Freeper Help w/ the Miami Mob: Jay Weiss, Alvin Malnik, Richard Ben-Veniste, Anthony Pellicano

I'm curious about any concrete, documented information that people have concerning the Miami mob, especially as it might relate to the massive Miami-based liquor distributor, Southern Wine & Spirits.

As you might guess from my screen name, I dabble in wine as a hobby, and I've been interested in the exploits of Southern ever since the Wall Street Journal's 1999 exposé [excerpts below].

The now semi-retired chairman of Southern is one Jay W. Weiss [widely believed among oenophiles to harbor a weakness for Montrachet]. Recently, he's been very prominent in the Miami social scene as a result of his philanthropic work; for instance, he sits on the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami, where, no doubt, he hob-knobs with Miss Shalala herself:

[NOTE: As far as I can tell, the Southern Wine & Spirits "Jay Weiss" is not the "Jay Weiss" married to actress Kathleen Turner.]

For about forty years, one of Jay Weiss's best friends and closest associates has been the Miami n'er do well, Alvin I. "Al" Malnik. According to testimony given to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission by an informant in 1980, "it was a known fact among the criminal underworld that dealing with Al Malnik was the same as dealing with Meyer Lansky." When Lansky died in 1983, Reader's Digest named Malnik as heir-apparent to the Lansky crime syndicate.

Malnik's big business these days is through a loan-sharking outfit called "Title Loans of America." Title Loans has been in and out of trouble with state Attorneys General throughout the United States, as its modus operandi appear to involve tricking the gullible and ill-educated into signing auto-finance deals at upwards of 300% annual interest. When Googling on "Title Loans of America," I came across an old article from The Oregonian that supplied some tantalizing tidbits:

For instance, the CEO of "Title Loans of America" appears to be one "Robert Reich." Does anyone know whether he's related to the diminutive Robert B. Reiiiiiiiii-chuh, late of the Clinton Labor Department?

Also, does anyone have any information about the "two trusts that hold 100 percent of the stock of Title Loans of America"?

I was very surprised in the course of my Googling to learn that Hillary pal and Senate Whitewater obstructionist Richard Ben-Veniste is widely rumored to be the personal lawyer of Al Malnik. Ben-Veniste is now a partner with Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw:

Malnik was back in the news recently because he seems to have floated the bail for Michael Jackson on his indictment for felony pedophilia:

But not two days after this story broke, a new story has Anthony Pellicano serving as Jackson's muscle back in 1993:

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
[Riesling aficionado, but not so proud that I wouldn't stoop to drinking a great Montrachet!]

Early Relationships Help Shape Southern Wine & Spirits' Image
[EXCERPTED]
By John R. Emshwiller and Alix M. Freedman
10/04/1999
The Wall Street Journal
Page A8
(Copyright (c) 1999, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

Thirty-one years ago, a New York liquor executive named Walter Jahn bought out a small Miami liquor distributor known as Southern Wine & Spirits. Competitors still talk about the circumstances of the deal -- the genesis of powerful wholesaler Southern Wine & Spirits of America Inc.and its possible implications.

The buyout was largely financed by a $200,000 loan from Miami National Bank, an institution described in a later indictment as a conduit for mob money. The bank's chairman, Samuel Cohen, was a longtime business associate of Meyer Lansky, and Miami National was the bank, a 1972 federal indictment alleged, where Lansky confederates deposited money skimmed from a Las Vegas casino in the 1960s. Mr. Lansky never went to trial because of ill health, but Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to a year in prison. The bank eventually became insolvent.

After taking over the liquor distributor, Mr. Jahn, a former Schenley Industries executive, brought in several people to help run it, among them a hard-charger from Brooklyn, N.Y., named Jay Weiss. Six years later, Mr. Weiss and another official of Southern Wine & Spirits became limited partners in a film venture with Miami National's Mr. Cohen, who by then was a felon...

