BLACK TUNA: OUT OF THE CAN

[Kingsp4de]

America's longest serving marijuana prisoner released after 27 years in federal lock-up.

http://hightimes.com/legal/bean/4446
or

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2008...n-the-can/full
for FULL STORY

Attention all stoners: Please take a moment to pause, reflect, and then burn a joint for Robert Platshorn, formerly America’s longest serving marijuana prisoner, and now a free man after nearly three decades behind bars. Convicted in 1980 as leader of the notorious Black Tuna Gang, this non-violent, first time offender fell victim to the first-ever DEA/FBI joint investigation of the marijuana trade.


Smuggling multi-ton shipments of Colombian marijuana into Miami at a time when the United States seemed on the verge of nationwide decriminalization, Platshorn knew he was taking risks, but never expected anything like the 64-year prison sentence thrown down after a tumultuous federal trial.


“I think it was the atmosphere of the 70’s. It seemed it was almost legal,” Platshorn told HIGH TIMES in 2005, while still an inmate at the Maxwell Air Force Base Federal Prison Camp in Alabama. “The first time someone came to me and said, ‘I have 500 pounds; do you know anybody who wants it?’—that was a very attractive proposition.”


Released to a halfway house on April 1st of this year, Platshorn now lives in South Florida with family members, trying to put the pieces of his life back together, including plans to sell his life story. He worked on a book called “The Black Tuna Diaries” for years on a battered prison typewriter. Now he’s shopping the tale of high adventure to publishers and Hollywood.