
00:05:56,916 --> 00:05:59,196
Speaker 1: anybody in my life. I'm not going to do it now.

75
00:06:00,196 --> 00:06:01,836
Speaker 1: I said, if they can't get me out of here

76
00:06:01,876 --> 00:06:06,636
Speaker 1: without somebody being hurt, then I'll figure out another way.

77
00:06:07,556 --> 00:06:10,516
Speaker 1: And it turns out he did another way, or so

78
00:06:10,676 --> 00:06:17,836
Speaker 1: he thought, and it involved his friend, General Noriega. General

79
00:06:17,876 --> 00:06:21,036
Speaker 1: Noriega had always been Steven's ace in the hole. When

80
00:06:21,076 --> 00:06:24,236
Speaker 1: Stephen was a fugitive living in Panama, Noriega gave him

81
00:06:24,236 --> 00:06:26,516
Speaker 1: a safe haven, a way to launder his money, a

82
00:06:26,556 --> 00:06:30,756
Speaker 1: way to keep smuggling drugs. And now once again, Stephen's

83
00:06:30,796 --> 00:06:35,436
Speaker 1: relationship with Noriega might come in handy. I didn't know

84
00:06:35,476 --> 00:06:37,836
Speaker 1: how it was going to work out. I didn't know

85
00:06:37,876 --> 00:06:43,676
Speaker 1: if they would drop charges. I had no idea how

86
00:06:43,716 --> 00:06:47,636
Speaker 1: everything was going to play out. By going public with

87
00:06:47,716 --> 00:06:51,036
Speaker 1: his story, Stephen understood he might make some enemies. He

88
00:06:51,116 --> 00:06:54,636
Speaker 1: knew that Noriega had allies in Washington, DC, people who

89
00:06:54,716 --> 00:06:58,796
Speaker 1: might not want this getting out. I mean a lot

90
00:06:58,796 --> 00:07:01,876
Speaker 1: of trepidation, you know, I have to be really careful

91
00:07:01,916 --> 00:07:06,236
Speaker 1: about you know, who I disclosed, as to how it's disclosed,

92
00:07:06,276 --> 00:07:10,356
Speaker 1: whether it's going to become public. So it's very very

93
00:07:11,556 --> 00:07:21,796
Speaker 1: secret and very concerning. Stephen wouldn't be the first person

94
00:07:21,836 --> 00:07:25,756
Speaker 1: to offer up dirt on Noriega. The famous investigative journalist

95
00:07:25,796 --> 00:07:28,476
Speaker 1: Seymour Hirsch had written a front page article in the

96
00:07:28,476 --> 00:07:32,276
Speaker 1: New York Times about Noriega about eight months before the trial.

97
00:07:32,796 --> 00:07:35,996
Speaker 1: It was damning. Hirsh wrote that Noriega was involved in

98
00:07:36,076 --> 00:07:39,876
Speaker 1: money laundering and that he was quote a secret partner

99
00:07:40,196 --> 00:07:44,556
Speaker 1: end quote in a drug smuggling business. The article seemed

100
00:07:44,596 --> 00:07:48,796
Speaker 1: to be describing Noriega's arrangement with Stephen Kaylish exactly, but

101
00:07:49,276 --> 00:07:53,156
Speaker 1: it was all pretty vague. Hirsch relied entirely on anonymous

102
00:07:53,196 --> 00:07:57,996
Speaker 1: sources in theory Stephen could change all of that. He

103
00:07:58,036 --> 00:08:01,116
Speaker 1: could give these allegations a name and a face and

104
00:08:01,196 --> 00:08:05,276
Speaker 1: a storyline. So at least six months before he went

105
00:08:05,316 --> 00:08:08,396
Speaker 1: on trial down in Tampa with Lee Rich, Stephen had

106
00:08:08,516 --> 00:08:11,916
Speaker 1: already been gone to talk with prosecutors, hinting at what

107
00:08:11,996 --> 00:08:16,036
Speaker 1: he knew that one of America's top allies was actually

108
00:08:16,076 --> 00:08:20,716
Speaker 1: a drug trafficker. One prosecutor in particular took a keen interest.

109
00:08:21,396 --> 00:08:25,436
Speaker 1: Doug McCullough. McCullough was the first US attorney for the

110
00:08:25,476 --> 00:08:28,716
Speaker 1: Eastern District of North Carolina. He had his own case

111
00:08:28,756 --> 00:08:32,476
Speaker 1: against Stephen. Remember that ghost ship from episode four, the

112
00:08:32,516 --> 00:08:34,556
Speaker 1: one that gets abandoned in the harbor with all the

113
00:08:34,596 --> 00:08:38,196
Speaker 1: marijuana in it. Doug was working on that case. He'd

114
00:08:38,196 --> 00:08:40,996
Speaker 1: been in touch with Stephen's lawyers and had gotten word

115
00:08:41,036 --> 00:08:44,676
Speaker 1: that Stephen had secrets to tell that went far beyond

116
00:08:44,716 --> 00:08:48,996
Speaker 1: the ghost Ship. Well, I knew Kaylish had this evidence

117
00:08:49,116 --> 00:08:52,876
Speaker 1: that would implicate Noriega and money laundron. His lawyers had

