His maternal grandfather owned the restaurant, and years later died in a police ambush.
His father hanged himself in prison, or at least the official report said they found him hanging.
A few good years there provided the means to resolidify his little syndicate.
By all accounts, and there were not many, he was quite wealthy but lived modestly.
Have you ever met him?
Myers scoffed at the question.
No one meets this guy, okay?
He lives in the shadows, sort of like me, I guess.
You cant find three people in the Pensacola area wholl admit to knowing Vonn Dubose.
I lived there for forty years and never heard of him until a few years ago.
He comes and goes.
But he has no passport, Hugo said.
If they ever nail him, theyll find half a dozen fake ones.
Coincidentally, Vonn and his gang began buying cheap land adjacent to the Tappacola reservation.
Treasure Key, Hugo mumbled.
We were there last summer, Hugo admitted, as if hed done something wrong.
One of those last-minute weekend junkets for a buck-fifty.
Thats why the place is packed and the Tappacola are printing money.
And sharing it with Vonn and his boys?
Among others, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.
Lacy said, Thats in Brunswick County, which is in the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District.
There are two circuit judges in the Twenty-Fourth, one male, one female.
Am I getting warm?
Myers smiled and tapped a closed file in the center of the table.
This is the complaint.
Ill give it to you later.
The judge is the Honorable Claudia McDover, on the bench now for seventeen years.
Well talk about her later.
For now, hey allow me to give you the backstory.
Soon thereafter, so was Son.
They were naked and appeared to have been caught in the act.
Her husband, a man named Junior Mace, was arrested and charged with both murders.
He had been a close ally of Razkos during the gambling debate.
Mace steadfastly maintained his innocence, but nonetheless found himself staring at the death penalty.
She presided over the trial and favored the prosecution at every turn.
The casino faced two significant obstacles.
One was Son Razko.
The second obstacle was its location.
Getting there was the problem.
The road into the reservation was old, was badly maintained, and would never handle the traffic.
Under Florida law, there was little doubt the county could take the land.
The issue was compensation.
By ramrodding the litigation, Judge McDover saved the casino years of delays.
They won the second time by thirty votes.
Another lawsuit was filed claiming fraud, and Judge McDover dismissed it.
The path was now clear to begin construction of Treasure Key, which opened in 2000.
The conviction survived as the years passed.
We studied that case in law school, Hugo said.
The murder was sixteen years ago, so you were what, twenty years old?
I dont remember the murder, nor the trial, but it was mentioned in law school.
Criminal procedure, I think.
Something about the use of jailhouse snitches in capital murder trials.
I dont suppose youve heard of it?
Myers asked Lacy, who replied, No.
I didnt grow up in Florida.
Myers said, I have a thick file on the murder case, complete with the habeas filings.
So did Mace catch his wife in bed with Son and take offense?
He claims he was somewhere else but his alibi witness was shaky.
Judge McDover allowed him to call two jailhouse snitches who said Mace bragged about the killings in jail.
Should we talk to Mace?
Thats where Id start.
Because Junior Mace may know something and theres a chance hell talk to you.
Plus, they are terrified of Dubose and his gang.
They have been easily intimidated.
And why not keep quiet?
Theyre reaping a windfall.
They have homes and cars, schools and health care, money for college.
Why rock the boat?
If the casino is doing a little dirty business with some gangsters, who cares?
Speaking up might get you shot.
Can we talk about the judge?
Claudia McDover, age fifty-six, first elected in 1994 and reelected every six years since then.
By all accounts, a hardworking judge whos very serious about her job and her courtroom.
She wins her reelections by landslides.
Very bright, very driven.
Her ex-husband was a big doctor in Pensacola and he was fond of young nurses.
Bad divorce in which she, Claudia, got royally screwed by hubby and his gang of lawyers.
I dont know that part of the story.
At that time I was a busy lawyer in Pensacola and wasnt sure where Sterling was on the map.
I had heard of the Tappacola and read about the casino fight, but I had no interest.
Vonn was more than happy to take the property off their hands.
He knew what was coming and soon had the Indian land surrounded.
The rest is history.
No smile, not a trace of warmth or humor, all business.
It was hard to believe.
Once the Tappacola started building the casino, Dubose started too.
His first development was a golf community called Rabbit Run, which is adjacent to the casino property.
Hugo said, We drove by it.
I thought it was part of Treasure Key.
Part of the conspiracy with the Tappacola is that they stay away from golf.
They handle the gambling and amusement stuff; Dubose gets the golf and everything else.
He started with eighteen holes at Rabbit Run, all the fairways lined with handsome condos.
Im sure but I cant prove it, yet.
What about the property records?
Myers tapped the file.
They will tell you that CFFX deeded at least twenty units to offshore companies.
I have reason to believe Judge McDover has an interest in four, all showing ownership by foreign entities.
We are dealing with sophisticated crooks who have excellent lawyers.
Whats the value of the condos?
Today, about a million each.
Rabbit Run has been very successful, even managed to weather the Great Recession.
He went from eighteen holes to thirty-six to fifty-four, and has enough land for even more.
And why did he give the condos to Judge McDover?
Maybe because hes just a nice guy.
It was part of the original deal, I suppose.
