The Legacy
Back in the day, I ran a legendary marijuana smuggling ring, one of the largest in America. The weed came from Colombia and Jamaica, the hash from Lebanon, and the crew from coastal South Carolina…illicit entrepreneurs who risked treacherous waters, civil wars, incarceration, and sanity to rise to the top.
We were called the Gentlemen Smugglers.
Between 1971 and 1986, we owned the trade, smuggling over 250 tons of cannabis to the masses. These were the glory days of cannabis and in a very real way, we were the distributors and dispensaries of that time. It was a high stakes game of cat and mouse and an adventure that ended in spectacular fashion; we became the main targets of Operation Jackpot, the opening act in President Reagan’s War on Drugs. I got tagged with the federal kingpin statute – Code §848 Continuing Criminal Enterprise – and spent 11 years in prison. Most of the crew were charged with the smuggling statute – Code §545 Smuggling Goods into the United States – and like me, they paid the price.
We never lost our rogue spirit, belief in the plant, or sense of humor. We’re older and wiser now and ready to do business again, using our platform to support ending needless incarceration for nonviolent marijuana crimes.
Gentlemen Smugglers is founded on the legacy of a bygone era. In an industry filled with ruthless people and dangerous places, we made our own rules, and we thrived.
Turns out you can be both a gentleman and a smuggler.
50 years and counting:the history
the early daze: 1971-1975
It’s 1971 and good old Southern boy, Barry “Flash” Foy, makes his first run to Jamaica, sailing back to Florida with 400 pounds of marijuana. A smooth talker and experienced sailor, smuggling suits Foy’s lifestyle of dabbling in debauchery. It’s not long before Florida is awash with cocaine cowboys and rival smugglers. Coke is a much more lucrative business. More expensive, and easier to transport, cocaine would transform Florida into a battle zone of Scarface proportions by the end of the decade. Foy and his crew sense the changes afoot in the smuggling game. Guns and violence would never be their style. So the Gentlemen Smugglers retreat from the brewing Florida storm just ahead of the cartel madness that would engulf the state in bloodshed. They feel at home in coastal South Carolina, playing in their own backyard where they have hunted and fished since childhood. Flying under the radar is a breeze.
One of their peers, Henry McMaster, is a former University of South Carolina classmate and runs in some of the same circles. While the ambitious McMaster dedicates himself to upholding the law, equally ambitious Foy focuses on flouting it. Their paths, which quickly divide, would cross again in a very unexpected and monumental way. But in 1973, McMaster has just graduated from law school when Foy realizes that smuggling grass is more lucrative than cutting it.
Always staying one step ahead of the law, the techniques they are refining include using decoy boats to instigate high-speed chases with the cops as a distraction while the real shipment moved in. Or having Skip Sanders hide 10 tons in his grandmother’s basement. Business is booming, and with every run the smugglers refine their acquisition, transportation, and distribution techniques through trial and error, lots of error. And then comes a fortuitous meeting. It’s 1975 and Foy’s 45-foot sailboat is docked at the marina in Coconut Grove. Bob “The Boss” Byers slides into the adjacent slip in an identical boat. Byers’ girlfriend, Tammy Lundstedt, would soon grow into the leader of the Lady Pirates as the smuggling network rapidly expanded.
the good life: 1975-1980
Jamaica is getting hot and Foy chases the more lucrative ganja crops of Colombia. Foy flies to Colombia with Byers to scout a deal. But he soon learns a higher quality product involves higher risks. Treks into the mountainous jungles to ‘audition’ marijuana grows, bouts with dysentery, sharing sleeping shacks with chickens, gunfire, run-ins with the Colombian military—no matter, the prices for primo weed make it all worth it. More adventure, more adrenaline, and more profits. Money flows in and so do women drawn to the flashy, handsome, young men living hedonistic lifestyles, dangerous, dashing and decadent.