118
00:08:52,916 --> 00:08:55,236
Speaker 1: told us that in what's called a proffer, But I

119
00:08:55,276 --> 00:08:57,476
Speaker 1: wanted to hear it from Kaylish's own mouth and see

120
00:08:57,556 --> 00:09:00,556
Speaker 1: what kind of person he was. So Doug arranges for

121
00:09:00,596 --> 00:09:03,876
Speaker 1: Stephen to travel up to North Carolina. Well, they put

122
00:09:03,876 --> 00:09:07,996
Speaker 1: me in some shitty gel I mean it just typical

123
00:09:08,036 --> 00:09:12,596
Speaker 1: red and at shit home. And then Doug takes me

124
00:09:12,636 --> 00:09:16,516
Speaker 1: back to his officers, right, and he goes, well, we

125
00:09:16,596 --> 00:09:19,196
Speaker 1: want to take you to secure location and sit down

126
00:09:19,236 --> 00:09:22,836
Speaker 1: with the INDEP review. Stephen knew what Doug wanted to

127
00:09:22,876 --> 00:09:26,076
Speaker 1: talk about. The question was what did Doug want to

128
00:09:26,076 --> 00:09:29,716
Speaker 1: do with it? This information was currency, and one way

129
00:09:29,796 --> 00:09:33,756
Speaker 1: or another, Stephen wanted to profit from it. Either way.

130
00:09:33,876 --> 00:09:36,036
Speaker 1: If they want me to talk, I want something for it.

131
00:09:36,316 --> 00:09:38,236
Speaker 1: If they want me to shut up, I want something

132
00:09:38,276 --> 00:09:41,156
Speaker 1: for it. I don't give a shit. They it's their call,

133
00:09:41,276 --> 00:09:43,636
Speaker 1: it's not my call. Well, I'm just going to tell

134
00:09:43,676 --> 00:09:46,596
Speaker 1: the story and then let the cards fall the way

135
00:09:47,036 --> 00:09:52,756
Speaker 1: however they fall. So they all get out to Camp Lejeerne,

136
00:09:52,996 --> 00:09:56,596
Speaker 1: the big Marine Corps base in North Carolina. Doug McCullough,

137
00:09:56,716 --> 00:10:00,636
Speaker 1: the prosecutor, his team, along with Stephen and his defense lawyers.

138
00:10:01,156 --> 00:10:04,476
Speaker 1: Doug has arranged for two trailers, one for the prosecution

139
00:10:04,716 --> 00:10:08,596
Speaker 1: and one for the defense team. Stephen remembers the Marine

140
00:10:08,596 --> 00:10:12,196
Speaker 1: Guards were stationed all over with their M sixteens. Everyone

141
00:10:12,236 --> 00:10:15,756
Speaker 1: piles into one of the trailers and Stephen starts telling

142
00:10:15,796 --> 00:10:21,476
Speaker 1: his story high detail, my smuckling operations, obviously in North Carolina,

143
00:10:21,556 --> 00:10:24,356
Speaker 1: which is one of the things that concerned him. But

144
00:10:24,956 --> 00:10:28,196
Speaker 1: it leaked all up to me getting to Panamall, and

145
00:10:28,276 --> 00:10:33,676
Speaker 1: then about me going to Panamall and me paying off Noriega,

146
00:10:33,756 --> 00:10:38,796
Speaker 1: and then me buying helicopters and jets for Noriega. Doug's

147
00:10:39,156 --> 00:10:44,196
Speaker 1: basically almost shell shocked. I mean, he's visibly shaken by

148
00:10:44,236 --> 00:10:48,996
Speaker 1: it all. Doug wasn't naive he understood that a guy

149
00:10:49,036 --> 00:10:53,516
Speaker 1: like Noriega might be corrupt. What blew him away was Stephen.

150
00:10:53,996 --> 00:10:56,836
Speaker 1: Here was a runaway kid from Texas who become a

151
00:10:56,916 --> 00:11:02,436
Speaker 1: drug tycoon and was apparently Noriega's business partner. And he

152
00:11:02,516 --> 00:11:06,996
Speaker 1: had evidence. He had airplane logs that showed on his

153
00:11:07,196 --> 00:11:12,596
Speaker 1: private jet him flying Noriega around. These logs show that

154
00:11:12,676 --> 00:11:16,196
Speaker 1: Noriega used Stephen's plane during a trip to the United States,

155
00:11:16,676 --> 00:11:20,116
Speaker 1: and this trip it was a big deal. Noriega went

156
00:11:20,156 --> 00:11:22,596
Speaker 1: to d C. I met with the Secretary of Defense

157
00:11:23,076 --> 00:11:26,556
Speaker 1: and then the director of the CIA. There's a celebratory

158
00:11:26,636 --> 00:11:29,796
Speaker 1: lunch for him at the Pentagon. It's pretty much a

159
00:11:29,836 --> 00:11:34,716
Speaker 1: hero's welcome. So yeah, Stephen's evidence would make a lot

160
00:11:34,716 --> 00:11:44,276
Speaker 1: of people look very bad. The debriefing session goes on

161
00:11:44,436 --> 00:11:49,596
Speaker 1: and on until finally Stephen says, okay, guys, I've talked

162
00:11:49,596 --> 00:11:52,116
Speaker 1: for five or six hours. I said, now it's my turn.

