Sean O'Reilly

 

Woodstock Generation hippie and Vietnam War era peace activist Sean O'Reilly moved to the Enchanted Island of Key West in 1970, one year out of high school. He fell in with the Ganja Pirates who partied on this tiny island between their Marijuana-smuggling missions. He soon became a top lieutenant in a major Reefer-running organization. When the Cocaine Cowboys turned South Florida into a dangerous war zone in 1980, he moved to St. Croix in the Caribbean. From there, he ran his own organization, smuggling Jamaican Reefer to New York. After hurricane Hugo destroyed St. Croix in 1989, Sean moved to the friendly island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin where he continued his blockade-running business.  He’s a sailor, musician and ship’s carpenter who believes that Marijuana is a medicinal herb (and a versatile natural resource) that’s been given to mankind by our creator and shouldn’t be denied to the people. He did the crime and he did the time -- in some of the Caribbean’s cruelest prisons.

Just like the legends of the pirates who sailed the SevenSeas,"21st Century Pirate" is loaded with treachery and greed and disasters at sea.

The author takes you on a wild ride from his early hippie days on the island of Key West and south Florida to Jamaica and the islands of the Caribbean. Sail through the Atlantic from South America to the posh suburbs of New York ’s Long Island and across the ocean to Europe with the Buccaneers who run the blockade against the Herb. The conspiracy against Marijuana, the real reason it’s illegal and the hypocrisy of the Phony Drug Wars are all exposed in this modern day Pirate’s tale. http://piratebook.com

 

PageOneLit.com:  Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

Sean O'Reilly:  I was born on New York’s Long Island. Right after high school, I moved to the island of Key West where I like to think I actually grew up spiritually. Then I moved to St. Croix and St. Martin, so I’ve always been an islander. Reading has always been a big part of my life but I didn’t start writing until I was in my 40s.

My earliest influences were the Beatles and the pacifists in the anti-war movement. The senseless slaughter of the Vietnam War drove me into the hippie anti-war camp. And the Beatles songs about peace and hope for a better future were more conducive for a good trip during the psychedelic 70s.

PageOneLit.com:  Why do you write?

Sean O'Reilly:   I write because I have a good story to tell. I started to write my story when I was incarcerated in the infamous Basse Terre prison on the French island of Guadeloupe. There wasn’t much else to do there so it came out naturally.

PageOneLit.com:  What is a Pirate? In 10 words or less define a Pirate? Are you or have you ever lived a "Pirates" life? They say Pirates have their own rules -- Do you agree? If so what are these rules?

Sean O'Reilly:  My kind of Pirate is a sailor who smuggles contraband. There are also pirates who raid ships, steal cargo and kill crew but I’m not that kind if pirate and I sure don’t condone those activities. Those people are thieves and murderers and I have no respect at all for them.

I lived the life of a Pirate for 30 years. I rarely checked in with Customs and Immigration when I sailed into an island. Many times I’ve pulled up to a country’s fuel docks fully loaded with Marijuana or Hash. I had cash buried underground, offshore corporations and phony businesses to camouflage my real operation – Ganja smuggling.

I agree that Pirates have their own rules.  My kind of Pirates rules were:

1. Your word is your bond.  In this business all you have is your word, so if you give your word to someone you’d better keep it.  

2. Pay your crew first.  

3. Never toss the Ganja into the Sea. 

4. Don’t be a Rat.

PageOneLit.com:   Discuss your new book, "21st Century Pirate" -- In "21st Century Pirate" you write about sailing the Atlantic as well as Key West, South Florida, Jamaica, and the Caribbean. Do you sail and if so talk a little about life on the sea.

Sean O'Reilly:  Yes, I’m a sailor. I love to sail, it gives me an incredible feeling of freedom. In fact my crew and I loved sailing so much, we took the long way from Jamaica to New York. Instead of heading north from Jamaica through the Mona or Windward Passage, we steered southeast through the Caribbean to Trinidad. It was thousands of miles longer but hundreds of times safer because the US. Coast Guard was guarding those seaways in the Mona and Windward Passages. We’d sail and fish our way through the Caribbean and when we got down between Trinidad and Grenada, we’d shoot out into the Atlantic Ocean. Then we’d sail hundreds of miles east before we turned north towards New York. This way, we never looked like we were headed directly to the US. from Jamaica when the Coast Guard and Air Force drug interdiction planes flew over us. In the northern Caribbean we were constantly buzzed by these planes.

Life at Sea refreshed me spiritually. We packed the boat with books and caught up on our reading. Fishing in the Caribbean was excellent and we always had fresh fish to eat. We dragged a yellow feather lure everywhere we went and occasionally we hooked into some sea monsters. At night we were pelted with flying fish that landed on deck. If they were big enough, we ate them for breakfast. We never carried alcohol onboard because we didn’t want to get sloppy, but we always had plenty of fresh Jamaican Pot to smoke.

 

PageOneLit.com:   "21st Century Pirate" is a great book for 2007 with "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" out and a new "Pirates" reality TV show 'Pirate Master'  (Mark Burnett — the man behind Survivor) --- What do you think is our society's interest and fascination with Pirates?

