WHAT DID YOU SAY YOUR NAME WAS? Billy?
“Arranging” them on the wall?
Too bad your “arranging” didn’t extend to verifying the real names — and criminal histories — of the guys you’ve crawled into the proverbial sack with.
So, I did your work for you: the men you described in news reports as “Billy” and “Lee” are both convicted drug smugglers. Their names are William Michael Force (AKA Michael William Force) and John Leo Mangan III.
“Billy”, who’s been arrested under several names, including Michael William Force, was arrested on March 9, 1973 under the name “William Michael Parks” when he was found concealed aboard M/V Adventurer III in Miami.
The day before, March 8, 1973, at a point on the high seas approximately 35 miles from the coast of Florida and 11.9 miles from the nearest island of the Bahamas, United States Coast Guard officers boarded the American owned M/V Big L which at the time was being towed by the American owned M/V Adventurer III and promptly located over a half a ton of marijuana which they knew to be aboard.
The four members of the M/V Big L’s crew, Aston Winter and Stanton Davis (both Jamaican nationals), Howard Charles Towne (an American citizen) and a Bahamian national named Saunders were immediately arrested and brought into the Southern District of Florida.
Michael William Force, under the assumed name “William Michael Parks” was found hiding aboard the M/V Adventurer III in Miami.
Don’t believe it?
Here’s an excerpt from the official court filing, in case you want to look it up yourself:
United States v. Winter, 509 F.2d 975 (1975)March 13, 1975 · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · No. 73-2236
509 F.2d 975
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Aston WINTER, Howard Charles Towne, Stanton Davis and William Michael Parks, Defendants-Appellants
The appellants shown above, including Parks/Force, entered pleas of nolo contendere to an indictment pursuant to 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 952(a)3 and 9634 charging them with conspiring to import 1,130 pounds of marijuana, a schedule I controlled substance, into the United States.
For those of you who’ve lost your calculators, that’s over half a ton of marijuana.
Parks/Force, who was defended by Miami criminal attorney Melvin Kessler (who specialized in drug cases), challenged “alleged defects in the trial court’s jurisdiction over their persons and over the crime.”
Through separate briefs and oral argument, appellants raise a variety of theories each incorporated by reference by the rest.
Smuggling On The High Seas
On January 3, 1973 an individual named “Dave” and William Michael Force (aka Michael Parks) approached Roy Warren in Miami and offered to pay him $15,-000.00, $2,500.00 in advance, for the use of his boat M/V Adventurer III to import a load of marijuana into the United States from Jamaica.
Shortly thereafter, Warren contacted the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and informed them of the offer. The BNDD advised Warren to cooperate, assisted him in making necessary alterations to his boat and provided him with certain navigational equipment required by the enterprise. The government supplied two BNDD undercover agents to accompany Warren on the voyage as members of the crew.
The Scene Shifts To Land
Once in Jamaica, Warren met Force/Parks and accompanied him into the hills where he was introduced to a number of Jamaicans, including an individual known as “Louis” (aka Stanton Davis), who was allegedly, involved in “putting the load together.” During the course of the enterprise, Warren kept in close contact with supervisory officials of the BNDD. Warren relayed the message that the boat was loaded and ready to go.
Back To The High Seas
On Monday, March 5, BNDD agent Cooke received another call from Warren from Grand Cayman in the Bahamas, informing him that they were proceeding with one and one-half to two tons of marijuana on board as well as with “Louis” and another Jamaican who were returning with them to the United States. Warren further informed Cooke that after refueling on Wednesday or Thursday, M/V Adventurer III would rendezvous at dusk with a 38 foot fishing vessel from Ft. Lauderdale called M/V Big L in the vicinity of Riding Rocks and that the marijuana would be transferred to that vessel.
Seagoing Surveillance And Boarding
From time to time on the 7th and the 8th, the BNDD maintained aerial surveillance of both vessels while they were tracked by radar from C/G cutter Dauntless. Between 7:30 and 9:30 on the 8th, Warren informed the BNDD agents aboard C/G Dauntless by radio that the contraband and the two Jamaicans had been transferred to M/V Big L. Approximately 30 minutes later, Warren radioed that M/V Big L had developed engine trouble and had been taken under tow by M/V Adventurer III.
Shortly thereafter the C/G Dauntless accosted the vessels.
By stipulation, the position of the vessels at the time of the encounter was 35 miles from the closest point on the Florida coast and 11.9 miles from North Cat Cay, the closest point in the Bahamas.
Upon boarding M/V Big L, the Coast Guard officers and BNDD agents ordered the four individuals aboard to move toward the afterend (tail) of the boat. In the process of checking the hold for further crew members, a BNDD agent located the contraband.
