U.

Sreharges 12 With Running

lnteniational
/ /
Cri1ne Corporation..
<, By JOE CRANKSHAW l/ · - ~- , West City Council member. He was
Horald staff Writer arrested in a Metro Justice Building
Federal officials charged 12 men courtroom while shaking hands
Wednesday with running a Miami- with a juror after his acquittal on
based, international "crime corpo- charges that he murdered Ronald
ration" dealing in murder, arson, Yaras in April 1974. He was re-
drug smuggling, counterfeiting, hi- leased on $20,000 bond.
jacking and loan-sharking.
Seven of the 12 were arrested in • Fred Goodman, 63, of 5815 S.
Miami and New York, ending an Biscayne River Dr., North Miami, a
18-month investigation by the • convicted narcotics trafficker who
agents of the FBI, Drug Enforce- said he is an unemployed butcher.
ment Administration (DEA), U.S. • Charles Kabbaby, 46, of 4290
Customs and Secret Service direct- ... SW 109th Ave., Davie, convicted
earlier this year on income tax eva-
ed by the Justice Department's Or- JOHN ISMAEL
ganized Crime Strike Force and as- LOMBARDOZZI GARCIA sion charges, who says he is a real
sisted by Scotland Yard and the estate salesman and jeweler. Kab-
·French Surete. · land and elsewhere since 1971. baby once operated a jewelry store
Two were arrested in court Wed- Arrested Wednesday morning with Salvatore Grech, a partner
nesday, one 1ust moments after a were: with Jack (Murph the Surf) Mur-
Circuit Court jury had acquitted • John Lombardozzi, 52, of 157 phy. Kabbaby was released on a
him of first-degree murder. Calle Largo, Hollywood, now fac- $100,000 personal surety bond,
ing income tax evasion charges. He which required that he put up no
"THIS GROUP was a regular has been convicted of mail fraud cash. .
crime corporation," Strike Force and assaulting a federal officer. He • Silvio LaPace, 34, of 14930 NE
prosecutor Gary Betz said. "They said he is a writer. Lornbardozzi Seventh Ave., North Miami, a con-
did anything criminal for money." was arrested as he stepped out of a victed narcotics dealer, who said he
The 26·count indictment returned pre-trial hearing on the tax charges operates a Miami auto paint and
secretly Tuesday by a Miami feder- in federal court in Miami. He was body shop. His sentence on the nar-
al grand jury indicates that the· released on $25,000 bond. cotics conviction is scheduled to
"corporation" operated in South • Ismael Garcia, 51, of 2 Arono-.
Florilla. New York, France, Eng- vitz St., Key West, a former Key· Turn to Page 13A CoL 1
 SAM
CAGNINA

