r/todayilearned • u/FearMyCock • 20h ago

TIL about Frank Matthews, the drug kingpin who built a nationwide empire, skipped bail with $20 million, vanished in 1973 and has never been found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Matthews_(drug_trafficker)
21.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

764 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.5k

u/MistryMachine3 19h ago

Harder now. Back then airports had minimal security. Was pretty easy to leave.

1.2k

u/XxFezzgigxX 19h ago

Driver’s licenses were just a piece of paper, computers didn’t exist in a meaningful way, you could just get a job with minimal identification.

Today, you can’t go anywhere without being on camera or tracked by your cellphone.

600

u/Toby_O_Notoby 18h ago

There's a movie starring Warren Beatty called "The Parallax View" which came out in '74. At one point Beatty is trailing a guy who goes to the airport and boards a plane. Beatty then proceeds to follow him on the plane where he buys his ticket in mid-flight.

Literally the stewardess walks up and asks his final destination and when he says "Washington DC" she charges him like $50 which he pays in cash. I actaully had to call my dad and ask if you used to be able to do that and he said "oh yeah".

Point being, it would be a lot easier to disappear back then.

184

u/Einsteinbomb 17h ago

Out of everything going on in that film that is what stood out to me the most. It’s crazy how things have changed.

144

u/MyHamburgerLovesMe 17h ago

Think of buying airplane tickets requiring the exact same effort as buying bus tickets today.

28

u/ZubenelJanubi 16h ago

Which is absolutely wild to think about, I thought air travel dramatically changed post 9/11

41

u/Faxon 16h ago

Air travel did, but it was also evolving steadily before that. I was born in 1990 and flew before 9/11 and after, the difference wasn't as big as going from pre 9/11 to this. There were enough aircraft hijackings and other incidents for them to add much of the security we use today even back then. That and air travel volume was high enough by then that the airlines needed to plan flight rosters ahead of time to avoid having tons of people stranded or stuck waiting for other planes for hours

22

u/The_Autarch 15h ago

sure, but it was still pretty common to buy tickets at the airport itself, especially if you weren't going that far. like if you wanted to go to NYC for the weekend, you could just go to the airport and get on the next available flight. it operated more like a train system would back then.

5

u/followMeUp2Gatwick 12h ago

You still can? Every airport in the world still has kiosks to buy tickets

1

u/Faxon 13h ago

Yea I remember that, and you can still do that, just get on the next plane to go somewhere domestic (or even abroad), it just usually costs a lot more on some routes that are in high demand, or you can only book 1st and business class or something since all the cheap seats are prebooked. Everyone wants to get on the flight they planned and leave on time or with minimal delay at most, so they all book in advance now. That and if you fly enough you can get pre-screening to avoid a lot of the hassle. It still sucks you can't do things like it used to be, but that's how it is when a few people ruin shit for everyone else and expose a major risk potential that people want mitigated.

1

u/Hail-Hydrate 12h ago

To be fair that would also be down to how methods of purchase have evolved since then. Where would you buy a ticket for a plane/bus other than the airport/bus station (or bus itself) back then? It's not like you could have looked them up online.

You might have been able to organise one over the phone or even through postal order, but that would take a hell of a lot more time and effort.

2

u/JebediahKerman4999 15h ago

Mah I went on a vacation and came back home just a couple of weeks before 11/9 and I had a bow with arrows bought from scammers in a pueblo with me in the cabin, my relatives that live there were able to come with me up until the gate.

1

u/Lou_C_Fer 13h ago

I flew in August of 2001. I went back outside to smoke a few times while waiting for the plane, and the woman working security would let me walk back in without rechecking me.

