June 9, 1987
By JEFF LEEN
Herald Staff Writer
South Florida's longest federal criminal trial ended Monday afternoon with guilty verdicts on all counts for two Colombian women charged in a ring that laundered $5.5 million in cocaine money.
The verdicts against Marlene Navarro and Bertha Yolanda Paez came after 17 hours of deliberations over four days by a jury of nine women and three men. Monday was the 11th day of the trial, which stretched over 91/2 months before U.S. District Judge Alcee L. Hastings.
Neither Navarro nor Paez said anything when the verdict was read by the jury at 2:45 p.m.
"I just feel a sense of relief, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Malman who prosecuted both women."I feel that justice was served."
"I'm just devastated, said attorney Ray Takiff, who defended Paez.
The verdicts were a stunning victory for the government, in part because money laundering did not become a federal crime until four years after Navarro and Paez were charged in the "Operation Swordfish" indictment on Oct. 14, 1982.
No drugs were seized in the case. Both women were tried on drug-conspiracy charges. Their money-laundering activities were introduced as evidence of their roles in a cocaine-trafficking ring.
"We were able to attack the drug-conspiracy theory from a money-laundering angle," Malman said. "It gives the prosecution another weapon in its arsenal in the war on drugs.
Navarro was convicted on 14 counts, including one of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, a charge that carries a life sentence. Paez, 36, was convicted of two counts of drug conspiracy and faces 30 years in prison. Hastings will sentence the women on July 30.
Navarro's attorney, Michael Brodsky, could not be reached for comment after the verdict Monday.
Takiff said Paez could have accepted a government plea bargain, but chose to fight the charges instead.
"All she had to do was admit her guilt and she would have gotten six months," Takiff said. "She rejected that plea because she knew that she was not guilty of such a conspiracy."
Both Navarro and Paez took the witness stand in their own defense during the trial. Malman said he believed the jury's reaction to the two women's testimony was a key to the convictions.
"Navarro was totally unbelievable," Malman said. "Paez was evasive."
Navarro and Paez testified that they were legitimate businesswomen involved in legal currency-exchange activities. But they had no business records of their transactions which, in Navarro's case exceeded $5.5 million.
"That there were no business records at all was critical," Malman said. "Real-life business people just don't act like that."
Takiff said the lack of records was proof of Paez's honesty.
If Bertha Paez was the kind of woman who was going to lie, she could have simply made records up," he said.
Takiff said he would appeal Paez's conviction.
"I believe with every fiber of my being that today an American jury convicted an innocent woman," Takiff said.
Navarro and Paez were arrested in February 1986 and extradited to Miami - Navarro from Caracas, Venezuela; Paez from Bogota, Colombia.
Mid-Trial Offer of Probation for Client