Claudia McDover sold her soul to the devil to get elected and shes been getting paid ever since.
The construction of the casino and the development of Brunswick County have created a ton of litigation.
Those on the side of Dubose always seem to win.
Shes smart as hell and can back up any decision with a thick, well-reasoned legal brief.
She is rarely reversed on appeal.
It is believed that she wanted more of the skim from the casino cash.
Dubose thought she was being adequately compensated.
So Judge McDover closed down the casino.
How, exactly, did she pull that off ?
In America, Indians dont pay taxes on casino profits.
The Tappacola didnt want to share.
Its actually worked out fine.
The Indians are happy now and the county gets a few bucks.
There might have been a couple of fender benders but nothing serious.
It was completely bogus crap, but she immediately issued an injunction closing the toll road.
This went on for six days as Vonn and Claudia waited for the other to blink.
Finally, they got on the same page, the bogus injunction was lifted, and everybody was happy.
It was a pivotal moment in the history of the casino and the corruption it has created.
Judge McDover let everybody know that shes in charge.
Hugo said, You talk about Dubose as if everyone knows him.
No one knows him.
I thought I made that clear.
He tells a cousin to charter an LLC out of Bermuda and buy some acreage.
Another cousin incorporates in Barbados and trades some condos.
Dubose is protected by layers of offshore shell companies.
He has no profile, leaves no trail.
Who does his legal work?
A small firm in Biloxi, a couple of tax lawyers who are skilled at dirty work.
Theyve represented the Dubose gang for years.
Lacy said, It sounds as though Judge McDover is not afraid of Dubose.
Dubose is too smart to take out a judge, though Im sure hes thought about it.
What could be more valuable than having a well-respected judge in your back pocket?
This has RICO stamped all over it, Hugo said.
Yes, but were not going RICO, are we, Mr. Hatch?
RICO is federal; federal is FBI.
I dont care what happens to Dubose.
I want to bust Judge McDover so my client can collect a small fortune for blowing the whistle.
Myers finished a beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
I guess your job is to find out.
Carlita stepped up from the cabin and said, Lunch is ready.
Myers stood and said, c’mon join me.
Lacy and Hugo exchanged quick glances.
Myers, though, was already stepping below.
Come on, come on, he said, and they followed him down into the cabin.
Three places were set at a glass-top table in the cramped galley.
An air conditioner somewhere was hard at work and the air was refreshingly cool.
The smell of grilled fish hung heavy.
Carlita scurried about, obviously delighted to have someone to cook for.
No one did, and she disappeared deeper into the cabin.
Myers did not touch his food, but instead resumed his narrative.
This complaint is not the one I want to file.
The real money in this little conspiracy is her portion of the monthly skim from the casino.
Thats what Im really after because its a gold mine for my client.
If I can nail that down, Ill amend the complaint.
If not, there are sufficient allegations to get her removed from the bench, and probably indicted.
Do you mention the name of Vonn Dubose in the complaint?
I refer to his corporations as criminal entities.
Thats original, Lacy said.
You got a better idea, Ms. Stoltz?
Can we drop the Mister and Missus stuff ?
The statute says you have forty-five days from today to serve a copy of the complaint on Judge McDover.
From now until then, you do your investigation, the, uh, whats it called?
Well, that worries me.
Shell lawyer up immediately, deny everything vehemently, and probably start moving assets around.
Dubose will panic, circle the wagons, maybe even start looking for someone to intimidate.
Okay, how long can you really wait before you lay this on her?
How long can you stall?
It seems to me its crucial to do as much investigating as possible before she knows youre doing it.
Lacy and Hugo studied each other.
She shrugged and said, Were bureaucrats so we know how to stall.
However, if she attacks the way you predict, her lawyers will nitpick everything.
If we dont follow the statute to the letter, theyll push hard to dismiss the complaint.
Hugo added, Lets play it safe and say well have forty-five days to do our assessment.
Thats not enough time, Myers said.
Thats all we have, Lacy said.
What can you tell us about your mysterious client?
How does he know what he knows?
Myers sipped some water and smiled.
Once again, you assume the person is a he.
Okay, what do you want to call him, or her?
There are only three links in our little chain.
Me, the middleman who referred the client to me, and the client himself or herself.
The middleman and I refer to the client as the mole.
Lacy said, The mole?
Thats not very original.
What difference does it make?
You got a more descriptive name?
I guess it will have to do.
How does the mole know so much?
Myers crammed half a soft taco into his mouth and chewed slowly.
The boat rocked in the wake of something larger out there.
Trusted too much, it appears.
Thats all I can say right now.
After a gap in the conversation, Lacy said, I have another question.
You said these people, meaning Dubose and his gang, are very smart and use good lawyers.
Obviously, McDover also needs a good lawyer to clean her share of the dirty money.
Who does she hire?
Phyllis Turban, a trust and estate lawyer in Mobile.
Wow, the girls are getting a black eye in this story, Lacy said.
She and McDover were in law school together, both divorced with no children, and very close.
So close that they might be more than just friends.
They swallowed hard and digested this.
Myers smiled and said, Id say youre on the right track.
I need a beer.
Anybody want a beer?
They left him on the pier, waving good-bye and promising to keep in touch.
It was another gap in his story, of which there were far too many.
