0:02

Hi, I'm Kareem Taps and I am

0:05

Joey Dowd. And this is

0:07

episode thirteen of Paradise

0:10

Lost Crime in Miami. It

0:12

is our bonus episode two in

0:15

our last episode and our last episode. Uh

0:18

with so one is thank you all

0:20

for making this journey

0:22

through South Florida's true crime

0:24

history with us. We hope

0:27

you have enjoyed it. We hope

0:29

that our voices have not been too annoying. Uh,

0:33

if you're here listening to this, I guess that it's not

0:35

been too annoying for you. So thank you. That's right,

0:37

that's right to this part if yeah,

0:39

and if you think we have velvet pipes,

0:41

we're really interned about your case level. But

0:44

no, thanks for joining us for

0:46

this crazy journey through the

0:49

criminal part of our hometown,

0:52

Miami, which we love, dearly

0:55

warmth and all. Um,

0:58

it's it's been. It's been a ride. Uh

1:00

assn'tant I mean what crazy

1:02

stories? Yes, some wild stories, and

1:05

I mean definitely we had some famous

1:07

ones. One of a lot of people familiar with I was familiar

1:09

with. But they're a handful of here too, where you

1:11

know, just digging around looking for good stories. And I

1:14

wasn't familiar with a handful of these and

1:16

you hadn't heard of them and they're just some wild,

1:18

only in Florida stories. Yeah. I mean this

1:21

also seems like a perfect opportunity

1:23

to point out what is going to be everybody's question.

1:25

It's just why didn't you talk about

1:27

this? And that ultimately comes up,

1:29

right, why didn't you tell our favorite

1:32

true crime story? Uh so a

1:34

couple of reasons. One of the things that we're

1:37

so excited about made the podcast unique

1:39

is had the opportunity to talk to people

1:41

who were either involved directly in the crimes,

1:43

either as detectives or police chiefs,

1:46

or were unfortunate victims

1:49

of crimes, or in some cases were perpetrators

1:52

um and or journalists who covered

1:54

the crimes. So each episode had not

1:56

just joined eye gabbing, but also

1:59

you know, kind of a kind of count from

2:01

someone. So they that was actually really

2:04

really tricky to always find somebody

2:06

too who wanted to go down the road

2:08

of recounting these these crazy experiences.

2:11

Yeah, because some of these are not the most pleasant

2:13

memories to want to revisit. Yeah,

2:16

even I think from the point of journalists, I mean, a

2:19

lot of folks were like, yeah, this is one of the

2:21

craziest things I've ever covered in my in

2:23

my journalism career. Um

2:26

so, uh, you know, we hope you've

2:28

enjoyed listening. And if you liked it a

2:30

lot and a lot of people listen, maybe

2:32

there'll be more. Who knows. So

2:40

one of one of probably

2:42

the most infamous Miami crime

2:44

stories that really it's

2:46

it's not I perbosely say, made headlines

2:49

around the world was the murder of

2:51

fashion Grew Gianni Versaci. Yeah,

2:55

this was I

2:57

remember when the story happened. When I was I was actually

2:59

like camp when this happened, and I

3:02

was moving to Seacoast

3:04

Tower on Collins Avenue, which

3:07

coincidentally having to be right across the street from the houseboat

3:10

where Enter Cananan killed himself. And this

3:12

story ended, and I remember my mom.

3:14

My mom picked me up and she was like, you'll never believe

3:17

what happened while you're con

3:19

at camp. Uh, And yeah,

3:21

this story just I mean I was too

3:24

young to really know who Johnny Firs thought she was. But the story

3:27

even revisiting it years and years later and

3:30

the mini theories that came out and

3:33

it just sort of always always been in

3:36

years later. It's still kind of pop culture lime

3:39

light. Yeah. I mean also, you're you're

3:42

no fashionista.

3:45

I am not not like Yu Kareem, That's right,

3:47

not like me. The fat part is like, uh

3:50

those uh, those like Medusa silk

3:52

shirts that Versace became so famous for. They

3:55

never made them in my size, by the way, one

3:57

and to have always been too poor to a four get

4:00

to afford them. So if anybody has two

4:02

or three that they could sew together for me,

4:05

we will send you in a dress and uh maybe I could

4:07

finally slip into one. Um. No,

4:10

it's really uh, it really is

4:12

kind of a a crazy

4:14

uh story, uh and genuinely

4:17

only in Miami because it happened

4:19

right here in the city, really took

4:21

over the city when it happened,

4:24

and you have a really kind of one

4:26

of the things that we didn't talk about the episode is you have a

4:28

real kind of personal connection to this

4:30

story, not just because you

4:33

grew up on Miami Beach or your mom

4:35

was a former police officer. She worked

4:37

at the Miami Beach Police Department when this happened.

4:39

Why don't you tell us a little bit about that, so

4:41

I do have another connection of it besides

4:44

my mom and I'm moving in across the street to the

4:46

house boat where this all ended. My

4:48

mom did work at the police department, and she was a

4:50

cop for a few months, and

4:52

then she worked as an administrator

4:54

inside the police department, and

4:57

I chatted with her about crazy

4:59

story sorry that happened to her, with the

5:02

first option murder, and with his autopsy

5:05

photos that took place after

5:10

So after his autopsy,

5:12

um, my Major Steve Robbins

5:15

came to me and he said, I

5:18

have vers saw cheese autopsy

5:20

pictures and I

5:23

need to keep them in a safe place

5:25

and with a reliable person, and

5:28

will you lock them up somewhere and keep

5:30

them safe? And so I

5:32

took them. I never looked at them. I locked

5:35

it away because

5:38

you know, I can't speak for Steve, but there

5:40

is are a lot of people lacking

5:43

integrity who

5:45

were working there, and they certainly didn't

5:47

want anything leaking, especially

5:49

somebody's autopsy photos. UM,

5:52

So I locked them away. And then after

5:54

work, I had mentioned it to my father and

5:56

my father said to me, you

5:59

give those pictures back. You shouldn't be

6:01

responsible for anything because there might be other

6:03

copies around and if somebody releases

6:05

them, people might think it's you.

