In the legal working world, success is a combination of who you are,
where you are, what you know and who you know. All factor into career
progress in varying degrees depending on your career. In the
underworld, who you know vastly overshadows the others. Idiots often
become big shots because they know someone. You could be a really smart
guy but have no connections and fail terribly. There is a wall that
you can't get past without the right contacts. And it was no different
in our circles. Sometimes a simple introduction changed everything.
And that’s what happened when I met PJ. The circle that opened up to me
after I met Nada Mucho (PJ among them) made a huge difference in what was possible.
Suddenly, I was in touch with an entirely fresh group of high-level
distributors, wholesalers and, at the top, smugglers. I hadn’t changed a
bit and I was still connected to all the same people... but adding the
new circle magnified the possibilities exponentially.
First of
all, PJ lived just minutes away and we knew a lot of the same people
from different directions. This added complexity to the sales matrix
but also became an invaluable information source. We both benefited no
matter who was running the particular deal. Up till then, I was more or
less of a successful wholesaler/retailer. I still saw friends and
acquaintances I’d met in the beginning when I was trying to make sense
of what I’d gotten myself into. I was able to sell to them at way less
cost than they’d pay elsewhere and was also able to pick out the primo
quality for them. It was a great connection in many ways since I was
not only keeping up old relationships but I was also now paying less and
selling for more.
But that isn’t what this chapter is about...
This is about who you know... And the connection to PJ also opened a
door to possibilities that went far beyond anything I’d imagined to that
point. He wasn’t just a hippie. He was doing things in a far more
traditional way than I knew existed. He had an accountant, a lawyer,
and some other very interesting resources... The key to these
connections was that they all knew, to some degree, what was going on
and they were all in for the ride and the dough.
By 1980, we had
been through a dozen places in Manhattan, several in Queens, and were
well into the first dozen on Long Island. The rules in the burbs were
simple... Seclusion was essential... and we were mostly steered
towards houses that were upper echelon places... Up a hill, behind tall
hedges... down a long driveway... anything isolated... And it was
funny... our criteria and resources justified almost any rent. Couple
of grand a month? Sure thing... We’ll pay in advance if you’d like...
Cash even... They were mostly on the Gold Coast/North Shore... Sea
Cliff, Brookville, Lloyd Point, West Hills, Huntington Bay, Halesite...
All upscale and all taken with one thing in mind... a secluded,
controllable environment. After a while, you could get used to that
type of place...
So one day, when we were facing the end of a
particular lease... and the housing scout was out scouting houses, we came
across an interesting opportunity. Interest rates, under the Carter
administration, had reached epic levels approaching 18%, and had made real
estate virtually unsellable. These geniuses from Georgia peanut country
decided they could control inflation by raising interest rates...
which they did... except the plan failed miserably. So once he was
out of office, rates began to fall and had hit 12% when we ran across a house on
2.5 acres that the owner was desperate to sell. Vincent Poma was a
banker for UBS and he’d raised his family in the house... was looking
to downsize... but was stuck there in a non-existent real estate
market. The scout comes back and tells me this is a very unusual
situation... the house is up a 150 foot hilly driveway that ends at a
drive-through garage. I mean there was a garage that you could pull
into and out of without backing up. The house itself was interesting
too... It's got a pool, a cabana with a bathroom, a back yard that
would accommodate a tennis court. Built in the 1950s, it was supposedly
a guest house for a very wealthy guy... Guido Eckstein was the name I
recall but a little research shows he was the son of highly respected
restaurateur, Vincent of the same last name.
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/03/victor-eckstein-owned-luchows.html?_r=0
More
about the amazing house later... but bottom line... for $170,000 we
could own it. And although it would practically tap our cash, we could
scrape together the $70,000 and hope to get a mortgage for the rest.
Unfortunately, there was just one problem. I had no income... errr...
no visible income that is.... no tax returns... nothing that would
justify a mortgage... and frankly, I had no idea about such things.
And this is where the open door comes in. In a conversation with PJ,
who was also renting in the area, I managed an introduction to an
accountant who, basically, for a fee (of course)... could take care of
the entire mortgage application issue for us. The guy was connected to
the ‘real’ world of finance in ways and with knowledge that I had
absolutely no clue about. Within a week or two, I had employment
records, pay stubs, tax returns, and anything else that was needed to
get the mortgage. In fact, I didn’t realize it at the time but I was
signing on to a whole new way of life. Buying the house was just a
first step. Maintaining something in my name also meant having an
ongoing income, filing taxes, and so on and so forth. The next thing I
knew, I was taking an insurance exam, getting a brokers license, and
cashing checks (for a fee, of course). Today, it’s what they call money
laundering. In 1980, I called it a major sign of success.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
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