[[Andrew "Drew" Thornton]] was a former narcotics officer who was indicted in 1981 as a member of "[[The Company]]," a drug/arms organization. He was accused of flying a plane to [[South America]] for the reputed drug ring.[^1] Thornton died on September 13, 1985, when he parachuted out of a plane with 77 pounds of cocaine. His mysterious death was discussed at length in the book *The Blue Grass Conspiracy* by Sally Denton. [[Brian Leighton]], a former Assistant [[United States Attorney|U.S. Attorney]] who prosecuted members of "The Company," expressed satisfaction at Thornton's death, stating, "I'm glad his parachute didn't open. I hope he got a hell of a high out of that..."[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.