People have been quoting things out of context, using innuendo and suggesting the truth of inaccurate incomplete and irresponsible reporting of an event that was first run as a story in a 1997 issue of Cigar Aficionado, involving an investigation leading to the prosecution of several people who were smuggling Cuban cigars to the US, and who were, eventually, convicted of Trading with the Enemy. I know the story, and the participants, and it's time the truth be told so that myths that put people in an unfavorable light can be dispelled, and so that there is no more of this ambiguity.
Here it is…the story everyone’s been waiting for. But with some of the gaps filled and glaring omissions clarified, with important facts and without all the innuendo and digs. Enough is enough.
There's MUCH confusion and nefarious innuendo involved, and some insecure, jealous and truly heinous people like to use this story because they perhaps feel slighted in life and hate to see themselves smeared, so they smear others. This is no exception. So, the record does need to be set straight. Here's the deal.
This guy Bill met some guys casually in Havana a long time ago, who lived in the general vicinity back home but unfortunately in a different judicial district. When they got back, they tried to get Bill involved in their network of smuggling that they had organized months earlier involving mules in Mexico and a complicated scheme to distribute Cuban cigars. Bill had his own business, profession and license, that hardly included peddling cigars, and it was absurd to think that an established businessman was going to go around peddling cigars to make $50 a box...Bill doesn't sell cigars, and while $50 may seem like a lot to some people, like the people who make a big deal out of this story, I mean, please.
Well, the acquaintances had an elaborate scheme to put themselves at the center of a distribution web, and were using everyone from casino people in Vegas, restaurateurs in several states, and friends and relatives elsewhere, to insulate themselves from the risk by having others sell these cigars. Among the ringleaders in the group, some had a history of smuggling and drug charges, and they knew that, the more others they had involved, the further they could be distanced and insulated from the situation. One of the guys was in his late-40’s, and still lived at home with mom and dad, and this was his way to riches. Another guy was a career smuggler and who had been busted for drugs in the past. The same with the main mastermind, who used his father’s business to run everything, including shipping cigars across state lines.
As a bit of background, there's another twist that did tie Bill to the situation. Back by where Bill lived, a prominent family in town decided that, rather than watch their real estate portfolio plummet, they'd torch their multi million dollar home, and collect the insurance. They were arrested for arson. During arraignment, dad (of the family) made bail, but during mom's bail hearing, high-tailed it to Greece where he remains in seclusion without extradition. Mom, on the other hand, was left to rot in federal penitentiary because her husband left her behind. Her, and 2 sons.
The 2 sons (in their 20's) were left on the street to fend for themselves and tried to hobnob at prominent restaurants and bars as part of their hustle. One of them knew that Bill had gone to Cuba, and went to the feds seeking leniency for his mom still in jail by cooperating with them and giving this person up. This was in mid-1996, following the downing of the cessna's by the Cuban government, the subsequent enactment of the Helms-Burton Act, and a crackdown on those going to Cuba. As part of that, a directive was issued to Attorneys General, basically, to start a case and make an example of someone.
Ironically, the acquaintances had drawn attention to themselves before all of this, and the feds were aware of them. However, the jurisdiction where they were had bigger fish to fry, and the investigation took a back seat to other crimes. Not so in the other jurisdiction where Bill was.
Anyway, the kid sought leniency for his mom. He had brushes with the law himself, and knew the system and that the feds would work with him if he played vigilante and fed them another case. So, the kid of these people who torched their house, in a less-busy jurisdiction, went to the feds and told them about Bill and that Bill had gone to Cuba (ironically, Bill had given this kid an H. Upmann Sir Winston one night, after the kid was bugging him about getting cigars). The feds offered leniency for his cooperation. The elaborate set-up began.
The kid kept bothering Bill about buying cigars, all controlled, all as part of a set up. At the time, the acquaintances were sending Bill these cigars he was going to send back, because that wasn't his business, and he wasn't about to go around selling cigars. But, since there was a demand on one side from this kid who would NOT leave Bill alone, and the supply on the other side who similarly would not leave Bill alone, Bill put the 2 together. Doing so implicated Bill.
Of course, the feds weren't after Bill, except to use him as a conduit to link the acquaintances to the jurisdiction where they wanted to prosecute this case.
In the course of putting the kid (monitored and supplied by the feds as part of their sting) and the acquaintances together, Bill was caught in the middle when visited at his home one night by several federal agents and the assistant US attorney. They raided Bill’s house, took his cigars and memorabilia, and wanted Bill to cooperate in order to get the acquaintances from the other jurisdiction. Bill was over a barrel.
The picture is often painted, especially right here in these pages by those we know and love who are just out looking for trouble, that Bill and these acquaintances were long time friends, and that Bill ratted out his buddies, or went to the feds on his own, in order to save his own hide...I believe that the initial post said something like that. Indeed, that's not the case. Bill had a license in his profession that was at risk. Moreover, Bill hardly knew these people, except casually, and these guys wanted Bill to mule cigars for them, sell cigars and other items for them, and implicate Bill in THEIR illegal operation. Had the shoe been on the other foot, they would have been falling over themselves to get in line to implicate someone, ANYONE, else to save their hide, but that was not the case. These acquaintances were clearly in the sights of the feds, and with or without Bill, they were going down. So…was Bill supposed to put at risk his entire career and license and education and family and everything simply to save a casual acquaintance, someone he hardly knew who were trying to get him involved as a criminal and who were going to go down anyway? No. Of course not. There was no choice in the matter and Bill cooperated by facilitating the introduction of an undercover agent who made direct transactions with the acquaintances in the proper jurisdiction leading to their arrest and conviction for Trading with the Enemy.
Did it pain Bill that these people were busted? OF COURSE! But they knew and assumed the risk, and only tried to foist it upon Bill to insulate themselves. Unfortunately, this kid of the family who torched their house was the one who went to the feds. Had he not, there would not have been any further contact from the acquaintances in the other jurisdiction, and Bill would never have been involved.
The CA story is incomplete and leaves much out, and the other story is wholly irresponsible, incorrect, and self serving for those involved...and this here is but the tip of the iceberg insofar as the entirety of the circumstances are concerned. But while some of these bitter people come out of the woodwork to paint a bad picture of the situation, it is important that at least the short version be told so as to clear the air.
___________________ Santa Cabilla...patron saint of Quericæstan. VIVE COULTER! VIVE CPD!
Posts: 10308 | Location: Avenida de las Nalgas, Quericæstan | Registered: May 02, 2002
