A couple of years ago, the NYT broke the story of a 22-year-old Miami Beach arms dealer, Efraim Diveroli, who had landed a $300,000,000 Pentagon contract to deliver ammunition to the fledgling Afghan Army, and was illegally fulfilling the deal using aged Chinese ammo. It was a nine-days-wonder of a story as many were sure at first that Cheney or Rumsfeld or somebody like that was involved.
But, as I was the first to point out, it probably didn't involve a conspiracy that-goes-straight-to-the-top. Diveroli was apparently just a young hustler from a family of hustlers (his grandfather owns a big, scary gun shop in South Central LA; his uncle Shmuley Boteach was Michael Jackson's rabbi) carrying out the kind of semi-bait switch business (offer a low price, then deliver low quality) that is familiar to customers of Brooklyn camera shops. And don't forget to sign up as an ethnically disadvantaged small business!
The Reagan Administration made Hasidics into a legally advantaged minority for the sake of federal contracting in 1982. Despite their claims, I don't think the Boteach-Diveroli family is very Hasidic, however. Clean-shaven Efraim's Uncle Shmuley converted to being Hasidic for awhile, but then the Hasidics got tired of his antics and he stopped being Hasidic. From Government Executive trade magazine:
The Reagan Administration made Hasidics into a legally advantaged minority for the sake of federal contracting in 1982. Despite their claims, I don't think the Boteach-Diveroli family is very Hasidic, however. Clean-shaven Efraim's Uncle Shmuley converted to being Hasidic for awhile, but then the Hasidics got tired of his antics and he stopped being Hasidic. From Government Executive trade magazine:
A Government Executive investigation in April 2008 showed that AEY's business exploded after the company was improperly designated as a small disadvantaged business less than one year before receiving the massive Afghan munitions contract.
Before the designation first appeared in the Federal Procurement Data System in mid-2006, AEY had earned a modest $8.1 million in business with the federal government. Since the SDB label was applied, the contractor earned more than $204 million in federal contracts.
Small disadvantaged businesses can receive price evaluation adjustments or proposal evaluation credits on Defense contracts. But Diveroli was anything but disadvantaged, coming from an extremely wealthy family. His father owns a pair of highly successful military and police supply companies, both of which receive government contracts. And his grandfather is one of the largest property owners in Los Angeles.
Well, Diveroli's back in trouble again, arrested by federal undercover agents in his silver Audi convertible for violating his parole. The details of the latest case make him sound a little more likable, less purely mercenary: he not only likes selling weaponry, he likes shooting it off, too.
Amazing. I predict great things for this young man. Once he is out of prison, of course.
ReplyDeletehis uncle Shmuley Boteach was Michael Jackson's rabbi
ReplyDeleteIf there's a more loathsome popular media figure than Mr. Boteach, I haven't encountered him.
Oh and I love that Michael Jackson, son of a devout Jehovah's witness, had a rabbi. Wonderfully illustrative of the New Age, "all paths to God are the same" mentality of Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteWell, Diveroli's back in trouble again, peddling ammo to federal undercover agents out of the back of his silver Audi convertible.
Hmmm, he bought the ammo at Walmart. He was not peddling it, rather he bought it to use in the weapons the feds showed him and got done for handling firearms while being a convicted felon.
I wonder if he can claim that the feds are racist and anti-semites for going after Jews on these charges while lots of gentiles get away scott free. After all, he was only trying to defraud the feds in his initial scheme.
1/ So where are those paleo defenders of the 2nd amendment?
ReplyDeleteHello? Hello?
2/ The really strange thing is that so many IStevers (including Steve himself?) believe that people like Diveroli, because of their smarts and whiles, are great threats to the US.
The really strange thing is that so many IStevers (including Steve himself?) believe that people like Diveroli, because of their smarts and whiles, are great threats to the US.
ReplyDeleteNo. The really strange thing is that you apparently don't see him - and people like him - as a threat to the United States.
The guy who made 300 million American dollars is reduced to this?!
ReplyDeleteWTF happened to all that money?!
If Diveroli were all that smart, he would not have been caught. The guys at say, Goldman Sachs, who screwed over their customers big time to sell junk CDOs as investment grade, they're dangerous. Barack Obama, President of the United States, is dangerous.
ReplyDeleteDiveroli is a small-time crook with big time ambitions. He's costly, but there are not that many of them. Most of your crooks are your tweakers and meth-heads, your coke clowns, and your average gang-banger. There was a story in the LA Times a number of years ago about the murder of a car parts salesman at Kragen or something in South LA. He was killed eating lunch. Why? A kid of 14 wanted to make his bones for his gang. There's hundreds of thousands or even millions of kids like that. Not that many Diverolis.
