Comenz a volar aviones a temprana edad y segn su instructor de vuelo, Seal tena un talento innato. The Nevada aviator killed when a cargo plane was shot down in Nicaragua last weekend served as one of the CIA's chief pilots in . Barry Seal. He had already been flying planes for nearly half his life, earning his student pilot's license at age 15 and pilot's license at 16. [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. CBS obtained pages from Col. Oliver Norths diary revealing that the former National Security Council aid communicated frequently with the CIA about the sting operation in the weeks before the photo was leaked to the press despite objections from the DEA. In his research for the book, the only confirmed connection Hahn could make between the CIA and Barry Seal was in 1984, after Seal had started working as an informant for the DEA. He made more than $50 million smuggling drugs into the United States from South America between 1977 and 1986. . There is no information on Barry Seal's net worth, but it must have been substantial. Adler Berriman 'Barry' Seal became the youngest pilot in the United States, a skill he used to become one of the richest men in that country in the 1980s. Ochoa was arrested in Spain on a U.S. warrant, but due to pressure from the cartel was never extradited to the U.S. -Court Documents (STATE of Louisiana v. Miguel VELEZ, Bernardo Vasquez, and Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz), Yes. Barry arrived that evening at approximately 6 p.m. and backed his white Cadillac into a parking space. . But before he died, the photographs he captured made Pablo Escobar a wanted criminal and ultimately played an important part in the drug kingpins downfall in 1993. Pablo . [35], Following the exposure of the Nicaraguan investigation, the DEA had to move quickly to arrest the cartel distributors in Miami. 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. Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 - February 19, . And Tomas Borges, the Ortega brothers equivalent of the Gestapo chief, was one of the overseers of drug shipments of planeloads destined to Mena air strip, in Arkansas, in 1983. Purwin was a passenger in a plane that went down, killing both Purwin and Venezuelan pilot Carlos Berl. The second marriage, to Lynn Ross, lasted from 1971 to 1972. A fourth man was indicted separately on lesser charges, and evidence of direct involvement was insufficient for two, who were released and deported. In 1981, the pilot made his first flight for the Ochoa brothers, a founding family of the cartel. Barry Seal: El traficante (2017) Primer Triler Oficial Espaol1 de septiembre de 2017Dcada de 1980. [33], A more detailed account of American efforts in Nicaragua appeared on July 17 in an article by reporter Edmond Jacoby, published on the front page of the Washington Times. [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. No. [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. UPI reported: "By linking the Sandinistas with drug traffic aid to the rebels accused of human rights violations might seem more palatable". . While there, he had a chance meeting with Jorge Ochoa's New Orleans business manager. Set in the year 1978, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) works as a pilot for Trans World Airlines. [44], When Seal received only time served and probation, Louisiana state and federal drug investigators were faced with a dilemma. Photos; Visual Stories; Sub Menu 1. Among other things, the panel sought to determine if top leaders of the Colombian cocaine cartel escaped arrest because the much ballyhooed war on drugs took a back seat to a covert operation designed to discredit the Nicaraguan government this at a time when the administration was seeking additional aid to the Contras. On July 28, the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, chaired by Congressman William Hughes (D-NJ), held the first of a series of hearings into whether Reagan administration officials condoned drug smuggling and other criminal activities to further its Central America policy. President Reagan displayed Seals photo in a nationally televised speech in March 1986. Set in the early 1980s, to combat the spread of communism . Barry Seal was one of the biggest drug smugglers in America in the 1970s and 80s. In real life, his first encounter with the Medelln Cartel happened less dramatically. Barry Seal was fired from TWA in 1974 for falsely citing medical leave when he was actually off trafficking weapons. Discerning fact from fiction about Barry Seal, who was killed Feb. 19, 1986, in Baton Rouge by machine gun-wielding Colombian hit men, is a difficult endeavor. 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 . 