A review of "Barry and ‘the boys’"

The book that is the subject of this review is Daniel Hopsicker’s Barry and “The Boys:” The CIA, the Mob, and America’s Secret History. Hopsicker originally published it in 2001 and updated it in 2006, adding more information in an Introduction and linking this book to his more recent work. The book’s subtitle clearly explains the subject, although many more subjects are examined through his relationships with the infamous drug dealer Barry Seal.

In fact, the sheer number of issues, events, and people that Hopsicker touches makes it a very daunting task to attempt to review the book. From before WWII, to the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, Iran-Contra, Mena, Arkansas, and our current administration, Hopsicker brings together some of the most notable names who have been involved in both the public history of the United States and the “secret history”. Being unfamiliar with some of the topics, this review will focus more on the style and mechanics of the book than most of the actual content.

However, as a summary of the work, the book focuses largely on the life of Barry Seal, whom Hopsicker calls “the greatest drug dealer in American history, who died in a hail of bullets with the number of George Bush’s private phone in his wallet. ” Through his relationships with various members of the military intelligence personnel, and as a CIA employee and pilot, Seal played a role or met the major participants in almost every major event in recent American history. He attended summer camp for the Baton Rouge Civil Air Patrol with Lee Harvey Oswald, and it is suggested that he took an escape plane from Dallas on the day of Kennedy’s assassination, for example. Seal was also heavily involved in shipping drugs into the country during the time of the Iran-Contra events, and his plane ended up in the possession of George W. Bush after his death. However, in the 380-page book, these topics are examined in depth, along with dozens of other events.

The sources for the book appear to be primarily interviews that Hopsicker or his associates conducted, and most of them relate to various aspects of the secret history or life of Barry Seal. This makes the book an excellent primary source and there are very few anonymous sources that provide information. Seal’s wife is interviewed, along with friends from high school, co-workers, and government employees. As problems arise, Hopsicker introduces a player and his role, and ties the event back and forth with other events, reminding the reader of the relevance of what has happened before and what will come after. This helps casual readers (like this reviewer) keep all names and places a little straighter, as the same names seem to keep popping up in various places and times.

The writing style itself is quite easy to read and a bit informal, compared to other books of a similar nature. Hopsicker is a huge part of the story, as he and his investigators try to put together the full picture of the events surrounding Barry Seal. With each interview and new name added to the mix, the picture becomes clearer, chapter by chapter, until the book draws an unbroken line through more than sixty years of history involving covert wars, drug smuggling, corruption. bipartisan politics and several shell corporations. and financial intrigues.

Obviously the author ran into some legal trouble with the publication of the book, as one chapter is full of redacted and censored material. Almost all the names are unreadable for an entire chapter, while Hopsicker tracks the evolution of one of the shell companies mentioned in the book. This slightly detracts from the readability of the material, and it appears that earlier versions were missing the chapter entirely, which is unfortunate, but the material in the chapter does not seem central to Hopsicker’s main thesis. Of course, it’s hard to say for sure with so many clippings, but the names mentioned in the chapter are not repeated throughout the book, as there are some other blackouts in the remaining thirty-seven chapters.

A 60-page appendix at the end of the book contains numerous images from Barry Seal’s life, as well as documents from his personal records. These provide a trove of resources to explore and learn more about the various issues Hopsicker examines, most notably the trail of ownership of the Seal planes that were used to smuggle drugs. Keeping track of the shell corporations created simply to protect the true owner of the planes is one of the most complicated but enlightening parts of the book, and the Appendix explains more of these details using the original documents.

One last useful aspect of the book is that Hopsicker has obviously read a great deal on the topic he intends to address and provides other book recommendations that followed suit. Some of these authors, such as Alfred McCoy and Peter Dale Scott, are well known and respected, and their works provide additional avenues of inquiry for the reader of Barry and “The Boys.” By attempting to add to information already available from other sources, Hopsicker may build on these works and provide his own contributions, rather than simply offering a summary of other works.

Barry and “the Boys” can provide an ideal introduction to the topic of the secret history of America’s involvement in covert wars and drugs, and it is certainly a work to be consulted and read more than once. In fact, as more Seal-related names appear again and again (as they have even since the book was originally published in 2001), the work is more important than ever. As Hopsicker states numerous times in the book, it is a “small world” and it seems that everyone knows everyone else at times, except the general public, who knows no one and is told as little as possible. Seal, as a tragic figure who rose to the heights of power in the undercover world, met his end when he grew a little too big for his own pants and decided to “speak up.” Hopefully, Hopsicker will also have a chance to speak more of the truth, as he is saying some important things in this book.