Norman’s Cay, Exuma
”Norman’s Cay was a playground. I have a vivid picture of being picked up in a Land Rover with the top down and naked women driving to welcome me from the airplane. And there we partied. And it was a Sodom and Gomorrah drugs sex and no police you made the rules and it was fun” This was Norman’s Cay at the height of drug trafficking, a Wild Wild West atmosphere with cessnas, turbo commanders and pipers Navajo carrying their precious cargo, cocaine. For 4 years Norman’s Cay served as drug smuggling hub and hideaway for Medellin cartel kingpin Carlos Lehder. In 1978 lehder contracted a German security firm to provide security and upgraded the 3,000 ft runway, by August of the same year the first experiment took place. This experiment was a success with 314 kilos of cocaine being flown in a Mitsubishi twin engine turboprop, this load was sold for 15 million in Florida. By 1979 the island’s staff consisted of 50 with 3 full time Colombian pilots and 5 American pilots, according to Ed Ward a Floridian marijuana smuggler the atmosphere is no longer fun as he becomes addicted to cocaine and so does everyone else. It’s tense and everyone’s paranoid To get an idea of how much the Medellin Cartel made daily: in 1979 a kilo of 12 percent purity cocaine sold for an average of $800,000. The Norman’s Cay operation delivered 300 kilos of cocaine every day In September of 1979 “operation raccoon” involved 90 Bahamian police raiding Norman’s Cay arresting 33 people, days later everyone was released in Nassau on $2,000 bail, in December Lehder is told to leave The Bahamas but he continues business By 1980 Ledher had harassed all other residents on the island until they fled, in July of that year a yacht belonging to a retired couple was found drifting with a dead body and blood stains. In 1980 Ed Ward is out on a stop list in The Bahamas then in 1981 Lehder and Ed Ward are indicted on 39 counts of smuggling, conspiracy and income tax evasion by a federal grand jury but business on the Cay continues. In 1981 Lehder is placed on a stop list and he heads to Colombia with his personal belongings but business still continues and the Colombian staff is left to protect his interests It is alleged that some of the political leaders at the time spent occasional weekends partying at Norman’s Cay with Lehder. The CIA was said to be holding the photographic evidence to prove this. According to “Kings of cocaine:inside the Medellin Cartel” on July 10th ‘82 pilots loaded a plane with leaflets some with $100 bills demanding “Reagan’s Drug enforcement agency go home” they dropped the leaflets into crowds in Nassau and Bimini celebrating independence. In NBC news reports that some political leaders had taken bribes from drug dealers. Bahamian authorities freeze Lehder’s bank accounts and he leaves The Bahamas forever Lehder is still serving his life imprisonment plus 135 years
