The next morning, everyone was buzzing about the injustice around the breakfast buffet. Poli went up to Mike Pearson, the Executive Associate Commissioner of Field Operations (vice Regional Director), and said, “Mike, this is wrong, giving the award for Seek and Keep to two individuals who don’t deserve it. A. J. and I are going to return our awards to the commissioner this morning. Right here.”
Mike was incredulous. He turned and caught Lou Nardi walking by. “Lou, get over here!”
“Yeah?” said Nardi.
“I don’t care what you need to do, but you better get this straightened out.” He turned in a huff and walked away.
Nardi looked at Poli and said, “What’s going on, man?”
“What you guys did is fucking wrong. I have nothing against your staffers, but they did not deserve to be recognized for Operation Seek and Keep. Other people deserve that.”
“Poli, I had nothing to do with that.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. I’m going to return these awards to the Commissioner this morning.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Let me think about it,” Poli answered and walked away.
Poli went up to A. J. and asked, “What would be acceptable to you to resolve this?”
“I don’t give a fuck about Connolly and Riley and their awards. But giving the award to the Dallas district is an insult to everyone who worked on this case, and that needs to be corrected,” said A. J. and smiled widely. “And I’m still giving it back.”
The conference started promptly at eight. Nardi did not have much time, so he immediately leaned over and asked, “What do we need to do to fix this?”
“We want each officer that we nominate to receive a replica of the commissioner’s award, a monetary amount and an appropriate ceremony in the commissioner’s conference room at the home office, and we want four officers nominated for the U.S. Attorney General’s Award: A. J. Irwin, Marc Sanders, Susan Rivera and George Ramírez.” Poli had submitted these names in nomination for the award, but they had been ignored in DC.
“Okay, you got it,” Nardi quickly agreed.
Poli wrote the deal down on a yellow pad and slipped it over for Nardi.
Nardi, signed, “Okay, Lou.”
The awards were approved—but Poli had to have the trophies manufactured in Mexico and lug them to the regional office in Dallas, where the ceremony took place. The agents were flown in from throughout the country and they were regaled, knowing little of the behind-the-scenes drama that had taken place for them to get their just recognition.
The only ones who did not get awards were A. J. and Poli, who did give the plaques back, although not in front of Commissioner Meissner and the INS congregation.
Acknowledgments
We wish to express our deepest thanks to the original Dallas Seek and Keep Task Force: Diana Gómez (Garza) for being there in the beginning of the case, organizing all of the critical administrative issues, always being a loyal guardian angel and great friend who looked out for my best interest. George Ramírez for being a long-time friend and partner. Marc Sanders and Tim Tubbs, for supporting us during the investigation and for taking this experience and becoming leaders within the agency and examples to young agents. Steve Van Geem was the quiet giant who worked hard and kept things organized during undercover operations. He also was with us when we exited the Bahamas for the last time. Fidencio Rangel was a loyal and reliable partner and friend. Judd Granger for his eagerness to contribute.
Matt Yarbrough for having faith in us and guts like no other federal prosecutor we have met.
Greg Smith for his unquestioned support, allowing a senior officer to work undercover while heading a foreign office, meeting with U.S. ambassadors in support of the case and Phyllis Coven for opening the door with DOJ to get the case approved.
Jorge Eisermann, Bob Ballow, Isaías López and Joe Banda for supporting us during foreign and domestic operations.
Benny Aguirre for providing the leadership of the INS Ciudad Juárez office during Acosta’s long absences and making it even better. To Arthur Nieto for spending weeks at a time away from home in foreign countries in support of the investigation.
Ernie González, who started this whole thing.
Jake Jacobsen, who had the vision.
Mike Dusenberry, Joe Aponte, Frank Lee, Mike Vail for their technical support and expertise.
Mark Reed for supporting our initial requests and having the guts to open doors at high levels when needed and managing to stay level-headed despite our strong personalities.
Dwayne Peterson for being the best boss A. J. ever worked for.
Amanda Reid and Rich Lyons from the Postal Inspectors Office. Rich was outstanding in Newark and without him much of the financial part of the investigation in Newark would not have gotten done.
Jim “Chili Dog” Ackers for being the perfect FBI agent on this case.
Allan Hampton from the IRS.
Todd Ostrom, who helped first identify Nick Díaz.
Rick Van Ohlen, who was our only hope in Newark.
Chris Croteau, who helped a lot in the beginning with installation of pen registers.
Joe Rivera, who packed up from Chicago and moved to Newark to run our command center there.
Supervisory Special Agent Mark Kelly, Newark, New Jersey, who did what he could in secret and defiance of the assistant director’s orders.
Without the outstanding cooperation of the Port Director Dora Sánchez, Supervisory Inspector Lupe Fortune, Senior Inspector Dale Munson and the rest of the inspection staff at Miami International Airport, our undercover smuggling scheme from Quito to Miami would have been impossible.
John Warner from American Airlines Corporate Security didn’t know A. J. Irwin from Adam. They never met. But John took a chance and allowed A. J.’s plan to formulate and succeed.
All of the agents who were detailed in from various locations to help on the wiretap, surveillance and arrests and all the interpreters who so faithfully worked on a very difficult and sensitive case, for their loyalty and integrity to the project.
Susan Rivera (Vásquez), who came into the case by happen-stance but immediately was impactful and contributed more than anyone will know or realize. She was an outstanding undercover agent and report writer, and is our life-long friend.
Nancy de los Santos for believing in our story, getting us in the door and along with Tomás Benítez coming up with a great title recommendation. Thank you both.
Finally, our gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Nicolás Kanellos for helping us make this book possible. Few will know how hard and long you worked to complete this project. Our entire community is indebted to you for all you have done in promoting our history and making it possible for writers to achieve their dreams.
