WEBVTT - Episode 8: The Political Shitstorm 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:28.156 Pushkin, previously on deep cover. FBI agent Ned Timmins finally 0:00:28.236 --> 0:00:32.476 had his victorious moment. The kingpin of the drug smuggling operation, 0:00:32.636 --> 0:00:36.196 Lee Rich aka Mister Beach Club, was nabbed at the 0:00:36.196 --> 0:00:40.236 airport in Jamaica, and then the authorities arrested Mike Vogel, 0:00:40.356 --> 0:00:44.156 the grocery guy in Michigan. We had the whole swat 0:00:44.156 --> 0:00:47.956 team out there lands place all night long waiting for 0:00:48.076 --> 0:00:51.116 word that they had Lee and custody. And once we 0:00:51.196 --> 0:00:56.356 got word, then we had Vogel's house, and Stephen Kaylish, 0:00:56.516 --> 0:01:00.196 the smooth talking gentleman smuggler who'd gotten cozy with General 0:01:00.236 --> 0:01:04.556 Noriega down in Panama, was also behind bars. If you recall, 0:01:04.996 --> 0:01:07.596 Stephen had an escape plan in place. He had a 0:01:07.636 --> 0:01:11.516 group of mercenaries forces guys that he kept on retainer 0:01:11.556 --> 0:01:16.756 for this very purpose. I had a serious escape plan, oh, 0:01:16.836 --> 0:01:19.356 I had one before I ever got arrested. A friend 0:01:19.356 --> 0:01:24.076 of mine's brother ran a special Forces team. I put 0:01:24.156 --> 0:01:26.796 him on one hundred thousand dollars retainer to come and 0:01:26.836 --> 0:01:30.716 rescue me no matter where I was. But the Special 0:01:30.756 --> 0:01:33.916 Forces guys told him there was a catch. They could 0:01:33.956 --> 0:01:37.516 break him out, but in the process someone might get killed. 0:01:38.036 --> 0:01:41.196 This was a problem because the gentleman's smuggler was a 0:01:41.236 --> 0:01:51.956 declared pacifist. So what to do? Lee Rich and his partner, 0:01:52.076 --> 0:01:55.836 Stephen Kaylish decided to fight the charges against them, so 0:01:55.956 --> 0:01:59.556 they were prosecuted together down in Tampa. The trial began 0:01:59.596 --> 0:02:03.516 in February of nineteen eighty seven. In his opening arguments, 0:02:03.596 --> 0:02:07.436 the assistant US attorney at the time, Robert Kennedy, described 0:02:07.556 --> 0:02:11.156 Lee Rich as the classic kingpin, living in a fancy 0:02:11.196 --> 0:02:15.156 house in the Caymans, throwing lavish parties, flying around in 0:02:15.236 --> 0:02:19.876 his lear jet, and raking in millions. And he depicted 0:02:19.876 --> 0:02:23.636 Stephen Kaylish as the field general quote, a leader who 0:02:23.716 --> 0:02:26.556 inspired other people to work for him and work for 0:02:26.636 --> 0:02:31.596 him very efficiently. Quote. As the prosecution started making its case, 0:02:31.876 --> 0:02:35.596 Stephen wasn't hopeful. We've been in tramper about six weeks 0:02:36.156 --> 0:02:40.036 and they've been about fifty or sixty witnesses, and it 0:02:40.116 --> 0:02:49.196 was a joke because we were cooked. The prosecutors had 0:02:49.236 --> 0:02:54.996 an army of witnesses, truck drivers, pilots, boat captains, radio operators, 0:02:55.356 --> 0:02:58.196 and even the bail throwers who had unloaded the drugs. 0:02:58.836 --> 0:03:03.676 Mountains of incriminating evidence started piling up. Stephen claims that 0:03:03.716 --> 0:03:06.716 at some point he began encouraging people to testify against 0:03:06.796 --> 0:03:10.716 him to save themselves, and turns out Stephen was making 0:03:10.756 --> 0:03:13.916 plans of his own. One day, a few weeks into 0:03:13.956 --> 0:03:17.036 the trial, Lee says that his partner in crime, the 0:03:17.116 --> 0:03:22.156 gentleman smuggler, kind of vanished. They had moved him out 0:03:22.196 --> 0:03:24.476 of the cell the night before, afraid, you know, somebody's 0:03:24.476 --> 0:03:27.516 going to stick him. So my lawyer says, yeah, he 0:03:27.996 --> 0:03:31.516 rolled Lee. He's become an informant. When your lawyer says 0:03:31.516 --> 0:03:34.596 that you, what's your reaction. Well, I wasn't happy. I 0:03:34.596 --> 0:03:36.556 can tell you that I was thinking that that's a 0:03:36.596 --> 0:03:39.636 real dirt bag. I know he's saving his ass, but 0:03:40.076 --> 0:03:42.476 I was looking at life in prison, no