The Cocaine Kid Meets the Genius Smuggler - B4

Bonus 4: Lauren shares an early childhood memory laced with cocaine and celebrity before seeking the insight of Jerry Lee Wilson- a fascinating former dope pilot who made millions as a marketing-savvy inventor.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. In this
week's special Bonus, I wanted to share a little bit
of a personal and cultural timeline and some interesting perspective
from a smuggler not linked to Miami or the Coconut

(00:20):
Grove guys. Bill Stamford's introduction to drug smuggling Miami style
would occur nearly a decade after Nixon announced his offensive
against drug addiction, and the nineteen eighties would see his
mission morph into an outright declaration of war, with Reagan's
White House and his crusading First Lady leading the charge.

(00:41):
Nancy Reagan and I answered say no, but not everyone
across the country was just saying no. My introduction to
cocaine came very early on and lived in infamy when
in nineteen eighty I learned through my parents' hissed and
hush tones, that our neighbor had been convicted, along with

(01:01):
his two brother in laws, of buying nineteen thousand dollars
worth of cocaine from a federal narcotics agent posing as
a drug dealer. One of those brother in laws millionaire
movie producer Robert Evans. Because Evan's film credits included movies
like The Godfather and Rosemary's Baby. His privileged punishment was

(01:22):
to be placed on special probation for a year and
tasked with using his skills as a producer to address
the nation's growing narcotics problem. The result one of the
most notorious and some might argue cringy anti drug TV
specials of the nineteen eighties and maybe ever Titled Get

(01:42):
High on Yourself, it starred a staggering number of celebrities
like Muhammad Ali, Paul Newman, Carol Burnett, Magic Johnson, John Travalta,
and Burt Reynolds, and is well worth a google and
perhaps a giggle. But drugs had already proved a profitable pastime,

(02:04):
and as with the nation's previous attempt to go dry
with prohibition, the war on drugs actually increased their value
and the potential for corruption.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
It just brings out the evil and provision and just
creates so many problems in more than it ever prevents.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's mister Jerry Lee Wilson. He's a former marijuana smuggler
who was based out West which is where he linked
with Phil Stamford, who profiled him for a magazine article.
A quick aside mister Wilson is also the mastermind and
inventor behind Soloflex, the groundbreaking machine that forever revolutionized home

(02:42):
fitness in the nineteen eighties and created the world's first
infomercial that sold it, along with the no Pain, No
Gain Body by Solaflex print campaign featuring that iconic shirtless
male model with impeccable pecks and abs. Wilson's a fascinating guy.
We're dealing with the story of nineteen eighties Miami as

(03:05):
it switched from pot to cocaine. But just the corruption,
it's fascinating that prohibition just breeds corruption and crime.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well in the eye, it breeds opportunity. There's so much
opportunity for you know, on both sides of the fence.
But it did open up an economic opportunity.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Before he'd make millions with sola Flex, Jerry was jailed
in Oklahoma facing bail to the tune of a half
a million dollars for flying in quote the largest load
of pot in history unquote. Here's how he got there.
So tell me how you fell into smuggling.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I never really wanted to have to work for a living,
you know, because I'd tried work several times I never
paid much and it was hard. And then I got
to thinking, maybe I should just become a pilot. That
didn't seem like work at all, and so that's what
I did. I mean, I just loved anything it get
up off the ground. And so that's what I did
for twelve years, is I slip professionally. Five of the

(04:04):
years I flew the night airmail up to Tornado Alley
without a radar. That was pretty scary. And then I
got a job flying lar jets in Las Vegas, where
I got to meet all the mafia guys that I
read about. One of them was an attorney from El
Paso and a gambler and the Torres gambler and a
high roller, big steaks gambler and a big tipper. But

(04:28):
I started flying him, shuttling him back and forth between
El Paso and Las Vegas. And then I got a
charter from his younger brother, who I hadn't met yet,
to just fly back east, you know, with only one
passenger on board. And they wouldn't even tell me where
we were going, you know. And then actually I was
going out to collect cash, heart currency and buckets and

(04:51):
big steamship trunks full of just cash that I would
bring back and they would take the caesars and they'd
weigh it when they'd get credit on books. But these
guys were the younger brother was a smuggler, marijuana smuggler.
I got a call to go down and pick up
a Lee Shagger and al Paso, and so I was
waiting at the airport. He was usually laid but been

(05:12):
there about an hour. My co boughted me. Then here
comes Jimmy, and it was the first time I had
met his younger brother, the actual smuggler, And so he says,
Lee's looking for some pilots, and I thought, damn, that
sounded like a lot of fun for one thing, and
maybe the little credie and there's certainly nothing wrong with
it that I could see, And so I went to

(05:35):
work for him.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
But Jerry Lee Wilson would eventually find himself on the
wrong side of the law and at odds with the
cops who arrested him, who were also on the wrong
side of the law.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
No, I was finding myself in jail, you know, and
the cops having stolen all with dope.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
That happens more than one would think, but just explained.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
So well by the cops are not stupid. You know,
there's you know how valuable it is. They also know
every dealer in the area. You know, I mean, I
get to the natural connection to sell it. You know,
there was a dege in Albuquerque that got busted selling
the same uh load of pot hit hit hit busted
and then resell it and get and bust it and
resell it. You know, that breeds opportunities on both sides

(06:20):
of the de fence. You know, cops don't get paid
that much, and they all think they're overworked and you know, harassed.
I had a Treasury agent said once, you know, he
said my balls were a little bigger, you know, I'd
be doing what you're doing. Yeah, And it's like, well, hey,
what can I say? Get some balls man.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Jerry shares many of his smuggling adventures and innovations in
his autobiography The Solo Flex Story, an American parable, which
Wilson cleverly dedicates to the Statute of Limitations. It is
a great read. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

(07:04):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories
that matter to you.