White Tide: The Legend of Culebra (2018) - full transcript

OK.

- Shall I just walk up there, man?
- Yep.

Make sure I look good, bro. Shit.

Alright.

- Oh I haven't put my sunglasses on.
- ...sunglasses.

This is to hide my identity.

How much longer
you guys think this is gonna be?

Alright, let's do this.

If you knew where $2 million
was buried in the ground,

would you dig the shit up?

Fuck, yeah I would. And I did it one time.



Everybody's got a...

different story to tell, you know.

You know, some of them are funny.

Some of them are, you know,
basically tragic, but...

everybody's got stories, you know.

It's kinda hard to describe where I live.

It's not the end of the world,
but we can see it from here.

That's... about the best way
I can describe it.

There's been people come and go
over the years,

but Julian's been out here a long time.

He's our local hippie.

He walks barefooted everywhere he goes.

He didn't have much...

as far as materialistic stuff goes,



but... he had a good story.

You know the difference between a...

northern fairy-tale
and a southern fairy-tale?

Well, a northern fairy-tale
starts off, "Once upon a time..."

A southern fairy-tale starts off,

"Y'all ain't gon' believe this shit."

Hell, I heard his story so many times
I can almost repeat it verbatim.

You gotta understand the way it happened.

See, his wife ran a turtle research center
in Culebra.

Julian would walk the beach looking for...

turtle nests,

and that's where the story started.

One time, he saw this...

big thing washed up on the beach and...

he didn't know what it was, but...

the way it was wrapped up, you know,
it was in...

watertight wrapping,

so he knew it wasn't garbage.

You know,
he pulled it out of the water and...

he was hoping it was money.

Well, when he opened it up...

it turned out to be...

cocaine.

And he went, "Shit!"

I believe he weighed it
and it was over 70lb of coke.

That's about $1 million, you know.

So somebody was out a lot of money.

You know, he never had an intention
of trying to sell it or anything.

He was just trying to figure out...

where he could basically get rid of it.

He was afraid to turn it in.

Puerto Rican cops were...

...you know, about as corrupt
as you could find.

He didn't know what to do with it.

It was probably a comedy

'cause he said he'd carry it to one spot
and hide it...

go back the next night and get it
and move it to another.

It's kinda like a dog with a bone.

He finally just said, "To hell with it."
He buried it.

And that's where it stayed

for over 10, 15 years.

And he moved back here.

And that $1 million were just waiting
for someone to dig it up.

♪ Address unknown ♪

♪ Not even a trace of you ♪

♪ Address unknown ♪

♪ Oh, how could I be so blind ♪

♪ To think that you ♪

♪ Would never be hard to find? ♪

♪ From the place of your birth
To the ends of the Earth ♪

♪ I've searched only to find ♪

♪ Only to find ♪

♪ Address unknown ♪

My name is Rodney Hyden.
I'm president of BH Builders.

We started the company in 1998.

We are general contractors
and we do commercial concrete work.

I'm a dreamer.

You know, I always dreamed
of being the guy

that builds big
four- and five- and six-story buildings

and it came true.

I mean, one of my first jobs
was a four-story motel

that I never would have thought I'd be
doing in my second year in business.

Yes, I am an optimist.
I'm not pessimistic at all.

When I grew up, we were poor.

I can remember times that my mother
and father would take a loan out

to get our Christmas.

During summers growing up,
I would work with my dad.

I started working for him
for a dollar a day

so I could save up
and buy my first shotgun.

My father's done
every trade in the business

and became a project superintendent.

But he wasn't a businessman and...

people took advantage of him.

Just watching him bust his ass
all those years

taught me don't ever depend
on somebody else to do what you can do

and, if you can't do it,
learn how to do it.

Golly, we have done some huge projects.

Back in 2000, 2001,

we did the $20 million honors dormitory
at the University of Florida.

That job going on, at the same time,
we were doing the skybox.

And we were just everywhere.

I had over 80 people working for us.

Things were clicking.

I've had all the toys.

Had a Harley, three-car garage.

I had a Corvette in one bay.
I traded one boat in for another.

Emily was born all when this happened

and my wife didn't work,
she stayed home and took care of Emily,

something she always wanted to do.

I never thought I'd be able
to go get her a new car

and park it in the garage,

so when she got home
and opened the garage, it would be there.

But it's the first time I ever got
to do that and it was wonderful.

I mean, times were great.
They were just unbelievable.

But then the recession hit.

I'm Emily Hyden
and I'm Rodney Hyden's daughter.

I think that I have
a pretty normal family,

but only because I've lived there
my whole life, so I see it as normal,

but, from the outside looking in,
my family is probably pretty strange.

Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat.

My parents are really chill in the
sense that I can tell my mom everything

and she just kinda goes along with it.

My mom and my dad
have, like, a pretty open rapport.

Like, they don't really...
There's no filter in my family.

I feel like it's normal, but it's probably
not compared to other families, so...

fairly strange, I would say.

I never wanted to be single.

Y'know, I wanted to be somebody's wife.

But I wanted the picture.

I wanted the husband, the house,
the child, the dog.

Each of us had been married...

Y'know we'd each been married before.
He came with a child, I came with a child.

And so, we got married
in a little bed-and-breakfast.

We just had, like, six or eight friends,
my parents, you know.

It was just a sweet...

perfect moment.

Our marriage sticks.

It's never bored.

I've never been bored.

When we got married,
he was working for somebody

and making good money,
but making them better money.

We're doing alright,
but they're doing great.

And they're doing great
because you're helping them...

live this great life.

And I wanted a piece of it.

You know, my mama raised me
to want those things in life.

The Hammock, at the time,

was one of the prestigious neighborhoods

and the homes were big and fabulous and...

Then we found the land
in The Hammock and

started to build this phenomenal,
beautiful home and...

we were movin' up.

We were movin' up.

We appreciated the things
that Rodney worked hard to get for us.

But it's not enough.

And then we decided
we needed a swimming pool.

And then we decided
we needed a river house.

And then we needed the boat,
and then we needed the jet skis.

And then he needed a motorcycle.

It was, you know, endless.

We loved our life.

I loved it.

The construction industry,
it was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

So much work
that you just couldn't get to all of it.

And then, all of a sudden,

it was like... gone.

Let's talk about the speed
at which this market is deteriorating.

Everything
has been completely wiped out.