163
00:11:52,676 --> 00:11:55,276
Speaker 1: I want to see my wife. Are you all satisfied?

164
00:11:56,156 --> 00:11:58,996
Speaker 1: Stephen's wife was actually waiting to meet with him. That

165
00:11:59,116 --> 00:12:01,076
Speaker 1: was part of the deal that Stephen says he worked

166
00:12:01,116 --> 00:12:04,796
Speaker 1: out with Doug ahead of time. Ever, the gentleman smuggler,

167
00:12:05,036 --> 00:12:09,596
Speaker 1: Stephen had asked for some very gentlemanly terms. He wanted dinner,

168
00:12:09,796 --> 00:12:16,236
Speaker 1: and he wanted a trailer overlooking the Atlantic. And I said, okay, well,

169
00:12:16,876 --> 00:12:20,556
Speaker 1: if you're satisfied, I want my wife and I have

170
00:12:20,676 --> 00:12:25,596
Speaker 1: several hours together. And Duck goes more than satisfied. They

171
00:12:25,636 --> 00:12:29,516
Speaker 1: brought me a nice steak dinner and beautiful meal. I

172
00:12:29,556 --> 00:12:35,196
Speaker 1: think a bottle of champagne, and my wife made love

173
00:12:35,236 --> 00:12:39,636
Speaker 1: a couple of times. After I finished with my wife,

174
00:12:39,756 --> 00:12:43,156
Speaker 1: Duck comes in and he goes, We're going to Washington,

175
00:12:43,276 --> 00:12:47,756
Speaker 1: d C. Because I've been ordered by my boss that

176
00:12:48,356 --> 00:12:52,556
Speaker 1: they won't you at Main Justice in Marshington, d C.

177
00:12:53,116 --> 00:12:57,556
Speaker 1: For deep briefing. A few days later, they all fly

178
00:12:57,676 --> 00:13:00,316
Speaker 1: up to DC together to the headquarters of the Department

179
00:13:00,356 --> 00:13:03,516
Speaker 1: of Justice. According to Stephen, they go to a big

180
00:13:03,556 --> 00:13:06,356
Speaker 1: conference room and meet with a whole host of officials,

181
00:13:06,876 --> 00:13:11,476
Speaker 1: and once again Stephen tells his story. When it's all over,

182
00:13:11,996 --> 00:13:15,476
Speaker 1: they basically just thank him for his time. Seemed like

183
00:13:15,756 --> 00:13:18,596
Speaker 1: a dead end, but toward the end of the day,

184
00:13:18,836 --> 00:13:22,476
Speaker 1: Doug McCullough remembers an assistant Attorney General pulling him aside

185
00:13:22,516 --> 00:13:26,316
Speaker 1: and saying, all of this information has been passed up

186
00:13:26,356 --> 00:13:31,996
Speaker 1: to the National Security Council, so apparently people were taking notice.

187
00:13:34,396 --> 00:13:38,076
Speaker 1: For all of his efforts, Stephen gets pretty much zilch.

188
00:13:38,636 --> 00:13:40,356
Speaker 1: No one gives him a get out of jail free

189
00:13:40,396 --> 00:13:43,956
Speaker 1: card or really anything close to it. So in February

190
00:13:44,036 --> 00:13:47,276
Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty seven, Stephen goes on trial in Tampa

191
00:13:47,316 --> 00:13:51,036
Speaker 1: alongside his old partner Lee Rich. For a few weeks

192
00:13:51,076 --> 00:13:54,636
Speaker 1: they're fighting it out together, but by mid March, Stephen

193
00:13:54,716 --> 00:13:57,476
Speaker 1: says he sees the writing on the wall. There's no

194
00:13:57,516 --> 00:14:00,796
Speaker 1: winning this case. So he reaches a deal with prosecutors.

195
00:14:01,116 --> 00:14:04,836
Speaker 1: As they say in the business, he joins Team USA

196
00:14:04,956 --> 00:14:08,356
Speaker 1: and agrees to testify for the government. In return, he

197
00:14:08,436 --> 00:14:11,436
Speaker 1: gets well less than he hoped for. He's promised a

198
00:14:11,516 --> 00:14:15,796
Speaker 1: jail sentence of no more than twenty years. Meanwhile, Lee

199
00:14:15,876 --> 00:14:18,916
Speaker 1: Rich keeps defending himself at trial, but in the end

200
00:14:19,156 --> 00:14:23,956
Speaker 1: he loses. He's found guilty of running a continuing criminal enterprise.

201
00:14:24,676 --> 00:14:28,196
Speaker 1: His sentencing hearing was brutal. The prosecutor said, good old

202
00:14:28,196 --> 00:14:33,516
Speaker 1: mister Beach Club had quote no redeeming social value end quote.

