George Jacob Jung nicknamed "Boston George", was a major player in the cocaine trade in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1970s and early 1980s. Jung was a part of the
Medellín CartelThe Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...
which was responsible for up to 85 percent of the
cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
smuggled into the United States . He specialized in the
smugglingSmuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
of cocaine from
ColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
on a large scale. His life story was portrayed in the 2001 film
BlowBlow is a 2001 biopic about the American cocaine smuggler George Jung, directed by Ted Demme. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All for the screenplay. It is based on the real...
, starring
Johnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
.
Early life
George Jung was born to Frederick, a
German AmericanGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
, and Ermine (née O'Neill) Jung, in Boston, Massachusetts then raised in
Weymouth, MassachusettsThe Town of Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, Weymouth had a total population of 53,743. Despite its city status, it is formally known as the Town of Weymouth...
. Though Jung did not excel academically, he was a star football player and was described by his classmates as "a natural leader."
After graduating in 1961 from Weymouth High School, Jung went to the University of Southern Mississippi in
Hattiesburg, MississippiHattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
. He studied for a degree in advertising. He never completed his studies. Jung began recreationally using
marijuanaCannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
, selling a portion of everything he bought to break even.
In 1967, after meeting with a childhood friend, Phillip Eugene Sadler, Jung realized the enormous potential for profits by smuggling the cannabis he bought in California back to
New EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. Jung's initial smuggling operation had the drugs being transported via his stewardess girlfriend, who would carry them in her suitcases on flights. In search of even greater profits, Jung expanded his operation to flying the drugs in from
Puerto VallartaPuerto Vallarta is a Mexican balneario resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas.The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the sixth-largest city in the state of Jalisco...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
using airplanes stolen from private airports on
Cape CodCape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
and professional pilots. At the height of this enterprise, Jung and his associates were reportedly making $250,000 a month (equivalent to over $1.6 million today). This ended in 1974, when Jung was arrested in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
for smuggling 660 pounds (299.4 kg) of marijuana. He had been staying at the
Playboy ClubThe Playboy Club initially was a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first club opened at 116 E. Walton Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States, on February 29, 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room...
where he was to meet a connection that would pick up the marijuana. The connection was arrested for
heroin smuggling, however, and informed the authorities about Jung in order to get a reduced sentence. After arguing with the judge about the purpose of sending a man to prison "for crossing an imaginary line with a bunch of plants," Jung was sent to a federal prison in
Danbury, ConnecticutDanbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
.
Work with Medellín Cartel
At Danbury, Jung's cellmate was
Carlos LehderCarlos Enrique Lehder Rivas or simply Carlos Lehder is a German-Colombian drug dealer currently imprisoned in the United States, having been co-founder of the Medellín Cartel....
, a young
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-
ColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n man who introduced Jung to the Medellín cartel; in return, Jung taught Lehder how to smuggle. When Jung was released, they went into business together. Their plan was to fly hundreds of kilos of
cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
from
Pablo EscobarPablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...
's Colombian ranch to the U.S., and Jung's
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
connection, Richard Barile, would take it from there. Jung had a security man who would accompany him to the exchanges, where Jung would give the man the keys to a car and half the cocaine, and then leave. A day or two later they would meet up again and exchange keys to cars.
Jung made millions off the operation as only the middle man. He came up with the idea to steal single-engine airplanes for his transportation and charge $10,000 a kilo with five planes going from Colombia to California, carrying 300 kilos a plane. This translated into $15 million a run for Jung. In order to avoid 60% surcharges, as well as a need to
launderMoney laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
his earnings, he kept his money in the national bank of Panama City.
By the late 1970s, Lehder had effectively cut Jung out, by going straight to Barile. Jung continued to smuggle, however, reaping millions in profits.
Jung was later arrested in
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in 1987 at his mansion on Nauset Beach, near
EasthamEastham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,453 at the 2000 census....
. With his family, he skipped
bailTraditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
, but very quickly became involved in another deal, where he was betrayed by an acquaintance.
Current incarceration
After working some "clean" jobs, Jung began to work in the marijuana industry again. In 1994, he reconnected with his old Mexican marijuana smuggling partner and was arrested with 1754 pounds (795.6 kg) of marijuana in
Topeka, KansasTopeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
and faced a 15-year mandatory sentence. He pleaded guilty to three counts of
conspiracyIn the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
. He was incarcerated at
Otisville Federal PrisonThe Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville is located in Orange County, New York, USA. The federal prison, which opened in 1977, is a medium security facility, located in the Town of Mount Hope a quarter mile from the Otisville Correctional Facility, a New York medium security prison, thus...
in
Mount Hope, New YorkMount Hope is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 6,639 at the 2000 census.The Town of Mount Hope is in the northwestern part of the county, west of Middletown...
, but has since been transferred to
Federal Correctional Institution, La TunaFederal Correctional Institution, La Tuna is a low security Federal Bureau of Prisons facility for men in Anthony, Texas. The prison is near the Texas-New Mexico border, located on Texas State Highway 20, near Interstate 10. The complex is north of the city limits of El Paso...
in Anthony, Texas.
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