From the March 13, 1975 opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit:
lea Bargaining
Defendants’ motions to dismiss and suppress were denied. The government disclosed that it intended to use three confidential informers and agreed to make them available to defense counsel for questioning. Apparently after having interviewed at least one of these informers, defense counsel entered into plea negotiations with the government.
At a hearing before the Court on April 23, 1973 all defendants agreed to enter pleas of nolo contendere. In exchange the government promised to make specific sentencing recommendations to the Court.
Before accepting the pleas, the District Court carefully instructed the defendants that while a plea of nolo contendere would constitute a waiver of all non-jurisdictional defects, challenges to the Court’s jurisdiction could still be pursued on appeal.
After accepting the pleas, the Court sentenced Force/Parks to three years, Davis to 18 months, Towne to 9 months, Winter to 6 months, and Saunders to 18 months.
If you want to know all the “jurisdictional issues” that were raised as grounds for appeal by Force’s attorney as grounds for “repleading”, you’ll have to look at the court filing — and it’s just boring.
Here’s the best:
. OVERT ACTS
1. On or about January 21, 1973 William Michael Parks boarded the vessel ADVENTURER III at Watson’s Island, Miami, Florida.
2. On or about January 28, 1973 William Michael Parks arrived at the pier behind the vessel ADVENTURER III on Watson’s Island, Miami, Florida.
3. On or about March 1, 1973 William Michael Parks entered the Royal Castle at Biscayne Boulevard and 10th Street, Miami, Florida.
All in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 963.
Since the case never went to trial, the government did not have occasion to prove any of the three alleged overt acts of Parks.
During the hearing on the motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, BNDD agent Cooke testified that Warren had contacted the BNDD and informed it that Parks had approached him in Miami and offered to rent his boat to carry marijuana from Jamaica to the United States. The parties further entered a stipulation to the same effect. This in itself is of course evidence of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy within the United States.
In addition, according to case law clearly establishes that the District Court has jurisdiction over a conspiracy and all those proved to be conspirators if the conspiracy is designed to have criminal effects within the United States and if there is sufficient proof that at least one of the conspirators committed an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy within the territorial jurisdiction of the District Court.
And finally, due to the individual circumstances of Force/Parks’ arrest he undertook to assert different attacks from those of his unsuccessful co-appellants.
“Parks through his very knowledgeable counsel attempts to lay out a course in the tortuous waters between Scylla and Charybdis. Recognizing that on the porthand, as an American having been arrested within the territorial limits of the United States, he cannot challenge the District Court’s jurisdiction over his person based on the illegal arrest of others on the high seas, and, on the starboard hand under Sepe the validity of a search and seizure cannot ordinarily escalate to a reserved “jurisdictional” issue, he tries by dead reckoning to steer a middle course.
Divining it as best we can, Parks argues that the Coast Guard illegally boarded and searched the vessel, discovered the contraband and then made the arrests, and consequently the arrest of co-appellants aboard M/V Big L, as well as Parks’ own arrest aboard M/V Adventurer III in Miami, were fruits of an illegal search.
But this theory founders on either the left or right and if — and it is a big if — the Odyssean (after Odysseus) course is a “jurisdictional” one then it stands on the merits. In the circumstances of this case — which, like Mizell, supra, proves again the wisdom of Sepe’s limitations — we decline to transplant the roots of the poisonous tree to the 460 fathom deep seabed westward of the Great Bahama Bank.
As to the so-called internationally illegal boarding and “search” of M/V Big L, Parks, on the kind of record Sepe permits, cannot begin to show that his identity or connection with the enterprise was due to the operation “High Seas.” He had already been tagged by the owner of Adventurer III, whose reliability was sufficiently established by his continuous contact with the agents spelling out exact times, places, loading, departure and planned rendezvous.”
To connect Parks with the enterprise did not depend on what was found aboard M/V Big L.
And in conclusion:
“As each of the “jurisdictional” issues asserted by each appellant have been found wanting, we have given full faith to the District Court’s agreement on the nolo plea. No one has been misled. The bargain has been kept on all sides. The conditions of the provisional pleas have been fully respected. There is therefore no basis for remanding for repleading.”
The plea agreements (and sentencing) were affirmed in the March 13, 1975 opinion.
But the story of William Michael Parks AKA William Michael Force AKA “Billy” doesn’t end there.
“Billy” took it to the Supremes:
William Michael Parks, Petitioner, v. United States.
Petition / MELVYN KESSLER / 1975 / 74–1292 / 423 U.S. 825 / 96 S.Ct. 39 / 46 L.Ed.2d 41 / 4–14–1975
That’s a story for another day.
(Still think De Groft did his homework? Neither do I.)
