"It would've been worth about $1.1 million," McEnany said. Please consult your doctor before taking any action. owner of a successful construction company. You can find her onInstagramandFacebook. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Thats great. But he cut some into a jelly jar he kept in the kitchen, the way you keep nutmeg around for the rare party that requires eggnog. Its just a one-time-in-a-life opportunity, he says to Danny again and again. It is crazy. Rodney, can you give me the condensed version of your story? Lets see. Netflix has done it again! Rodney cant believe that after all the talking, all the feinting, all the doubts, its actually happening. RH: Go ahead, Theo. Rodney articulates his desire to travel to Puerto Rico to unearth the bale himselfhe feels he owes that to Julianand Rodney and Grant hash out the logistics of getting the coke off the island. Though the contents of the duffel square with the eighteen kilos Rodney was promised, they dont reflect what was pulled from the ground in Puerto Rico. Its a tale of a campfire story gone wrong, Love said. In 2000 he started his own construction company. That is, until Rodney Hyden heard it, and decided he was going to try to find the cocaine and cure his post-Recession financial woes. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Kind of a big question. Rodney gets in his truck and starts driving in slow circles, thinking hard about the strange journey that has led him here. But when the bottom fell out five years ago, I didnt draw a paycheck for two years. I thought if I didnt take it, someone who might not go to the police would.. Julian Howell and his wife moved to Culebra, an island off Puerto Rico, in 1986 to work for the sea-turtle-preservation project. News collects all the stories you want to read. Are you up front with your subjects about how a documentary is going to turn out? Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. What has the response to the film been like, Rodney? It could be sent here from God, for all I know.. "I don't pretend to be anything but the new image of the Florida Man, these days," Hyden said. "I'm a dreamer, but I'm not a greedy person. Spent $5,000. He had a guy named Andy who Hyden employed occasionally for odd jobs. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Support his work here at patreon: https://www.patreon.com/haubrich_noir, Your email address will not be published. The first thing Rodney thinks while being shouted to the ground is, Dont have a hair trigger, buddy. Were in January 2012 now. The bank claimed his river house and his office. Its a modern tale of misadventure that does echo the Coens. I take my time with everything I do. I want to make sure its right, he says. Source: Netflix. The magazine with local insides,stories and travel information about the Caribbean. In 2012, Alachua County experienced a crime story almost too strange to be true. You see that? Hyden asked. Like for instance, mine was Florida Man gets sent back to jail after not paying taxi that picked him up from jail.. The earlyClint EastwoodItalian movies, and it brought back memories when we chose that scene to watch. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. He told the story. However, years later, he couldnt resist sharing the story of his uncanny find with his friends as they sat around a campfire, drinking beer. The companies were formed over a twenty-four year period "We're a casualty of bulls**t.". He says you can sometimes see the elephants from the porch as they stroll to Watermelon Pond for a drink. We cover A to Z, which mostly corroborates everything I already know from the court documents and wiretap transcripts, but I feel as if Rodney holds back a little, as if theres some door of his Ive failed to knock on. Hyden's wife isn't too far off when she compares the police sting to the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden: "Just give me a map. Honestly, I think that it was the creative decisions that we were making. Grant is a pilot. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. More than 15 years went by before that fateful night in July 2004 when Julian told Rodney Hyden about it. Still, hes able to locate the cistern, where the bale is buried. Yall had to pick a tight table! Rodney says, squeezing in. No, I go on a sixty-foot yacht. Coordinates provided at the end of Netflix's "The Legend of Cocaine Island. the Swamp. B&H Builders grew to eighty employees. Ugh. TL: Not being stressed out by the drug running and all of that? Ive helped a lot of families. After returning, Rodney ghosts. His formerly booming construction business comes to a standstill. James Gray Made the Movie of His Life. Hit by hard times and facing increasing debt, Hyden decided to go after the stash and attempt to sell it. The wealthy man had also spent his money on estates and mansions. Rodney has begun to feel a growing respect and admiration for Carlos, regarding him as something more than just a drug dealer whos warned again and again, since the first meeting at Casa Maria, that he was only there because of the money. Street value at the time: anywhere from $16,000 to $20,000 per kilo, depending on which street. In 2012, Hyden aka Florida Man leaves his wife and daughter for a jaunt to Culebra, where he'll fulfill the ultimate get-rich-quick scheme by digging up a bag of Whats Written In The Stars For Your 2023? Especially when someone new, like Rodney, came around. After six months of surveillance, the coordinated role-playing efforts of a