General Russell Bowen

Retired Brig. General Russell Bowen is another fascinating person tied to Jerry’s cocaine empire. During WW 2, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and other medals for his time as a young fighter pilot. It was during this time he was brought into the OSS and when President Truman banned the intelligence organization, Bowen and others secretly maintained the organization, later to become the CIA. He helped establish several airlines in South America that were used as cover for the CIA and was an expert at extracting CIA operatives from dangerous situations when their cover had been exposed. He was heavily involved in CIA drug trafficking, especially in South America, and had many friends within both the Medellin and Cali cartels. Eventually, Bowen and others became disenchanted with the CIA involvement with drugs and wanted to stop the practice of bringing them into America.  In the early 1980’s, he wrote an anonymous letter to U.S. Customs, reporting the details of the smuggling operation, but nothing happened. But something did happen to him. In 1982, a CIA operative ordered him to fly a trip into Medellin, Colombia, taking a CIA undercover agent and to then bring back another agent. On the return trip, several hundred pounds of cocaine were placed on the plane. When he landed at a remote airport in Georgia, federal authorities were waiting.  At his trial, he wasn’t allowed to use his CIA status as a defense---much like Harold Rosenthal---and was sentenced to hard time. 

How does this tie into Jerry LeQuire? Well, the CIA operative who ordered him to go to Colombia was the same man who had worked for Jerry for many years. And the airport where he was arrested was the same airport Jerry had bought a few years earlier.

There will be more on this in later posts.