A more sinister ruse is the unarmed "home invasion"-one thief talks his way into a house and distracts the owner, while partners loot the place. In this way, hundreds of old people have lost all their money. In one month, 26 such gypsy burglaries were doc.u.mented in the city of Miami; frequently the thieves pose as utility workers from FPL or Southern Bell.
Because court systems are already clogged, the traveling con artist is a low priority. The crime networks, though, are vast and well-organized webs that take in millions-and are more difficult to penetrate than the Mafia.
This week the Florida attorney general"s office is holding a police seminar on Eastern European and American gypsies, as well as the "travelers," vagabond thieves of Irish, Scottish and English descent. (The notorious Williamsons of bogus roofing fame are Scottish travelers.) Bunco cops know all the sad stories. The driveway paver whose "asphalt" is nothing but motor oil mixed with gravel. The "exterminator" who smuggles a piece of termite-eaten lumber into the attic and offers it as proof of infestation.
On the infrequent occasions that they"re caught, gypsies and travelers rarely do time. Typically they offer full rest.i.tution in exchange for dropping the charges. "When they"re arrested," said investigator John Wood, "they"re usually the most polite, courteous people you"d ever want to meet."
Like everything else, it"s an act. In addition to swindling the elderly, criminal gypsies go for insurance fraud, welfare cheating and shoplifting. They also excel at "store diversions" in which one family member creates a noisy scene while others empty the cash registers. This scheme netted $42,000 from one Chicago supermarket and has been used all over the country.
But these are the most tragic stories: * A wheelchair-bound dialysis patient in Pinellas County found his house safe missing after gypsies "worked" on his roof.
* A wealthy 84-year-old widow in Houston was fleeced of $367,000 by Irish travelers who did only $2,500 worth of home repairs over 22 months. Police say the families pa.s.sed the widow"s name from one group to another because she was such an easy mark.
* Four gypsy women traveling through southern Ontario stole more than $500,000 from senior citizens during a three-month crime spree.
It"s easy to dismiss the victims as gullible fools, but older folks are often intimidated into paying even if they don"t want to. Commonly, gypsy roofers do the "work" first (usually a quick spray of useless paint), then demand an outrageous fee. If the victim balks, the clan members protest loudly and traipse through the home, searching for cash.
The "marks" are selected carefully. Almost always they are old, frail and alone. Because of failing eyesight or weak memories, they make poor witnesses in court. Humiliation and embarra.s.sment discourage many victims from prosecuting. An 84-year-old widow who lost $44,000 in a gypsy burglary wanted to report the theft as only $100-she was afraid her relatives would put her in a nursing home if they learned the truth.
Miami officer Charlie Taylor, who specializes in tracking gypsy and traveler families: "When you talk to an old woman who"s lost her entire life savings, it breaks your heart. What do you say to console her?"
Now is the season when the gypsies and traveler families start north, but police say they"ll be back. Florida has been very good to them.
Without changes, nursing home neglect will occur December 3, 1992 Imagine the scandal if 10 small children died, one by one, at the same day-care center.
The press would swarm like hornets, indictments would rain, and the dump would be nailed shut forever. Which is exactly what should happen.
It"s different, though, when the dead are not so young.
A recent series in this newspaper exposed an appalling pattern of abuse, neglect and mysterious fatalities at state inst.i.tutions, nursing homes and boarding homes. The victims were not babies but adults-the weak, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the mentally impaired.
At one North Dade facility, the Landmark Learning Center, at least 10 patients have died under suspicious circ.u.mstances during recent years.
Among the casualties was a r.e.t.a.r.ded paraplegic named Richard Daniels, killed by a blow to the abdomen. In some places that"s called murder.
No one has been arrested for Daniels" death. Landmark claims he suffered the fatal injury by falling against the arm of his wheelchair-an explanation not embraced by the family, police or medical examiners. Meanwhile, Landmark remains open.
Administrator Ulysses Davis, who was temporarily relieved of command this week, said his facility had made no mistakes in treating patients, but added (in the understatement of the century): "There"s always room for improvement."