The Dow traders
are standing there watching in amazement

and I don't blame 'em.

We haven't seen anything
like this since the Great Depression.

Will somebody come on TV
and tell the truth about how bad it is?

We're in the midst
of a serious financial crisis.

We are in the last days
of this country's survival.

I have talked
to the heads of almost all of these firms

in the last 72 hours

and he has no idea
what it's like out there.

None! They're nuts! They know nothing!

I really want to know.
Is the American dream dead for me?

♪ I love the USA ♪

♪ I love the USA ♪

♪ Fuck, yeah, this place is great ♪

♪ I love... ♪

The foreclosure problem
has a ripple effect

and touches almost everyone
here in Central Florida.

The government's going to step in

with nearly a trillion dollars
for the banks market.

It's time for a conversation

as to what they're going to do
to prevent massive foreclosures.

This could be
the most serious recession in decades

and that means life as most Americans
know it is about to change,

in some cases dramatically.

♪ I love the USA ♪

♪ I love the USA ♪

♪ Fuck, yeah, this place is great ♪

♪ I love the USA ♪

♪ I love the USA... ♪

I do believe in the American dream.

But today, for far too many Americans,
this dream is slipping away.

♪ I love the USA... ♪

I was over $1 million in debt
to the bank.

And I felt like a disappointment
when I had to tell her.

It was the life that I loved
and I did not want to walk away from.

So I thought I'd compromise.

We found the property
out in Watermelon Pond and...

I'd always said I wanted a sunset

and Rodney bought me
the prettiest sunset in Alachua County.

But it came
with a price.

And we put
a double-wide out on the property

and the double-wide became
our permanent residence.

And that was okay for a while.

But then...

our two-year plan...

erm...

crept into a three-year plan.

A four-year plan, five-year plan, six-year plan, seven...
- year plan.

Eight years later,
we were still in the double-wide...

parking in the sand.

When I had been
in a 3,600 square-foot home

with a three-car garage,

and now I was living in...

a home the size of my three-car garage.

And I said those things
to my husband.

We're in Piney Woods, Florida.

It's Archer.
This is my 40-acre farm that...

I've had for ten years now.

This is where I was
when I heard the story.

Every piece of property out here
has had that story told on it.

The legend told the story.

I'd tell people, "Who the hell's
walking along the road in bare feet?"

And I said, "Is there a couple
of drag marks between the footprints?"

"That's Julian...

draggin' his nuts."

The social life in...

Piney Woods, Florida is... like no other.

Everybody stays to themselves, but...

Fridays, Saturdays, phones started
ringing, "Where we gonna meet tonight?"

You know, it was just a get-together
for the happy hours.

We called it "Piney Wood Happy Hour."

I felt a lot like Wendy
in Peter Pan.

Like, I would cook and the Lost Boys
would come eat dinner.

Well, when Rodney
first moved in,

it was mainly having these parties

where he was introduced

to all the other neighbors.

It's a very unique
cast of characters out there.

It's just one story after the next story.

Course, Julian started his story
about Puerto Rico.

It seemed like, every party,
he would tell this story.

I have to say, the first time I heard it,

it was a little far-fetched.

Julian's story was probably
the most fascinating story

I've ever heard in my life.

Oh, come on!

Some people, y'know, would laugh
and, "Oh, let's go get a submarine."

I told them, "Y'all crazy.

Then what the hell would you do with it
if you got it over here?"

We don't know anybody to sell it to.

Julian was sitting on a goldmine.

We're talking about 32 kilograms
of cocaine.

"X" marks the spot.
Treasure, treasure, treasure.

Goddamn, man,
he knows right where he buried it.

I liked picturing it in my mind.

You know, visualizing where he buried it.

Sneaking back in there and getting it.
But it was a fantasy.

It was just a story.

It was just a story.

It was just a story.

Just a story.

Just a story.

My dad picks up strays.

He has this, like, complex
to pick up people

and just try to, like, help them out
when he thinks they're struggling, but...

Yeah, we compared it
to going to the Humane Society

where you, like, pick the old one
and you hope things go okay,

'cause you just want it
to have a good life.

That's my dad, but with people
that do drugs and stuff, so...

I'd rather be in here right now
than out there working.

Yeah.

As he, like, gets older,
he wants to feel younger.

And I think that,
by hanging out with these people,

it kind of allows him to, not only relive
when he was that time, but also...

I've thought about it a lot,

and I think it's his way
of self-correcting his

- old mistakes.
- Bye.

Just to fix them in other people,
or at least try.

Sometimes he just gets caught up
in it all.

One of the strays that my dad picked up
was Andy.

Come on. Get up here. Come on.

...We'll be trying the case
for the jury. A seven-year case...

I had a fella
that was a friend of my son's...

and...

...he...

When I first met him, man...

he was so fucked up on something,
I don't know what.

I assumed it was pot,
'cause he always had good pot. Always.

And...

But later found out
that he had an opium problem.

No, I don't have a drug problem.

I do drugs, if that's what you're asking.

Absolutely. Yes, I've done 'em.

More than most. But...

nowadays, it's not a problem.

I took a liking to this kid, man.

He had a personality
that you just cannot...

You can't hate him.
I don't hold it against him.

But I wouldn't let him on the jobs.
He'd hurt himself or hurt somebody else.

But what I had him do,
I'd let him come to the office,

he'd clean the office
or he'd wash my truck.

He did all the things
that I didn't want to do.

Plus I paid him ten dollars an hour and...

I was just helping the kid out
and it's 'cause I liked him.

One of the boys.

Like my homie.

Straight up. He used to take me around
all the time to his job sites and shit.

Like... show off his new friend and shit.

No, he was my boy, dude. He was...

He was a cool-ass dude, loyal as fuck.

Andy and I discussed Julian's story.

He'd heard it from my son... or somewhere,

and I told him the story again and...

old Andy would scratch his head and go,
"Man, what I could do with that."

I could tell the day he told me
the story that he wasn't bullshitting.

I mean, it was a, "holy shit!"
for sure, right?

I mean who wouldn't say,
"holy shit!" to that?

$2 million on the street.

But, wholesale, probably like...

erm...

shit, maybe...

I don't know, like... shit...

Damn, it might be worth more
than $2 million, now I think about it.

This money could change your life.

Without a doubt.

Period.

Fresh!

