The Completely Bonkers Story Unfolding in The Invisible Pilot

The notorious drug lord “knew where I was from, my children, that I ‘committed suicide,'” Betzner says in The Invisible Pilot. “Apparently he hired somebody to investigate who I was as, like, insurance.” (Still, he also calls Escobar “a legend, and rightly so.”)

However, he did reportedly testify in 1990 for the prosecution in a federal conspiracy trial against a man accused of running a warehouse as part of a trafficking ring. Explaining his own background while on the stand, Betzner  said, “I’m a pilot, so I did what I did best. I flew drugs.” 

Sometimes, however, he would bring shoes or cheese or other hard-to-get items to indigenous Colombians on his flights, Betzner testified, calling it “just good public relations.” 

Escobar was gunned down in 1993.

Upon Betzner’s release from prison, he returned to Arkansas, where he has been living relatively uneventfully with his third wife. He also reconnected with his grown children.

“His family has clearly had its struggles,” Ari Mark told the NY Post, “and I think Gary has and will continue to admit he regrets that.”

But that’s the simple version of his story. The Invisible Pilot premieres April 4 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.