By Tom Aswell
Saturday, February 19, will mark the 25th anniversary of one of the most sensational high-profile killings to rock Baton Rouge since the 1935 assassination of U.S. Sen. Huey Long.
The brutal murder of Barry Seal, 46, at a Baton Rouge halfway house in 1986 would send shock waves up and down the political spectrum. It would focus the glare of the media spotlight on not only the Colombian Medellin Cartel, but also on the FBI and CIA as well as such political icons as then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Oliver North.
Most of all, Seal’s murder would lay bare for all the world to see the seamy underbelly of America’s duplicitous war on drugs, and how drug smuggling was in fact sanctioned by powerful men in order to advance a hidden agenda. That agenda would turn up in the sordid details of the Iran-Contra scandal.
Seal’s life—and death—would seem a perfect fit for Hollywood. In fact, there was a made-for-cable movie, Double Crossed, that starred Dennis Hopper as Seal.
Seal, who began flying at age of 15, flew weapons to Fidel Castro in 1958 when Castro was fighting to overthrow Fulgencio Batista. It was only after Castro succeeded in overthrowing Batista in 1959 and declared himself a Marxist that other forces then began their efforts to overthrow Castro.
In 1964, Seal went to work for TWA and became their youngest 707 captain and later their youngest 747 captain. He was fired by TWA after his 1972 arrest in New Orleans on charges of flying explosives to anti-Castro Cubans in Mexico. The buyer, it turned out, was a federal agent. Soon after that, Seal turned to drug smuggling and subsequently was arrested in Honduras with 40 kilos of cocaine worth a reported $25 million.
He spent nine months in a Honduran prison and while there, met William Roger Reeves, a fellow prisoner who worked for the Ochoa family of Medellin, Colombia. Reeves, Ochoa’s New Orleans business manager, brought Seal into what in 1982 officially became the Medellin Cartel after Jorge Ochoa and Pablo Escobar joined forces to form a 2,000-man army to destroy M-19, the Marxist revolutionary group that was causing problems for the Colombian drug barons.
By 1982, Seal was making regular runs on behalf of the Medellin Cartel, bringing tons of cocaine into the U.S. It was at this time that he moved his operations from Baton Rouge to Mena, Arkansas. Whether known or not at the time by Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, the use of the Mena airport by Seal and others would be used by detractors in efforts to tie Clinton to drug smuggling conspiracies, especially during his first four years as President.
In 1984, Seal was indicted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on charges of smuggling Quaaludes and money laundering. Facing a 10-year prison sentence, he decided to flip but federal prosecutors were not interested in a deal so he simply went over their heads. He flew to Washington and met with two members of Vice President George Bush’s Task Force on Drugs.
In secret testimony before the task force, Seal said the Medellin Cartel had cut a deal with the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The agreement, Seal said, called for the cartel to give a cut of drug profits to the Sandinistas in exchange for use of an airfield in Managua as a trans-shipment point for narcotics.
That news proved too enticing for President Reagan who was eager to wage an all-out war on the Sandinistas. Because Reagan feared another communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, Seal was enlisted as an undercover informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
By this time, Seal had purchased a C-123. The larger transport plane, which he affectionately referred to as The Fat Lady, was needed to haul tons of cocaine for the cartel. As part of his agreement with DEA, he rigged the C-123 with a hidden camera and was able to photograph Pablo Escobar helping Nicaraguan soldiers load 1,200 kilos of cocaine at the Managua airport. Reagan was ecstatic and went on national television shortly afterwards, waving the photograph given to him by Col. Oliver North and denouncing the Sandinistas as “drug smugglers corrupting American youth.”
As a result of Seal’s cooperation, the judge in his Florida case praised Seal and reduced his sentence to six months probation.
North, meanwhile, was busy orchestrating a complicated arms deal with Iran in negotiations to obtain Iran’s help in freeing seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. The U.S. would conceal the transactions by selling the weapons first to Israel and then re-selling them at significant “off the books” markups to Iran’s Islamist government for use in its war with Iraq. Despite several such transactions, it would take years to obtain freedom for all the prisoners.