Now if Andy knows the story, there's
no telling how many people know the story

or have heard the story
or how twisted the story got or...

Yeah, no telling.

The last time Andy was working for me,
he lived with a guy named Dee.

Dee goes by Danny, Dee, Cuban.

This is his name.

I know him as Dee.

When you're not around him
and you talk about him, it's "The Cuban."

So I went to pick Andy up
at the address he told me he was at.

I didn't even cut the truck off.
He was in the driveway with this guy, Dee.

And he got in and Dee walks up to my...

window and introduces himself.

And the first words out of his mouth were,

"Hey, man, I can help you
with that story."

I've done everything in my life.
Drug deals, stole, robbed, been in gangs.

And to do it for so long,
it just comes natural.

More you do something,
better you are at it.

My mom didn't really have a lot of money,
poor, you know,

so I grew up in the streets,
projects, stuff like that.

Getting into gangs.
Went to prison at a young age.

But prison is basically
a college for criminals.

If you don't have nothing,
you start from the bottom.

Like I did selling coke.

I started with an 8-ball.

The ones that make it and survive
are the ones that organize themselves

and treat it like a business.

Firstly, you gotta have good product.

The second thing is you gotta beat prices.

And everybody used to laugh 'cause

the half gram I'm selling for 15 bucks,
everybody is selling for 20.

"No, he ain't gonna make no money."

But people would come to me,

they could spend 15, have a gram
and go get cigarettes, so they're happy.

Yes, off an ounce,
somebody might make more than me,

but by the time they get rid of
that ounce, I got rid of 3 or 4.

So in a week I make more money than them.

Yes, I feel it is easy, drug dealing.

You know,
it's just about following the rules.

It don't matter who you are
or what you do,

if you strive to do something
and work at it hard,

eventually you will succeed always.

There's no failure.

if you fail in life, it's because you quit
or give up what you're doing.

It wasn't long after that...

in a matter of a week,

Dee walks in my office

and... he proceeded to

wanna know more about the story.

Let's face it,
Dee and I don't know each other that well.

Never done anything with him,
never bought any pot from him.

I don't know if this guy is trustworthy
or not.

A little conversation won't hurt.

Our first meeting about it
was in his office.

I sat right across from him
and he's telling me the story, you know.

Biggest thing was,
he just wanted to be sure

that somebody can move it
when it got back here.

That was his thing,
'cos he didn't know nobody.

I told him, "It's not a problem.
You get it here, I'll move it for you."

So, you know, it's starting to...

sound like...

this could be interesting.

Y'know, when he realized my background,

that I had moved a lot of cocaine,
I was able to move it,

it just made him hungry
to want to go get it.

When Dee would come over, it was usually
after-hours and it was like...

It was almost like
having a beer after work.

He's gonna come by and we're gonna
talk smack about money, man.

We're talking about a way
to make some money here.

Well, as with any proposition,
you know, Dee's...

presenting his proposal to me

in such a way as, we're literally pulling
out a calculator and he's telling me...

Millions.

Literally, millions.

I didn't use no calculator.
I did all the numbers in my head.

Rodney would use a calculator though.

He'd get his little calculator out
and try to add stuff up.

"How much is this, that?"

Type it in and he'd be amazed
at how much it is.

Twenty-eight kilograms
at $25,000 on the street,

doubled because he's going to
double the weight,

but it would double the money.

And the numbers were...

easily calculated
and it's starting to make sense.

So, you know, he didn't realize
what he had there.

So you know, I was looking at it as, huh,
"It's a gold mine."

It was an equitable...

proposal from Dee where he just wanted
half of it. He just wanted...

He wanted half to get rid of it

and I'm going to be sitting here with half
to just...

locate it and turn it over to him
to take care of from there.

The biggest problem was though...

how are you gonna get it here?

Not being from the streets, and all,
he didn't understand,

to bring in 32 keys of cocaine into
the United States from another country

is very hard to do without an organization
backing you that's, you know, organized,

and knows what they're doing, that's
connected, you know, to make it happen.

As we talked, it became clear to me
that he knew a guy. His name was Carlos.

Carlos knew everything
about everything.

These were people that were
already trafficking drugs,

bringing it into the States.

And, you know, they knew the ins and outs
and everything to it.

They could actually bring it in.

His guy in Tampa was the guy.

This was nothing for him to be able to do.

His friend was Puerto Rican.

His friend had...

connections to bring stuff
into the country and...

he ran a big operation.

Kingpin. That's the word.

Kingpin.

I'd never been face to face with a real,

I mean, a real big-time smuggler
who owns his own plane.

I said, " What the heck! I'll go meet
him. What's it gonna hurt?"

I walked into the bar and and looked over
to my left and saw Carlos.

He looked exactly like something
you'd see on TV.

He was dead image, if not better.

He was a...

pretty well-dressed fellow with...

pressed slacks, you know,
and alligator shoes and a belt to match.

He had on...

some kind of silky print shirt that...

Man, he just...

You didn't want to rub up against him,

because it looked like...
his clothes were perfect.

Carlos kind of reminded me a little
of Tony Montana with his...

With his body language...

and his accent and the way he...

you know, put a little extra in
behind some of his words.

Scarface.

I just liked that guy.

First time I watched Scarface
was probably when it first came out.

I've watched it several times.
I went to the theater to watch it,

then I watched it on HBO
I don't know how many times.

"Say hello to my little friend."

"Say hello to my little friend."

"Say hello to my little friend."

Say hello to my little friend!

He had a shot of tequila
in his hand when I walked in,

the best they had,
it was in a silver bottle.

And he asked me if I wanted anything,

so I told him,
"Well, I'll have a margarita, no salt."

And... so I sipped on a margarita.

And while I was sipping on that margarita,
he must have downed four or five shots.

It was like one right after the other.

They ran out of whatever he was drinking,

so they popped a new bottle and
he asked them to bring it to the table.

So he's a big shot, you know, big time.

I mean, how often do you see a guy
get a bottle at the table

for him to pour at his own leisure?

It was pretty cool.

Carlos Private Air.

He gave me a card at the meeting...

and explained to me that he had
a twin-engine Queen Air airplane.

And...

I told him, look,
if we were going down there,

there's no sense in me taking
a separate flight, I'd just fly with him

and he says...

"No, you will not see
my tail wing number, ever."

