Here’s one that make me think for a bit:
Florida Charter Captain Busted For Allegedly Trying to Sell Cocaine He Found at Sea
What at first appeared to be a floating treasure may have turned into a career-sinking criminal case for a Florida Keys charter boat captain arrested this week for allegedly trying to sell cocaine he found at sea.
Bradford Todd Picariello, 65, of Marathon, Florida, was arrested Monday after allegedly selling a kilogram of cocaine for $10,000 to undercover detectives, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s not even the half of it. The captain allegedly said he had more. Lots more.
I know that if ever I came across a “windfall” that involved questionable merchandise, I know for a fact that the very first time I tried to offload any of it, the potential buyer would turn out to be a cop, of some flavor or other. That’s because I would be, and am, a complete naïf in matters of criminality, and in such a situation I would be the easiest capture in law enforcement history.
But that’s not what made me think.
I used to know a guy who farmed on a tiny piece of land — something like a hundred acres, if memory serves — somewhere in northern Indiana. I don’t recall exactly where it was, but I do know that it was only reachable by dirt roads. Easily accessible, it wasn’t.
Anyway, he and I were chatting about the problems of farming, that almost every year brought a good chance of financial ruin, and I asked him what crop would be the most profitable, then.
“Weed.”
“What?”
“Yup, weed.” And then came the killer: “About three rows would do it.”
Then we got to discussing how he’d sell it and still stay under the DEI radar; and without going into details, it would have been astonishingly easy.
Financial security for him and his family, for a lousy three rows of weed.
For our luckless charter captain, the money and therefore the temptation was too great. But small-scale larceny?
I couldn’t do it. But I’m pretty damn sure a lot of people would jump at the chance — and I don’t mean people of the career-criminal / gangster ilk. No, I’m talking about pillars of the community, ordinarily law-abiding in all things.
And I have to tell you, I’m not at all sure how I feel about that.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”
Sometimes things are “worth their weight in gold”, in this case, the man’s catch was worth its weight in BOOGER SUGAR.