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. In Tom Cruise's latest film he plays the pilot, drug smuggler, and informant Barry Seal. 4 - July/August, Iran-Contra Affair. "You know, we're not making a biopic," said director Doug Liman. The office referred Seal to DEA headquarters, which assigned DEA agent Ernst Jacobsen to debrief Seal and evaluate his potential as an informant. Plumlee also said he is in the infamous "Mexico City" picture, seated across the table from Seal and peering out from behind his jacket. [19] Seal then pleaded guilty to the second indictment in Florida and was released with his sentence to depend on his performance as an informant. They referred him to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 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. Widespread publicity and the general public outcry caused a delay of several months before Seal's murder trial began. He was born on July 16, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 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. Even criminals have a love life and Barry Seal was no different. Oct. 10, 1986 12 AM PT. "He thought we had more time. . [43] After listening to summaries of Seal's successful work for the DEA, Judge Norman Roettger sentenced Seal to time served (a little over three months in witness protection) and three years probation. The American Made true story confirms that the real Barry Seal and his wife Debbie had three children (Aaron, Dean and Christina). 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. They were all sentenced to life in prison. The plane Seal acquired was a C-123K, a large aircraft used primarily for military transport. Upset that he has lost his pension and healthcare at TWA, he embraces the idea of making $2,000 per kilo of cocaine smuggled into the United States. Within U.S. airspace, Seal would have people on the ground monitor for any signs his planes were being tailed. -Daily Mail Online. Either Seal take these photos, or go straight to prison. The documentary series, titled "Uncle Sam Wants You", ran on five consecutive evenings. -Refinery29, Yes. After this look at the brazen smuggler Barry Seal, check out how the Medelln cartel became one of the most ruthless crime syndicates in history. But the 1984 investigation got derailed when Seal told his handlers that cocaine was being trans-shipped through Nicaragua with the permission of high . He was then shot 5 times by cartel gunmen, but survived and eventually sought asylum at the U.S. embassy in Bogota. It is believed that the Colombians put a hit out on Barry after they learned he was going to help the feds with the extradition of Jorge Ochoa from Spain, one of the heads of the Medelln Cartel. Adler Berriman 'Barry' Seal se convirti en el piloto ms joven de los Estados Unidos, destreza que us para hacerse uno de los hombres ms ricos de ese pas en la dcada de los 80's. Ello . When asked how, he replied, "Oh, Barry stole an airplane from me. When it did, the overloaded plane crashed at the Colombia airfield on takeoff. The DEA felt this would be impossible to explain away, and Seal returned to the U.S. without cargo. 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. "Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal had a brief, but spectacular, career as a cocaine smuggler-turned DEA informant. Before returning to Nicaragua, the DEA arranged for CIA technicians to . He added, That boy was first cousin to a bird.. The gunman was later identified as Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz. Barry Seal was able to get photos of Pablos Escobar himself loading cocaine onto Barry's cargo plane in Nicaragua. Exclusive: Tom Cruise's portrayal of drug-smuggler-turned-government-informant Barry Seal is a fast-paced visit back to the Reagan era . The case was eventually dismissed in 1974 for prosecutorial misconduct, but in the meantime TWA fired Seal, who had falsely taken medical leave to participate in the scheme. Overall, though, the film captures just how incredible Seals life really was. After refueling, Seal left Los Brasiles flying without lights, and when he came close to Managua, he was fired on by Nicaraguan military units. That film finds Seal (portrayed by Michael Par) being assassinated in a motorcycle drive-by shooting while he is driving and Robert Mazur (Cranston) is his passenger. [13], To avoid this unwanted attention, Seal moved his aircraft to Mena Intermountain Regional Airport in Mena, Arkansas, where he did maintenance and modifications to improve the planes' carrying capacity and avionics. Now thats excitement.. Seal was assigned to the Salvation Army's Community Treatment Center in Baton Rouge.[48]. He is married to Lucy (Sarah Wright) and has two children with her, with a third on the way. His flight instructor described him as a naturally gifted pilot. When faced with criminal prosecution, Seal turned snitch for the DEA, but he continued to smuggle drugs into the US. When the cartel caught wind of Seals betrayal, they sent three hitmen to gun him down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, bringing a bloody end to his work as an informant. Executing secret missions for the government in the movie might add a sort of patriotism and redeeming quality to his character, but in real life Barry Seal was a drug smuggler first and foremost. -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. However, the film takes certain liberties in regard to Seals life as well. Seal took a blurry snapshot which purported to show himself with a high-level Nicaraguan official named Federico Vaughn, and a Colombian drug czar unloading bags of cocaine at an airstrip in Nicaragua. . 