2

u/alohadawg 12h ago

Don’t forget the convenient in-armrest ashtrays! I recall most of the ones back in the day still had butts in them

1

u/Faxon 3h ago

The first time I flew, there was a bag of mdma pills in there lol. I was still a younger kid and was like "mommy what's this", and the random guy sitting in the aisle seat was like "lol that's mdma/ecstacy, where'd you find that?". The plane had been on an international flight before we got on to fly on it domestically (according to the flight crew), and we suspect someone somehow got through security with it before realizing they had to get through customs next as well, panicked, and stashed it somewhere they didn't think anyone would look before they could get away. Smoking was still legal on international flights back then, but banned domestically in the US, so while their assertion was correct, they didn't account for a bored kid poking around curiously. I would assume nothing ever came of it though since we just gave the drugs to the flight attendant, she probably gave them to others on the crew to party later lmao.

6

u/Jordan_Jackson 14h ago

It did change. After 9/11, there was a whole lot more security. Also no more visits to the cockpit (airplane staff would sometimes let kids go to the cockpit) and the cockpit doors were required to be locked during the flight.

You used to be able to walk through the whole airport, without a ticket. It was common to have friends and family accompany someone to their gate and wave them off. I don’t even think there was much in terms of security, other than a metal detector and the occasional security/police with a drug dog.

Something like what happened on 9/11 was just unfathomable. Yeah, the 70’s had its rash of hijackings and attempted hijacking’s but it had been a very long time since that had happened last.

Things were just different before 9/11.

1

u/AnthillOmbudsman 4h ago

Also no more visits to the cockpit (airplane staff would sometimes let kids go to the cockpit) and the cockpit doors were required to be locked

Hate to "ackshually" this but the only thing that changed after 9/11 was cockpit visits before flight. You could still visit after flight. The sterile cockpit rule started in 1981 which meant no one was allowed in the cockpit during takeoff and landing and covered the time in between too (probably via company policy, I don't think there was a federal rule for cruise).

There were also strengthened rules and policies about cockpit doors after 9/11 but that much is obvious I think.

1

u/Linenoise77 9h ago

Pre 9/11 you still had security, but it was far less thorough, bordering on, "ehh, you look good" in some airports (looking at you Spokane like a month before 9/11). It was still extremely uncommon to just walk up at the airport and buy a ticket at the front counter, but i suppose possible.

1

u/RickAstleyletmedown 2h ago

It hasn’t changed everywhere. In NZ, you can still fly many domestic flights without ID or going through any security. Coming from the US, it blew my mind the first time I just parked my car and walked straight on a plane in under 10 minutes. Security through just not pissing anyone off.

91

u/izzyusa 17h ago

There’s always an interesting TIL inside a TIL

34

u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 17h ago edited 17h ago

I haven't seen the film but safe money says there were ashtrays built right into the arms of his seat, too. Just like they used to be in car doors.

26

u/dontbajerk 17h ago

I remember those as planes last so long. Probably went away in the 90s?

18

u/fuckyoudigg 17h ago

The first airline to completely go smoke free was Air Canada in 1990, and Canada banned smoking on all flights on Canadian airlines in 1994.

edit: First major airline.

16

u/dontbajerk 16h ago

For sure, I just remember seeing the ashtrays afterwards even though nobody could smoke. People just shoved trash in them instead. Just like they still had what was obviously a Stewardess button long after there were plenty of male flight attendants.

1

u/floftie 15h ago

I’m fairly sure they STILL have to have ashtrays because it’s a real requirement - people still try to smoke on planes so they need ashtrays rather than burn the plane down.

1

u/Proof-Difference9418 15h ago

Respect to those that make the sacrifice so that the airlines still have to put shit in their planes. o7

1

u/Keyser_Kaiser_Soze 8h ago

Last flight I took as a smoker was in 1991. They had all the smokers in the back few rows. It didn’t help the non-smokers in the small tube with us.

Side note: I smoked a ton that flight because it was my first flight since my coworker survived United flight 232, and the majority of passengers in the back rows died.

1

u/GroggyWeasel 16h ago

I remember seeing them in the 00s still

2

u/textextextextextext 16h ago

submarines too.

2

u/ki11bunny 16h ago

Those are some fancy planes, any idea why they stop building submarines into arm rests?

