‘The Invisible Pilot’: How Did Gary Betzner Meet George Morales and Pablo Escobar?

If the first episode of The Invisible Pilot launched you into an emotional tailspin, then buckle up. The story of Gary Betzner, the drug smuggler who faked his own death, is only just beginning. And in its second episode, we’re finally getting into the root of all of those criminal activities.

The first episode of The Invisible Pilot primarily focused on how and why Betzner, a talented pilot with a wife and kids, disappeared. But this week, the series explored the many crimes that make this story so fascinating. Need a guide to the many players of this criminal saga? We have your back.

Who Was George Morales?

To most people at the time, George Morales was known as a championship boat racer. But outside of polite society, he was better known as one of the biggest drug smugglers of the 1980s. Morales appears repeatedly in Netflix’s Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami, a docuseries about smugglers Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta.

Morales was also a name to know when it came to the Nicaraguan Contra Rebels. The right-wing rebel groups were active from 1979 to 1990. After the Nicaraguan Revolution, the Contra formed to oppose the Junta of National Reconstruction Government led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front. It was later discovered that these groups were backed by the United States, a controversy that would eventually lead to the Iran–Contra affair.

Morales played a big part in this chapter of history, serving as a go-between of sorts between smugglers, the Contra, and the government. He was eventually given a 16-year federal prison sentence in Miami, which he served.

How Did Gary Betzner Meet George Morales?

According to Betzner, he was smuggling a shipment of marijuana when one of his engines went out around the Bahamas. He was able to land his plane in Bimini, but he was never able to complete that particular delivery. Soon after his crash landing, local criminals picked apart his cargo. That’s how he came to meet Morales, who invited Betzner to his house. Morales told the fellow drug smuggler that he couldn’t recover Betzner’s shipment, but he had some jobs for Betzner if he was interested.

“He was a straight up criminal. I had a lot of respect for him,” Betzner says of Morales in the docuseries.

Altogether, Betzner estimates that he made about 50 drops for Morales. Each plane netted them between $1.25 million and $2 million. But it wasn’t long before the cargos became more intense. Betzner progressed from transporting pot to smuggling cocaine and eventually weapons.

Betzner later learned that Morales was working with the U.S. government. Through that partnership, he allegedly carried five chip mines, roughly 100 grenade launchers, and 2,000 pounds of guns during his various drops. In exchange for these weapons, Betzner claimed that the U.S. government would provide him with shipments of cocaine to be transported.

In the docuseries, Betzner reveals that he wanted to give up his life as a drug smuggler. But it was his loyalty to Morales and Pablo Escobar that kept him in the game for longer than he would have liked. Those final few runs are also what led to his arrest.

How Did Gary Betzner Come to Work for Pablo Escobar?

Morales was the one who introduced Betzner to the Colombian cartel leader. Betzner worked for Escobar for a while. Surprisingly, he interpreted Escobar’s cutthroat way of doing business as just part of the job. In the documentary, Betzner seems unfazed as he describes how Escobar hired people to research and spy on his family.

To this day, Betzner remains an avid supporter of the late Escobar. “We liked each other right away. We struck up a friendly bond,” Betzner says in Episode 2. “He’s a legend and rightly so. I would hope that his praises, not only as a smuggler but as a human being, would be sung.”

Who Was John Hull?

Mentioned at the very end of Episode 2, Hull was another major name in this chapter of history. A duel citizen of the U.S. and Costa Rica, Hull helped the CIA in its shipments of weapons and “humanitarian aid” to the Contras. Pilots often used the airstrips on his ranch where they allegedly smuggled drugs.

New episodes of The Invisible Pilot premiere on HBO Mondays at 9/8c p.m.

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