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. 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. Embracing his entrepreneurial spirit, as a teenager he started a small business flying ads from his airplane. In his address, Reagan talks about a photo taken by a hidden camera on Barry Seal's plane. George W. Bush was literally being flown around in what had been the favorite plane of the murdered CIA asset and drug runner Barry Sealon the exact same day (2/19/86) Barry Seal was murdered in Baton Rouge, his mistress "Barbara" was also murdered in Miami; two other men also affiliated with the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Carrera . What is certain is that Barry Seal did work for Pablo Escobar and the Ochoas as a drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel and single-handedly had one of the largest impacts on the cocaine epidemic in the U.S. in the early 1980s. [4], Seal admitted that he started smuggling small amounts of marijuana by air in early 1976. He was murdered on February 19, 1986, by contract killers hired by the cartel. [57], Uribe-Munera was a Colombian drug smuggler for the cartel. 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]. -Daily Mail Online, No. He flew tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States until he was busted in 1983 and became one of the DEA's most important informants. 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. While the filmmakers were shooting the movie in South America, a local pilot who was working with them said that he had met Barry. When you see the photos, you will understand why. Synopsis. The arrests never happened since Seal's cover was blown. [7] At his peak, he earned as much as $500,000 per flight transporting shipments of cocaine from Colombia to the United States. This doesn't add up with the true story. [51], On the evening of February 19, 1986, Seal was shot to death in front of the Salvation Army Center, three weeks into his probation. Like in the movie, the American Made true story reveals that Barry made a living as a commercial airline pilot for several years. Lisa Seal Frigon, Barry's daughter from his first marriage, sued Universal, claiming that the studio should have purchased Barry's life rights from her, not his third wife Deborah who they paid $350,000. "He would tell me all these wild stories about the missions he had flown. The two American . In reality, there is no evidence that Seal was ever involved with the CIA. [55] The trial began in April 1987. He relocated to a small regional airport in Mena, Arkansas, which had a population of only 5,000. recalled how "The one time I flew with him [Seal] to Nicaragua . His character is inspired by the stories we learned about Barry." a secret camera in Seal's C-123 cargo plane snapped photos of an alleged Sandinista official loading cocaine aboard the aircraft. Domhnall Gleeson, right, stars in director Doug Liman's crime drama 'American Made,' based loosely on the story of Baton Rouge native Barry Seal, a pilot-turned-smugger-turned-federal-informant. From earning his pilots license at the age of 16 to his blood-soaked end at the hands of a notorious cartel, Seal certainly got the life of excitement that he so desired. Seal took pictures during the Nicaragua sting operation that clearly showed Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa . The case against the cartel had been engineered by Barry Seal, a convicted drug dealer turned informant who worked closely with Vice President George Bush's anti-drug task force in Washington. Seal was originally introduced to the Medelln cartel members as a pilot named Ellis McKenzie. Barry also got lucky and captured photos of the communist leader of the Sandinistas . 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. He was murdered on February 19, 1986 by contract killers hired by the cartel. He had been arrested in 1972 by the U.S. Customs Service for trying to fly 1,350 pounds of plastic explosives to anti-Castro Cubans via Mexico. And Seal never quit his job but was instead fired when Trans World Airlines learned hed been trafficking weapons instead of taking medical leave, as hed claimed. A leak regarding the operation came to light before Seal's second trip. In 2017, Seal's life became the subject of a second Hollywood adaptation titled American Made and starred Tom Cruise. When asked who his source was, Jacoby implied that it was "an aide in the White House" and that Oliver North had the most motivation to release the information. -Daily Mail Online. I was young and it was impressive." The narcotics runner, Barry Seal, allegedly . However, there was a moment when the pilot thought he had given himself up. In October 1984, a grand jury in Louisiana was convened and began interviewing witnesses against Seal. The photo was taken in Mexico when he was 24. . 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. Although newspapers published his name after his arrest, Seal was known to the Ochoas as Ellis MacKenzie. The plane was hit and Seal had to make an emergency landing at Sandino International Airport in Managua. Escobar decided to keep the first shipment in Nicaragua and have Seal return to the States and buy a larger plane. He was hired by Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1964 and at age 26 became one of the youngest Captains operating a Boeing 707. FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation. 