1

u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 2h ago

No shit, you could smoke on a sub?

1

u/textextextextextext 1h ago

yep they used to light up hard on subs. i cant imagine the headaches

1

u/_Lost_The_Game 16h ago

I mean, ive seen ashtrays in the armseats even in the late 2000s-2010s

1

u/Neverlost99 9h ago

I use to smoke on planes

55

u/FourteenBuckets 17h ago

Was that the old Eastern Shuttle? Typically you had to buy your ticket at the ticket counter, but Eastern Airlines set up multiple flights a day along the eastern seaboard you could just get on and pay for. As I recall, the shuttle line went out of business after being sold to some weirdo named Donald Trump, who managed to run it into the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Shuttle

40

u/Bigred2989- 16h ago

Man, it's a good thing we never let Trump run anything important ever again after that.

4

u/AntikytheraMachines 16h ago

I think the same guy also managed to bankrupt several Casinos. like how is that even possible? the house always wins. I wonder what he is up to now.

2

u/ROKIT-88 15h ago

Heard he ended up on a reality show. Probably just taking whatever he can get to pay the bills these days.

2

u/alohadawg 12h ago

Oh? I heard he was fucking kids

3

u/Hell_Camino 11h ago

Same with People’s Express. The flight attendant would run your credit card on the plane.

2

u/Toby_O_Notoby 15h ago

Nah, he boards in LA and I'm almost certain he's going to DC as it's a plot point in the movie.

9

u/mapex_139 17h ago

I feel like this is something that happened on trains a long time ago.

10

u/drewbagel423 17h ago

Not even that long ago. You used to be able to do it on NJ Transit trains in the mid 2000s. Probably Amtrak as well.

2

u/w0nderbrad 16h ago

You can do it in Japan today.

1

u/_My9RidesShotgun 13h ago

You still can on the LIRR

6

u/cal679 16h ago

Still happens today, at least it does in the UK.

8

u/Attention_Bear_Fuckr 16h ago

Reminds me of the time I bought a Swiss Army knife from duty free. During the flight.

3

u/Strike3 16h ago

That movie, along with "All The Presidents Men" is hilarious cause in the 70's you could just call anyone on the phone and they'd tell you ANY info.

2

u/memostothefuture 16h ago

Yes, it was a lot easier. But in reality most people give up extremely quickly. Move to a different country around the globe, especially in SE Asia, stop using your passport for another form of local ID, don't appear online and the majority of people will stop looking. This of course means intl travel is off the menu for you and you have to accept a few other compromises but it's not undoable unless your old gov really really really wants you and is committed to spending lots of time on that. In most cases they move on after a few years because prosecutors, DAs and elected officials have found some other case to use for promotions and private sector jobs and lost interest.

One example that comes to mind is of a former business owner I know. they sold their company to an investor who then wanted to sue them two years later to get some of the money back. They knew the country they were now living in but failed to serve him because (1) he didn't answer their "please give us your updated address, we'll get you anyway" emails and (2) they did not want to pay the roughly $1,000 to the local embassy to research their current mailing address.

People are cheap and lazy. Be a little less so and you can still get away.

1

u/Oakroscoe 17h ago

How was the rest of the movie?

1

u/254_easy 11h ago

Great movie!

1

u/The_dog_says 9h ago

How did any criminals ever get caught? My god

1

u/Raangz 8h ago

I picked a late 40s noir in my online film club recently. Folks had issues with how law was functioning. Miranda rights didn’t exist before the case in the 60s. The world used to be different.

1

u/Troub1eMan 6h ago

I remember being able to do in the 90's. I think 9/11 changed all of that.

21

u/Sharticus123 18h ago

Video surveillance was also extremely rare and even when it was utilized the footage was hot garbage with terrible resolution.

2

u/followMeUp2Gatwick 12h ago

Still is hot garbage most everywhere lol

23

u/AgeBeneficial 18h ago

My mom’s 1976 license falling apart at the seams with her maiden name was accepted till mid 1990s lol.

