#epi142

So what did Barry Seal get for his assistance in a major DEA/CIA sting? You guessed it. Escobar had one of his sicarios locate Seal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and take him out. In May 1987, those men were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Unlike what was shown on the show, Barry Seal wasn’t snatched up from a whorehouse and asked to “rat.” He also didn’t conveniently have a photo of Escobar smuggling coke laying around. In reality, he became a DEA informant after being sentenced to prison in a Florida federal court. In an effort to reduce his 10-year sentence, he allowed the CIA to install cameras in his plane to capture images of Escobar and company loading a shipment of cocaine bound for the U.S. Things escalated when they also discovered that the Nicaraguan government was also in on this. 

Escobar’s involvement in Lara Bonilla’s assassination was technically not enough to extradite him to the United States, so the DEA started to build a case around him. They targeted Escobar’s lawyers, accountants and smugglers. Eventually, they hit a lucky break with one of his pilots named Barry Seal.

Unlike what was shown on the show, Barry Seal wasn’t snatched up from a whorehouse and asked to “rat.” He also didn’t conveniently have a photo of Escobar smuggling coke laying around. In reality, he became a DEA informant after being sentenced to prison in a Florida federal court. In an effort to reduce his 10-year sentence, he allowed the CIA to install cameras in his plane to capture images of Escobar and company loading a shipment of cocaine bound for the U.S. Things escalated when they also discovered that the Nicaraguan government was also in on this. 

So what did Barry Seal get for his assistance in a major DEA/CIA sting? You guessed it. Escobar had one of his sicarios locate Seal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and take him out. In May 1987, those men were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Escobar’s involvement in Lara Bonilla’s assassination was technically not enough to extradite him to the United States, so the DEA started to build a case around him. They targeted Escobar’s lawyers, accountants and smugglers. Eventually, they hit a lucky break with one of his pilots named Barry Seal.