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. Wikimedia CommonsA Fairchild C-123 military cargo plane similar to Barry Seals Fat Lady.. If they were, the mission was aborted. 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. Barry Seal "'Fat Man' key to mystery" By Michael Haddigan THE ARKANSAS GAZETTE June 26, 1988 Allegations of cocaine smuggling and international intrigue swirled about the Mena Airport and Seal for years. An Investigative Obituary. Hed work at the drop of a hat, and he didnt care, a fellow smuggler later recalled of Seal. Seal's active duty began in July 1962. This operation involved a long, complicated cocaine shipment from Bolivia, refueling in Colombia, refueling again in Texas, and delivering the cocaine in Las Vegas. No. Not all of Barry Seal's heirs were happy with the making of the movie. Barry met Debbie while he was on his way to a hearing after he was caught in 1972 trying to smuggle military explosives out of the country. Facing a heavy sentence, and having been rejected by regional drug task forces in both Florida and Louisiana, Seal decided to try contacting the Vice President's Drug Task Force, a special program in the office of then-Vice President George Bush. 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. In many ways, the movie American Made does a faithful job of portraying Seals larger-than-life personality. The film never set out to be a documentary, according to films director Doug Liman, who described the blockbuster as a fun lie based on a true story, according to TIME. -Daily Mail Online. 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 would have to operate the rear camera by hand. This leads to the CIA recruiting him to take reconnaissance photos in Central America. On June 29, General Paul F. Gorman, US Military Commander Southern Command, made a speech stating the US had evidence that elements of the Nicaraguan government were involved in drug smuggling, though Gorman did not mention Seal or the undercover flights. Tom Cruise got his pilot's license in 1994. The real Barry Seal claimed he had been working for agencies . Indeed, at age 26, Seal became one of the youngest pilots to ever fly for Trans World Airlines. As Barry opened the driver's side door to get out of the car, the gunman rushed from behind the drop box and fired a .45 caliber Mac-10 machine gun, hitting Barry in the head and body several times. As a child in the 1950s, Seal worked odd jobs around the citys old airport in exchange for flight time. He was one of the youngest 707 command pilots in the TWA fleet. [23], These arrangements were not yet complete, so Seal's first shipment was to be a direct flight to the U.S. [2], In 1964, Seal joined TWA as a flight engineer and was soon promoted to the first officer, then captain, flying a Boeing 707 on a regular Western Europe route. Soon, Seal relocated his smuggling operations to Mena, Arkansas. [18] Jacobsen was impressed with Seal's connections, especially the ones with the Ochoa family, and on March 28, Seal signed a letter agreeing to serve as a DEA informant. Barry Seal's apparent piloting of a JFK assassin getaway plane points, again, to Bush Sr. and his cronies (the Biderman part of the DuPont family, Rockefellers, and more). Mermelstein testified that he accepted the contract, believing that a refusal would mean death. Aterriz en el aeropuerto y junto con las personas que lo esperaban carg unos bultos. The Original Documentary By Barry Seal Uncovering His Work With The Cartels & The US Government. [59] Another eyewitness saw Quintero-Cruz outside the car, handing the MAC-10 to the car driver through the window after the murder. Despite the heat surrounding Seal, he made a drug run to Nicaragua in 1984, where he picked up 1,465 pounds of cocaine and took photos of Sandinista soldiers loading the drugs. 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. [7], To expand his smuggling capacity, Seal also hired William Bottoms, his ex-brother-in-law, as a pilot. WASHINGTON . September 29, 2017 12:18 PM EDT. The man said that despite the incident, he was still very fond of Barry. "Tom did all his own flying in the movie," says director Doug Liman, who is a pilot himself (Vulture.com). Advertisement The Charmed, Doomed Life of Barry Seal. The second indictment charged Seal and three others with multiple counts of possession and distribution of methaqualone, phenobarbital, and meperidine.[16]. On the trip, Seal managed to snap photos of Nicaraguan soldiers, Sandinista government officials, and even Pablo Escobar himself. It is not clear whether Seal and his crew were informed of this before they returned to Nicaragua. Daniel Rennie is a freelance writer residing in Melbourne, Australia. Barry Seal likely never worked for CIA, as shown in, Tom Cruise portrays Barry Seal in the 2017 film American Made.. I'm a multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot," Cruise said in a Wired interview. No. In 1961, he joined the Louisiana Army National Guard and served with the 20th Special Forces Group for six years. [10][11] By 1982, Seal was using over a dozen aircraft in his smuggling operation. Photo credit: Peter Sutton. 