George Jung has been released from prison. If you’re wondering who George Jung is, he’s the man Johnny Depp played in BLOW. He claimed to have made millions smuggling cocaine, was friends with all kinds of Colombian hotshots, went to prison on smuggling, got out, then got caught again. And for this after testifying against Pablo Escobar, he spent less than 20 years in a low security prison. Contrast this to Jerry, who refused to testify against anyone, and was sentenced to 60 years.
I won’t get into the fairness issue because compared to Jerry, Jung was a rank amateur. While Jung acted bad, Jerry was bad. But smuggling is smuggling, so why didn’t the feds go after him on a RICO charge, like they did Jerry? He certainly qualified. I’ll answer that in two words: Karla Espinal. If George had had a Karla in his life, he would be rotting in jail. I mean, she virtually shouted to the world: send Jerry and all his friends to prison forever. So, they felt they had to do something---and they did. If she had kept quiet, the feds would have been perfectly content to stick with the plea bargain Jerry accepted in the first trial, but once she started talking in her trial in Kentucky---well, that changed the ballgame.
She didn’t care because she had no skin in the game, once immunity was offered. She could lie, tell the truth, make up stories, she could do anything she desired and nothing was going to happen to her. She was already in witness protection so making others mad meant nothing.
Perhaps one day I’ll get to talk with Jung. I hope so.
I won’t get into the fairness issue because compared to Jerry, Jung was a rank amateur. While Jung acted bad, Jerry was bad. But smuggling is smuggling, so why didn’t the feds go after him on a RICO charge, like they did Jerry? He certainly qualified. I’ll answer that in two words: Karla Espinal. If George had had a Karla in his life, he would be rotting in jail. I mean, she virtually shouted to the world: send Jerry and all his friends to prison forever. So, they felt they had to do something---and they did. If she had kept quiet, the feds would have been perfectly content to stick with the plea bargain Jerry accepted in the first trial, but once she started talking in her trial in Kentucky---well, that changed the ballgame.
She didn’t care because she had no skin in the game, once immunity was offered. She could lie, tell the truth, make up stories, she could do anything she desired and nothing was going to happen to her. She was already in witness protection so making others mad meant nothing.
Perhaps one day I’ll get to talk with Jung. I hope so.
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