This was just one of a few close escapes for him. Delivering the cocaine once the plane had landed was tough, and getting the money later was risky. Jerry would land the plane at a remote airport in the southeast, where the cocaine would be offloaded into cars or vans and driven to south Florida, where they would be parked in a lot for the Colombians to pick up, then a phone call telling where Jerry could pick up the money. It wasn’tlike the movies where money would be deposited in an account. This was the 80s and things were done in a more primitive way.
But the problem didn’t stop after the money was delivered. Jerry had to figure out what to do with it. He could launder some, buy exotic cars and houses, airplanes, but the rest---well, he put a lot of it in a closet. When he told me this story, I thought of one of those old marijuana flicks where the men stashed money in boxes while they got stoned in their underwear. He had millions in the closet. Then, one day he had Karla and Bonnie take it in suitcases and board a private plane. This money would later become his bank account when he was awaiting trial. It was from this money he paid his lawyers, etc. It was money the feds never found. Later, Karla, according to Jerry, took most of it.
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