WEBVTT - Partying with Pablo 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.880 This is a production of Journalista Podcast LLC and iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:15.360 He's dropping five hundred pound bombs on the city because 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:20.120 by that time, his philosophy is, if we just kill everybody, 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:22.840 we don't have a revolution. 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:36.480 Welcome back to the Journalista Podcast. I'm Steve Vestev, your host. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.640 We've talked a lot about Nicaragua and the events that 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:42.640 make Cookie who she became, and I mentioned that she 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.640 always seemed to be at the crossroads of history. But 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:50.239 the story you're about to hear is absolutely insane, a 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.800 dangerous secret that most of her friends and her news 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:57.279 colleagues never knew. Yes, everybody knows she partied, but did 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:05.640 they know she parted with Pablo Escobar? Okay, so all 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.039 this shit's going down, and Nicaragua's changing, and all these 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.080 things are happening, but you're not You're not there. Where 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:12.440 are you? 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.959 I am in New York City, I'm modeling, I'm having 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.479 a very successful career and partying. 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.720 Obviously, where did you like to go fifty four? 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.800 Of course, this was a club that you had to 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.280 book a certain way and obviously have a certain lifestyle. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.240 And in fifty four they had the dance floor, the bars, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.200 But then downstairs was the Special Room, and that's where 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:43.360 VIPs were doing all kinds of drugs, crazy things. At 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.640 any given night, you could be with David Bowie, Calvin Klein. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.440 And one of my best friends was a celebrity, Bianca Jagger. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.000 Mick Jagger's wife was She from Nicaragua. 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.040 From Nicaragua, That's where I knew her from. She took 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.880 me with her and we went on the whole tour. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:06.240 Yeah you do. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:14.960 Rules. 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.240 I took a quick trip to Miami and ran into 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:24.320 an old childhood friend, Gino, and we hooked up. 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:25.799 I never went back. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.160 What I didn't know is that he was already deep 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.680 in the game, the drug game, part of the mede 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:34.320 ying Columbia cartel. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.480 What was his job? What would you say? 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.640 He did fly to Colombia, you know, meet with the 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.840 big wigs, place the orders, have the orders shipped. There 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.679 were many different ways of getting product here to the 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:50.840 United States. And then once here we had his slew 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.160 of clients that he would sell to in bulk. He 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.280 didn't have to get his hands dirty, but he liked to. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.760 You know, I would tell him, why are you, you know, 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.960 hanging out with these low level drug dealers? You know, 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.359 We'd be in my home, I'd open up a closet 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.720 and kilos would fall out, and I'm like, why is 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.720 this even in our home? Get a safe house, do 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.200 things differently. No, he just never thought anything would ever 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.519 happen to him, which every criminal thinks at the beginning. 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.720 They're different, They're never going to get in trouble. 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:27.519 Did you ever go to Columbia? 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:27.880 No? 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.800 I was smart, never never got my hands dirty. I 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.680 was just having fun at the parties and the shady 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.560 characters and a couple of hit men here and there. 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.720 Pablo Escobar, what was he like? 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:45.280 Just one on one at the. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.040 Time, we only called him ilhefe the boss, and he 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.920 wasn't Pablo Escobar like everyone knows him now. He was 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.760 kind of quiet. Sometimes he would get a little boisterous. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.840 He wasn't a very book smart guy. He was It's interesting, 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.400 just like when you're doing blow the co crap and 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.920 you know, talking. He was sort of protective over me. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.840 When Cookie meets Pablo Escobar. He's not yet a household name. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.080 He doesn't have a Netflix series about his life or 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.120 even much of a criminal profile. He had a mansion 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:26.240 near Miami in his own freaking name, he was selling cocaine, 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.039 lots of it. At his peak, he was making four 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.640 hundred and twenty million dollars a week, and his net 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.120 worth was estimated at more than thirty billion, making him, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.680 by all accounts, the wealthiest person in the world. Of course, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.080 it's hard to measure since it was all illegal and 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.279 much of it was smuggled through Nicaragua. That's where Chino 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.359 and his partners come in. You told me once that 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.320 you thought of yourself as Missus Scarface. 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.719 I was Missus Scarface. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.159 When you have that much product and that much money, 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:57.719 it gives you power. 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.120 When you were with Chino in that time period, did 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.400 you feel like you were partners in the game or 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:04.440 was it his thing and you were just along for 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:04.880 the ride. 