Speaker 1: Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. This week,
Speaker 1: we'll hear more from the charismatic former marijuana smuggler Bobby
Speaker 1: plat Shorn on how and why he and Ron Elliott
Speaker 1: of the Coconut Grove Guys crossed paths at the end
Speaker 1: of the Black Tuna era. So the question I had
Speaker 1: for you is, after you and I spoke, Phil mentioned
Speaker 1: the name Ron Elliott, and I did not remember that
Speaker 1: name from your book. The Ron, your Jason was really
Speaker 1: not part of us. They threw him in in the
Speaker 1: end because we tried to get him in his partner
Speaker 1: to do a rescue mission after we no longer had
Speaker 1: airplanes available, But that's really all of it. He had
Speaker 1: nothing to do with us. Did you get any read
Speaker 1: on him when you met him in person? No? I
Speaker 1: was thought he was an excellent pilot, and I didn't
Speaker 1: really know him. I reached out when that plane crashed
Speaker 1: and Purvis and the other pilots were stuck down there.
Speaker 1: Bobby's referencing a crash in Columbia but involved two of
Speaker 1: the Black Tunagang pilots. When their plane went down, Plathorn
Speaker 1: was in need of another pilot to attempt a rescue
Speaker 1: mission enter Ron Elliott. Well, he had done a number
Speaker 1: of trips flying to I think its session for twenty ones,
Speaker 1: doing trips into central Florida. And he was using two
Speaker 1: so that one could be a ghost plane and one
Speaker 1: would be a legitimate check in, so one was like
Speaker 1: a decoy. Yeah, I know, he did a lot of trips,
Speaker 1: he was successful, and he's bringing them into I think
Speaker 1: north central Florida. And so what did you want him
Speaker 1: to do for you? Go pick up the stranded pilots.
Speaker 1: I'd probably offered them a couple hundred brand or something
Speaker 1: to go pick them up, get them out of there,
Speaker 1: and needed somebody who was willing to go down right away.
Speaker 1: I mean, we had to get them out of there.
Speaker 1: They were hiding in the jungle. If the Colombian army
Speaker 1: or police could find them, then it would be a
Speaker 1: serious jail term for them or a serious expense bailing
Speaker 1: them out. So originally he agreed to do it. But
Speaker 1: in addition to the money, he wanted coke. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't remember if there may have been ten keys, which
Speaker 1: would have been a lot. Yeah, yeah, and that's not
Speaker 1: a huge shipment, but there would have put a lot
Speaker 1: of money in his pocket. But I had no intention
Speaker 1: of getting involved in the coke business. So I made
Speaker 1: a point of getting a hold of my connection in
Speaker 1: Columbia or Ool and tell them, under no circumstances was
Speaker 1: any cocaine to go on the plane, because at that
Speaker 1: point it felt like a set up. Yeah. And so
Speaker 1: did he rescue the pilots, Yes, he did, but he
Speaker 1: didn't get to coke. How did he react to that?
Speaker 1: I don't recall tell you the truth, but I know
Speaker 1: when Purvis got out of the plane, the d EA
Speaker 1: was there waiting for him, and he was waiting to
Speaker 1: help the d EA. So you went to all that
Speaker 1: effort to save him, Yeah, and then he turned on
Speaker 1: you exactly. Thank god you didn't put any coke on
Speaker 1: that plane because if the DA was waiting for it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was originally a coke charge in the indictment, but
Speaker 1: they pulled it out. So it was a setup. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was a set up. I don't know if ron
Speaker 1: Elliott knew it was a setup, but George Purvis certainly knew.
Speaker 1: How did the DA even know to be there? They
Speaker 1: were set up with George. George had been busted bringing
Speaker 1: the shipment into North Carolina when he got out on bail.
Speaker 1: He needed a place to live and stay till his trial,
Speaker 1: and I let him work at our used car lot,
Speaker 1: which was part of our auction complex, so he was
Speaker 1: around all the time. Then he did this airplane trip
Speaker 1: to Columbia. Plane crashed and we had to get them
Speaker 1: out of there, him and two pilots, and we got
Speaker 1: them out. I felt that was my responsibility, even though
Speaker 1: that wasn't my trip. Wow, how did you feel when
Speaker 1: you found out that the DA was waiting and that
Speaker 1: he turned I was pretty well sure of it before
Speaker 1: he was back. Just all the arrangements for the rescue
Speaker 1: just had a bad feel, and I was pretty sure
Speaker 1: that they'd be waiting, and you did the right thing.
Speaker 1: I was worried about it, but one thing at a time,
Speaker 1: get them out of Columbia first. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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