half-dozen undercover federal agents, a Puerto Rican excavation, and an expense report that included several margarita tabs at Casa Maria, one might argue that it was a Pyrrhic victory for law enforcement. Rodney Hyden wasnt exactly a kingpin. Doing good. A man named Julian told him at a happy hour with a bunch of other men from Archer, Florida about a bale of cocaine that he had hidden near a sanctuary for sea turtles after it washed up on a beach. Its just a good story. That lingered like campfire smoke in a sweater. There were good years there in the early aughts when theyd do $10 million to $20 million in businesshotels, airport expansions, the new skybox at the University of Florida football stadium, a.k.a. Its only fifteen miles from Gainesville to Archer, but where we go next is less a distance traveled geographically than psycho-spatially. But I think youre going to see a lot more of it. TL: But I think thats the point. If somebody else was in that position and came across this story, they might react in the same way. Thats as simple as I can answer it. You got anything to tell me? Rodney asked for a lawyer. That ground is solid rock, believe me. Andy texts, I figured u would pull some bullshit like that steal my connections and then cut me out. Rodney finally tells everyone, Im through, Im done, its over, forget it. Im gonna see some real money. After the countless meetings and phone calls, the pair of trips to Culebra, it ends up being that easyeven more straightforward than Rodney had ever dreamed it. He e-mails Carlos: Did you find the nest? And then, just like that, bam, an e-mail with a photo. Rodneys not sure whether its drug withdrawal or food poisoning. Rodney hustles across the neck of northern Florida, calls and texts Danny along the wayAnswer the damn phone. Did you ever think that something likeThe Legend of Cocaine Islandwould come out of it? The governments aggressive role in the planning and execution of the sting clearly bugs him: If they would have left it buried in the ground, it would still be there, is the sentiment. It's not the most flattering story, but Hyden owns up to it with a chuckle. "For those people who believe we never actually went to Culebra and never dug up the cocaine, they're 100 percent wrong," an anonymous Homeland Security official says in Cocaine Island. No, but we might dare you to, but we dont think that you should. Because theyre entrusting me with their stories, and I dont take that lightly. Its such a good feeling to build their home for them and then hand them the keys at the end; you both hug each other and start crying. Copyright 2023 News4JAX.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. Your email address will not be published. One of the mans friends just couldnt get the strange tale out of his head. Who is Rodney Hyden? He loves wine. And thats sad.. Well, Julian says, its the same version Rodney told you, Im sure., But it cant be, because its not just the facts of the story, I start to say, its, He wants to know, Rodney says, getting my meaning just right, what the hell prompted me to go down there and do something dumb.. Rodney Hyden was the president of a construction company and a family man. And the next time we went out with Rodney and the whole camera crew and just had a blast filming out there. That morning, the first time Danny mentions it, Rodney's net worth hovers over $5,000 - $9,999 with a yearly income that's about $40 - 49,999. Rodney Hyden The Great Recession of 2008, desperation, and the documentary of the Great Cocaine Treasure Hunt: meet director Theo Love & Rodney Or better yet, Danny says, Ill cut it and double the quantity. I dont have any hard feelings toward him and he doesnt have any hard feelings toward me. Rodney, therefore, is charged for intent to distribute not what federal agents actually found but what he was expecting them to finda crime of anticipation. 29, shows how back in 2012, Rodney Hyden, a small-business owner from Florida, found out about the legend of a stash of cocaine worth $2 million that was hidden in an island-municipality of Puerto Rico called Culebra. Oh, me too with thespaghetti westerns. Howell, the close-knit neighborhood's resident hippie, had moved to the small island of Culebra off the coast of mainland Puerto Rico in 1986 to work in sea turtle preservation. Netflix's newest original documentary, "The Legend of Cocaine Island," is about an Alachua County man who tried to dig up and smuggle more than $1 million worth of drugs into North Florida. Rodney had been raised in Gainesville, worked summers at his fathers work sites, and enrolled in the building-construction program at the University of Florida, right there in town. He's still the president of his construction company, BH Builders Inc., according to his LinkedIn. He strapped the bale to his back and stood on the bathroom scale, did some quick math: The coke weighed seventy pounds. Well come back, Andy says, when Im healthy, an able hand. I suppose Im digging for a better explanation than I did something stupid. Rodney and I leave Rosenblums office together. Were not gonna make it, he keeps saying to Andy. He almost certainly would never have pursued the Culebra cocaine if he hadnt been approached and persuaded by Danny Jimeneza confidential informant participating in a self-serving sting operation. Rodney says Julian has never mentioned a firm number but that a quarter-mil finders fee is what hes thinking. First he suggests the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine. Ad Choices. But kind of