parole, and 0:03:42.516 --> 0:03:47.836 so was he. Lee claims he would never have done this. 0:03:49.396 --> 0:03:53.796 I'd never testified in a courtroom against anybody ever, never will. 0:03:54.836 --> 0:03:57.556 It's not in my blood to turn in people and 0:03:58.076 --> 0:04:02.516 never will be. Stephen remembers this all differently in his 0:04:02.756 --> 0:04:05.996 telling of events. He doesn't just disappear one day during 0:04:06.036 --> 0:04:09.596 the trial. Instead, he was candid with Lee and told 0:04:09.676 --> 0:04:14.236 him exactly what he intended to do. I said, I'm 0:04:14.276 --> 0:04:17.756 the only one that holds any cards here, and those 0:04:17.836 --> 0:04:23.156 cards in Noriega. In my relationship with Noriega, I said, 0:04:24.156 --> 0:04:26.356 I'm not going to sit through this trial any longer. 0:04:28.396 --> 0:04:32.076 In fact, Stephen had been talking with prosecutors for months 0:04:32.116 --> 0:04:35.436 sussing out the possibility of a deal because Stephen thought 0:04:35.676 --> 0:04:38.476 he might have a get out of jail free card. 0:04:39.876 --> 0:04:43.876 I just knew that the information that I could divulge 0:04:43.916 --> 0:04:49.516 about Noriega and his activities were a bombshell. There's no 0:04:49.556 --> 0:04:53.356 doubt in my mind that there's ramifications. They go all 0:04:53.396 --> 0:04:56.436 the way to the top. I mean literally from Reagan 0:04:56.516 --> 0:05:06.956 on down. I'm Jake Halbern and this is Deep Cover, 0:05:08.556 --> 0:05:39.156 Episode eight, the Political shit Storm. Stephen Kaylish was a 0:05:39.196 --> 0:05:43.276 man who always had a backup plan. Long before he 0:05:43.316 --> 0:05:46.516 was ever arrested. He had hired those Special Forces guys 0:05:46.556 --> 0:05:49.396 to break him out if need be, But in the end, 0:05:49.516 --> 0:05:53.716 he couldn't stomach the possibility that someone might die. I said, 0:05:53.756 --> 0:05:56.916 well that's a deal breaker. I said, I've never harmed 0:05:56.916 --> 0:05:59.196 anybody in my life. I'm not going to do it now. 0:06:00.196 --> 0:06:01.836 I said, if they can't get me out of here 0:06:01.876 --> 0:06:06.636 without somebody being hurt, then I'll figure out another way. 0:06:07.556 --> 0:06:10.516 And it turns out he did another way, or so 0:06:10.676 --> 0:06:17.836 he thought, and it involved his friend, General Noriega. General 0:06:17.876 --> 0:06:21.036 Noriega had always been Steven's ace in the hole. When 0:06:21.076 --> 0:06:24.236 Stephen was a fugitive living in Panama, Noriega gave him 0:06:24.236 --> 0:06:26.516 a safe haven, a way to launder his money, a 0:06:26.556 --> 0:06:30.756 way to keep smuggling drugs. And now once again, Stephen's 0:06:30.796 --> 0:06:35.436 relationship with Noriega might come in handy. I didn't know 0:06:35.476 --> 0:06:37.836 how it was going to work out. I didn't know 0:06:37.876 --> 0:06:43.676 if they would drop charges. I had no idea how 0:06:43.716 --> 0:06:47.636 everything was going to play out. By going public with 0:06:47.716 --> 0:06:51.036 his story, Stephen understood he might make some enemies. He 0:06:51.116 --> 0:06:54.636 knew that Noriega had allies in Washington, DC, people who 0:06:54.716 --> 0:06:58.796 might not want this getting out. I mean a lot 0:06:58.796 --> 0:07:01.876 of trepidation, you know, I have to be really careful 0:07:01.916 --> 0:07:06.236 about you know, who I disclosed, as to how it's disclosed, 0:07:06.276 --> 0:07:10.356 whether it's going to become public. So it's very very 0:07:11.556 --> 0:07:21.796 secret and very concerning. Stephen wouldn't be the first person 0:07:21.836 --> 0:07:25.756 to offer up dirt on Noriega. The famous investigative journalist 0:07:25.796 --> 0:07:28.476 Seymour Hirsch had written a front page article in the 0:07:28.476 --> 0:07:32.276 New York Times about Noriega about eight months before the trial. 