THE BATTALION Page IB
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1979
SHALA’S SHOES
“Your Fashion Shoe Store”
GREAT LOOKS FOR FALL
_
Whose birthday?
Sybilla Irwin and Beth Seibert, technical crew
members for the play “Happy Birthday
Wanda June”, put the finishing touches on the
play’s birthday cake prop. The Texas A&M
Theater Arts Committee will present the play
at 8 p.m. tonight, October 5 and 6, and Oc
tober 11-13 in Rudder Forum.
Battalion photo by Diane Phelps
United Press International
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Atlan
tic City’s famed Boardwalk is burn
ing up. Well, sort of.
And it’s not the hot money from
the city’s new gambling casinos that
is turning the Boardwalk to cinders.
This week, officials said, the dec
orative gold plexiglass panels that
adorn the front of the Caesars World
Boardwalk Regency — the East
Coast’s second legal gambling casino
— have been working as a giant
magnifying glass, focusing the sun’s
rays on the wooden walkway.
Officials say that for several min
utes each day, the panels catch the
sunlight just right and angle it into
the Boardwalk. That results in
warped planks, scorch marks and —
in some extreme cases — even burn
holes several inches deep.
“You can stick your fingers into
the holes and just scrape out char
coal,” City Engineer Michael In
gram said Thursday.
Amelia by Nina
Blossom by SRO
black suede wine, kid
Shala's Shoes Across From Campus 707 Texas
Texan finds smuggling lucrative
United Press International
HARLINGEN — Johnny, 19,
remembers how bad it made him
feel to have to kill someone for the
first time. Now killing someone is
just another part of the smuggling
business to him.
“The first time I killed somebody
was 15 years old and it made me
sick to my stomach for two or three
days, but after that I didn’t give a
damn who I blew away,” said
Johnny (not his real name).
Evelyn Simpson, a reporter for
the Valley Morning Star, met
Johnny a few weeks ago in a water-
The first time I killed somebody
l was 15 years old and it made
nesick to my stomach for two or
three days, but after that I
didn't give a damn who 1 blew
away.” — a South Texas smug
gler.
ing hole and during conversation
asked him, “What do you do for a
living?”
The question, Simpson said,
caused the young man to pause.
“You really don’t want to know,”
he finally said.
“Yes, I do,” she said.
And that was the beginning of the
story written by Simpson about the
19-year-old’s life, about his claims to
have earned hundreds of thousands
of dollars smuggling weapons into
Mexico, and drugs into South Texas,
and to have killed several men while
doing it.
In five years he has committed
hundreds of serious crimes but has
As the young man continued in
the business, he made more con
tacts and was trusted with big
ger jobs, such as smuggling
cases of machine guns into
Mexico.
never been arrested or spent a day
in jail, he said.
“I started when I was 14,” he
said, “ripping off handguns by
breaking into houses and selling
them to gang leaders who were like
16 or 17 years old. Then this older
guy asked me and my cousin if we
wanted to make some easy money.
That turned into a year of doing
basically the same thing, except hav
ing a ready market at $20 to $30 per
gun. After a year, the smuggler said,
he had earned the trust of his buyer
who promoted him into the smuggl
ing business.
The smugger, riding shotgun, and
his cousin took a van loaded with
contraband — guns or drugs — from
one town to another, and then
brought the money back to the
buyer. That was repeated once
every two weeks, delivering loads
within Texas, seldom driving more
than 200 miles, and making be
tween $400 and $500 per trip.
Simpson said she was convinced
of the truth of the young man’s
story, primarily because of the
cross-referencing of dates and facts
she took him through during the
two-hour interview. She said he was
not bragging, but merely respond
ing to her request for an interview
and her promise to keep his name
secret.
“It was creepy, talking to him,”
she said. “He was so matter-of-faet
about the things he had done.”
The story provided what likely is
an accurate picture of the two-way
smuggling across the Rio Grande.
As the young man continued in
the business, Simpson’s story said.
He said he often helped load
airplanes and boats which
smuggled guns into Mexico and
drugs into the United States.
he made more contacts and was
trusted with bigger jobs, such as
smuggling cases of machine guns (12
to 24 weapons) into Mexico.
He estimated he smuggled at
least 500 weapons into Mexico, in
cluding automatic and semiautoma
tic rifles such as U.S. Army M-16s
and Russian AK47s that sold for
$500 in border towns and up to $800
in a U.S. city such as Houston, and
that ammunition for the machine
guns often cost $1 per bullet.
He said it is easy to take the guns
south. They often were stolen from
National Guard armories and mili
tary bases. He usually just put the
weapons in his trunk and drove
across; U.S. Customs officials don’t
open trunks , of cars going into
Mexico, and whenever a Mexico
guard asked him to open the trunk,
he would hand the man a few dollars
which always eased the guard’s
interest.
After IV2 years, he made a logical
step, moving from guns to the more
lucrative drug business. He said he
often helped load airplanes and
boats which smuggled guns into
Mexico, and drugs into the United
States, and often the various
smugglers would trade weapons for
drugs in huge quantities.
During his gun-running days, he
said, he earned from $5,000 to
$15,000 per week, but was afraid to
spend it for fear of alerting the
Internal Revenue Service or other
law enforcement agencies.
“Mostly, I just blew it on party
ing, on a good time, the best drugs,’’
he said. “In one night, I could easily
blow $2,000 or $3,000.
“I like the risk. I like to see how
far I can go without getting busted.’
Carl Bussells
iamond Room
'The Beauty of Excellence'
Diamonds
Gold Fashion Jewelry
Precious Stones
Layaway now
for Christmas
CASH - MASTERCHARGE
VISA - LAYAWAY
3731 E. 29th 846-4708
Town & Country Center
MEMBER AMERICAN GEM SOCIETY
Bargain Basement Sale
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(one group)
50% OFF
MEN'S and LADIES'
SILK RUNNING SHORTS
50% OFF
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By-Pass
ARTHUR ASHE Men's and Women s
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PUMA — Hard Court Love (Ladies 1 )
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ADIDAS — Monica, Tennis (Ladies 1 )
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CONVERSE Ladies Chris Evert
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CONVERSE — World Class Trainer II
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ADIDAS — TRX (Mens)
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SAUCONY Gripper Mens
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907 HARVEY RD. (HWY. 30)
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