203
00:14:33,916 --> 00:14:37,996
Speaker 1: He was sentenced to thirty years. So it seemed like

204
00:14:38,036 --> 00:14:40,956
Speaker 1: Steven's big move and the whole story of the General

205
00:14:41,076 --> 00:14:45,676
Speaker 1: went pretty much nowhere, a big dud. But that wasn't

206
00:14:45,676 --> 00:14:50,076
Speaker 1: the case. By peddling his story around in DC and elsewhere,

207
00:14:50,396 --> 00:14:55,236
Speaker 1: he'd gotten people talking and started something much much bigger

208
00:14:55,276 --> 00:14:59,596
Speaker 1: than he ever imagined. More on that after the break,

209
00:15:12,956 --> 00:15:15,676
Speaker 1: so Stephen's story was slowly making its way through the

210
00:15:15,716 --> 00:15:18,436
Speaker 1: grape vine in Washington, d C. And it turns out

211
00:15:18,556 --> 00:15:23,036
Speaker 1: totally independent of this, another investigator named Jack Blum was

212
00:15:23,116 --> 00:15:26,876
Speaker 1: also taking a closer look at Noriega. Jack was special

213
00:15:26,916 --> 00:15:30,156
Speaker 1: counsel for the Senate Form Relations Committee under John Carey,

214
00:15:30,516 --> 00:15:33,636
Speaker 1: and Jack, like everybody else, had heard the rumors and

215
00:15:33,716 --> 00:15:36,516
Speaker 1: read the article in the New York Times about Noriega

216
00:15:36,636 --> 00:15:40,596
Speaker 1: and his alleged drug trafficking. To Jack, it was intriguing,

217
00:15:40,916 --> 00:15:44,476
Speaker 1: but not an open and shut case. I didn't have

218
00:15:44,556 --> 00:15:48,516
Speaker 1: a smoking gun the time, certainly didn't have a smoking gun,

219
00:15:48,556 --> 00:15:52,916
Speaker 1: but there was enough there. So glad anybody who really

220
00:15:53,476 --> 00:15:56,916
Speaker 1: wanted to know could find out a lot more. Jack

221
00:15:56,996 --> 00:16:00,396
Speaker 1: was interested not just in Noriega, but in all the

222
00:16:00,476 --> 00:16:03,676
Speaker 1: particulars of how drugs were being smuggled and how money

223
00:16:03,796 --> 00:16:06,996
Speaker 1: was being laundered, and so in the mid eighties this

224
00:16:07,076 --> 00:16:10,636
Speaker 1: became Jack Blum's mission. But he was not just some

225
00:16:10,756 --> 00:16:14,636
Speaker 1: policy walk sitting in some room with his whiteboard. Jack

226
00:16:14,756 --> 00:16:21,956
Speaker 1: was more like, well, a detective. I went to visit

227
00:16:21,996 --> 00:16:26,076
Speaker 1: these people in jail, spending time talking to them. So

228
00:16:26,156 --> 00:16:31,116
Speaker 1: I actually became quite a visitor to the federal prison system.

229
00:16:31,156 --> 00:16:33,756
Speaker 1: And of all the people that he interviewed. One in

230
00:16:33,796 --> 00:16:39,276
Speaker 1: particular still stands out to this day. I remember, particularly

231
00:16:39,756 --> 00:16:43,756
Speaker 1: Lee Rich. The words that come to mind are clean cut,

232
00:16:44,836 --> 00:16:48,676
Speaker 1: nice guy. I could go out drinking with them, I

233
00:16:48,716 --> 00:16:51,436
Speaker 1: could have him as a business partner. One of the

234
00:16:51,516 --> 00:16:59,236
Speaker 1: things that came clear was how normal and routine and

235
00:16:59,636 --> 00:17:04,276
Speaker 1: pleasant some of these five star criminals turned out to be.

236
00:17:05,956 --> 00:17:09,076
Speaker 1: And Lee starts to tell his story all about how

237
00:17:09,276 --> 00:17:11,876
Speaker 1: he smuggled his drugs and how he laundered his money

238
00:17:12,116 --> 00:17:16,796
Speaker 1: with the help of the General Manuel Noriega. It was

239
00:17:17,116 --> 00:17:22,156
Speaker 1: quite a revelation. People were talking about Noriego was in

240
00:17:22,276 --> 00:17:25,756
Speaker 1: charge of everything in Panama and he was our guy.

241
00:17:27,156 --> 00:17:29,836
Speaker 1: Well you heard this, and it was like, wait a minute,

242
00:17:29,836 --> 00:17:32,516
Speaker 1: he's not our guy. It was one thing to have

243
00:17:32,556 --> 00:17:36,436
Speaker 1: a newspaper article with a bunch of unnamed sources, but

244
00:17:36,516 --> 00:17:39,716
Speaker 1: it was another thing entirely to have a guy like

245
00:17:39,836 --> 00:17:45,436
Speaker 1: mister Beach Club who could verify it all and say basically, yeah, General,

246
00:17:45,436 --> 00:17:49,996
Speaker 1: Mammo Noriega, he was our business partner, and here exactly

247
00:17:50,196 --> 00:17:53,516
Speaker 1: is how he helped us launder our money. The further

248
00:17:53,636 --> 00:17:57,316
Speaker 1: into this mess that I got more apparent, it became

249
00:17:57,956 --> 00:18:01,556
Speaker 1: that it was a very tangled mess. You start looking

250
00:18:01,596 --> 00:18:05,316
Speaker 1: at the awards that were given to Noriego. There are

251
00:18:05,316 --> 00:18:11,316
Speaker 1: photographs of the top man in the giving plaques to