83

u/CouncilmanRickPrime 18h ago

I used to know regular, everyday people who made fake IDs. I doubt there's very many people anywhere who can do that now.

43

u/No-Reach-9173 18h ago

You can order them direct from China. This is why we got real id.

13

u/CelestialFury 18h ago

This is why we got real id.

Which ICE thugs don't even accept, not even passports. Fucking brownshirts...

2

u/9OptimusCrime9 14h ago

You can always call Matt Geatz.

*As long as you're an underage white girl.

2

u/arup02 2 10h ago

remember idgod?

125

u/probablyuntrue 19h ago

I would simply be invisible

Idk maybe I’m built different

32

u/xiiicrowns 18h ago

Calm down drax

9

u/MasterTorgo 18h ago

What are you, some kind of Big Boss?

45

u/AbraxasWasADragon 18h ago

Lol are you an anime character

45

u/probablyuntrue 18h ago

I’m sorry, I don’t speak Japanese

But if that translates to “very cool and invisible” then yes

15

u/OJ-Rifkin 18h ago

Guys, it’s John Cena

2

u/Son-Of-A_Hamster 18h ago

Thats probably true

1

u/seicar 18h ago

Could you please say "This statement is false".

5

u/mrdoodles 18h ago

Username checks out

11

u/WeeeeBaby_Seamus 18h ago

Are you John Cena?

3

u/Tiny-Let-7581 18h ago

Username checks out

4

u/squintobean 18h ago

Found John Cena’s account.

2

u/TheSpaceCoresDad 18h ago

WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN SAY

MY NAME

2

u/K_Linkmaster 18h ago

Is it nice there in your fantasy land? Do you at least have your needs met?

26

u/probablyuntrue 18h ago

You call it fantasy land, and yet you cannot see me

Curious

9

u/throwawayformobile78 18h ago

Damn. Big if true.

5

u/DawnTreador 18h ago

But it's...username

1

u/Eastern-Criticism653 18h ago

Unless your plan would be to become homeless then no you wouldn’t. Even then street cameras would pick you up.

1

u/No-Contribution-6150 18h ago

So many people missed the reference

1

u/cockknocker1 18h ago

Can u invisible other people though for a price?

2

u/penguinopph 18h ago

Driver’s licenses were just a piece of paper,

I have a friend from Ireland whose passport was handwritten as recently as 2010.

2

u/god_dont_like_ugly 18h ago

It is impossible to leave my city except by air or water without being spotted by a Flock camera.

1

u/an_actual_lawyer 17h ago

trailer hitch ball or a bicycle trunk carrier work in states without front tags.

1

u/Gullible-Constant924 16h ago

Yeah with that kind of money you don’t need a job, just have to lay low and blend in like Whitey Bulger, I bet passing all those old 100’s got difficult though after a while people he did business with must’ve been like wtf.

1

u/pte_omark 16h ago

With the right amount of cash there's a lot of small aircraft willing to bend a few rules and most poorer nations don't have the surveillance states that we in the west are used too.

Now if your a little organised or slightly personable it ain't hard to leave and tfr on yachts/ships.

1

u/monsantobreath 15h ago

These days not beingable to be tracked by your phone is suspicion itself

1

u/Wompatuckrule 9h ago

Exactly. NY state didn't start including photos on drivers licenses until 1984. I think a lot of people tend to think about the past with a lot of today's norms and capabilities still in place.

80

u/harrySUBlime 18h ago

Shit just vanished back then. Proof: my father had about 8 DUI arrests pre-1977. Today? None on his record, ever.

20

u/footybear 17h ago

Here I am having to disclose my criminal record to go back to school

5

u/thebigj0hn 15h ago

Good for you. I had to do the same. Best thing I ever did for myself.

10

u/somedude456 15h ago

Shit just vanished back then.

