Seal's story is the focus of the . His character is inspired by the stories we learned about Barry." In this photo Barry Seal is third from the bottom left, with a drink in his left hand. That last statement was quite the understatement. Pablo . Despite the heat surrounding Seal, he made a drug run to Nicaragua in 1984, where he picked up 1,465 pounds of . . But the 1984 investigation got derailed when Seal told his handlers that cocaine was being trans-shipped through Nicaragua with the permission of high . The DEA initially tried to protect Seal, but he refused to go into the Witness Protection Program. He had already been flying planes for nearly half his life, earning his student pilot . The arrests never happened since Seal's cover was blown. . This past weekend, American Made lost out on the top box office spot in a neck and neck race with It, missing first place by a scant $300,000 . In 2017, Seals life became the subject of a Hollywood adaptation titled American Made, starring Tom Cruise. [59], In January 2023, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards denied Vsquez's request for clemency. . In yet another conspiracy-stoking morsel, the C-123 used by Seal was the same one later piloted by Eugene Hasenfus when he was shot down over Nicaragua while piloting illegal U.S. arms shipments . -Vulture. [13] Seal's activities in Mena later became the subject of rumor and controversy, but according to Seal's biographer, former FBI agent Del Hahn, Seal did not use Mena as a drug transshipment point. Barry also had a daughter and a son not shown in the movie, Lisa and Alder, with his first wife Barbara Bottoms. Barry Seal liked to use pay phones. In an effort to frame the Sandinistas, the CIA installed a hidden camera in Seals C-130 cargo plane (the same plane, incidentally, that later crashed in Nicaragua leading to the capture of Eugene Hasenfus in October 1986). His cooperation led to many convictions, as well as indictments against Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa, two of the founding members of the Medelln Cartel. Tom Cruise got his pilot's license in 1994. The incredible story of Barry Seal - the man who worked for both the CIA and Pablo Escobar. Later, after Seal's cover was suspiciously blown, President Reagan used the photo shown below in a 1986 television address to the nation. The last movie was produced by Imagine Entertainment under Universal Pictures and was made after the company purchased Barry's life rights from Deborah at the cost of $350,000. And it was there, according to The Gentlemans Journal, that he was arrested by the DEA in 1984 with 462 pounds of Escobars cocaine on his plane. Yes, at least according to his wife and others who knew him. [38], While Seal had come to an agreement with the DEA and the Florida drug task force in March 1984, he was still under active investigation by state and federal authorities in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Little Rock, Arkansas. She is a brunette, not a blond like Sarah Wright's character in the movie. . The flight, in January 1985, was successful and led to arrests and convictions. Purwin was a passenger in a plane that went down, killing both Purwin and Venezuelan pilot Carlos Berl. Schafer recruits Seal to take reconnaissance photos of guerillas operating in Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, wooing him with a super-fast, super-nimble twin engine plane. "You know, we're not making a biopic," said director Doug Liman. His humble roots certainly didnt foreshadow what would become, quite literally, a blockbuster life. Yet, it's also certainly possible that Seal had no involvement with the CIA in the early 1980s at all, given there is nothing to support the claim but rumors. He was the primary witness in three trials: the trial of Saunders and the other Turks and Caicos officials in July; the trial of the cartel distributors in Miami in August; the trial of the cartel distributors who had arranged the shipment of cocaine from Bolivia to Las Vegas, also in August. In court documents, the family alleged that "lapses in planning, coordinating, scheduling, and flight safety" contributed to the fatal crash in the mountains of Colombia. Hahn told Vice that Barry was likable but "not as smart and clever as he thought he was. In fact, it was Seal who provided the DEA with the photos of Escobar that exposed him as a major drug kingpin. Particularly suspicious is the role of Federico Vaughn, the supposed Sandinista official, who appears to have been a US spy all along. Universal Pictures. After refueling, Seal left Los Brasiles flying without lights, and when he came close to Managua, he was fired on by Nicaraguan military units. The two American . [14], By 1981, DEA agents in Florida were aware of Seal's smuggling activities. 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. UPI reported: "By linking the Sandinistas with drug traffic aid to the rebels accused of human rights violations might seem more palatable". Alder Berriman Berry Seals life has become somewhat distorted over the years, and it isnt really a mystery why: such an exciting and controversial story is bound to be reproduced or exaggerated. The movie's loose interpretation of the true story is echoed in the trailer when a voice-over by Tom Cruise as Barry Seal tells us that only "some of this sh*t really happened." He spent years working for Pablo Escobar and the Medelln cartel, flying tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States and earning millions of dollars. That aspect of who he was has never been disputed. