Opinion ID: 484754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the january 1981 successful load

Text: 36 Alan Cates met Stan in January 1981 and agreed to pilot a flight carrying marijuana from Jamaica to an airstrip west of Lake Okeechobee called Papa Joe's. John Craft flew with Cates in the Cessna 206 and pumped fuel from the drums inside the aircraft into the wing tanks. In Jamaica, marijuana suppliers named Babbs and Bigger loaded 900 to 1000 pounds of marijuana onto the plane. Cates successfully landed at Papa Joe's, where Slusser, Stan, Ron Harrison, and several others off-loaded the marijuana. Gary Ferguson later paid Cates $25,000 for his work. J. THE APRIL 1981 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 37 At Stan's request, Cates and Harrison flew to Mississippi to retrieve an aircraft. Cates flew the aircraft back to the Tamiami airstrip in south Florida. Cates and Harrison then took a commercial flight to Jamaica for the purpose of inspecting a new landing strip. 38 Upon returning to south Florida, Cates, Craft, Harrison, and Basso made preparations for another load. Cates spent the night prior to departure at Stan's home in Homestead, as he had done prior to the previous load. As Cates and Craft were approaching Jamaica, the aircraft's fuel pump failed and Cates was forced to land the aircraft in the water. Cates and Craft were picked up by fishermen in the area but were eventually arrested by Jamaican immigration and police authorities for immigration violations. Bigger paid Cates's $600 fine and assisted Cates and Craft in returning to Kingston in order to obtain a commercial flight back to the United States. Harrison, Basso, and Graham met Cates upon his arrival at the Miami airport. Cates called Stan to let him know that he was back in the United States and to apologize for crashing the airplane. K. THE MAY 1981 SUCCESSFUL LOAD 39 Harrison and Basso acted as co-managers in arranging another load. Cates called Slusser to arrange for use of Papa Joe's airstrip. Although Stan by this time was serving a sentence for an unrelated offense at Eglin Correctional Institution, 7 he telephoned Cates to instruct Cates to call Jamaica to make certain that Harrison and Basso had made proper arrangements with the Jamaican suppliers. Gilbert Chow, Babbs's brother, provided the aircraft in exchange for an agreement to use Babbs as marijuana supplier in Jamaica. 40 Cates and Henry Scott flew to Jamaica and picked up the marijuana. On returning to the United States, due to bad weather Cates was unable to locate Papa Joe's airstrip. He landed the plane in a cow pasture and walked to a nearby house where he telephoned Slusser. Slusser and two others off-loaded the marijuana and refueled the aircraft. Cates and Scott flew the plane back to Tamiami airport the next morning. L. THE JUNE 1981 SUCCESSFUL LOAD 41 A few days after Cates was paid $25,000 for his role in the May 1981 load, Harrison contacted Cates to request that he fly another load. The arrangements were the same as the prior flight except that Scott would serve as pilot and Cates would be copilot. Scott and Cates successfully returned to Papa Joe's airstrip with approximately 1000 pounds of marijuana. Later, at Basso's home Harrison and Basso paid Cates $7500. Cates declined to run another load and left Florida for several months. M. THE MAY 1982 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 42 Three weeks prior to Mother's Day 1982, Stan contacted his brother Ray to request that Ray assist in unloading a load of marijuana. Ray and Stan went to an Indian reservation airstrip to meet the flight piloted by Mike O'Brien. 8 Ray and Bob Bogart were to block off the ends of the road where the airplane was to land. 43 When the plane came in for a landing, the tip of the plane's wing struck a horse trailer that Ray had failed to prevent from entering the landing area. Deputy Sheriff Carl Jenkins saw the plane land and gave chase. O'Brien and Parker jumped out of the aircraft and into Ray's pickup truck. Jenkins observed a blue and white El Camino truck at the scene with a license plate he later learned was registered to Stan. Jenkins pursued Ray's truck at high speeds. Ray, Parker, and O'Brien eventually jumped out of the pickup truck and ran into the woods where they spent the night hiding from police authorities. Ray telephoned Stan the next day, and Stan came to pick Ray up. Police confiscated Ray's pickup truck and the aircraft containing 619 pounds of marijuana. N. THE JUNE 1982 SUCCESSFUL LOAD 44 Cates and his girl friend, Joyce Colesanti, agreed with Stan to attempt to locate an aircraft that could be used to fly another load. Stan and Chow paid Cates's expenses for trips to look at airplanes. Cates and Colesanti purchased a Cessna 206 in early June 1982 for a price of $28,000. They paid for the aircraft with two cashier's checks in the name of Andrew Chuck and two cashier's checks drawn by a Robert L. Bosco, Stan Champion's alias. 