252
00:18:11,476 --> 00:18:24,036
Speaker 1: Noriega in Panama, congratulating him for sustain various busts. Jack

253
00:18:24,116 --> 00:18:27,756
Speaker 1: began to piece it all together what exactly Noriega had

254
00:18:27,796 --> 00:18:30,876
Speaker 1: been doing. He'd been cooperating with the US War on

255
00:18:30,996 --> 00:18:36,556
Speaker 1: Drugs kind of Basically, Noriego would apprehend some drug smugglers,

256
00:18:36,916 --> 00:18:40,436
Speaker 1: but he was being very selective about which bad guys

257
00:18:40,476 --> 00:18:43,596
Speaker 1: he went after, namely the guys who didn't use his

258
00:18:43,676 --> 00:18:49,156
Speaker 1: money laundering services. Those guys they got busted. All the while,

259
00:18:49,436 --> 00:18:53,796
Speaker 1: Noriego is providing valuable info to the CIA, because well,

260
00:18:54,356 --> 00:18:58,356
Speaker 1: he did know all kinds of things. Noriego's talking to

261
00:18:58,476 --> 00:19:03,316
Speaker 1: Fidel Castro, Noriego's relating to all of the heads of

262
00:19:03,516 --> 00:19:09,076
Speaker 1: state and the characters who were all over Central America

263
00:19:09,596 --> 00:19:13,756
Speaker 1: one way or another. He's got his hands in every pie. Now,

264
00:19:13,796 --> 00:19:17,356
Speaker 1: of course, the stupidity of it is he's really working

265
00:19:17,396 --> 00:19:21,756
Speaker 1: for himself. The more that Jack looked into who Noriega

266
00:19:21,956 --> 00:19:25,356
Speaker 1: was and how he operated, the more troubling it became.

267
00:19:25,876 --> 00:19:29,316
Speaker 1: At one point, Jack interviewed one of Noriega's pilots, who

268
00:19:29,356 --> 00:19:33,716
Speaker 1: detailed the murder of Hugo Spataphora. Spataphora was a prominent

269
00:19:33,836 --> 00:19:37,916
Speaker 1: doctor and revolutionary who'd criticized Noriega for his involvement in

270
00:19:37,916 --> 00:19:41,276
Speaker 1: the drug trade, and he paid for it. In nineteen

271
00:19:41,276 --> 00:19:45,716
Speaker 1: eighty five, some Panamanian soldiers abducted him, and his decapitated

272
00:19:45,756 --> 00:19:51,676
Speaker 1: body was later found in a ravine. The notion of

273
00:19:51,836 --> 00:19:55,996
Speaker 1: torturing and beheading his opponent and doing it the way

274
00:19:56,076 --> 00:20:00,196
Speaker 1: he did it, this man is really evil from top

275
00:20:00,236 --> 00:20:04,916
Speaker 1: to bottom. Up until now, Jack says, Noriega's bad behavior

276
00:20:04,956 --> 00:20:08,276
Speaker 1: had been tolerated because he was so helpful to agencies

277
00:20:08,316 --> 00:20:12,916
Speaker 1: like the CIA. I actually found an internal CIA document

278
00:20:12,996 --> 00:20:18,116
Speaker 1: from the time marked secret that's since been declassified. It said, quote,

279
00:20:18,676 --> 00:20:21,756
Speaker 1: we have no smoking gun on Noriega, but he is

280
00:20:21,876 --> 00:20:27,316
Speaker 1: closely associated with some connected to the drug trade. So yeah,

281
00:20:27,596 --> 00:20:32,076
Speaker 1: they had an inkling. So the CIA had its agenda

282
00:20:32,516 --> 00:20:36,596
Speaker 1: for Panama. They were interested in their mission and nothing else.

283
00:20:37,596 --> 00:20:42,116
Speaker 1: And their response, if you ask why are you doing

284
00:20:42,196 --> 00:20:46,996
Speaker 1: business with all these terrible characters was pretty simple. Terrible

285
00:20:47,116 --> 00:20:51,396
Speaker 1: characters or are stock and trade. It's the criminals who

286
00:20:51,476 --> 00:20:54,276
Speaker 1: know how to get around the law and get around

287
00:20:54,356 --> 00:20:58,036
Speaker 1: all of the systems and who can help us do

288
00:20:58,356 --> 00:21:02,476
Speaker 1: our job. It was kind of like what Ned Timmins

289
00:21:02,516 --> 00:21:05,276
Speaker 1: had told me from the very beginning. If you wanted

290
00:21:05,316 --> 00:21:08,516
Speaker 1: to get intel on the bad guys, well, then you

291
00:21:08,596 --> 00:21:15,916
Speaker 1: also had to play with the bad guys. For Jack Blum,

292
00:21:15,956 --> 00:21:18,276
Speaker 1: the only way to blow all of this open was

293
00:21:18,316 --> 00:21:22,036
Speaker 1: to hold congressional hearings and use guys like mister Beach

294
00:21:22,036 --> 00:21:26,196
Speaker 1: Club to go public and make some headlines. More on that.