0:07:32.796 --> 0:07:35.996 It was damning. Hirsh wrote that Noriega was involved in 0:07:36.076 --> 0:07:39.876 money laundering and that he was quote a secret partner 0:07:40.196 --> 0:07:44.556 end quote in a drug smuggling business. The article seemed 0:07:44.596 --> 0:07:48.796 to be describing Noriega's arrangement with Stephen Kaylish exactly, but 0:07:49.276 --> 0:07:53.156 it was all pretty vague. Hirsch relied entirely on anonymous 0:07:53.196 --> 0:07:57.996 sources in theory Stephen could change all of that. He 0:07:58.036 --> 0:08:01.116 could give these allegations a name and a face and 0:08:01.196 --> 0:08:05.276 a storyline. So at least six months before he went 0:08:05.316 --> 0:08:08.396 on trial down in Tampa with Lee Rich, Stephen had 0:08:08.516 --> 0:08:11.916 already been gone to talk with prosecutors, hinting at what 0:08:11.996 --> 0:08:16.036 he knew that one of America's top allies was actually 0:08:16.076 --> 0:08:20.716 a drug trafficker. One prosecutor in particular took a keen interest. 0:08:21.396 --> 0:08:25.436 Doug McCullough. McCullough was the first US attorney for the 0:08:25.476 --> 0:08:28.716 Eastern District of North Carolina. He had his own case 0:08:28.756 --> 0:08:32.476 against Stephen. Remember that ghost ship from episode four, the 0:08:32.516 --> 0:08:34.556 one that gets abandoned in the harbor with all the 0:08:34.596 --> 0:08:38.196 marijuana in it. Doug was working on that case. He'd 0:08:38.196 --> 0:08:40.996 been in touch with Stephen's lawyers and had gotten word 0:08:41.036 --> 0:08:44.676 that Stephen had secrets to tell that went far beyond 0:08:44.716 --> 0:08:48.996 the ghost Ship. Well, I knew Kaylish had this evidence 0:08:49.116 --> 0:08:52.876 that would implicate Noriega and money laundron. His lawyers had 0:08:52.916 --> 0:08:55.236 told us that in what's called a proffer, But I 0:08:55.276 --> 0:08:57.476 wanted to hear it from Kaylish's own mouth and see 0:08:57.556 --> 0:09:00.556 what kind of person he was. So Doug arranges for 0:09:00.596 --> 0:09:03.876 Stephen to travel up to North Carolina. Well, they put 0:09:03.876 --> 0:09:07.996 me in some shitty gel I mean it just typical 0:09:08.036 --> 0:09:12.596 red and at shit home. And then Doug takes me 0:09:12.636 --> 0:09:16.516 back to his officers, right, and he goes, well, we 0:09:16.596 --> 0:09:19.196 want to take you to secure location and sit down 0:09:19.236 --> 0:09:22.836 with the INDEP review. Stephen knew what Doug wanted to 0:09:22.876 --> 0:09:26.076 talk about. The question was what did Doug want to 0:09:26.076 --> 0:09:29.716 do with it? This information was currency, and one way 0:09:29.796 --> 0:09:33.756 or another, Stephen wanted to profit from it. Either way. 0:09:33.876 --> 0:09:36.036 If they want me to talk, I want something for it. 0:09:36.316 --> 0:09:38.236 If they want me to shut up, I want something 0:09:38.276 --> 0:09:41.156 for it. I don't give a shit. They it's their call, 0:09:41.276 --> 0:09:43.636 it's not my call. Well, I'm just going to tell 0:09:43.676 --> 0:09:46.596 the story and then let the cards fall the way 0:09:47.036 --> 0:09:52.756 however they fall. So they all get out to Camp Lejeerne, 0:09:52.996 --> 0:09:56.596 the big Marine Corps base in North Carolina. Doug McCullough, 0:09:56.716 --> 0:10:00.636 the prosecutor, his team, along with Stephen and his defense lawyers. 0:10:01.156 --> 0:10:04.476 Doug has arranged for two trailers, one for the prosecution 0:10:04.716 --> 0:10:08.596 and one for the defense team. Stephen remembers the Marine 0:10:08.596 --> 0:10:12.196 Guards were stationed all over with their M sixteens. Everyone 0:10:12.236 --> 0:10:15.756 piles into one of the trailers and Stephen starts telling 0:10:15.796 --> 0:10:21.476 his story high detail, my smuckling operations, obviously in North Carolina, 0:10:21.556 --> 0:10:24.356 which is one of the things that concerned him. But 0:10:24.956 --> 0:10:28.196 it leaked all up to me getting to Panamall, and 0:10:28.276 --> 0:10:33.676 then about me going to Panamall and me paying off Noriega, 0:10:33.756 --> 0:10:38.796 and then me buying helicopters and jets for Noriega. Doug's 0:10:39.156 --> 0:10:44.196 basically almost shell shocked. I mean, he's visibly shaken by 0:10:44.236 --> 0:10:48.996 it all. Doug wasn't naive he understood that a guy 0:10:49.036 --> 0:10:53.516 like Noriega might be corrupt. What blew him away was Stephen. 