[1] At an annual cost to the DEA of $80 million, and involving approximately 140 agents at its onset, Snowcap was the largest counter-narcotics operation that had been launched in Latin America.

Senior lieutenants and captains attending advanced courses were given classified briefings, attempting to recruit them from the Army to participate in operations in Bolivia and Peru.

However, Frank White never thought the level of support was adequate to protect deployed DEA agents in such remote jungle locations, but trudged forward.

[5] On May 20, 1989, tragedy struck when a US or Peruvian-owned Cessna 208 Caravan that had left Tingo María, in the Peruvian Amazonian highlands, on a DEA coca eradication mission taking place in the context of Operation Snowcap,[6] crashed into Mount Huacranacro, 100 km (62.5 mls) east of Huaral.

According to the SAC who was in charge of Operation Snowcap, Tony Laza, the DEA's "success with Medellín and Cali essentially set the Mexicans up in business, at a time when they were already cash-rich thanks to the budding methamphetamine trade in Southern California.

N119CA) crashed into a mountain (or at the end of a box canyon) north of Puerto Pizana, in the Amazonian jungle department of San Martín, Peru.

The crash reportedly happened while on a flight from Santa Lucia to Pucallpa, in the Huallaga River Valley region, and apparently owed to bad weather and low visibility (rainy and foggy) conditions during a reconnaissance operation.

Short of ammunition and water, the team held on until first light on day three, regrouped and counter-attacked, punching a hole in the insurgents defense line and linking up with Navy SEAL support and Colombian special forces sent there to assist them.