One reason law-enforcement authorities suspected that Mr. Gerstein and Mr. Weiss had organized-crime ties was their relationship with Alvin I. Malnik. The 66-year-old Mr. Malnik is an attorney and owner of The Forge, a landmark Miami restaurant. Mr. Malnik was twice indicted in the 1960s, once charged with tax-law violations and once with stock fraud. He was acquitted in the tax case; charges were dismissed in the stock case.

In 1980, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission found Mr. Malnik to be an "unsuitable character" to set foot in any of the state's casinos because he "associated with persons who engaged in organized criminal activities," a position the commission reaffirmed in 1993. A report to the commission in connection with its 1980 decision quoted Vincent Teresa, a mobster-turned-informant, as saying that "it was a known fact among the criminal underworld that dealing with Al Malnik was the same as dealing with Meyer Lansky..."

Messrs. Malnik and Weiss participated in various business entities together, according to public records. One in the 1960s was Scopitone Inc., which marketed jukeboxes. Mr. Malnik formed Scopitone and Mr. Weiss was an officer of it...

Mr. Malnik says that he and Mr. Weiss have been "good friends for over 40 years," but haven't had any business relations for decades.

Responding to questions about Mr. Weiss's ties to people including Messrs. Gerstein and Malnik, Southern says that Mr. Weiss has "met and developed relationships with a wide assortment of people without judging them or submitting them to a rigorous character assessment." It adds: "These relationships should not be a basis for assumptions about Mr. Weiss' character or business affairs..."

Just curious ... is this your real name?

Found this about Kathleen Turner's "Jay Weiss"

Mass Murder in New York City, 87 dead
Sun Tzu's Newswire (STN99005)
Copyright © 1999 by Richard Rongstad
May 23, 1999

Foreword: In 1990, 87 people were murdered in New York City by a single assailant armed with one dollar's worth of gasoline and a book of matches. The immigrant murderer did not have a background check to obtain his weapons other than being cleared for entry into the United States by the administration of President Jimmy Carter. The murderer was then able to obtain the gasoline and the concealed matches without either a background check or a waiting period. The 87 fatalities easily surpassed the 15 dead in Columbine High School shootings in Boulder, Colorado.

Something must be done. Along with thousands of school teachers, millions of school children have unsupervised access to lighters, matches and flammable fluids. These matches and lighters are easily concealed along with small containers of the flammable fluids. These deadly materials are weapons of mass destruction, well suited for use in assaults and for murder and are widely available without background checks or waiting periods. What will you do? HAPPY LAND FIRE - Julio González, 37, was convicted in Summer, 1991, on 174 counts of murder, two counts for each of his 87 victims.

González confessed to setting the fire March 25, 1990, which killed the 87 Latin American men and women, mostly Hondurans, but pleaded insanity. Julio González faced a maximum sentence of 25 years to life under the laws of the State of New York. González, a native of Cuba, was admitted to the U.S. by the Carter Administration among thousands of other Mariel boatlift refugees in 1980.

González set the fire after an argument with Lydia Feliciano, 45, his girlfriend of eight years. Ironically, Feliciano and four others were the only survivors, fleeing through a seldom-used second door at the Happy Land Social Club. After quarreling with Lydia Feliciano, González vowed to "shut this place down", walked to a nearby gas station, bought $1 of gasoline in a plastic bottle and returned to Happy Land. There he splashed the gasoline inside the entrance, tossed a match, and walked away.

A few days later, Mayor David Dinkins noted that the Happy Land Fire took place exactly on the 79th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. In the earlier tragedy, 146 workers, mostly women, and mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants perished.

Who is responsible? Happy Land was just one of more than 1,000 such clubs operating in New York City, often operating without a liquor license, and frequently shut down for license and building code violations, then quickly re-opening.

Alexander DiLorenzo III bought Happy Land and a block of adjoining stores, adding to his family's real estate fortune estimated at over $1 billion. DiLorenzo's Clarendon Place Corp. leased the block to Little Peach Realty, owned by Jay Weiss and a partner. Weiss's other corporations included Queen's Apple, One Peach Associates and Big Peach, all operating in the Big Apple as it was pointed out.