Part of the $48 million paid by Iran to the U.S. for the Hawk and TOW missiles was in turn used to fund the Contras in their fight against the Marxist Sandinistas. This was in direct violation of a 1984 law banning such aid.
In December of 1984, Seal was arrested in Louisiana for flying a cargo of marijuana into the state. U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola was bound by the Florida plea agreement and was furious at being powerless to put Seal away.
Polozola on December 20, 1985, invoked the sentence handed down by the Florida judge and sentenced Seal to six months supervised probation, taking the occasion to say that people like Seal were “the lowest, most despicable people I can think of.” A condition of the sentence was that he had to spend every night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., at the Salvation Army halfway house on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge. Polozola further stipulated that Seal could not carry a gun or hire armed bodyguards.
Seal’s attorney, Lewis Unglesby, told Polozola his ruling amounted to a death sentence for his client. Seal told friends that the judge “made me a clay pigeon.”
At 6 p.m. on February 19, 1986, Seal promptly drove up to the Salvation Army in his white Cadillac. As he parked his car, he was approached by a man carrying an assault weapon. Two quick bursts riddled Seal’s head and chest, killing him instantly.
On March 27, a state grand jury in Baton Rouge indicted Miguel Velez, Bemardo Antonio Vasquez, Luis Quintero, and Jose Renteria-Campo for the murder. In May of 1987, a jury found Vasquez, Velez, and Quintero guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced all three to life in prison without parole. Renteria-Campo was extradited to Miami to be tried on federal weapons charges.
Unglesby said the Medellin Cartel killed Seal to prevent the extradition of Medellin Cartel co-leader Jorge Ochoa from Spain, where he was hiding. U.S. authorities wanted to put him on trial for drug smuggling. “It worked,” Unglesby said. “Ochoa wasn’t extradited.”
But even in death, Seal would not go away easily.
On March 3, 1986, only two weeks after Seal was murdered, Louisiana Attorney General William Guste hand-delivered a five-page letter to U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese. In his letter, Guste made a formal request for a complete investigation with respect to the government’s relationship with and handling of Seal.
“In October, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Narcotics and Drug Interdiction of the President’s Commission on Organized Crime, I had presided over a seminar at which Barry Seal had testified,” Guste continued.
“His purpose there was to inform the commission and top United States officials of the methods and equipment used by drug smugglers….and (he) was scheduled to be a key witness in the government’s case against Jorge Ochoa-Vasques, the head of one of the largest drug cartels in the world. WHY WAS SUCH AN IMPORTANT WITNESS NOT GIVEN PROTECTIOIN WHETHER HE WANTED IT OR NOT?” Guste asked, using all capital letters.
There was no word as to whether or not Meese ever responded to Guste’s letter.
Seven months after Guste delivered his letter to Meese, on October 5, 1986, a Sandinista patrol shot down a C-123 cargo plane that was supplying the Contras. Eugene Hasenfus, who was on board the plane, survived the crash and told his captors that he thought the CIA was behind the operation to supply the Contras.
It proved to be the singular event that blew the Iran-Contra scandal wide open. The C-123 that had been shot down was The Fat Lady, Seal’s beloved cargo plane. Somehow, the plane had fallen into the hands of Oliver North and his covert operation.
Hasenfus said that was by sheer coincidence.
That’s not likely. Seal’s offshore bank accounts disappeared and the IRS filed a multi-million dollar lien against his assets. His property, including his home and all his airplanes, were seized. Seal’s wife was said to have found George Bush’s private phone number in Seal’s wallet. The C-123 was ultimately sold to a company with connections to the CIA and was shot down soon afterwards.
In 1993, Colombian and U.S. authorities cornered Pablo Escobar at a house in Medellin and killed the drug kingpin in a shootout.
The CIA, DEA, and State Department have each been implicated in various drug trafficking enterprises that were used to fund illegal covert operations in nations all over the globe.
A quarter-century later, America’s war on drugs continues at a cost of $52 billion per year, or $1600 for every second of every day. That investment includes not only the cost of preventative measures, but also the cost of housing fully 20 percent of all federal and state prison inmates (more than 400,000) for drug-related offenses.
What a tangled web! Our war on drugs is expensive, ineffective and amoral.