Enter the Lady Pirates. A few rival the Gentlemen for the best smugglers in the game. Take Tammy, aka Miami Tammy, who’s been sitting on stash houses since she was 14. Or Capt. Judy, running sailboats through hurricanes and war zones, riding with the wind for months at a time. Some of their female crews acted as decoys during runs and lay out on the sailboat’s deck to ‘sunbathe’ while Colombian military helicopters fly overhead. Other times, they’d load the hulls of shrimp boats with contraband and cover the decks with fish to attract seagulls, creating a believable ruse for coast guard patrols. Tammy will later help Byers on a jailbreak, paying off a guard to leave a door unlocked while he dons the wig and dress she’s brought him and slips away to freedom disguised as a woman.
higher profits, higher risks: 1980-1982
Capt. Judy’s spirit is uncorked and decides the Gentlemen Smugglers need to add Lebanese hashish to their inventory. During one of these trips to war-torn Beirut, the smugglers fork over enough cash to convince both sides to declare a temporary ceasefire in the civil war, allowing the smugglers a five-hour window to load up with hash before the fighting begins again..
While the smugglers build their empire and deliver from Miami to Manhattan, the nation’s view of marijuana is sinking and Jimmy Carter’s short window of optimism for cannabis legislation withers away, in step with his popularity. The young gang is now grappling with adult problems; work-life balance, juggling girlfriends, wives, and kids, trying to live “normal” lives at home between runs. And they are faced with an ever growing problem: what to do with all the cash? Pinckney Greene, aka Mr. 95, is moving product up and down the coast. Wille “the Hog” Bauer is transporting to the west coast. Capt Tink “the Preacherman” goes from running one small boat to running a fleet. They’re living the highlife, spending with abandon rather than facing an uncertain future head-on.
At the dawn of the ‘80s, Ronald Reagan’s campaign promises to crack down on drugs are more than just lip service. Marijuana is “perhaps the most dangerous drug in America,” he proclaims. “Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.” And leading the charge in South Carolina was Reagan’s appointee and Barry’s old friend, U.S. State Attorney Henry McMaster, ready to pounce. The landmark investigation would grow to become one of the largest and most innovative of its time. It would also make McMaster’s career. These are the last days on easy street for the Gentlemen Smugglers.
The Take Down: 1983-1986
The noose tightens and the stakes intensify as Reagan pours waterfalls of Federal money into empowering the IRS, DEA, Customs and FBI to work together for the first time in tracking down and making examples of drug smugglers. Reagan appoints McMaster, who heads up the task force, and realizes that following the money is the only way they will find their smugglers. So law enforcement pounds the pavement looking for people in South Carolina living light years beyond their means. Investigators visit a Mercedes dealership where the owner mentions a man who paid for a brand new Benz with cash pulled from a crumpled brown bag.
Slowly but surely, the smuggling ring begins to unravel as the task force closes in. The Gentlemen Smugglers, aware of the targets on their backs, begin stashing money away, forming getaway plans should the hammer come down. And when it does, it comes down hard in one of the biggest dope stings in US history: Operation Jackpot. In 1983, the multi-agency task force orchestrates a series of high-profile arrests, using low-level associates as minnows to attract marlin.
Now on the Most Wanted list, Foy flees to St. Barts. When Captain Judy gets wind of an indictment she runs away to Tahiti, abandoning friends and family for nearly 10 years, disappearing into the wind to avoid prosecution. Despite the kingpins’ ability to outrun the law for so many years, they know their time would come and they prepare accordingly; Swiss bank accounts, shell companies, PVC pipes stuffed with currency and buried around the world. But cash runs out and a lifestyle of constantly looking over one’s shoulder, separated from friends and family for years that stretch into decades, well, that takes a toll.
All of the smugglers are eventually caught as their associates turn on them. Byers is nabbed in Antigua.
Foy, who dresses up as Santa Claus to hide from the NYPD, is finally nabbed at LaGuardia airport.
The Aftermath
By 1986, after three trials, more than 100 smugglers and their associates are sent to prison. McMaster’s task force has dealt the Gentlemen Smugglers a lethal blow. President Reagan claims a huge victory in the drug war, and lauds McMaster for his leadership and innovation. “Operation Jackpot was
our first major breakthrough in the war on drugs,” Reagan tells reporters in 1986. McMaster goes on to be elected Attorney General of South Carolina, later ascending to the governorship, an office he still holds today.
The Future
The surviving Gentlemen Smugglers are all now free men watching the country’s attitude toward marijuana shift from fear to acceptance. With prison sentences behind them, these former pot pirates have few regrets. Whether it be reminiscing over a beer and a smoke at their annual “Felons’ Ball” or cracking big smiles on the beach while recounting tall-but-true tales, these men and women are living legends forever imprinted in the history of cannabis.
