The Corporation were targeted by the combined might of the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Admininistration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Miami-Dade County Police Department.
$1.5bn in assets
Miami-Dade County Police Director Carlos Alvarez said: “These are the top players of this corporation. It is an illegal corporation that made a lot of money.”
He may now be a doddering geriatric, but the authorities claim he has been responsible for numerous contract killings, drug deals and fire-bombings.
The old man, who now lives on a fruit farm near Miami, was arrested at a supermarket near his home.
Battle Snr, now in a wheelchair and in satta king need of regular kidney dialysis, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges dating back as far as 1964.
‘He is no John Gotti’
His lawyer, Jack Blumenfeld, said his client suffered from liver disease, lung problems, diabetes and hypertension.
He told BBC News Online: “He is in the last few years of his life. He had his gall bladder out just a few days before he was arrested. But when the police had their press conference, they made it look like it was a big deal and it was John Gotti all over again.”
Mr Blumenfeld said: “Some of the things they are talking about he has already been acquitted of, like Ernestico Torres.”
He is a sick old man and most of these allegations have been around for 40 years. There is nothing new in this indictment. I don’t know what the point of this is now, it’s some sort of vendetta
Jack Blumenfeld
Battle Snr’s lawyer
He said one man, described by the Feds as Battle Snr’s “enforcer and bodyguard”, was simply a “little old man who took care of the fruit trees on his estate”.
Mr Blumenfeld said Battle Snr had run a numbers racket in New Jersey many years ago, but bolita had gone into decline when state lotteries were introduced.
He said his client had retired from the rackets at least 20 years ago.
‘He retired years ago’
“He moved to Florida to a fruit farm, where he raised fighting cocks for Louisiana and Puerto Rico (where the sport is legal). He has had no involvement in crime for the last 22 years,” said Mr Blumenfeld.
Some of Florida’s Cuban Americans
Florida has a large Cuban American population
He claimed the government had been trying for years to find “snitches” who would be willing to testify against Battle Snr.
Mr Blumenfeld said he was not representing Battle Jnr, but he understood he also denied any wrongdoing. “He is a businessman,” he said.
As for the old man, Mr Blumenfeld said he needed kidney dialysis three times a week and he added: “Now that he is in custody, it’s the US Government which is paying for that. This whole case is such a waste of money.”
He told BBC News Online: “He is a sick old man and most of these allegations have been around for 40 years. There is nothing new in this indictment. I don’t know what the point of this is now, it’s some sort of vendetta.”
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