The extent of Barry Seal's involvement with the CIA in the 1980s has provided fuel for speculation and conspiracy theories. Brown and the co-pilot, who never exchanged any more than a few words, remained on board. The real Barry Seal claimed that he started running covert operations for various government agencies as early as the late 1950s, while he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol in New Orleans, well before he became a TWA pilot. The explosives were supposedly going to anti-Castro Cuban fighters. At a press conference in October 1994, for instance, he was asked a rambling question about the remote air strip, and gave an equally rambling answer. (Brown maintains that he never flunked the test; in fact, he was nominated four months after taking it for employment with the agency.). Just prior to the movie's release, news broke that the family of deceased stunt pilot Alan Purwin was suing American Made's producers for wrongful death. attorney.". Brown says Seal told him theres good money to be had. But Brown, says he was out of that game for good. Doug Liman had previously modeled Chris Cooper's villain in The Bourne Identity after North, which reveals Liman's feelings about the controversial figure North. individuals, })(); She is a brunette, not a blond like Sarah Wright's character in the movie. It must be noted now that Clintons efforts to distance himself from Mena have persisted for years. In the 1980s the smallairportin Arkansas known as Mena became part of the largest covert operation in history. Strange events unfolded at Mena, a small city in remote western Arkansas, in the 1980s. It's certainly possible and it's what the movie proposes. He also says he told Seal he wanted no part of what was happening; then he left. White Kendall, approached ABC, As Time reported, Kendall was working very, very hard to keep Whitewater out of the headlines. Meanwhile, Betsey Wright, a Clinton political fixer, told ABC that Brown was a pathological liar, even though his personnel file in Arkansas abounded with recommendations some from Clinton, and even one from Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Then Brown says, Seal and the kickers returned, carrying four duffel bags. Judicial Watch On Issue: The Battle for Election Integrity, Judicial Watch On Issue: Leading the Battle Against Illegal Immigration, Al Qaeda Plans Plane Attacks Using New Techniques and Tactics as Air Marshals Keep Getting Sent to Mexican Border, Biden staying at St. Croix villa of wealthy donors who got state dinner invite, Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch Weekly Update. A 1983 document in the recently released trove referred to a telephone conversation between the FBI and Polk County Sheriff A.L. -Court DocumentsThe 2016 Bryan Cranston movie The Infiltrator also depicts Barry Seal's assassination, but it is historically inaccurate. Concurrently, they had to make sure not to raise the suspicions of the ruthless Colombian drug lords. When Bill Clinton became president, Mena got a closer look. In the 1980s, the Mena airport was the reported base of a drug-smuggling, money-laundering and arms-smuggling ring run by Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal, according to an Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on the airport. "There are also allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency used the airport as a base of operations to help train pilots and troops for the intervention in the Nicaraguan uprising by the Contras during the 1980s," according to the encyclopedia entry, which was written by Robert Sherwood of Georgia Military College. Debbie became Barry's third wife. An "extensive joint investigation" by the FBI, Arkansas State Police and IRS revealed that Barry Seal used the Mena airport for "smuggling activity" from late 1980 until March 1984, according to . In its review of the 2017 movie "American Made" -- about Seal -- the New York Times called it the Conspiratorial Industrial Complex. By providing your phone number, you are consenting to receive calls and recurring SMS/MMS messages, including autodialed and automated calls and texts, to that number from the Judicial Watch. Copyright 2023, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. By 1983, his earnings totaled $60 million, making him one of the wealthiest people in America. One mission involved a C-123K cargo plane that was outfitted at the Mena airport. In essence, not only was the airport used to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States, but it was also a departure point for weapons used to arm the Contras in Nicaragua.". Barry Seal, courtesy of the Baton Rouge Advocate. In February 1986, Seal was killed in a hail of machine-gun fire outside a Baton Rouge Salvation Army halfway house after allegedly crossing Pablo Escobar and the Medellin drug cartel. During the past few years, the activity at the airstrip has aroused the interest of local law enforcement, who then attempted to conduct some investigations but were blocked by the U.S. var sc_click_stat=1; The Sandinistas overthrew Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, ending 46 years of dictatorship by the Somoza family. -Daily Mail Online. Brown was 28 years old in 1984. var sc_security="740aa5bc". In the American Made movie, Barry Seal's boredom with piloting commercial flights leads him to perform stunts that cause the oxygen masks to fall and frighten passengers. "I've heard that stated by a lot of people.". Watch an interview with the real Barry Seal where he discusses his undercover mission, and listen to President Ronald Reagan talk about the photos Seal obtained on the mission. