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MEMORANDUM FOR: -DO "It's my understanding that no drugs ever came to the airport," said Fred Ogden, the current airport manager. [21] It was released in Europe on August 23, 2017, and in the United States on September 29, 2017, and also screened at the Deauville Film Festival on September 1, 2017. Massive Court Updates. Hadaway. attached article). Gov.

"[33] He also never crash-landed into a suburban neighborhood. Only about 25 pages of the documents refer to Arkansas or Mena. American Made stars Tom Cruise as Barry Seal, a real-life former airline pilot who embarked on a wildly successful cocaine smuggling operation between Colombia and a tiny airstrip in Mena, Arkansas, in the 1980s. Browse photos, see new properties, get open house info, and research neighborhoods on Trulia. associated matters. All rights reserved. Seale was to have visited Barry Seal the night he died. [9], The film was first released in Taiwan on August 18, 2017, and then in the United States on September 29, 2017. In the 1980s, Schafer asks Seal to start acting as a courier between the CIA and General Noriega in Panama. You can bet that the state police supervisor, the mayor, the police chief, the county sheriff, or the airport manager was quickly on the phone to the governor. WebDesignated CP. Seal is the locus for many of the elaborate conspiracy theories surrounding Mena, including that arms were shipped south by U.S. authorities to the Contras opposed to the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime and cocaine came back on the return trips. "I initiated a grand jury investigation in relation to money laundering through the Mena airport in 1985," Hutchinson said Friday. WebSeal was murdered more than two years ago, but questions and allegations persist about the Fat Man and his activities at the Mena Intermountain Regional Airport. "I've heard that stated by a lot of people.".

It was primarily a matter for federal jurisdiction. The mysteries of Mena revolve around a drug-smuggling pilot named Barry Seal. In 1978, Baton Rouge pilot Barry Seal, who flies commercial jets for TWA, is recruited by a CIA case officer calling himself Monty Schafer. 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 for the Seals Mena-related activities? 1. In the 1980s the small airport in Arkansas known as Mena became part of the largest covert operation in history. requesting further information regarding Barry Seal and "The aircraft flew with various cameras used to obtain photographic evidence of the Sandinistas in the act of smuggling narcotics," Sherwood wrote. [23] It made $960,000 from Thursday night previews, the lowest total by a Cruise-led film in recent years, and $6.1 million on its first day. 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. 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. The small town gradually becomes wealthy as the hub of U.S. cocaine trafficking. 1. ? "My father's deputy said he had looked into those specific allegations and found them so without merit that he didn't even put it in the report to deny it because that gives it some weight," Liman said. Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. The August issue of The American Spectator takes up the Mena WebAdler Berriman " Barry " Seal (July 16, 1939 February 19, 1986) was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel. during the period 1980-1990; In 1981, Seal set up shop at Mena. .OP/IMO 3) PROMIS - We have searched our files extensively in Note to: Acting DCI According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.8 square miles (18km2), of which 6.7 square miles (17km2) is land; 0.04 square miles (0.10km2) (0.44%) is water. Track one and two? He later claimed to have made as much as $50 million running 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month from Colombia. Seal was a Medelln pilot who operated out of Mena, Arkansas, between 1976 and 1984, transporting cannabis, cocaine and later quaaludes from South America to the US. 20 April 1998 During the past few years, the activity at the airstrip has aroused the interest of local law enforcement, who then attempted to conduct some investigations but were blocked by the U.S. [33] (Barry Seal weighed 300 pounds (140kg) only later in his life, weight probably taken from a morgue report after his death, there are multiple pictures of him weighing much less), Liman has also acknowledged that the film's zero-gravity love scene was his idea and that he received the inspiration for it after he and Cruise collided in the cockpit while filming a flight scene. "I resigned from the office in November of 1985, and my successor took over the investigation. Investigators are examining allegations of an international conspiracy involving gun running, cocaine smuggling and the illegal supply network serving the Nicaraguan contra rebels. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. After a barrage of requests from media outlets, the FBI released more than 1,000 pages of its file on Adler Berriman Barry Seal on July 15th. The FBI in Little Rock began investigating Seal's operation at the Mena airport in February 1984, according to the recently released FBI document. The CIA turns a blind eye to the drug smuggling, but the DEA tracks Seal down. Bush's] son meet Barry in the hallway," he said. Mena Arkansas News covering Polk County and the surrounding area. "We knew that somehow Barry was operating with immunity. Reshoots occurred in late January 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. On April 9, 2009, a large and violent tornado devastated the town, killing three and injuring thirty. Network, American Investigator, "Mena, Arkansas. foundations, and corporations and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. 91% of its opening weekend audience was over the age of 25. Monty Schafer was a fictional character and not based on a real-life CIA agent. OCA 88-1404 SUBJECT: Records Search on - It is a two-story brick building with Classical Revival and Colonial Revival features, designed by Treasury architect James Wetmore and built in 1917. Seal's mysterious activities have spawned books, movies and a cornucopia of conspiracy theories. 23-Sep-2009 In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.1% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 24.5% who were 65 years of age or older. Ivermectin Coverup Exposed! OCA 98-1195 You do know that Howard Hughes once owned TWA. WebAdler Berriman " Barry " Seal (July 16, 1939 February 19, 1986) was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel. Copyright 2023, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Which is how American Made, which opens Sept. 29, ended up with a scene in which Seal is waiting for a meeting at the White House while sitting next to a young George W. Bush (Connor Trinneer) as they exchange small talk about piloting planes. On 27 July received'a [25], The film was released in 21 countries on August 25, 2017, and grossed a total of $6.1 million over the weekend. "There are also allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency used the airport as a base of operations to help train pilots and troops for the intervention in the Nicaraguan uprising by the Contras during the 1980s," according to the encyclopedia entry, which was written by Robert Sherwood of Georgia Military College. Googling Clinton's and Seal's names together produces reams of stories with screaming headlines like "Mena Coverup - Bill & Hillary Clinton's Arkansas Cocaine Operation" and "EXPOSED: Clinton's Trafficked MASSIVE CIA Shipments of Cocaine" and "SNOW JOB: THE CIA, COCAINE, AND BILL CLINTON.". American Made stars Tom Cruise as Barry Seal, a real-life former airline pilot who embarked on a wildly successful cocaine smuggling operation between Colombia and a tiny airstrip in Mena, Arkansas, in the 1980s. For a portion of this time, the alleged ringleader of the drug smuggling, Seal, appeared to have been working with the CIA and the Drug Enforcement Agency. There is also an annual Children's Exhibit and a High School Exhibit. "Barry" Seal. Public education for elementary and secondary school students is available from two school districts:[20]. American Made stars Tom Cruise as Barry Seal, a real-life former airline pilot who embarked on a wildly successful cocaine smuggling operation between Colombia and a tiny airstrip in Mena, Arkansas, in the 1980s. Staff [24] In its second weekend, the film grossed $8.1 million (a drop of 51%), finishing 6th. As soon as I found Barry, I knew I had a movie.[12].