6:07

You need to just not be responsible

6:10

for that. So the next day I did, I

6:12

turned them back to Steve and I

6:14

would am pleased to say that nobody ever,

6:16

to my knowledge, ever released any

6:18

of his autopsy photos. As

6:22

far as I know, FIRS thought She's autopsy photos

6:25

as it would be, have never been made public.

6:27

I mean, she had to her credit. She

6:29

she's uh, she's a stand

6:32

up, stand up and that was probably why they give it turn

6:34

in the first place, because she

6:36

would keep it, she would keep it safe. Joey,

6:39

on the other hand, would have sold it for the first first

6:41

offer in five bucks exactly

6:43

exactly right. At one point, my mom

6:45

also did work in the chief office,

6:48

and she did work for Chief Richard Barretto,

6:50

who we interviewed for the story. Uh

6:52

and during them take your kids to Work days,

6:54

I actually have a photo of me with Richard

6:57

Barretto. I was very young, uh,

6:59

and I could be standing next to him.

7:01

Um, but talking to him. One thing

7:03

that kind of came to my mind was of curious. You

7:07

know, you see these police officials on

7:09

TV when crazy stories

7:11

happen, and suddenly, uh,

7:13

an administrator, some city official is

7:15

now thrust into the limelight on

7:18

the on the international stage, and

7:20

so it's curious kind of what you know goes through your mind when you're

7:22

in that position and that happens

7:24

to you. So we have this tape from

7:27

Richard Barretto. I'm

7:29

curious more on um you

7:31

from your end, uh you

7:33

know, because I remember, you know, I mean with

7:35

the press conferences and stuff. You definitely became that

7:38

part of the face of the investigation.

7:41

You know, what goes through your mind when you

7:43

know your chief of a relatively small

7:45

city and then you know you're on the international

7:48

stage and you have to give updates

7:51

that the world's watching. You

7:54

know, I didn't look at like I you know, I actually

7:57

you know, they all revert pipe to your training. And

8:00

I was lucky because prior

8:03

to that had been sent the FBI

8:05

Nastal Academy would do that the Harvard

8:07

of Police Schools, and

8:09

one of the classes that I took was

8:12

was you know, media relations

8:15

at me and they caught me how to

8:18

do press conferences

8:21

and talk. So I

8:23

was able to revert back to that train and it's

8:26

very much uh handy

8:30

for me to have that knowledge,

8:32

you know this, and because I had learned

8:35

for formal press commerce. You write everything

8:37

down word for word that you're going

8:39

to articulate, you know, as

8:42

opposed to going out there and just bringing

8:44

it, you know, off the hip. And

8:48

I mean the whole world was watching

8:50

and listening because Jenny

8:52

saught you was a global figure. I think I

8:55

talked about this a little bit in the episode.

8:57

I was about seventeen when uh uh

9:00

Versacci was assassinated, and I remember

9:02

going down to South Beach Um and

9:05

I do remember just the slew

9:08

of news camera, news trucks

9:11

everywhere you could. I mean, it's just like, first

9:14

of all, media wanted to talk to anyone and

9:16

everyone. They were just like getting you know, man on the streets,

9:18

but they also wanted people connected, uh somehow,

9:21

So the whole world wanted to know what

9:23

happened because Versaci was a huge

9:25

global figure who who changed not

9:28

just fashion but through fashion and really kind of

9:30

influenced like pop culture um around

9:33

the world. And it wasn't

9:35

like the story ended when he died. You had

9:37

this man hunt playing out of like Where's

9:39

Andrew Canaan and and all of the crazy

9:41

theories that he smuggled on a ship and he was going to Haiti

9:44

or you know, whether that college

9:46

kid that got pulled over and someone assumed

9:48

he was Canadan because he had a hat on and so

9:50

yeah, the story is played out in real time because it wasn't it

9:52

didn't end for another week. Yeah,

9:56

yeah, it was. It was kind of like primetime

9:58

news. I mean I always think, you, that's such

10:00

a good case, so you think back, like the twenty four hour

10:02

news cycle. Uh. It was one

10:04

of those things like I remember the o J

10:07

case, both the trial and

10:09

the chase with on television NonStop,

10:12

and I remember Versacci was on TV NonStop

10:15

at the time. It's just kind of like captured everything,

10:18

uh, captured every the world's attention at

10:20

once. Um. And it has

10:22

had a lasting in impact, an impression

10:25

on Miami Beach. I mean, um, for

10:27

one. Uh, first of all, the Versacci

10:30

mansion. If you are from Miami,

10:33

Miami Beach, or if you've ever visited,

10:35

one thing will stick out, which is how weird

10:38

it is that there's this enormous mansion

10:40

on Ocean Drive in the midst of like hotels

10:43

and bars. Right, Yeah, it's such a I

10:47

mean, it's such an amazing spot. If you have the

10:49

resources to have a huge mansion somewhere

10:52

but it's also such a weird spot.

10:54

It's you know, Ocean Drive. This is when you see those

10:57

aerials flying into the South

10:59

Beach or just any like Miami establishing

11:01

shot on in a movie is like the Art

11:03

deco strip of mostly

11:05

hotels. And then you have Versacchi

11:08

who had this private Spanish

11:12

influenced mediterrane

11:15

Veterranians influenced mansion,

11:18

uh, private residents right on Ocean

11:20

Drive, literally across the street from the beach. But

11:22

to have a private residence there is just very

11:24

weird. Like there's a lot of big, huge mansions in Mimi

11:27

Beach, but they're usually on Star Island

11:29

or some other exclusive kind of gated island,

11:32

and they're gated, they have security, they're

11:34

they're protected to some extent. Versacchi,

11:37

like you walk out he walked out of his gate where

11:39

he was ultimately gunned down. You

11:41

know that that's decide, that's public sidewalk and

11:45

part of the reason why you know, it's easy for Canana just walk

11:47

right up to him and kill him. But he didn't

11:49

think that would ever happen to him.

