SMUGGLER: Barry Seal

Max Mermelstein was an American drug smuggler working for the Medellin cartel in Miami. Pablo Escobar and the Ochoa brothers sent an emissary to see him. They wanted him to silence Barry Seal, the only witness who could testify against the cartel and the only witness who could get Jorge Ochoa sent to the United States from Spain, where he was being held in custody. The emissary brought with him a copy of the news program Seal cooperated with in Baton Rouge, Uncle Sam Wants You.

"Ochoa wanted him kidnapped," Mermelstein said. "Escobar wanted him dead."

The cartel's kingpins felt Mermelstein, who was white, would fit in better in the upper middle-class part of Baton Rouge where Seal lived.

"They didn't want Latins in the Baton Rouge area because they would stick out like a sore thumb," Mermelstein said later during court testimony.

Mermelstein accepted the assignment because he didn't have a choice. "If I had not taken the contract, it would have been me and my family who would have been taken out."

During the next few months, Mermelstein made several trips to Baton Rouge but he couldn't find Barry Seal.

In February 1985, Miguel Velez, a bodyguard and enforcer for Mermelstein's cartel boss, said he wanted to take over the Seal contract. He flew to Colombia to meet with the cartel bosses, who had returned home after some scary times abroad. After getting the cartel's blessing, Velez flew back to Miami prepared to hunt down and kill Barry Seal.