Original subtitles

Over a few dollars, they were willing to sacrifice my life.

Could you come with us, please?

It was literally do or die.

I'm incarcerated in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

She was my only chance.

So I decided to escape.

There's just no sensation with death.

Dead, you don't feel anything anymore.

In 1976, I had this wanderlust. I wanted to travel.

I had a friend. His name was Daryl.

He was eight years my junior.

Amsterdam was the cannabis capital of the world.

So we were like two children in a sweet shop.

It was a very exciting place to be.

But life was not always rose -tinted for me in Amsterdam.

My money started to run out. Oh, my God.

So I started to become somewhat panicky.

And then the man sitting at the next table said... It's okay.

I'll take this.

I felt very embarrassed.

Thank you.

It's very kind of you.

He said, maybe I can help you.

He wanted to do some sort of business together.

There was a job going. He said it would be $8 ,000 per person.

That was a lot of money in the mid -70s.

He said, all you have to do is to get us some suitcases from Kuala Lumpur in

Malaysia to Amsterdam.

I guessed that he was talking about drugs.

I was worried about it, but I assumed it would be marijuana or hashish.

No big deal.

He said, you need to find a third person to complete this.

You got a deal. I said, we'll do it.

I immediately thought of one person.

Hey, Pete.

Pete was living in Las Vegas at the time.

I told him the little bit I could tell him over the phone.

He said, I'll be on the next flight.

Pete! Jerry!

Hey, man!

How you doing? The first thing that Pete asked me is, what are we carrying?

I said, probably just some weed. No big deal.

Why? You scared?

Pete didn't like Daryl's style from the beginning.

What's with this guy?

Daryl's acting like a jerk. He didn't know how to show respect.

That concerned me to quite a degree.

He might have jeopardized the whole deal like that.

The next day, we met the guy in the airport,

and all arrangements were made.

We were on our way, all three of us.

Finally, after 17 hours, we arrived totally exhausted.

All I wanted to do was go to sleep.

But the phone rings.

Are you Jerry?

And I said yes. Yeah, yeah. He said to me that my name is David.

You're going to meet with the boss and his wife.

There'll be a car for you outside at 8 p .m. Don't be late.

I like the fact that it seemed that I was the guy in charge.

I didn't want Daryl to come.

And he certainly might have sunk in the ship.

So Pete and I went to meet the boss.

We arrived at the restaurant.

We were very nervous.

This had to go well.

We were led to the table.

The boss was a... Very smooth -looking type of person.

He looked like a wealthy man, and he flaunted it.

My husband would like to talk through your itinerary right now.

The wife acted as interpreter because the boss did not speak any English at

The route was from Kuala Lumpur to Karachi.

Then back to Europe with a stop in Moscow.

I felt a shock go through me when I heard that.

I couldn't believe that it was going to stop in Moscow.

You can't get much worse than being an American during the time of the Cold

getting caught smuggling contraband in Russia.

The job seems a hell of a lot different at this point.

I asked the boss, Will the bags get checked when we stop in Moscow?

And I was told no, that the plane was only landing there to

refuel. Still Moscow, man.

Pete would tell it like it is. And he pretty much showed his disfavor with the

whole idea.

I was in agreement with Pete. I just...

I was afraid to express it because I didn't want to blow the whole thing up.

You understand?

Could you come with us, please?

They told us to follow them.

We got in the car of the boy, and we had no idea where we were going.

The car... pulled up to a wooded area.

And all of a sudden we're in darkness.

We got out of the car.

I could feel a fluttering in the heart.

I knew that there were people who had done this type of work and then all of a

sudden they're found dead in a canal somewhere.

But armed suitcases were brought to us.

I felt a sigh of relief.

We were asked to lift them.

And I remember us looking at each other and saying, wow, this is not going to be

easy.

Because it was unnaturally heavy.

So Pete asks, what is it we're carrying here?

And my heart really, really started palpitating when I heard that.

The penalties were much tougher against the smuggling of heroin.

It could be anything from 10 years to life in prison.

You want to jump?

But it was almost as if they had guns to our head at this point.

Yeah, sure, we'll do it.

It was an offer we couldn't refuse.

It was explained to us that, in

fact, it was a false suitcase.

