This Wasn’t Hayes’ First Time Smuggling
The film portrays Hayes as a hash-smuggling newbie who innocently wanted to share some of it with his friends back in Long Island. But, in reality, Hayes had already been to Turkey three times before, successfully buying and smuggling hashish back to the States.
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The first time he did it was via a fake cast. The second and third times were by taping the goods all over his thin body and covering himself with thick sweaters. He would buy two kilos for $300 and then sell it back in the U.S. for $5,000. Billy Hayes was confidently smuggling drugs and felt invincible those first three trips.