28 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
28 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "Organized Crime"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person/Drug_Trafficker
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- Pilot
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- 1980s
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- Contra_War
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- Congressional_Testimony
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summary: Gary Wayne "Hippie" Betzner was a copilot who flew CIA-protected drug and weapons flights for the Contras and testified under oath as a Justice Department witness.
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location: "Akron, Ohio"
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---
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### Drug Flights for the Contras
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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]
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### Sworn Testimony
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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]
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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]
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Betzner and [[Fabio Ernesto Carrasco|"Tito" 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]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: 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"
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