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. We had nothing zeroto do with it, and everybody whos ever looked into it knows that.. Frankly, it will never be revealed. -Good Morning America. Seal Texaco.located corner Acadian Thruway andGoverment Street ,Baton Rouge La.Father Benjamin C Seal and the Sons Benjy Jr,Dean ,Jason ,Aaron, Curtis R,Wendell K, work the gas . But of the charges levelled at Brown by the White House, the most unintentionally revealing was that Brown had flunked a CIA examination in the mid-1980s. foundations, and corporations and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. "Allegations later surfaced that many of the gun shipments sent to Nicaragua as part of the Iran-Contra Affair were sent from the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport. Still unknown at the time, the cartel would go on to make hundreds of millions from the explosion of cocaine use in the U.S. Barry Seal, who became known as "El Gordo" (The Fat Man), ended up being an integral part of that success. All rights reserved. And ABC producer told me at the time that Brown is telling the truth. The CIAs inspector general investigated and released a terse statement saying no evidence has been found that the CIA was associated with money laundering, narcotics trafficking, arms smuggling or other illegal activities at or around Mena. There was, however, a classified two-week exercise and some contracting for routine aviation-related services.. "The estimated value of the narcotics smuggled through the facility is $3 [billion] to $5 billion. The New York Times and "West 57th," a CBS television news show, were working on stories about CIA activities at the Mena airport, according to a 1987 FBI memo released last week. country of residence flight check in; nathaniel rateliff gallagher way; filming locations for she out of my league. An indignant Brown began toying with the idea of exposing the corruption of Arkansas politics. On Watch: CROSSFIRE HURRICANE Targeting of Trump from A to Z. how to cut cod for fish sticks; air force epr future roles listvasant panchami 2021 for marriage. Owing to a case that Brown was then working on that could have implicated Tucker, Brown believes the demotion was illegal. Scared the s---- out of me just taking off. Brown says that when the plane took off, he was sitting on a bench behind the two pilots. The lawsuit claims that the pilots were overworked and that the crash happened after a 12-hour workday. "Little Rock [FBI] is attempting to establish that [redacted] modified, maintained and stored Seal's aircraft with the knowledge that he was involved in cocaine smuggling activities prior to Seal's plea bargaining agreement on March 24, 1984," according to the memo. ABC was also told that brown had failed a psychological test. Three Colombians supposedly sent by the Ochoas, including Cruz and Velez, were later arrested at the airport. Author Del Hahn, a former FBI agent who wrote the book about Seal titled Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal, told Vice, "Seal thought he was smarter and cleverer than the Ochoas," who are one of the founding families of the Medelln Cartel. However, her real name is Debbie, not Lucy. Back at Mena, Brown says, he told Seal he had thought they were going to fly in a plane similar to the ones he had been on with the Governor. JB is fictional. His daybook records one visit to Mena by Clinton on May 21, 1984, and he says that he accompanied Clinton to Mena on several other occasions. It does seem, however, that Clinton was far less cautious. They were all sentenced to life in prison. It alleges, explicitly and implicitly, that an aircraft operated by a CIA front company in 1984 used the airfield at Mena, Arkansas, as a stating point for weapons supply flights to the Contras in Nicaragua; on the return flights from Honduras, the aircraft allegedly carried illegal narcotics to Mena. Then, Brown says, Seal reached again into the duffel bag and pulled out a kilogram of cocaine. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? Over a quarter of a century ago, George H.W. It turns out Barry flew the plane all the way back to the United States. In the 1980s, the Mena airport was the reported base of a drug-smuggling, money-laundering and arms-smuggling ring run by Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal, according to an Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Msg&data rates may apply. And move on, the world did. While there, he had a chance meeting with Jorge Ochoa's New Orleans business manager. FITTON: #TwitterFiles EXPOSE FBI & CIA Election Interference! However, some still allege the opposite, that the government turned a blind eye to Seal's drug running in order to use him to deliver weapons to the Nicaraguan rebels. CIA and DEA activities flowed out of Mena in the Clinton years. Gov. Brown says Clinton told him not to worry. They referred him to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). -Vulture.com Barry Seal was a ballsy and confident risk taker, who rarely acknowledged the possibility of failure, and that's just how Tom Cruise portrays him in the American Made movie. ", Copyright 2023, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. 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