The median age was 41 years. story in a way that is likely to resonate on the Hill (see "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. "Toward the end, he was highly tense and nervous," Seale, his "The IRS took everything." After Seal is dead, the CIA continues smuggling, instead using Iran to get guns to the Contras, as proposed by Schafer. The per capita income for the city was $14,710. [20] On August 8, 2016, the film's release was pushed to September 29, 2017, and its title changed from Mena to American Made. "Prior to his death, Seal admitted to smuggling large quantities of cocaine from South America (Columbia) to United States and testified before Senate investigative committee," according to the FBI memo, which referred to a telephone call between agents in Little Rock and Miami. [28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 55% "definite recommend". [13] Many homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Homes for sale in Mena, AR have a median listing home price of $184,750. 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. MEMORANDUM FOR: SUBJECT: VIDEO TAPE REVIEW: NATIONAL EMPOWERMENT NETWORK,

You can read the secret report obtained by Judicial Watch here. "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. The program ended in 1959, and the mines again closed. WebTo avoid the authorities, Seal and his family must relocate to the remote town of Mena, Arkansas, and his wife comes to accept the wealth generated by his new life. And the U.S. was covertly backing the Contras. Whitewater Investigation [31], His third wife Deborah, whom Lucy was loosely based on, stated that Seal started his drug smuggling business in 1975, not 1980 like the film suggests, and that it was centered around marijuana before it involved cocaine. There are 171 active homes for sale in Mena, AR. In essence, not only was the airport used to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States, but it was also a departure point for weapons used to arm the Contras in Nicaragua.". Hadaway. Seal realizes that the Contras are not serious about the war and just want to get rich and he starts trading the guns to the cartel. Before American Made went into production, Liman actually cut allegations in Spinelli's original script that the CIA was directly trafficking in cocaine with Seal in part because, as fate would have it, the chief counsel for the Senate's investigation into the Iran-Contra scandal was Liman's late father, Arthur L. Liman. Request for Information in Connection with laundering, narcotics trafficking, or gun smuggling Briefing for Chairman Leach, House Banking Committee "He really is telling you his version of it," said Spinelli. Background. WebSeal began serving his probation January 25, 1986. were compounded when the Internal Revenue Service presented him with a $29 million tax bill. Seal also flew gun and drug smuggling missions between Mena and Nicaragua as part of a CIA scheme to support the Contras.