0:10:53.996 --> 0:10:56.836 Here was a runaway kid from Texas who become a 0:10:56.916 --> 0:11:02.436 drug tycoon and was apparently Noriega's business partner. And he 0:11:02.516 --> 0:11:06.996 had evidence. He had airplane logs that showed on his 0:11:07.196 --> 0:11:12.596 private jet him flying Noriega around. These logs show that 0:11:12.676 --> 0:11:16.196 Noriega used Stephen's plane during a trip to the United States, 0:11:16.676 --> 0:11:20.116 and this trip it was a big deal. Noriega went 0:11:20.156 --> 0:11:22.596 to d C. I met with the Secretary of Defense 0:11:23.076 --> 0:11:26.556 and then the director of the CIA. There's a celebratory 0:11:26.636 --> 0:11:29.796 lunch for him at the Pentagon. It's pretty much a 0:11:29.836 --> 0:11:34.716 hero's welcome. So yeah, Stephen's evidence would make a lot 0:11:34.716 --> 0:11:44.276 of people look very bad. The debriefing session goes on 0:11:44.436 --> 0:11:49.596 and on until finally Stephen says, okay, guys, I've talked 0:11:49.596 --> 0:11:52.116 for five or six hours. I said, now it's my turn. 0:11:52.676 --> 0:11:55.276 I want to see my wife. Are you all satisfied? 0:11:56.156 --> 0:11:58.996 Stephen's wife was actually waiting to meet with him. That 0:11:59.116 --> 0:12:01.076 was part of the deal that Stephen says he worked 0:12:01.116 --> 0:12:04.796 out with Doug ahead of time. Ever, the gentleman smuggler, 0:12:05.036 --> 0:12:09.596 Stephen had asked for some very gentlemanly terms. He wanted dinner, 0:12:09.796 --> 0:12:16.236 and he wanted a trailer overlooking the Atlantic. And I said, okay, well, 0:12:16.876 --> 0:12:20.556 if you're satisfied, I want my wife and I have 0:12:20.676 --> 0:12:25.596 several hours together. And Duck goes more than satisfied. They 0:12:25.636 --> 0:12:29.516 brought me a nice steak dinner and beautiful meal. I 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:35.196 think a bottle of champagne, and my wife made love 0:12:35.236 --> 0:12:39.636 a couple of times. After I finished with my wife, 0:12:39.756 --> 0:12:43.156 Duck comes in and he goes, We're going to Washington, 0:12:43.276 --> 0:12:47.756 d C. Because I've been ordered by my boss that 0:12:48.356 --> 0:12:52.556 they won't you at Main Justice in Marshington, d C. 0:12:53.116 --> 0:12:57.556 For deep briefing. A few days later, they all fly 0:12:57.676 --> 0:13:00.316 up to DC together to the headquarters of the Department 0:13:00.356 --> 0:13:03.516 of Justice. According to Stephen, they go to a big 0:13:03.556 --> 0:13:06.356 conference room and meet with a whole host of officials, 0:13:06.876 --> 0:13:11.476 and once again Stephen tells his story. When it's all over, 0:13:11.996 --> 0:13:15.476 they basically just thank him for his time. Seemed like 0:13:15.756 --> 0:13:18.596 a dead end, but toward the end of the day, 0:13:18.836 --> 0:13:22.476 Doug McCullough remembers an assistant Attorney General pulling him aside 0:13:22.516 --> 0:13:26.316 and saying, all of this information has been passed up 0:13:26.356 --> 0:13:31.996 to the National Security Council, so apparently people were taking notice. 0:13:34.396 --> 0:13:38.076 For all of his efforts, Stephen gets pretty much zilch. 0:13:38.636 --> 0:13:40.356 No one gives him a get out of jail free 0:13:40.396 --> 0:13:43.956 card or really anything close to it. So in February 0:13:44.036 --> 0:13:47.276 of nineteen eighty seven, Stephen goes on trial in Tampa 0:13:47.316 --> 0:13:51.036 alongside his old partner Lee Rich. For a few weeks 0:13:51.076 --> 0:13:54.636 they're fighting it out together, but by mid March, Stephen 0:13:54.716 --> 0:13:57.476 says he sees the writing on the wall. There's no 0:13:57.516 --> 0:14:00.796 winning this case. So he reaches a deal with prosecutors. 0:14:01.116 --> 0:14:04.836 As they say in the business, he joins Team USA 0:14:04.956 --> 0:14:08.356 and agrees to testify for the government. In return, he 0:14:08.436 --> 0:14:11.436 gets well less than he hoped for. He's promised a 0:14:11.516 --> 0:14:15.796 jail sentence of no more than twenty years. Meanwhile, Lee 0:14:15.876 --> 0:14:18.916 Rich keeps defending himself at trial, but in the end 0:14:19.156 --> 0:14:23.956 he loses. He's found guilty of running a continuing criminal enterprise. 