Okay, so look, it's all hidden in the lake.

I made it very, very clear to both of them. If we have the suitcases searched,

it's absolutely imperative that the customs official does not get

to lift the lid.

You don't let him touch the case, right? He would have immediately known that it

was unnaturally heavy.

We can't be fumbling over the suitcases.

I wish one person had listened more carefully to me.

On the day of our flight, I see a newspaper.

There was a story of someone being caught with heroin in Moscow

while en route to Europe.

That set some panic off in my mind.

But I said to myself, let it go this time.

I'll be honest with you, that was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.

Little did I know what was, you know, awaiting us.

After a very long journey, we finally arrived in Moscow.

And then we hear an announcement, identify your luggage.

We were told that we wouldn't even get off the plane.

I was in a state of shock.

I couldn't believe it.

In the transit lounge, there were other people from the flight having their bags

checked. So there was no chance of just being green flagged.

I knew that right away.

Daryl, Pete, and myself all separated.

Now it was a question of each man was out for himself.

Each person knew he had to survive.

My heart was pumping.

I had the key already in my hand, so there would be no

delay and nothing to jam me up.

I thought I'd just have to get through this next step and everything will be

fine.

I got to the front of the line.

He asked to see the contents of the bag.

And I unlocked it, lifted it up, and turned it around so that he

could look into it.

My heart was fluttering very, very fast.

He put his hands through the articles.

I kept telling myself, be calm, don't show any fear or anxiety,

and don't act nervous, that that's the most important thing.

Eventually, the customs officer waved me off.

I felt a sigh of relief.

Pete was already standing on the steps.

The only one outstanding person was Daryl.

So it's not over yet.

And that's when I noticed he was fumbling for the key.

I told him to have the key ready.

He's acting like a jerk, the cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

Now he can't unlock his suitcase.

What did I tell you about this guy?

I kept my eyes on him.

Every thought of vengeance and hostility came to my mind.

He finally finds the key.

He does get it unlocked.

And then, because of all the fumbling,

The guard opened the suitcase.

At that moment, I had a spark go through me.

Daryl was doomed.

They were lifting the lid.

I saw the officer indicate to Daryl to come with him.

At that time, I had very selfish ideas in my mind.

I said we'll have to leave Darrow behind.

Let's get out of here.

It was a point of self -survival.

But before I knew it, a guard was pointing at me.

We were all Americans, so we had to be connected to each other.

The game was over.

We were the Three Stooges.

Doomed to fail.

Daryl, Pete, and myself were all separated.

Now I'm alone with my thoughts. The situation hit me very hard.

Fate was not in our hands at this point.

Only the Supreme Being knew what would happen next.

Two men came into the room, brought the suitcase and put it on top of a desk.

They exposed the heroin.

I was very shocked.

It was a hell of a lot.

But it came to 62 pounds in the three suitcases total.

I tried to ask him, what's going to happen now?

Prison, jail, the bars, you know.

He said, you are being detained by the KGB.

I realized at that point there was no getting out or waking up from this, that

this was true reality.

the court to Western reporters and cameras in sharp contrast to the way

are usually held here.

The three Americans pleaded guilty, then began to tell their story.

I was a heroin smuggler in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

It was too late to wish anything.

The only thing that one could do would be pray, not wish.

At that point.

The court said it was Amster who drew the others into the smuggling

Maximum sentence for each of the Americans is 10 years in a Soviet prison

I didn't see how I could tolerate eight years in a Russian labor camp.

My life was over.

When we arrived at the camp, I had felt at that

point that I had fallen into an abyss.

that would be impossible to ever climb out of.

I couldn't

believe what I was seeing.

They had these prisoners, like animals in a cage.

They had this expression of being

maniacs.

These were the men that I was going to have to spend eight years being

with.

We were given haircuts by the prisoners.

Instantly, you're transformed from a citizen to a prisoner.

I felt that my hair was part of my character personality.

I felt nameless, faceless, humiliated and ashamed.

On my first night lying in bed, I felt very insecure and lonely.

The home felt very far away, as if you had to cross many oceans to get to it.

If my mother had been alive when all this happened, I don't think I could

taken the guilt and the shame.

