Who Is Richard Barile?
Richard Barile was George Jung’s California connection; Jung used Barile in his cocaine smuggling operation with Carlos Lehder and the Colombian cartel. The plan was to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to the United States, leaving the rest of the job and distribution to Richard Barile.
Carlos Lehder and George Jung met as cellmates at Danbury. Jung taught Lehder about smuggling, and Jung was introduced to the cartel by Lehder. Jung was always hesitant about introducing Barile to Lehder because he feared that would cut himself out of the operation. He did later introduce the two men to each other, and Lehder betrayed Jung and went straight through Barile, just as Jung had feared. Although Lehder ended up betraying Jung, George was able to recover at the time, making more than $100 million off other schemes.