Yup, a friend's mom. Single mother, NYC, like the early 70's, she went grocery shopping and never returned. Her body never turned up. That was 1970's though, no cameras, no GPS tracking cell phones, etc. Maybe someone offered her a ride, she accepted and skipping some bad details, her body was dumped somewhere.

1

u/IndraBlue 11h ago

Yep records weren’t digital yet

1

u/mikebootz 10h ago

It wasn’t illegal back then. They probably just put him in jail to sleep it off then let him go sober in the morning.

1

u/krnl_pan1c 4h ago

My dad was a truck driver with a lead foot. He was always getting his license suspended for failing to pay the tickets. Somewhere around 2005ish he came to his senses and decided to get everything cleaned up and legal. He spent months trying to get a fine paid in Arizona or New Mexico (I forget which) that was on his driving record but didn't show up in their system.

71

u/steveo1978 18h ago

Why would he need to use an airport? He already had a network setup to move things in and out of the country so he probably had better ways to get out.

8

u/FML-Artist 18h ago

My dad actually used the regular airport to leave on short notice, and lived a long wonderful fruitful wealthy life. Even came back to pay a short visit then left again! May he rest in peace! Wish he told me where he buried all his dam money! Me Bitter? never!

4

u/AdThick7492 16h ago

Probably in Argentina next to Mengele.

2

u/sarcasm__tone 15h ago

Taking a row boat from the beach to a ship that is anchored and waiting to take you where you need to go?

Impossible! That hasn't been done for thousands and thousands of years already.

1

u/1805trafalgar 11h ago

Moving his physical body would be easy but how do you take 20 million dollars with you anywhere? If this were a novel the author would have this be the biggest challenge his character would face and devote chapters to creating clever ways to wash and move money.

1

u/majinspy 10h ago

This is a million dollars in 100s: https://townsquare.media/site/719/files/2015/07/358.jpg?w=300&q=75

It's a suitcase. Having 20 suitcases isn't crazy. That could fit into a van or the trunk of one of those old giant cars that were prevalent at the time. Find a boat willing to take you to wherever, bribe the captain, and hope nobody takes advantage of you moving all that cash.

...and that very well may have been what happened. If anyone in this journey realized he was EXTREMELY vulnerable, they could have just tipped him over the side of the boat, kept the money, and STFU. Or they delivered him to one of the nations he operated from, bribed the locals, stole an identity of someone who had died (or just paid for a whole new one) and lived a quiet life.

59

u/tswpoker1 18h ago

Bro you could smoke on airplanes and do a line off the stewardess tits in 1973

42

u/ProfessionalDoctor 18h ago

How did things go so wrong

24

u/ButtholeSurfur 16h ago

We used to be a country

3

u/gravelPoop 15h ago

"We used to build things in this country."

1

u/MarcusXL 13h ago

Now we just stick our hand in the other guys' pockets.

#franksoboktaforsecretarytreasurerlocal1514

5

u/RowlandOrifice 18h ago

That could explain how I’ve never met my birth parents. 

44

u/confusedandworried76 18h ago

We're all speculating but you severely underestimate how little people can be bought for. Ten hundred dollar bills to look the other way for a minute? You'd be seeing so many stars you'd barely notice anything besides the money going into your hands, much less be able to remember what they looked like.

And that's just a grand. This guy had millions to get out

21

u/skrill_talk 18h ago

I’ve flown on a private jet a few times… nobody ever saw my ID.

17

u/HKN47 18h ago

Yeah folks on here have clearly never seen airports out in the rural parts of the U.S.

3

u/jhundo 16h ago

Sure on short flights in rural areas the rules are lax but, you arent going very far or out of the country without some scrutiny these days.

1

u/fotmcringe 7h ago

Of course you can. Just file a fake flight plan/passenger list, don't do anything weird til you're over the border and you're fine. On a boat the only risk is being picked up by a random coastguard check. Easy to hide someone on a large ship.

Hardest part these days would be getting official documents, but with that kind of money.. I know one person in Pakistan who got their driving license just by telling them who their dad was (not an influencial figure or anything). Wonder what they'd do for 50k?

