Norman's Cay Empire

In the late 1970s, Lehder sought a personal headquarters on Norman's Cay, buying up property and harassing and threatening the island's residents, while the Bahamian prime minister apparently had been bribed. Norman's Cay became his private fiefdom. He forced Jung out, and Robert Vesco allegedly became a partner. From 1978 to 1982, the Cay was a major Caribbean drug-smuggling hub, flying cocaine from Colombia to Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas.

Lehder expanded the runway and controlled a significant portion of the transported cocaine. In 1981, the DEA and Bahamas police intervened, dismantling the empire. Lehder escaped and left the island on July 10, 1982, by dropping pamphlets reading "DEA go home" over Clifford Park in Nassau — some with $100 bills attached.