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. In the American Made movie, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) crash lands a plane in a suburban neighborhood in an effort to escape the DEA who ordered him to land. During the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s, the U.S. plotted to secretly help the rebels (Contras) overthrow Nicaragua's Communist Sandinista government. Pablo Escobar and the Ochoas were going to be arrested at a celebration of Seal's successful cocaine transport. [20], The Florida Task Force plan called for Seal to set up a cocaine purchase with the Ochoas and other cartel members, providing the basis for indictments in the U.S. Seal had previously dealt with the cartel through another associate so that they were unaware of his real name. Please consider donating. Barry Seal, at the time he died, may have been the . American Made is one of many "so crazy, it must be real" stories that have hit Hollywood in the form of a major action movie in recent years. In 1981, Seal set up shop at Mena. American Made, the new Tom Cruise crime drama out Sept. 29, has all the makings of a romp: drug running and arms smuggling. In addition to implicating Escobar as a drug kingpin, Seals photos provided evidence that the Sandinistas, Nicaraguan revolutionaries who overthrew the countrys dictator in 1979, were being funded by drug money. You can also support FAIR on Patreon! September 29, 2017 12:18 PM EDT. Barry Seal's widow, Debbie Seal, and others have wondered why the government didn't do more to protect Seal, whether he wanted the protection or not. Barry Seal. [30] Unfortunately, the driver was arrested by local police, and the circumstances of the seizure raised the suspicions of the cartel. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barry_Seal&oldid=1141963050, Drug Enforcement Administration informants, People murdered by Colombian organized crime, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Seal is portrayed by the actor Sebastin Snchez in, Seal is portrayed by theater director Thaddeus Phillips under his real name also of his nickname Ellis McKenzie in the 2013 TV series, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 20:01. Seal's active duty began in July 1962. FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation. Seal had six children; two from his first wife, one from a relationship he had in between marriages, and three more with Deborah.[62][63]. -Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal, Yes. When shot down Sunday, the plane reportedly was carrying 50,000 rounds of ammunition for Soviet-made AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of automatic rifles, boots and other supplies . "We're talking about one of the largest drug smugglers in America, and these agents loved him." But he did become one of the most important DEA informants, infiltrating the Medelln cartels inner circle. [32], However, the Nicaragua undercover operation came to an end soon after Seal's return from his second trip when it was reported in the press. Watch President Ronald Reagan's address to the nation on Nicaragua and Central America, delivered from the Oval Office on November 13, 1986. [40], Soon after the broadcast, the heads of the Florida and Louisiana task forces met to work out an agreement that would allow Seal to continue working with the Florida task force and testify as a witness at trial. Alder Berriman, or Barry Seal, was one of America's most notorious drug smugglers. Donate today to be a part of this important mission. No. Barry Seal, The Most Important Witness In The History Of The Drug Enforcement Administration. Although Seal had pleaded guilty, with the support of his DEA supervisors, he was sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation. Another shipment was also planned at this time, but under instructions from the DEA, Seal told Escobar his landing site was under DEA surveillance and unsafe for transport to avoid the need to seize a second load. Adler Berriman Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, 1986), better known as Barry Seal, was a United States drug smuggler and aircraft pilot who flew covert flights for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Medelln Cartel. Seal also made a public appearance before the President's Commission on Organized Crime, recounting his experiences as a drug smuggler. Facing major prison time, Seal attempted to cut various deals with the DEA. 4 - July/August, Iran-Contra Affair. Enough cold, hard cash to . Undercover cameras installed on Seal's plane captured photos on the tarmac of a Nicaraguan airport. The cartel tells Barry that they'll deal with JB, a suggestion that Barry opposes. Fact-checking American Made revealed that Monty Schafer is a fictional character created to represent Barry Seal's contacts at the CIA. Barry Seal was an ace pilot and a drug smuggler of such proportions that he has been called "the biggest drug smuggler in American History". When Seal pulled into the center's lot and parked, a man got out of a car behind the center's donation drop boxes and opened fire with a suppressed MAC-10 submachine gun. [25] The drugs were unloaded by the military and Seal and his co-pilot were taken to detention in downtown Managua, where they were released to the cartel's Nicaraguan contact, Federico Vaughan. Hed work at the drop of a hat, and he didnt care, a fellow smuggler later recalled of Seal. The most important witnesses were Max Mermelstein and Luis Carlos Uribe-Munera. Seal was assigned to the Salvation Army's Community Treatment Center in Baton Rouge.