11:51

Yeah, And I mean I think also at the time, like well,

11:54

Miami Beach had changed greatly in

11:56

large part due to his influence and like the

11:59

global lebrities who kind of followed and came

12:01

to like playing maybe beach in the area, he was like

12:03

a local who just walked around. Um

12:06

yeah, I feel like going to your point with what you're saying

12:08

about, like the changing image of Miami Beach, and he

12:11

lived like right in the heart of where

12:13

those images came out. Where you have the images of uh

12:17

it's Christy Turlington and all the models

12:19

roller skating down South Beach. That's

12:21

the Loomis Park, which is right across the street from where

12:23

his mansion was. You have the uh

12:27

not the Clevelander, the the

12:30

photo shoot one of the early photo shoots

12:33

that they did on top of the art

12:35

deco um buildings

12:38

with the photographer who got me to recently.

12:43

Uh yeah, I mean there was all of those

12:45

kind of uh yeah, you're thinking like all

12:47

the the the iconic images that folks

12:49

like Bruce Weber took on South

12:52

Beach of like we a world famous

12:54

models. I mean yeah, where they put they put South

12:56

Beach on the map is like oh destination to have your photo shoots,

12:58

your model shoots and all that and versas.

13:00

Mansion was like right smack in the middle of it.

13:03

Yeah, I think I mentioned this in the in the episode,

13:05

Um, I don't remember if you can see it, but

13:08

I mean, I love the architecture of South Beach

13:11

and the Art Deco so stunning. Ocean Drive

13:13

is often used as the best example

13:15

of it. But if you ever want to see one

13:17

of the most beautiful images of South

13:19

Beach and also watch a great movie at the same time,

13:22

uh, watch The Bird Cage with Robert Williams

13:24

and Nathan Lane. The opening shot of South

13:27

Beach where it comes from the Atlantic,

13:30

you know, slowly kind of coming into the beach, and

13:32

you see it at night lit up in

13:34

Neon. It's it's really really studying. Um.

13:37

And then you think among all that Neon and

13:39

Reverie, there's like a private home. Uh.

13:42

It's it's kind of bonkers. Uh. And it's still

13:44

there. It's lived on. It's become a private club

13:46

and a hotel. We talked a little bit about that in the last

13:48

episode. What it has also remained is

13:51

a really weird, morbid trurist

13:53

spot. People take pictures

13:57

in front of it, sometimes

13:59

laying on the steps where

14:01

Versacci was found, which is really

14:05

kind of creepy. Form of tourism,

14:07

gross and callous, but

14:10

also why get it kind

14:12

of, I don't know, it's it's weird,

14:15

um and Versacci skind of it's This

14:17

is a story that has remained in pop culture, which

14:20

brings me to a point of great argument between

14:24

my dear Joey died and myself, and that is

14:27

American crime story, the assassination of

14:29

Gianni Versacci, the mini series

14:33

of which Joey is a fan and

14:35

of which I am not. I

14:38

think it is a solid series that thoroughly

14:41

covered the story and was very entertaining and

14:43

informative. I think

14:46

that there are a lot of big name

14:48

actors and pop stars who could not act their

14:50

way out of a paper bag. Ah,

14:52

and this is unfortunately

14:55

highlighted. So I actually could

14:57

not get through the first episode

15:00

beginning to end without stopping it a few times.

15:02

And I think I actually watched maybe like three

15:05

episodes, and I said, there's no way of sitting

15:07

through this garbage anymore. It was so it

15:10

was like so over the top acted,

15:13

and I don't know it was it was. It

15:15

was bad. It was bad. I don't know

15:17

how you watch this. I don't know how I found

15:19

it that I found it entertaining. I also appreciate any

15:21

show that actually does shoot in Miami, and I

15:24

mean they did shoot at Maybe Beach, they shot on the mansion. There

15:27

was a shot, And I mean I live in Santa Monica

15:29

right now, and there was in Santa Monica has a lot of

15:31

Art Deco buildings, and I did

15:33

realize. I'm like, hey, you cheated that, and you shought

15:36

that in Santa Monica that was not in Stouth Beach.

15:38

I mean, I will say that, you know, Ricky

15:40

Martin in a speedo is certainly

15:43

a reason to watch, but if it turns out the Internet

15:45

has a Google image search and so I could

15:47

just skip actually watching an entire episode

15:49

to see that. Um. And that

15:52

is maybe the only, uh, the only

15:54

great thing about that uh And Koream

15:57

gives it five Ricky Martin's like like

16:00

one. Ricky Martin is more Ricky Martin than anyone

16:03

actually needs, uh and more than

16:05

than make this more than you lots

16:09

lands to be honest. Um, but I

16:12

will say the need there is a lot of

16:14

historical accuracy in the show, um,

16:17

at least the ones that I saw and in other episodes.

16:20

Uh. And it definitely does capture a

16:22

lot of Miami, and part of that is thanks

16:24

to Ryan Murphy, who produced

16:26

the series. I can't remember did he direct as

16:29

well? I actually don't

16:31

know about that. If he directed it, he definitely produced

16:33

it. Yeah, he definitely produced it. And fun

16:36

fact, Ryan Murphy, before he was

16:38

like the TV streaming

16:41

content god that he is now, was a

16:44

writer and reporter at the Miami Herald. Uh.

