Jon Pernell Roberts , was a noted
drug trafficker
and government informant who, after leaving the northeast where he
associated with the Gambino crime family, operated in the Miami area and
was an associate of
Colombia's
Medellín Cartel
during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking, 1975–1985 died from cancer he was 63.. After his
arrest, he was able to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by becoming a
cooperating witness and proactive informant for the federal government.
He is the coauthor with
Evan Wright of
American Desperado.
[1]
(born John Riccobono; June 21, 1948 – December 28, 2011)
Early life
Roberts was born in
New York City to
Sicilian American parents.
[2] His father Nat Riccobono had earlier moved with his brothers from
Sicily and made a living through involvement with various shady businesses throughout New York in the late 1940s.
[2] After being apprehended by police for
kidnapping, Roberts was given an opportunity to expunge his record with military service. Roberts claims to have served with the
101st Airborne for four years in
Vietnam.
He received injuries during the war that required a metal plate to be
attached to his skull. After working for members of the New York
Mafia as a club manager and restaurateur, he moved to
Miami to distance himself from business partners he believed were targeted by rival criminals.
[3]. However in his book
American Desperado
he claims he moved to Miami because both the mafia and law enforcement
were after him because he was suspected in the murder of a police
officer.
Introduction to Cartel
As demand for
cocaine increased, Roberts found his
Cuban suppliers unable to meet his demand. Through Roberts' girlfriend, he met
Mickey Munday. Munday was a trafficker who introduced Roberts to Medellín agent
Rafael "Rafa" Cardona Salazar. At first, Munday was apprehensive of Roberts, who had driven up in a black
Mercedes Benz,
which Munday described as having "drug dealer written all over it". He
also stated that Roberts' flashy car and flamboyant lifestyle made
Roberts look like "someone I wanted nothing to do with".
[4]
Nevertheless, Roberts and Munday began working under the supervision of
Max Mermelstein,
who had an agreement with Salazar to manage the transportation of
cocaine from Colombia to Miami. He then oversaw the delivery of the
loads to cartel safehouses in the Miami area. Roberts was able to
increase his monthly cocaine business through this direct connection.
Mermelstein and Munday established the routes for trips to Colombia,
using boats, tow truck companies, safehouses, and airstrips, thereby
setting up an effective transportation route for the cartel. Roberts
claims to have made over $100 million USD dealing cocaine during this
period. He spent $50 million of that money on his extravagant lifestyle.
[4]
Horses
In
American Desperado, Roberts describes: "After I made my
first big score selling coke to Bernie Levine in California, Danny Mones
told me racehorses were a good way to launder money." He and Danny
Mones "started Mephisto Stables in 1977".
[5][6]
In Chapter 62 of the book, Roberts recounts a variety of processes by
which he used horses to launder money. Additionally, "[He] also learned
how to fix races. There were many tricks."
[5]
Also in chapter 62, Roberts describes another benefit to horses:
"Dealing cocaine had promoted me into high society. Owning racehorses
took me into the stratosphere." He recounts prominent people he met
through his racehorse connections, such as "Judge Joe Johnson, who
hosted horse auctions", and through him, "We got friendly with Cliff
Perlman, who owned
Caesar's Palace.
When I'd go to Caesar's and get comped, everybody assumed it was
because of my Mafia connections. No, I was connected to Caesar's Palace
by a Kenucky judge." Through the same circle, "We ended up becoming
friends with
Al Tannenbaum[7] and his girlfriend, Gloria. Al was a guy who'd made it big in stereos."
He describes a particular horse in the epigraph to his book:
[5]
- Desperado, the horse that I thought would win the Derby and make me
famous as something more than a gangster, was a baby when I got him. He
hadn't been trained how to run, but he could already fly on the grass.
He had good instincts. He didn't like other horses. You don't want a
sociable horse. They stay in the pack. You want a horse who likes to run
in front of all the other horses. Desperado was a killer. I named him
Desperado because I saw myself in his eyes.
Roberts also describes an honest jockey he had hired, and that jockey's demise:
- At Calder,
I had a jockey named Nick Navarro who worked for me. He was one of the
good guys. He wouldn't hold horses or charge them or run them on dope.
