Airport suspect slipped through cracks

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Fri, Jul. 23, 2004



STOLEN-FUEL CASE


Airport suspect slipped through cracks

A racketeering investigation at Miami International Airport has raised questions about security. The alleged malfeasance never compromised aviation safety, authorities said.

BY JOE MOZINGO AND LARRY LEBOWITZ

[e-mail]


The glaring question following Thursday's arrests at Miami International Airport is how a convicted murderer got the security clearance to run a facility that pumps 50 million gallons of fuel into airliners every month.

Richard Caride, a former Hialeah officer involved in the 1985 murders of a popular Coconut Grove nightclub owner and his girlfriend, managed the airport's fuel farm and had access to the most restricted parts of the airport.

According to the Miami-Dade state attorney, Katherine Fernández Rundle, Caride was the ringleader of a racketeering conspiracy that stole jet fuel and bilked the airport through kickbacks, bogus invoices and grossly inflated bills.

Aside from a rip-off of at least $5.5 million, investigators say they found security at Caride's operation so lax that they warned the federal Transportation Security Administration last year that ``Osama bin Laden could drive a fuel truck right through the back gate and no one would notice.''
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