16:46

I did not realize that. Fascinating Uh.

16:49

And this is not the only Miami story he has

16:51

told. Um uh. If

16:53

you recall, I think his first real big hit

16:56

was Niptuck, which was also set in Miami.

16:59

That is my show I never saw. Wow,

17:02

you see you and You're from here? That's

17:04

right, Yeah, bad boys in Niptuck, it's

17:06

You're never. On the subject of Miami media, I will

17:09

defend Fast and Furious, Too,

17:11

Too Fast, Too Furious all the way to the end

17:13

as being a solid Fast and Furious film,

17:15

but also the most accurate portrayal of Miami

17:18

geography that I've ever seen on screen. Okay,

17:20

that's fair, that's fair. We we give We'll

17:22

give credit where credit is due for all those

17:24

of us, all eight of us who care about accurate

17:27

portrayal of Miami geography. Uh,

17:29

it stands up. Listen.

17:35

I am not a video gamer, but I will also say

17:37

that Vice the City is a

17:39

fun look at Miami every

17:42

time I see somebody playing. It's also

17:44

pretty all of their games are pretty accurate. When I moved

17:46

to l A, I had a pretty good understanding geography

17:48

thanks to g T A five. Um

17:52

the the uh which

17:55

you know it brings us to if you if

17:57

you want to hear more about the story, there's a million places

17:59

to go. Joy would tell you to uh

18:02

to watch the true

18:04

crime American crime Story series.

18:06

I would tell you to not. But it has

18:08

been told and retold million times and

18:12

in our in the episode we talk a little bit about film.

18:14

The Joy and I made that kind of like predates this

18:16

area. So which is the Last Resort?

18:18

Kind of tells you how South Beach went from like sleepy

18:21

town of retirees and seventies

18:24

to a global destination. So um,

18:27

shameless plug check out the last Resort

18:29

just a decade earlier, before Frassaci was there. It was

18:32

olderly Jews just chilling in their lawn

18:34

chairs in the park right across the street

18:36

from where he would build this mansion. Yeah, and just

18:39

a few decades after Johnny Rossacci uh

18:42

was murdered. Uh. While it physically

18:44

looks a fame, it is a completely different city.

18:47

Miami Beach uh and South Beach

18:49

in particular, really feels like it kind of reinvents

18:51

itself every twenty years. The something

18:54

vastly different than what it was before. So

18:56

more importantly than watching all this stuff,

18:59

come visit my Ami in Miami Beach. By the way,

19:01

those are two separate places. There are two separate

19:03

places. Yeah, that was another point of contention of every time

19:06

they show an establishing shot of Miami and

19:08

then they show South Beach and Ocean

19:10

Drive as the establishing shot in Miami, and it's like, that's

19:12

not Miami, that's Miami Beach. Uh.

19:15

And is it Pitple, it's the famous Miami

19:17

is not Miami Beach line. I actually I don't. I'm

19:19

not hip. I don't know, but I know that there's a popular

19:22

while around the subjects Kendall is not the hood.

19:26

Hey, Rod Okay, thanks Rod, uh

19:29

And actually thanks to former police

19:31

chief for Richard Barretto for sharing his

19:34

stories and for his years of service.

19:48

M So, the next episode

19:50

we're going to revisit is Supermarket splayer,

19:55

thank you, but I

19:57

was gonna I was gonna anglicize it. Okay,

19:59

why don't you try Manuel Manuel Marin. Yep,

20:02

yep, that's that's Manuel Martin. What

20:05

you say. Uh, so this was the brutal

20:08

murder in the Everglades where

20:10

Manuel Martin killed his wife's

20:14

lover. Correct correct, Uh,

20:17

this is um things

20:21

is a lot this episode, right, because

20:25

one is just kind of like the horrific

20:27

nature of of the way

20:30

a Camilo Salazar Um that's

20:33

brutally murdered, brutally murdered. It's

20:35

got that a little bit of the Everglades, which

20:38

is Florida swamp

20:40

lanned. But I always try

20:43

to put in my Everglades defense

20:46

of that is not actually a swamp. It is its

20:49

own unique ecosystem. Swamp

20:51

is still water and the Everglades technically

20:54

the water is moving all the way south, and so did

20:56

his own unique ecosystem, so it's

20:58

not swamplan even though Haven called up swamp. I

21:01

learned something new every time there you go. It's you can

21:04

a little bit murder, a little bit of ecological education.

21:07

That's that's a date with Joy if he wasn't

21:09

already married. This is what this is what everybody

21:11

you're missing out on. Lucky lucky

21:13

Becca. Um. But

21:17

when we were looking at cases,

21:19

we you know, to tell um,

21:22

we really actually wanted to talk about

21:24

the Everglades because it's it's such a unique

21:26

part of our community. Uh, and

21:29

it's such a vital part of the ecosystem

21:31

to not just South Florida, but Florida as a whole.

21:34

Um. Also it is Uh,

21:37

it is just the site of where a lot of

21:39

awful things have happened. Um. Yeah,

21:41

this is our backwoods. This is the South

21:43

floridat wilderness. So this is where

21:46

you're gonna, you know, something's gonna

21:48

happen that no one wants to know is happening. This

21:51

is the spot they're gonna take

21:54

you or try to get rid of you.

21:56

Yeah, because of how remote it

21:58

is, but also because of the why life. There are gators,

22:01

there are panthers, there are

22:03

things that could theoretically eat you or eat

22:06

remains, and the evidence that disappear.

22:09

I guess I don't know how often that part

22:11

actually happens, because maybe the disappear

22:15

like there's probably a lot of like gator

22:17

fodder that's been left out in the in

22:19

the Everglades. Um. However,

22:21

like one of the like one of the sad

22:24

things, but just one of the realities is like the Everglades

22:26

is like right on the border of civilization.