And that was kind of a way of saying...

"I don't know you. I don't trust my eyes
off of you with that kind of payload."

I told him that,

"I'm not a drug dealer.

I'm not here to get in the drug business.

But I wanted to take care of my family.

And I'm not a greedy person."

Well, I...

I was giving Carlos
all the information I had,

you know,
except exactly where I thought it was.

I wanted to see for myself where...
you know, confirm it

before I passed that information on.

So... you know, I told him the story.

I was talking that smack,
that drug talk, you know,

talking about "keys"
instead of "kilograms."

Carlos called them "turtle eggs."

That was his code word,

because there's an island they lay eggs
and they were buried, so

he came up with the name "turtle eggs."

And then he started talking about
what his fee was,

you know, how much he wanted and...

And what the plan was
for the upcoming week,

what we were gonna do.

The deal was I would go down there,
try to locate it.

Once I verified where it was,

he would fly down, get it
and bring it out of the country.

And the fee for that,
four bricks of cocaine to do that.

Good deal.

We've got a plane, we've got a pilot...

and we've got a plan.

It's time to go to Puerto Rico.

Dude, I was...

ready to get to the...

to the island.

We got on the plane in Orlando, flew out.

And shortly thereafter,
we landed in San Juan.

And then, from San Juan,
you could either take the ferry...

or pay 40 bucks for a puddle jumper.

So I said, "Man, let's take the airplane.
That'd be neat, flying in."

We flew from San Juan to...

Oh, hold on.

Hold on.

Fuck. Theo, you know I know it, dude.
Just give me a second.

It's not Vieques, was it?

Hold on, hold on...
woah woah woah... huh!

I got it. Give me five seconds.

I got it. I just had it, Theo.
Don't say it.

Don't say it.

It's such... Oh, my God, it's right there.

I'm going to do this myself, Theo,
so please don't...

I have to.
It's going to bother me if I don't.

Even with that hint
you just tried to give me, I still...

But I know it.

If I don't get it in 30 seconds,
we'll move on. It's...

Oh, wait, there it is, there it is.

Fuck.

Oh, my God, it's gonna... Culebra.

Fuck you, Theo.

So we're coming into Culebra
and there's two mountains on either side.

And as this pilot got closer,
we had a crosswind.

I didn't know shit about that.

Rodney says, "Oh, by the way,

this is one of the top-ten
worst airports in the world to fly into."

I was like, "You're ready to die
for this shit, huh, Rodney?"

Oh, he was scared, dude.

He was, like, holding onto me so tight.

Dude, our plane turned sideways and it is

fucking crazy.

Oh, my God. I'm glad
that's the last time I'll ever do that.

That bitch was scary as a motherfucker.

It's just beautiful, man.
The water...

The number one beach in the world,
might I add.

Flamenco Beach.

I think it's like...

It's not very big. It's...

It took me, to go all the way
round the island in a jeep,

half hour, 45 minutes.

So the first night we were there...

we had an early dinner.

It was an early dinner
and I ordered a lobster for dinner.

It was a nice place and Rodney was like,

like I said, man,
he was in that mood, dude,

and he was just trying to play the part
while we were there,

like he was some big-timer.

The lobsters...

They come up to you and they're like,

"Y'all want lobster?"

You say "yeah," and they go down
to the bay and get this shit for you.

Straight up. He went and grabbed
the motherfucker and came back.

Dude, this guy ordered a five-pound
lobster and you see this thing, dude...

I swear to God, Theo,
it was that big around.

That big around and it was,
like, that tall.

I swear to God.

Rodney's, like,
real particular about food.

Like, he gets mad if you don't eat it,
you know what I'm saying?

So, I had this big-ass lobster in my face

and I don't even like lobster,
might I add.

I was shoving it down my throat, because
I knew Rodney was going to yell at me,

'cause it was like a hundred dollars
for the lobster, right?

Luckily...

Rodney tapped out, like, halfway into his,

so I knew I was straight
and I could put mine down.

I was praying. I was, like,
so happy, dude,

'cause I was not looking forward
to eating that whole fuckin' lobster.

That night, I got sick as a motherfucker.

On the way down,
Andy tells me he forgot his medicine.

I knew he was on pain medication,

but I also knew it wasn't medicinal,
it was recreational.

And he was addicted

and he was supposed to have brought
his Suboxone or Methadone

and he didn't have it.

So, basically, by Saturday morning...

he was sick as a dog,

and he was totally worthless.

Rodney thought
I was withdrawing from drugs,

but I believe it was the lobster.

You know, Andy's getting sick
at this point, man. I mean, it's like...

"God, you're ruining this trip, dude.
You're gonna ruin it."

You see, in this world,
there's two kinds of people, my friend.

Those with loaded guns...

and those who dig.

You dig.

I left the room
we were staying in

and I went on a little expedition.

Before we left, I went to see Julian
and I took my laptop down there.

We googled it up.
He showed me where his trailer was.

He showed me where he had buried it.

If I could find his trailer, then I felt
like I could find where it was at

and do some investigating.

Mobile home sits here,

it's between the cistern
and the mobile home.

Well, my God, that was only a matter of
six or eight-feet distance

that I had to probe or search around

to see if I could find something.

So I took the jeep and went to
where Julian's trailer was supposed to be.

All I wanted to do
was locate where the trailer was.

But when I got there... man,
there's no fuckin' mobile home there.

It's gone.

I couldn't see Julian's trailer.
I didn't find it. I couldn't find it.

I did see a pile of debris.
So I called Julian.

"Julian, man, are you sure
I'm in the right place?" He goes...

"Was the desalination plant
in front of you?" "Yeah."

"Was the fish and wildlife office
to your right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's right there to the left, man.

You see the cistern?"

"Yeah, I saw it."

He goes, "It's right between the road
and the cistern is where my trailer's at."

I said, "Julian, it ain't there."

He's like, "Come on, man.

They had to have torn it down then."

But... I had another big problem.

I had nothing to dig with.
No shovel, no nothing.

I mean, I thought
they were readily available anywhere.

Well, not in Culebra.
There's no Walmart in Culebra.

Julian's trailer was gone.

Andy was sick as a dog,
and I didn't have a shovel.

End of deal, man.
I mean, I'm... we're going home.

So we left, the next morning.
First flight I could get out, we left.

Rodney and Andy went over to Puerto Rico.

