Falcon, Willy - Trafficker Sentenced To 20 Year...
Trafficker Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison
Counterfeit Notes Found In Forfeited Cash
July 23, 2003 By Ann W. O'Neill Staff Writer
When the time came for Augusto "Willy" Falcon to start paying his debt to society for decades of cocaine smuggling, money laundering and jury tampering, he came up a little short.
Last week, Falcon's lawyers handed over $1 million in forfeited cash to the federal government, as agreed under a plea bargain. The government counted the money, finding that $400 was counterfeit and another $270 was missing.
The glitch was revealed Tuesday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Davis at Falcon's sentencing hearing in Miami federal court. Davis said Falcon's defense delivered a money order for $670 on the eve of sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz completed the process Tuesday, sending Falcon to prison for 20 years.
The sentence was part of a deal the judge initially was reluctant to accept. But in the end, she called Falcon a gentleman, wished him "all the best," and told him, "Each day is the beginning of the rest of your life."
It was an unusually warm send-off for a man who pleaded guilty in June to laundering money used to finance corruption at his 1996 drug trial. Falcon, 47, admitted using cocaine profits to buy off witnesses and at least one juror at the trial, which ended with acquittals for Falcon and his boyhood friend and cocaine partner, Salvador "Sal" Magluta.
According to prosecutors, Falcon and Magluta used speedboats to bring about $2 billion worth of cocaine into Miami during the peak of the 1980s cocaine cowboy era.
Although they were equal partners in the drug trade, Falcon's sentence was a fraction of Magluta's. Magluta, 48, went to trial, was convicted a nearly a year ago and is serving 205 years.
By pleading guilty, Falcon gave up his right to appeal, ending more than a dozen years of federal investigations and trials. He has been in prison -- often in solitary confinement, sometimes in restraints -- since 1991.
The legal saga began in 1980, when Magluta and Falcon pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking charges in state court in Miami and disappeared. They then jumped bail on a California cocaine-trafficking case, eluding capture until they were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale.
While on the run, they continued to smuggle cocaine while indulging in a glamorous lifestyle that included a Lear jet, a powerboat racing team, Las Vegas junkets, Vail ski vacations and South Florida waterfront mansions.
The money flowed even after they were caught. Magluta and Falcon spent $20 million on lawyers for themselves and other members of their organization, known as "The Company," according to court records. They bribed jurors and, prosecutors say, silenced witnesses with cash or bullets.
Magluta was convicted last year of conspiracy to obstruct justice but acquitted of orchestrating the murders of three cooperating government witnesses, including a lawyer gunned down in his office, and the attempted murder of a fourth.
On Tuesday, defense attorneys Jeff Weiner and Richard Diaz convinced the judge to delete references to the murders from a background report written by federal probation officers. Because the report follows Falcon around the prison system, it could affect whether he serves hard time in solitary confinement or is allowed more privileges.
The evidence showed that while Magluta was the driving force behind the jury and witness-tampering scheme, Falcon knew about and benefited from it, prosecutors said.
Jury foreman Miguel Moya was sentenced in 1999 to more than 17 years in prison for taking nearly $400,000 in bribes from the Magluta-Falcon organization. At least one other juror was suspected of taking a payoff, but has not been charged.
The judge also recommended that Falcon serve his sentence at a federal prison in or near Miami after reading letters from his parents and three children, ages 18, 23 and 28.
Falcon's mother is 74 and suffers from congestive heart failure. The children lost their mother 10 months after their father's arrest; she was killed during a robbery at a Coral Gables beauty salon.
"I will probably not live to see my son a free man," wrote Falcon's mother, Marta. "Please, at least allow me in my late years to continue to see him. Given my health, this will only be possible if you keep him nearby."
Seitz told Falcon he was "fortunate" to have such a supportive family, but added that his actions had brought grief and misery to countless other families.
"Your actions also impact far beyond your family, to other families who have suffered addictions," she said. "Your conduct over the years feeds that."
Seitz also placed Falcon on three years' probation when he is released and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service. But Falcon, who was born in Cuba, could be deported or held indefinitely by immigration officials when he completes his sentence.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-07-23/news/0307230085_1_falcon-cocaine-sentencing