45 Cates, Colesanti, Nolan, O'Brien, Chuck, and Chow went to inspect a new airstrip called the Strazula Strip. After inspecting the strip from the air, Cates landed at the Ft. Pierce Airport. Lester Spainhoward met them at the airport and brought Colesanti, Cates, and Chow to the Strazula Strip. Spainhoward explained how secure the strip was and that his father would be there when the plane landed to provide additional security. 9 Eldon Morgan was present at the Strazula Strip during this inspection. Spainhoward, Chow, Stan, Morgan, and Colesanti would serve as off-loaders. 46 About two weeks later, Cates and Chuck prepared for their flight to Jamaica. Colesanti, Chow, and Sporty installed seat tanks that Stan had designed to carry additional fuel. Cates piloted the flight to Jamaica where Babbs refueled the aircraft and loaded it with marijuana. Stan, Spainhoward, Morgan, Colesanti, Chow, and Sporty were present for the off-loading when the plane arrived at the Strazula Strip. Colesanti installed the regular seats and flew with Cates to the Ft. Pierce Airport. Cates later received $25,000 from Chow for piloting the flight. O. THE JULY 1982 SUCCESSFUL LOAD 47 In early July, Stan and Chow informed Colesanti that everything was set for another load. Colesanti called Spainhoward to get him to prepare for another landing at the Strazula Strip. Cates and Chuck flew to Jamaica, where Babbs loaded the marijuana onto the aircraft. Spainhoward, Morgan, Colesanti, Cates and Chuck off-loaded the marijuana at the Strazula Strip. P. THE JULY 1982 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 48 Cates and Colesanti took the aircraft on a vacation to South Dakota. Cates landed at Ft. Pierce and met Spainhoward to give him $10,000 that Stan owed Spainhoward. Spainhoward was eager to do another load. 49 Later that month, Stan and Chow telephoned Cates in South Dakota to tell him to bring the airplane back because they were ready for another load. The plan was to be the same as that used in the two prior successful loads. Cates and Colesanti flew back to south Florida. Problems arose soon after Cates and Chuck departed for Jamaica. Colesanti learned that a security guard had questioned Stan, Chow and Sporty after observing them load the seat tanks onto the aircraft. She took steps to attempt to erase any suspicion that might have arisen. Nevertheless, when Colesanti, Spainhoward, Morgan and Chow were waiting for the airplane to arrive at the Strazula Strip, a police car entered the area. Spainhoward learned from his police radio that the car was in the area investigating a domestic disturbance. Soon a truck and another police car showed up and Spainhoward, Morgan and Chow left. Colesanti stayed to warn Cates. 50 When Cates landed, Colesanti ran out to the aircraft and told him that they were surrounded by police and that Cates should take off and land at a nearby strip that Spainhoward, Morgan, and Chow were lighting with flashlights. Cates advised her that he would not be able to take off in the tall grass because the plane was so heavily loaded. Cates, Chuck, and Colesanti unloaded the marijuana and attempted to hide it in the tall grass. They were forced to leave the fuel tank seats in the aircraft because the regular seats were in Spainhoward's truck. Colesanti noticed that a person standing next to a police car had been observing them. Cates and Chuck took off in the plane and Colesanti ran away. Colesanti evaded the police by hiding in canals and eventually made it to a highway where she hitchhiked back to Ft. Pierce. 