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An
organized crime ring fronted by a former Republican operative, who claims
to have
learned the 'art' of money laundering as part of the Iran-Contra operation,
was behind a massive drug move two years ago this week which ended with a DC9
airliner from St. Petersburg Fl busted in Mexico carrying 5.5 tons of pure
cocaine, the
MadCowMorningNews has learned.
The crime ring backing the
flight of the DC9 was led by self-described Iran Contra insider Marc Harris,
whose associates number at least three convicted drug traffickers
of note.
Harris is a former
staffer for Senator Jesse Helms, and his
ties to the national Republican Party go back to at least 1988, when he
was the Florida manager for former US Army General, National Security Advisor
and White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig’s presidential campaign.
According
to
a newspaper in Panama, where he operated while on the lam, many of Harris'
biggest clients were prominent Republican politicians.
Iran Contra "Blast from the past"
In addition to drug trafficking, the ring is
also accused of looting dozens of
publicly-held companies
for a period spanning almost two decades, duping
investors in 'small cap' publicly-held companies
using 'pump and dump' stock fraud schemes.
According to experts in financial crime, the
ring operates as a so-called “hyena pack"
responsible for bankrupting dozens of public
companies like
SkyWay Communications.
Until
he was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for felony fraud, Harris operated
from a roost offshore in Panama during the
mid '90’s.
In addition to General Al Haig, Harris also boasts a more
than passing acquaintance with Iran Contra stalwarts like Gen. Jack Singlaub.
And as
befits anyone engaged in global organized crime, his
spook
connections are multinational, extending from Chile to Peru.
Our Man in Lima: Peruvian Flake
Former Peruvian spymaster
Vladimiro Montesinos,
for example, narrowly avoided arrest, and subsequent public disclosure of the CIA's role over a decade in support of
now-deposed and disgraced Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, by fleeing
Peru in Marc Harris' jet.
Ironically, when, under
pressure from the United States, Harris was seized by Nicaraguan
authorities in Managua and summarily expelled from the country, he was flown
back to Miami to be formally arrested on a US Department of Homeland Security
plane which looked much like the DC9 involved in the 5.5 ton bust.
Although
Harris is currently in federal prison,
his associates are still active, and control SkyWay’s successor company,
now poised, under a new name, World Capita, to repeat the pattern of fraud.
"Typical Caribbean crime."
The
ring controlled SkyWay Communications, as well as the firm's twin DC9's,
and is known informally to law enforcement officials as the Orlando Mafia
(with no known ties to the more famous Italian Mafia.)
Among the members of the ‘hyena pack’ are Skyway
Communications’ Chairman Glenn Kovar and his son and
partner-in-crime, Skyway President Brent Kovar, the last true
owners of the busted DC9 airliner.
“It's typical
‘Caribbean crime,’” explained one financial expert who has tracked the group for a
decade. “The group has a strong base in Florida, and offshore in Costa Rica and Panama.”
The
Orlando-based ring maintains connections to political figures in Florida and
Texas, as
well as to well-known former Iran Contra operatives, and operates with
seeming official impunity.
Bush Pioneer Led Secret Life

It includes
such well-known fraudsters as Saudi arms dealer (and CIA fixer) Adnan Khashoggi,
himself no slouch when it comes to busting out public companies. Khashoggi made
off with 300 million from GenesisIntermedia, court documents reveal, in
the Stockgate fraud.
One of the
three companies used in the swindle, Holiday RV, was owned and run by Michael
Farkas, who founded SkyWay, and a secretive
Midwestern media baron and
Bush "Pioneer," Stephen Adams,
who personally bought one million dollars worth of billboard ads in support of
Bush's 2000 run for the Presidency.
Even though no
one seems to be trying very hard to find him, Khashoggi is currently a fugitive
from justice in the case.
At one time, Khashoggi's chief lieutenant
and fellow Saudi swindler, Ramy El-Batrawi, former President of
Jetbourne, a Miami CIA proprietary which flew Oliver North's TOW missiles to the
Iranians during the Iran Contra Scandal, owned
both DC9's later owned by SkyWay.
Small world.
Also,
apparently, difficult to police.
"In an American Scandal, the bodies pile up."

While it is
well-known to law enforcement officials, the group nonetheless operates
with apparent official impunity, perhaps bolstered by strong relationships with
prominent politicians and national Republican figures like Florida Senator Mel
Martinez and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
“These guys
have very openly looted public company after public company,” said one financial
fraud expert we spoke to. “I’ve
seen a list of as many as seventy small public companies looted,
or ‘busted-out, by this one ‘hyena pack.’"
"Yet they’ve
somehow managed to escape criminal prosecution.”
The financial
expert we spoke with insisted on anonymity. He was concerned, he said, over the mysterious
disappearance 18 months ago of a disgruntled investor who had mounted a
challenge to the group...
Until his
disappearance, Chris Ford was one of the hyena pack’s most vociferous critics.
One person we spoke with, who has personal knowledge of the case, suspects foul
play.
"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