12 Acci1sed
Of Running

~FROM PAGE I A
begin this morning.
• Robert Kocher, 34, of 10940
SW l 73rd Ter. Authorities say he
never has been arrested before. He
listed his occupation as auto body
shop manager. Kocher was released
on a $40,000 personal surety bond.
• Cosmo Joseph Lombardozzi,
54, of New York, who was arrested
in New York City.
Already in jail were:
• Ramon E. Dorta, who was
convicted of selling 4.5 pounds of
cocaine with Goodman in 1976.
• David Gorwitz, serving time
for defrauding investors in a Cay-
man Island corporation of more
than $400,000.
AGENTS STILL are seeking:
• Sam Cagnina, 42, of 2330
Prairie Ave., Miami Beach, a former
Key West policeman who also is
wanted in the Yaras killing.
• Robert .J. Heller, 43, of 5760
SW Fourth St., Plantation, who also
is wanted on a counterfeiting
char e • London and on fraud
charges ~Wlerdale and in
Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Alberto Porro, 331~.~o'fr.ftlilili~
72nd St., Hialeah, who is charge
with dealing in cocaine.
The indictment charges that the
"crime corporation" operated out of
Cagnina's home and is responsible
for four murders, two attempted
murders, four truck hijackings and
four massage-parlor fires in which
two of the "corporation's" em·
ployes died.
The indictment charges that Cag-
nina directed the corporation, and
that he and Garcia murdered for
profit or to eliminate competition.
Garcia and Goodman. the docu-
·ment charges, arranged contract ar-
sons in Tampa, Key West and
Miami.
 CAGNINA, Garcia, Cosmo Lom-
bardozzi and Heller handled the
counterfeiting operation, which in-
volved smuggling $12 million in
counterfeit Treasury notes to Eng-
land and Switzerland, the indict·
ment states.
The indictment says Garcia and
Dorta arranged to hijack shipments
of eggs, meat and other products
and divert them to Miami for sale.
Cagnina, LaPace, Kocher and
Porro arranged shipments of co-
caine between Tampa and Miami,
and tried to arrange the shtpment of
millions of dollars worth of mari-
juana into the country, prosecutors
said.
THE 12 are charged with arrang-
ing the murders of Yaras, a Miami
massage-parlor operator, and Rob-
ert Goldstein and George Webber,
who were partners in several of the
corporation's enterprises.
Goldstein, according to the in-
dictment, participated in the coun-
terfeiting scheme in which the
group tried to sell $12 million in
U.S. Treasury notes in Ll'>ndon and
Zurich. He was killed to keep him
quiet, the indictment alleges. It does
not state when or how he was
killed.
Webber, whose body was found
in a car dredged from a pond in
South Dade in 1976, was allegedly a
partner in several of the corpora-
tion's massage parlors in South
Florida.
Police say he was shot in 1974 so
he would not share in the massage
parlor profits.
THE 12 were charged with con-
spiracy in the attempted murders of
Clyde Lee and Anthony Lopez.
Lee was identified as a bolita
kingpin in Central Florida, w~o . was

a and Lopez- tried to hire

Louis Llerandi for the "hit." Lee
was shot in Orlando in 1971 but
survived. Llerandi turned state's ev-
idence against Cagnina.
A state jury acquitted Cagnina of
the attempted murder of Lee after
Llerandi testified that he fired at
Lee.
The indictment alleges that in
1973 Cagnina collected $5,000 for
an attempt to murder Lopez by
placing a bomb in Lopez' car. The
bomb injured Lopez, but he sur-
vived.
THE CORPORATION members
also were charged with ordering
the firebombing oi the Shampoo
Beauty Salon in Miami Beach in
1975 in which Tvrone Huffman and
Danny Meadows were kiJled while
allegedly setting the fire.
They were also charged with ar-
ranging the burning of the Oriental
Health Spa Massage Parlor in Key
West in February 1974 and the fire-
"bombing of the Magic Fingers Mas·
sage Parlor in Tampa twice to elim·
inate competition.
The 12 men also are charged
with forcing Ronald Arthur Schor,
4. · t! • ~B'arrk'ameri­
card credit cards, drivers licenses,
Social Security cards and other offi-
•cial papers in 1974 and 1975.
Schor had borrowed money from
the corporation and was forced to
counterfeit the documents as pay-
me~t, the indictment alleges.

"WE THINK we have removed.

some of the biggest criminal dealers
: .... c,... ... +i.. vt ...... -:...r,,, n n .................... :...1 ,.,,,_ ....

