Baiting & Fishing Page 20

  [Note: Roland Wilson's criminal trial had begun in June and continued through September.]

  September 2003 - Roland Wilson is convicted of fraud and securities violations and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

  October 2003 - Roland Wilson commits suicide in a hotel room in Miami.

  April 2004 - M. V. Papillon opens a cell phone account with Verizon Wireless in Miami Beach. The plan includes both a high number of domestic minutes but also international calling and wireless Internet access.

  Billing address is the same address as Aurelio Colonnia.

  I have no idea what any of that means or even if those people are actually the same person, although I believe them to be the same person based on the common birth date and other coincidental features.

  I was unable to get information on international travel using any of the passports referred to. According to my sources the FBI might have records if they thought there was anything suspicious. Interpol keeps records on international travel also, but I have no idea how to go about accessing it. I would think you would need some kind of warrant.

  I was able to find out that there are active bank accounts. I was unable to find out how much money is in the accounts or what transactions have taken place.

  I am working on a source who may be able to find out about cell phone activity on the Verizon account issued to M. V. Papillon. It's a total long shot, but I'll let you know if I come up with anything. I don't have any contacts at AT&T.

  In the meantime, I'm going to let you scratch your head on this. I'm going bald and I still haven't had one idea that can explain what any of this may mean.

  Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

  Karen Thompson

  P. S. Just because I'm nuts or something, I checked out the two other women who inherited money from Colonnia besides his wife. They each have two identities. Both women have two passports, one in each name. One of them has cell phones with Verizon in both of her names. Each woman has a different address for her “main identity” and what I think of as the “backup identity”. One alias uses as her home address Colonnia's house on the Loop; the other one uses Colonnia's Miami address. Both list Aurelio Colonnia as their 'cousin'. I thought I'd throw that in for the sake of completeness – and complexity.

  Ray scanned the email very quickly the first time. Next, he forced himself to slow down and read it a second time, carefully. The third time, he printed it out and read it, with pen in hand, making notes. He had no idea what it meant, but he was pretty sure about one thing: it wasn't good.

  After reading the message for the third time, he turned off the computer and sat in the dark. The singing of the frogs seemed to mock him. It was so quiet he could hear music in the distance -- salsa music from some tiki bar at the beach. It seemed that, while everything else in the world went on as it had been twenty minutes before, his world had just imploded. He put his head in his hands and succumbed to the combined feelings of confusion and something like despair.

  Eventually he could stand it no more. He conducted his nightly locking-up ritual and went to bed, seeking the solace of unconsciousness. Not surprisingly, sleep was slow in coming. All he could do was lie there and watch images in his mind's eye: images of Marcella getting on and off planes in unknown locations ... doing what? .... and for whom?

  He tossed and turned for a very long time. Eventually, he curled up into a ball and cried. After his tears ran out, and the confusion threatened to overwhelm him, sleep came to the rescue.

  His sleep was not restful, and he woke feeling more tired than when he went to bed. He was cranky and irritable all day at work. By mid-afternoon he gave up and decided to leave early. He thought about calling Victoria, but felt he was not prepared to deal with her, or anyone.

  He decided to go out on the water. He didn't bother to take his poles. His purpose was to drift, to think and to try to figure out what to do next. While he was drifting, Marcella called him. He considered not answering, but he wanted to see how he would react to talking to her. He picked up the phone and said, “Hello.”

  She said, “Hi. What are you doing?”

  “I decided to take the boat out for a little while before dark.”

  “Without inviting me?”

  “There wasn't time, and besides, I sort of wanted to be alone.”

  She was quiet for a few minutes, “Okay. I was going to ask if you wanted to come over for dinner, but if you're not in the mood, we can do it another time.”

  “That would be good. I had a really bad night's sleep last night. I'm in a crappy mood, and I wouldn't be fit company for man nor beast, much less a lovely woman.”

  “Well, since you put it that way, thanks for sparing me your company.” The tone of her voice told him she did not entirely believe him, but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. “If you feel up to it, call me later. Otherwise, I'll talk to you tomorrow. If you have no plans, please consider coming over here after work for a run and dinner.”

  “Thanks. I'll let you know. 'Bye.” He hung up without waiting for her to reply. He could imagine her standing there with the phone in her hand looking confused and hurt. He considered calling her back, but couldn't think of what he might say that could possibly make it any better. What could he say? Hey, I've been checking up on your background, since you're so private and have left so many holes in your story, and I've found out a bunch of stuff that I'll bet the feds would love to know about...... He didn't think that would help.

  When darkness threatened, he headed for the marina, arriving about ten minutes before sunset. He sat in the boat at the dock and watched the day's finale without his usual sense of awe; he felt drained and miserable. When it was dark, he got up, cleaned the boat and headed for home. He took his computer, a notebook and his cell phone charger out on the lanai, and dialed Karen Thompson's number.

  She laughed when she heard his voice. “I expected you to call last night.”

