aruba connected to the mafia???

[grgnfg420]

now i dont know this for a fact but therr has been speculation that part of the island is owned by the mafia and used for money laundering. now i think NH was part of an evil plan, in order to make money and i think she was hand picked by joran and his father, possibly for money. there has to be more to this case than what is being led out. there is a lot of things the media isnt reporting or following up on, such as the people interogated earlier, and the decapitated body found in the goverment cematary a day after croes was arrested, i dont see any other explanation other than, the body was a message for the boy and his father to keep quiet under all circumstances.

[Cerulean]

Source of information:  Pirates of the Carribean?

[arubagirl]

There are / were those involved in the shipping of drugs, yes. But they're not going to bother with an American girl. What reason would they have.

[grgnfg420]

http://www.tni.org/archives/tblick/aruba.htm


heres some proof

[Bill]

---

[grgnfg420]

it seems like every message board i go to there is some loser who think his post count makes him tough sh!t, everyone is entitled to thier own opinion, get a life

[Bill]

---

[grgnfg420]

i serioulsy doubt anyone would come trolling on this topic, im juss posing my hypothises but i have been reading posts on this site since it started, i juss finally decided to interject a few days ago

[Bill]

---

[grgnfg420]

i dont even know how

[Bill]

---

[grgnfg420]

i dont care really its prob something mean, but all i did was offer my speculation tied together with factual evidence and for some reason you had to call me out based on posts, which is typical, but i dont think this is the place to judge someone or call them out because u might disagree, but its fine with me i dont have a problem with you, just be more considerate

[MominTN]

The tourism makes the island's businesses look legitimate.  The casinos provide a way to look like alot of money changed hands legally.  They bring in investment money and bank accounts from overseas which go into the local banks allowing them in turn to loan out the money for more construction and ventures.  Money could be made in drug trafficking, but stated to be casino revenue or Tattoo revenue or one of those business ventures advertised for sale on the internet, and unless those who have proof confessed or became a witness, no crime exists.  We all see how fast the police are in gathering evidence and arresting those who are powerful or connected.
Do they have record of drug busts?  Is this something they pursue?
I think the kids, ignorant of the consequences, did something bad to Natalee and now the adults are trying to cover it up before they lose their shirts.  
I think Aruba has more corruption than anything you can dig up on AMSouth or the Twittys ever thought about.  But that is just my opinion.  Probably the natives are good people and unaware of the corruption.

[KV123]

I've seen part of the article, I thought it was pretty interesting.  Keep seeing Jossy Mansur on FOX, he's mentioned in it.

[WonderWoman]

http://www.tni.org/archives/tblick/aruba.htm


heres some proof

I would like to place this here for easy reference....hope you don't mind...
BTW-thx for the link, I was trying to find that.....
_______________________________________________________

WonderWoman wrote:
I know the Croes name is popular but....

The Intercon Financial Bank on Aruba is represented by the law-firm Croes & Wever. One of the partners is former Minister of Justice Hendrik Croes. The firm's trust-company Arulex was implicated in setting up the bank. ""Yes, we are involved with that bank"," says Croes. ""We still handle all their legal affairs, but we don't know anything of their financial accounts"." (70)

Hendrik Croes – a brother of the island's legendary leader, the late Betico Croes who guided Aruba to its semi-independent status in the Dutch realm – is one of the leading political figures on the island. He led several election campaigns for the MEP, now in the opposition. The Croes Family has been accused of ties with Cuntrera-Caruana. The Sicilian mafiosi payed for a trip of another brother, Rudy Croes (who succeeded Hendrik as Minister of Justice in a previous MEP government) as party secretary to a meeting of the Socialist International in Turkey. This has not been denied.

Paolo Cuntrera visited the island regularly despite his expulsion in 1988. The government opposed his legal actions for re-admittance. But Hendrik Croes has to admit the procedures were not stainless. A blundering government lawyer, an official who signed a residence permit 'by mistake', meant that "de facto" Paolo Cuntrera was able to circulate freely on the island.

According to Canadian police reports, in 1978, Pasquale Cuntrera owned the Holiday Inn Casino – although the registers indicated otherwise. ""At the start of 1980s the Cuntrera's were often at the Holiday Inn casino"," says a croupier. ""In 1989 they were there again, although they were ostensibly thrown of the island"."


___________________________________________________________


Natalee's Uncle Tom is head of ALL investment services for AmSouth Bank in Birmingham but yet he filed a new corporation just for himself in Rhode Island in late 2004 and named it Amsouth Investment Corp... not accusing...just found it as part of new corporate filings...

the scheme at AmSouth for which the bank ended up in court involved Panamanian and Nicaraugan banks...one of the indicted was a Robert Picou - a Panamanian who is said to be in hiding in Nicarauga or Panama

[Michael22]

---

---

[Michael22]

it seems like every message board i go to there is some loser who think his post count makes him tough sh!t, everyone is entitled to thier own opinion, get a life

actually he may be making a reference to another member

their 'name' is ---

or maybe it's dash

or maybe he doesn't know what to say

or maybe our posts leave him speachless

[Bill]

---

[WonderWoman]

and this for reference later......  