The
April 11 2006 bust in Cuidad del Carmen
in the Mexican Yucatan kicked
off the current drug trafficking scandal. It went into high gear eighteen months
later, with the discovery of 4 tons of cocaine on another airplane
from St. Petersburg, this one a Gulfstream II business jet.
The subsequent
corruption and drug smuggling scandal has been roiling Mexico, but not yet
the U.S., and has led to the seizure of a fleet of over 100 drug planes which
were purchased, say U.S. and Mexican authorities, with drug money from Mexico’s
dominant Sinaloa Cartel.
Although this Friday marks the
second anniversary of the seizure of
the DC9 airliner—
dubbed “Cocaine One” because it
was painted to look like official U.S. planes owned by the Dept. of Homeland
Security—U.S. law
enforcement officials seem no closer than before to arresting Americans who may have
assisted the cartel's efforts.
Even though the Americans who sold drug smuggling aircraft to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel
comprise a virtual Who’s Who of politically-powerful players, many
with links
to U.S. military intelligence, the CIA, and the Dept of Homeland Security,
the FBI and the DEA have not considered any of the American sellers to be
suspects in the case.
"Mum's the word" at the St. Petersburg Times
The
Americans were unaware of who they were selling
their planes to, law enforcement officials continue to insist. Its a point of
view with which the owners are only too happy to agree.
For example, the St. Petersburg,
FL-based DC9 was registered to--but not owned by--Frederic Geffon, a man who claims he
is innocent of any wrongdoing because,
before its seizure
in Mexico, he sold the plane to an
"aircraft broker" in California.
Days
later, after
the plane had already been busted in Mexico (and the horse already out of the
barn) Geffon faxed
a bill of sale to the FAA. Yet neither the FAA nor any law enforcement agency
have taken Geffon to task for clearing himself after the fact.
Also, a check of FAA records shows that
"aircraft broker" Jorge Corrales has no discernible history of buying and
selling airplanes for a living. Yet despite this transparent ruse, no
Americans have yet been charged with any crime.
St. Petersburg is home to two airports
currently receiving scrutiny for their associations with as many as 11 planes which found their way into drug cartel fleet,
according to
a story by Bill Conroy
in NarcoNews.
And
The Tampa Tribune reported that St. Petersburg-Clearwater International
Airport is a focus of an international investigation into the purchase of
airplanes by a Mexican drug cartel.
However,
according to the hometown paper where the story
takes place, the St. Petersburg Times...Mum's
the word.
"Back-dated sales documents? No problem!"
This apparent
lack of official enthusiasm for prosecution of the possible American partners of
Mexico's dominant Sinaloa drug cartel extends to investigating their financial
crimes as well.
The official in charge of SkyWay’s bankruptcy,
for example, told us he had gotten a court order
ordering Frederic Geffon not to sell or even move, the DC9.
Geffon,
according to the bankruptcy official, blatantly ignored the court order,
replaced SkyWay’s name with his own on the DC9’s FAA registration, and sold the
plane.
To date,
Frederic Geffon has not been charged with any crime.
Similarly, the
bankruptcy official told us, he had informed airport officials in St. Petersburg
of the court order preventing the plane from taking off.
All to no avail.
The Homeland Security Inc. Scandal

When Conroy's
NarcoNews story fingered a man named
Donald A. Mitchell
as a close associate of SkyWay fraudsters Glenn and Bernie Kovar, our
interest was piqued.
"(SkyWay's)
Glenn Kovar has another interesting business associate, according to a check of
Florida’s
corporation records. Glenn Kovar is listed as an officer in an
inactive Florida company called
Homeland Security Tracking Enforcement Inc., along with his wife Joy and
another businessman named Donald A. Mitchell," Conroy reported.
Mitchell,
along with both Kovars, was also a director of a cookie-cutter successor fraud
scheme to Skyway, another Homeland Security-related scam company called
Homeland Security Tracking Enforcement.
To change
corporate shells and continue his
career in felony fraud, SkyWay President Brent Kovar’s business card merely changed
the lettering around the bogus seal designed to resemble that of the Dept of
Homeland Security.
"Dilley-Dally Your Way to Riches"
Donald
Mitchell, the article also revealed, was a long-time associate of Marc Harris in Costa Rica
and Panama. So was another SkyWay insider, named Carl Dilley.
While the SkyWay bankruptcy fraud
cost investors in that company over $40 million, Dilley was close to the action as
SkyWay’s stock transfer agent, and a key player in the scheme.
During the
mid-1990's Dilley worked with Harris in Central America.
More recently
he was the
President of
E-Rex, another sham company, like prior sham companies the
ring has successfully looted: Satellite Access Systems, SkyWay,
E-Rex, and Adnan Khashoggi's Genesis Intermedia.
It's the
ultimate scam: A company with no purpose other than to defraud investors.
And they've worked it to perfection, numerous times, helped along by a 'wink and
a nod' from the SEC and law enforcement authorities.
In a February 2, 2002 e-mail
responding to an unflattering article, E-Rex President Carl
Dilley wrote: "I have no
control over the gamblers of the world that would be so foolish as to put their
life savings in any OTC stock, including ours."
Dilley avowed, "No one should
put one penny in this company that they are not prepared to lose."
Duly noted.
"Hyena pack" defined