  “I was too overwhelmed. I had to think about it for a while.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I am as confused as you. I have some questions. Number One: does Aurelio Colonnia still run the family businesses?”

  “Yes. He has a virtual army of people working for him – probably bad choice of words there – but he is the Man in Charge of both the laundry chain in the Midwest and the employment agency in Florida. I found out a couple of things about him that are interesting. Apparently the Colonnia family has some standards. The rumors are that they are into money laundering, smuggling of illegal workers into and out of various countries (including but by no means limited to the U.S.), they are also into smuggling. Big time smuggling. Supposedly jewels and art. But, the interesting thing is that one of the first things each of the people I spoke to about both Collonias was that they draw the line at drugs. Supposedly, Aurelio personally shot one of his mules who was smuggling drugs on the side. It doesn't make them them any less criminals, but they apparently have some standards. They are the kind of old-world criminals who are about running their businesses their way without interference by the legal authorities. They do not traffic in prostitution, drugs or slaves.”

  Ray said, “I'm not sure what to make of that, or even if it matters. For one thing, it seems to me that dealing in the importation and transportation of illegal migrant workers basically amounts to slave-trading, so I'm not prepared to give them a medal for nobility. Refraining from drug smuggling is just smart. They're obviously doing well smuggling traditional goods. Why risk getting involved in the really, really dangerous stuff?”

  Ray paused, “It is interesting that you referred to one of Aurelio's 'mules'. If I had to make a guess based on the little bit we know now, my guess is that Tonio was picking up young women who were down on their luck but smart and brave. He provided them with what they needed; in Marcella's case, that would have been an education, money and a new identity. In return, they provided an in-house courier service. What did they carry? Wh
ere did they go? You obviously have a source at the state department to find out about the passports, is there any way to find out where she went?”

  She answered, “Not through the State Department. They don't keep track of where people go. Interpol has fabulous databases that would help, but only cops have access to it. The best way to find out would be to somehow get access to her credit card activity. She's used American Express with all three identities. So far I have not come up with any way to gain access to someone else's AmEx usage. On the one hand, as a Card Member myself that gives me some confidence in their security systems. On the other hand, there's always a way to find out information. You have to keep asking the question until eventually you find someone willing to answer it. I'll keep on that one.

  “The other way would be through the airlines themselves. Again, I've run up against some security issues, but I'm guessing that she would have had frequent flier accounts. The airlines track that kind of thing carefully. If I can tap into that information, we could find out a lot.”

  He nodded and made a note on this pad, “Next question. I understand the first change in identity. She leaves Florida, goes to Chicago and assumes a new identity, which sounds more Italian than Greek. That would make sense with 'Uncle Tonio' paying the freight.”

  “I agree.”

  He continued, “Then 'uncle Tonio' is killed, and she goes to L. A. I don't think a new identity is totally necessary at that point, but it's kind of understandable. Another big change in her life. A new identity. I like how she transfers her credits and establishes the new name as a married name, but then very quickly reverts to 'single'. The use of initials instead of the name makes sense. It's kind of gender neutral. She's alone in the world again, except for 'cousin' Aurelio. That all makes sense. But why does Marcia Pappas all of a sudden re-appear in 2000 after having disappeared from the planet in 1970? What was she doing?”

  “I wondered the same thing myself, so I looked at the Techtron time line. A very interesting event occurred in April 2000. Hold on a minute. I need to get my notes.” She was gone a long time. Ray could hear her rummaging around on her desk. He vaguely recalled some testimony in the Techtron case that caused his heart to pound furiously. Karen came back on the line. Ray breathed deeply and tried to concentrate.

  Karen said, “Okay, here it is. Jason Sanderson was a staff accountant at Techtron, reporting to the Comptroller, who you will recall seems to have been the key person in the accounting scams they were running. Sanderson testified in several of the trials. His testimony was absolutely consistent in every case. He said that in February of 2000 he figured out that something was not right with the books. Recall that Sanderson was in charge of things like amortization of corporate assets, so he was not involved in the investment side of the accounting department. He did, however, have access to the entire accounting system. He said he noticed something that didn't look right when they were running the annual numbers for the year 1999. He said he looked further, and the more he looked the less sense it made. He did not ask anyone about it because, as virtually everybody testified, the Comptroller and CFO ran the department in such a way that each employee had his/her area of responsibility and nobody was supposed to nose around in anyone else's 'area'. The only people who saw the 'big picture' were the people at the top.

  Sanderson, therefore, dug around in the accounting system on his own, without authorization, and developed some ideas about what was going on that alarmed him. He did not mention it to Susan Steinholtz, the Comptroller, or the CFO. When asked why, he said it was because he believed they were the ones responsible for the questionable entries. The government investigation came to the same conclusion which is why those two are now doing time in Club Fed in North Florida.