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.719 Well, I was the one calling the shots because he 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.880 was very bright, and he had a very bad habit 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.400 that if he started doing blow, he started to drink 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:16.440 and he would get stupid drunks. 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.520 So it's kind of like managing a multi million dollar. 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.320 Corporation given my two cents, which once he was drunk 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:27.520 he wouldn't listen to. But guys like Pablo Escobar and 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.200 other people in the game, they would listen to me. 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.000 Because they knew that what I was saying made. 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.760 Sense in those days when you were rolling with Chino 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.760 and those guys. But did you ever run up against 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.000 any you know, bullshit, anything bad that was happening you. 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:42.520 Mean with the cartel guys. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:43.120 Exactly. 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.240 Let's put it to you this way. These cartel guys 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.560 were my friends. Obviously I must have had an inkling 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:51.920 of what kind of people they were, what they were 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.839 capable of. But as long as I had a seat 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.960 at the table and allowed to party and had unlimited 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:04.479 amounts of blood, it was pretty standard friendship relationships. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:06.640 Well, you talk about having a seat at the table, 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:07.880 did that ever go wrong? 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.359 You know, I'm a local girl from New Orleans. I 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:16.200 would always insist to Chino and to others, You've got 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.800 the whole country to do business in. Please don't go 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:24.440 to New Orleans, and please don't go to Louisiana. That's 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.240 where I'm from. My dad is very well known, my 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.920 family is a prominent family there. Can we just leave 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.560 my stomping grounds out of the business. And for the 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.200 most part, Gino would listen, But as soon as he'd 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.920 start having a cocktail or two and then doing blow all, 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.680 you know, rational thinking went out the window. I had 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:47.760 heard that they were going to do some sort of 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.520 business with one of our people who happens to be 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.839 from New Orleans, and he was going to come back 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.560 to New Orleans with the product. And his connection was 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:03.000 the son of a top state government official. 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.360 So basically they're doing a drug deal, of. 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:09.159 Course, and I begged them don't do it. So sure enough, 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:10.400 something goes wrong. 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.640 Are you talking about a big chunk of product? 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:18.200 Big chunk of product? Not only my local friend got popped, 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.640 but the son of the top government official got popped 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.400 and he's in jail. So at that point, the top 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.000 state government official decides he's going to run his own 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:34.440 private investigation so he could save his son's future, get 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.280 him out, and find out who was behind this huge 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:43.360 drug deal. And he's getting close. So this one particular evening, 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.640 we're at my house, we're talking, and one of our 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.160 employees decides, you know what, let's just get rid of 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.400 this guy. We're not only going to get rid of 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:55.360 the kid in jail, but we're going to get rid 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.520 of his father. I could see some people at the 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.920 table sort of nodding their head. I'm sitting next to Pablo, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.640 and I'm just saying, if you do this, this could 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.920 blow up in everybody's faces, not just myself and my family. 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:13.520 I got so upset. I stood up and I said, 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.640 no one is getting killed in my city on my watch. 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.600 And at that point I turned to Pablo and he 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.680 leaned over and sort of whispered in my ear, and 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.000 it says, you know you should be running this show, 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.520 to which I replied, I am. 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.560 Were you aware of the DEA the FBI? 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:41.440 All, Oh, yes, immensely. I mean we had all these gadgets, 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.199 you know that you'd plug into your phone and it 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.720 would tell you if they were listening in a red 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.760 light would start beeping. We had all the latest gadgets. 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.760 So you had the highest tech that could be had. 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.400 Yeah. And security in our homes, you know, because we 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.480 had several homes, you know, one in Miami, one in 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:04.080 La what is San Francisco. We had boats, racing cars, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.800 we had race horses, we had everything. As much as 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.920 we had, we wouldn't hesitate in a second to leave 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.120 it and move on to the next city. 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:14.400 Because the money was gonna come anyway. 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.360 Always you could lose it, throw it away, flush it down, 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.760 the toilet didn't matter. You'd have it all back the 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.400 next day. He would get a car Mercedes, bring it 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.800 in from Miami. It would be San Francisco, and then 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:28.840 they didn't need it, they would send it on fire. 