They get there and they realize
they need shovels and stuff to dig.

They couldn't find shovels. I mean,
what the hell are they doing here?

Look, motherfucker,
if you wanted to know what's down here,

you should have
brought your ass down here.

Like, don't fucking bother me.
I'll call you.

You probably never seen him
get mad, huh?

Dude, that is a scary fuckin' sight, like,

I wanna run.

Andy ended up being sick, in the hotel,
couldn't help Rodney at all.

So Rodney's out there,
trying to dig this shit by himself.

You've seen Rodney. He's a fat dude.
So he ain't out there doing manual labor.

So to do manual labor like this,
he just...

He's calling me,
talking to me while he's doing this,

out of breath and everything, pissed off.

"Fuckin' Andy. He's sick in there,
probably withdrawing, da da da da."

Andy apologized about being sick.
He said "It'll never happen again,

but I promise you,
we gotta go back down there."

Yeah, I believe it's more
about just incompetence, y'know.

Which I kinda felt
he wouldn't be able to anyway,

but this much money, what was going on,
you gotta let them try to do it again.

Alright, so... Rodney was like,
"We're gonna go in two weeks."

I'm not gonna waste
a second trip down there.

The first was wasted.
I'm not wasting a second trip.

So... I got with Julian
and confirmed the location.

Julian tells me exactly, you know,
on the map,

"Here's a cistern where they held water,"

and I even drew a section of it
and kind of said, "X" marks the spot.

Skull and crossbones, bro.

Are you kidding me?

I didn't sleep the night before we left

and I didn't sleep the night before
we left the second trip.

Let's go get it!

I told my wife
I was going on a fishing trip.

I didn't lie to her.
I just didn't tell her where.

We went back after dark and...

sat there for a minute, you know,
making sure

no lights came on heading my way.

I'm thinking, "Golly...

maybe a turn of one or two stones

and I feel the top of a...

of a duffel bag or something," and...

"Am I gonna know something
ten minutes from now or am I not?"

It was an adrenaline rush altogether
and, this time,

I found a shovel.

Who do you think was digging first?

Yeah, Andy was the digger.
He was the man.

It was funny 'cause
he doesn't have any ass, man.

I mean, he just like...

He tried and he's out of breath
after about three strokes.

- C'mon, man.
- Take it.

I was, like, "Man, fuck this shit."

Then I got the shovel and tried.

Rodney, I've never seen him
work so hard.

Straight up,
I've never seen him do nothing but

pointing motherfuckers out, tell 'em
where to go, 'cause he's the boss.

This motherfucker was down there
digging with his bare hands.

We got burned out trying to dig,
in no time, because we were so excited.

We were trying to make it happen quick,
but it was like...

hitting your head against a wall.

And... I was sitting there,

in my head, I was like, "What the fuck
are you doing right now, dude?

Like, you're in another country.
You're out here digging up cocaine.

What the fuck are you doing?"

I was praying
that we did not find the coke.

We tried to dig in this dirt, man,

and he and I both were sweaty.

I mean soaking wet with sweat
within about 20 minutes.

The ground was too hard.
It was rock hard.

We fucking...

tried to start digging
and it was just impossible and...

that's when I was, like,
"No, fuck this shit."

Rodney stayed trying
for fucking, like, two hours

and then, finally,
he went, like, "Man, this can't be done."

You have to have a backhoe
to dig in this dirt.

It was so hard you weren't gonna dig.

I'm in construction, man.
I know how to di...

I know when you can dig
and when you can't.

We'd made no progress and I was pissed.

He's like,
"Andy, if you get some weed,

that will make
this whole trip worthwhile."

And so I went down the street

and I found some little skater dudes
and got a bag of weed.

And it was some fucking trash.

But it got me high.

I almost brought some back with me
just 'cause I knew we'd be straight.

Luckily I didn't
'cause the second we got off that plane,

Customs hit that plane... hard.

We land in San Juan.

All of a sudden...

What the hell was going on?
What's going on here?

And they pulled everyone off the plane,

lined up our luggage
and hit the dogs all over this shit.

I knew what they were there for.

They were gonna check this plane...

for drugs.

Fuck, yeah, made me nervous, dude.

But we didn't do it.

And, 'cause we, me and Rodney, were never
going to bring the cocaine back.

But, I'm telling you, man...

I'll never forget,
that 30 minutes seemed like four hours.

Well, after they searched,
I said to myself, "It's over.

I mean, that's the icing on the cake
right there.

I am not coming back, taking a chance,
even if we'd have found it.

No and hell no.

I'm done. It's over."

It was a wrap, bro.

We're done.

Till... Carlos called Rodney.

When I got back I was done.
It was over.

It was a totally...

failed mission.

I had had it up to here
with this whole story.

I stopped answering my phone
for a long time.

At that point,
I wanted to be done with Carlos.

I wanted to be done with Danny.

But... he was being a nag.

He was bugging the living shit out of me.

So, finally, I picked up the phone.

What?

He called me with a whole new attitude.

He's like, "I need to meet with you.

I've got a new proposal for you
and you're going to like it."

And I said,
"Carlos, it can't happen, man.

We got searched.
There's people all over that place.

You're not gonna just go there
and dig it up.

It's crawling with federal employees.
How are you gonna do this?"

- He said...
- I can do certain things

that you can't
because I'm Puerto Rican. You...

are a gringo.

He said...

"Let's meet again. And, when we meet,
make sure you bring the map."

I wanted to hear his plan, you know,
"What do you propose here, Carlos?"

He was going to... go there...

take a crew on a yacht...

and...

dig the cocaine up.

'Cause he was gonna go dig it up,

it was four kilograms,
now he wanted eight.

And I said, "Look, man...

good deal."

I don't have to do anything.

They're gonna do everything.
He's gonna go get it.

Dee's gonna take it,
Dee's gonna get rid of it

and they're gonna bring me the cash.

It went from easy money to...
easier money.

All I gotta do is give him the map.

I did believe him.

Was that a mistake?

Amateur hour, dog. That's what it was.

That's what it was, bro.

From the get-go,
I knew it was about a one in a million.

You know, or ten in a million,

whatever you want to say.

Like, he mighta got lucky
and fuckin' got it, but...

dude, it just seems
too good to be true but...

being the naive person he was that day,

I mean, that was set up for a robbery.

