It is a family feud like few others, with Israeli-born South Floridians accused of laundering more than $42 million in Colombian cocaine dollars through their Miami jewelry stores in a two-year period.
“Any of you upset about missing the afternoon soap operas, this may well fit the replacement,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie told jurors during opening arguments Tuesday at the trial of Eli Tisona.
Tisona, 54, is charged with 146 counts of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, purposely evading cash-reporting laws, money laundering and knowingly transferring unlawful funds overseas.
The trial opened with an inside glimpse at what was once the most prolific cocaine smuggling operation in the world, the Cali cartel.
The cartel had plenty of use for money-laundering services, according to Guillermo Pallomari, the right-hand man of cartel chief Miguel Rodriguez-Orejuela from 1990 to 1995.
The cartel was moving, on average, 5 tons of cocaine per month into the United States and selling it wholesale for $15,000 per kilogram. Subtracting $1,500 per kilo for the growers and another $1,500 for the transporters left a gross profit of $12,000 per kilo.
Money launderers received, on average, a 10 percent commission to move the cartel’s dollars back to Colombia, bringing the per-kilo net profit to $10,800. Multiplying that figure by 5 tons, or 4,500 kilos, means the cartel was easily netting $48.6 million a month in the United States alone.
Pallomari testified that he didn’t know Tisona by name, but placed him at the same table during a tense meeting in late 1992 with four cartel leaders. Tisona, who was known as “El Joyero” or “The Jeweler,” was on the spot for $1 million in missing cartel money.
At one point, cartel member Helmer Herrera-Buitrago told Tisona and his accountant they would have to repay with cash or their lives. They were spared when Rodriguez-Orejuela later acknowledged his own math error.
Pallomari pleaded guilty and testified against his cartel co-defendants in 1995. He is testifying in this case in hopes of a shorter prison term.
Defense attorney Vincent Flynn said most of the government witnesses are criminals, including Pallomari, whom he branded the “travelling … all-purpose utility witness.”
Another Flynn target was supposed key witness Ilan Kashti, whose son, Yehuda, is married to Tisona’s daughter, Kineret. Both families were involved in the Miami jewelry stores through which $42 million in drug money was allegedly funneled to Colombia between July 1991 and May 1993.
Flynn contends that Ilan Kashti is the money launderer and is fingering Tisona to reduce his own prison time. Gregorie said Tuesday he might not call Ilan Kashti after all. Ilan Kashti’s decision to testify was just one small part of the intensely bitter family feud, which led to the estrangement between father and son. It also includes allegations of Israeli mob ties, stolen jewelry, insurance fraud, beatings and threats of other violence.
The trial was further complicated when Kineret and Yehuda Kashti and their friend Danny Fisher skipped bond in December, fleeing to Israel, which doesn’t extradite its citizens.
The trial, slated to take three to four weeks, resumes this morning. Ilan Kashti’s wife, Esther, might testify today.
