Glamour profession

The curious lives of the most infamous smugglers.

 

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STORY

In recent years, the stories of Cartels, gangsters & drug smugglers have been told ad nauseum in television and film. Shows like Narcos & movies like Blow have told the stories that the public has become familiar with when it comes to the cocaine gold rush of the late 70’s and 80’s. Names like Escobar, Lehder, George Jung & Barry Seale have almost mythical qualities as the outlaws who were the enemy in the United States failed ‘War on Drugs.’

 What if we told you that you haven’t heard all the stories? Not only that, but just maybe, the government embellished the criminal behavior of one or two of the names listed above??

 Jack Carlton Reed is a mystery to most everyone, even those who consider themselves well versed in the history of drug smuggling. He was an adventurous type - the world record holder in the sport of drag racing, a man who lived life by his own set of rules. His lifestyle would lead him to become Carlos Lehder’s personal pilot and the hedonistic playground of Norman’s Cay, the island recently made famous by the Fyre Festival fiasco.

 This partnership would lead to a lifelong friendship between the two men and would also lead to Jack Reed being Lehder’s co-defendant in the longest running drug trafficking trial in American history. That’s not where our story ends, however…

 A journalist named MayCay Beeler, while researching Norman’s Cay for a documentary film she was working on, would reach out to Jack Reed, who was serving out his life sentence in federal prison. MayCay and Jack would form an incredible bond that led to the publishing of Jack’s memoirs in the book Buccaneer. It would also lead MayCay to form friendships with some of the most notorious names in the history of the drug game. Their bond would also send her on a years long fight to get Jack – a non-violent criminal – freed from his life sentence to spend his final days as a free man.