As of March 13th, I started insulin treatment for diabetes. I have been a prediabetic for a number of years but I have never been on any medication. Now along comes chemotherapy with all its wonderful side effects, one of which is very elevated blood sugar. I now "pop pills"and I'm "shooting up"...believe me this was not a part of the narcotics industry I ever wanted to experience...
In the latter part of 1985, I met Geraldo, a trusted member of the Pablo Escobar drug cartel. As it turned out, Geraldo was in the Escobar cartel hierarchy overseeing their money laundering activities here in the US. A confidential informant told us Geraldo was also a major trafficker. Given that I had established a relationship with Geraldo, our agency would spare no expense to bust him and hunt down his amigos.
The mid-1980s was a crazy time in Los Angeles for drug traffickers. It was a "Westward-Ho"movement as all federal agencies were putting a lot of heat on the "narcos" in the south east region of the United States. Smuggling cocaine through Tijuana was on the rise which meant the dopers needed local contacts to help launder their cash.
I've had money couriers drive up and throw a satchel through the open passenger window of my car, containing as much as a quarter of a million dollars in cash. Crazy shit when you think about it, imagine if the courier mixed up my car for that of an innocent bystander!
I've taken in millions of dollars meeting in hotel suites; but for good old Geraldo we used the crème de la crème of our smoke and mirrors props...the "storefront", which was an expensive operation to set up.
The "storefront" was slang Feds used for an undercover business office, completely wired for sound and video recording. I leased an office space in Glendale in my undercover name. Chico, my Bolivian informant introduced me to Geraldo at my new office digs. Little did Geraldo know that this was the grand opening, expressly created for him...and anybody else he chose to bring along.
Over the next few months I converted Geraldo's narco bucks into wire transfers or cashiers checks. Business was a rockin' and a rollin' with Geraldo sending in some of his underlings to boot.
We knew the cash was the proceeds from cocaine sales. But to tell the truth, at this point I had no idea how high up in the food chain of this Colombian organization Geraldo...all 5' 7" of him, stood. As time went on, Geraldo seemed to trust me more and more. Finally one day he told me that he worked directly for Escobar. He asked if I could handle all the organization's money coming into Miami!
"Mi amigo, of course I can! My partner Raoul and I have well established operations in Southern Florida."
I drove to Geraldo's home in Montebello. There were four young men mulling around his front yard. I didn't approach the house, I just leaned against the front fender of my Mercedes. They stared at me and I stared back. A couple of hours later, Geraldo and I settled back in our first class seats heading for Fort Lauderdale. Geraldo was an affable little guy and fortunately for me he spoke decent English. "Those guys at my house told me not to go with you. They thought you were a cop." I joked around about his comments, even telling him he probably should've stayed home. I inquired about a courier Geraldo had sent to my undercover office that wore crazy bright colored striped pants. For some reason the courier thought he had $385,000, but when we counted, it was only $310,000. He seemed very upset and confused over the short of $75,000. I never saw that courier again and I was curious if he was still working for Geraldo. "No, he was called back to Columbia, he was tortured, and his body was cut up and thrown in the river"Geraldo said in a matter-of-fact manner, as he grabbed a pillow to take a short catnap.
Raoul, my undercover counterpart, who was meeting us in Fort Lauderdale, was a sizable and impressive man. A flashy dresser, he fit that "OK Corral" reputation Miami was known for. He was born in Cuba and at about 6'4" with thick wavy black hair and a full beard... no one would ever guess he was an undercover agent. I had worked with Raoul in the past and I knew he would have both Geraldo and me impressed with the "smoke and mirrors" props he laid out for this operation.
Each of us had a posh suite at a luxury hotel on the marina in Fort Lauderdale. Docked in slip at the marina was a 55 foot Hatteras sports fishing yacht, used only for undercover operations... it was completely wired for sound and video. Raoul had planned a little cruise that evening to impress Geraldo and the boat was stocked with food and booze. Geraldo had his own little surprise, he invited a local Colombian along. As an undercover agent you can never under estimate guys like Geraldo...they will always have someone covering their back. Sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't.
It was a beautiful evening as we slowly motored out of the marina towards the Inland Waterway. As we passed a moored yacht, Geraldo and his newfound pal pointed at the boat's stern, laughing at the name..."Heaven Can Wait". I've never forgotten that night looking at that name and wondering to myself what kind of humor was going through these two Colombians minds. I learned early on, that life was very cheap in Colombia. Perhaps they knew their careers had a limited life span, but for now life was good and heaven can wait. That was my impression.
We spent several nights in Fort Lauderdale discussing our new business venture with Geraldo and a great deal of time entertaining him. You could say it was a lot of "wine, women and song" with the emphasis on procuring women for Geraldo.
Finally Raoul and I got our bonus... Geraldo placed a phone call from my hotel suite to Pablo Escobar, and Raoul negotiated to meet with Escobar and a person called the chemist, in Rio de Janeiro.