“Three can keep a secret if two are dead.” —Carlos Marcello
[…] the cops 57:55: Barry Seal CIA Linked To Seal’s Assassination Barry Seal set up for murder Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 years ago helped expose Iran-Contra debacle 59:50: Gary Webb Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb […]
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[…] “Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 years ago helped to expose Iran-Contra debacle” by Tom Aswe… […]
[…] Oliver North and the fingerprints that led to the Iran Contra scandal and Mena drug operation that link nearly everyone in the Bush family to Bill Clinton were all over the […]
[…] the United States was under the management of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel, but the testimony of Barry Seal strongly suggests that the cocaine moved as part of this operation originated from Colombia, from the […]
[…] Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 … – Louisiana Voice – Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 years ago helped expose Iran-Contra debacle. February 14, 2011 by tomaswell […]
[…] C-123 cargo plane that was supplying the Contras. “It proved to be the singular event that blew the Iran-Contra scandal wide open. The C-123 that had been shot down was The Fat Lady, Seal’s […]
[…] in May 1984 on “his first DEA-sanctioned cocaine run.” The DEA then provided Seal with a C-123K he nicknamed “The Fat Lady”. In June 1984, Seal ran a sting to collect photos of Nicaraguans loading drugs onto the C-123K, […]
[…] up to him in the end, when the Medellín cartel ordered a hit on Seal in 1986 to keep him from aiding the extradition of cartel leader Jorge […]
[…] up to him in the end, when the Medellín cartel ordered a hit on Seal in 1986 to keep him from aiding the extradition of cartel leader Jorge […]
[…] up to him in the end, when the Medellin cartel ordered a hit on Seal in 1986 to keep him from aiding the extradition of cartel leader Jorge […]
Wow. Fly me to the moon…
Barry was murdered by the government and a couple of scumbag judges.
None of this is surprising in 2017. The rich & powerful, including the political elite are free to do as they please without regard to consequences. If the US is a democracy, then the voters themselves are responsible for the horrible state of affairs this country finds itself in.
[…] Governor Bill Clinton has Barry Seal walk after being arrested, it does not get into why Seal had George Bush’s private telephone number on him when Seal was found dead. Nor does it get into the fact that Seal had round the clock protection […]
Daniel Hopsicker barry and seal book.
does he talk about Terry Reed.
who said he train pilots in mena arkansas.
Later Reed moved to Mexico setup company.
Terry Reed knew Oliver North / Feliz Rodruez.
meeting at camp robinson with other people too.
Terry Reed said while was Little Rock social circles.
Wasnt he involved in contra affair with OLLIE and Felix ?
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. 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 station and Barry Seal would work when he wasn’t flying.(benji/wendell become pilots) Story from John Odom ,fellow cap member claimed thatBarry Seal met Lee Harvey Oswald training exercise that barry enlisted july 1955 same time LHO and Barry Seal knew David Ferrie.
Barry Seal graduated highSchool 1957.
barry plane crash near 4560 Essen Lane 1960 He was in Hospital for a week .