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. Barry Seal, at the time he died, may have been the . Both rejected any deals, even though Seal told them a little about his involvement with the Ochoa family. Barry Seal, the drug smuggler-turned-DEA informant who helped take down Pablo Escobar. The flight, in January 1985, was successful and led to arrests and convictions. Drug king pin, Adler B. DEA Agent Ernest Jacobsen later said the technology they used was the most expensive cryptic radio communications we had ever seen at the time.. ", 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. [58], There was also extensive eyewitness and forensic evidence against Quintero-Cruz, Vlez, and Vsquez. 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. I never saw drugs, that's for sure." Considering . On Feb. 19, 1986, Barry Seal, a very prominent CIA drug smuggler and ace pilot, was murdered outside his halfway house in Baton Rouge, LA. However, her real name is Debbie, not Lucy. 'Barry Seal - Traficante Americano' estreia em Portugal esta quinta-feira, dia 31 de agosto. [68], Louisiana Attorney General William Guste wrote to United States Attorney General Edwin Meese criticizing the government's failure to protect Seal as a witness. In April 1981, a DEA informant introduced Seal to an undercover DEA agent. Yes. Like in the American Made movie, Barry Seal was allowed to fly out of the country and return with illegal drugs that the feds made sure never reached their targets. Particularly suspicious is the role of Federico Vaughn, the supposed Sandinista official, who appears to have been a US spy all along. A witness identified Vlez as the driver of the vehicle in the halfway house parking lot. -Daily Mail Online. [8], In 1981, Seal began smuggling cocaine for the Medelln Cartel. The accident didn't happen during filming. There is no real-life Monty. [64] Citing testimony of DEA Administrator John C. Lawn, the report of the Kerry Committee released in December 1988 pinned the leak on North stating he "decided to play politics with the issue". -Daily Mail Online, No. CASA NO MINUTO. Hahn was part of the task force that pursued Seal in the 1980s. We expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. The 70s. Barry Seal (Photo: Facebook) . Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel. Seal began to fly as a teenager, earning a student pilot certificate at 16 and a private pilot's certificate at 17. The photo was in a cardboard frame of the kind used by nightclubs and tourist attractions, with the date it was taken, January 22,1963, stamped on the back. [46] The story of Barry Seal has since been made into films such as Doublecrossed (1991), Infiltrator (2016) and American Made (2017). The DEA had been onto him for a long time. Wikimedia CommonsTom Cruise portrays Barry Seal in the 2017 film American Made.. 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 . . Click the button below! American Made, the new Tom Cruise crime drama out Sept. 29, has all the makings of a romp: drug running and arms smuggling. 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. Regardless, Jacoby's article led to the abandonment of the final piece of Barry Seal's undercover operation. 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. [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. Barry Seal made a killing selling drugs for the Ochoa brothers, but after being outed as a key DEA informant, he was a marked man. November 15, 2017. [26], In Managua, Seal met again with Pablo Escobar, who was setting up a cocaine lab for production. Cruise's Seal gathers intelligence by flying low over Guatemala and Nicaragua and snapping photos from his plane. 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. Barry Seal liked to use pay phones. The DEA agreed to put surveillance equipment on Barry Seals plane and track him on his next flight to Central America. Two weeks after his argument with Vice President GHW Bush, Barry Seal was pumped full of bullets and murdered outside his Baton Rouge halfway house on Feb. 19, 1986. On July 17, 1984, an article detailing Seals infiltration of the Medelln cartel hit the front page of the Washington Times. And by 1978, according to The Gentlemans Journal, he had moved on to cocaine. He carries it around and begins spending it, which attracts the attention of the local authorities. Barry also had a daughter and a son not shown in the movie, Lisa and Alder, with his first wife Barbara Bottoms. "One day Barry came in and said there was a contract on him - half a million dead, a million alive," says widow Debbie Seal. [24] The cartel provided a new plane, but it lacked the capacity for a direct flight to the U.S., so the cartel arranged a stopover in Nicaragua earlier than one planned at an airfield in Los Brasiles near Managua. Watch President Ronald Reagan's address to the nation on Nicaragua and Central America, delivered from the Oval Office on November 13, 1986.