More often it"s not violence but pure neglect that kills. Earlier this year, a 48-year-old r.e.t.a.r.ded woman died of a bowel obstruction that, according to investigators, wasn"t noticed or properly treated by Landmark health workers. Another case: A 27-year-old woman died, riddled with cancer that Landmark doctors somehow failed to discern. Another: An epileptic patient died after a seizure on the floor; Landmark workers said they thought he was only taking a nap.
Unfortunately, such horror stories aren"t uncommon. Across the state, old and disabled patients have been found half-starved, consumed by bedsores, crippled by undiagnosed bone fractures. Time and again nothing happens. Nothing changes.
Responsibility is tangled among too many state agencies. Weak laws make it hard to prosecute adult abuse cases, and harder still to shut down shabby nursing homes. Health-care workers, grossly underpaid and sometimes undertrained, are frequently reluctant to report patient abuse for fear of losing their jobs.The system is perfectly designed to perpetuate itself.
Right now, in the great state of Florida, a guy who kicks a dog stands a better chance of going to jail than someone who slugs an invalid in a nursing home.
People moved out of sight are also moved out of our consciousness. Often they are as helpless as children, as trusting as kittens. Yet it"s almost as if, because they"re grown-ups (not cuddly babies), their deaths are not so tragic or important.
True, people die every day in nursing homes. If it happens to your grandmother or grandfather, you pray that the end was peaceful and natural, that they weren"t punched or starved or ignored to death. Because if they were, you stand little chance of getting the truth and virtually no chance of getting justice.
Government tends to react the way society does, with emotions deciding our priorities. When a child under HRS supervision is tortured by a monstrous parent, the reaction is an appropriate convulsion of outrage and cries for dramatic reform.
The death of Richard Daniels, age 43, is no less sickening. And he is but one of the forgotten.
That"s why the case of Landmark Learning Center is so disgraceful. With the same track record, a day-care center would"ve been boarded up a long time ago.
For that matter, so would a kennel.
English-only repeal won"t impose Spanish May 16, 1993 Dade"s so-called English-only ordinance will probably be repealed this week. The sky won"t fall. The earth won"t quake. And the Metro commission won"t start conducting its meetings in Spanish.
Yet many will call it a sad day when the law is sc.r.a.pped. Some warn that its repeal will legitimize ethnic separatism, dual languages dividing dual cultures. But if the English-only law was (as supporters insist) meant to unify Dade, it was a flop.
The ordinance was pa.s.sed overwhelmingly in 1980 as native entrenchment against a tidal wave of foreign-speaking immigrants: All government meetings and publications were to be in English. So there!
Well, guess what happened in the next 12 years. Hispanics became a majority in Dade. The county"s politics, culture and economy transformed-and plenty of folks didn"t like it. Thousands packed up and left for Lake City or Ocala. They"re still leaving, and it"s understandable. Watching one"s hometown change so radically is tough, confusing and often painful. Getting out is one solution.
Not all who stayed have adjusted easily. Some of us crackers won"t ever get used to hearing Spanish at McDonald"s. How come them people don"t learn to speak American? In moments of impatience, I"ve had similar grouchy thoughts.
Then I remember all the money this newspaper spent trying to get some Spanish into my skull, with minimal results. Someone as linguistically stunted as myself is in no position to lecture anybody about learning a second tongue.
The message of the English-only law is that those who come to this country should adopt our language. That sounds fair, but the reality of ma.s.s immigration is another story ...
Today, 57 percent of Dade residents speak something other than English at home. All those people are touched by government and need to be well-informed. As a practical matter, it would be irresponsible-no, idiotic-to neglect the thousands who haven"t yet learned English, or can"t. Societies that exclude people pay a terrible price, as we know firsthand.
Judging from the hysteria, some seem to think abolishing English-only is equivalent to imposing Spanish-only. That"s absurd. The official language of Dade will always be English. We don"t need a law saying so.
The ordinance is a relic of Anglo defiance that offends many Hispanics, bilingual or not. Citizens of Dade United says it"s simply intended to save taxpayers money. Yet there"s no mistaking the resentment from CODU"s Enos Schera, who told the New York Times: "They have already established another Cuba inside Dade County, and now they are forcing Spanish down our throats."
n.o.body"s forcing Spanish down mine, nor would I force English down theirs. You can"t. a.s.similation happens at its own pace-and, believe it or not, it is happening here.