22:29

It used to be like when we were

22:31

kids, you had to really like slep

22:34

out to go to the Everglades and you were like basically

22:37

you know, the last house and

22:39

or shopping mall ended, and you drove

22:41

for miles and miles and miles before you kind

22:43

of got to the Everglades. And we really

22:45

kind of, um, it's just because

22:48

of overpopulation and over development, which

22:50

is such a huge Asian our community, we've really built

22:52

up right to the edge of the Everglades.

22:55

Um, And so it doesn't feel as

22:58

in some ways just to kind of feel as moat

23:00

as it used to, because yeah, you have a lot of neighborhoods

23:03

that are just right on the border of Chrome Avenue where that's

23:05

pretty much literally the line of stibilization. Like if you

23:07

fly in the Miami and you just look out the window, you can see

23:09

this very clear line of houses and

23:11

developments and buildings and then

23:14

a huge line to the street and then nothing

23:16

but wilderness. Of the wilderness

23:19

used here is saw

23:21

grass and mangroves and

23:23

trees and stuff, not big trees or mountains

23:26

or anything. Yeah, and and with it being so

23:28

important, it's also it makes

23:30

it kind of all the more horrific. We that this beautiful,

23:34

uh, place of like

23:36

birth and rebirth. Also it's the site of horrible

23:38

crimes like the murder of Camilo

23:41

salasar Um, which

23:43

you know is in

23:46

some ways it's just it's it's a the ultimate

23:48

revenge murder. It's a crime

23:51

of passion, and uh,

23:53

it was one that was premeditated

23:55

quite a bit and inspired by

23:58

Jenny Marines loneliness

24:00

is all stood in her marriage. And so let's hear

24:03

from journalist David obayas he tells us a little

24:05

bit about that. So,

24:10

man Manuel had been married

24:12

previously, and when he divorced, he

24:14

actually caught up with Jenny and

24:17

um sort of the swept roperty,

24:20

right. Um. I remember Um writing

24:22

about their marriage and how it was sort of this on

24:25

the surface, there was just like this perfect marriage

24:27

because they've lived in you know, a beautiful

24:30

house, and they had a manny, and they had

24:32

you know, luxury boats, and their

24:34

kids went to private school and and

24:38

you know, but behind, you know,

24:40

behind the facade, that Jenny

24:43

was, you know, fel very isolated, selfate,

24:45

cold. He didn't quite there

24:47

was you know, I mean he was Cuban,

24:50

she was Columbia. He was a little bit older. So

24:52

there was a little bit of a culter class

24:54

there because you know he i

24:56

mean evened something as silly as he would use slang

24:58

that he didn't quite understand act right, even though it's

25:01

they were most Spanish speakers, right, um

25:04

and um, those these little things like that. And

25:06

then just you know, you could he worked a lot at

25:09

his interest and was she didn't really

25:11

have friends. He was kind of like this fatista,

25:13

you know, Cuban guy, and and

25:16

very controlling, and she just felt

25:18

very alone. So it was not it

25:21

was not the marriage that it was cracked up to be on paper.

25:24

Where does where does this case rank? And in

25:27

Miami stories for you

25:29

that you've covered, Oh,

25:31

it's it's like top three, Yeah, I

25:33

mean it's it's one of the most Miami cases.

25:36

And I think I think it because

25:40

you have the m m A connection. You have

25:42

the basic the supermarkets connection,

25:44

which like like unless

25:46

you live in South Florida, you're not going to know what

25:49

president the supermarkets are. You know what I mean,

25:51

so it's like it's like so super

25:53

Miami, um, you know, and

25:56

like the son, the son you

25:58

know, running these sort of businesses like he

26:00

was he was he was a part investor in like

26:02

one of these really famous kebab

26:04

places here. It's like very

26:07

you know, sort of hip and trendy and cool and

26:09

so you know, um, there's so

26:11

many layers of Miami and and of course

26:13

you know love triangle and you know,

26:16

um, you know, long quest for justice

26:19

and you know there's so many sort of subplots that that

26:21

sort of makes this the uh, really

26:24

enticing, enticing case to cover. I

26:28

think one of my favorite lines from the article,

26:31

I don't know if there was when they asked Jenny,

26:33

I guess where she went after the boat or something,

26:36

and she said, I went to public and they're

26:38

like, non precidented, just like you

26:40

know, yeah, yeah.

26:42

That was again that was the prosecutor Deale of the

26:45

Resisted, and you know, you know, it was funny and

26:47

you know, those are what I've run in one of the things that maybe main

26:50

Gale of the Code Great Prosecutor was. You

26:52

know, she had the perfect timing with those kinds

26:54

of little little things at the Jersey

26:57

loved, you know, and so everyone sort of cracks

26:59

up laughing. Um. But yeah, yeah,

27:01

Yeah, there's just there's just so many different little

27:04

inherent tentions like that that throughout

27:06

the trial. It that was fastening. Yeah,

27:10

that part we talked. We touched a bit about this in the

27:12

last Bonus episode of when

27:14

people think of South Florida and they're like, it's very Hispanic

27:17

and the group just all of the different

27:19

cultures and countries and where everyone came from is

27:21

just Hispanic. But there are a lot of differences

27:24

and and nuances and all

27:26

the differences of where everyone

27:28

came from or where their heritage from.

27:32

I definitely cannot speak a lot about

27:34

that, but you definitely know more

27:36

about sort of the nuances and especially what David

27:39

is alluding to in sort of the rifts of their

27:41

marriage of having these two different cultures. Yeah,

27:44

as the resident Latino of the two of

27:46

us here, it it definitely rings true.