You know, like...

Like, who are we?

Two white dudes in the middle of Florida
with all this coke?

What is to keep these
big-time motherfuckers who got a plane

from just taking the coke?

I wanted to hear from him.
I was hoping to hear from him.

And he had me fired up at that meeting.
He had me fired up.

I thought, "This guy...
I've asked him if he's, you know, how..."

In a nice way, I said,

"How do I know you're not gonna just
get it and tell me you didn't find it?"

He said, "I wouldn't be in business
if I worked that way."

I trusted that he was gonna do
what he said he was gonna do,

but it was a mistake for me
to even talk to him after I got back.

I should have just not even talked to him.

I should have told him and Dee to take
a walk and leave me alone,

but I didn't.

He did just what I said. He ripped me off.

And... it's over.

It's over.

I trusted him...

And it's over. It's over.

He found it.

Fuckin' Julian ain't lying!

It's there! I'd have kissed him.

I'd have hugged his neck and said, "Man,
I'm sorry I called you a son of a bitch."

Because he sent me the picture.

Now it's real.

"What am I going to do with the money?"

"How is Julian gonna look
when I'm handing him...

stacks of hundred-dollar bills?"

You know, "What's Julian gonna think?"

I didn't sleep, man.
I didn't sleep all night.

I would lay down and close my eyes
and just picture

big packages of cocaine.

Now... when is he coming back?

It was a long, hard wait.

It was like being a kid
on Christmas Eve, man.

Y'know, it's like, "How am I gonna get
through tomorrow and the next day?"

'Cause Carlos said that
I'd see him Friday.

Well... when Carlos finally made contact
with me,

and I answered the phone...

he said, "Let's meet at the golf resort,"

and then he called me back
and changed it to a new location.

And then he says
that I had 30 minutes to meet him

or he wasn't going to be there

when I got there, it was over.

First I'm going here, now I'm going here?
Fuck, y'all.

If I didn't hurry,
he was leaving the country

and I wouldn't see him ever again.

I was driving like a bat out of hell
and hauling ass.

I couldn't get a hold of Andy
and Danny had a flat and couldn't make it,

which was pissing me off.

Like, "Where the fuck are you guys?"

"Goddamn, I'm not gonna make it.
You know, he's gonna be gone."

Oh, it's a fucking nightmare.

I made it, dude.
It was cutting it close, but I made it.

He told me he would be inside. He was
buying a rod and reel, was what it was.

So I walked in, went past the cash
register and he's coming down the hallway

with a little short fishing pole
in his hand.

Carlos looks at me and I look at him
and I said, "Man, I'm so glad I made it."

I felt bad about...

some of the thoughts I had about him,
wondering if he was a rip-off,

wondering if he was gonna...
live up to what he said.

I was kinda feeling
like I owed him an apology.

I take it all back,
what I thought about Carlos.

He wasn't an asshole.

He's a businessman and he did
what he said he was gonna do.

He just does business
a little different than I do.

And I remember saying to him,

"Hey, man, I wish there was more business
to be done," because he'd been successful.

It's Christmas morning and I've got
the biggest present under the tree

and I'm getting ready to open it.

He gave me his key, pointed out to his
car. It was at the end of the parking lot.

He goes, "There's my car.
Go ahead and pull around there.

Open the trunk and I'll be right there."

So... that's what I did.

When he pointed to his car,
he was at the far end of the parking lot.

So I went all the way around,

because I'm fixing to pick up
a pretty substantial

package here, and I was starting
to get a little paranoid here.

But there wasn't anybody around.

I go to his trunk...

I opened it up...

and couldn't believe it.

Well...

my whole outlook on it was
how many times do you...

meet somebody that...

buried a treasure, literally?

And, at the same time,
how many times do you meet somebody

that can go get it and bring it back
and get rid of it?

It is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I mean...

You're never gonna have all that
come together ever again in your life.

And... it was like...

do it or die.

Hey, man!
I can help you with that story.

That story, that story, that story...

They pulled me over

because I was driving too close to the car
in front of me,

which is bullshit.
It was just a reason for them to pull me.

They patted me down and searched me
and didn't find nothing, you know,

and I had to use the bathroom at the time,
I really legitly did.

What I shoulda done
is went ahead and pissed myself.

The other cop said,
"Did you pat him down?" He said, "Yeah."

He said "Did ya 'whoop'?"
He did like that.

Like, check me, y'know. And he said, "No."

So he actually checked me

and he reached down there
and grabbed my, y'know, nut sack area.

So they sit me down and,

I dunno, my hands,

I've got small wrists
and my thumbs are, like, double-jointed.

Always been able
to slide outta handcuffs.

Just always been able to do it.

So I'm sitting there. There's three of us.

So when I seen both the male officers
go to the back of the other car,

just the female there,

I stood up and took off.

Hey!

I took off around the corner

by the time I got round
the back of the store, he was on me.

It's always aggressive.
There's no such thing as not aggressive.

Once I knew they had it

and they put me in a car, I knew
there was no getting away from it.

I'm sitting there, everything's running
through my mind, y'know.

I've been to prison three times.

They didn't have to tell me the time
I was facing. I knew what I was facing.

And I'm facing life.

No ifs and buts. I'm never
getting out, is what I'm looking at.

So the officer came to talk to me

and asked me would I be willing to work?

I said, "Well, you know, if I am,
what's the procedures?"

And he straight up told me,

if I was willing to work,
I'd go home, right then.

"Depending on what you can give us
depends on what happens to you."

So once they told me that, I knew
I had to give them something bigger.

For me to get off, I had to give 'em
something bigger than what I had.

So I told them, "How about $2 million
of cocaine coming into this country?

Would that be enough?"

"Y'all ready to go on a treasure hunt

for 32 keys of fucking cocaine
coming into this country?"

♪ Picture this, I'm a bag of dicks
Put me to your lips ♪

♪ I am sick
I will punch a baby bear in his shit ♪

♪ Give me lip
I'mma send you to the yard ♪

♪ Get a stick, make a switch
I can end the conversation real quick ♪

♪ I am crack, I ain't lying
Kick a lion in his crack ♪

♪ I'm the shit, I will fall off
In your crib, take a shit ♪

♪ Screaming yes, I am guilty
Motherfuckers, I am death ♪

♪ You wanna hear a good joke? ♪

♪ Nobody speak, nobody get choked ♪

♪ Fuck out of here... yeah ♪

♪ Nobody speak,
Nobody get choked, hey ♪

♪ Live to shoot another day ♪

Live from CBS 47,

this is Action News At 5:30,

Your Questions. Answered.