The Cuntrera-Caruana clan had links with another Aruban bank: the Interbank. The bank granted a credit to the Cuntrera company "Investeringen Tweehonderd en Tien" for 1.8 million Aruban guilders (approximately one million dollars). Why the Cuntreras who own several investment companies in Venezuela needed the loan is unknown.

One could speculate, however, this was a 'loan-back' operation to launder money. An amount of money is deposited cash at a bank and the bank lends the money back: now there is a clean and legitimate source of earnings. But there is no proof, no one ever looked really into the relations of the bank with the Sicilian mafiosi. The letter of credit was issued before the mafia connections of the clan became officially known on the island. This did not stop the bank from keeping the Cuntreras as clients. During Operation Wiseguy the undercover DEA agents were asked to wire money for a shipment of hashish on the account of Alfonso Cuntrera at the Interbank.

The Interbank is owned by the Mansur Family. If anybody owns 60 per cent of the island, it is this powerful family. The Mansurs made their fortune as cigarette manufacturers and in the import-export business. With a licence of Philip Morris, they are the major suppliers of Marlboros in the Caribbean basin. The Mansurs sponsor the best baseball team – Aruba's national sport – the Marlboro Red Tigers as well as the AVP party of Prime Minister Henny Eman. They own the biggest hotel and time-sharing complex, La Cabana, with its inevitable casino. And they have a couple of import-export businesses in the Free Trade Zone.

Jossy Mansur is the owner and chief editor of the biggest newspaper on the island, "Diario". ""When I read an article in Diario, I know what will be the next action of the government","says Hendrik Croes, adding that the Mansurs create a climate of fear and intimidation on Aruba. Their newspapers force others off the market. Furthermore, ""their annual income is bigger than the yearly budget of the government. And you may guess how they make that kind of money”."""Jossy Mansur is not impressed claiming that accusing people of drug trafficking and money laundering ""has become a political tool to discredit them”." (75) Jossy Mansur acts as the family's mouthpiece, Ruben and the elder Alex are the patriarchs, and Elias 'Don' Mansur is the family's whizz-kid. Elias graduated at Notre Dame University, and was Minister of Economic Affairs in Eman's first cabinet. As representative for the Free Trade Zone entrepreneurs in a mixed Dutch-Aruban commission he has to recommend measures to tighten regulations in the FTZ to prevent money laundering and contraband, together with Dutch government officials. (76)

More and more the name Mansur turns up in money laundering cases. Alex and Eric Mansur were indicted in Puerto Rico in August 1994. (77) President Clinton specifically mentioned the Mansur's when he put Aruba on the list of Major Illicit Drug-transit Countries in December 1996. Although no member of the family was actually indicted in the La Costa case, the name Mansur is frequently is found in the files which were seized at Habibe's home on Aruba.

 
"Senator Samuel Santander Lopesierra Gutierrez, also known as the Marlboro Man

DEA announces arrest of ex-Colombian Senator Samuel Santander Lopesierra, DEA Press Release, October 9, 2002
Así cayó Santa, el ‘Hombre Marlboro', El Espectador (Colombia), October 13, 2002

"Read more about Lopesierra in the Colombian magazine Semana (in Spanish):

El Hombre Marlboro, Semana, April 18, 1994

El fantasma de la Monita, Semana, March 31, 1997

Las maletas de Martelo Semana, October 5, 1998

See also: Big Tobacco - Uncovering The Industry's Multibillion-Dollar Global Smuggling Network
The Nation, May 6, 2002
"
 
 
In Venezuela the Mansurs are implicated in money laundering with Santa Lopesierra, the Marlboro Man. Every month Santa 're-invests' 20 million dollar ""with the help of a well-known entrepreneur called Mansur”""." (78) Lopesierra is accused to have financed his election with the proceeds of drug trafficking and a car-theft ring. He is also reputed to be the man behind the Puerto Rico indictment. The activities of Mansur and Lopesierra, however, go well beyond this. They are accused of illegally funding the presidential campaign of Colombian president Ernesto Samper in 1994. Not only did Samper allegedly receive 6 million dollars from the Cali Cartel – an accusation he vehemently denies and ascribes to political machinations – it is said he also pocketed US$ 500,000 in cash offered by ""a group from Philip Morris and Interbank”." (79)
________________________________________________________


As the smoke clears from Florida's campaign against tobacco billboards, at least a few happy marketers are smiling. AmSouth Bank, for one, says its new marketing campaign this summer got a boost from obtaining a few prime billboard spots previously used by tobacco companies. . . . "They had excellent locations," Mock said. "They had what I would consider the very best the market had to offer in terms of circulation."

[gagirl]

http://www.tni.org/archives/tblick/aruba.htm


heres some proof

From that article a name we know....

The Sicilian mafiosi payed for a trip of another brother, Rudy Croes (who succeeded Hendrik as Minister of Justice in a previous MEP government) as party secretary to a meeting of the Socialist International in Turkey. This has not been denied.