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.640 The money was just never ending. I remember that my 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.920 allowance quote unquote was ten to grand a week, and 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:40.080 that was it to pay rent or bills. That was 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.040 just fun money, fun money I could do with as 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.080 I please. There were always suitcases full of cash. There 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:50.040 were always suitcases full of kilos. And sometimes when the 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.560 suitcases would come in from Columbia, they would throw in 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.640 emeralds and pills and you never knew what was coming. 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:02.440 Was there danger constant? So you get pregnant? Was that 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:03.800 good news to me? 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.120 It wasn't, because I just said, I can't bring a 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.880 kid into this environment. You know, this constant partying. We'd 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.360 stay up for days and there was a constant flow 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.520 of cocaine people coming in and out any given house 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.680 that we owned. You know, I'd wake up and these 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.800 strangers walking around in my house. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:24.160 You know. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.880 I remember once in Beverly Hills somebody coming up to 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.720 me asking me where the bathroom was, and I said, well, 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.040 who are you. He goes, well, who are you? I said, 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.560 I'm the damn owner of this house. Get the fuck 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.000 out of my house. So it was sort of that 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.040 kind of thing. I was not happy about it. I 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.960 was still partying pregnant. I'm not proud of it, but 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:44.880 I did. 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.440 For the record, her baby boy was born healthy and happy. 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:50.640 So you guys decided to get married. 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.719 What we did was we were planning a wedding at 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.960 the house where we were living at, which was with 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:57.199 Nordman Manessas. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.800 I have to stop here as if this story isn't 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:04.200 create enough. Norway Manessas, Cookie's husband Chino and another friend 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.840 from Nicaragua, Danilo Blandon, were the guys smuggling cocaine into 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.360 the US for Pablo Escobar and the Median cartel. Cookie 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.280 was aware of that and definitely enjoying the party. But 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.199 these guys would become very famous a few years later 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:19.679 when they made a deal with the CIA to introduce 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.160 crack cocaine into south central Los Angeles through a local 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:24.880 drug dealer by the name of Freeway. 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:29.600 Ricky Ross, facing life in prison, LA's biggest crack dealer 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.720 now is saying he was a pawn in a CIA plot, 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.360 and his argument was convincing enough that a federal judge 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.240 postponed sentencing to consider evidence that he's a name supplier, 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:41.960 was an agency operator. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.280 You know, his whole intentions was for me to make 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:45.720 more money. 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.600 The more money I made, the more money he made, 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.679 and I guess the more money that he would have 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.800 to help sponsor the war. FX made a television series 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.000 called Snowfall based on some of that story. 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:01.560 I on America accusations underscore the word accusations that are 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.840 nothing short of explosives. They are that the CIA knowingly 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.680 and intentionally did what amount to pump crack cocaine into 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.360 Los Angeles to help fund rebels in Nicaragua. The Justice 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.079 Department in Congress are investigating, and so is CBS newsed it. 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.480 Was the beginning of a drug explosion that ravaged black 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.520 communities all over America. Gary Webb putitur Prize winning reporter 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:28.480 for the San Jose Mercury News, wrote a controversial three 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.360 part expose and later a book called The Dark Alliance, 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:35.240 detailing the connection between the CIA, the sale of crack cocaine, 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.080 and funding the contrasts. In this clip, he's asked about 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:39.360 the CIA involvement. 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.640 Did the CIA put drugs into the black community. 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.559 We don't have any evidence so far that they did 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.240 it directly. And what we have evidence of is that 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:51.520 men working for a CIA run army did. 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.520 Do that with the knowledge of the CIA. That's the 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.480 part we don't know. That's the part we don't know. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.800 I mean, what we know is that these guys were 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.280 working for a CIA army. They were meeting with CIA 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.560 agents before and during the time they were doing this. 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.439 What happens from there is sort of where we ran 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.479 into the wall of national security. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:12.359 The CIA and the mainstream media went after him, eventually 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.560 destroying his career. He died from two gun shots to 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:21.400 the head. It was ruled a suicide. Two shots. Think 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.040 about it, Is it all true? I don't know for sure. