I understand that Fred Hitz or someone from his staff, along with other CIA officers will brief Congressman Leach on Friday 21 July in an attempt to address his concerns about these and other allegations. The interview with Brown, in which he had spoken only about Hale and not about Mena, was killed. "The original information dates back to the activities of a pilot, Barry Seal (now deceased), who is purported to have flown guns to South America from Mena and drugs back into the United States," according to the memo. Frankly, it will never be revealed. The story took on a new life when Bill Clinton ran for president. In another deposition in the case, John Bender, a mechanic, says he saw Clinton at Mena three times in the summer of 1985. The mysteries of Mena revolve around a drug-smuggling pilot named Barry Seal. He later claimed to have made as much as $50 million running 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month from Colombia. At the rear of the plane, by the beaners, he says were palettes on casters. attorney.". People in Mena say the drugs never got there, that the drugs were jettisoned over drop zones in the Louisiana swamps before Seal's planes made it back to Mena. FITTON: Heavy Lifting Needed By Congress on Corruption! Advertisement. Strange events unfolded at Mena, a small city in remote western Arkansas, in the 1980s. "He thought we had more time. -Vulture.com, Yes. There were no local dignitaries present, Bender says, and Clinton did not seem to be taking part in any official function. ", No. When Brown returned to the Governors mansion, he recalls, Clinton greeted him jovially, You having any fun yet? he asked. Judicial Watch has launched a new campaign for answers. Barry Seal was an American-born Trans World Airlines pilot who . 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. See Rafael L Mena's age, phone number, house address, email address, social media accounts, public records, and check for criminal records on Spokeo. Yet, some believe that Seal was working for the CIA in the 1980s to fly guns and money to Nicaraguan rebels, a detail that the movie embraces. "I initiated a grand jury investigation in relation to money laundering through the Mena airport in 1985," Hutchinson said Friday. pennymac insurance claim check tracker. I guess he also thought Colombians would stick out like a sore thumb in Louisiana and they wouldn't come here." No investigation was blocked.". Officials at the Arkansas Studies Institute suggested their concerns were legal and financial, associated with vetting the book, but Leveritt wasnt buying it. -Daily Mail Online, The movie proposes that Barry Seal's first foray into smuggling drugs happened in 1980 after he was kidnapped while refueling his plane in Colombia. Seal, a pilot, moved much of his smuggling operation from Baton Rouge to Rich Mountain Aviation at the Mena Intermountain Airport, according to the May 1986 FBI memo. -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. jewish british actresses; how old is meryl lipstein By 1983, his earnings totaled $60 million, making him one of the wealthiest people in America. All were wearing jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. The Judicial Watch lawsuit seeks the report of a November 1996 CIA investigation into drug running, money laundering and intelligence gathering at Mena. He also says he was mindful of the secrecy agreement he had signed with the CIA. Seal is purported to have flown guns to South America from Mena and drugs back into the United States, according to the memo. The narcotics runner, Barry Seal, allegedly paid off then-Governor Clintons protg, L. D. Brown, and one Dan Lasater, a Clinton contributor. In the years that followed his split from Clinton, Brown investigated white-collar crime for the Arkansas State Police. Barry Seal, courtesy of the Baton Rouge Advocate. var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); Though the Clinton machine feared him the most, he showed no intention of breaking his silence until a chain of random events made it inevitable. "In other words, the charges of drug smuggling and money laundering were not enough to warrant the release of information about the use of the airport in the Iran-Contra Affair," wrote Sherwood for the Arkansas encyclopedia. It aborted the scheduled trial of Casper W. Weinberger which had been schedule to begin on January 5, 1993. We had nothing zeroto do with it, and everybody whos ever looked into it knows that.. Tax records show that, having assessed Seal posthumously for some $86 million in back taxes on his earnings from Mena and elsewhere between 1981 and 1983, even the l.R.S. -Refinery29, Yes. "The estimated value of the narcotics smuggled through the facility is $3 [billion] to $5 billion. Seal became a federal informant in March 1984. Owing to a case that Brown was then working on that could have implicated Tucker, Brown believes the demotion was illegal. The state really had next to nothing to do with it. The Louisiana attorney general would tell the Justice Department that Seal had "smuggled between $3 billion and $5 billion in drugs into the U.S." The August issue ofThe American Spectatortakes up the Mena story in a way that is likely to resonate on the Hill (see attached article). Hagan said he didn't know how many pages of material on Seal have yet to be made public by the FBI. It does seem, however, that Clinton was far less cautious. Hagan said he didn't know how many pages of material on Seal have yet to be made public by the FBI. Barry emerges from the plane covered in cocaine. "He would tell me, 'I'm going to such and such places,' and I wouldn't see him for days. Movies have been made, books have been published, hundreds of articles have been written. var _gaq = _gaq || []; -Daily Mail Online, "Mena" refers to the small town in Arkansas where Barry Seal moved his operation, smuggling in drugs to a clandestine