0:14:24.676 --> 0:14:28.196 His sentencing hearing was brutal. The prosecutor said, good old 0:14:28.196 --> 0:14:33.516 mister Beach Club had quote no redeeming social value end quote. 0:14:33.916 --> 0:14:37.996 He was sentenced to thirty years. So it seemed like 0:14:38.036 --> 0:14:40.956 Steven's big move and the whole story of the General 0:14:41.076 --> 0:14:45.676 went pretty much nowhere, a big dud. But that wasn't 0:14:45.676 --> 0:14:50.076 the case. By peddling his story around in DC and elsewhere, 0:14:50.396 --> 0:14:55.236 he'd gotten people talking and started something much much bigger 0:14:55.276 --> 0:14:59.596 than he ever imagined. More on that after the break, 0:15:12.956 --> 0:15:15.676 so Stephen's story was slowly making its way through the 0:15:15.716 --> 0:15:18.436 grape vine in Washington, d C. And it turns out 0:15:18.556 --> 0:15:23.036 totally independent of this, another investigator named Jack Blum was 0:15:23.116 --> 0:15:26.876 also taking a closer look at Noriega. Jack was special 0:15:26.916 --> 0:15:30.156 counsel for the Senate Form Relations Committee under John Carey, 0:15:30.516 --> 0:15:33.636 and Jack, like everybody else, had heard the rumors and 0:15:33.716 --> 0:15:36.516 read the article in the New York Times about Noriega 0:15:36.636 --> 0:15:40.596 and his alleged drug trafficking. To Jack, it was intriguing, 0:15:40.916 --> 0:15:44.476 but not an open and shut case. I didn't have 0:15:44.556 --> 0:15:48.516 a smoking gun the time, certainly didn't have a smoking gun, 0:15:48.556 --> 0:15:52.916 but there was enough there. So glad anybody who really 0:15:53.476 --> 0:15:56.916 wanted to know could find out a lot more. Jack 0:15:56.996 --> 0:16:00.396 was interested not just in Noriega, but in all the 0:16:00.476 --> 0:16:03.676 particulars of how drugs were being smuggled and how money 0:16:03.796 --> 0:16:06.996 was being laundered, and so in the mid eighties this 0:16:07.076 --> 0:16:10.636 became Jack Blum's mission. But he was not just some 0:16:10.756 --> 0:16:14.636 policy walk sitting in some room with his whiteboard. Jack 0:16:14.756 --> 0:16:21.956 was more like, well, a detective. I went to visit 0:16:21.996 --> 0:16:26.076 these people in jail, spending time talking to them. So 0:16:26.156 --> 0:16:31.116 I actually became quite a visitor to the federal prison system. 0:16:31.156 --> 0:16:33.756 And of all the people that he interviewed. One in 0:16:33.796 --> 0:16:39.276 particular still stands out to this day. I remember, particularly 0:16:39.756 --> 0:16:43.756 Lee Rich. The words that come to mind are clean cut, 0:16:44.836 --> 0:16:48.676 nice guy. I could go out drinking with them, I 0:16:48.716 --> 0:16:51.436 could have him as a business partner. One of the 0:16:51.516 --> 0:16:59.236 things that came clear was how normal and routine and 0:16:59.636 --> 0:17:04.276 pleasant some of these five star criminals turned out to be. 0:17:05.956 --> 0:17:09.076 And Lee starts to tell his story all about how 0:17:09.276 --> 0:17:11.876 he smuggled his drugs and how he laundered his money 0:17:12.116 --> 0:17:16.796 with the help of the General Manuel Noriega. It was 0:17:17.116 --> 0:17:22.156 quite a revelation. People were talking about Noriego was in 0:17:22.276 --> 0:17:25.756 charge of everything in Panama and he was our guy. 0:17:27.156 --> 0:17:29.836 Well you heard this, and it was like, wait a minute, 0:17:29.836 --> 0:17:32.516 he's not our guy. It was one thing to have 0:17:32.556 --> 0:17:36.436 a newspaper article with a bunch of unnamed sources, but 0:17:36.516 --> 0:17:39.716 it was another thing entirely to have a guy like 0:17:39.836 --> 0:17:45.436 mister Beach Club who could verify it all and say basically, yeah, General, 0:17:45.436 --> 0:17:49.996 Mammo Noriega, he was our business partner, and here exactly 0:17:50.196 --> 0:17:53.516 is how he helped us launder our money. The further 0:17:53.636 --> 0:17:57.316 into this mess that I got more apparent, it became 0:17:57.956 --> 0:18:01.556 that it was a very tangled mess. You start looking 0:18:01.596 --> 0:18:05.316 at the awards that were given to Noriego. There are 0:18:05.316 --> 0:18:11.316 photographs of the top man in the giving plaques to 0:18:11.476 --> 0:18:24.036 Noriega in Panama, congratulating him for sustain