New Book Chronicles the Provocative Odyssey of Jack Reed, Adventurer, Drug Smuggler and Pilot Extraordinaire

Strategic Media Books announced the publication of Buccaneer: The Provocative Odyssey of Jack Reed, Adventurer, Drug Smuggler and Pilot Extraordinaire. Buccaneer is the exciting, true crime tale of the life and times of Jack Carlton Reed, an All-American boy turned drug smuggler, turned Robinson Crusoe, and then infamous prison inmate. For the first time, Jack Reed discloses his extraordinary tabooed journey as a high flying international cocaine smuggler and personal pilot for Carlos Lehder, partner to Pablo Escobar, the drug kingpin founder of the Medellin Cartel.

Reed flew drug runs for Lehder’s cocaine transport empire based at Norman's Cay, a tiny out island in the Bahamas. Having gained notoriety in the late 70s as a staging point for drug smuggling, Norman's Cay was immortalized in Blow, a motion picture starring Johnny Depp. Reed lands in court as Lehder’s co-defendant in the longest running drug trial in U.S. history.  Despite the tempting opportunity offered by the prosecution, Reed refused to snitch on Lehder. As Reed explained, “I’m no G*d d***n rat! I’m a player. I’m a pirate. I’m a hedonist; and one hell of good smuggler, but I’m no rat!

The self-proclaimed hedonist co-authored this book with pilot/journalist MayCay Beeler, who would not only help record his life story, but would become a character in Reed's twist of fate ending. The book is the stunning account of Reed’s erotic and provocative life with an unforeseen storybook ending that will make readers believe in destiny.

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Elliot Goldenberg, Author of The Spy of David (the Jonathan Pollard Spy Case) is Tonight's Guest on Crime Beat Radio

Tonight, Elliot Goldenberg, author of Spy of David: The Strange Case of Jonathan Pollard and the Two Decade Battle to Win his Freedom, appears on on Crime Beat Radio.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

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Former Sheriff’s Deputy Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Unlawfully Detain and Take Money from Motorists

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced that Jason Stacks, a former Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) Deputy, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use his law enforcement authority to unlawfully detain and take money from motorists.
   
In connection with his plea, Stacks admitted that he conspired with two civilians to subject Hispanic motorists to unlawful traffic stops so that the conspirators could demand the motorists pay money in order to avoid arrest and/or deportation. On Aug. 16, 2013, Stacks, while acting as a LCSO Deputy, unlawfully detained at least four motorists. One of the motorists, identified in the plea documents by the initials T.C., was unlawfully detained by Stacks and then approached by Stacks’s two Spanish-speaking co-conspirators, who explained to T.C. that he would be sent to jail or deported if he did not pay $500. When T.C. responded that he did not have $500 in his car, the co-conspirators drove T.C. to his residence and took $300 in cash from him. Stacks and the two co-conspirators divided the $300 among them.

“Mr. Stacks admitted that he conspired to use his badge to unlawfully detain and take money from motorists,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute officers who seek to profit from the violation of civil rights.”

“Today’s guilty plea is another example of the zero tolerance the Department of Justice has for law enforcement officers who violate individuals’ civil rights,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.

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Roberto Alvarado, Former Fugitive of More Than 23 Years, Sentenced to More Than Six Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking

A former Freeport, Illinois man was sentenced in federal court by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala on a federal drug trafficking charge. The defendant, Roberto Alvarado, 61, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Judge Kapala ordered that at the end of his prison tenn, Alvarado, a citizen of Mexico, surrender to officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

Alvarado had been arrested on December 1, 1989, on a drug trafficking charge by FBI special agents. On December 15, 1989, he was released on a $20,000 bond pending trial. However, Alvarado failed to appear for a court appearance on Sept 18, 1990, and fled from Illinois. His bond was forfeited and the assets he had posted for bond were turned over to the United States. An arrest warrant was also issued for him. On June 28, 2013, Alvarado was a passenger in a car that was stopped in Montana by a State Police trooper for speeding. The trooper was able to identify Alvarado as being wanted by the FBI and took him into custody. Alvarado appeared before a federal magistrate, who ordered that Alvarado be detained and transported to Rockford.

Once in Rockford, Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney ordered that Alvarado be detained pending trial. Alvarado pled guilty to the drug trafficking charge on December 4, 2013. In his plea agreement, Alvarado admitted that on December 1, 1989, in Rock Falls, he had attempted to possess with the intent to distribute 1,414 grams of cocaine. At sentencing today, Judge Kapala noted the amount of time that Alvarado had spent as a fugitive and found it to be an aggravating factor in imposing the sentence.

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Richard Altomare, Former CEO of Universal Express, Sentenced in Securities Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce that Richard Altomare, 65, of Palm Beach County, was sentenced yesterday for his participation in a securities fraud “pump and dump” scheme. Altomare was sentenced to 37 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

On February 21, 2014, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale convicted Altomare on four counts, including one count of mail fraud and three counts of securities fraud.

According to the indictment and evidence presented during the trial, Altomare was the former CEO of Universal Express Inc. Between 2000 and 2003, Altomare and other company insiders sold 500 million unregistered shares of Universal stock to the public and then issued a series of false press releases in order to offset the resultant negative pressure on the stock price. On March 8, 2007, a final judgment in a civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission was entered against Altomare. Among other things, the order prohibited Altomare from “participating in an offering of penny stock, including engaging in activities with a broker, dealer, or issuer for the purposes of issuing, trading, or inducing or attempting to induce the purchase or sale of any penny stock.”

Despite the order, Altomare persuaded a start-up financial services firm based in Jacksonville called Sunset Brands Inc. (SSBN), whose shares traded on the over the counter penny stock market, to bring him in as a consultant to attract investors and help write their press releases. Instead, Altomare used his access to the company to carry out a pump and dump scheme to defraud investors. In early 2013, Altomare met with a former business associate and conceived a scheme to artificially inflate the share price and trading volume of SSBN stock to enrich himself and his associate. Unbeknownst to Altomare, his former associate had become an informant for the FBI. During recorded conversations and meetings with the informant, Altomare promised to compensate him with SSBN stock to induce his cooperation in the scheme. Altomare’s plan was to have his former associate purchase shares of SSBN stock to mislead investors into believing that SSBN’s share price was rising and that there was a public market for SSBN stock. Altomare also used his access to SSBN’s press releases to further the scheme. Altomare agreed to cause SSBN, which was unaware of his plans, to issue positive press releases about the company to follow and coincide with the illegally induced purchasing by the informant. The purpose of the press releases was to make it appear that SSBN’s stock price was rising because of the positive news and to conceal the market manipulation scheme from regulatory authorities. Altomare’s plan was to sell, or dump, the stock he and the informant controlled after the share price had been artificially inflated and then split the proceeds with the informant.

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