Appendix
List of characters in alphabetical order
Hipólito “Poli” Acosta
officer in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization office at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico; also used the name as “Fernando” for undercover operations
Joe Aponte
INS I.T. technician
Abdullah Ashraf
Egyptian based in Guatemala suspected of smuggling people
Max Avery
INS officer in charge in Ecuador
Joe Banda
INS agent
Ishwar Barot
Guvantla’s hawala collector
Harry Betz
head of the U.S. Customs air branch in Homestead, Florida
Chepo Bonilla
human smuggler
Salvador Briseño
INS agent who worked in Ecuador
Gloria Canales
an Ecuadorean headquartered in Costa Rica who worked with Maan Singh
Isan Chaudry
Nick Díaz’s right-hand man
Jerry Chávez
head of customs at the Caracas embassy
John Connolly
INS staf
f officer
Phyllis Coven
Director of International Affairs for the INS
Joe de la Cruz
chief of anti-smuggling unit in McAllen
Nick Díaz
aka “Nittin Shetty”, former protégé of Maan Singh
Dipac
Deli owner in New York
Humberto León Duque
smuggled undocummented people on El Almirante
Mike Dusenberry
INS agent
Jorge Eisermann
surveillance support in Guatemala
Abdul Farooqi
aka “Gulu”, second-in-command to Nick Díaz
Larry Ferguson
Assistant Chief of Intelligence for the Bahamas
Dave Fermaint
Susan Rivera’s supervisor
Margarita Fernández
Maan Singh’S ally and co-conspirator in his human smuggling ring
Enrique Flores
Special INS Agent from McAllen
Joe Garza
Chief Patrol agent, INS
Saac George
aka “Mohammad Kaddafi” and “Oman Kaddafi,” Syrian smuggler in South America, he also ran a tailor and tire shop as a cover up
Dimitrious Georgeakoupulous
supervisor of INS agency in Newark
Judd Granger
INS agent in the Sikh and Keep task force
Nelson Hanna
pilot who smuggled aliens for Nick Díaz
Peter Hargraves
Chief of Security at the Bahamas embassy
Bill Harrington
A.J.’s supervisor
A. J. Irwin
INS agent from Dallas; also used the name of “Andrés” for undercover operations
Henry Astor Jacobs
A. J.’s INS supervisor
Jerry “Jake” Jacobson
Assistant Regional Director for Investigations
Karina Jaramillo
Maan Singhs’ mistress and sister to Mónica Jaramillo
Mónica Jaramillo
Maan Singh’s mistress
Jack Keeney
Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC
Naranjan Maan Singh
smuggler of aliens
Manohar
smuggler who worked with Sharma and Hamid Patel
Frank Marín
member of the undercover review committee for the Department of Justice
Carlos Martínez
aka “Enrique Babaco;” smuggler and agent
Marc Martínez
San Antonio agent in charge of the Anti-Smuggling Unit
Ken May
agent from Oklahoma City who filed a summary report that included Amer Sultan phone tolls
Doris Meissner
INS Commissioner
Tom Melsheimer
Nick Díaz’s attorney
Francisco Mera
owner of Hostal Bavaria in Quito, Ecuador
Mistery
person who ran the stash house in the Bahamas
Camile Moody
coyote, person who worked with Hamid Patel in the trafficking of undocumented people
Craig Moore
pilot who smuggled humans for Nick Díaz
Lou Nardi
Director of Investigations for the INS
Art Nieto
trusted partner of Poli
Rick Van Ohlen
INS agent from Newark
Pravine Kumar Patel
single passenger sent by Maan Singh on the first flight to Miami via American Airlines
Ramesh Patel
high-level smuggler for Maan Singh
Sharma and Hamid Patel
smugglers of undocumented people into the United States
Sunil Patel
low-level human smuggler for Maan Singh
Juan Pérez
INS informant
Michael Pearson
Executive Associate Commissioner for Field Operations
George “Jorge” Ramírez
INS undercover agent who met people smuggled via Miami
Fidencio Rangel
INS agent in charge of surveillance for Sikh and Keep
Jim Rayburn
Special Agent from Spokane, Washington
Amanda Reed
INS undercover agent who was replaced by Susan Rivera
Mark Reed
Regional INS Director
Joe Rivera
INS agent
Susan Rivera
INS agent from Chicago
Bobby Rodríguez
Internal Affairs investigator
Mike Ryan
INS Task Force Supervisor
Sandy Salmon
Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in Caracas
Abdul Sampson
trafficked Afghan people and competed with Maan Singh
“Barefoot” Sanders
federal judge in Dallas
Marc Sanders
INS agent
Navtej Sandhu
human smuggler and target of Sikh and Keep
Gunvantla Shah
hawala broker for human smuggling ring
Gurdial Singh
hawala broker in Los Angeles
Surinder Singh
Naranjan Maan Singh’s son and co-conspirador in the smuggling of undocumented people
Craig Stanfield
INS Senior Special Agent in International Affairs, Washington, DC
Amer Sultan
pilot hired by Sharma and Hamid Patel to smuggled undocumented people into the United States
Roger Thompson
Army Reserves Colonel
Tim “Rico” Tubbs
new INS agent in charge of surveillance and back up
Álvaro Valencia
coyote from Guatemala
Steve Van Geem
INS agent in surveillance
John Warner
Senior Analyst of corporate security at American Airlines
Wayne Wydrynski
pilot who smuggled humans for Nick Díaz
Matt Yarborough
Assistant U.S. attorney
Yovanna
Margarita Fernández’s sister
The Hunt for Maan Singh Page 18