Bob Joffe, a well-known pollster, writes that "Spanish is dying among Hispanic voters" in Dade. What he means is that bilingualism is rising significantly. More than half of foreign-born Hispanic voters surveyed said they didn"t care if they were interviewed in English or Spanish.
Such increasing fluency suggests that, 20 years from now, language won"t be such a burning issue. Let"s hope not, because it"s the least of our troubles. Runaway growth, runaway crime, the water crisis, government waste-you want something heavy to worry about, take your pick.
Find people who can solve those problems, and it won"t matter if they speak English, Spanish or Mandarin Chinese. We"ll find an interpreter. It"s not the language that counts, it"s the ideas.
Safe parks act worthy of a vote October 27, 1996 In a political season that can charitably be described as uninspiring, there is actually something worth voting for.
It"s called the Safe Neighborhood Parks Act, one of the most promising crime-fighting ideas to reach a ballot in Dade County.
It won"t build a single new prison cell, or put one more police officer on the beat. What it might do is take thousands of at-risk kids off the street and give them places to play.
Working with the nationally recognized Trust for Public Land, a gra.s.sroots citizens" coalition proposes to raise $200 million for improving about 170 county and neighborhood parks.
The money would come from a sale of general obligation bonds. Cost to the average Dade property owner: about $8 a year. "The price of a pizza," says Hank Adorno, a former prosecutor who is helping to lead the campaign.
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and others believe the Safe Parks Act will cut juvenile crime, which is exploding in Dade at a chilling, almost inconceivable pace. They say more kids can be saved if they"ve got somewhere else to go, and something else to do.
No matter where you live, the parks program would touch your family: in Northwest Dade, soccer and softball fields at Amelia Earhart; in the Grove, refurbishment of the Virrick Gym; in South Dade, lights for the athletic field at Benito Juarez.
There"s also money for the Haulover pier, the Crandon beaches, the campground at Greynolds and select purchases of open and threatened green s.p.a.ce.
Each project is described on the Nov. 5 ballot-reading through the list would be worth a few minutes of your time.
It sounds almost too good to be true. And if you"ve been reading the headlines the last few months, the obvious question is: How much of the $200 million really will go to the parks, and how much will be diverted or stolen?
Says Adorno: "I think we"ve made it politician-proof."
The ordinance provides that the bond money can be used only for capital projects, not for operating costs, debts or exigencies. If a munic.i.p.ality doesn"t budget enough funds to maintain a park, it won"t receive anything for improvements.
An oversight committee of citizens will be appointed by the Metro Commission, to make sure that the monies are spent only on voter-approved projects, and that beachfront cabanas don"t get priority over inner-city gyms.
The ordinance also calls for independent audits, and allows taxpayers to sue if the park funds are misused or ripped off.
That"s not to say every penny will be safe from thieves and incompetents. It is Dade County, after all. The program is doomed without keen-eyed, fair-handed supervision.
But strong, overriding arguments favor the parks bond. First, it"s been done before successfully, almost 25 years ago. A result was Tamiami Park, Tropical Park and Metrozoo, three of the county"s most popular recreation sites.
Second, something tangible must be done for a generation of restless urban kids who are, in shocking numbers, turning to crime and gangs. The cost to taxpayers of incarcerating just one is $40,000 a year. The tab for a career felon is stratospheric.
So the Safe Neighborhood Parks Act becomes a community investment, as well as an act of faith.
Of course the juvenile crisis is too complex to be solved simply by lighting a basketball court or building a swimming pool. But if it keeps one kid off the street corners and out of trouble, that"s a pretty good start.
Easily worth the price of a pizza.
Rules Are Different Here
Stowaways ran in pursuit of their destiny December 4, 1985 This fall, an Australian media tyc.o.o.n named Rupert Murdoch was granted U.S. citizenship just so he could purchase seven television stations.
Last week, five Haitian stowaways seeking work in America arrived on a freighter in Fort Lauderdale. They weren"t offered citizenship. They weren"t even allowed off the boat.
In a scene straight from Victor Hugo, the men were left to swelter for days in an airless h.e.l.lhole aboard the freighter Alco Trader.