He was very skilled, and when I ran my horses clean, I used Nick.
- One day in 1977 [sic] he ran a race for me at Calder. I walked up to
him after he finished. He put his hand up to wave, and there was a
powerful explosion. A bolt of lightning came out of the sky and hit him.
Multiple news outlet reports support Jon's recollection, except they
fix the date one year later. As they document: on December 28, 1978,
jockey Niconar "Nick" Navarro was killed by a direct lightning strike
after completing the second race at
Calder Race Course. The remaining eight races at the track that day were cancelled.
[8][9]
Downfall
Mermelstein acted as high-level trafficker working under cartel
member Salazar and with the Munday transportation group. He was
apprehended in 1985 by
Miami Police as a multi-kilo dealer. Mermelstein was implicated by a
California trafficker who gave information to the
DEA in return for a lighter sentence; this trafficker was busted along with
John DeLorean
during a 25-kilo cocaine sting. Mermelstein then turned state's witness
against the Medellín Cartel and supplied information that lead to the
dismemberment of Medellín in Miami. On the morning of September 20,
1986, a little over a year after Mermelstein's arrest, the DEA (in
conjunction with local and federal authorities) raided sites across
Florida
used to store and transport cocaine by Munday and Roberts. Roberts was
arrested and then went on the run, becoming a fugitive living in
Colombia and other parts of the world. He was later apprehended and
became a cooperating witness and proactive informant for the federal
government.
[4]
Later years and Death
According to his ex-wife and various other sources, Roberts used his
past to gain trust within the criminal community and report their
activities to the authorities in order to maintain his prison-free
status. Others have also accused Roberts of being a confidential
informant; one of the Fort Lauderdale officers who arrested him in 1997
for stalking an ex-girlfriend, possession of a firearm, and resisting
arrest w/ violence — testified he "found out later he's been a snitch or
something. He was a CI for somebody."
[2][3]
Gus Garcia-Roberts provides, in paragraph one of a 2009
Miami New Times
article titled "Jon Roberts: Cracked Cowboy (Threats, violence, and
kilos of coke are just the start for this cocaine cowboy)" and the line
that follows, descriptions of Jon Roberts' lifestyle when the latter
lived in
Hollywood (a Florida suburb), Roberts' upcoming media projects, and Jon's character at that juncture:
Former mega-smuggler Jon Roberts, who flooded Miami
with $2 billion worth of cocaine in the '80s, naps away his days in a
quiet lakefront Hollywood home. But soon, if what he says is true, a
book,
a high-octane movie, and videogame contracts will again make him a
player. But he doesn't want you to know this. He's worried this article
could spoil the publicity for his book deal. When I told him last week
this story would be published, the craggy, gray-mustached ex-gangster
vowed, "You will never write another word in this town again... I will
go on TV and tell them everything in your article is bold-faced lies. I
hope you get hit by a truck, you little scumbag." "The outburst is in
character with Roberts' gangster-flick biography, which he described in
an on-the-record interview before changing his mind about publication".
[3]
In 2011, Garcia-Roberts interviewed Roberts'
American Desperado co-author
Evan Wright for a
Miami New Times article (coincidentally dated one month before Roberts' death). In the article, titled "
American Desperado:
Co-Author Evan Wright on Coke Cowboy Jon Roberts' Memoir", the two
authors discuss the book as well as their impressions and experiences
when interviewing Roberts. For example, they share that Roberts was not
completely reformed in his later days:
Garcia-Roberts: In the book, you write that
Jon--who as a felon is not allowed to have guns--showed you silencers he
kept buried in his backyard. One of his dogs regularly killed other
dogs and cats in the neighborhood. Were you ever afraid during your time
staying with Jon in Hollywood?
Wright: Jon doesn't live in
Hollywood anymore, and he's very sick, so I think I can say this. My
most uncomfortable moment came when I was doing an interview, and he
gets a call. He says, "Oh, that's my police friends. They're selling me
some unmarked guns."
[10]
Roberts died of
cancer on 28 December 2011, aged 63.
[2][3][11][12]
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