Brian O'Dea

Brian O'Dea (born September 1, 1948) is a Canadian businessman, author, television personality, and former drug smuggler. He is best-known for a large marijuana smuggling enterprise he masterminded in the mid-1980s. Set up to move marijuana in bulk from Southeast Asia to the Pacific Northwest and California, between 1986 and 1988, O'Dea's organization successfully smuggled 76 tons of marijuana worth about $300 million into Washington, transported it to California, and distributed it throughout the United States.

After suffering a cocaine-induced heart attack in 1988, O'Dea quit smuggling and using illegal drugs and became a substance abuse counselor. A long U.S. federal investigation of his marijuana smuggling operation resulted in O'Dea's arrest in 1990.

O'Dea pleaded guilty in 1991 and received a ten year sentence. After beginning his prison term in California, in 1992 he was transferred to a prison in Canada. Released on parole in 1993, O'Dea later built a career as a television commentator, narrator, and producer, in addition to authoring a memoir.

Early life

O'Dea was born in St. John's, Newfoundland on 1 September 1948, one of five children born to John R. O'Dea and Madeleine "Maddy" Connolly. His family was prominent in Newfoundland business and politics; his uncle Fabian O'Dea served as lieutenant governor of Newfoundland in the 1960s. O'Dea's father was president of Newfoundland Brewery and founded Atlantic Brewing Company. He also served in Newfoundland's provincial assembly and as president of the St. John's metro board.

O'Dea attended the parochial schools of St. John's including Winterton School and Saint Bonaventure's College. According to his memoir, as an eleven year old at Saint Bonaventure's he was sexually molested by a member of the Christian Brothers who was serving on the faculty. In the fall of 1965, O'Dea began attendance at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's. While in college, O'Dea worked as the host of a CJON (now CJYQ) radio call in show that dealt with current events, and sold advertising for the college radio station and newspaper, CHMR and ''The Muse''. In addition, O'Dea also began dealing in marijuana, traveling to Toronto to buy the drug from suppliers, then returning to St. John's to resell it at a profit. His drug business expanded to include the sale and production of MDA, a precursor to MDMA (ecstasy).

Drug dealer

After leaving the university without graduating, O'Dea continued to deal drugs and became an importer of marijuana to Canada from the United Kingdom. In 1972, he was arrested for possession of hashish, marijuana, and cocaine with intent to distribute. He was convicted and sentenced to nineteen months in prison. He served twelve months before being released.

After leaving prison, O'Dea traveled to Colombia to re-establish a connection with an acquaintance he had met in Montreal before going to prison. He used this relationship to establish himself as a cocaine smuggler, and developed a regular routine of picking up shipments in Colombia and carrying them into Canada, where he broke down the packages into smaller amounts for individual resale.

Following the success of his smuggling trips, O'Dea renewed the acquaintance of several individuals living in Toronto whom he had known in Newfoundland. The group agreed to have O'Dea establish a presence in Jamaica, where he could use his Colombian contacts to bring in cocaine. Other members of the organization would be responsible for transporting the cocaine from Jamaica to Canada and selling it. The relationship soon soured, and O'Dea developed new Jamaican contacts that enabled him to continue smuggling.

In 1975, O'Dea and a Chicago-based partner agreed to smuggle marijuana from Colombia by boat to the United States. When this venture proved unsuccessful, O'Dea and his partner in Chicago made an arrangement with smugglers based in Florida and Georgia to move the marijuana from Colombia by air and purchased a Douglas DC-6 transport plane for the purpose. This venture failed when mechanical failure caused O'Dea and the pilot to ditch the plane, resulting in the loss of both plane and cargo.

Move to California

Having lost most of his money in the unsuccessful attempt to smuggle marijuana by airplane, in 1976, O'Dea re-established contact with a Los Angeles-based attorney he had met in Jamaica. He moved to California, where he became a courier for a group of individuals who moved money for wealthy clients. O'Dea's function was to circulate among the banks of Los Angeles exchanging cash for cashier's checks made payable to overseas companies. He would then return the checks to his employers, who would deposit them in foreign banks. He also re-established himself as a cocaine smuggler, using a small network of couriers to carry the drugs from Colombia to one of the Caribbean islands, including Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. O'Dea would then repackage the shipments for transport to Los Angeles and resale.

In the late 1970s, O'Dea met Bill and Chris Shaffer, wealthy brothers who had interests in both legal and illegal businesses. O'Dea began to work for Bill Shaffer, including distributing marijuana. In addition, O'Dea operated for Shaffer a crew of couriers who helped move money to overseas banks using the same method of exchanging cash for cashier's checks that O'Dea had used when working as a courier.

Entrepreneur

O'Dea was periodically involved in legitimate business ventures, several of which proved successful. While living in California in the late 1970s and early 1980s, his wife and he had an antique store. His wife was a hairdresser, and O'Dea recognized the potential of Tri, the brand of haircare products she used when she cut his hair. He established a business relationship with Tri's sales manager, John Paul DeJoria, which led to O'Dea becoming the product's Canadian distributor. When DeJoria was fired, O'Dea loaned him $15,000 to help start the Paul Mitchell hair products line.

O'Dea declined DeJoria's offer to join him in the Paul Mitchell venture because he felt obligated to honor his agreement with the makers of Tri. He successfully retailed Tri in Vancouver, and planned to expand into more cities, but abandoned the venture when Canadian authorities who suspected him of involvement in illegal drugs accused him of avoiding customs duties. To avoid a prison term, he pleaded guilty and paid a $25,000 fine, and his business was closed.

O'Dea developed a cocaine addiction and spent time in a rehabilitation clinic. After his release, he resolved to stay sober and leave the drug business. With two acquaintances, he developed a plan to market as jewelry agatized dinosaur bones found in Utah. The Shaffers agreed to finance the enterprise, and it was this business O'Dea was promoting when he became involved in the large-scale marijuana smuggling venture for which he is best known.

Southeast Asia connection

In 1986, a Canadian involved in selling illegal drugs who was also acquainted with O'Dea told O'Dea about the opportunity to import tons of marijuana from Southeast Asia. Lured by the possibility of large profits, the Shaffers agreed to finance the operation, and O'Dea agreed to manage it. Using a commercial vessel, they transported shiploads of marijuana from Vietnam and Thailand to the coast of Alaska. Crews working for O'Dea transferred the marijuana to their commercial fishing boats and repackaged it in fish boxes. They then sailed to their home port in Anacortes, Washington

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