Tonight, we begin with a federal sting
involving a local man,

a treasure map,
and a remote Puerto Rican island.

Investigators followed the map.

Now, they didn't find any treasure, but
what they did find is worth a lot of money

and it's also illegal.

It sounds like something out of a movie.

A treasure map that leads
to buried treasure on a remote island.

I've been in law enforcement for 25 years

and I've yet to have seen a situation
exactly like this.

But instead of treasure, 54-year-old
Rodney Hyden ended up with drug charges.

It all started back in June.

A detective from the Alachua County
Sheriff's Office received a tip

about the Archer man.

He had flown over to Puerto Rico
to find it himself.

He locates the pile near a turtle
sanctuary on the island of Culebra

but doesn't have the tools to dig it up.

That's when the undercover agents,

posing as drug-trafficking pilots,
step in.

Never in my experiences the...
criminals provided us

with a map leading us to
the illicit drugs.

Hmm. Interesting story.

Yeah, Lauren Hallacher reporting,
federal agents arrested Hyden on Friday

for possession of five kilograms or more
of cocaine, with the intent to distribute.

Federal agents have the cocaine
saved as evidence now for Hyden's trial.

The ride to jail didn't bother me.

Spending the night in jail
didn't bother me.

Being stupid didn't bother me.

Now it was a matter
of my family's livelihood.

What are they gonna do without me?
Because I'm going to prison.

My cell phone rang.

And... it wasn't a number
that I recognized

and it asked me...

if I was Jamie Hyden
and I said, "Yes, who's this?"

And they proceeded to tell me that...

That my husband had been incarcerated
by Homeland Security.

"What do you mean? Jacksonville?
Homeland Security? Cocaine?"

I fucked up. Yeah.

It was the stupidest thing
I've ever done in my life,

and I'm guilty for my part in it, but...

all that had to be done
at any point was...

"We know what you're doing, just give us
the map and we'll go get it and take..."

You know, slap me on the hand. But no.

They had to make a big drug dealer
and a big drug king out of me.

I mean, it's not much different than the
damn piece of fruit in the Garden of Eden.

"Just take a bite. Just take a bite."

"Just give me a map."

"Just give me a map.
You don't have to do anything."

Fuck you.

My name is Ryan McEnany.

I'm a special agent
with Homeland Security Investigations.

My name is Joe Rawley.

I'm a former detective
with the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.

Rodney?

I went to Tampa this weekend
and talked to my boy.

Is he interested?

He said that... He trusts me.
He said he's real skeptical.

He said, y'know, nobody ever really finds
shit like that, you know what I mean?

- That shit sounds too good to be true.
- It does.

- It does.
- That's exactly what he told me...

Tell him I said the same thing.

Hey, if it wasn't for you, Dee,
I wouldn't know where to get rid of it.

If it weren't for you... I didn't
know nobody that had shit like that.

- Well, I ain't got it yet.
- It goes both ways, know what I mean?

That's it. It's just a one-time-in-a-life
chance, opportunity.

And if it's done right, you could
walk away from it, nobody ever knew shit.

Essentially, in the...

With narcotics traffickers,
you're looking to

generally catch a smaller fish...

when you're going out.

And then you essentially
use that smaller fish

to go after larger fish,
who are above them.

You always want to be working up
to the bigger fish.

Rodney was like...

The fish
that had never been caught before.

Because... he wasn't really a fish.

Rodney was a unicorn.

Just some... thing

that was out there
that no one's ever gonna see again.

And if it weren't

for our involvement...

he would have just been sitting with...

Well... probably robbed.

If it didn't happen like it did
I was gonna take it from Rodney,

so odds were stacked against him.
He woulda never got it.

Never. Truthfully,
I'd have buried him to get that.

Anybody from the street would have.

That much money?
You have people kill people for $10,000.

You're talkin' about millions.

That Cuban snitch.

That boy needs to go
on a one-way grouper trip.

Err... Rodney never told me
what he was up to.

I had no... 'Cause I woulda...

climbed his ass about it.

Most people would roll over
and snitch on everybody and...

He...

He manned up and...

took the load on himself, yeah.

And I respect him for that.

"They're obviously coming for me next,"
is what kept going through my mind.

They came for me but it wasn't for that.

It was to fuckin' be put fuckin'...
witness stand.

My name is Mark Rosenblum

and I was hired to represent Rodney Hyden.

Rodney's a very bright guy. He is.
But, in this situation, he was naive.

He's a dreamer

and this was a dream
that was presented to him

that he never would have come up with
on his own.

First of all, Rodney did not even know
how much a kilo of cocaine sold for.

And the important thing to remember is

that Rodney
couldn't have sold the cocaine,

because he didn't know anybody
to sell it to.

Rodney didn't have any of those contacts.

He was just a... player in a game.

And... Rodney...

couldn't move up or down,
because he couldn't move anything.

He couldn't move...

a dime bag.

I firmly believe,
had a profiter not been present...

he would have attempted to try to seek
out somebody to the best of his ability.

I don't think he would have been
successful in that, however.

He partnered with
the wrong person.

Well, he...

unbeknownst to him, partnered
with the United States Government.

Entrapment is being induced or persuaded
to commit a crime

that you did not have
the predisposition to commit,

by a law enforcement official,

like a police officer, a government agent

or a confidential informant who's acting
on behalf of a law enforcement officer.

He needs to quit his whining
about this entrapment bullshit,

because he was gonna get that cocaine.

How is that not entrapment?

Anybody?

It's every sense of the word, right?

"We will go get the shit for you
and give us some...

and we go about our business."

Rodney didn't commit a crime, dude.

Here you have, Mr. Hyden,
wanting a pilot, okay?

You know, wanting the connections
to distribute it on the street.

And willing to pay people for it.

That's a crime.

Oh, we didn't do it.

We couldn't. It was impossible.

It's not our fault he couldn't find it.

It was there, 'cause we went out there
and dug it up.

Right?

It's bullshit.

And we're a casualty... of bullshit.

Did we hold a gun to his head

and say, "You need to go there
and find the cocaine?"

