Narco News Investigation: Cocaine Planes Cross Paths with Corporate America's Green Movement

The jet, which had a tail number (N987SA) linked by European investigators to past CIA rendition operations, was owned, just prior to its crash landing, by a gringo duo, one of whom was Greg Smith — whom a CIA asset named Baruch Vega claims served as a pilot for past CIA, DEA and FBI undercover missions.

Smith and his partner, Florida pilot Clyde O’Connor, purchased the jet, according to a bill of sale, about a week before its cocaine payload unexpectedly hit the ground in Mexico’s Yucatan on Sept. 24, 2007. The seller was a Florida company called Donna Blue Aircraft Inc. — which is owned by two Brazilians, one of whom is Joao Malago.

Howard Altman of the Tampa Tribune reported recently that Malago is a business partner in a “green” company called Atlantic Alcohol with an individual named Larry Peters, who owns Skyway Aircraft Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla. Skyway also happens to have sold two planes to Venezuelan buyers in recent years that have since been identified as aircraft that were subsequently used in drug-trafficking operations.