  “Sanderson testified that by early March he had developed a general picture of the accounting manipulation they were doing in order to make Techtron's revenue look better. He said he called Roland Wilson at home and told Wilson what he thought was going on. His testimony was that Wilson's response was something to the effect that Sanderson must be mistaken. Wilson apparently blew him off and ignored the warning. Sanderson continued to dig into the accounting system, and found more and more data that worried him.

  “Evidently while Sanderson was digging through the system, someone – probably Susan Steinholtz – was monitoring his computer activity. In the second week of March 2000 Techtron fired Sanderson for violations of the company policy regarding computer access. He had apparently gone into areas of the accounting system where he did not have the authority to go. Note: he was not blocked from accessing the information; he simply had no reason to be nosing around in that data. Anyway, Techtron sacked him.

  He did two things the very same day. First, he cashed out his retirement plan, sold all his Techtron stock and opened a mutual fund account with Charles Schwab and diversified his investments. It should be noted that Sanderson is a multi-millionaire today thanks to his timely departure from Techtron at the point its stock was at its all time high, while the folks who stayed with the company not knowing about the impending catastrophe ended up broke. To his credit, it wasn't because he didn't try to issue a warning. He just chose to warn the wrong people.

  “The second thing he did was call Marcella Wilson at home. He testified that he did that because Roland Wilson had ignored his initial warnings. Techtron employees had the general opinion that Marcella Wilson had her husband's ear. He thought she might be able to persuade Roland to look into the situation.

  “Recall that by the end of the second quarter of 2000, the true data showed that Techtron was basically a sham company. It had virtually no income. It's financial statements were, even at that early date, essentially fiction. The company itself didn't collapse for another year; the accounting department managed to keep all the fictional balls in the air that long, but the real figures showed that the revenue had dried up a long time before that. Sanderson was right to fear the company was headed for the big rocks.

  “He told Marcella Wilson about his concerns in March 2000.”

  Ray closed his eyes and swallowed hard to keep from throwing up. “Whereupon she resurrected her original identity to resume a life she had abandoned thirty years before.”

  Karen interjected, “Yes, but consider the timing. Sanderson gave her the information in March. She didn't buy the house until May. What did she do in the meantime? Did she try to stop it? Did she look into it first?”

  Ray cleared his throat , “Maybe it took her that long to find a place to buy and make the arrangements, or,” he paused for a long time, swallowed hard, and spoke the unspeakable, “...Or was she in on it and finally realized the jig was about to be up, so she dug a bolt hole for herself. I would love to know where else she owns homes in one or the other of her aliases.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I'm betting she owns a little house somewhere in a country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Does Aurelio Colonnia have a private plane?”

  “A bunch.”

  “Where does he keep them?”

  “One is in Miami, one in Chicago, one is in Orlando and a few other places.”

  He interrupted, “Orlando is not far from The Villages where her condo is located.”

  “That is interesting. He also keeps one in Southern California and another one in Brownsville, Texas.”

  “What?”

  “Remember the other two women who inherited money from Antonio Colonnia. One lived in San Diego. The other was in south Texas.”

  “I have to tell you this is freaking me out. What I can't get my head around is whether or not there is any relationship between what I would guess is or was some kind of smuggling operation run by the Colonnia family and the Techtron business.”

  Karen said softly, “At this point, I think we have to leave all options open, but my gut tells me there is no connection. I think she did whatever she did for Colonnia from the time she was in college, but she had her own life apart from tha
t. Roland Wilson and his society folks were a great cover if nothing else. The whole Techtron thing came later; I don't think she was involved. But she did see the end coming and opened an escape hatch for herself. That's what I think.”

  Ray said, “It doesn't matter what we think. What matters is what we can prove.”

  “This isn't a grand jury investigation. Why don't you just ask her?”

  “How can I believe anything she says?”

  Karen paused for a very long time, “I think you know the answer to that. I think she has told you the truth. She just left out some things.”

  He grumbled, “Some really significant things, if you're right. And if you're wrong and her entire relationship with me is an act, then what can I believe?”

  “I think you're getting carried away here. Why would she carry on a bogus relationship with you? What would she have to gain?”

  “I don't know. But, you've asked the right question. What does she have to gain? Who else benefits? This is about money and security.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “It's about the only thing I am sure about. Her father left her alone in the world with only a little money. Colonnia left her alone in the world with plenty of money. One thing about people who grow up in situations where they are deprived is that when they grow up they never seem to get enough. Poor children need money and security. Unloved and abused children need love and approval. ....”

  She interjected, “The orphan needs to belong to someone or something.”

  “Exactly. Marcella didn't grow up poor exactly but she had little in the way of material comforts. She was loved, but her dad was not a demonstrative person. She missed her mother. When she was left alone, she was determined to do anything to survive. And she has done so, admirably, but there is a deep need in her that was never fulfilled. A need for belonging and security. Money can buy a lot of both.”

  “Are you suggesting she was involved in the Techtron business?”