various busts. Jack 0:18:24.116 --> 0:18:27.756 began to piece it all together what exactly Noriega had 0:18:27.796 --> 0:18:30.876 been doing. He'd been cooperating with the US War on 0:18:30.996 --> 0:18:36.556 Drugs kind of Basically, Noriego would apprehend some drug smugglers, 0:18:36.916 --> 0:18:40.436 but he was being very selective about which bad guys 0:18:40.476 --> 0:18:43.596 he went after, namely the guys who didn't use his 0:18:43.676 --> 0:18:49.156 money laundering services. Those guys they got busted. All the while, 0:18:49.436 --> 0:18:53.796 Noriego is providing valuable info to the CIA, because well, 0:18:54.356 --> 0:18:58.356 he did know all kinds of things. Noriego's talking to 0:18:58.476 --> 0:19:03.316 Fidel Castro, Noriego's relating to all of the heads of 0:19:03.516 --> 0:19:09.076 state and the characters who were all over Central America 0:19:09.596 --> 0:19:13.756 one way or another. He's got his hands in every pie. Now, 0:19:13.796 --> 0:19:17.356 of course, the stupidity of it is he's really working 0:19:17.396 --> 0:19:21.756 for himself. The more that Jack looked into who Noriega 0:19:21.956 --> 0:19:25.356 was and how he operated, the more troubling it became. 0:19:25.876 --> 0:19:29.316 At one point, Jack interviewed one of Noriega's pilots, who 0:19:29.356 --> 0:19:33.716 detailed the murder of Hugo Spataphora. Spataphora was a prominent 0:19:33.836 --> 0:19:37.916 doctor and revolutionary who'd criticized Noriega for his involvement in 0:19:37.916 --> 0:19:41.276 the drug trade, and he paid for it. In nineteen 0:19:41.276 --> 0:19:45.716 eighty five, some Panamanian soldiers abducted him, and his decapitated 0:19:45.756 --> 0:19:51.676 body was later found in a ravine. The notion of 0:19:51.836 --> 0:19:55.996 torturing and beheading his opponent and doing it the way 0:19:56.076 --> 0:20:00.196 he did it, this man is really evil from top 0:20:00.236 --> 0:20:04.916 to bottom. Up until now, Jack says, Noriega's bad behavior 0:20:04.956 --> 0:20:08.276 had been tolerated because he was so helpful to agencies 0:20:08.316 --> 0:20:12.916 like the CIA. I actually found an internal CIA document 0:20:12.996 --> 0:20:18.116 from the time marked secret that's since been declassified. It said, quote, 0:20:18.676 --> 0:20:21.756 we have no smoking gun on Noriega, but he is 0:20:21.876 --> 0:20:27.316 closely associated with some connected to the drug trade. So yeah, 0:20:27.596 --> 0:20:32.076 they had an inkling. So the CIA had its agenda 0:20:32.516 --> 0:20:36.596 for Panama. They were interested in their mission and nothing else. 0:20:37.596 --> 0:20:42.116 And their response, if you ask why are you doing 0:20:42.196 --> 0:20:46.996 business with all these terrible characters was pretty simple. Terrible 0:20:47.116 --> 0:20:51.396 characters or are stock and trade. It's the criminals who 0:20:51.476 --> 0:20:54.276 know how to get around the law and get around 0:20:54.356 --> 0:20:58.036 all of the systems and who can help us do 0:20:58.356 --> 0:21:02.476 our job. It was kind of like what Ned Timmins 0:21:02.516 --> 0:21:05.276 had told me from the very beginning. If you wanted 0:21:05.316 --> 0:21:08.516 to get intel on the bad guys, well, then you 0:21:08.596 --> 0:21:15.916 also had to play with the bad guys. For Jack Blum, 0:21:15.956 --> 0:21:18.276 the only way to blow all of this open was 0:21:18.316 --> 0:21:22.036 to hold congressional hearings and use guys like mister Beach 0:21:22.036 --> 0:21:26.196 Club to go public and make some headlines. More on that. 0:21:26.596 --> 0:21:33.396 After the break In early nineteen eighty eight, about a 0:21:33.476 --> 0:21:36.436 year after they'd gone on trial down in Tampa, Lee 0:21:36.516 --> 0:21:41.036 Rich and Stephen Kaylish went public with their story about Noriega, 0:21:41.116 --> 0:21:44.676 and they did so in the biggest possible way. In Washington, 0:21:44.756 --> 0:21:48.196 d C. Before the Senate in front of live TV cameras. 0:21:49.116 --> 0:21:51.756 The US Congress today heard about a strange partnership between 0:21:51.836 --> 0:21:56.276 Panama's military rule, Manuel Noriega, and a convicted American drug dealer. 