Филип Керр - A Five Year Plan

Tony Nudelli liked that one.

‘But the Moscow gangs have fixed the transport of the cash too. Transport your money and help you set up your own bank. All for twenty-five cents on the dollar, same as if you had to launder it somewhere else. They get the cash across the Atlantic, through the Mediterranean and up into the Black Sea. Less than eight weeks after the money leaves Florida you own your own bank in the Russian city of your choice. Once there you can loan it to business, make money on it and then put it through the regular banking system.’

Al asked, ‘So what’s the angle? Owning a bank would be nice but we don’t need no help laundering money.’

‘I’m not selling any. My angle is this. I want to rip off one of these hard currency exports. The Moscow mob with some help from old KGB guys, and some new ones too, they operate an undercover dockage out of Fort Lauderdale. Just five minutes from the airport. The place is 50,000 square feet with state-of-the-art facilities, and accommodating motor yachts up to 150 feet long. They’ve got guys working there who really know the inside of boats. Put a new interior in your boat in no time. Except that it’s not your yacht, it’s theirs. One of half a dozen they own and charter. And the new interior? A new double bed in each stateroom that’s literally made of money. Each one looks and feels like any other bed. Maybe a little firm but that’s hardly surprising given that there’s maybe two million bucks tucked away inside the base.’

Nudelli flicked the facial flex out of his mouth, wiped the saliva from his lips, and brandished the flex as if it was a cocktail stick.

‘Wait a minute,’ he growled. ‘You look outta that window there, you can see the Bitch. Named after my first wife. A hundred foot long, she’s got a top speed of twenty-four knots and a range of 2,000 miles. A fully equipped cruising resort, she’s sleek, seaworthy and whisper fuckin’ quiet, perfect for island hopping, but I wouldn’t try to cross the Atlantic in her. The QE2 she ain’t.’

Dave shook his head and said, ‘You wouldn’t have to, Tony. For around $80,000 you could book the Bitch a passage on a custom-built transatlantic ferry. In particular, one of the cat-tugs operated by Stranahan Yacht Transport out of Port Everglades.’

‘The hell’s a cat-tug when it’s afloat?’ asked Al.

Dave rolled the trackball on his computer, selected a picture file from the floppy disk he had made up the day before, and turned the machine to face his two-man audience. They shifted forward on the chesterfield to take a closer look at the picture on the color screen. In front of them was a shot of a 600-foot vessel that contained as many as eighteen luxury motor yachts.

Dave said, ‘It has the basic hull form of a ship, combined with the wide beam and shallower draft of a barge. But it still equals the center of gravity and the buoyancy of both units.’

‘Jesus,’ said Al. ‘That’s incredible. I never seen nuthin’ like that before. They really do sail this thing across the Atlantic? With all these other boats?’

Dave nodded.

Nudelli said, ‘Looks kind of risky to me. I’m speaking as a yacht owner, you understand. There’s the risk of lifting the boat out of the water. Then there’s the risk of having your boat on an unprotected deck during the crossing.’

‘Uh-uh. The cat-tug is a semi-submersible. Kind of like an oceangoing dock. You float your boat in at Port Everglades, and then float it out again when you get to sunny Mallorca, in the western Mediterranean. During the voyage each vessel is secured to the dock floor, tied down with special lines, and protected from the worst of the Atlantic by those dock walls you see. They’re around twenty feet high. There are only minimal acceleration forces when the cat-tug’s underway. Oh, and the er, insurance premiums for crossing the Atlantic are about a quarter less than if you went under your own steam. Always supposing that you could. SYT will carry any vessel up to one with a twenty-foot draft and there are no height restrictions.’

Nudelli said, ‘I guess that’s right. Looks like a schooner in amongst those other boats. Main mast should be around sixty feet high.’ He leaned back on the chesterfield, the leather creaking underneath him like he was already on board a ship at sea. ‘I gotta admit, it looks impressive. But this company, Stranahan Yacht Transport. They have anything to do with the Russkies?’ He returned the facial flex to his mouth and began to stretch his face again.

‘Nope. It’s a legit company. Russkies book a passage like any other citizen. Being alongside the boats of law-abiding citizens they figure on having a certain safety in numbers. And of course the Coast Guard is looking for dope, not cash. When the cat-tug gets to Palma, Mallorca, they float out and sail on to their final destination under their own steam. It’s a place on the Black Sea, where the money’s finally taken out and then transported by road. Another quick refit and the yacht’s ready to come home again.’

‘That’s a lot of trust in a bunch of Russkies,’ observed Nudelli. ‘You say you want to rip one of these transports off. What’s to stop them ripping off their clients?’

Dave said, ‘Because the first time would also be the last time. And because some of these clients don’t have much choice in the matter. These days there are only a few ways to launder drug money, which is what this mostly is. Being caught with dollars is almost worse than being pinched with cocaine. Some of the South American cartels are making so much money they’ve got nowhere to put it. Sometimes they end up just burying it in the ground and letting it rot. Guy in Homestead? He lost two million that way. Used to be that you could buy yourself a nice bank in Panama or Venezuela. But then the authorities wised up. The Group of Seven Industrial Countries set up the Financial Action Task Force back in 1989. And that’s when the bad guy money started going to the former Soviet Union.

‘From what I’ve heard, Moscow’s just like Chicago was back in the twenties. If you’ve got the money you can buy just about anything you want. Bombs, missiles, armies, whole fuckin’ towns. Country’s one gigantic garage sale. All it takes is dollars. You can’t buy shit with their own currency. Beats me how Uncle Sam manages to get a handle on the US economy with so much American money around. I mean what’s a government for, if not to control the supply of money? It’s no surprise to me our economy’s a piece of shit. The dollar’s carrying half the world on its green back. Anyway, coming back to your original question, Tony. These guys want to do business with Americans. With South Americans. People with dollars. Help set them up with a bank so that they can start to do business together. Contra deals, that kind of thing. Co-operation is at the heart of good business.’

Nudelli nodded and said, ‘So what’s your play?’

‘I need a yacht to book onto the transatlantic tug. I need another crewman to help me pull the job. Halfway across the Atlantic — that’s as far away from European and American navies as you can get — we overpower the crews of the tug and the other yachts. At night, so they’re not expecting trouble. We take the money from the Russian yachts and transfer it to the boat nearest the stern. Then we float out and cruise towards a prearranged rendezvous with a tanker we’ll have sailing in the opposite direction, on a legitimate voyage. Something that’s coming back here maybe. We put the money on the tanker and then scuttle the motor yacht, just to throw people off the scent.’

Al said, ‘What’s the haul?’

‘The Russians have started making as many as two or three bookings per transport. Three yachts, six or seven staterooms per yacht, at two mill each.’