A few days later, Vaughan showed up with a newspaper, El Nuevo Diario. "This is the rea- son we wanted you to keep your mouth shut at the airport, because we had to keep this entire incident very quiet in the newspapers. We don't control all the newspapers here." He showed Barry a two-paragraph article that stated anti-aircraft gunners at Sandino Airport had shot at an Agrarian Reform Air Transport Company plane because the plane was unable to signal its location:
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"The DAA [Anti-Aircraft Defense] had to signal and fire warning shots to induce it to land at the airport - which happened without untoward consequences."
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Vaughan said that the accident had happened because he hadn't prepared for a smuggling flight in the darkness. The gunners hadn't seen Barry. They'd heard him and shot at the noise. Better communication WaS required for the next time. Upset that he hadn't been able to reach Vaughan from the plane, Barry said they should buy walkie-talkies.
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Pablo said that the new cocaine lab was at a ranch south of Managua. It would be ready for full production in two weeks. Lehder had almost fifteen tons of cocaine base, which would produce approximately one-fifth of the cocaine consumed in America annually.
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"Well, that's going to take a real large plane," Barry said. "You should buy a military cargo plane like those I've seen advertised in the aviation-trade magazines."
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Pablo wanted Barry to obtain such a plane and to pick up the first 700 kilos.
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"Is that cocaine safe?" Barry said.
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"We haven't lost one single gram," Vaughan said.
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In Escobar's Piper Cheyenne, which required maintenance in America, Barry and Emile flew home with Pablo's latest shopping list, which included night-vision goggles and a dozen high frequency radios that cost $12,000 each.
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The CIA provided Barry with a Fairchild C-123K Provider, a massive camouflage-green twin-engine military cargo plane from the Vietnam War. He nicknamed it the Fat Lady. On June 18, 1984, Barry flew the Fat Lady to Rickenbacker Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio. Repairing and retrofitting the plane, Air Force employees worked around the clock. The military made repairs worth $40,000 at the taxpayers' expense.
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Barry was instructed to take pictures of Nicaraguan officials associated with cocaine. He told the CIA, "Let me explain something to you, mister. There's gonna be a lot of men with guns down there. Nervous men, who aren't gonna exactly say cheese to some gringo pilot with a camera."
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Five days later, the plane was at Homestead Air Force Base near Miami. A transponder was installed to allow the DEA to track its flight. The CIA added a hidden 35-mm camera in the nosecone and another was put inside of a fake electronics box in the rear cargo hold, facing the doors. A pinhole lens in the box allowed the camera to film the cocaine coming into the back of the plane. Barry was given a radio-controlled trigger for the cameras, with a long wire antenna attached to it.
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"What! Where in the hell do you expect me to hide that? Stick it up my ass?" Barry said, referring to the antenna.
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"You can put it in your pocket."
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"All five feet of it?"
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"Put it in your pocket and let the antenna slide down your leg."
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Barry did so and pressed the remote control. Enraged by the loud noise the camera made, he cursed the CIA men in suits. "I'm tired of wasting my time with you assholes. I'll get your fucking photographs. Auto-graphed! But what are you gonna do for me?"
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"We have a deal, Mr Seal."
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"The judge. Say it, dammit!"
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"We'll speak to the judge on your behalf." In a Miami hotel room, Barry called Vaughan, recording the call for the DEA. "I was going to see my grandmother at noon on Saturday," Barry said, using code for the cocaine shipment. Referring to the Fat Lady, Barry said, "It's a big Cadillac… Very big, big car. I just wanted to make sure that my grand-mother was going to tell the landlord that the car was very big, so that the landlord wouldn't be excited when they saw it." Worried about getting shot down again, Barry wanted the Nicaraguan government to stay calm when they saw the Fat Lady.
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"No, no, no," Vaughan said. "Everything is OK about that."
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On June 24, 1984, Barry told Vaughan about a party tomorrow at his grandmother's, meaning the cocaine was coming the next day.
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"I mean, everybody is coming to the party, and you've notified those boys in green." Barry was still concerned about getting shot down.
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"Right," Vaughan said.
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"Everybody is notified?" Barry said.
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"Yes," Vaughan said.
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"Excellent. OK. I just want to make sure. I don't want any problems."
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"Yes, everybody is going to be there."
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"OK, good. And is Pedro coming? Because I have that liquor for him," Barry said, referring to Pablo and the items on his shopping list.
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"Yes, yes, he's coming," Vaughan said.
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"I'm leaving for the party at midnight. Has it been raining on the yard where we park the cars at the party?" Barry said.
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"It's dry and hard and only a little bit muddy in one small area."
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"I can't stay at the party long. I have to try to leave as soon as possible," Barry said, hoping for a fast refuelling.
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"Yeah, we're going to be ready for that."
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"OK. Now remember this motorhome is very big, and it's a funny, funny colour, so don't let anybody get excited."
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Vaughan laughed. "No, that's perfect."
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At 1 pm on June 25, 1984, Barry landed at Los Brasiles near Managua and dropped open the back of the plane. He'd brought $454,000 for Pablo. He later claimed that on the ground were Vaughan, Pablo, Gacha and a group of soldiers. "How do you like the plane?" Barry yelled over the engine noise. "I call her the Fat Lady."
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Soldiers started loading duffel bags of cocaine into the cargo hold. Every time Barry pressed the remote control to take a picture, the camera clicked so loudly that it could be heard outside the Fat Lady. To drown out the noise, Barry switched on the plane's generators. An American spy plane above took high resolution pictures.
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"Shut down your engines!" Pablo yelled.
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"I can't. We gotta keep them hot," Barry said, maintaining the sound to disguise the camera noise.
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An overweight bodyguard with a gun entered the plane and started looking around as if he could hear the camera noise. Emile revved the propellers to camouflage the sound. The bodyguard checked around and finally left. After being loaded with 700 kilos of cocaine and 2,000 gallons of fuel - which took about an hour - the plane took off.
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