0:21:56.916 --> 0:22:00.036 At this point, many senators were interested in the subject 0:22:00.036 --> 0:22:04.196 of narco trafficking in general. There were multiple sets of hearings. 0:22:04.556 --> 0:22:09.476 Jack Blum organized one of them. Altogether. They created a specticle. 0:22:09.756 --> 0:22:13.076 A parade of former criminals showed up to tell their stories. 0:22:13.636 --> 0:22:16.876 Stephen and Lee hope that by talking publicly, they'd get 0:22:16.876 --> 0:22:24.356 their jail sentences reduced. On TV, Stephen is super clean cut, 0:22:24.596 --> 0:22:29.036 perfectly combed hair, huge black grim classes a dark suit. 0:22:29.396 --> 0:22:31.636 He looks like he could be a stockbroker on his 0:22:31.716 --> 0:22:35.756 lunch break, and he's telling a story, but he's reading it, 0:22:36.076 --> 0:22:39.796 checking his script constantly, not nervously, just like he doesn't 0:22:39.796 --> 0:22:42.916 want to get a single detail wrong. In his testimony, 0:22:43.116 --> 0:22:46.956 Stephen explains how exactly he'd become friends with the General. 0:22:47.756 --> 0:22:51.716 I was taken to General Noriega's private home. I had 0:22:51.756 --> 0:22:56.516 been instructed bring a gift for the General large enough 0:22:56.556 --> 0:23:00.636 to show how serious I was about doing business in Panama. 0:23:00.996 --> 0:23:04.756 I placed three hundred thousand dollars cares in my briefcase. 0:23:05.956 --> 0:23:08.916 The briefcase stuff with cash would become an icon for 0:23:08.916 --> 0:23:12.436 this scandal that unfolded, kind of like Monica Lewinsky's dress 0:23:12.596 --> 0:23:16.196 or Richard Nixon's White House tapes. It was a singular 0:23:16.276 --> 0:23:19.516 image that people could picture and that told the whole story. 0:23:19.956 --> 0:23:22.716 Here was the head of state hosting a drug dealer 0:23:22.836 --> 0:23:26.996 in his house and accepting a briefcase stuffed with bills. 0:23:30.276 --> 0:23:32.596 A few months later, at a separate set of hearings. 0:23:32.796 --> 0:23:36.756 Lee Rich, mister Beach Club, also testified. He backed up 0:23:36.796 --> 0:23:40.836 Stephen Kaylish's account, corroborating the now famous story of the 0:23:40.876 --> 0:23:44.556 three hundred thousand dollars in the briefcase Mike Vogel, the 0:23:44.636 --> 0:23:49.116 Detroit grocery guy. He testified two. In the time between 0:23:49.116 --> 0:23:52.836 Stephen Kaylish and Lee Rich's testimonies, there was big news. 0:23:53.236 --> 0:23:57.356 The US Justice Department was going after Noriega, the military 0:23:57.436 --> 0:24:00.836 leader of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, was indited today on 0:24:00.956 --> 0:24:07.596 charges of drug smuggling and racketeering. In all of US history, 0:24:07.796 --> 0:24:11.076 this was only the time that the Justice Department had 0:24:11.076 --> 0:24:14.596 indicted the head of a foreign nation. Only problem was, 0:24:15.116 --> 0:24:19.956 Noriega was still safely situated in Panama, very much in control. 0:24:20.956 --> 0:24:25.916 The indictment only created more controversy. The legendary Congressman Charles 0:24:25.916 --> 0:24:30.596 Wrangel accused the Reagan administration of quote, a full blown 0:24:30.716 --> 0:24:34.716 cover up of the facts end quote. At last, the 0:24:34.796 --> 0:24:41.516 political shit storm had arrived. Noriega didn't just stand by 0:24:41.556 --> 0:24:44.236 and watch all of this silently. In the press, he 0:24:44.276 --> 0:24:47.156 defended himself. He said that the US was really just 0:24:47.236 --> 0:24:49.796 interested in getting rid of him so it could keep 0:24:49.836 --> 0:24:53.836 control over the Panama Canal beyond nineteen ninety nine when 0:24:53.836 --> 0:24:56.996 the US was supposed to be out of there. Noriega 0:24:57.116 --> 0:25:00.116 actually did an interview with Mike Wallace of CBS to 0:25:00.196 --> 0:25:03.676 make his case. As you know, general, the American people 0:25:03.676 --> 0:25:07.436 are being told at this moment, but Monde Noriega is 0:25:07.476 --> 0:25:11.516 a criminal, a drug dealer, He is an arms dealer, 0:25:11.876 --> 0:25:15.596 He is a money launderer. Question why Noriega and why now? 0:25:15.996 --> 0:25:23.676 But precisely in the interview, Noriega said, essentially, look, all 0:25:23.716 --> 0:25:27.636 of this is political conspiracy. This is retribution because I 0:25:27.636 --> 0:25:30.836 wouldn't do the US's dirty work in Nicaragua and help 0:25:30.876 --> 0:25:34.996 the contrast. During the sixty minutes interview, Wallace asked about 0:25:35.036 --> 0:25:41.436 Stephen Kaylish. You know Stephen Michael Kaylish a kive Banama here, Banama. 