Opinion ID: 484754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the july 1980 successful load

Text: 17 Stan learned from Ambrit that a Jamaican airport manager named Lazarus had two planes that had been confiscated by the Jamaican police in prior drug deals. Lazarus and Ambrit offered to allow Bennie and Stan to steal the planes in exchange for a payment after the planes were used to bring marijuana into the United States. 18 Bennie and two pilots, Jerry Delarm and Martin Cooper, both recruited by Stan, traveled to Jamaica on a commercial flight. Bennie supervised the repair of the aircraft and telephoned Stan to notify him of necessary parts for the repairs. 19 Ambrit had prepared almost 6000 pounds of marijuana for transport in the two aircraft. Slusser agreed to allow the planes to land at an airstrip near Lake Okeechobee called Six Mile Runway, and to provide ground security in exchange for 700 pounds of marijuana. 20 The night before the planes were to leave Jamaica, Delarm disappeared, leaving Cooper as the only pilot. Ambrit and the Jamaican military officials loaded one of the planes and Cooper piloted the aircraft out of Jamaica with Bennie serving as his copilot. 21 Upon attempting to land at the Six Mile Runway, the plane struck a mudhole and crashed. Aviation fuel was leaking from various points on the plane and Bennie and Cooper were pinned against the instrument panels because the marijuana bales had shifted forward. Despite the fire dangers presented, Stan ignored their calls for help and yelled to Merritt, Graham and Basso to unload the marijuana first. Bennie and Cooper were extracated from the wreckage after all the marijuana was removed. 22 The group transported the marijuana to the same trailer used in the previous successful load. The deputies were given seventy pounds of marijuana. The remainder was transported to David Beech's home in Homestead where Graham and Basso agreed to distribute all marijuana that Stan could import. Although Slusser offered to blow up the wrecked plane, this became unnecessary when the aircraft was struck by lightning.