What a name. Somewhere in it is the perfect anagram, but these are the best I could get:
ReplyDeleteFirearm Void Lie
A Dire Olive Firm
Mi Fair Evildoer
Oaf Devil Mirier
Ravioli Fried Em
Voila Fried Emir
Roam Ivied Rifle
Roar Vilified Me
Virile For A Dime
Is that "ethnically challenged" or "ethically challenged"?
ReplyDeleteAll joking aside, what struck me as odd was the failure to assimilate. After 125 years in America Diveroli's kin reacts as though he is some hustling kid who shows great promise until the anti-Semitic Feds took him down, rather than some con artist who sells shoddy goods, runs guns (selling 100 round mags) and violates his parole. It's like dealing with Mexicans who figure cops are to be bribed, and laws to be gotten around as inconvenient. No wonder Rubashkin's crime family had problems in Iowa. They just don't get that to Iowans Iowa is their state, the state that they built, and the laws are their laws, not some stupid rules that only goyishekopfs follow and that a smart guy (like Diveroli) only follows if the freiers are watching.
Completely different culture and ethos..although interestingly the Israelis are getting a taste of it from their own haredis who run scams on the public fisc all the time while investing as little as possible of themselves in the greater Israeli society.
I wonder if he can claim that the feds are racist and anti-semites for going after Jews on these charges while lots of gentiles get away scott free.
ReplyDeleteRandy Weaver begs to differ.
The key paragraphs from your link:
ReplyDelete"A Government Executive investigation in April 2008 showed that AEY's business exploded after the company was improperly designated as a small disadvantaged business less than one year before receiving the massive Afghan munitions contract.
Before the designation first appeared in the Federal Procurement Data System in mid-2006, AEY had earned a modest $8.1 million in business with the federal government. Since the SDB label was applied, the contractor earned more than $204 million in federal contracts.
Small disadvantaged businesses can receive price evaluation adjustments or proposal evaluation credits on Defense contracts. But Diveroli was anything but disadvantaged, coming from an extremely wealthy family. His father owns a pair of highly successful military and police supply companies, both of which receive government contracts. And his grandfather is one of the largest property owners in Los Angeles."
Articles in the LA Weekly and LA Jewish Journal decided to leave out the part about Diveroli's company being designated disadvantaged
ReplyDelete"1/ So where are those paleo defenders of the 2nd amendment?
ReplyDeleteHello? Hello?"
I'm sorry, what? Are you brain damaged or just pretending to be a retard? Where in the 2nd Amendment does it say that Yahweh's Special Blend are granted an exemption from the laws so they can defraud the Federal government by selling it shoddy merchandise in violation of contract? What has that to do with the 2nd Amendment?
"2/ The really strange thing is that so many IStevers (including Steve himself?) believe that people like Diveroli, because of their smarts and whiles, are great threats to the US."
Smarts and wiles make crooks more dangerous, not less. You seem to be under the delusion that HBD acknowledgers are obligated to "praise and support" all high IQ people simply because they have high IQ, whereas HBD is in fact not just about IQ, but all forms of behavior. We don't want to live in a society of high IQ sociopaths, thank you very much.
"If Diveroli were all that smart, he would not have been caught."
ReplyDeletePlenty of smart people get caught. Madoff is smart, he got caught. Madoff and Diveroli lacked protection from within the political system, that's the difference.
"The guys at say, Goldman Sachs, who screwed over their customers big time to sell junk CDOs as investment grade, they're dangerous."
Because they have connections in government and thus have protection. Madoff didn't, Diveroli didn't. It's possible to make the transition from small time outsider to big time insider, like Goldman Sachs did a long time ago, but the failure rate can be high.
"Diveroli is a small-time crook with big time ambitions. He's costly, but there are not that many of them."
Not that many of them, Whiskey? How do you know? Those small-time crooks with big time ambitions sure made a lot of money under Bush the Lesser (Blackwater, for instance) and are not being held to account for their frauds. Nice work if you can get it.
ReplyDeleteYahweh's Special Blend are granted an exemption from the laws so they can defraud the Federal government by selling it shoddy merchandise in violation of contract?
In fairness, the Chinese merchandise is not alleged to have been shoddy as far as I know. It is simply alleged to have violates some (stupid) law.
Here is the SBA list of "socially disadvantaged, Federally mandated classes of people who are more than eligible for low interest small business loans.
ReplyDeleteTitle 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations
124.103 - Who is socially disadvantaged?
(a) General. Socially disadvantaged individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.
(b) Members of designated groups. (1) There is a rebuttable presumption that the following individuals are socially disadvantaged: Black Americans; Hispanic Americans; Native Americans (American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or Native Hawaiians); Asian Pacific Americans (persons with origins from Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Japan, China (including Hong Kong), Taiwan, Laos, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Vietnam, Korea, The Philippines, U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Republic of Palau), Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Samoa, Macao, Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuvalu, or Nauru); Subcontinent Asian Americans (persons with origins from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives Islands or Nepal); and members of other groups designated from time to time by SBA according to procedures set forth at paragraph
Let's not forget also that Shmuley Boteach is a frequent guest on Michael Medved's radio show; they seem awfully chummy if you ask me. Draw your own conclusions as to what this says about Medved and whether he's a phony.