airfield under the nose of then-Governor Bill Clinton. Regardless, Jacoby's article led to the abandonment of the final piece of Barry Seal's undercover operation. When asked how, he replied, "Oh, Barry stole an airplane from me. Barry's widow, Deborah Seal, says that he began smuggling drugs in 1975, first focusing mainly on marijuana. "It's my understanding that no drugs ever came to the airport," said Fred Ogden, the current airport manager. Some facts, however, are indisputable. "Tom did all his own flying in the movie," says Liman. He gathered information on Medellin cartel kingpins and participated in at least two drug runs to Nicaragua, where the Reagan administration was ramping up operations against the Sandinista government. The extent of Barry Seal's involvement with the CIA in the 1980s has provided fuel for speculation and conspiracy theories. The assassination happened on February 19, 1986 in the parking lot in front of the Salvation Army building on Airline Highway (U.S. 61) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The name of another person under investigation was redacted. Current Address: HERA E Avalon Dr, Phoenix, AZ. Phone Number: (602) 256- KDYM +1 phone. In the autumn of 1984, Brown found himself seated on a bench inside a cavernous C-123K cargo plane roaring over a Central American jungle. A July 17, 1984 front-page Washington Times article by Edmund Jacoby described a link between Nicaragua's Sandinista government and the Medelln drug cartel. The explosives were supposedly going to anti-Castro Cuban fighters. Seal, Brown says, talked knowledgeably about airplanes, and spoke of an operation he was planning. country of residence flight check in; nathaniel rateliff gallagher way; filming locations for she out of my league. "The information indicates that Seal was an informant for DEA at the time but also working as an operative of the CIA. Then, he started the engines, and Brown remembers, ThisI mean just thunderous noise. But twenty-three years later, Judicial Watch says it is time for answers. Clinton had been asking him a similar question for months, ever since, with Clintons encouragement, he had applied for a job with the CIA. 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. Also, view a news story about Barry Seal's death. But there were still questions regarding the Mena airport and people who worked there, according to the FBI memo. Not by the United States government. var sc_partition=60; They referred him to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The movie proposes that Barry Seal's first foray into smuggling drugs happened in 1980 after he was kidnapped while refueling his plane in Colombia. The Ochoa Family, along with Pablo Escobar and others, were the founders of the Medelln Cartel. He had previously been married to Barbara Bottoms (m. 1963-1971) and Lynn Ross (m. 1971-1972). Thats when he said, You having any fun yet.. Pablo Escobar and the Ochoas were going to be arrested at a celebration of Seal's successful cocaine transport. He hands wads of cash to a kid on a bike, telling the boy, "You never saw me." 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. After it left Mena, the plane made a refueling stop Nobody got off, Brown says and then resumed flight. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Arkansas State Trooper L.D. Connor Hagan, a spokesman for the FBI in Little Rock, said the release of so much information into the FBI's public "vault" doesn't mean that the documents haven't previously been made public. Bill Clinton's Mena, Arkansas drug smuggling and money laundering operation through the Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA).. Seal was a Green Beret in the Vietnam war and later a pilot for TWA. 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. In his book, he uses case documents and first-person accounts to dispel this idea and other half-truths about Seal. The lawsuit claims that the pilots were overworked and that the crash happened after a 12-hour workday. The Sandinistas overthrew Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, ending 46 years of dictatorship by the Somoza family. "You know, we're not making a biopic," said director Doug Liman. Why arent these pilots who flew trafficked minors arrested and charged? "I resigned from the office in November of 1985, and my successor took over the investigation. The gunman hurried into a waiting Buick, which sped away. barry seal mena house address. So last month, we filed a lawsuit seeking a long-hidden report by the CIA inspector general into events at Mena. The memorable scene never happened in real life. People in Mena say the drugs never got there, that the drugs were jettisoned over drop zones in the Louisiana swamps before Seal's planes made it back to Mena. Many of the more baroque allegations emerge from the fever swamps of conspiracy theorists, but certain facts are indisputable. While at a small airport in rural Mena, Arkansas, the notorious smuggler Barry Seal was given protection by Governor Bill Clinton to continue his drug-smuggling, gun-running, money laundering operation but now as a DEA informant and a CIA contract pilot, also set up by Bush. Subsequently, the special prosecutor investigating Whitewater subpoenaed Brown to disclose what he knew about Clintons connections to David L. Hale. forgave the taxes on hundreds of millions in known drug and gun profits over the ensuing two-year period when Seal was officially admitted to be employed by the government. Owing to a case that Brown was then working on that could have implicated Tucker, Brown believes demotion... Scheduled trial of Casper W. Weinberger which had been schedule to begin on January,... Bill Clinton ran for president into drug running, money laundering and intelligence gathering at Mena the secrecy agreement barry seal mena house address! 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