I know some may doubt that we really talked to Escobar. But when multiple federal agencies join together in a high-level investigation like this, amazing technology happened even for those days. The phone Geraldo used to make the call from my suite was tapped and the number he called was a known phone number belonging to Pablo Escobar.
I had parked my Mercedes in one of the large garages across from the Delta terminal at LAX. Geraldo and I were joking about something and we casually strolled up to my car. I went to put my key in the drivers side door and was startled that there was no lock. The lock was drilled out without leaving a scratch on the paint. It was the same with the trunk lock and the glove box lock. I quizzically looked over at Geraldo who just shrugged his shoulders and grinned. Since I didn't have a bullet in the back of my head, or something worse, my car obviously passed the white glove test search done by Geraldo's comrades.
You never underestimate guys like Geraldo or ever take them for granted. I now knew that Geraldo would never have stepped foot on our yacht in Fort Lauderdale had my car search turn up anything that linked me to law enforcement.
I was pissed at the little Colombian shit sitting next to me, but at the same time I was thrilled to be alive. Guess what I was thinking as we drove out of the airport... "heaven CAN wait"!!
I go tomorrow, Wednesday, to start another 10 hour day of chemotherapy. The after effects seem to worsen with each treatment. But what's the hey, I knew what I signed on for and I'm so happy to be close to one of the best cancer centers in the country. When the aftereffects of the chemo and my diabetes hit me, I have no choice but to bend over, reach down, grab a root and growl...and growl again.
I truly can relate to Geraldo and his Floridian buddy, when they laughed at the name of the yacht moored in Fort Lauderdale. As perilous as things may seem, I agree with them and I also truly believe that "Heaven Can Wait".
In the late 1980’s I was the lead undercover agent in an investigation my agency called "Operation Deep Snow". Terry was a person of interest that I had previously met in South Lake Tahoe...he was overly confident, brash, smooth talking, but most of all he was very greedy.
A couple of months later, I was in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas working another undercover money laundering investigation when Terry called me. He reminded me that we had met briefly in Tahoe . Although I didn't know his full name, the very cocky Terry Trupp was quick to blurt it out. Surprisingly he followed up claiming that he was the Mayor of South Lake Tahoe. Trupp sounded elated when he boasted that he was calling me from the city council chambers! I could hear voices in the background. "Is this guy for real!", I asked myself...no one chances talking about this stuff over the telephone???
Indeed, if what he was saying was true I had some mad man by the tail, who loved living on the edge and got off talking about dirty money in the presence of his colleagues. From our previous meeting in Tahoe, Trupp already knew that my business was laundering drug money, and I now knew he wanted in for his piece of “American Pie”...he also wanted me to get him a 100 kilos of cocaine...a pretty tall order for any would-be trafficker, especially for a Mayor.
I could usually find something that I liked in most of the crooks I befriended. Since this investigation lasted nearly 20 months it would've made it easier for me if I could've found something in Terry that I liked...I just couldn't get there with him. The Mayor was in his mid 40s and his wife, Kim, was about 21 years old, and an absolute knockout. Terry had no problem boasting that Kim was his former stepdaughter and poured out some sordid details about her mid-teenage years when he was married to her mother! Please don't let your mind wander too far this is a family blog PG-13.
I never let my undercover work with the bad guys become personal. It was always strictly business. Social dinners and drinking yes, but the topics always turned to business. Not so with the Mayor and his doper, bodyguard, and alleged hit-man and partner in crime...Tom Tamez. These guys were such sleaze bags that I took a personal interest sticking it to them hard. Hoping... no praying, they would get maximum prison sentences. Tamez was a prime suspect in two unsolved murders, an expert in martial arts who allegedly could put your eye out with the flip of a matchbook cover. One day Tamez said he wanted to have a serious talk with me. He directed me through knee-high snow out into the woods. I could tell by Tamez's demeanor that he was trying his best to instill fear in me and he meant me harm if our conversation did not go well. Trust me, he had my attention. Since I am writing this I guess you can tell how my walk "In the deep snow" turned out. I'm still standing, unscathed... probably because I came across more ruthless then Tamez expected. All Tamez succeeded in doing with this walk in the deep snow was burying himself in additional prison time. The look of the snow rather reminded me of high quality coca. I hope Tamez enjoyed the sparkly snowflake powder walk... I know I did. It was game on, and my adrenaline was pumping.
In the end about 20 or so people in the South Lake Tahoe area were arrested. Casino employees, doctors and real estate agents were among some of the others prosecuted. The Federal government seized cocaine, cash and a cache of weapons. I genuinely felt sorry for Kim, the Mayors’ young wife...she served Federal prison time. I don't think she ever had a fair shot at life, being married to that petifiler at such a young age. For me it was never personal with her, it was strictly business. Trupp loved showing her off. Kim was always with Trupp, in the wrong place at the wrong time, but did she really have a choice? It would be a miracle if this blog ever circulated to her, but I would like her to know my feelings.