ReplyDeleteWhat does his have to do with the 2nd amandement? Did you read the article in the link?
ReplyDeleteHe was charged with possession of firearms as a convicted felon and possession of firarms while under a felony indictment.
Does the 2nd amendment not apply to people who have finished their sentence and as yet not convicted for anything else?
2/ I was obviously being sarcastic about the smarts and whiles. Look how easily he repeatedly got caught.
And yet people here are worried.
Those feds sure do love to entrap people. I guess the fact that this made it into the papers indicates that they don't have any plans to use him as an informant - the usual fate of one of their entrapees.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little I read A.E. Van Vogt's The Weapons Shops of Isher. Vogt's books and some other by Heinlein established in my young mind the notion that a gun shop was a bastion for liberty.
ReplyDeleteThe general public today seems to hold other views. Maybe they should read more Sci-Fi?
Last week I visited a local gun store. The Oakland police will no longer come to your house in answer to a 911 call except under certain not completely clear circumstances. We are expected to send an email.
It seemed like a good time to stock up on ammo.
The guy who ran the store was a character from a Elmore Leonard novel. He wouldn't answer questions but rather pointed at the signs he had posted all over the shop. Creepy dude.
So I commend the Diveroli family for raising the caliber of personnel. They sound like the soul of professionalism compared to some of the surly yahoos who work around arms.
Albertosaurus
In other recorded conversations, Mr. Diveroli appeared to boast of violations of his status as a felon awaiting sentencing.
ReplyDeleteOn Aug. 11, he said that “earlier in the day he was shooting at the range” and a few days later, he was recorded saying that “he and a friend were recently hunting alligators, white tail deer and hogs in the Everglades” with a .50-caliber black-powder rifle.
There is a lot of "folk wisdom" out there that felons can still possess black powder muzzle loaders. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, since I am not a convicted felon and have never bothered to look into the matter.
"his grandfather owns a big, scary gun shop in South Central LA" -
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't possibly have gunphobia? There's no way I would live in LA without access to an effective firearm and the knowledge to use it. Buy one and learn how to use it!
Because they have connections in government and thus have protection. Madoff didn't
ReplyDeleteThe feds studiously ignored Madoff for years.
Svigor said...
ReplyDeleteThe feds studiously ignored Madoff for years.
They AGGRESSIVELY ignored him. They had been warned about him for years and blew off all the warnings.
Does the 2nd amendment not apply to people who have finished their sentence and as yet not convicted for anything else?
ReplyDeleteEhehe, you really are an ass, aren't you?
"In fairness, the Chinese merchandise is not alleged to have been shoddy as far as I know. It is simply alleged to have violates some (stupid) law."
ReplyDeleteWrong it was largely extremely substandard garbage made decades ago that did not work. The scandal came to light in part because ANA soldiers were given huge amounts of corroded ammunition that was totally useless.
If there's a more loathsome popular media figure than Mr. Boteach, I haven't encountered him.
ReplyDeleteMeet Smiley Botox!
Oh and I love that Michael Jackson, son of a devout Jehovah's witness, had a rabbi. Wonderfully illustrative of the New Age, "all paths to God are the same" mentality of Hollywood.
No, hollywood doesn't believe that "all paths to god are the same". Hollywood simply reverses Middle America's list of good/bad religions.
My prediction is the money is in Israel with the Madoff missing money. I also predict this will never get to the national media. I also predict this guy will end up in Israel and you'll never hear about him again. Amazing what connections, money and an uncle named Shmuley can get you in the great U.S.A. WTF happened to our great country?
ReplyDeleteSailer insinuates that Diveroli signed up as an "ethnically disadvantaged small business" under the provision originated by the Reagan Administration, which made Hasidics into a legally advantaged minority for the sake of federal contracting in 1982. But the source that he cites in support of his insinuation says nothing about religion or ethnicity, crediting the explosive growth of Diveroli's company AEY to its improper designation as a small disadvantaged business: "Legally anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or gender, can claim to have been subjected to disadvantage because of some personal characteristic, Otero said. But applicants for SDB status must prove economic and social disadvantage by providing a range of information, including financial statements and narratives. Many applications include as many as 1,000 pages of corroborating evidence of prejudice, and SBA denies nine out of 10 applications, Otero said."
ReplyDeleteIt's all well and good for an aficionado of racialist discourse to get exercised about crooked Yids. But confabulating their fraudulent exploitation of Yiddishkeit reinforces the other prong of his invidious distinctions. We Jews may be as constitutionally inclined to commercial opportunism, as you goyim are congenitally handicapped in rational argument. Sailer's only recourse is intensive training in pilpul.