Jon Roberts

Jon Pernell Roberts (born John Riccobono; June 21, 1948 – December 28, 2011) was an American drug trafficker who operated in the Miami area and was an associate of the Colombian Medellín Cartel during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking, 1975–1986. Roberts was the author with Evan Wright of '' American Desperado''.

Early life

The son of Sicilian-American ''mafioso'' Nat Riccobono,From Mafia Soldier To Cocaine Cowboy
NPR (October 30, 2011) Roberts was born John Riccobono and raised in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.Jon Roberts: Cracked Cowboy
Gus Garcia-Roberts, ''Miami New Times'' (June 25, 2009) Nat Riccobono, an associate of Lucky Luciano, had emigrated illegally to the United States with his brothers from Sicily and was a ''caporegime'' in the Gambino crime family, operating gambling and loan-sharking operations in black neighborhoods of New York and New Jersey.Kingpin: Jon Roberts
Evan Wright, ''Men's Journal'' (December 4, 2017) Roberts' uncle, Joseph "Staten Island Joe" Riccobono, was '' consigliere'' of the Gambino family.Slain Man's Letters Give Impetus to Local and Federal Investigations of After‐Hours Clubs Here
Charles Grutzner, ''The New York Times'' (March 23, 1970) As a child, Roberts accompanied his father on collection rounds as his father beat delinquent debtors. At the age of seven, he witnessed his father shoot a man to death in a traffic dispute.

Nat Riccobono was deported from the United States following a federal crackdown on the Mafia in the late 1950s, after which Roberts' mother had his surname changed. Roberts' mother died during a medical operation when he was thirteen years old, and he subsequently lived with his stepfather and then with various relatives, including a sister in Brunswick, Maine. In the early 1960s, Roberts was a member of the Outcasts, an Italian-American street gang in Teaneck, New Jersey. At the age of sixteen, he returned to New York and began working for his loan shark uncles as an enforcer and debt collector.

In 1965, at the age of seventeen, Roberts was arrested for kidnapping and attempted murder after a severely beaten debtor escaped from a basement "with a chair tied to him and no clothes on". Roberts made claims that was given an opportunity to expunge his criminal record with military service and subsequently joined the United States Army, serving for five years. However none of his claims about his military service could be verified.

Alleged military service

Roberts claimed to have served with the 101st Airborne for four years in Vietnam, though no records could be found proving his military service.https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/jon-roberts/pdf-epub-american-desperado-my-life-from-mafia-soldier-to-cocaine-cowboy-to-secret-government-asset-download-13057000223/

In ''American Desperado'', Roberts recounts his service, saying that he enjoyed Army life. He made claims that he had served on a long-range reconnaissance patrol team and was selected for missions to carry out assassinations in Cambodia. According to Roberts, he and his team committed a variety of atrocities, including killing children and women of all ages, and torturing and skinning alive Viet Cong in retaliation for the enemy committing similar atrocities. In a 2009 interview with Gus Garcia-Roberts of the ''Miami New Times'', Roberts said of his time in Vietnam: "I thought it was great. There were no rules. You could kill people, do whatever you want." In 2011, he told Guy Raz of ''All Things Considered'': "Nobody really controlled us. And eventually after you do this for a while, you decide you're pretty much your own boss. And to me it was an education in how to do things."

Despite all of Roberts' claims about his time in Vietnam, journalist Evan Wright who profiled his life in the book American Desperado found absolutely no records of him ever serving in the military. This included a Freedom of Information request to the National Archives which showed no data on him ever fighting in the War in Vietnam or serving in the military. Jon was also unable to supply any material evidence of his service, including medals, pictures or memorabilia.

Criminal career

Gambino crime family

Roberts was an alleged associate in the Gambino family. Roberts has confessed to committing extortion, assault, money laundering, and racketeering in the early 1970s.

Introduction to the Medellín Cartel

As demand for cocaine increased, Roberts found his Cuban suppliers unable to meet his demand. Through Roberts' girlfriend, Toni Mooney (aka Toni Moon, a model and aspiring actress), he met Mickey Munday. Munday was a trafficker who introduced Roberts to Medellín agent Rafael Cardona Salazar. At first, Munday was apprehensive of Roberts, who had driven up in a black Mercedes-Benz, which Munday described as having "drug dealer written all over it". He also stated that Roberts' flashy car and flamboyant lifestyle made Roberts look like "someone I wanted nothing to do with".