doing it in the documentary form allowed this to have that anchored in realism to it. So, what advice would you give somebody who hears a crazy story like this and thinks about going after it? Regardless. Hyden was ready to be done with his search for the buried cocaine. He even lays it out with a trusted friend: I said, Man, Im gonna fucking do it. . Often the beaches were emptyno sign of anything, turtle or human. TL: Thats a really good point. In the winter of 2012, Danny Jimenez was pulled over by cops in Alachua County. Weight and local value: 220 pounds, nearly $10 millionAd hoc flotation devices: Four blue oil drums. TL: Its this attitude, Wess, that I heard on the very first call where I called Rodney. Its a fun thing to think about. Rodney Foster estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below. Its one of our favorite things to cover for a variety of reasons, but above all because quite often truth is indeed stranger than fiction. What was the process like figuring out the narrative? Thank you. Thats a good question. "That was the last thing on my mind, right there. But this opportunity, manfor some reason, I was made aware of this opportunity. Thanks to @netflix The Legend Of Cocaine Island, Ive finalized my retirement plans. Rodney, what do you hope people will take away from your story? To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines. Central Florida has a lot of interesting aspects.. Weight and local value: 330 pounds, $14 millionUpright citizen award: A local government employee rolled fifty-five pounds of it home in a wheelbarrow. After fixating on Julians story about the $2 million dollars worth of cocaine lying in the sand, he decided to dig it up. Rodney Dangerfields net worth was around $10 million at the time of his death. One that came to mind there, you guys were watching, was itThe Good, The Bad, and The Uglyin the hotel suite? In 2019, Rodney had a net worth of around $11.5 million and a salary of approximately $1.5 million. Blame the fantastic remoteness of this place. It had been his intention, hed said, to tell me his version of events in full, but not until after the trial, and then not until after the appeal of his sentence, and finally not until after his time in prison. More should. He offers to show us some new projects hes working onhe hoards old cars, buses, and boatsand on the march out back, past an eight-foot pit filled with hundreds of wine bottles, I notice the infamous bare feet. Hed been walking around the island for nine years now, looking for something to smoke, thinking, Okay, God, wheres my bale? Hes one of the most self aware people that I know. Its a story that lends itself to film very well. Youll have to watch the film to find out trust me, you wont regret it. Now gimme a second, Rodney says, I cant quite do it that quickly. We had to go there once just to scout it out and I may or may not have brought my wife and had a little vacation. Rodney Fosters net worth is $2.5 million, which he earned while working in the wine industry. But McEnany and Rawley insist there was a principle at stakea principle worth defending. But Ive been called a lot worse in the industry that I work in, so I thought that was a compliment. Dont forget the bottle of wine. Only 2.2 kilos tested positive for cocaine, which wasnt even sellable. It'sa crazy story. RH: Yeah. One thing I learned in there, Rodney says, is that once the governments got you in the crosshairs, youre asking for trouble. Eventually he decided to bury it. As he got closer, he peered over both shoulders to see if anyone else was around, if anyone had dibs. He did community service, building homes for Habitat for Humanity to pay his dues. I mean, Hollywood quality., In July 2013, Rawley and McEnany bring Julian Howell, Andy Culpepper, and Danny Jimenez to Jacksonville to testify. I just cold-called the guy. Yeah, I learned a bunch of lessons. He is self-aware, and hes able to laugh at himself, and if that was the case for everybody else, its just a good story. Carlos has set up the meeting to vet Rodney and his information. They were the guys. Yeah, another question Id like to ask everybody. Motivations that implicitly characterize Rodney as an individual with full agency over the episode, rather than the product of a group and that groups unique regard for society. Damn, Rodney thinks, theyre living up to their end of the deal. These cookies do not store any personal information. This story was originally published April 9, 2019 9:52 AM. This led to Hydens arrest in 2012, and subsequent prison sentence of 60 days and 20 years probation. Hyden traveled to Puerto Rico with a group of men and dug up the forbidden stash of drugs. Rodney, what was it that drew you in about the original fireside story that Julian told? You may not modify our content except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. New Details About Silvia And Why Nicole Kidman Is Banned From Their Wedding, A post shared by Raoni Barone (@raonibarone), 5 Strangest, Most Bizarre Rumors About Elizabeth Holmes, Founder Of Now-Defunct Theranos, Woman Says She Quit Her Job On Her First Day After She Was Refused A Lunch Break, 'Love Island' Host Maya Jama Has A New Rule In Her Dating Life After Breakups From Ben Simmons & Stormzy, Why Everyone Turned On Mindy Kaling 8 Reasons Fans Are Calling Her Out. "We went to Culebra. They were the other half of the coin that would make the movie. Rico with a Group of men and dug up the meeting to vet rodney the! 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