0:25:41.476 --> 0:25:44.276 Many people come by when you work in my profession, 0:25:44.356 --> 0:25:47.116 and also as a politician, you see a lot of people, 0:25:48.116 --> 0:25:50.396 not that you know them. I would know Kaylish if 0:25:50.396 --> 0:25:52.236 he gave me three hundred thousand dollars. And he said 0:25:52.236 --> 0:25:53.756 that the first time he met you, he left a 0:25:53.796 --> 0:25:56.876 bag behind the three hundred thousand dollars inside. And he 0:25:56.996 --> 0:26:00.956 also said that you were a full scale co conspirator 0:26:01.036 --> 0:26:06.836 in his drug operation that he paid you eventually millions. 0:26:06.836 --> 0:26:09.716 You were talking about two gunvicts. That's say they both 0:26:09.756 --> 0:26:14.316 gave money. If that doesn't invalidate it, the money for 0:26:14.396 --> 0:26:18.396 what does? This was a big part of Noriega's defense. 0:26:18.756 --> 0:26:21.556 Stephen Kalish is a convict. You can't believe a word 0:26:21.596 --> 0:26:28.876 he says. Look, some of Noriega's critiques were legit, like 0:26:28.996 --> 0:26:31.676 the fact that the US messed around in small countries 0:26:31.756 --> 0:26:35.716 in order to advance its own sketchy interests. Yeah, fair enough. 0:26:36.596 --> 0:26:39.676 But when it came to the drug and money laundering charges, 0:26:40.076 --> 0:26:44.516 the evidence against Noriega was pretty damning. The real question 0:26:44.676 --> 0:26:47.236 on a lot of people's minds was how could the 0:26:47.396 --> 0:26:50.396 US allow this? How could it buddy up with a 0:26:50.476 --> 0:26:55.316 drug trafficker like Noriega because our intelligence services knew what 0:26:55.396 --> 0:26:58.876 he was up to. Two years before the congressional hearings, 0:26:59.156 --> 0:27:02.796 John Poindexter, the National Security Advisor at the time, went 0:27:02.876 --> 0:27:05.596 to Panama. According to The New York Times, he told 0:27:05.636 --> 0:27:10.076 Noriega to quote cut it out. So, Yeah, people knew. 0:27:10.836 --> 0:27:13.756 In fact, as far back as the early nineteen seventies, 0:27:14.076 --> 0:27:16.956 US officials were in the know. They'd heard the allegations 0:27:16.956 --> 0:27:20.716 of Noriega's involvement in the drug trade, and this evidence 0:27:20.836 --> 0:27:23.516 was actually passed along to the US Senate at the 0:27:23.596 --> 0:27:27.356 time when it was negotiating a new treaty with Panama. 0:27:27.436 --> 0:27:30.596 But for years and years, the US had opted to 0:27:30.676 --> 0:27:34.996 do very little about this, not anymore, not after the 0:27:35.036 --> 0:27:39.476 story of the Gentleman's Smuggler and his briefcase. That was it. 0:27:47.036 --> 0:27:50.036 While all of this is going on, the congressional hearings, 0:27:50.156 --> 0:27:54.716 the indictment against Noriega, the growing scandal, Ned Timmins was 0:27:54.756 --> 0:27:57.516 back in Detroit. No one had asked him to testify 0:27:57.596 --> 0:28:00.836 before Congress. Apparently he was just another cog in the 0:28:00.876 --> 0:28:03.116 machine that had helped bring all of this to light. 0:28:04.316 --> 0:28:07.196 But Ned was still plenty busy at work thanks to 0:28:07.236 --> 0:28:09.636 his time on the Lee Rich case. Ned had all 0:28:09.716 --> 0:28:12.796 kinds of contacts in the drug world. One of them 0:28:12.836 --> 0:28:15.996 was a beautiful young woman from Columbia who knew things. 0:28:19.596 --> 0:28:21.916 She was connected with the biggest people in the cartels 0:28:22.716 --> 0:28:25.396 and talked a good game. She knew what she was 0:28:25.436 --> 0:28:28.676 talking about, She knew the right names. These are the 0:28:28.676 --> 0:28:32.276 people that would have supplied the drugs to Likely Rich. 0:28:33.716 --> 0:28:35.636 They are the people that controlled everything on the Earth 0:28:35.636 --> 0:28:39.476