27:48

I mean, this was in many ways

27:51

kind of like, uh, they were a little bit of

27:53

an unlikely pairing, right. Um. First

27:55

of all, because there's about a twenty year age difference

27:58

between Jenny and Manuela. Um,

28:00

he was married when they met. She wanted nothing

28:03

to do with him, and then he got divorced,

28:05

and um, she

28:07

was she had lived in South Florida, but she was actually

28:10

Colombian but raised or had lived

28:13

in Jersey area, and

28:15

he would more from souft Florida.

28:17

So there's those kind of cultural differences,

28:20

um. But you know, also there was

28:22

just this kind of like the differing you

28:24

know, I like to call it the different flavors of Latino.

28:27

We do get painted in uh with

28:29

broad strokes of being the same. So aside

28:32

from like being twenty years apart and from having

28:34

grown up in different parts of the country

28:36

or lived in the part of the country, they were different culturally

28:39

as well, right, like Manon Madin was Cuban,

28:42

um and Jenny was Colombian, And

28:45

there is very distinct differences between

28:47

our cultures. And like the history that we know and

28:50

uh, you know, Miami has a sizeable, obviously

28:52

well known, sizable huge Cuban community

28:54

that has alpha a very large Columbian community

28:57

and these days a large th a swelling community. Um.

29:00

And little things like like variations

29:03

on food, right like you grow up with right,

29:06

but also just like slang. One of my favorite

29:08

examples of this is UH,

29:11

the word beato, so I

29:13

am. I am half Cuban, half

29:15

Lebanese uh. And in Cuban slang,

29:17

beato generally means

29:20

a bug, right, means

29:23

that there are bugs in the house. If

29:25

you are Puerto Rican, another island

29:27

in the Caribbean, beacho is slang for

29:29

penis. So you can

29:31

imagine when you use

29:34

words that mean one thing for you

29:36

in the same language, infestation

29:39

that I'm gonna leave that. Yes,

29:41

I have not lived in that house.

29:43

Five Ricky Martin's thank

29:46

you for the callback. Uh No. It's

29:49

it is interesting because if you think about it, it seems

29:51

like a small, innocuous thing, like it's

29:53

the same language, but slang means

29:56

different things. Imagine living

29:58

in the place where you are

30:00

with someone who's working all the time, twenty

30:03

years older than you, you don't have a

30:05

great deal of friends, and like you

30:07

make it passing reference or use a word and you

30:09

don't completely understand what it's like. I mean, you

30:12

know, I feel like I could empathize with Jenny

30:15

Madine's plight in that you know, she

30:17

she felt alone and she was kind of looking for

30:19

a looking for some solace,

30:22

and she found it in Camilo Salazar

30:25

at the Gallery Mall at the Gallery Mall

30:28

and uh a nearby hotel. Um.

30:30

One of the other things I love about this recollection

30:33

from David Obaio the Miami Herald

30:36

is the line from Gail

30:38

Levine, the prosecutor in the case. Yeah,

30:41

that was a great court exchange where they

30:43

get back from the boat and she's asking Jenny

30:46

what you do after the boat? She says, I want to Public,

30:49

not President. No. Such

30:52

a great line, but also such a only

30:55

like you only get the subtlety of that if you're really from

30:57

Miami. Both President

30:59

the supermarket mostly, but also Public is

31:01

it's not just anything that's a Southern United

31:04

States staple. I mean, they've expanded a bit, but they started

31:06

in Lakeland, Florida, and they're just the

31:08

main food store in all of South Florida. And

31:12

for her to stay she went to Public,

31:14

which is the South Florida staple and not her husband's

31:17

food store. Is a nice

31:19

little jab at him in the courtroom.

31:22

I mean, the problems clearly started

31:24

from before Public

31:27

versus Benhaden. Argument

31:29

in the Madine home must have been an interesting one.

31:32

Uh. This is yeah, this is

31:34

this was a wild story.

31:36

As we say, Manuel Madine was

31:39

extradited Um from

31:41

Spain and is awaiting

31:43

trial. As with so many things and so many

31:45

of the cases that we talked about in this season,

31:48

they're going to trial. But it got the lead to

31:50

the pandemic. Thanks COVID. Uh

31:53

So, I'm sure we're gonna hear more about this

31:56

case soon. Um. But

31:59

that is that all we have for the supermarket Slayer,

32:01

Manuel Marino. That's every time

32:03

I hear supermarket slayer, I think of supermarket sweep.

32:06

Yeah, this was a very different for

32:09

the murder Murderita

32:26

Ville and Carlo Um.

32:30

This is maybe our only case

32:32

in the Florida Keys. Um. I

32:34

wanted a Key story. I wanted an ever great story.

32:37

I'm glad we've got them both. Yeah, totally totally.

32:39

I mean, the Floria Keys are such an instinct place, right,

32:41

It's like you think beach bum

32:44

vibe, laid that kind of island

32:46

life. That's that's the Keys kind

32:48

of thanks apart to Jimmy Buffett, Yeah, I mean huge

32:51

supporting his music and creating

32:53

this huge image and I basically disnifying

32:55

the Keys with Margaritaville and his restaurants

32:58

and hotels that he's built around it. Yeah, you know,

33:00

he has like U full disclosure, I'm

33:02

a big Jimmy Buffif fan. Uh. And

33:05

I'm only forty two eight butt

33:08

fixated heart that's right, and and in my

33:11

in my legs. But Jimmy

33:13

Buffet like has it's like it's five o'clock somewhere

33:15

of one of his famous songs and like vibes right,

33:18

it's like you should just be chilling and having

33:20

a beer, it's already five o'clock. So that's

33:22

kind of the vibe that the Keys

33:24

has really always had but in a way

33:26

been amplified thanks to the permission of

33:29

of of that reputation.