All I could have said to her was that I humbly apologize and I love you, Mom.

It wasn't very long before I drifted apart from Daryl and Pete.

I wanted to stay out of any trouble, and I wanted to get out of there as soon as

possible. That was my only wish.

But reality started to kick in.

We were given jobs in the factory.

It was incredibly difficult work.

The noise could drive you insane.

Your eyes and nose and ears are filled with sawdust and you have that itchiness

in your whole body.

The food they gave us was trash.

So, my biggest enemy was hunger.

Time just went... On and on, and there seemed to be no end in sight.

I felt that I'd become a machine at this point.

I wasn't a human being. I was just a statistic.

Dead to the world.

So I decided that things just had to change.

Good behavior got me nowhere.

So I decided one night to have them believe that I was insane.

I thought that I would be treated more in a medical way than in a criminal way.

And so I went out of the room.

The door was now locked.

They didn't treat us as if we could escape.

We were in the middle of nowhere.

I decided to run into the camp grounds screaming.

My

plan

to feign Insanity backfired.

They took me to the psycho isolator.

Each room contains one person in dire need of psychiatric help.

That was the epitome of living hell.

There was a prisoner who was in charge of the psycho -isolator.

I was told

to strip.

The only difference between him and the real guards was that a real guard would

generally never touch you.

He elbowed me in my stomach and shook me against the wall.

It was the first time I was ever physically assaulted.

Then I got very sick.

This was the lowest moment of my life.

I eventually woke up in the hospital enclosed within the prison.

I was being treated as having dysentery.

It felt strange that people were looking after me.

Eventually, I started to recover.

Before long, I was feeling pretty much normal.

One day, I heard there was a job going in the dispensary.

Where's the dispensary?

I thought it was a golden opportunity for me to get out of the factory.

And so I went.

and applied for the job.

In the dispensary, I met a woman.

Her name was... Marinka. Marinka. Her English sounded perfect.

Thank you. It was very strange to be in the company of such an attractive woman

after all the misery I had gone through up until that point.

Come at 8 tomorrow.

Right. 8. 8 o 'clock.

Life was now getting better.

As time went on, Marinka and I became more closely involved with each other.

We saw each other practically every day.

I wanted to be able to visit her when I got out.

So where do you live?

So I asked her if she could please draw me a map of precisely where her house

was in relation to the camp.

We became fascinated with one another.

I couldn't believe that it was true, that it was really happening to me.

And eventually a relationship evolved from this.

However, after about two months, my job in the dispensary came to an end.

They said, you will be going back to the factory.

It really hit me when that came to an end.

I couldn't take it.

Couldn't take it.

Now I realized I had to somehow get out of this place.

I had even more incentive because she existed and I had a place that I could

to.

So I started to think about escaping.

I had the map to her house.

However, escaping seemed impossible.

I had the possibility of being shot.

I could have been attacked by a dog, scratched from the barbed wire to the

point where I was bleeding all over.

After the first fence was another fence, which was about 10 feet.

But the major reason that made the escape Virtually impossible was the

electrification of the fence.

I could have been fried.

I just thought to myself that it would be crazy if anyone ever tried to escape.

At this point, I wasn't even halfway.

through my sentence.

For the first time in my life, I thought that it's more worthwhile to end my

life than to have to put up with something like this.

There's just no sensation with death. You're dead, you don't feel anything

anymore.

And then all of a sudden,

There were no lights on.

These were lights that were always on at night.

The periphery was totally dark.

It dawned upon me the power was out. The fence would be down.

This was the golden opportunity to do the escape.

I went to just peek outside.

I went into an area near the periphery of the camp.

I looked at both watchtowers, and I couldn't really see if they were being

manned or not.

I wanted to test whether the fence was in fact electrified.

And so I looked for a piece of wood.

It could have been that the lighting system was down, but that the fence

I didn't want to take that chance.

I reached out to touch the fence.

My heart was pounding. I was petrified.

The power could have burned flesh.

It might have caused a heart attack.

Nothing happened.

There definitely was no electricity.

It was an exhilarating feeling.

But, At the top, the fence is turned about 45 degrees.

That slant prevents you from getting right over the top.

I had to go through it.

There was no other way.