[48]. In researching the American Made true story, we learned that Barry Seal was arrested by customs officers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1983 as he tried to smuggle 200,000 units of Quaalude, a recreational drug, into the country. I guess he also thought Colombians would stick out like a sore thumb in Louisiana and they wouldn't come here." The Ochoa Family, along with Pablo Escobar and others, were the founders of the Medelln Cartel. In 1981, he was making daily deposits of $50,000 into an account at a bank in the Bahamas. Photos; Visual Stories; Sub Menu 1. At Guste's request, Meese launched an investigation to determine whether or not attorneys in Louisiana, Miami, and Washington had mishandled the case, and to determine whether or not Seal should have been forced into protective custody. He wasn't. In April 1981, a DEA informant introduced Seal to an undercover DEA agent. As the cocaine was being loaded onto his plane, Seal noticed that the remote control for the camera was malfunctioning. Subcommittee chairman William J. Hughes strongly suggested that North was the source of the leak, but Representative Bill McCollum said, "we don't know who leaked this. The box housing the camera was supposed to be soundproof, but when he took the first picture, it was loud enough for everyone to hear. After several months of contacts, the agent negotiated a deal with Seal to smuggle 1,200 pounds of methaqualone tablets into the United States (the tablets were counterfeits, made of chalk). [36], The evidence acquired from the arrest, plus the evidence gathered by Seal, provided the basis for the first drug trafficking indictment in the U.S. against Escobar and the Ochoas. Barry Seal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Mary Lou (ne Delcambre) and Benjamin Curtis Seal, a candy wholesaler. The Fat Lady, over Nicaragua. An Investigative Obituary. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. AKA Adler Berriman Seal. This leads to the CIA recruiting him to take reconnaissance photos in Central America. Two indictments were returned against Seal in March 1983. [12] The number of planes and the frequency of flights soon attracted the attention of Louisiana State Police and Federal investigators. Other photos like the one below show Federico Vaughan (center, striped shirt), a man that Seal claimed was a top aide of Tomas Borge, the Sandinista Minister of the Interior. Daniel Rennie is a freelance writer residing in Melbourne, Australia. In the film, his abductors take him to a secret airstrip in the Colombian jungle where three businessmen, including Pablo Escobar, make him an offer he can't pass up. Escobar decided to keep the first shipment in Nicaragua and have Seal return to the States and buy a larger plane. Armed with machine guns, they shot him to death outside the building. "Tom did all his own flying in the movie," says director Doug Liman, who is a pilot himself (Vulture.com). From 1980 on, Bottoms was the main pilot in Seal's smuggling enterprise, often flying with Camp while Seal oversaw planning and operations. Barry arrived that evening at approximately 6 p.m. and backed his white Cadillac into a parking space. Within U.S. airspace, Seal would have people on the ground monitor for any signs his planes were being tailed. "Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal had a brief, but spectacular, career as a cocaine smuggler-turned DEA informant. Born: 19-Jul-1939 Birthplace: Baton Rouge, LA Died: 19-Feb-1986 Location of death: Baton Rouge, LA Cause of death: Murder Remains: Buried, Greenoaks Memorial Park, Baton Rouge, LA Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Criminal, Government Nationality: United States Executive summary: DEA informant, CIA contract pilot Barry Seal was one of the biggest drug smugglers in America in the 1970s and 80s. Instead the Times ran a brief item in its Sunday national edition (7/31/88) quoting President Reagans weekly radio broadcast about how Sandinista officials are still involved in drug trafficking. He relocated to a small regional airport in Mena, Arkansas, which had a population of only 5,000. [26], In Managua, Seal met again with Pablo Escobar, who was setting up a cocaine lab for production. A DC-4 was seized at the Shreveport Regional Airport loaded with almost seven tons of plastic C-4 explosives, 7,000 feet of explosive primer cord and 2,600 electric blasting caps. Questioned about the identity of the source, DEA agent Ernst Jacobson replied, "I heard that the leak came from an aide in the White House". But the CIA were