George Jacob Jung (August 6, 1942 – May 5, 2021), nicknamed Boston George and El Americano, was an American drug trafficker and smuggler. He was a major figure in the cocaine trade in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s. Jung and his partner Carlos Lehder smuggled cocaine into the United States for the Colombian Medellín Cartel. Jung was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1994 on conspiracy charges, but was released in 2014. Jung was played by Johnny Depp in the biopic Blow (2001).
Early life
George Jung was born on August 6, 1942, in Weymouth, Massachusetts, the son of Frederick Jung, a small business owner, and Hermelijn (née O’Neill) Jung. In high school, Jung was a star football player and was described by his classmates as “a natural leader,” but he was charged by an undercover police officer with soliciting prostitution. After graduating from Weymouth High School in 1961, Jung briefly attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he considered studying advertising, but dropped out. Jung began using marijuana recreationally, selling some of everything he bought to break even.
In 1967, after meeting a childhood friend, Jung realized the enormous profit potential associated with smuggling the cannabis he had purchased in California back to New England. Jung initially had his flight attendant girlfriend carry the drugs in her suitcases on flights. Seeking even bigger profits, he expanded his operation to flying the drugs from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, using planes stolen from private airports on Cape Cod and professional pilots. At the height of this venture, Jung and his associates reportedly earned $250,000 per month (equivalent to over $1.9 million in 2023 dollars, adjusted for inflation). This ended in 1974, when Jung was arrested in Chicago for smuggling 660 pounds (300 kg) of marijuana. He stayed at the Playboy Club, where he would meet a connection who would pick up the marijuana. The connection was arrested for heroin smuggling; however, he informed the authorities about Jung in order to get a reduced sentence. After arguing with the judge about the purpose of sending a man to prison “for crossing an imaginary line with a bunch of plants,” Jung was sent to the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury.
Medellín Cartel
At FCI Danbury in March 1974, during his sentence for marijuana trafficking, Jung’s cellmate was Carlos Lehder, a young German-Colombian man who introduced Jung to Medellín’s dominant and powerful international drug trafficking cartel; in return, Jung taught Lehder about smuggling. When released in 1976, Jung and Lehder smuggled large amounts of cocaine into the United States by joining forces with Pablo Escobar , making millions of dollars.
Prison
Jung was arrested in 1994 with 796 kg of cocaine in Topeka, Kansas. He pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. His sentence was reduced to about 20 years after he testified against his ex-partner, Carlos Lehder. Jung was incarcerated at the Otisville Federal Prison in Mount Hope, New York, before being transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix, New Jersey, and the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna in Anthony, Texas. This was his third time in prison.
Release and death
Jung was scheduled to be released in November 2014, but was released early after nearly twenty years, on June 2, 2014. In 2016, he was imprisoned for violating federal supervision and released from a halfway house in 2017.
In September 2014, Jung contributed to the novel Heavy with T. Rafael Cimino, nephew of film director Michael Cimino. Heavy is a fictional story about Jung who escapes from a Cuban prison and flees to Guatemala.
Jung suffered from liver and kidney failure and was receiving hospice care when he died on May 5, 2021, at his home in Weymouth, Massachusetts.