Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal

 A former Marine and retired FBI agent, Del Hahn is self-employed as a private investigator; for over a decade, he has been the contract investigator for the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners. In the Marine Corps, his military occupational specialty was scout/observer, and he was assigned to the intelligence section of Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. During the Korean War, he spent almost a year several hundred yards from the demilitarized zone, watching the activity of the troops of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

After the 1st Marine Division was pulled out of Korea, Hahn returned to school under the GI Bill and eventually received a bachelor of science in commerce from Ohio University in Athens. After graduation, Hahn was offered a job as an analyst with the CIA, but he and his new bride decided against a move to Washington, DC. He went on to work as a parts expeditor for the Euclid Road Machinery Division of General Motors and then as a revenue officer for the IRS in Toledo, Ohio.

Although he was good at his job with the IRS, Hahn dreamed of working for the FBI, so he decided to pursue a law degree at Toledo University Law School. Before completing his credit hours, he applied to the FBI and was accepted. His first assignment was to a general criminal squad, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. While assigned to Louisiana, Hahn worked on a wide variety of criminal and security investigations in New Orleans. He also became a relief supervisor and worked on a security squad that investigated civil rights complaints and spies.

Later in his career, Hahn was sent by the FBI to a specialized training seminar for the newly enacted Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and he was the case agent on the investigation of Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture Gilbert L. Dozier. During his last two years with the FBI, Hahn was assigned as the FBI representative to the Middle District Drug Task Force; the target was Barry Seal.

The father of two grown children, Hahn lives with his wife, Carolyn, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.