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:34.480 Corre Pecto alescando alescandal, narco politico chemist tempro mo. In 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:38.000 this interview from a prison in Nicaragua, Norma Manessas blames 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.439 the whole scandal on the Democrats trying to use narco 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.920 trafficking to win the election, and of course he says 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.600 he's innocent of all accusations and then no charges him 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.720 in filed canac I'm Presidentao Cargo for Romales in Miicontra. 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.520 Cookie wasn't part of any of that. In fact, she 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.600 was working for CBS at the time, and we'll get 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.679 into that later. What she will tell you is that 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.520 Norwen Maness is a someone she has known since childhood 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.640 and that she cares about him to this very day. 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.079 Back to her wedding. So you were married in Norway's home. 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.520 In Norwen's home. He was going to be the one 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.400 that walked me down the aisle. Chapito d As from 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.680 Satana was the best man. I flew in some people 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.080 from New Orleans, not a lot. It was just going 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.320 to be a small gathering and we initially wanted a 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.320 judge to come. Well, judges don't come, so we found 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:34.120 Mark de Wolf Gay minister perfect. Chipito pulled out his rolls. 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:38.840 Royce Pablo gave me half a pound of cocaine for 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.840 the wedding. So I brought my girlfriend from New Orleans, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.680 flew her in and we spent the whole day before 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.960 and the whole day of grinding it up. We started 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.080 off with one grand bottles and realized quickly that's not 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.040 going to be enough, so we went and got two 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:57.080 grand bottles filled up a hundred of them. When the 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.360 people arrived at the door, that's what they were given 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:03.400 with above on it. You know, this is your party favorite. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:08.080 Did Pablo come or do you just send me there? Wow? 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:18.360 Of course everyone's starting to party immediately. My husband, Richino, 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:22.640 he was lost. He was downstairs because Freebase had started 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.120 out in Cali at that time, so he was downstairs 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.720 doing that. And I remember that at some point the 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.600 Minister comes up to me and says, look, I've got 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.720 another event. You know, I can't find my Bible. And 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.920 of course the people were using his Bible with the 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.560 Cooke lines on it. And I said, I think your 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.400 Bible's being used in the next room. I said, I 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.560 can give you a little something, you know, to perk 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.480 you up. He goes, oh okay. So the next thing 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.680 I know, the Minister's partying. So the time constraints were 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.440 gone by then. Also, it was my guardena era, so 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.800 I had to have fresh gardenias in my hair, in 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.080 my hands. The whole house smelled like gardenia's. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.680 I'm some serious hippie shit there, yeah. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.280 But elegant hippie shit. Finally, when we get ready to 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.000 do it, I had to get Gino up from downstairs, 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.760 and he was already all fucked up nor being walked 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.200 me down the aisle. Gipito ass is crying, you know, 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.240 because he could just cry with one tear coming down 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:25.320 one eye. 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.440 So you're eight months pregnant, you're walked down the aisle 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.760 by Norman Manessa's the best man. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.880 Is the the bongo player of said tad bongo player. 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:36.040 First from Nicaragua. 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:40.040 It's from Nicarago, okay. And you have a non denominational minister. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.840 Gay gay remember where in San Francisco. 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.600 I'm just trying to decide if this is a movie, 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.240 a TV series, or a sitcom right now, all of 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.880 the above. There's not exactly a happy ending to this 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:53.680 wedding story. 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:58.000 I went on the honeymoon by myself because Gino, as 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:01.680 soon as he got married, went right back downstairs. So 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:03.680 I loved to win on the honeymoon by myself. 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.680 Were you pissed off at him? 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.399 Not really annoyed? 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:16.520 Maybe back in Nicaragua, another journalist is murdered. This time 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:32.679 it's an American. We'll be right back, welcome back. Journalism 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:37.760 can be a very dangerous business, especially during war. I 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.840 want to warn you this segment contains graphic descriptions of 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:45.120 violence that are disturbing and hard to listen to. While 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:48.679 Cookie was playing Missus Scarface, partying her ass off and 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:50.639 trying to stay one step ahead of the Dea in 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:57.760 law enforcement, her beloved Nicaragua was exploding. The dictator Anastasio 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.240 Simosa is at war with his own people. 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.320 Firing rockets to soften up antigovernment forces for ground troops. 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.920 The Nicaragua National Guard wants a major assault in Monagua 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.480 to retake poor neighborhoods or barrios held by the Gorillas. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:32.520 He's dropping five hundred pound bombs on the city because 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:37.200 by that time his philosophy is if we just kill everybody, 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:39.480 we don't have a revolution. