Nicknamed “Boston George” by his American drug cronies and “El Americano” by his Colombian contingent, George Jung was one of the most notorious and prominent drug smugglers in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s.
George Jung was known for his association with the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel. He has made a film from his biography and his heroic deeds as a drug smuggler and is currently trying to get his life back on track after a long prison sentence for drug trafficking crimes.
George Jung Bio
El Americano was born as George Jacob Jung on August 6, 1942, in Boston, the capital of Massachusetts. George Jung grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts, with his parents Frederick and Hermione Jung. He received his diploma from Weymouth High School. Although not a particularly gifted student, he excelled in sports and was an exceptional quarterback for his school’s football team. George Jung received many awards for his leadership qualities.
He also studied advertising at the University of Southern Mississippi. He dropped out, however, and began dealing in small quantities of marijuana to make ends meet.
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George Jung Wiki, Facts
George began dealing with marijuana on a larger scale after returning to Massachusetts in 1967 with a substantial amount of marijuana that he was able to smuggle in from California. Initially, George smuggled marijuana through his flight attendant, but eventually, he smuggled in large quantities of drugs from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on stolen planes and earned millions of dollars from this expansion.
After about 7 years of successful drug smuggling, George Jung was arrested in 1974 and sent by the authorities to the federal penitentiary in Danbury, where he spent some time in prison. This was not George’s first rodeo, he was arrested once in high school for patronizing a sex worker.
While George was incarcerated at Danbury Federal Penitentiary, he came into contact with his fellow inmate Carlos Lehder Rivas, who had connections to the Medellin cartel. The Medellin cartel was an international drug trafficking syndicate led by the famous Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar. George and Carlos became quite close and built up a kind of symbiotic relationship. Carlos introduced George to the Medellin cartel, and George, in turn, taught Carlos some of his more advanced smuggling tricks, and together they formed an impressive partnership.
George And Carlos
George Jung and Carlos were released in April 1975 and they wasted no time in putting into action all the plans they had made during their imprisonment. As George had suggested, they used airplanes to smuggle cocaine from Pablo Escobar’s ranch in Colombia to California in America. George then transferred the flown cocaine into a vehicle and handed the keys of the vehicle to Richard Barile (George’s California connect) who then completed the smuggling circle.
Jung made millions as a middleman in this business but was soon sidelined by Carlos Lehder, who decided to eliminate the need for a middleman and approach Richard Barile directly with deals. Despite this, George continued to smuggle drugs for himself and a few other business partners, ensuring that he continued to make millions of dollars in profit. The law finally caught up with George in 1985. He was further convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but he agreed to rat on a known accomplice and his sentence was reduced to 4 years.
1989 Release
George was released in 1989 and promised to turn over a new leaf and get out of the drug business to build a better relationship with his estranged daughter. He also did some legal jobs and worked with Bruce Porter, an American journalist who published a book called Blow in 1993. The book focused on George’s escapades as a drug smuggler.
Like a dog throwing up, George returned to his old habits and was re-arrested in 1994 with 796 kg of cocaine and marijuana worth over 500,000 USD. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison. However, his sentence was reduced to 21 years, taking into account a year spent in prison during his trial. George was initially incarcerated in the federal medium-security prison in Otisville, Mount Hope, New York, and later transferred to a low-security federal prison for men called the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, in Anthony, Texas.
Blow
In 2001, while George was still in prison, a film called Blow was released, based on Bruce Porter’s 1993 book about George. The film starred Hollywood sensation Johnny Depp and later revealed that Johnny visited George in prison frequently to properly portray George’s character in the film. He also contributed to T. Rafael Ciminos Heavy, a fiction about George Jung’s escape from a Cuban prison before fleeing to Guatemala.
2014 Release From Prison
Recent evidence from the FBI website shows that George was transferred to the federal correctional facility at Fort Dix at some point during his incarceration and was later transferred to a halfway house to serve the remainder of his sentence.
On November 27, 2014, George was released from prison, but after two years he was arrested and thrown into a county jail in California for violating the terms of his parole, and it was reported that he had a paid advertising gig without the required approval of his parole officer. He was sentenced to 9 months in prison and was released on July 3, 2017, after serving his sentence. Since then he has returned to his former neighborhood in Weymouth and was surprised by the warm welcome he received.
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George Jung Wife And Daughter
George was married to a Colombian woman named Mirtha. They met when George was actively involved in the Medellin cartel and was married in 1977 and George and Mirtha were blessed with a daughter named Kristina Sunshine Jung in 1978.
Their marriage did not last long, however, as they were divorced in 1984. Mirtha was a cocaine addict and also helped George commit some of his drug smuggling crimes. Recently it was revealed by her daughter that Mirtha spent three years in prison to atone for aiding George.
George is currently married to Ronda Clay Spinello Jung, who has a daughter named Clara Pearson. George has no regrets about how he lived his life or how things turned out but claim to have learned countless lessons from his experiences. He just wishes for a better relationship with his daughter Kristina and has tried to smooth things over between them.
Although a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, George and Kristina are still trying to make things work. They have recently started a clothing store called BG Apparel and Merchandise. We wish George the best as he tries to do something with what is left of his life.