You're playing with real human lives.

Put the goddamn real drug addict in jail.

Don't let them set up people.

It's fuckin' bullshit, man.

Well, the thing you need
to understand about trial work is

that you cannot predict
what a jury is going to do.

You never really
want to go to trial,

because you don't know what

a group of people will decide.

But they weren't offering us a choice.

If the amount of cocaine involved
in the case is five kilograms or more,

there is a mandatory minimum sentence
that's required, of ten years in prison.

You hope
that they see it your way,

but there's 12 individual people.

I didn't know
if he would ever be coming home.

I didn't know what was going to happen.

The courtroom atmosphere was like
in any other trial when a verdict is read,

which is that everything was very quiet.

And it was a very dramatic moment.

They read the verdict
and the verdict was guilty.

There's a reason
we have tissues in the courtroom.

There's a lot of crying that goes on.

Regardless of the entrapment defense...

not being successful with the jury,

It turned out that, likely,
if the government...

hadn't helped dig it up
and bring it over to the United States,

it is very uncertain that Mr. Hyden
would have been able to pull that off.

This case reminded me of a combination
of Walter Mitty meeting Breaking Bad.

Normally, it would have been
120-month minimum mandatory.

I would have not had any choice but to
sentence Mr. Hyden to at least ten years.

Normally.

But... there's something called
"the safety valve."

And the safety valve says, if you're
a first-time offender, which he was,

and you have no previous criminal history,
which he didn't,

and you meet a number
of other sentencing factors,

the minimum mandatory is waived.

Thank God for that judge, dude,
that he saw this for what it was.

Bullshit.

Judge Corrigan is a fantastic judge.

And that was my glimmer of hope.

A long period of incarceration
just didn't make any sense in this case.

And so, once I had made that decision,

then... why not use the advantages
that Mr. Hyden does have

for the good of the community?

He sentenced me to 60 days
in jail and five years' probation.

There's always the one or two
nosy Nellies.

And, of course, their question is,
"Were you gonna leave him?"

But I promised him
I'd stand by him.

Because I love him.

My wife picked me up

and being married for...

twenty-three years, one of the things
that kind of fades away is kissing...

and I couldn't wait to kiss her, man.

I gave her a big one right on the mouth.

I also sentenced him to community service.

And in this case,
the community service was

that he work 20 hours a week
for Habitat for Humanity, every week.

And he will continue to do that
20 hours a week for five years.

Look, it's the stupidest thing
I've ever done in my life.

I'm not proud of it.

How I didn't see it, how I didn't...

realize what was going on...

I watch movies.
I've heard of people getting busted.

But out of all the bad and the ignorance
and the stupidity on my part,

there has been some good from this story.

I've helped lots of families. I tell you,

it's such a good feeling to...

build their home for them and then...

hand them the keys at the end and...

you start cr...

You both hug each other and start crying.
It's emotional.

I love it.

It made a better person out of me.

As far as the story he told you,

he's trying to get his business back on
the ground. That's understandable.

But the truth be told, you know,

it ain't like he...
tricked into it or nothing.

He knew full well
what the hell he was doing.

And he wants to blame society
for taking a dump on him

and all this for the reason he did it.

No. Be accountable for your own actions.

The economy took a dump on everybody.

Ain't everybody go try to get
32 keys of cocaine.

Rodney tried to go get 32 keys of cocaine.

You know, what did everybody else do?

They buckled down, worked harder,
strived and got it back.

That's what he shoulda done.

You gotta have some ethical code
about yourself.

What makes a person
American in their heart?

If you love this country
and y'know what you got,

you're American at heart.

It pisses me off when I see people
complaining about being here.

It's like, "Go live where some of these
other people live."

We're set up to where
it's damn near impossible to fail.

If a lot of drug dealers put their effort
into being legit, they'd make it, too.

That's just the way it is, you know,
in America.

That's the way we're set up. Anybody can
come here and make money.

Y'know, people do it all the time.
That's the dream.

He'll have to answer for what he's done,

and I think he'll always
look over his shoulder

for some of the other people
he's done things to.

But he turned out being
the smartest guy in the group,

'cause he walked away
without even being arrested.

Considering how things
worked out,

it made it even a better story.

You know what I mean?

I mean, you know...

it cost Rodney a bunch of money

and I'm sure Julian got a few more
gray hairs, you know, worrying about it,

but it made it even a better story.

I have pear trees and blueberries
and plum trees and...

stuff like that, so I'm just trying
to feed myself as much as possible.

Are you ever gonna move from here?

No.

I'm pretty good here.

As long as you all
don't come back too often.

Where would I go?

Even with the money,
I wouldn't know where to go.

What do you want to know?

I wanna hear the story.

Not my story.

Whose story is it?

It's not mine.

Not anymore.

I'll always wonder, man,
if they dug it up.

Strangely enough, they never presented
any evidence showing a dig site...

crime tape...

backhoe diggin', 'cause I know
that's what it would have taken.

The cocaine was extracted at night.

And... we don't have
professional photographers.

We don't have... high-tech cameras.

We just did...

The photographs
that were taken of the cocaine

were taken while the cocaine
was in the ground, with a phone.

You saw what you think is a picture of it.

You don't really know,
'cause there was 33.

In the picture there was, what, seven?

Where did the other 27 keys go?

Straight up, can someone tell me?

They just disappeared?

When you take what those pictures were
in the document file,

compared to the actual evidence
that was in court, they don't match.

They don't match up.

For those people who believe
that we never actually went to Culebra

and never dug up the cocaine...

they're 100% wrong.

We went to Culebra,

we dug up the cocaine...

and we admitted that cocaine into trial.

What would you say to someone
who believed it was still in the ground...

and was maybe planning to go dig it up?

Don't do it.

Obviously, it's a...

Strongly advise against it.

You're saying don't go check
to make sure it's still there?

Correct, I would not go down
to Culebra or...

any location for that matter,
absolutely not.

A,

Julian was lying.

B, the cops stole it. Or, C...

the cocaine is still in the ground.

Honestly, they never dug anything up.

I'll always wonder, man.

How could you not think like that?

If you knew where $2 million
was buried in the ground,

would you go get it?

Straight up.

Anybody in here.

If you knew where $2 million was
in the ground, would you go get the shit?

Who wouldn't?

It's the American dream, bro.