51 Cates and Chuck flew to the Ft. Pierce Airport and met the others at a hotel. They soon learned that the aircraft and the marijuana had been seized. Cates, Colesanti, Sporty, and Chow returned to the Miami area in Chow's car. 52 Cates and Colesanti moved to South Dakota. Three weeks after they arrived in South Dakota, Cates was arrested and extradicted to Florida because his name was on the registration for the confiscated aircraft. Stan hired an attorney for Cates who returned to South Dakota after being released on bond. Q. THE OCTOBER 1982 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 53 Nolan and O'Brien were piloting a load of marijuana back from Jamaica when their aircraft struck a wire and crashed into Lake June. Both Nolan and O'Brien were killed. Police divers found thirty-seven bales of marijuana and an invoice for the marijuana. 54 Graham and Stan were in the Lake June area when the crash occurred. Graham later told Colesanti that Nolan and O'Brien had been high on cocaine for several days prior to the flight. Stan's brother Ray drove Noreen Nolan, Mike Nolan's widow, to Stan's house because Ray felt that Stan owed her something. Although Stan denied at that time that he was involved in Mike Nolan's death, he later came to Noreen Nolan's home and gave her a brown paper bag containing $1500 in cash and said that it was to help out, because Stan and Mike had been good friends. R. THE DECEMBER 1982 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 55 In December 1982, Stan and Chow pressured Cates into returning to south Florida to fly another load. 10 Stan provided an airline ticket and Cates returned to south Florida. After Cates refused Stan's request that Cates fly a load of marijuana from Mexico into Texas, Stan sent him to Texas to fly a Cessna 206 that Stan had paid to have released from Customs back to south Florida. 56 Stan had arranged for a load to be flown into a airstrip in south Dade County called Wilbur's Field. Stan paid for Colesanti to fly in from South Dakota to calm Cates's nerves about using Wilbur's Field. Cates agreed to fly the load with Jeffery Powell as copilot. 57 On their return flight from Jamaica, Cates realized that their aircraft was being followed. His efforts to evade radar were unsuccessful and a Customs aircraft and a Metro-Dade Police helicopter landed next to him when he set the plane down at Wilbur's Field. Cates was arrested. The aircraft and the marijuana were seized. 58 After his release on bond, Cates met with Stan, Graham, and Powell at Graham's residence. At this meeting, Graham once again asserted that he had told Nolan and O'Brien not to get so drunk the night before they flew the load. Stan nudged Graham in the ribs and told him not to speak about it anymore. After this meeting, Cates and Colesanti became cooperating witnesses for the government. S. THE JUNE 1983 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 11 59 In early 1983, Elwin Oink Williams introduced Stan to Robert Williamson. Williamson and Rick agreed to fly to Jamaica to pick up a load of marijuana. After some difficulties with the Jamaican police, 12 Williamson and Rick took off for the United States; someone, however, had neglected to replace the oil cap on the engine, and oil sprayed all over the windshield of the aircraft. Williamson turned the plane around and tried to land on the Jamaican airstrip but the soft ground caused the aircraft to crash. 60 Stan came to Jamaica and told Williamson that he should stay in Jamaica for a few days because he was attempting to arrange for another aircraft. Williamson returned to Miami a few days later and went with Graham to Stan's house to discuss their next load. T. THE OCTOBER 1983 UNSUCCESSFUL LOAD 13 61 Stan next decided to attempt to drop marijuana from an aircraft to a boat. Williamson flew to Jamaica and picked up 420 pounds of marijuana but he was unable to locate the boat for the drop. Williamson landed on a nearby island, threw out the marijuana, and proceeded to Nassau. U. THE FINAL DAYS 14 62 In November 1983, Stan, Williamson, and Billy Cheney stole an airplane from the Homestead Airport. After Williamson was arrested for stealing the plane, he began to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a confidential informant. 63 Williamson introduced DEA agent Charles Overstreet to Stan, and Overstreet expressed his willingness to pilot loads for Stan. Thereafter, however, neither Williamson nor Overstreet flew any loads for Stan, although Stan discussed marijuana importation during various meetings and telephone calls.