1977 – Federal authorities, DEA, FBI, and CIA were watching Barry Seal as he set up his drug smuggling operation in Mena, Arkansas. Some believe he was already a DEA informant.
1979 – The “Sandinistas” were declared the ruling party in Nicaragua, while small rebel groups started forming.
1981 – The CIA begin coordinating rebel groups to form the “Contras.”
Late 1982 – Barry Seal makes deal with DEA and CIA and increases his smuggling operations at Mena.
1983 – The CIA begin to smuggling drugs into Los Angeles.
1983 – 1995 – Federal investigations are covered up and shut down.
Feb 3, 1986 – The Arkansas IRS assess Barry Seal’s income taxes at $29,487,718.00 for smuggling 30,000 kilos of cocaine into Mena from 1981 to 1983, saying nothing of 1984 to 1986 after which he acquired his two C-123 Air America cargo planes.
Feb 19, 1986 – Barry Seal was assassinated just before he was supposed to testify at the trial of Colombian drug lords Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa of the Medellin Cartel.
After Seal’s murder, the CIA continued operations at the Mena airfield.
Oct, 1986 – Eugene Hasenfus was shot down by a Nicaraguan Sandinista missile while flying one of Seal’s C-123k military cargo planes carrying weapons to the Contras. This broke the Iran-Contra scandal, yet the operations at Mena continued
Aug 23, 1987 – Kevin Ives and Don Henry stumbled on a drug drop while walking down the railroad tracks in rural Saline County, Arkansas. They were murdered, placed on the tracks, and run over by a train.
Jul, 1995 – “The Crimes of Mena” by Sally Denton and Roger Morris was published
Aug, 1996, Oct, 1996, and Jan, 1997 – The 3-part-series, “The Dark Alliance” by Gary Webb was published.