Richard Barile was George Jung’s contact in California. Jung worked with Carlos Lehder and the Colombian cartel to move cocaine through California with the help of Barile. The plan was to sneak cocaine into the U.S. from Colombia and give Richard Barile the rest of the job and the distribution.
Carlos Lehder and George Jung met at Danbury, where they were both in jail. Jung taught Lehder how to smuggle, and Lehder told Jung about the cartel. Jung was always afraid that if he introduced Barile to Lehder, he would be cut out of the operation. He did eventually bring the two men together, and Lehder betrayed Jung and went straight through Barile, just as Jung had feared would happen. Lehder betrayed Jung in the end, but George was able to get back on his feet and make more than $100 million from other schemes.
