Attorneys Frank Rubino and Jon May had a world-famous client who turned down the “perfect exit strategy” to become the only leader of a foreign country seized for trial in the United States.

The late Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who died Monday at 83, became a celebrity who — despite his barely-visible status — packed a Miami courtroom for an 11-month drug trial, conviction and sentencing.

Before Noriega was captured in 1989 from a noisy sanctuary — the U.S. Army blared hard rock music and gunned the engines of military vehicles near his room — in Panama City's Vatican embassy, Rubino negotiated a deal with the U.S. State Department, which brought in the Justice Department. Noriega however refused to go into exile with a promise his indictment would be dismissed.