' A •. • The Miami News • Thursday, June 1, 1978
•
ll2 charged with running 'crime
.i
.ari1· b1(1J~fii'M!ljillfl(l--l'i.
~~lami News Reporler
flt
t) a ~ ~,
35-p,ag · iclnent arging 12 persons of run-
ning a racketeering "brokerage house" reads like a
• sev~n-yeaf
"I!
djary, of crime.
The numerous entries range from brutal murder to
the t,h eft of eggs.
·"What it boils down to is a racketeering enterprise
. of various criminal activities," said Gary Betz, a federal
019anized crime prosecutor here who led the investiga-
tiOlli "In effect, it was a crime corporation."
The defendants are charged with ordering murders
an-d arsons to eliminate competition in criminal ven-
•, totes. including drug peddling and the operation of
, massage parlors.
,Charged with racketeering activity were John
Lombardozzi, 52, of Hollywood; Sam Cagnina, 42, of
Miami Beach; Ismael Garcia, 51, of Key West; Cosmo
Jose'ph Lombardozzi, 54, of New York; Charles Kabba-
py.,, 46, of Davie; Fred Goodman, 63, of North Miami;
Robert Heller, 43, of Plantation; Silvio Lapace, 34, of
North Miami; Robert Kocher, 34, of South Dade; Alber-
to Porro, 33, of Hialeah; Ramon Dorta, 43, of Hialeah,
ani;I David Gorwitz, 46, of Bay Harbor Island.
The "crime corporation" operated in Key West,
Miami and Tampa between 1971 and 1978, the indict-
men't said, but some of its ventures took its members to
..
'It was p~rt of the conspiracy
that Cagnina and Garcia would yesterday
Garcia faced first-degree murder charges
South Dade killing of Ronald Yaras.
Garcia, an ex-boxing champ and form
city commissioner, was arrested by waitin
as he walked out of the murder
murder persons in order to ii:ig his acquittal.
In the federal indictment, Cagnina is c ged with
eliminate competition to the placing murder "contracts" on five peop including
Yaras, and Garcia is charged with carryin out two of
criminal ventures and to gain the murders .
in_come., "It was part of the conspiracy," th ndictment
said, "that Cagnina and Garcia would mu er persons
in order to eliminate competition to the c inal ven-
tures and to gain income."
farflung capitals in Europe. In 1975, Joseph Lombar-
dozzi and Cagnina allegedly counterfeited $12,100,000 Among the specific charges:
v Cagnina shot Clyde Lee on Mar 19, 1971,
in $100,000 U.S. biQs and Heller attempted to sell the
bogus bills to banks in London and and Switzerland. wounding him.
v Two months later, Cagnina and An ny Lopez
Heller, who police say is an international con man,
was arrested allegedly carrying the fake bills in a offered Louis Llerandi, a convicted Tam dope ped-
briefcase at London's Heathrow Airport. He claimed he dler, a contract to kill Lee. On June 11, andi shot
was on a CIA mission to stir up economic havoc in and wounded Lee.
Uganda. v In April 1973, Cagnina collected $ 00 for at-
tempting to murder Lopez, who was inju when hi'>
Both Heller and Cagnina were listed as fugitives car was bombed.
when the indictments, returned Tuesday, were uns- The indictment further charges Gar with the
ealed yesterday; The others were arrested. Cagnina, a Ap ii l, 1974 murder of Yaras and the J y 24. 1974
former Key West policeman, failed to appear for a murder of George Webber, both identifie s massage
murder trial in Dade Circuit Court Tuesday. He and parlor operators.
~
"'"
rporation'
Garcia is also charged with the "contract" arsons of
the Oriental Health Spa massage parlor in Key West in
February 1974, the arson of the Magic Fingers massage
parlor in Tampa in November 1974, and the arson of
the Shampoo Beauty Salon on Miami Beach in July
1975. Two Central Florida men allegedly hired to com-
mit the Miami Beach arson died of burns suffered in the
fire.
The defendants are charged with numerous narcot-
ics deals, including use of Cagnina's Miami Beach home
as a storage and distribution center for cocaine. During
1977, the indictment said, Lapace, Kabbaby and John
Lombardozzi discussed a plan to bring $3 million
worth of marijuana into the U.S.
The indictment charges Gorwitz, a commodities
broker convicted three years ago of real estate fraud,
with helping Cagina and Goodman force a man identi-
fied as Ronald Arthur Schor to counterfeit drivers' li-
censes, Social Security cards and credit cards.
For a three-month period in 1975, Cagaina, Garcia
and Dorta allegedly planned and carried out truck hi-
jackings, including thefts of eggs and meats, the indict-
ment charges. An estimated $6,000 theft from Publix
was delivered to a Miami store owned by Dorta, ac-
cording to the indictment.
Betz, deputy chief of the Miami Organized Crime
Strike Force, said the 18-month investigation of the
"crime corporation's" activities was assisted by the
FBI, Secret Service, Customs, Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration, England's Scotland Yard and the French
police agency Sur~te.