One passage discusses the deductibility of charitable donations, and another the length of residency required in Washington before tax liability is incurred. 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. Counterrevolutionaries, known as Contras, were battling the Sandinistas. Rafael Mena; Arizona; Phoenix; Rafael L Mena; Rafael L Mena, Age 71. aka Rafael J Mena. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Material from the Associated Press is Copyright 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Money from the sale of weapons to Iran was used to help fund the rebels in Nicaragua. Seemingly panicked, the White House mistakenly presumed that Brown was talking to ABC News about his involvement with Mena when he was actually discussing Whitewater. The August issue ofThe American Spectatortakes up the Mena story in a way that is likely to resonate on the Hill (see attached article). In its review of the 2017 movie "American Made" -- about Seal -- the New York Times called it the Conspiratorial Industrial Complex. -Daily Mail Online, No. Seal, he says, laughed, and told Brown that all he had wanted him to do was sit back for the ride. Then he gave Brown an envelope with $2,500 in cash not marked money, not banded money, just twenties, fifties, mostly twenties, used money, like you just went out and spent.. He was also providing Clinton with the use of a private airplane, and entertaining him at various places, including his New Mexico resort, Angel Fire. (323) 771-9819. info@arcadiainc.com. The mysterious events surrounding Mena Airfield in remote western Arkansas during the gubernatorial reign of Bill Clinton have teased the popular imagination for more than three decades. The other troopers called him Clintons Fair-haired boy. He carried out his smuggling operation under the nose of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. One mission involved a C-123K cargo plane that was outfitted at the Mena airport. Benjamin /Mary Seal son Adler M 1940 census address 315 Lovers Lane Baton.Rouge Louisiana (next hwy73/North blvd).lovers lane White house Barry was the 1st son.Seal Entrepreneur.Texaco Service station .called B.C. Strange events unfolded at Mena, a small city in remote western Arkansas, in the 1980s. It was dark almost black, and had only the minimal tail markings necessary for civilian operation. Seal made an estimated $60 million off smuggling drugs into the country and became one of the richest people in America. I dont want to be getting any more reports from Brown is the statement by Tucker that Colonel Tommy Goodwin, the recently retired head of the Arkansas state police, quoted in explaining the demotion to me in an interview. "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. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. "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. All rights reserved. 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. "According to some reports, the [Mena] airport, from 1981 to 1985, was a major transit point for the entrance of cocaine and heroin into the United States," Sherwood wrote. "The estimated value of the narcotics smuggled through the facility is $3 [billion] to $5 billion. "You know, we're not making a biopic," said director Doug Liman. He concluded by saying that Mena was a federal, not a state, matter. Pablo Escobar and the Ochoas were going to be arrested at a celebration of Seal's successful cocaine transport. 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. The name of another person under investigation was redacted. The pilot of the plane was Barry Seal, a legendary drug trafficker. -Daily Mail Online, No. Seal's mysterious activities have spawned books, movies and a cornucopia of conspiracy theories. Clinton, Brown believed, was the CIA. 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. No investigation was blocked.". var sc_invisible=1; Then Brown says, Seal and the kickers returned, carrying four duffel bags. It must be noted now that Clintons efforts to distance himself from Mena have persisted for years. Seal, according to Brown, was familiar with the biographical information he had given the agency. The interview with Brown, in which he had spoken only about Hale and not about Mena, was killed. Liman has referred to the film as "a fun lie based on a true story" (TIME). With the publication of The American Spectator article, we expect more. "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 was no coincidence when Donald TrumpappointedWilliam Barr as his Attorney General. 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. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. Brown? He suspected a CIA involvement, although his brother did not confirm it. 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. Jacoby mentioned Seal's mission as evidence, which effectively outed Seal as a government agent. The Sandinistas overthrew Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, ending 46 years of dictatorship by the Somoza family. Over a quarter of a century ago, George H.W. But there were still questions regarding the Mena airport and people who worked there, according to the FBI memo. economic factors affecting media industry, what is lizzo favorite color, delbarton jv soccer roster, sound on sound festival lineup, examples of complementarity of structure and function, barry seal mena house address, christopher hunter son of jeffrey hunter, undefeated documentary where are they now, faran fronczak husband, sacem dico 2 rue . She is a brunette, not a blond like Sarah Wright's character in the movie. country of residence flight check in; nathaniel rateliff gallagher way; filming locations for she out of my league. Material from the Associated Press is Copyright 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. He then, he says, signed a secrecy agreement, and was told he would be contacted further. var sc_partition=60; The goal was to expose the involvement of the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime as a major supplier of cocaine from Colombia.". Past Addresses: See available information. 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. That charge could only have come from the man then Governor Clinton who knew that his former bodyguard had dealings with the CIA ten years ago. 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. UNLOCK PROFILE. Approximately 30 minutes later, Brown says, the C-123K landed in what he later learned what Tegucigalpa, Honduras. "The information indicates that Seal was an informant for DEA at the time but also working as an operative of the CIA. In February 1986, Seal was killed in a hail of machine-gun fire outside a Baton Rouge Salvation Army halfway house. Yes. The cartel tells Barry that they'll deal with JB, a suggestion that Barry opposes. 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. The gunman was later identified as Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz. 