1.9 KiB
| title | aliases | created | updated | category | tags | summary | location | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Betzner |
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2026-05-17 | 2026-05-17 | Organized Crime |
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Copilot who flew CIA-protected drug and weapons flights for the Contras and testified under oath as a Justice Department witness. | Akron, Ohio |
Gary Wayne "Hippie" Betzner was a copilot who flew weapons and drug missions for Colombian trafficker George Morales in support of the Contras. Betzner, who had pleaded guilty to federal drug charges, testified during a federal trial in Oklahoma as a witness for the Justice Department - not as a defendant.1
Sworn Testimony
When asked by a defense lawyer if CIA people permitted him to fly airplanes into foreign countries carrying weapons, Betzner replied: "Why, sure." Asked if he brought drugs back, he said: "Yes." Asked if the CIA people knew what he was doing with the drugs, Betzner insisted: "Certainly."1
Betzner said he was not surprised that his boss Morales was helping the Contras: "No, actually, I wasn't surprised by it because I knew that George was anti-Communist, as are most Colombians. So the Cartel and people like that are definitely anti-Communist. . .It's strictly a capitalist movement, this drug business."1
Betzner and Fabio Ernesto Carrasco both confirmed George Morales's story about flying weapons to John Hull's ranch in northern Costa Rica and returning with cocaine - under oath as U.S. government witnesses. George Morales also passed a DEA-administered lie detector test about his Contra drug dealings.1
Footnotes
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Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 11: "They were looking in the other direction" ↩︎