David Ferrie took everyone up in his Stinson planesbut David Ferrie rented many planes to fly.David Ferrie -1948 Stinson plane #108 2sn 108 1293.Stinson Franklin plane #12974 valued $3,ooo.David Ferrie last payment on car 6-26-19621959 (1960) Ford address 11 Prospect St Alexandria La.(date 11-22-63- ferrie left his 2buddys )David Ferrie flight plan date 4-8-1963.flight plan vfr type craft cessna Name command: W Ferrieaddress command: N.O. departure 13:00 route: Hammond La.1:00 K 7500 Direct Garland Texas. alternate landing: Dallas .Landing:327 Hours 5 30 Min. total number on board :4 =Hidell Lambert Diaz / Color of aircraft : Red /W.David Ferrie plane found :Stinson Voyager 150 Nobleville.Indiana.Don Roberts shed next to eastside of his home next Nobleville Airport – Promise Road – Stinson Voyager Single Engine airplane manufactured 1946.David Ferrie sold stinson plane February 13,1967. To Tom Brister One of his flight Students.David Ferrie Died in his apt February 22,1967. (3330 Louisiana ave )New Orleans La.Eladio Del Valle anti castro cuban died Miami Fla same day.Clay Shaw arrest conspiracy JFK on March 1, 1967.New Orleans conspiracy characters Guy Banister,Jack Martin, Thomas Beckham, Fred Lee Crisman ,Raymond Broshears!Womaack Ins Agent 222 W Thomas St Hammond La.March 24,1964 To Mr Clay Shaw 1313 Daughine St N.O. La.Your dad was in the office about 1962 Rambler policy”.Clay Shaw address book: Lee Odom P.O.box 19106 Dallas Tx.Lee Harvey Oswald address book: citation ** 19106 (astericks).clay Shaw address book: Layton Martens box 544 USL .Lafayette La.( david ferrie roomate and friend) GuyBanister 544 camp /531 Lafayette New Orleans La.(across from post office) Clay Shaw 1024 St Peter N.O.La.Is next to camp -canal -near International trade mart.William Reilly Coffee Company and Crescent City Garage (LHO &JvB worked)G.wray Gil said He was with David Ferrie on 11-22-63 until 12:15.Ferrie said Marcello deportation trial 11-22-1963 party at hotel to celebrate.
Lee Harvey Oswald friend David/Anna Lewis meet CharleSt Thompson Restaurant.Anna said Marina came in look for LHO.(where anna lewis worked)Then they would go to 500 club free tab from carlos Marcello See Ruby,Ferrie etc.
David Ferrie gas Station 1964 Dav-Al Gulf Service 2316 Veterans Highway Metairie La.Ferrie former address 331 Atherton Dr Metairie.Gordon Novel 124 Lake ave Metairie. Gordon Novel lived before left (garrison trial) Louisiana 336 Exchange place.(lho kid lived 126 Exchange place) .Clay Shaw Hangout Dixies (KATS) 701 bourbon St(corner St peter).LHO lived with Murrets 757 French Street New Orleans Louisiana.Lillian Murret,(Charles murret)
was the sister of Marguerite Oswald.
Wow Barry Seal …I think he is pretty Awesome loved movie about him
Lots of strange Occurrences and Strange Coincidences and
Weird Places, Odd Events, Bizarre News …:
Oliver North said:barry seal was double agent.
Oliver North said:Seal offered witness protection .
Oliver North said:I only shot at who shot at me.
(utube videos ) Oliver North interviews and Contra Affair.
strange coincidence :John Odom baton Rouge.(born 1939/40)
(barry Seal Friends James Poche-David Holmes-John Odom.)
They all claim that Barry Seal involved clandestine activities.
John Odom claim that Barry Seal knew LHO and David Ferrie.
Lee Odom of clay shaw trial.Lee Odom wife Mary Francis had foreknowledge11-22-63 her address:211 W French Place SanAntonio.Tx.Lee Odom P.O.Box Dallas Texas. in trial Lee Odom said.He doesn’t have no idea why box number is in LHO notebook.
Lee Odom said.p o box 19106 had never been in his name.but
It had been used for several months by Barbque co which he was onceassociated with. Lee Odom said He met Clay Shaw Nov 1966.
He met Clay Shaw through Andy Anderson manager Roosevelt
Hotel in New Orleans.Lee Odom said.They met for lunch to discuss
promote bull fights in New Orleans.Lunch Pat O’Briens for Hour.
Jim Garrison said: Real Lee Odom lives Irving Tx (Ruth Paine) Lee Odom p.o.box 174 (1968-9),however not the point ,the point
is that Clay Shaw and Lee Harvey Oswald have the same post office
box number in their address books and this coded form ,the unpublished phone number of Jack Ruby in 1963.The Code by use the Telephone dial for conversion of letters and numbers explained the letters P.O.becomes the digit 13,only exchange which numbers 13 converts to in Dallas -He added -Is WhiteHall -when Unscrambled,becomes 1-6901 by subtract 1300 from 1-6901,(garrison) he added,the result ,if 1-5601.Jack Ruby unpublished number Dallas texas in 1963 was WHITEHALL 1-5601.The code involvestransposition of digits accord to pattern then add -sub-of numbers ,familiar to Oswald ,that Jack Ruby unlisted phone number ,coded formhas been found ,notebooks by Lee harvey Oswald/Clay Shaw.Jim Garrison was once that figured out landlady Earlene Roberts is Bertha Cheeks sister which means that Lee Harvey Oswald knew
Earlene Roberts maybe knew Bertha Cheeks that knew Jack Ruby as
Jack Ruby wanted Bertha Cheeks to go into business with him.