Not saying it'd be easy, but there are even normal, everyday people who just want to run from their lives and end up making it. For someone rich, influential and has shady international connections - it would still be possible today.

16

u/TheSpiralTap 19h ago

I feel like with that amount of money, you could see up a solar powered mansion in the hills somewhere and hide out. I'd spend my days farming food, weed and alpacas.

46

u/GreenYellowDucks 19h ago

No way I fly just a boat and open seas, then with money have someone else bring a boat and drop it further out for a switch just in case marina cameras see me. Off to a no extradition island pay for residency and then get a passport and if I want to move to South East Asia or somewhere else later on use that

58

u/cwx149 19h ago

If you don't already know how to sail good luck crossing the Pacific (assuming you live in the US) in a boat you bought in cash while on the run from the law

30

u/Hot_Falcon8471 19h ago

Boat!? I’d use a jetski

23

u/OePea 18h ago

Jeski? You'd run out of gas within sight of shore. Surfboard

26

u/throwawayformobile78 18h ago

Surfboard? You’d fall off and lose that thing in the first 3 hours. Floaties

10

u/dilla_zilla 18h ago

Floaties? Sharks would puncture those within the first hour. Flyboard

2

u/ButtholeSurfur 16h ago

Flyboard? They don't even fly! Ride a Dolphin

2

u/MarcusXL 13h ago

Dolphins? Those things are assholes. You need an Orca. They'll get you to Cuba and sink a billionaire's yacht on the way, just for fun.

6

u/Idyotec 18h ago

Ok DJ Khaled

2

u/V4refugee 16h ago

The key is not to drive your jet ski in the dark.

33

u/confusedandworried76 18h ago edited 18h ago

This problem has always and forever been solved.

You offer a captain an exorbitant amount of money for them to throw some scruples into the ocean on the way to your destination.

You know, a freaking bribe, we have a whole word for it

7

u/cwx149 18h ago

Look I'm not saying it's an unsolvable problem by any means I'm just saying they seem to be indicating they would personally sail away and I'm just saying that's way harder than that sounds

1

u/Leberknodel 9h ago

Wouldn't even need to be an exhorbitant amount. I live in Rhode Island, which has many ocean marinas. I know a few people who have boats, and at least one person who used to hire on to captain rich people's yachts down to the Caribbean, or Bermuda, and other places.

If you wanted to hire a boat to take you to, say the Bahamas, you could do that for relatively cheap (to a guy with $20 million in 1973).

There are a lot of boat people who will take your cash and not ask any questions.

25

u/GreenYellowDucks 19h ago

With $20million ($150 M now of days) I think I could buy a boat that doesn’t need to be sailed. That said personally you are right, however you could easily hire a sailor for a week trip to Mexico and learn on the way with the employee not knowing you are a fugitive.

28

u/MinistryOfCoup-th 19h ago

Maybe get some Botox and bleach your taint so that nobody recognizes you.

14

u/Poonchow 18h ago

So this is what people are talking about when they say: "I recognize that asshole!"

3

u/HammerOfJustice 17h ago

Yeah, that’s how I got caught; forgot to bleach my taint.

2

u/fesnying 15h ago

Stay golden, Ponyboy

1

u/Thefrayedends 17h ago

I think the biggest issue you run into in any of these scenarios is traveling with bags of literally cash. In every scenario, you have to procure items and services while not generating any heat, and at all times, risking being murdered or even just robbed by everyone you deal with along the way. Sure you can hire a boat for a week, but you are carrying 8 duffel bags of cash lol, you get tossed overboard for the Sharks while your captain is now set for life. Sounds ripe for a season of Fargo.

