The Nation - News from May 23, 1986

Two Americans and a Briton were charged with conspiring to smuggle seven U.S. military helicopters and 4,477 helicopter spare parts to Iran for $25 million, a federal indictment unsealed in New York said. The case was cracked because the broker who bought from the conspirators was an undercover agent for the U.S. Customs Service, said Ruth Wedgewood, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. Those arrested were Herbert Alwyn Smith, 49, a British citizen, and Joe Peeples, 56, of Houston, and Jerry Cunningham, 48, of Miami.