Jackpot

High Times, High Seas, and the Sting That Launched the War on Drugs

By: Jason Ryan

Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright

In the late 1970s and early '80s, a cadre of freewheeling Southern pot smugglers lived at the crossroads of Miami Vice and a Jimmy Buffett song. These irrepressible adventurers unloaded nearly a billion dollars worth of marijuana and hashish through the Eastern Seaboard's marshes. Then came their undoing: Operation Jackpot, one of the largest drug investigations ever and an opening volley in Ronald Reagan's "War on Drugs".

In Jackpot, author Jason Ryan takes us back to the heady days before drug smuggling was synonymous with deadly gunplay. During this golden age of marijuana trafficking, the country's most prominent kingpins were a group of wayward and fun-loving Southern gentlemen who forsook college educations to sail drug-laden luxury sailboats across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Les Riley, Barry Foy, and their comrades eschewed violence as much as they loved pleasure, and it was greed, lust, and disaster at sea that ultimately caught up with them, along with the law.

In a cat-and-mouse game played out in exotic locations across the globe, the smugglers sailed through hurricanes, broke out of jail, and survived encounters with armed militants in Colombia, Grenada, and Lebanon. Based on years of research and interviews with imprisoned and recently released smugglers and the law enforcement agents who tracked them down, Jackpot is sure to become a classic story from America's controversial drug wars.

©2012 Jason Ryan (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Intriguing and adventurous

Very interesting story all the way through. It covers both sides of the coin from the smuggler to the investigators. you wont be disappointed.

Living in Charleston could relate to a lot of the people

Enjoyed from start to finish a lot of local places and people and how the war on drugs began

An epic tale of the southern drug smuggler

The thoroughly informative story of the southern gentlemen who masterminded the lucrative drug smuggling operations in SC in the early days of the post-1960's counterculture movements that liberated a generation of anti-establiment youths. This is the story of the extraordinary lives behind the exciting entrepreneurly spirits who built an underground network of trade for supplying America's drug craze and the political establishment set to try to stop them.

Great listen

I started listening and could not stop. The details in the story meticulously presented in a way that makes the story jump out of the speakers and has you engulfed in it. I feel like I was there. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who grew up in the 60's to the 90's

The Gentlemen Smugglers are back!!

I picked up this book after interviewing Barry Foy about his new, legal Gentlemen Smugglers cannabis brand in Massachusetts.

Foy is less Scarface and more Matthew McConaughey, and it's hard not to root for him.

The criminalization of drugs is one of the greatest mistakes of the 20th century.

This book provides an interesting piece to the puzzle around the so-called war on drugs.

If you're interested in cannabis, the cannabis industry, etc. definitely check this book out.

Thanks Shep Rose for this recommendation!!

I listened to Shep Rose’s Average Expectations and this title was recommended in his book. Since I recently moved to SC, I thought it would be interested to learn more about the area and local stories. I thought this book was great and very engaging. I can’t believe some of this stuff happened here. It also brings to light some of the “good ol’ boys” clubs that you see now in SC politics and crime (Alex Murdaugh). Highly recommend the Murdaugh Murders podcast on apple podcasts for true crime SC.

A piece of unknown American history

Who knew this is how the war on drugs started?!? Very interesting piece of American history.

fun and exciting

if you enjoy stories about drug smuggling you will love this book. laid back mellow guys, fun wild exciting adventures, exotic locations and huge loads of pot and hashish. as well as the consequences of those adventures. every time i think i've found my favorite book and favorite story about smuggling i find another even better and this is just one more example of that. though this one is going to be extremly hard to beat. the huge loads of pot and hash and the stories of picking them up and getting them back here and unloading them are crazy and so much fun to hear. you won't be dissapointed.

I loved it

I found this intriguing and amazing to listen to, especially after the Murdagh trial. The Lowcountry is interesting. I’ve lived here a long time but not long enough to have know about this story. And McMasters is our governor!!!

If You Enjoy Injustice

I kept thinking the story would get better so I continued to listen. Eventually I had an hour left & the story just kept getting more depressing. It’s sad that these men ever went to jail over marijuana. I know the times were different but the American justice system is depressing. No real rehabilitation & people in prisoned over a plant that we now know has healing benefits. As a medical patient who has been able to function better in my daily life as a result of cannabis products, this book was just depressing & reminded me that america has a very long way to go before eliminating criminal charges for these harmless entrepreneurs.