determined. In reality, there is no evidence that Seal was ever involved with the CIA. MIAMI (AP) _ The plane downed in Nicaragua had been used in Vietnam, a TV movie and possibly in an undercover drug sting that led to the indictment of a Sandinista official, newspapers reported today. If he had in fact been working for the CIA at the time, his connections didn't get him off the hook. [1], In 1962, Seal enlisted in the Louisiana Army National Guard for six years: six months of active duty, followed by five and a half years of inactive duty. The 70s. [7] At his peak, he earned as much as $500,000 per flight transporting shipments of cocaine from Colombia to the United States. His flight instructor described him as a naturally gifted pilot. Adler Berriman Barry Seal (July 16, 1939 February 19, 1986) was an American airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel. Later, the CIA turns a blind eye to his drug smuggling in exchange for his delivery of . FAIRs work is sustained by our generous contributors, who allow us to remain independent. The real Barry Seal never had a brother-in-law who was killed by a car bomb. Seal was originally introduced to the Medelln cartel members as a pilot named Ellis McKenzie. -The Independent, In the movie, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) starts working for the Medelln Cartel after they abduct him while he is refueling his plane and then make him an offer he can't refuse. "Doug and I are both aviators, so we both love to fly.". But the 1984 investigation got derailed when Seal told his handlers that cocaine was being trans-shipped through Nicaragua with the permission of high-level government officials. "Tom Cruise doesn't look like Barry Seal. a secret camera in Seal's C-123 cargo plane snapped photos of an alleged Sandinista official loading cocaine aboard the aircraft. Vasquez was identified as the purchaser of the halfway house vehicle by the car agency salesman and paid for hotel rooms and rental cars using his name. Despite the movie attempting to pin it on North, Jacoby later said that North was not his source and that it was a deceased Special Forces and CIA guy named Ted Lunger, who at the time worked as a staff member for Representative Dan Daniel. They had anticipated Seal would serve substantial time in Florida and were now bound by the agreement Florida and Louisiana drug task forces had made in December 1984. No, in real life he had five children and was married three times. American Made stars Tom Cruise as Barry Seal, a real-life former airline pilot who embarked on a wildly successful cocaine smuggling operation between Colombia and a tiny airstrip in Mena, Arkansas, in the 1980s. At the beginning of the movie, the fictionalized Seal gets bored on his daily flights with Trans World Airlines and begins performing daredevil stunts with passengers onboard. Barry Seal with his Wife Deborah DeBois and their kids. Concurrently, they had to make sure not to raise the suspicions of the ruthless Colombian drug lords. They were all sentenced to life in prison. An interesting fact we learned while researching the true story was that while training for the Civil Air Patrol in Baton Rouge, Barry Seal met President John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. [29], The drugs could not be distributed, and the immediate arrest of those handling the vehicle would suggest to the Colombians that Seal had betrayed them, so DEA agents staged an accident with the camper, allowing the driver to escape. This, transporting cocaine for the Ochoa brothers, Pablo Escobar's associates who helped him found the Medelln Cartel. Money from the sale of weapons to Iran was used to help fund the rebels in Nicaragua. [55] The trial began in April 1987. [9], Seal's smuggling method was to use low-flying planes and airdrop drug packages in remote areas of Louisiana. Barry Seal (Photo: Facebook) . Indeed, at age 26, Seal became one of the youngest pilots to ever fly for Trans World Airlines. Set in the year 1978, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) works as a pilot for Trans World Airlines. Seal said that he started by doing things like flying guns for the CIA to revolution fighters in Cuba in the late 1950s and flying operations for U.S. Army Special Forces in Laos just prior to the Vietnam War. With his real name unknown to the cartel, Seal was in the perfect position to avoid prosecution by becoming a government informant or so he thought. ", No. Barry Seal's smuggling operation began in Louisiana, and like in the American Made movie, he sometimes pushed packed duffel bags full of drugs out of his plane and into the Atchafalaya basin, to be collected by associates on the ground. 5 Jackson Stevens. He carries it around and begins spending it, which attracts the attention of the local authorities. The guns were then flown to the contras in Nicaragua, the suit said. Synopsis. Sep 30, 2017 Stefan Andrews. [22] The Colombian government had recently conducted a major raid on the cartel's manufacturing facilities at a remote jungle location called Tranquilandia, and they told Seal that they were making arrangements to set up shipping and production facilities in Nicaragua, where they had struck a deal with the Sandinista government.