In 1987, Jay Weiss sub-leased Happy Land to Elias Colón who operated the club and died in the fire. At the time of the fire, Jay Weiss reportedly lived in a $2 million Greenwich Village townhouse with plans to move up to a plusher dwelling.

Slum-lord Jay Weiss' wife, actress Kathleen Turner had just opened on Broadway as Maggie, in Tennessee Williams' "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof". At the same time, New York City wags were making wry comparisons to the movie Bonfire of the Vanities, then making the rounds of the city. Meanwhile, Alexander DiLorenzo III was released without bail on April 6, 1990 on 42 separate arrest warrants charging him with violations at a dozen buildings around New York City.

According to New Yorker Magazine, actress Kathleen Turner, wife of Happy Land's landlord Jay Weiss, told a reporter that "the fire was unfortunate but could have happened at a McDonald's".

Sources: Author's sources, Time April 9, 1990, New Yorker Magazine, April 23, 1990, Time September 2, 1991. Story originally published in Public Intelligence Review and Newsletter, (ISSN 1076-8815) Vol. 1, Number 24, January 30, 1995, pages 122-123.

Article

One of my hunts led me to opensecrets.org, a fantastic building and very comprehensive database on political information, including tracking campaign donations. Interesting how the beer, wine and spirits industry is 2nd behind lawyers in contributions. Here's Gephardt's page:

RICHARD A. GEPHARDT (D-MO)

Top Industries

The top industries supporting Richard A. Gephardt are:

1 Lawyers/Law Firms $667,103
2 Beer, Wine & Liquor $232,600
3 TV/Movies/Music $230,619
4 Securities & Investment $200,533
5 Real Estate $199,800
6 Health Professionals $139,500
7 Insurance $125,700
8 Transportation Unions $113,500
9 Lobbyists $112,814
10 Air Transport $107,700
11 Business Services $107,200
12 Retired $97,133
13 Pro-Israel $92,915
14 Misc Business $84,800
15 Public Sector Unions $81
16 Hospitals/Nursing Homes $75,585
17 Industrial Unions $68,500
18 Misc Finance $64,734
19 Computer Equipment & Services $63,500
20 Building Trade Unions $62,700

Here's how the BWS industry donates:

Industry Support 160 links «1-20»

» Richard Andrew 'Dick' Gephardt $246,800.00
» Thomas A. 'Tom' Daschle $148,548.00
» C. Michael 'Mike' Thompson $113,857.00
» James M. 'Jim' Talent $110,000.00
» Jim Bunning $101,276.00
» John Cornyn $77,500.00
» John B. Breaux $54,775.00
» Thomas M. Reynolds $44,990.00
» Henry Bonilla $43,000.00
» Patrick J. Leahy $42,869.00
» Lisa A. Murkowski $37,000.00
» Anne Meagher Northup $36,200.00
» Jonas 'Martin' Frost III $33,550.00
» Dennis A. Cardoza $30,651.00
» E. Clay Shaw Jr. $29,500.00
» Kenneth R. 'Ken' Lucas $29,365.00
» Mario Diaz-Balart $27,542.00
» Mark Adam Foley $27,000.00
» Ernest Lee 'Ernie' Fletcher $26,750.00
» William J. 'Billy' Tauzin $26,500.00

Also, this .. from the Congressional Record

IN HONOR OF JAY W. WEISS

HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, November 18, 1999

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Jay Weiss a true philanthropist in my Congressional district, who while a successful businessman, has always believed that it is one’s duty to give back to the community. Jay has contributed a great deal to our community and especially to Jackson Memorial Hospital, located in Miami, Florida.

For those associated with Jackson, Jay Weiss will always be seen as its patron, as he has selflessly devoted himself to promoting the humanitarian mission of the hospital. Over the last decade, many of the strides and accomplishments of the hospital can be attributed to Jay.