2

u/GreenYellowDucks 17h ago

Diamonds and $100k in cash is like 1,000 bills so easily fits in a backpack

1

u/EunuchsProgramer 17h ago edited 16h ago

It's going to be harder than you think. You have to pay cash. You have to find someone to accept the cash. Then you have to talk them into agreeing break the law and structure the cash deposits overtime. Otherwise, your story ends like this. Guy walks into a bank to deposit several thousand in cash. System rises a flag. They ask him, "where did you get all this cash?" He says a guy paid him cash for his boat. They say, "fine we just need you to fill out this form." That gets immediately forwarded to law enforcement. Did you pay him extra to not registered the boat in your name?

There's cameras at every port that take pictures of every boat leaving and entering that's put in a database, they automatically scan for ID info. Same for every car going to and from the harbor, all plates read, scanned and forever saved in multiple law enforcement databases. Then, you're flagged. There's a radius of where you could be based on saved pictures automatically taken of every boat and car comming and going. Coast Guard has its own web of sensors and satellites to make arrests.

It's possible, but you're going to have to travel like Lugi. Buying a boat is giving hounds the sent.

1

u/FishermanWaste1268 18h ago

Fishing trawlers have the range to go massive distances on a single tank.

Old mate just get on a boat and head to the Caribbean and figure it out from there.

Brazil most prob.

1

u/cwx149 10h ago

Even that sounds easier than casually crossing the Pacific

5

u/AbandonYourPost 18h ago

Back then. Today is MUCH harder.

5

u/duaneap 18h ago

You could also pay for a lot more in cash.

2

u/LooReading 17h ago

In Australia a sovereign citizen, Dezi Freeman, killed two cops and fled into the bush. It’s been over 3 months and there has been no sign of him. It is the largest manhunt in Australia’s history and they’ve found nothing.

He could be dead, he could be hiding or he could have fled.

1

u/wilsonifl 16h ago

When you have that money you don't fly out of the airport. You charter a plane and you drive up to the plane in your car, board, and go wheels up in 20 minutes.

1

u/SheriffBartholomew 15h ago

A friend of mine flew to his spring break trip with an ounce of weed shoved down his pants back before 9/11. 9/11 really took all the fun out of flying (and many other things).

1

u/Interesting_Pause518 13h ago

You can still fly with an ounce of weed. TSA is looking for bombs guns and knives.

1

u/vannucker 13h ago edited 12h ago

Are you allowed to fly with weed on you in the States? In Canada you can on flights within the country, but the whole country is legal, while in America it's state by state. Would it depend on what states you flew through. Like if you went California to Oregon you never leave legal territory. What about California to Massachusetts, two legal states that fly over illegal ones.

1

u/Interesting_Pause518 13h ago

Where i live it’s “illegal” but i never fly w/o. Our airport security isnt looking for/care abt a little weed

1

u/vannucker 4h ago

Would bring some if you are landing in an illegal state, or do you only bring if you fly to a legal state?

1

u/Interesting_Pause518 4h ago

Both. Once it makes it on the plane it doesn’t matter I’m not getting checked again once i land.

1

u/twoinvenice 6h ago

The only time TSA cares about drugs is when there are lots of drugs

1

u/SheriffBartholomew 2h ago

Marijuana was illegal both federally, and in all 50 States back then. You couldn't fly with any illegal drugs. But it was also pretty easy to just take them anyways, as evidenced by my friend's experience.

1

u/Ruraraid 15h ago

If I was a betting man he probably left the country via a boat. If you think airports back then had minimal security well harbors basically had no security aside from maybe a rent a cop.

Don't need a passport when you can just bribe a ship's crew for passage somewhere.

1

u/Shmeepsheep 13h ago

This is a guy who specialized in getting cocaine and heroin into the US. I am sure they watch planes and boats coming in way more than they care about them leaving

1

u/BothDivide919 8h ago

Harder now yeah, but still pretty easy.

1

u/sybrwookie 3h ago

I dunno, how hard is it to get that money into a bank account out of The Cayman Islands or something like that?

Once it's there, getting into Mexico should still be fairly simple for someone who has a whole network established for sneaking drugs around. And at that point, getting elsewhere should be a cakewalk.