"Very small
publicly-held companies can be looted by people controlling other small
companies," explained Larry Lindsey of
SageGroup,
a company which has tracked Harris' ring's activities
for disgruntled investors whose stock is now worthless.
"Together, they form a "hyena pack,"
secretly conspiring while appearing to be independent of each other."
The
MadCowMorningNews has previously reported, with some puzzlement, that
SkyWay, despite being an obvious fraud with no product, received
glowing endorsements in press releases in the weeks before it went bankrupt from
seemingly reputable entities, including a major U.S. defense contractor, and the
State of Florida's Dept. of Transportation.
Now we knew
why we'd been puzzled. Without knowing it, what we'd been witnessing was the operation of a hyena pack.
A Hyena Pack-and-a-half

Nothing,
however, has so far been offered by anyone that can explain SkyWay’s curious
associations with top Republican operatives and politicians... everyone from Texas Bush-backer
and kingmaker Richard Rainwater, who leased the company an aviation repair
facility at DFW International Airport in Dallas (it didn’t need one, at least
not for aircraft repair) to Florida Senator Mel Martinez, who used the
DC9, gratis, during his run for the Senate four years ago.
Another
Republican "hyena pack" link is San Diego defense contractor
Titan Corp., which issued a press
release in 2004, the biggest campaign
contributor of Republicans Randy Cunningham and Duncan Hunter,
only one of whom is (as yet) in jail.
Just before Skyway went
bankrupt, the company's stock price got a
boost from a fawning press release
about a deal between SkyWay and Titan Corporation...
“SkyWay
Communications Holdings Corp Announces New Business Strategy as the Result of
Agreement with Major US Defense Contractor,” read the press release
headline.
"We are excited about the possibilities Sky Way Aircraft System technology
offers," said Titan's David Stinson.”
The clearly
pleased David Stinson, before signing on with Titan,
was Exec VP at Intergraph in Annapolis Maryland, whose Original
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) deal with convicted Republican fraudster
Brent Wilkes opened a money spigot which clearly
remains open.
Felony Fraud by Major U.S. Defense Contractor

The press release reveals
that felony fraud was being committed by people with
national security clearances.
Titan Corp.,
which had an undisclosed financial interest in SkyWay ( because of its
suspicious early investment in what was then only a 'paper' company) was
announcing it was buying a
half-billion dollars worth of a product which didn't exist, from a
company Titan must have known was soon to go bankrupt.
The outcome?
Mom and pop investors, including a teacher's pension fund in Tennessee,
were left holding the bag, and lost all their money. ALL their money. The stock
ended up trading at a fraction of a penny.
And the
outcome for 'the boys' at SkyWay?
It was time
for drinks all around.
Nor is this the first time
Titan has been implicated or convicted of major crime.
If Titan Corp were a person, instead of a corporation its convictions for
illegal activities would have invoked most state's three strikes laws.
The Other White Bush

But it is
SkyWay’s connection to former Governor Jeb Bush which may ultimately prove to be
the fraudsters most interesting Republican link...
Just two weeks before SkyWay's biggest
stockholders sued company management for fraud as the firm lurched towards
bankruptcy, Gov. Bush’s Florida Dept. of Transportation
issued a glowing press
release touting the firm’s bright future in Homeland Security while
announcing SkyWay had been chosen to be the state’s primary provider of airport
security applications.
"I
participated in the installation at the FDOT (Florida Dept of Transportation),"
one of Skyway's earliest employees told us. "The guy in charge there told
us that airports in Florida were all told the state would reimburse them 100%
for any airport upgrades we performed that had to do with security."
"From "lock and load" to "pump and dump"
In another
unexplained financial move, Titan Corp., although located 3000 miles away, was
one of Skyway's earliest investors, putting $70,000 into what was then just
a shell corporation.
And perhaps
therein resides the answer. From a
May 31, 2005 in the New York Times
story
headlined "C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights."
"The
controversy (over CIA rendition flights) has breached the secrecy of the
agency's flights in the last two years, as plane-spotting hobbyists, activists
and journalists in a dozen countries have tracked the mysterious planes'
movements," the paper reported.
"Behind
a surprisingly thin cover of rural hideaways, front companies and shell
corporations that share officers who appear to exist only on paper...
the Agency has concealed its ownership behind
a web of shell corporations that appear to have no employees and no function apart from owning the
aircraft."
The "national security override"
While it goes unmentioned in the Times story, SkyWay
founder Michael Farkas even incorporated a company a few years back that was
called "Shell Corporation."
At least they have a
sense of humor.
So, there's that.
But these people are
powerful, and untouchable, and unscrupulous, and there is, about them, more than
just a whiff of some sort of extra-constitutional "national security override"
of any and all other considerations.
This is troublesome for more
reasons than we can count, chief among them because (and even
'they' might agree)...
The Sisters of Mercy they're
not.
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