FRIEND THAT HIRED YOU???CactusPilot1 said:
http://www.apfn.net/dcia/scandal.html
Excerpt:
I found the America West Airline drug trafficking trial fascinating. Patrick Thurston, Vice President of Operations, America West, Bob Russell, Chief of Pilots, and Carl Wobser, a captain, all pleaded guilty to multiple counts of narcotics trafficking. They had purchased a DC 6 and embarked upon a career in the drug trade. Unfortunately for them their plane, which they maxed out electronically, had chronic engine problems which required them to touch down unexpectedly in several countries. This was more than embarrassing, since they had not filed flight plans.
On one such emergency stop in Aruba, on the way back from Columbia, their plane was found packed with marijuana. There is reason to believe that their intended cargo was cocaine and that after a mix-up they did not wish to fly back empty. Despite the lofty positions these men held with America West, they seemed to have no difficulty getting time off for their drug flights, and America West wanted to rehire Russell after his six months in the Federal country club at Safford.
Twenty percent of the stock of America West was owned by Ansett Airlines of Australia and 55% of Ansett was held by Sir Peter Ables and Rupert Murdock. We know from Jonathan Kwitny 's book, the Crimes of Patriots, that Burny Houghton, perhaps the key figure in the founding of the CIA drug money laundering bank Nugan-Hand in Australia, had coffee with Sir Peter Ables the night of his first day in Australia.
