Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 23, 1990 TAG: 9004230053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES LEMOYNE THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: VEGA BAJA, PUERTO RICO LENGTH: Long
But it's the talk of the town in this seaside village, where federal agents say at least 10 hefty plastic drums stuffed with as much as $20 million in cash were dug up by local residents about three weeks ago, fueling an Easter season spree by giddily nouveau riche villagers, who began plunking down bricks of greenbacks to buy houses, cars and adult toys of the consumer age.
The conspicuous consumption did not take long to attract attention in a town of narrow streets, thin wallets and prying eyes.
"They weren't pros," said Lt. Jose Alvarez of the Police Department's division of drugs and narcotics, describing those who found and spent part of the buried trove.
"They just began spending and they got caught."
But police officials say it seems likely that those who buried the cash under several feet of wet, reddish-brown earth were anything but amateurs.
Alvarez and the U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico, Daniel Lopez Romo, said in interviews that they thought the money was hidden by a major drug ring that has used Puerto Rico as a shipping point for large parcels of cocaine bound for the United States from South America.
The police say this strong suspicion has made the residents of Vega Baja even more wary of outsiders than usual, because they fear that the drug baron who buried the money will send gunmen in to teach a lesson to those who pinched hidden millions.
"They are afraid of the dealers," said Alvarez.
Lopez Romo said he would confiscate money that had not been spent if he could prove that it was earned from drug dealing or criminal activity.
But he added that so far no charges had been filed against anyone, since "finding money" is not a crime.
If the ownership of the money cannot be proved, he added, those who dug it up could apparently claim it, but would have to pay taxes on it.
In a story that seems to grow more bizarre as details emerge, local officials say it appears possible that the barrels of cash are part of the ill-gained proceeds of a regional drug ring headed by a locally infamous dealer, Sonia Berrios.
According to Lopez Romo, Berrios is a fugitive being sought on many counts of drug dealing.
Some of the top people in her organization lived in the area, he said, but he added that it was too early to say whether they buried the cache.
But the U.S. attorney said he had no doubt that the money was tainted.
"Hey, money isn't hatched in the earth," he said.
"Someone put it there. It's obvious this is dirty money."
Police officials will not divulge the exact location of the buried cash, but say it was an isolated farm in the hills between Vega Baja, about 25 miles from San Juan, and the neighboring town of Vega Alta.
"People have dug about 20 holes looking for it," said police Officer Luis Perez.
Angel Manuel Melendez, a local hardware store owner, said, "People from around here are looking for it with shovels and tools, but I haven't seen a penny."
Alvarez said the current theory about the origins of the money and how it was found is that members of the drug ring buried the barrels in a carefully constructed cache, with false bottoms and wooden floors to deflect rainwater.
He said the gang extracted much of the money over several months, but that word got out to a group of at least 10 villagers in the tough working-class neighborhood of La Trocha.
The villagers went to the site one night about three weeks ago and found a barrel still stuffed with more than $1 million in bills of $20 and $100, Alvarez said.
Pleased with their luck, the villagers apparently took the money and ran.
They began to buy Toyotas and Volvos, pay off years of debts and deposit wads of cash at local banks.
But Alvarez said the gang that buried the money probably took out more than $15 million from at least nine other barrels that were found empty at the site by FBI agents.
"The question we're asking is, What is the source of the money and where is the cash?" Lopez Romo said.
"The money we have recovered is minimal."
Two residents acknowledged that FBI agents had combed the streets, but said they knew nothing about any money, buried or otherwise.
A man with a new Cadillac in front of a rundown house smiled politely and said:
"I don't know anything. I'm just visiting."
To further questions, he simply smiled.
Luis Oliveira, 18, said FBI agents "had been looking high and low" in the neighborhood.
But he said he knew nothing about the missing money, though he added that if he did he would not broadcast it.
"Let me tell you," he said, "if I found $2 million, you'd never know about it."
Such reticence did not surprise a woman in her 30s who gave her name only as Mary.
She was one of several women in the Black Angus, said to be one of the toughest late-night bars in nearby San Juan.
"Look, honey, if it has to do with drugs or the cops, I'd know about it," Mary said.
After a pause, she added: "You've got to be careful of rumors in this town. A lot of people will give you a dumb story."
A handful of unsmiling men in gold chains looked on.
by CNB