Jack Carlton Reed

Who was Jack Carlton Reed?

Jack Carlton Reed, was a drug smuggler and co-defendant of Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, Colombian drug baron and co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. Reed was a pilot working under Lehder’s cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay, an out island 210 miles off the Florida coast in the Exuma chain in the Bahamas. Reed flew drug runs for Lehder, who handled transport and distribution, while Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar handled production and supply.

From 1978 through 1982, Norman’s Cay was the center of the world’s largest drug smuggling operation and a tropical hideaway for Lehder and associates, including Reed. Cocaine was flown in from Colombia by private aircraft, then reloaded into other aircraft that then distributed it to locations in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. It was flown into the United States via the Bahamas, a path made possible via Colombian suppliers and bribes allegedly spread among Bahamian government officials for political and judicial protection

On Norman’s Cay, Lehder maintained a 3,100-foot runway protected by radar, bodyguards and guard dogs for the fleet of aircraft under his command.