Sean O'Reilly:   I think people are fascinated with Pirates because they envy their freewheeling life style. Today most people are caught-up in the daily grind of working 9 to 5 and they need an escape. Pirates are exciting, swashbuckling, they break the rules, and they tell the man to fuck-off. They do what they want and damn the consequences. Pirates sail the Seven Seas and travel to exotic islands.

Pirates have no respect for governments and I think a lot of people have lost respect for the hypocrites in power today.

PageOneLit.com:  Why should someone buy a copy of your new book  ”21st Century Pirate" ?

Sean O'Reilly:  People should buy this book because it’s a true story that’s more exciting than a lot of fiction that’s out there. As an added bonus they’ll get an environmental tale hidden inside a smuggling story.

 

PageOneLit.com:  In "21st Century Pirate" you discuss the history of Marijuana/Hemp and how it was this 'planets largest agriculture crop and most important industry, involving thousands of products and businesses' - Hemp was used to produce the overall majority of earths fiber, fabric, lighting oil, paper and medicines' -- Discuss your research and why this natural resource was outlawed in 1937.

Sean O'Reilly:  The research was simple. For that, I turned to the Cult Classic book that explains the Conspiracy against Marijuana better and in more depth than anything else out there. “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer is the bible of Cannabis-Hemp Conspiracy books. Jack gave me permission to use any info I needed from his book. Jack is a Cannabis-Hemp activist and he’s happy to share his research with anyone at: http://www.jackherer.com/

Cannabis- Hemp was outlawed in 1937 because a group of rich industrialists felt threatened by the superiority of this versatile natural resource. They had just discovered how to make synthetic nylon fibers and plastics from coal and oil as well as a new sulfate/sulfite process for making paper from wood pulp. Fiber for clothes and paper had previously been made from Cannabis-Hemp so these wealthy robber-barons had to put Hemp out of business. They used their friends in politics and bribed anyone else who stood in their way to pass the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937, which made it prohibitively expensive to produce Cannabis-Hemp. Hemp-made products were produced in an environmentally safe way while the new technologies for producing paper and synthetic fibers have polluted our country.  So these industrialists and their corrupt friends in politics have done a real disservice to the world. Unfortunately, this sad story continues today.

 

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PageOneLit.com:  If Hollywood called today and said they wanted to make a feature film from "21st Century Pirate" - Who would you cast as your actors and why?

Sean O'Reilly:  I’d like to have Johnny Depp in the lead role because of his work in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. I’d put Willie Nelson, Bill Maher, Jack Black and Woody Harrelson in the movie because of their advocacy of Marijuana. And Cheech and Chong would get cameo roles for old time’s sake. Milla Jovovich would represent the ladies because she’s a Pot smokin’ beauty and I loved her in “The Fifth Element,” which is my favorite Bruce Willis movie.

PageOneLit.com:  What did you learn from writing "21st Century Pirate" ?

Sean O'Reilly:   I learned that I liked to write. And I learned how to edit because my editor had a nervous breakdown while editing the book. I also learned that it’s good therapy to write about life’s traumatic episodes. There was one extremely traumatic episode that I was afraid to write about. I’d have nightmares and go into cold sweats just thinking about it. It took me two years to get the courage to write the story and when I finally did, the nightmare ended.

 
PageOneLit.com:   What's next?

Sean O'Reilly:  We’re working on a script for a movie based on the book.  I’m collaborating with Native Films

( www.nativefilms.com ) in Miami on the movie. We’ll be reaching out to some of those actors that I mentioned.

I would also like to write another book on the same subject. I have lots of Sea Stories and I’d also like to collect some stories from other Ganja-smuggling Pirates to include in the book.

PageOneLit.com:  What was the last book you read?

Sean O'Reilly:  The last book I read was, “George Bush, The Unauthorized Biography” by Webster G. Tarply and Anton Chaitkin. This is a six hundred and fifty page expose of the first president Bush. The author, Anton Chaitkin became a friend of mine and he allowed me to use an excerpt from his book in my story. I included it in Appendix B. It’s the story of Don Aronow, a south Florida Pirate who designed most of the powerboats we used in the smuggling business. Aronow may have also been using his boats for smuggling drugs. He was a friend of George H. W. Bush and the authors speculate that his gangland-style execution may have been part of a damage control operation to clean up any possible witnesses in the sordid Iran-Contra gun and drug running scandal.

PageOneLit.com:   Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

Sean O'Reilly:  My favorite hobby is woodworking. I build my own furniture and wrote the book at a desk that I made myself. I’m not a fine artist, more of a country carpenter. I get totally involved when I’m creating something from wood, like a Zen meditation. 

My other hobbies include bicycle riding, swimming and sailing. I ride my bike twice a day for exercise and to check to see if any of my neighbors are throwing out any precious hardwoods. I’ve found big oak beams and other beautiful hardwoods in the trash and built strong sturdy furniture from these recycled treasures.