295
00:21:26,596 --> 00:21:33,396
Speaker 1: After the break In early nineteen eighty eight, about a

296
00:21:33,476 --> 00:21:36,436
Speaker 1: year after they'd gone on trial down in Tampa, Lee

297
00:21:36,516 --> 00:21:41,036
Speaker 1: Rich and Stephen Kaylish went public with their story about Noriega,

298
00:21:41,116 --> 00:21:44,676
Speaker 1: and they did so in the biggest possible way. In Washington,

299
00:21:44,756 --> 00:21:48,196
Speaker 1: d C. Before the Senate in front of live TV cameras.

300
00:21:49,116 --> 00:21:51,756
Speaker 1: The US Congress today heard about a strange partnership between

301
00:21:51,836 --> 00:21:56,276
Speaker 1: Panama's military rule, Manuel Noriega, and a convicted American drug dealer.

302
00:21:56,916 --> 00:22:00,036
Speaker 1: At this point, many senators were interested in the subject

303
00:22:00,036 --> 00:22:04,196
Speaker 1: of narco trafficking in general. There were multiple sets of hearings.

304
00:22:04,556 --> 00:22:09,476
Speaker 1: Jack Blum organized one of them. Altogether. They created a specticle.

305
00:22:09,756 --> 00:22:13,076
Speaker 1: A parade of former criminals showed up to tell their stories.

306
00:22:13,636 --> 00:22:16,876
Speaker 1: Stephen and Lee hope that by talking publicly, they'd get

307
00:22:16,876 --> 00:22:24,356
Speaker 1: their jail sentences reduced. On TV, Stephen is super clean cut,

308
00:22:24,596 --> 00:22:29,036
Speaker 1: perfectly combed hair, huge black grim classes a dark suit.

309
00:22:29,396 --> 00:22:31,636
Speaker 1: He looks like he could be a stockbroker on his

310
00:22:31,716 --> 00:22:35,756
Speaker 1: lunch break, and he's telling a story, but he's reading it,

311
00:22:36,076 --> 00:22:39,796
Speaker 1: checking his script constantly, not nervously, just like he doesn't

312
00:22:39,796 --> 00:22:42,916
Speaker 1: want to get a single detail wrong. In his testimony,

313
00:22:43,116 --> 00:22:46,956
Speaker 1: Stephen explains how exactly he'd become friends with the General.

314
00:22:47,756 --> 00:22:51,716
Speaker 1: I was taken to General Noriega's private home. I had

315
00:22:51,756 --> 00:22:56,516
Speaker 1: been instructed bring a gift for the General large enough

316
00:22:56,556 --> 00:23:00,636
Speaker 1: to show how serious I was about doing business in Panama.

317
00:23:00,996 --> 00:23:04,756
Speaker 1: I placed three hundred thousand dollars cares in my briefcase.

318
00:23:05,956 --> 00:23:08,916
Speaker 1: The briefcase stuff with cash would become an icon for

319
00:23:08,916 --> 00:23:12,436
Speaker 1: this scandal that unfolded, kind of like Monica Lewinsky's dress

320
00:23:12,596 --> 00:23:16,196
Speaker 1: or Richard Nixon's White House tapes. It was a singular

321
00:23:16,276 --> 00:23:19,516
Speaker 1: image that people could picture and that told the whole story.

322
00:23:19,956 --> 00:23:22,716
Speaker 1: Here was the head of state hosting a drug dealer

323
00:23:22,836 --> 00:23:26,996
Speaker 1: in his house and accepting a briefcase stuffed with bills.

324
00:23:30,276 --> 00:23:32,596
Speaker 1: A few months later, at a separate set of hearings.

325
00:23:32,796 --> 00:23:36,756
Speaker 1: Lee Rich, mister Beach Club, also testified. He backed up

326
00:23:36,796 --> 00:23:40,836
Speaker 1: Stephen Kaylish's account, corroborating the now famous story of the

327
00:23:40,876 --> 00:23:44,556
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars in the briefcase Mike Vogel, the

328
00:23:44,636 --> 00:23:49,116
Speaker 1: Detroit grocery guy. He testified two. In the time between

329
00:23:49,116 --> 00:23:52,836
Speaker 1: Stephen Kaylish and Lee Rich's testimonies, there was big news.

330
00:23:53,236 --> 00:23:57,356
Speaker 1: The US Justice Department was going after Noriega, the military

331
00:23:57,436 --> 00:24:00,836
Speaker 1: leader of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, was indited today on

332
00:24:00,956 --> 00:24:07,596
Speaker 1: charges of drug smuggling and racketeering. In all of US history,

333
00:24:07,796 --> 00:24:11,076
Speaker 1: this was only the time that the Justice Department had

334
00:24:11,076 --> 00:24:14,596
Speaker 1: indicted the head of a foreign nation. Only problem was,

335
00:24:15,116 --> 00:24:19,956
Speaker 1: Noriega was still safely situated in Panama, very much in control.

