The truth behind the CIA/Mena Conspiracy!  Notorious Louisiana drug smuggler Barry Seal made countless runs from Central America to the United States, flying thousands of pounds of cocaine and marijuana into the country and making millions of dollars. When faced with criminal prosecution, Seal turned snitch for the DEA, but he continued to smuggle drugs into the US. In the 1980s, it was leaked under the Reagan administration that Seal was an undercover CIA operative working with the US government to aid Nicaragua in its fight against the Sandinistas. Seal’s role in the conspiracy is large, and many FBI, CIA, DEA, and government officials are implicated in this exposé. Author Del Hahn reveals the true story of this infamous figure. Adler Berriman “Barry” Seal had a brief, but spectacular, career as a cocaine smuggler-turned DEA informant. Many believe that in addition to his dealings with the DEA, Seal was a CIA operative working with Col. Oliver North in Nicaragua to help the Contras in the fight against the Sandinistas. During the Reagan administration, Seal’s infamous undercover role was leaked to Edmond Jacoby of the Washington Post, in hopes that Congress would continue to fund the Contras. Meanwhile, the federal drug task force was waging its “War on Drugs,” and one of their biggest targets was Seal. The Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Arkansas, New Orleans drug task force, Baton Rouge task force, and other federal agencies all investigated him. But once the story of his CIA involvement leaked, he was no longer useful to the DEA as a poster-boy snitch. Although Seal avoided a prison sentence, the judge ordered him to spend his nights for six months in a Baton Rouge halfway house as a condition of the five-year probationary sentence his plea agreement called for. This decision was fatal. Columbian drug lords were out to kill him, and they succeeded in 1986. The books on the market about Seal perpetuate the belief that he was indeed a CIA operative. Author Del Hahn presents credible evidence and facts that dispel the fiction, falsehood, and half-truths surrounding this notorious figure. A former Marine and retired FBI agent, Del Hahn is self-employed as a private investigator. He is the contract investigator for one of his clients, the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners. After joining the FBI as a special agent, Hahn’s first assignment was on a general criminal squad in Florida. After he was transferred to Baton Rouge, he focused on white-collar crime, political corruption, and the newly enacted Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. During his last two years as an agent, Hahn was assigned as the FBI representative to the Middle District of Louisiana Organized Crime Drug Task Force targeting Barry Seal. Tom Aswell graduated from Louisiana Tech University in 1970 with a BA in journalism. After his discharge from the United States Air Force, he worked as a reporter and editor for several Louisiana newspapers, including the Baton Rouge Advocate, Ruston Daily Leader, and Monroe News-Star. In addition, Aswell writes a political blog called LouisianaVoice, which was named by the Washington Post as one of the top 100 political blogs in the nation. He is the author of Louisiana Rocks! The True Genesis of Rock and Roll and the editor of With Edwards in the Governor’s Mansion: From Angola to Free Man, both published by Pelican. “Barry Seal, the charismatic narcotics air smuggler of the early 1980s, was daring and elusive. When the federal government declared ‘war on drugs,’ FBI agent Del Hahn, a former Marine of the Korean War era, joined the battle. Hahn is a longtime friend, and I knew Barry Seal. Smuggler’s End penetrates the mysteries surrounding Seal, what he did in Mena, Arkansas, and presents the real facts beyond the popular fictional accounts.” —William R. “Rut” Whittington, Louisiana State Police colonel/superintendent (retired), US marshal – Western District of Louisiana (retired) “Retired FBI agent Del Hahn provides a behind-the-scenes, inside look at the highly scrutinized life and death of Barry Seal. The book addresses much of the innuendo and many of the myths surrounding the convicted drug smuggler who has been linked to alleged conspiracy theories and has been the subject of much conjecture.” —Jay Dardenne, former lieutenant governor, Louisiana “As an investigative reporter who exposed but one small piece of this tale (for Time magazine) more than two decades ago, I've been waiting for years for such a book. Del Hahn takes no prisoners. He has blown apart the Mena Myth and the scoundrels who perpetuate it. The public should be grateful.” —Richard Behar, award-winning investigative journalist Despite countless books on Seal, none have ever been able to definitively prove whether he was a paid informant for the CIA or if he was merely a scapegoat for a larger government plot. Retired FBI agent Del Hahn sets the record strai