The Bahamas, where they came from, didn"t want them; neither did the United States. As both countries quarreled, the ship sloshed back and forth across the Gulf Stream, the stowaways its wretched prisoners.
This sad scene may be repeated in coming months as the Bahamas conducts a coldhearted purge of as many as 40,000 Haitians, many of whom have lived and worked in the islands for years.
For these Haitians, Florida is the next logical destiny, but there will be no parades for them here, either.
If the Alco Trader stowaways had been Cubans, Nicaraguans or Russians, you would have seen mobs of angry pickets and demonstrators. Congressmen would have lunged for the telephone, and the refugees would have been whisked to civilized quarters.
And if the stowaways seeking asylum had been Czechoslovakian tennis stars, you would have seen the red carpet rolling out; accommodations in the Hilton, not a hot box.
But Haitians have scant political clout and, so, are of scant use to those in high office. "They were treated like animals," says Father Tom Wenski of the Haitian Catholic Center. "What are they trying to come here for? For life. For a better life."
This country cannot absorb all the hemisphere"s poor, but we also can"t afford an immigration policy that is a contradictory mess. We speak in one voice to the rich and white, like Murdoch, and in another voice to the poor and black or brown. Meanwhile Congress remains unable to pa.s.s a cogent, equitable and humane law.
Haitians are shunned, yet millions of illegal Mexicans get work because Big Agriculture depends on them. Cubans are admitted as political refugees, while Haitians are rejected as "economic refugees"; in truth, there"s little difference.
Haiti"s stark poverty results partly from its despotic politics, a fact conveniently overlooked in Washington. President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier is a friend and anti-Communist, and we do not upset our anti-Communist friends with talk of human rights.
But the plight of many Haitians is as pitiable as anything in Castro"s Cuba; the poverty is more killing, and political persecution not only real but sometimes violent. This summer three Catholic priests were expelled from Haiti for speaking out against the Duvalier regime. A week ago three student protesters were shot to death by Haitian troops in the town of Gonaives.
If this is not repression, I"d love for someone at the State Department to tell me what is.
We Americans have a strange way of deciding who deserves to be in this country, and who doesn"t. Citizen Murdoch wasn"t fleeing political persecution in Australia; he came here to multiply his fortune.
Just like the Haitians in the cargo box.
Last Friday, the hot and hungry stowaways escaped from their stinking cell. It is unclear whether a guard looked the other way, or simply made a mistake, but I"d like to think the deed was the work of a compa.s.sionate heart.
Who can blame the men for escaping? I would have done the same; so would you. So would anyone with a shred of dignity.
If tradition holds, the refugees will soon find jobs, homes and sanctuary among 90,000 Haitian countrymen now living in South Florida. Much of the money they earn will be mailed home to poor relatives.
Somehow I feel better about the stowaways on the loose than I do about Rupert Murdoch.
Ma.s.s murders haunt Mayan asking refuge June 27, 1986 Her name is Petrona Mateo Esteban. She is from Guatemala. She came to the United States because something horrible happened to her family in the highland village where she lived.
The United States says Petrona should not stay here, that it"s safe for her to go home; there is a new government in Guatemala and things are looking up.
This week Petrona"s deportation trial began in U.S. Immigration Court in Miami. It was a most unusual proceeding.
Petrona is a Kanjobal Indian, one of about 800 who have resettled in Indiantown as migrants. She is 26, and partially crippled from a childhood disease. She speaks neither English nor Spanish, only the unique Mayan dialect of her village.
The court interpreter, the only one to understand Kanjobal, had learned a language slightly different from Petrona"s. Her story, painful to recall under any circ.u.mstances, became excruciating in Judge Neale Foster"s court.
She wore a beautiful Mayan dress and sat impa.s.sively on the witness stand. Often she spoke in little more than a shy whisper. She tried to tell how they had practically skinned her father alive.
In 1982 Petrona"s village, El Mul, was caught in Guatemala"s vicious civil war. The guerrillas would raid the rural towns for food and chickens; then the army would sweep in, tracking the insurgents and punishing those thought to have aided them.
Defense attorney Peter Upton: "How do you know there was a war?"
Petrona: "Because the helicopters came by."
Q. "What were the helicopters doing?"