336
00:24:20,956 --> 00:24:25,916
Speaker 1: The indictment only created more controversy. The legendary Congressman Charles

337
00:24:25,916 --> 00:24:30,596
Speaker 1: Wrangel accused the Reagan administration of quote, a full blown

338
00:24:30,716 --> 00:24:34,716
Speaker 1: cover up of the facts end quote. At last, the

339
00:24:34,796 --> 00:24:41,516
Speaker 1: political shit storm had arrived. Noriega didn't just stand by

340
00:24:41,556 --> 00:24:44,236
Speaker 1: and watch all of this silently. In the press, he

341
00:24:44,276 --> 00:24:47,156
Speaker 1: defended himself. He said that the US was really just

342
00:24:47,236 --> 00:24:49,796
Speaker 1: interested in getting rid of him so it could keep

343
00:24:49,836 --> 00:24:53,836
Speaker 1: control over the Panama Canal beyond nineteen ninety nine when

344
00:24:53,836 --> 00:24:56,996
Speaker 1: the US was supposed to be out of there. Noriega

345
00:24:57,116 --> 00:25:00,116
Speaker 1: actually did an interview with Mike Wallace of CBS to

346
00:25:00,196 --> 00:25:03,676
Speaker 1: make his case. As you know, general, the American people

347
00:25:03,676 --> 00:25:07,436
Speaker 1: are being told at this moment, but Monde Noriega is

348
00:25:07,476 --> 00:25:11,516
Speaker 1: a criminal, a drug dealer, He is an arms dealer,

349
00:25:11,876 --> 00:25:15,596
Speaker 1: He is a money launderer. Question why Noriega and why now?

350
00:25:15,996 --> 00:25:23,676
Speaker 1: But precisely in the interview, Noriega said, essentially, look, all

351
00:25:23,716 --> 00:25:27,636
Speaker 1: of this is political conspiracy. This is retribution because I

352
00:25:27,636 --> 00:25:30,836
Speaker 1: wouldn't do the US's dirty work in Nicaragua and help

353
00:25:30,876 --> 00:25:34,996
Speaker 1: the contrast. During the sixty minutes interview, Wallace asked about

354
00:25:35,036 --> 00:25:41,436
Speaker 1: Stephen Kaylish. You know Stephen Michael Kaylish a kive Banama here, Banama.

355
00:25:41,476 --> 00:25:44,276
Speaker 1: Many people come by when you work in my profession,

356
00:25:44,356 --> 00:25:47,116
Speaker 1: and also as a politician, you see a lot of people,

357
00:25:48,116 --> 00:25:50,396
Speaker 1: not that you know them. I would know Kaylish if

358
00:25:50,396 --> 00:25:52,236
Speaker 1: he gave me three hundred thousand dollars. And he said

359
00:25:52,236 --> 00:25:53,756
Speaker 1: that the first time he met you, he left a

360
00:25:53,796 --> 00:25:56,876
Speaker 1: bag behind the three hundred thousand dollars inside. And he

361
00:25:56,996 --> 00:26:00,956
Speaker 1: also said that you were a full scale co conspirator

362
00:26:01,036 --> 00:26:06,836
Speaker 1: in his drug operation that he paid you eventually millions.

363
00:26:06,836 --> 00:26:09,716
Speaker 1: You were talking about two gunvicts. That's say they both

364
00:26:09,756 --> 00:26:14,316
Speaker 1: gave money. If that doesn't invalidate it, the money for

365
00:26:14,396 --> 00:26:18,396
Speaker 1: what does? This was a big part of Noriega's defense.

366
00:26:18,756 --> 00:26:21,556
Speaker 1: Stephen Kalish is a convict. You can't believe a word

367
00:26:21,596 --> 00:26:28,876
Speaker 1: he says. Look, some of Noriega's critiques were legit, like

368
00:26:28,996 --> 00:26:31,676
Speaker 1: the fact that the US messed around in small countries

369
00:26:31,756 --> 00:26:35,716
Speaker 1: in order to advance its own sketchy interests. Yeah, fair enough.

370
00:26:36,596 --> 00:26:39,676
Speaker 1: But when it came to the drug and money laundering charges,

371
00:26:40,076 --> 00:26:44,516
Speaker 1: the evidence against Noriega was pretty damning. The real question

372
00:26:44,676 --> 00:26:47,236
Speaker 1: on a lot of people's minds was how could the

373
00:26:47,396 --> 00:26:50,396
Speaker 1: US allow this? How could it buddy up with a

374
00:26:50,476 --> 00:26:55,316
Speaker 1: drug trafficker like Noriega because our intelligence services knew what

375
00:26:55,396 --> 00:26:58,876
Speaker 1: he was up to. Two years before the congressional hearings,

376
00:26:59,156 --> 00:27:02,796
Speaker 1: John Poindexter, the National Security Advisor at the time, went

377
00:27:02,876 --> 00:27:05,596
Speaker 1: to Panama. According to The New York Times, he told

378
00:27:05,636 --> 00:27:10,076
Speaker 1: Noriega to quote cut it out. So, Yeah, people knew.

379
00:27:10,836 --> 00:27:13,756
Speaker 1: In fact, as far back as the early nineteen seventies,

380
00:27:14,076 --> 00:27:16,956
Speaker 1: US officials were in the know. They'd heard the allegations

381
00:27:16,956 --> 00:27:20,716
Speaker 1: of Noriega's involvement in the drug trade, and this evidence

382
00:27:20,836 --> 00:27:23,516
Speaker 1: was actually passed along to the US Senate at the

383
00:27:23,596 --> 00:27:27,356
Speaker 1: time when it was negotiating a new treaty with Panama.