It was his vision and foresight which led to the creation of the Ryder Trauma Center. In this spirit, the Jay W. Weiss Humanitarian Award was established in 1993, to recognize outstanding leadership and selfless service. Jay has also been recognized by the National Conference for Community Injustice as a Silver Medallion Honoree. Additionally, he has served as a member of the University of Miami Board of Trustees and chaired the Board of Sylvester Cancer Center for the past seven years.

* * * * * * * *

I'm pretty sure the Jay Weiss from Southern Wine & Spirits is NOT married to Kathleen Turner. This is the Jay Weiss, I that's connected with the Miami, FL scene, from 2002.:

"On the evening of the gala, UM/Sylvester will proudly present the Caroline W. Halpern Award to Renee and Jay Weiss. Jay Weiss is currently a member of the University of Miami’s Board of Trustees, and chaired the UM/Sylvester Board for seven years. Weiss is no stranger to helping the South Florida community. Aside from his longtime support of UM/Sylvester, Weiss established the Jay W. Weiss Humanitarian Award in 1993 to annually recognize one individual for his/her outstanding leadership and selfless service. Weiss’ philanthropic and community efforts also include his recent position as Chairman for the Dade County Public Health Trust as well as support for the Jackson Memorial Foundation." Social Covers

Here's Jay Weiss of Southern Wine & Spirits at a charity golf tournament:

Southern Wine & Spirits Team (l. to r.) Mich. State basketball coach Tom Izzo with Harvey Greene, ESPN broadcaster Hank Goldberg, Jay Weiss and Steve Nuell

Mr. Jay Weiss of Florida is apparently *VERY* philanthropic.

Also found this startling possible Malnick connection:

ONLINE JOURNAL™
www.onlinejournal.com
Death in Venice (Florida)
By Daniel Hopsicker

Flight School Owner Has Shady Ties

EXCLUSIVE-Venice, FL, Sept. 28, 2001—Authorities are probing the European business associations of a Venice flight school owner, whose school at the Venice airport trained the nucleus of foreign national terrorist pilots, looking for possible links to international organized crime groups, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday to be laundering large sums of drug money for major terrorist organizations. Organized crime is said to launder billions for terrorists.

Three of the airliners involved in the September 11 terrorist attack—two in Manhattan, and one wrested to the ground over Pennsylvania—were piloted by terrorists who had trained at two flight schools at the Venice, Florida airport.

Rudi Dekkers was widely interviewed on television after the disaster expressing outrage over the terrorist attacks, and disclaiming any responsibility for the actions of former students. But he may have been lying in his portrayal of his association with the men who became eventual terrorist pilots, when he repeatedly stated they were people who had just basically “walked in” off the street into his school at the tiny Venice airport.

Instead, Rudi Dekkers was actively marketing his flight school in Germany at the exact same time Mohamed Atta and his terrorist cell left Hamburg and moved to Florida, where several immediately enrolled in his school. Both ringleaders, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehri, each believed to have piloted a plane into the World Trade Center Towers, learned to fly at Huffman Aviation flight school in Venice, FL.

Two years ago, Dekkers began an aggressive European “marketing” campaign, just after purchasing the flight school, reported the local Venice Gondolier at the time. “The world is my working place,” Dekkers boasted to the paper. “I won’t forget Venice, but I’m going to market throughout the world, Germany, France, Belgium. That’s our goal, to get people to come in here from all over the world.” The new owner of Huffman Aviation has a global presence.

His plans were so successful that they had soon changed the entire makeup of his flight school. Foreign nationals came to account for over 80 per cent of the student pilots enrolled with him. Rudi Dekkers’ flight schools (he has another down the road in Naples) are training 400 foreign nationals a year.

According to German prosecutors, after Atta moved from Germany to train with Dekkers’ flight school in Venice, at least four other members of the same terrorist cell moved there to train aspilots as well. Could Atta have recruited by Dekkers, and not the other way around? Officials involved in the September 11 investigation said early this week that the key to unraveling the plot might lie in Germany, not the United States.