I knew it was going to be painful. There was no way that I could come out

unscathed. That I knew.

I had to...

Push up on one and pull down on the other.

It felt brutal.

I could tell that I was bleeding and that I could see it on my fingers.

It took away any strength I had from my arms.

If the power had come back on, now I could have been fried.

And at any moment, I could have been shot.

But I was willing at that point to kill myself in order to avoid having to do

another four years.

But I made it through.

Now I realize I was basically in no man's land because I had made it through

one fence, but I hadn't made it over the other.

I got up and I walked very briskly.

I couldn't risk running.

The fence was picketed, and there was no way through it. You had to go over it.

There was just no way.

But there was nothing to rest my feet on.

Then I saw these bolts.

I went for it.

Now I absolutely couldn't get caught.

Every move

I made, Felt like I was moving mountains each step.

My greatest fear was that I would have been shot.

I flung myself over.

I got up and I ran away.

I made it out of the camp.

I'm not a prisoner anymore.

There's nothing to compare it to.

It's like I had just earned my freedom.

But part of me tells me that I'm in the larger prison, that of the Soviet Union.

And I still have to escape that.

I wanted to see Marinka.

She was my only chance.

I know from the map that there's a road that's going to take me straight to her

house.

But I can't take that road because I'm going to be spotted.

That was the nerviest part.

I was physically and mentally exhausted.

Eventually, I was able to see there was clearing.

At this point, it's about midnight.

And it was pretty dark. It's unlikely anybody would have been out walking.

But I didn't know for sure.

It said on the map this was the house.

There was always that slight amount of doubt that maybe this was just too much

for her to handle, that she would force me to turn myself in.

But I had no other place to go.

I was feeling apprehensive, nervous, scared.

Whose face is going to appear when that door opens?

That was the great anxiety.

The door opened, and it was her.

Good morning.

She immediately pulled me into the house.

What are you doing here?

I escaped.

I said to her, I used the map to get here, and she immediately cut it into

small pieces. I'm sorry.

She says, you can't be here.

It's a huge, huge danger.

I understand. Then I said to her, if for any reason they catch me, I will just

say that I broke in. No, you cannot stay here. I've got nowhere else to go.

Eventually, she calmed down. She wasn't going to throw me out that night.

I knew that the next step was exiting the Soviet Union, but I hadn't even

thought out the process.

She told me, I know some people who might be able to help you.

I had a fighting chance of getting through this thing now.

The next morning, she made a few calls and found someone who was going to take

me to Moscow.

He introduced himself as Dimitri.

He gave me a complete change of clothes.

He put this armband on me.

He said, don't speak to anybody.

I was going to accompany him as a mute on the train to

Moscow. And that was going to be my disguise.

This is a guy I had never met who would risk his life in order to save mine.

Why is he doing this for me?

She said to me that there are some people in the Soviet Union who are

the government.

Dimitri is a friend of America.

I decided I had to trust him.

So the afternoon came by and it became time to leave.

We stared at each other for a few seconds.

Goodbye.

It was as if she was thinking the same thing I was thinking, that we would

somehow meet again, that this wasn't the end.

Station boarding the train was very frightening.

I had a good disguise so that I could be seen in public.

But the reality of it was that I'm an escapee from a Soviet labor camp.

I still don't know how this is going to end.

And then all of a sudden, I could see two soldiers.

I was mesmerized.

By this time, they might have been aware of the escape.

I had what you might call butterflies in my stomach.

Then I couldn't believe what I saw. They were on the lookout for me.

Now I was petrified that I might get caught.

Only when the wheels started rolling did I feel a sigh of relief.

I'm on my way up to Moscow, a place where I could be anonymous.

Now I didn't have a problem in the world with being recognized.

The day I came back, I never felt better in my life.

I felt like a free man for the first time.

They wanted to be able to release me, saving face with the Russians.

And the only way they could do that was to deny that I had escaped.

I saw Daryl only once.

Pete was already home, but there's been no further contact from either one.

The worst decision that I ever made was to smuggle 62 pounds of heroin.

I regret the whole mess, yes.

For a while, I wondered whether Marinka would ever come by and knock at my door

someday.

I didn't want to make contact because I feared for her safety, and so I

never saw Marinka ever again.