384
00:27:27,436 --> 00:27:30,596
Speaker 1: But for years and years, the US had opted to

385
00:27:30,676 --> 00:27:34,996
Speaker 1: do very little about this, not anymore, not after the

386
00:27:35,036 --> 00:27:39,476
Speaker 1: story of the Gentleman's Smuggler and his briefcase. That was it.

387
00:27:47,036 --> 00:27:50,036
Speaker 1: While all of this is going on, the congressional hearings,

388
00:27:50,156 --> 00:27:54,716
Speaker 1: the indictment against Noriega, the growing scandal, Ned Timmins was

389
00:27:54,756 --> 00:27:57,516
Speaker 1: back in Detroit. No one had asked him to testify

390
00:27:57,596 --> 00:28:00,836
Speaker 1: before Congress. Apparently he was just another cog in the

391
00:28:00,876 --> 00:28:03,116
Speaker 1: machine that had helped bring all of this to light.

392
00:28:04,316 --> 00:28:07,196
Speaker 1: But Ned was still plenty busy at work thanks to

393
00:28:07,236 --> 00:28:09,636
Speaker 1: his time on the Lee Rich case. Ned had all

394
00:28:09,716 --> 00:28:12,796
Speaker 1: kinds of contacts in the drug world. One of them

395
00:28:12,836 --> 00:28:15,996
Speaker 1: was a beautiful young woman from Columbia who knew things.

396
00:28:19,596 --> 00:28:21,916
Speaker 1: She was connected with the biggest people in the cartels

397
00:28:22,716 --> 00:28:25,396
Speaker 1: and talked a good game. She knew what she was

398
00:28:25,436 --> 00:28:28,676
Speaker 1: talking about, She knew the right names. These are the

399
00:28:28,676 --> 00:28:32,276
Speaker 1: people that would have supplied the drugs to Likely Rich.

400
00:28:33,716 --> 00:28:35,636
Speaker 1: They are the people that controlled everything on the Earth

401
00:28:35,636 --> 00:28:39,476
Speaker 1: coast to Columbia. It seemed like this could be the

402
00:28:39,516 --> 00:28:43,276
Speaker 1: final piece in the puzzle. After all, Ned and the

403
00:28:43,316 --> 00:28:46,916
Speaker 1: FBI had busted the distributor with the big warehouse in Detroit,

404
00:28:47,316 --> 00:28:50,396
Speaker 1: They'd gotten the master smuggler with his armada of ships.

405
00:28:50,836 --> 00:28:53,916
Speaker 1: They'd gotten the kingpin from his safe haven, and the Caymans,

406
00:28:54,356 --> 00:28:58,516
Speaker 1: even the money launderer Noriega had been indicted, and now

407
00:28:58,956 --> 00:29:16,556
Speaker 1: Ned had a shot at the source. Next time on

408
00:29:16,756 --> 00:29:20,156
Speaker 1: deep Cover, our final episode in the series, A real

409
00:29:20,196 --> 00:29:23,716
Speaker 1: reckoning for Ned with his marriage Anne with the FBI.

410
00:29:25,076 --> 00:29:29,196
Speaker 1: I mean, she was a strikingly beautiful woman and now

411
00:29:29,236 --> 00:29:33,076
Speaker 1: she's sitting here with no husband. She's got no other

412
00:29:33,116 --> 00:29:37,316
Speaker 1: connections besides Ned. Not a good situation to have your

413
00:29:37,356 --> 00:29:41,316
Speaker 1: husband involved in. I mean, you can almost predict trouble.

414
00:29:56,836 --> 00:29:59,996
Speaker 1: Deep Cover is produced by Jacob Smith and edited by

415
00:30:00,076 --> 00:30:04,796
Speaker 1: Karen Schakerjee. Our story editor is Jack hit Original music

416
00:30:04,876 --> 00:30:07,996
Speaker 1: and our theme was composed by Luis Gara and Flawn

417
00:30:08,076 --> 00:30:11,556
Speaker 1: Williams is our engine year fact checking by Amy Gaines.

418
00:30:12,156 --> 00:30:16,636
Speaker 1: Mia Lobell is Pushkin's executive producer. Ned's novel is read

419
00:30:16,636 --> 00:30:21,156
Speaker 1: by Walton Goggins. Special thanks to Julia Barton, Heather Fame,

420
00:30:21,476 --> 00:30:26,996
Speaker 1: Carly mcgliori, Lee to Mullad, Maya Kanig, Eric Sandler, Maggie Taylor,

421
00:30:27,436 --> 00:30:31,996
Speaker 1: Kadija Holland, Zoe Gwenn and Jacob Weisberg at Pushkin Industries.

422
00:30:32,436 --> 00:30:36,996
Speaker 1: Special thanks also to Jeff Singer at Stowaway Entertainment. Additional

423
00:30:36,996 --> 00:30:39,956
Speaker 1: thanks to John Dingis, who wrote Our Man in Panama,

424
00:30:40,276 --> 00:30:45,396
Speaker 1: A meticulously researched, an excellent book. I'm Amuel Noriega. I'm

425
00:30:45,476 --> 00:30:46,196
Speaker 1: Jake Halbern