Interview with Chip Tatum

Regarding Terry Nelson & Montana Drugs, Chuck Hayes, etc.

March 4, 1998

QUESTION: I want to talk to you about what you know about the drug smuggling operation into Montana. Can you go on the record?

TATUM: I can go on the record with one statement. I met with Terry Nelson in south Florida, and he boasted to me that he had been approached and had been recruited to see to it that the northern routes were open. And he explained to me the northern routes: bringing drugs from Columbia, going to the Caribbean islands, waiting for a weather window, going up to Nova Scotia, waiting for a weather window, going across to Weyburn, and then going down into Montana. He named for me three cities that I recall the names of. He said the man who put this together was in contact with the cartels, a man named Huxtable.

QUESTION: Mike Huxtable?

TATUM: Right. That's all I know about it.

QUESTION: Can you tell me what Nelson's position is?

TATUM: He's a senior FBI agent out of Miami.

QUESTION: Can you tell me what Huxtable's position is?

TATUM: Huxtable, from what I understand, was undercover for the U.S. Government. He also worked undercover in sting operations for the Canadian Government. He also worked for the mobs, and he worked for the cartels.

QUESTION: Is he FBI too?

TATUM: No.

QUESTION: Is he DEA?

TATUM: He's the equivalent of a Barry Seal. He works for the highest bidder.

QUESTION: So he's a free agent then?

TATUM: Right.

QUESTION: What year was it when Nelson told you that?

TATUM: I believe it was 1989.

QUESTION: So the drugs are flown out into the Atlantic then?

TATUM: Yes, but they can also come the other way, because of times since then that I've heard of drugs going into British Columbia.

QUESTION: I understand you called a radio station in Florida a couple of weeks ago and gave an interview and someone appeared at the station later?

TATUM: I think it was on Wednesday of last week that I gave the interview. They played it on Friday, while the host was at a meeting in Orlando. The technician who was on duty answered the knock on the door. He saw a Cadillac outside, and a well-dressed man was standing outside who threatened the young boy. He said "if Jim Alssis, the host, doesn't quit, he's going to die." That was pretty pointed. It has shaken them all up.

QUESTION: I talked to XXXXXX the other day. Evidently he has a large stack of documents on Nelson. Do you know about these documents?

TATUM: I know he told me he has the documents.

QUESTION: I understand there's some pretty dynamite information in there. I don't know what it is specifically. Do you think his life is in danger?

TATUM: I believe so.

QUESTION: Do you think your life is in danger?

TATUM: No. I have good insurance. It's information on the big boys, the bosses.

QUESTION: Would this have gone up to very high reaches of the government? Not for attribution.

TATUM: I don't mind naming names. It went to the President's office.

QUESTION: You don't mind this being for attribution?

TATUM: No.

QUESTION: This would have been, say, in the late 80's, early '90's?

TATUM: Yes.

QUESTION: You don't mind if I write that?

TATUM: Not at all. That house I met Terry Nelson at in southeast Florida was Bush's mother's house.

QUESTION: Is that right?

TATUM: Yes. Nelson sits right on top. He carries the badge of any agency he wants. He'll never come down over this.

QUESTION: He will never come down?

TATUM: Never.

QUESTION: There must be people fairly high up that want this drug running to stop?

TATUM: Yes. It will be stopped right at the Department of Justice.

QUESTION: It will be stopped there?

TATUM: It will be stopped there.

QUESTION: Are you saying that IF it's stopped, that's where it will be; or are you saying it is going to be stopped?

TATUM: It will be stopped. How they will stop it is the only question. It won't be prosecuted. What happens in the meantime to those in the periphery is a completely different story.

QUESTION: So, this guy can do hits and get away with it?

TATUM: Absolutely. He can not only do hits, he has had one of his pilots, XXXXXXXXXXXX put in federal prison. XXXXXXX used to fly drugs from Haiti to Nelson here in southeastern Florida, and load the cocaine right into the trunk of Nelson's FBI car. He's bulletproof. XXXXXXXXXXX is now in prison, and no one will listen to him.

QUESTION: Do you think if enough journalists get hold of this, they can't do anything to them?

TATUM: Well, he's been investigated in the past, and the investigation got stymied at the Department of Justice. Whenever you go into the Office of Public Integrity- -that's the ones who investigate internal affairs, that's where it always stops. There always seems to be someone there to stop the investigation.

QUESTION: You are working for the Red Cross now, is that right?

TATUM: Yes. I had 200 hours of community service to do and I decided to do it in an arena of my own choice.

QUESTION: You had to do it because you were convicted of a crime of some sort?

TATUM: Yes. I was charged with treason.

QUESTION: You were set up?

TATUM: Yes. I spent two years in prison. Then they finally convicted me of conspiring to make a false statement to a federal officer. They brought in a Lieutenant Colonel, retired, who happened to be a campaign manager for Ollie North.

QUESTION: I've thought for a long time North was involved in these operations.

TATUM: And still is. He's putting on the persona of a good Christian man.

QUESTION: I have read about entries in North's notebooks, implying his involvement in cocaine running. Do you think you'll ever work for the government again?

TATUM: Never. They don't have enough money to hire me. They only have enough to make me go away.

QUESTION: Is Charles Hayes who he says he is?

TATUM: Hayes told me he met me at Homestead Air Force Base. I was refueling a Saberliner I flew quite often for the government. I had never told anyone the type of aircraft I flew, and he described the time and aircraft, and that could very well be. Other than that I don't really recall him. There's a lot of people whose paths I might have crossed, and not recall. But the simple fact that he knew I was at a particular place at a particular time and described my aircraft, that I had never talked to anyone about, convinces me that he did. Anyone who is in prison for a long stint probably ticked someone off, and they're probably trying to put out good information. They have nothing to lose at that point.

QUESTION: So you think we really do have a shadow government, then?

TATUM: There's no doubt about that. It's a heavy shadow government. It has some to do with politicians. You get the new guys in, and they're all gung ho. But after a while, they start changing their story. They are not fighting for the same belief system they had before getting elected.

QUESTION: Because they're threatened?

TATUM: Yes.