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. "The apparent reason was that the prosecution might have revealed national security information, even though all of the crimes which were the focus of the investigation occurred before Seal became a federal informant.". The accident didn't happen during filming. In 1986, Colombian hitmen caught up with Seal in Baton Rouge, shooting him to death in his white Cadillac. Not all of Barry Seal's heirs were happy with the making of the movie. And the U.S. was covertly backing the Contras. "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. However, her real name is Debbie, not Lucy. The pilot of the plane was Barry Seal, a legendary drug trafficker. The man who made Baton Rouge headlines in the mid-1980s for the machine-gun killing of drug informant Adler "Barry" Seal died in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Aug. 25, Louisiana. In Mena, meanwhile, things were getting stranger. Yes, at least according to his wife and others who knew him. In 1981, he was making daily deposits of $50,000 into an account at a bank in the Bahamas. Young has since been made head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration in Denton, Texas. 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. As part of the application process, Brown had written an essay: Marxist Influence in Central America. Then, he says, they regained altitude, by then they descended again, and thats when these two crazy bastards got these palettes and roll them out on casters. Parachutes opened from the palettes. They referred him to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 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 CIA stonewalled the release of information now sought by Judicial Watch on the Mena Airport controversy, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. Three early drafts of the essay contain interpolations in Clintons handwriting. 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. Arthur, the chief council, investigated the CIA and questioned Col. Oliver North, who is depicted in American Made. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? Terms & conditions/privacy policy apply. 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. On Watch: The #COVID19 Crisis on our Southern Border the Media ISN'T Coveri On Watch: Marxism & the Current Insurrection in America. individuals, Leveritt had in-depth knowledge of the travails of investigators Duncan and Welch, and state and federal officials, in attempting to get to the truth about Mena. Also, view a news story about Barry Seal's death. How could that be? "The aircraft flew with various cameras used to obtain photographic evidence of the Sandinistas in the act of smuggling narcotics," Sherwood wrote. The goal was to expose the involvement of the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime as a major supplier of cocaine from Colombia.". Later Brown would come to know them as kickers. However, when a drug shipment was seized by the DEA, the Medellin Cartel blamed Seal for the loss. That aspect of who he was has never been disputed. Later Seal confirmed Browns suspicions: the palettes contained M-16s for the Contras. AboutPressCopyrightContact. -Good Morning America. Brown, a narcotics cop, got upset. Corporate Office Arcadia Inc. 2301 East Vernon Ave. Vernon, CA 90058. Ultimately, we may find out, as Brown tells us that he has been repeatedly questioned by lawyers working for the Whitewater independent counsel about Clintons association with Lasater at a time when illicit drugs allegedly were flowing into Mena airport. This draws the attention of the CIA. Barry Seal was an American-born Trans World Airlines pilot who . 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. It may also never be known whether CIA officials approved or knew of Seals activities, or whether he was operating on his own. In another deposition in the Reed case, Russell Welch, an Arkansas state police investigator who has looked extensively at Mena, says that Young asked him in 1992 if Clintons name had ever come up in connection with Mena. While at a bar one night, Barry is found by a man saying his name is Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson). Judicial Watch: Fighting for Clean Elections. ", Copyright 2023, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. Rayburn House Office Building, Chairman James Leach (R-IA), Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and staffer . Evidence emerged suggesting that the CIA was operating in the area in the early 1980s; that a major cocaine and gun smuggler was based at the airfield; and that the U.S. military was somehow involved. The White House saw the pictures as proof of the communist Sandinista government's corruption and believed that the photos would help to convince the public of the need to support and arm the rebels (Contras) in Nicaragua. Bushs Attorney General was William Barr. A 1983 document in the recently released trove referred to a telephone conversation between the FBI and Polk County Sheriff A.L. Dwayne Brown says his brother seemed terribly upset, and that he immediately drove over to the Governors Mansion to meet him. "At the time Seal started cooperating with DEA Miami, he had an established base at Rich Mountain Aviation and had frequent contact with subjects," according to the document. Trooper Bobby Walker has told me that sometime in the mid-1980s he was at Mena with Clinton. Many of the more baroque allegations emerge from the fever swamps of conspiracy theorists, but certain facts are indisputable. More than 1.2 million registrants have been removed from the voter rolls in Los Angeles County, California, since 2022 as part of a settlement agreement with Judici Al Qaeda Plans Plane Attacks Using New Techniques and Tactics as Air Mars Hackers Tied to Chinas Govt. "The aircraft flew with various cameras used to obtain photographic evidence of the Sandinistas in the act of smuggling narcotics," Sherwood wrote. The respected Arkansas journalist Mara Leveritt recently outlined what appears to be a continuing effort to cover up the Mena affair. commission charbonneau liste de noms. He said, according to Brown, Thats Lasaters deal, thats Lasaters deal.. The photos quickly leaked, boosting Washingtons anti-Sandinista effort but likely putting a target on Seals back: to his drug-running friends in South America, there could be no question where the photos came from. "Despite the availability of evidence sufficient for an indictment on money laundering charges, and over the strong protests of state and federal law enforcement officials, the cases were dropped," according to the report. FITTON: Heavy Lifting Needed By Congress on Corruption! 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. 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. -Daily Mail Online, No. Bill Duncan, an IRS investigator, told me that he had numerous reports of automatic weapons fire, men of Latin American appearance in the area, people in camouflage moving quietly through streams with automatic weapons, aircraft drops, twin-engine airplane traffic. Duncan, along with Arkansas State Police investigator Russell Welch, started digging into Seal and the Mena connection, suspecting a drug smuggling and money laundering operation. Indeed, when Clinton was a law professor in Fayetteville, Brown was working on an off-campus magazine, the radical Grapevine. Approved for Release Date:September 28, 2009. -Court DocumentsThe 2016 Bryan Cranston movie The Infiltrator also depicts Barry Seal's assassination, but it is historically inaccurate. 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