In press interviews, Dekkers has inferred that student pilots were just showing up at his flight school and thrusting fistfuls of dollars ($10,000 of them) across his counter. But what if it was the other way around? What if Mohammed didn’t go to the mountain, but that the mountain, in the guise of the portly Dekkers, came to Mohammed? If Dekkers was actively marketing in Germany when the terrorists moved to the U.S., he bears closer scrutiny . . . “Huffman Aviation Inc. has had problems in the last few months with the city of Venice, Sarasota County and the state of Florida, but the school keeps flying,” the Venice Gondolier reported.

Rudi wasn’t paying his rent out at the airport. Huffman rent is late again, the paper headlined on May 12. “When Huffman Aviation paid three months of overdue rent last Friday, company president Rudi Dekkers said the rent wouldn’t be late again. “No, we won’t have this any more,” he said during an interview last Friday.”

Headlines in the Venice Gondolier about Dekkers grew even less flattering as time went by: City threatens lessee with eviction, again.

“Huffman Aviation Inc. is again on notice from the city to catch up on its rent payments or face eviction from the airport,” the paper wrote on June 9.

Nothing had changed by mid-summer. Huffman rent late, again, the paper reported in mid-July. “For the sixth straight month, Huffman Aviation Inc. has failed to pay its rent to the city on time.”A month before the September 11 tragedy, Huffman finally paid the rent.

What makes this airing of Rudi’s dirty linen of note is that while Dekkers was receiving this humiliating deadbeat coverage he was simultaneously launching a commuter air taxi service in, a venture for which he had been provided both planes and pilots by a Gig Harbor, WA, man purportedly linked to current mob activities in Portland, OR.

Richard Boehlke “owns” Harbor Air, or what’s left of it, and he was simultaneously actively involved in an alleged massive looting of workers pension funds in Portland. Hardest hit ($60 million) was the pension fund of the laborers.

While supplying both the planes and the pilots for the new Florida Air, Boehlke’s Harbor Air was simultaneously going bankrupt. So were two other of Boehlke’s companies, Crossings Aviation, and Crossings Development, a Portland condo deal for which Boehlke borrowed $17 million, mostly unpaid, through Capital Consultants, a pension fund management company that was in the midst of somehow “losing” $320 million dollars.

Worst hit were the pension funds of laborers and secretaries. Some were so badly looted that 2 experts thought some workers would have to extend their careers by another decade to receive the level of benefits they’d have had if their money not been made to disappear in ludicrously bad deals like Richard Boehlke’s.

Playing Catch Up in Retirement.

“Boehlke would do anything for money, he was so desperate,” said an aviation executive who had witnessed Boehlke’s descent. “I’m surprised he hasn’t skipped the country by now, what with all the trouble he’s gotten himself into farting around with those Mafia boys down in Portland.”

Another recipient of the pension fund largesse is Alvin Malnick, whom Readers Digest once called “Meyer Lansky’s heir as head of Organized Crime.” If one is looking for “international organized crime groups,” they don’t get much bigger than the mob.

Little known, and even stranger, is the fact that Alvin Malnick, who avows only to being a Jewish lawyer from Miami, has extremely close ties-family ties, actually, to a prominent prince of the Saudi Royal Family.

In fairness it must be stated: whether any of these associations is germane to answering questions about Dekkers’ role in recruiting and training foreign national pilots is at this point unknown. But it’s a brand new world we have all been living in since September 11, 2001. No one is immune from pointed questions that lead to answers about an international network helping the terrorist cadre that was able to move so freely in our midst.

When President Bush said all evidence pointed to Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organization as responsible for the attacks, he also equated the Islamic group to the Mafia, stating “Al-Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime.” Our question is do the two ever meet?

Daniel Hopsicker is the author of “Barry & ‘the boys;’ The CIA, the Mob & America’s Secret History”

* * * * * I sure hope the FBI is still watching Dekkers.

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