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. Because no one The big takeaway: Bill Clinton almost certainly knew more about Mena than he suggested in 1994. Whether CIA tried to influence or requested that, APPROVED FOR about BRIEFING FOR REPRESENTATIVE JAMES LEACH (R-IA) REGARDING IN ARKANSAS IN THE LATE 1980S WITH NSA - 21 JULY 1995 (W/ATTACHMENT), about (EST PUB DATE) MODIFIED TERMS OF REFERENCE FURTHER INQUIRY - - MENA ACTIVITIES, about REQUEST FOR INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH WHITEWATER INVESTIGATION, about RECORDS SEARCH ON - ADLER BARRIMAN "BARRY" SEAL, about (EST PUB DATE) BRIEFING FOR CHAIRMAN LEACH, HOUSE BANKING COMMITTEE, about INTERVIEW OF DEWEY CLARRIDGE BY HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE STAFF. Tom Cruise doesn't look like Barry Seal. Initially, studio estimates had the film opening to $17 million, finishing third at the box office, behind holdovers It ($17.3 million) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle ($17 million). "Fastlane NextGen: Initial Certification Search", "Doug Liman on Crash Allegations, American Made, and Living With Tom Cruise", "New Movies On Demand: 'It,' 'American Made,' 'Battle of the Sexes' And More", "American Made' review: Tom Cruise action film mostly works", "Tom Cruise Adds 'Mena' to Busy Filming Schedule!

House of Representatives A C-123K cargo plane, like this one, was out tted at the Mena airport and ew with various cameras to obtain photographic evi- dence of the Sandinistas in the act of smuggling narcotics, according to an entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo). After a barrage of requests from different people and media outlets under the federal Freedom of Information Act, on Wednesday the FBI released more than 1,000 pages of its file on Seal: vault.fbi.gov/recently-added. "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. As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,589 people, 2,341 households, and 1,420 families residing in the city. FROM: [26], On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 273 reviews, with an average rating of 6.95/10. Surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest, Mena is a gateway to some of the most visited tourist attractions in Arkansas. Homes for sale in Mena, AR have a median listing home price of $184,750. But there were still questions regarding the Mena airport and people who worked there, according to the FBI memo. A statewide daily, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, based in Little Rock, is distributed there too. Stilwell named the town in honor of Folmina Margaretha Janssen-De Goeijen, the wife of his friend and financier Jan De Goeijen, whom Mr. De Goeijen affectionately called Mena. "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. July 23, 2009. The film ends with Schafer getting promoted for his idea, though it is soon discovered by the public with reporters asking President Reagan and Vice President Bush about the scandal. July 23, 2009. 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. "[27] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews from 50 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Mena City Hall, also known as the Old Post Office, is the city hall of Mena, Arkansas, located at 520 North Mena Street. One of her expensive pieces of jewelry is seen on her wrist. As [7] It is inspired[8] by the life of Barry Seal, a former TWA pilot who flew missions for the CIA, and became a drug smuggler for the Medelln Cartel in the 1980s. Paralegal Specialist He carried out his smuggling operation under the nose of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. Mena is an enduring issue, says Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "They got him," he said. 23-Sep-2009 request from ORM to respond to the following two questions posed

1.

The goal was to expose the involvement of the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime as a major supplier of cocaine from Colombia.". One particular pilot who used the nick name of Sandy, was an ex-WASP pilot during WWII. Mac Don Lumber was also the namesake for E. Howard Hunts CIA code name of Edward Joseph Hamilton which Hunt used in both, the Bay of Pigs and Watergate. trafficking by the Nicaraguan government or-the Contras. Principal photography on the film began on May 18, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. Seal was murdered in 1986, by Colombian nationals allegedly carrying out a contract on his life a fact that, coupled with the fuzzy details surrounding his possible collusion with federal intelligence officials, makes him terrific fodder for a different kind of storytelling, and is ultimately what led the filmmakers to include Clinton and Bush in American Made. The CIA report was given a Secret classification and not released to the public. In 1910, the railroad moved its shop facilities from Mena to Heavener, Oklahoma. response to previous congressional inquiries on ISLAW's Bush's personal pilot, and when Barry was killed, he had Bush's phone number in his back pocket.". "'We're not going to put them in the movie, but we're not making this movie in a vacuum, either. WebSeal was murdered more than two years ago, but questions and allegations persist about the Fat Man and his activities at the Mena Intermountain Regional Airport. WebDuring the 1980s, drug smuggler Barry Seal moved his operations to the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport, where he owned and operated many planes and helicopters, as well as advanced radar equipment. Clinton said that federal authorities didnt tell me anything about it. That turns out to be a clever dodge. | Tom Fi #TwitterFiles: First Amendment Under Attack! [31] Liman has described the film as "a fun lie based on a true story."[33]. "Barry Seal is like a conspiracy theorist magnet for the left and the right," said Liman. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright Ouachita Broadcasting, Inc. | All rights reserved. Where are the Jan. 6 Files? "The information indicates that Seal was an informant for DEA at the time but also working as an operative of the CIA. We had nothing zero to do with it. Sorry, redacted on national security groundsall four pages.

Clinton never appears in the scene we only know it's him on the phone after the state attorney general calls him "Bill" but the filmmakers claim that this event, or at least something like it, did happen. "What the facts are of the record don't matter as much as what Barry thought had happened.". I started it and pursued it but was unable to complete it because I left the office. ? Along with Seal's wildly successful drug smuggling operation, and his subsequent cooperation with the DEA as an informant against the Medelln cartel, Spinelli discovered allegations that Seal was also flying missions for the CIA's campaign to support Contra rebels in Nicaragua all of which transformed into the Iran-Contra scandal, and dominated President Ronald Reagan's second term.