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.440 Professor Wolf from Tulane University describes it like this. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.800 Not pinpointed bombs, not bombs that are just killing Santinistas. 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.280 They're just killing residents of the town, many of whom 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.879 are strong Santinissa support us, but they're just everyday people. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.120 If you need to bomb your own people, you are 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:03.760 that afraid of them, you are that dissociated from them. 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:05.320 That is the beginning of the end. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:10.080 Already, kids and men are being stopped. Roll up your sleeve, 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.560 roll up your pants. If you've got scabs on your 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.160 elbows or on your knees, you were shot right there, 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.320 because that meant you were fighting. 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:24.080 The press is becoming increasingly interested. I think that the 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.200 US press sees the murder of a pressman paid the 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:32.160 Jakin Chamoto as a kind of Canarian the coal mine. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:37.160 When they're killing journalists, things are going badly. Something is happening. 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:37.840 At this point. 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.399 The networks are down there, International journalists are there, and 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:48.320 they're just covering this war with these rag tag revolutionaries 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:54.159 who even themselves knew that they would never win. Somosa 0:19:54.240 --> 0:20:00.280 is now feeding amphetamines to all the Samosa guardsmen to 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:05.639 keep them up night and day. They're jittery. They're killing indiscriminately. 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.720 This morning in Managua, after some of the heaviest fighting 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.840 of the war, Bill Stewart and an ABC camera crew 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:15.080 went into an attacked neighborhood, which. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.159 Was then calm. 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:20.160 National guardsmen were friendly at the first checkpoint, In fact, 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.240 they were eager to talk and try to disprove reports 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:27.200 of low National Guard morale. But at the next checkpoint, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.479 the attitude among the soldiers was entirely different from what 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:32.080 Bill and the crew had just seen. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.320 A future driver of mine is driving the vehicle. There's 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:40.119 a translator with them, there's a correspondent, and there's a 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:40.760 camera crew. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.240 And Bill Stewart is a person that Americans were used 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.240 to seeing in their evening news. 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:48.320 Yes, he covered wars. 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.640 He was at Vietnam, and eat he covered wars. 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:52.760 He was a well known journalist. 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.600 Well well thought of. Yeah, a pro in every way. 0:20:55.920 --> 0:21:01.600 Roadblocks are an everyday occurrence. So the ABC crew gets 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:05.120 stopped at a roadblock. Bill Stewart says, let me get out. 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:06.120 I'll go talk to. 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.680 The soldiers like he's done a one. 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:13.240 Hundred times in many different battle situations, and the translator 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.120 gets down with him. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.399 In the news van. The cameraman turns on his camera 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.960 to film Stuart's interaction with the Samosa guardsmen. 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.800 The Samosa guardsmen had been up for weeks with these amphetamines, 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.760 and they were jumpy and not thinking straight. 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:37.520 Bill showed he was unarmed and presented his press identification. Still, 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:39.760 he was forced to kneel and then lie down on 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:40.320 the pavement. 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:48.040 One of the soldiers thinks he recognizes the translator he 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:52.680 was wrong, but he thinks he recognizes him as being 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:59.200 a revolutionary. This guy was a sport schmuck translator making 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:05.040 a few bucks. They get nervous. They take the translator 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:07.159 around the corner and he's shot. 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:14.080 Bill showed he was unarmed and presented his press identification. Still, 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.320 he was forced to kneel and then lie down on 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:16.880 the pavement. 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:21.760 The camera crew is still filming. They're looking at what's happening, 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.040 as is the driver who warned Bill Stewart not to 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.720 get out of the vehicle. All of a sudden, the 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:33.200 guardsman aims the weapon at Bill Stewart and shoots him 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:39.040 in the head with such force that his body kind 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:45.200 of jumped. At that point, the Nicaraguan driver knows we're fucked. 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:48.399 He doesn't even know that the camera crew filmed it. 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:51.679 The camera crew at this point doesn't even care that 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:54.919 they filmed it. They're just scared their next and they 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:56.000 would have been next. 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:01.160 The ABC sound man Jim Cephalou describes them ament, they. 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:05.360 Had us get out shore identification. While we were out, 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:07.639 I noticed on the left hand side of the building 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.760 the interpreter's body. He had been shot in the head. 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:16.520 So the driver, Pablo Pablo, with no fear at all, 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.840 goes up to these guys and said, damn, y'all made 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:26.159 a mistake. Dude, We're from Samosa TV. We were on 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:27.160 the same. 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:29.200 Side, lying his ass off. 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:32.800