33:31

Uh. And there's a seed underbelly. Uh,

33:34

this story really covers it. Um. And

33:36

this story is just really really more

33:39

and more complicated as

33:41

he goes on. So one of the things

33:43

maybe you could set this up for us, this clip

33:45

that we're about to hear. Yeah, so in the

33:48

episode, we covered that, Yes,

33:50

there was one jailhouse confession that kind of

33:52

threw a bit of doubt

33:54

into who actually you know, Jeremy McCauley.

33:57

Threw a bit of doubt if Jeremy McCauley was the

34:00

aer man who killed a terror and Carlos

34:02

and that jailhouse confession that we covered in the episode.

34:04

It was like, oh no, it's both of the den Blonde brothers

34:06

were the ones he killed him. But then there was another

34:09

jailhouse confession and this one didn't really play

34:11

out as much into the case, so we didn't have it in the episode,

34:14

but it's still both kind of like bizarre.

34:16

I was like, wait, this case involved like two jailhouse

34:19

confessions of two other people who

34:21

shared cells with people that were involved in the case, that

34:23

they heard confessions about stuff that happened in the case,

34:25

and then they went to police and they had no reason to go to the police.

34:28

Anyways, this is another story

34:30

from another jailhouse confession. Uh, they're

34:32

gonna play this clip for you right now. So

34:35

the interesting thing about Jeremy Best story is

34:37

unlike Eric Lansford story where he

34:39

sort of said he had like this moral obligation to

34:42

go to the police, like even though he's about to be released, he didn't

34:44

have any deal to strike to get a you know, time

34:46

shaped office sent in for for telling the police

34:48

what he heard. But he was just like, oh, he said

34:50

he canna kill the kids, and that's just like morally awful

34:52

and like I just had to tell someone about that. But was Jeremy

34:55

invest It was sort of like it really wasn't any

34:58

moral outrage on his part from what it

35:00

seemed from hearing what he had to say, And

35:03

it also just kind of seemed it didn't seem like his

35:06

version of events really went anywhere except

35:08

for saying, oh, no, they weren't on uh

35:11

Rick Rodriguez boat there on the real

35:14

G which it was their boat, And David said he

35:16

did track down that they did own that boat,

35:18

and he was one of the first thing that kind of uncovered that

35:20

the real G was McCauley's boat, but

35:23

that, oh no, that Rick Rodriguez

35:26

had nothing to do with it. Which Rock Rodriguez was a very

35:28

interesting aspect of the story because

35:31

everyone kind of seemed to believe that,

35:34

yes, he was on the boat when they found the drugs,

35:36

and like, how could you be the captain

35:38

of the boat and not know that someone found thirty three pounds

35:40

of cocaine floating in the ocean. But

35:43

he's never charged with anything, and he

35:45

was never never charged,

35:47

nothing never happened to him. Yeah,

35:52

it's certainly, I mean, it's certainly

35:55

raises a lot of questions and doubt,

35:59

but uh, you know, the criminal justice

36:01

system played it played out the way it is

36:03

and Rick Rogius has never been

36:05

charged and is a freeman. Um

36:09

And uh, I mean David said,

36:11

I mean they didn't. All the drugs were sold and there

36:13

was nothing. There's no evidence to stay

36:16

otherwise that he you couldn't

36:18

prove that he knew about it. So yeah, wild

36:21

story. Thanks again to David obay If for talking

36:23

to us of this for

36:26

that episode MURDERI de Ville dot Asalo

36:28

and Carlos Ortice so

36:37

cruising to know where Gus bullis. Uh.

36:39

This is a story of a

36:42

really kind of popular local businessman

36:45

who created these empires

36:47

um that were beloved locally. We we

36:49

wampires two empires. We waxed

36:52

poetically about the deliciousness

36:54

of what was Miami Subs and their delicious curly fries

36:56

and delicious curly fries Um, thank

36:58

you my waistline. Thanks Mr bullis

37:01

UM and San Cruis Casino. The the

37:04

basically the thing that really kind of eventually

37:07

that to his death, which were these cruise

37:09

ships at see um cruise ships

37:11

to Nowhere. I never went on one, but the

37:14

commercials of the stunt cruise definitely live on in

37:16

my head from childhood, from hearing them NonStop

37:18

all the time. I did go on one once. I

37:20

think I told you this, uh in the episode,

37:23

and I also went on There was a slew of these

37:25

cruise ships at the time. I went on one from my fifteenth

37:27

birthday, which was the Discovery or the Sea Escape.

37:30

The Skip cruising. Sea Escape

37:32

takes you on a day cruise. Um.