Just recently, I have encountered some severe abdominal cramps. They come and they go. Doubts and fears try to creep into my mind. Is this pain, pancreas related or is it a more simple explanation, a non-life-threatening explanation? If I allow fear to take over, I most certainly will be history...and my positive attitude will be set back to "square one". Most of us see fear as a weakness. Tamez certainly would have sensed fear if I showed it during our "walk in the deep snow". Most likely I would've lost in any physical confrontation, since I was unarmed and no match for him. But now, just like then, I will never let fear take over and push me back to death's door...back to "square one".
In my undercover work with Mayor Terry Trupp, I intentionally put fear into him. I portrayed myself as an unsavory criminal. I needed the control. So I had to be ruthless...simply because failure was not an option.
Failure is never an option not then, not now.
Currently I must be ruthless with myself. I must channel my fear to make me stronger. I can't physically control the disease that rages within me; but I can control regressing to "square one". F**k "square one". F**k cancer!
I played golf this past week at our little country club. It was my off week from chemotherapy and I do so look forward to playing golf during that week. I can tell the effects that chemo is having on me. Exhaustion, lack of strength and balance are the big things. Our group of Tom's soldiers remains pretty much intact, and we still play together Wednesday and Friday. On those days we combine with a larger group of guys and we all enter into a skins game competition. Nowadays I count on golf for my mental health therapy days. Most of my golfing buds are praying for me and giving encouragement. It's good, it's a privilege to have that kind of support and it is helping to me through this arduous process.
Unfortunately my pace of play has slowed enough to irritate someone. In the future, it may irritate more players... I hope not. However, I must be more cognitive of other people's feelings. After all I'm not the only sick person out there. Most people don’t know that I have very quick and explosive temper. In the past, I have been too quick to strike out and it has cost me. I need my good friends that are so supportive of me.
Most would agree that you don't bring a knife to a gunfight. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape and you don't piss into the wind. Maybe we should quit trying to fill inside straights? Good advice for conservative personalities...well for most people, but me....
During my working days I dealt with a number of gun toters. I once had a guy pull a 22 Magnum and hold it to my head. This happened in Los Angeles and I happened to be armed that day. I was carrying a switchblade. A beautiful knife my father gave me which was taken off a WW II German paratrooper. As calmly as I could, I told Mr. Crook to relax. I had something in my pocket I wanted to show him. Cops don't carry beautiful bone handled switchblades and when he saw it, it got him to back off. Fortunately, my knife and some good old fashion tap-dancing prevailed over his gun. What the bad guy missed was the wire that I was wearing.
In the early 90s, I worked my way into a nationwide African American criminal enterprise. On the surface, they were a coast to coast computer sales company. In reality, they were using the company to smuggle and sell cocaine, specifically crack. I had worked my way in and was close to Eric, an ex-con that had served time for murder. Eric pumped iron at Gold's Gym every day, and at about 6'6" he was built better than Superman. As intimidating as he was, I found things I liked in the guy and we shared a number of cocktails together. I began laundering his organization's LA crack money and he soon introduced me to his contacts in Atlanta and then New York. "Blue" ran the NYC side of the organization and his minions delivered one half million dollars to me in the morning and one half million dollars to me in the afternoon for as many days during the week as I could stay in the Big Apple.
Cases like this require the resources of other federal agencies and local law enforcement to be successful. By no means did I ever do this alone or could I ever do this alone. The FBI did my backup security and a great deal of outside surveillance and manned wiretaps. The NYPD narcotics squad also had excellent surveillance teams and vans loaded with very high-tech surveillance tracking equipment. Believe it or not the bad guys had even better high-tech counter-surveillance equipment. If I had to guess they may have had more fire power.
"Blue's" minions would meet me in my hotel suite dragging their suitcases full of money. Proceeds of crack sales consisting of 20’s, 10’s, 5’s and even singles, totaling one half million dollars per delivery... it was a lot of bags. More often than not they came packing heat. One short stocky girl, with long dreadlocks, seemed to enjoy flashing the fully automatic weapon she carried under her overcoat. My adrenaline rushes never stopped. I wasn’t scared, I was hooked and addicted to the rush.
I was in New York City doing my "traveling money-laundering show" the day the World Trade Center bombing took place. Every FBI agent in the city was sent downtown, including my backup team. I made up some flimsy excuse to "Blue’s" thugs as to why I had to leave town immediately. Needless to say my unexpected departure did not set well with "Blue", as he had a lot of money he still needed to unload...I also had to come up with a decent explanation to Superman Eric back in LA!
People that try undercover work either love it or hate it; there's really is no in between. You can never be half good at this type of work. Like in a good game of "Texas hold 'em", you're either all in or you're out.
I spent a great deal of my life going against the grain. Defying the odds if you may. I put on a lot of capes and I've ruined many pants by pissing in the wind. I'm still a sucker for that inside straight draw...I guess it's the rush I get when I pull it off.
People must believe they can use unconventional actions or mindsets commensurate with knives, capes, wind and straights to get through life's adversities. It has propelled me to fight this current challenge and gave me the strength to bend over, reach down, grab a root and growl. Try it, you have nothing to loose.
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