By STAN MADDUX
Indiana Correspondent MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — Leo Sharp was famous for raising hybrid day lilies. But, now, the spotlight is shining brighter on him for being the world’s oldest drug mule. His cocaine runs for a Mexican drug cartel in his eighties has the once renowned horticulturalist being portrayed by legendary Hollywood tough guy Clint Eastwood in “The Mule,” due to hit movie screens Dec. 14. According to Sharp’s biography, busloads of people came to buy his flowers but when his business ran into financial troubles, some Mexican laborers on his Indiana farm suggested he transport drugs for a cartel. For several years, Sharp made runs in his pickup truck from Arizona to Detroit for the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, once led by notorious kingpin “El Chapo,” Joaquin Guzman. Sharp delivered hundreds of pounds of cocaine on each trip and drove back with $2 million or more in proceeds for the suppliers, authorities said. In 2011, he was finally caught when found with more than 200 pounds of cocaine in bricks during a traffic stop by Michigan State Police on Interstate 94 outside Ann Arbor. “I would never have suspected anything like that about him,” said Susan Brandon, a former longtime neighbor of Sharp, who died in 2015 at age 92. She and other former neighbors in Michigan City said they exchanged a few “hellos” with Sharp over the years but hardly talked to him. He came out of his house mostly to tend to the wealth of flowers in his yard, or to grab his mail and newspaper. “He had a beautiful yard. It would bloom from spring all the way to the fall,” said Charles Hampton. Hampton vowed to see the movie to learn more about the man who claimed, during his federal drug-running case, that he planted flowers in the Rose Garden at the White House for former President George H.W. Bush. Sharp was 90 when he was sentenced to three years in a federal prison. He was released one year later because of declining health. A recipient of the Bronze Star medal for heroic service during World War II, Sharp was known in the drug world as “El Tata.” Darryl Goldberg, his criminal defense attorney, said his late client was colorful and loved telling stories about traveling the world during the war and later, as a civilian. Goldberg said he hardly ever saw him without a smile on his face. “There’s really no other words to describe him other than just ‘one of a kind,’” he recalled. The attorney liked him so much that he stayed in touch with Sharp after his release from prison. According to movie producers, all of the filming was done in Georgia and New Mexico. Former neighbors seemed a bit disappointed they never saw a film crew at the two-story white house Sharp lived in less than a mile from Lake Michigan – but having the 88-year-old Eastwood playing him is thrilling enough. “I think it's pretty cool. Pretty neat,” Brandon said. Jeff Santana, a retired Michigan City firefighter and current LaPorte County councilman, is both excited and concerned about the film. “I think it's cool for Michigan City, but I'm hoping the storyline doesn't glorify a drug dealer,” he said. At sentencing, Goldberg said Sharp – typical, perhaps, for a man of his time – accepted responsibility and apologized for his actions. “I’m really heartbroken I did what I did, but it’s done,” Sharp told the judge. He did make a last-ditch effort to avoid incarceration by offering to pay his $500,000 penalty by growing Hawaiian papayas. The court predictably declined. Goldberg said Sharp could talk “all day” about his travels during and after the war and his love for experiencing different cultures. He also noted the high-spirited Sharp could be a little grumpy and rough around the edges. “He’s part of the Greatest Generation, right? They just don’t make them like that anymore,” Goldberg said. |