37:35

But interestingly, gambling in

37:37

South Florida has only grown

37:39

since then. Um, there are South

37:42

Florida is obviously Native lands like most

37:44

of the United States are, and so there are seminals

37:47

and nikasuki and historically

37:49

that requests us here. Uh. And so

37:52

the Seminal tribe of Native Americans

37:54

owns the hard Rock Casino, which

37:57

is a massive guitar

38:00

shaped building. The guitars

38:02

new, the guitars new. But that is

38:04

also more of like a monument to how successful

38:07

they have been in bringing gambling

38:09

to South Florida. Yeah, yeah,

38:12

and through just I mean, I I

38:14

don't have the full like step

38:17

by step play of what they did. But at the time Sun

38:19

Cruise was around, they

38:21

were mostly like bingo was sort

38:24

of the legal form of gambling

38:26

that you were allowed to do. On the Semino

38:28

Lands and it's slowly

38:31

evolved through they had slot

38:33

machines. I remember seeing slot machines that were somehow

38:36

based on Bingo and it was sort of this like loophole

38:38

where you could, oh, yeah, it's a slot machine, but it's somehow

38:40

based on Bingo, and that's how they were all but he got

38:42

away with it and then it's devolved

38:45

now where I mean they have full blown table

38:47

games, like it's basically like you're in a Vegas because you know,

38:49

and this is through an evolution of the laws. And I feel

38:51

like part of the reason Sun Cruise was appealing to

38:54

it that was the only way you can kind of gamble

38:56

if you wanted to get that Vegas experience

38:58

in and now easier to do

39:00

that in South Florida. Yeah, I mean,

39:02

aside from just the the hard rock

39:05

uh as we've been describing. Uh,

39:07

you know, Gus Bullis was onto something with

39:10

these kind of cruises to nowhere. It's just one

39:12

of the very successful and highly announced

39:14

businesses that kind of rolled into town was

39:17

the resort World's Casino,

39:19

which was a more luxury cruise

39:21

liner which did again cruises

39:23

to nowhere or did the Bahamas and you could

39:26

gamble on board um and yeah,

39:28

they're fairy system, I guess was a little bit more trying

39:30

to be double use of uh. It

39:33

would be a fairy tubeminy. Or

39:35

they'd also run fairies that were just fairies to nowhere and

39:37

basically doing the exact same thing as Sun

39:40

Cruise of go out, party, come

39:42

back. Yeah, yeah, I

39:45

mean this is kind of gambling has always been a thing,

39:47

and it's had an appeal, but with it comes

39:50

as we as we learned, uh

39:53

and what is ultimately a cautionary tale. With

39:55

it comes a lot of attention and a

39:57

lot of uh competition

40:00

in and uh and greed and

40:02

nimbies and people that don't want gambling

40:05

in their area. I will say the one

40:07

thing that never made sense about the whole plan of like trying

40:09

to get may force Gus Bullis

40:12

to sell his cruise ships was Okay,

40:14

he sells them, they're not going to disappear.

40:17

So that part of the government sort

40:19

of plan of like trying to get this, you know,

40:22

sticking it to him and making him sell his boats.

40:25

What was the next player. I've never really understood what they're

40:27

like, why would they forced him to sell and they

40:31

weren't going to disappear. Yeah, yeah, it's

40:33

it is. It is a question that came up with

40:35

my mind too, and I think in some of our listeners as well.

40:38

And another thing that this this uh, this

40:40

case uh you know had

40:43

was we talked about, uh, the organized

40:45

crime and the connection to the

40:48

Gambino crime family and John Gotti

40:50

and some of the kind of uh you

40:52

know, organized crime figures that were involved

40:55

in Gus Bullis's murder, which

40:57

is ultimately a mob hit. I think it's

40:59

kind of worth pointing out that organized crime

41:01

in South Florida and like kind of traditional

41:04

mafia as we think of it is nothing new

41:06

here, right, It's been around in style

41:08

Capone. Yeah, I was been arounder before him

41:11

bootlegger days and yeah,

41:15

I mean I also even probably protevision

41:17

past thanks to like all the coastal land. It's it's

41:19

been a great smuggling spot back when you had to smuggle

41:21

in alcohol. Yeah, I mean, al Capone

41:24

famously lived in Miami Beach, even

41:26

though he was obviously most notorious for being a Chicago

41:28

gangster. He quote died in Miami. He

41:30

died in Miami Beach. He quote unquote retired in Miami

41:33

Beach, which in reality meant he built the summer

41:35

home here. That is it still exists,

41:37

by the way, it's on Palm and Highbiscus

41:39

Island. Uh and uh

41:42

it had like secret corridors to it. Uh.

41:45

And he was running his crime empire.

41:48

Uh. Still at that point, it sounds like how Griselda

41:51

retired to California and then retired

41:53

in prison and was still running her drug empire. Yeah.

41:55

I mean, I guess you know, the leopard never changes his spots.

41:57

Uh. And you know, even after capone obviously,

42:00

you know, a few decades later, Mayor

42:02

Landski, the famous uh that's

42:04

famous mobster Myer Lanski retired

42:08

um to Miami Beach

42:10

and lived kind of in plain fight and

42:13

uh. So there has always been

42:15

a criminal underbelly to Miami and

42:17

there's always been kind of an organized crime

42:20

element present here. So

42:23

UM and Gus Bullis, unfortunately

42:26

was a just one of

42:28

the victims of that. UM.

42:31

Yeah. Yeah, cruising to nowhere. I guess buis

42:34

We hope you enjoyed that episode. We

42:45

hope you enjoyed listening to uh

42:47

Paradise Lost Crime of Miami Bonus episode

42:50

two this is it? Yeah,

42:52

we hope to enjoyed the whole series. Yeah, it's

42:55

it's been it's been a great uh. It's

42:58

been a great spending sometimes with y'all every

43:00

week and we hope that you have enjoyed the stories. Thank

43:02

you for taking down this uh, this

43:04

trip down criminally paved the way

43:07

in Miami's history, Criminal

43:09

Memory Lane, Criminal Memory Florida.

43:12

Nobody else I would rather go down this road

43:14

with than you Joy. Likewise, Korean

43:16

has been fun journey with you, uh,

43:18

and we hope you guys have enjoyed it. Please, if you like,

43:21

you find us on social media. You

43:23

can find us on Twitter. I am at Kareem

43:26

tapped k R E M T A B.

43:28

S H and I am at Steve forty

43:30

seven. Let us know what your favorite episode was

43:32

in your favorite story, Yeah, and feel free

43:34

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43:37

and encourage folks to listen. Thanks so much, guys,

43:39

Thank you, and make sure to comment and

43:41

rate on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks

43:44

so much for listening. Thank

44:01

you for listening to Paradise Lost Crime in Miami,

44:03

where each new episode we'll bring you a true crime

44:05

story right from the South Florida headlines. Paradise

44:09

Lost Crime in Miami is a production of Sonoro

44:11

and Trojan Horse in partnership with I Heartsta

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Network. Hosted and produced by Kareem

44:16

Taps, Joey Dowd and Christian Hazard,

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Edited by ang Helena Mosher Salasad,

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