Free How to Get Away With Murder in America by Evan Wright Page A

secret deal with Albert would undergo intense public scrutiny. Whatever deficiencies Lehtinen might have had as a U.S. attorney, though, his political instincts were unerring. After Albert’s arrest, he called a press conference in which he hailed the arrest as a “decisive step against the vicious cycle” of drugs and violence. As he spoke, the Justice Department had already opened a conflict-of-interest probe into his handling of Albert’s deal.
    Albert assembled a defense team that would soon include celebrity attorney Robert Shapiro. Erra hired Roy Black, who was also defending William Kennedy Smith against rape charges. For members of the OCS, already a year into the investigation, their battles were just beginning.

The Return of Alex
     
     
    One factor that made the case against Erra strong was Mark Baer’s testimony. OCS investigators combed through Albert’s past to find a similar insider to his operations, someone they could turn against him. Baer provided a clue. He said that Albert sometimes sent a bodyguard called “Alex” to negotiate drug deals. Baer described Alex as a Cuban about Albert’s age, physically fit, and possibly a former fireman.
    Baer recalled a specific meeting he had attended in 1983 with Alex, Erra, and a drug runner named Hector “Puma” Valdez in order to plan shipments of cocaine to California. OCS detectives tracked down Valdez in prison. He recalled the meeting with Baer, Erra, and another man, but didn’t remember his name, only that “the third man was very quiet and muscular.”
    Soon Alex popped up in another branch of the OCS probe. Investigators learned that in 1975, Albert had invested in a bolita— an illegal numbers game—founded by a group of Bay of Pigs vets working as valets at the Dream Bar and the nearby Fontainebleau Hotel. Shortly after they started the bolita, a run of lucky numbers among ticket holders in Hialeah bankrupted it. Albert sent thugs to get his investment back.
    Investigators tracked down three of the failed bolita entrepreneurs, and each told matching stories: Albert sent an enforcer named “Alex Padron” and another big guy to collect his money. One of the bolita founders, Hector Serrano, said he was at home when the two showed up. The OCS report recounts the occasion:
    The two bodyguards produced pistols and announced they were there to take Serrano’s furniture and green 1970 Ford Maverick. Serrano conceded to the Ford but told them they would have to kill him for the furniture. They took the car and left.
     
    Ciro Orizondo, another bolita man, told investigators he had shared an apartment at the Fontainebleau with Manuel Revuelta, who was also a partner in the venture. Orizondo had just returned from the pool when Alex and the other bodyguard burst in with guns drawn. The OCS report continues:
    Orizondo noticed that Alex had Revuelta on the bed, holding a gun to his head. Alex told Revuelta that if they didn’t pay the money he would blow Revuelta’s brains out.
Orizondo advised Alex that if he shot Revuelta, he would go to the police and put Alex in the electric chair. Alex became irate and, using some type of karate move, kicked Orizondo in the face which caused him to break teeth.
     
    Revuelta offered more details when investigators interviewed him in prison, where he was serving time for drug trafficking. Following the bolita failure, Revuelta had gone on to make a fortune smuggling drugs and live like a doper king, with mansions, racing cars, and the requisite puma. But when investigators spoke with him, he still bore a grudge about the shakedown at the Fontainebleau. Alex, he explained, had taken the keys to his prized 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix and stolen it. Revuelta also said that Alex was a fireman; he identified the other bodyguard as El Oso.
    Fisten, who had earlier developed a surprisingly friendly rapport with El Oso while putting him away for murder, had never known that El Oso had worked for Albert. When he met with El