CAPTAIN JACK
THE SET UP In recent years, the cocaine gold rush by Columbian Cartels in the 70s & 80s has become gangster mythology. We have been inundated by shows like Narcos, Cocaine Cowboys, American Made & others that have attempted to tell the stories of Pablo Escobar, Giselda Blanco, Barry Seale, Carlos Lehder and the Medellin Cartel.. Pilot Jack Carlton Reed was a world record holding drag racer before making the decision to begin smuggling cocaine in the 70s. After being introduced to Carlos Lehder, he would move to Norman's Cay and for almost four years assisted him on the infamous Bahamian island that the government claims moved tons of cocaine into the United States.
"I'm no god damn rat! I'm a player. I'm a pirate. I'm a hedonist, and one hell of a good smuggler, but I'm no rat!!
Reed would eventually be the co-defendant to Lehder in the longest running drug trial in American history, convicted and given two life sentences. He would refuse all interview requests, book & film offers until a fellow pilot & journalist named MayCay Beeler while researching a documentary film on Norman's Cay. The two would form an indelible bond, leading to Reed writing his memoirs for Beeler's book Buccaneer, and MayCay questioning how a non-violent offender could be given multiple life sentences. In Glamour Profession, we take a look at Jack Reed's adventures, and give listeners the real story of Norman's Cay. We also take a deep dive into the drug trial of Reed & his close friend Carlos Lehder. Finally MayCay Beeler, our co-pilot in the telling of this epic story, tells listeners about her two year battle with the government to see Jack Reed released from prison.
PABLO & CARLOS
PART ONE: THE BOSSES To tell the story of Jack Carlton Reed, you first need to understand who he worked for and who that guy worked for!
His legacy stands as one of the most intellectual capos of the Colombian drug trade, he was smarter than Pablo.
Carlos Lehder, was best known for two things: his close relationship with Pablo Escobar and for creating a base for drug smuggling on a private island in the Bahamas.
This caused Escobar to see Lehder as more of a liability than an asset. Escobar gave up Lehder to the Colombian government, though Escobar denied doing so.
Lehder rose to notoriety in the 70s and 80s as a leader of the Medellin cartel alongside Pablo Escobar. His erratic behavior and shrewdness distinguished him among a generation of cartel figures renowned for brutality and treachery.
Lehder was captured in '87 and was extradited to the US and sentenced to life plus 135 years in jail. This was reduced after he agreed to cooperate with the authorities, testifying against former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who had close links with the Medellín cartel and allowed it to ship cocaine through Panama. Lehder was then placed in a witness protection program in Florida before gaining German citizenship through his father, an immigrant to Colombia.
Lehder set up a transit point for drug-laden aircraft on the island of Norman's Cay, off the coast of Florida, with the help of corrupt local officials.
Even among a generation of violent traffickers, Carlos Lehder was renowned.
It is believed the Medellin cartel supplied an estimated 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the US in the 70s & 80s.
NORMAN’S CAY
PART TWO: THE PARADISE Norman's Cay is an island 210 miles of the Florida Coast in the Bahamas Exuma chain. Having gained notoriety in the late 70s as a staging point for drug smuggling, Norman's Cay was immortalized in Blow, a 2001 motion picture starring Johnny Depp. From '78 through '82, Norman's Cay was the epicenter of the world's largest smuggling operation. It was the tropical playground of drug czar Carlos Lehder, partner to Pablo Escobar, founder of the Medellin Cartel. Cocaine was flown in from Columbia by private aircraft, then reloaded into other aircraft, and flown to locations in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas.
"The Norman's Cay part of my adventure that I'm about to relate has been written about in books & magazine articles and has been portrayed on television & in movies alike. When the Columbian finally arrived, we discovered him to be a fit, tan and handsome lad of about thirty. Charismatic & charming, he had an outgoing personality.
We immediately hit it off well. He informed me of his real name — Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas — and we agreed on the name "Morgan" for business purposes and personal communication. I would be referred to as "Buccaneer." His intention was to stay on the island for a while, and he asked if I would remain there with him so we could become better acquainted. I was aware of Carlos' background as a Columbian drug leader, and Carlos had been informed of my expertise. He explained the difficulty of smuggling drugs into the US by plane due to the limited range of small aircraft. Carlos knew the Columbians had a need for a stop-over route, where a plane could land in "friendly" territory to refuel. He had scouted the Caribbean & discovered that Norman's Cay met the criteria required. As a newly found friend, Carlos asked me to stay on and become his personal pilot." ~ Jack "Buccaneer" Reed
MAYCAY BEELER
PART three: THE WRITER "
When I met Jack, he was a 77-year-old exemplary prisoner who had been languishing behind bars for 20-years and counting. Because he had refused to play ball with prosecutors, he told me how his constitutional rights were compromised. He told me about government wrongdoing in the courtroom that made my stomach turn. I know little about the law, yet somewhere deep inside me, I knew Jack was not supposed to still be in prison- that his life sentence was a mistake that could be rectified and was past time to do so. I began doing the background research for Jack's biography. This was to be a major turning point because this would ultimately lead to the revelation that would change everything. It forced me to reach into the farthest depths of my soul to muster the courage to speak up for the man most everyone had forgotten. Courage I didn't even know I had- and swear I could not have summoned for myself! But for Jack- somehow, I found the inner strength;
and what I had to do scared me to death because it pushed me way out of my comfort zone. I never judged Jack or questioned his crimes. I did not condone them; I just didn't judge. Frankly, had it been anyone else, I don't know if I could say that. As a journalist, I was eager to learn about the evolution of Jack Reed. I admired his courage to go against the grain of the conventional & expected societal norms and be his own man. He told me he had no remorse about smuggling the products he considered similar to alcohol and tobacco. In Jack's mind, he was providing a service, plain & simple. It was a job. I never got the sense he did this to deliberately hurt anyone. That was not Jack's nature. He was a non-violent offender; a self-proclaimed pacifist; a caring tender soul who in no way resembled the cold-hearted bad boy convicts are often portrayed to be.
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