Nevertheless, Roberts and Munday began working under the supervision of Max Mermelstein, who had an agreement with Salazar to manage the transportation of cocaine from Colombia to Miami. He then oversaw the delivery of the loads to cartel safehouses in the Miami area. Roberts was able to increase his monthly cocaine business through this direct connection. Mermelstein and Munday established the routes for trips to Colombia, using boats, tow truck companies, safehouses, and airstrips, thereby setting up an effective transportation route for the cartel. Roberts claims to have made over $100 million USD dealing cocaine during this period. He spent $50 million of that money on his extravagant lifestyle. In the book ''American Desperado'', Roberts claims that he had $150 million in a Panamanian bank, over $50 million invested in real estate and businesses, as well as several million in cash hidden in various safe houses and hiding spaces.

Racehorses

In ''American Desperado'', Roberts describes: "After I made my first big score selling coke to Bernie Levine in California, Danny Mones told me racehorses were a good way to launder money." He and Danny Mones "started Mephisto Stables in 1977".

In Chapter 62 of the book, Roberts recounts a variety of processes by which he used horses to launder money. Additionally, " ealso learned how to fix races. There were many tricks."

Also in chapter 62, Roberts describes another benefit to horses: "Dealing cocaine had promoted me into high society. Owning racehorses took me into the stratosphere." He recounts prominent people he met through his racehorse connections, such as "Judge Joe Johnson, who hosted horse auctions", and through him, "We got friendly with Cliff Perlman, who owned Caesar's Palace. When I'd go to Caesar's and get comped, everybody assumed it was because of my Mafia connections. No, I was connected to Caesar's Palace by a Kentucky judge." Through the same circle, "We ended up becoming friends with Al Tannenbaum and his girlfriend, Gloria. Al was a guy who'd made it big in stereos."

He describes a particular horse in the epigraph to his book:
:Desperado, the horse that I thought would win the Derby and make me famous as something more than a gangster, was a baby when I got him. He hadn't been trained how to run, but he could already fly on the grass. He had good instincts. He didn't like other horses. You don't want a sociable horse. They stay in the pack. You want a horse who likes to run in front of all the other horses. Desperado was a killer. I named him Desperado because I saw myself in his eyes.

Roberts also describes an honest jockey he had hired, and that jockey's demise:
:At Calder, I had a jockey named Nick Navarro who worked for me. He was one of the good guys. He wouldn't hold horses or charge them or run them on dope. He was very skilled, and when I ran my horses clean, I used Nick.

:One day in 1977 iche ran a race for me at Calder. I walked up to him after he finished. He put his hand up to wave, and there was a powerful explosion. A bolt of lightning came out of the sky and hit him.

Multiple news outlet reports support Roberts' recollection, except they fix the date one year later. As they document: on December 28, 1978, jockey Niconar "Nick" Navarro was killed by a direct lightning strike after completing the second race at Calder Race Course. The remaining eight races at the track that day were cancelled.

Downfall

Mermelstein acted as a high-level trafficker working under cartel member Salazar and with the Munday transportation group. He was apprehended in 1985 by the US Customs Service as a multi-kilo dealer, and subsequently turned state's witness. Roberts was arrested on the morning of September 20, 1986.

Later years and death

According to his ex-wife and various other sources, Roberts used his past to gain trust within the criminal community and report their activities to the authorities in order to maintain his prison-free status. Others have also accused Roberts of being a confidential informant; one of the Fort Lauderdale police officers who arrested him in 1997 for stalking an ex-girlfriend, possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest with violence testified he "found out later he's been a snitch or something. He was a CI onfidential informantfor somebody."

In a 2009 ''Miami New Times'' article, Roberts' lifestyle when he lived in Hollywood, Florida, was described as follows:

In 2011, Garcia-Roberts interviewed Roberts' ''American Desperado'' co-author Evan Wright for a ''Miami New Times'' article (coincidentally dated one month before Roberts' death). In the article, titled "''American Desperado'': Co-Author Evan Wright on Coke Cowboy Jon Roberts' Memoir", the two authors discuss the book as well as their impressions and experiences when interviewing Roberts. For example, they share that Roberts was not completely reformed in his later days:

Roberts died of colorectal cancer on December 28, 2011, aged 63.Garcia-Roberts, Gus
"Jon Roberts, Smuggler in Cocaine Cowboys, Dies"
''Miami New Times'', Miami, 29 December 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011.

See also

*'' Cocaine Cowboys''
* ''Griselda'' (miniseries)
* Mickey Munday
* Max Mermelstein

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Jon
1948 births
2011 deaths
20th-century American criminals
21st-century American writers
American drug traffickers
American gangsters of Italian descent
People of Sicilian descent
American male criminals
Criminals from Manhattan
Deaths from colorectal cancer in Florida
Gambino crime family
Gangsters from New York City
Medellín Cartel traffickers
Organized crime memoirists
Criminals from Miami
United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
United States Army soldiers