Guess who’s back, back again?
Captured by federal law enforcement in 1986, Barry “Flash” Foy was at the center of the largest drug investigation in U.S. history at the time. Foy was on the run for two years before authorities cuffed him at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in front of his wife and two kids.
The “marijuana kingpin” from South Carolina was the poster child for the type of corruption then-President Ronald Reagan railed against as part of a War on Drugs campaign. After smuggling what amounts to $1.8 billion worth of marijuana and hashish in today’s dollars, Foy and his partner Les Riley earned the moniker “The Gentlemen Smugglers” — a nod to their college education and aversion to violence. The kingpins headlined a group of more than 100 men and women arrested on behalf of Reagan’s law-and-order pursuit. Foy was sentenced to serve 11 years in the same Atlanta prison where Chicago gangster Al Capone previously resided.
“I’m pretty sure I stayed in the same cell,” said the 73-year-old from Columbia, noting that a carving of Capone’s name could be found on his bunk.
Upon release, Foy figured it was best to stay on the straight and narrow. The Cannabis game had changed, he recalls, with “California coming online” and Colorado’s approval “just around the corner.”
He, too, was different. A decade had passed with him removed from family, friends and society.
“It’s not something anyone really wants to go through,” he said. “I just tried to stay busy, keep going in the right direction and be positive.”
Foy lived fast in his 20s, smoking the finest herb, throwing fancy parties and routinely courting beautiful women, all while owning big houses and driving fast, expensive cars. He was known to have no fewer than four Porsches at his disposal at any time.
“Those were the glory days of Cannabis, and in a very real way, we were the distributors and dispensaries of that time,” he said.
But the fear of recidivism was real. Despite fond memories of the “glory days,” Foy had no intention of returning to prison. So he chose to settle into a joy found prior to incarceration: restaurant ownership. Foy’s career in Cannabis was over and he was OK with that.
Or so he thought.
As years passed and he prided himself on feeding hungry restaurant patrons, the country began to embrace Cannabis, with legalization efforts spreading across the U.S. Meanwhile, The Gentlemen Smugglers stayed relevant in a tell-all book, “Jackpot,” which was released in 2011, four years after the last fugitive was arrested. The memoir caught the eye of film editor and artist Kevin Harrison, who was put in touch with Foy in hopes of making a documentary.
“‘Come see the most eloquent kingpin you’ll ever meet!’” laughed Harrison. “That’s how I was pitched to come meet Barry and they weren’t kidding. He told me his story and it was so compelling, I thought, we’ve got to bring this to the big screen. But the more we talked, we began to ask ourselves, ‘How do we launch a brand?’”
The process of creating a brand took Foy and Harrison years to create, calling it an organic process. “It didn’t happen overnight,” Cutler Harrison said.
In September 2022, they celebrated alongside their inaugural partners, a Massachusetts-based company Green Meadows, as their first products came to market. Nearly four decades after being shut down by the U.S. government, the Gentlemen Smugglers were back in business.
“To think where we were and how far this thing has come… it’s been a crazy journey to get to where we are today,” smiled Foy.
The Gentlemen Smugglers have made quick work, expanding into 52 dispensaries in Massachusetts, as well as an additional 23 in New Mexico. Just last month, the brand successfully extended its reach into a dozen Maryland dispensaries, pairing with SunMed Growers to span coastwards to Ocean City and as far west as Frederick. Gentlemen Smugglers will also make an appearance in New York dispensaries come December.
“It feels good writing a new chapter,” said Foy, likening SunMed’s large-scale operation to the “Disney of all facilities.” “They’re great people to work with — very organized and top of the line from a wellness aspect.”
Foy feels good with the proverbial pen in his hand, he said. A decade ago, the best-selling book “Jackpot” provided Americans with a not-so-friendly look into Foy — a “kingpin” who former colleagues referred to as, “impetuous, taking too many risks and having little regard for others’ wellbeing.” This time around, he’s providing patrons with access to top-tier medical Cannabis at an affordable price. A percentage of the profits covering four states and over 70 dispensaries goes directly to the Last Prisoner Project.
“That’s something that is very special to me,” Foy said of the nonprofit dedicated to reforming the criminal justice system in America. “I feel a kinship to what they do on a day-to-day basis.”
A handful of Foy’s contributions come from Albuquerque, home of the legendary Walter White. White was the fictional antihero of the AMC hit television series Breaking Bad that features a high school chemistry teacher who transitions into a drug lord. A “big fan” of the show, Foy was asked if he, a convicted felon now legally aiding medical patients, could be accused of…Breaking Good?
“I LOVE THAT!” he exclaimed.