Roger Craig claim he saw LHO (man look similar to him) get into a
Rambler station wagon ,outside of TSBD building ,Craig saw LHO in the Police Station being interrogated ,Captain Fritz, Interrogation of Oswald, did not record the most crime of the century .(denied notes).
DPD Curry is on air force one that witnessed LBJ being sworn in JFK coffin looks on and Congressman Albert Thomas winks back at a quickly-smiling LBJ.Henry Wade former _ _ _ then District atty case Ruby.Jack ruby called Irwin Weiner Chicago bail bondsman’
Mr. WOLF – When were your meetings with Mr. Trafficante?
Mr. WEINER – I met him at a club in Cuba. (connection mob)
Mr. WOLF – Did you know Mr. Sam Giancana?.Mr. WEINER – Yes.
Mr. WOLF – Have you ever met with Jimmy Hoffa .?Mr. WEINER – Yes.
Mr. WOLF – How long have you known Paul Doffman?Mr. WEINER – Since I was a little boy.(jack ruby lived near Paul Dorffman Irwin Weiner chicago il ) Mr. WOLF – Do you know Mr. Dave Yaras .9
Mr. WEINER – I know him, yes.Mr. WOLF – How do you know Mr. Yaras ?Mr. WEINER – I have known him all my life.(jack ruby called Yaras)
Mr. WOLF – Do you know Mr. Lennie Patrick ?.Mr. WEINER – Yes.
( jack ruby called Lennie Patrick in chicago )
Irwin Weiner. Witnessed Allen Dorfman `Hit’ June 05, 1996.
Jack Ruby said Well the answer is the man in office now” ___That’s all I have to say.” Did Jack Ruby idolize you? Lewis McWillie: In a sort of way I would think so, yes.”Lewis McWillie ran the Tropicana Casino in Havana.McWillie traveled by car from Miami to Lake Tahoe,Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe owners Sam Giancana ,Paul D Amato , Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe forever tenants at the Cal Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe in cabin ? Marilyn Monroe July28,1962 weekend and the next weekend – August 5, 1962, at her 12305 Fifth Helena Drive home.Paul D’Amato (born 1908- died Jun. 5, 1984) known as “Mr. Atlantic City” and “Skinny”, was the owner of the 500 Club in Atlantic City, New Jersey ( trump Hotel)..Sinatra Chauffer G.Jacobs and Buddy Greco
both claim that Sinatra got mad at Marilyn threw her out of his Joint.
Sam Giancana Mexico 1965 – 1975 .In A pril 1 97 2,Lucien Sarti was shot todeath in Mex ico City.Jean Souetre, a.k.a.
MichelRoux , a.k.a. Michel Mertz had been ex pelled from U.S. at Fort Worth or Dallas 48hours after JFK assassination.11-22-63.
Barry Seal in White cadillac -2-20-86 BatonRouge-Escobar and
Escobar Hitmen cross over border from Mexico and who leak
photo Escobar with Seal picture on television ?who sit duck at
Salvation army halfway house 7361 Airline Highway, BatonRouge.
[…] dynasty (rumor has it that GW Bush’s personal phone number was found on Barry Seal’s body after his assassination) and over the years dropped a Mount Everest worth of cocaine on Mena, […]
No, it wasn’t George W. Bush, nor was it was George Bush the elder’s personal phone number; it was the number to his office. Bush, as VP under Reagan, was put in charge of the Reagan administration’s drug task force and Seal had contacted Bush’s office in order to cooperate with the feds to avoid a prison sentence for drug smuggling in Florida.
But I’m writing incessantly and should stop.
Sad day for Americans…Sad day for our children. No,wonder why militias hate our govt. Dirty politics, love for money is the root for all evil. These people will burn in hell