George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

the putative heirs of the top boss of the US crime syndicate, Meyer Lansky. Ben Kramer
was also a notorious organized crime figure in his own right. On March 28, 1990 Jack
Kramer and Ben Kramer were both found guilty of 23 and 28 counts (respectively) of
federal money laundering charges. In the previous year, Ben Kramer had also been
sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for having imported half a million pounds
of marijuana. Bush had thus given a prime contract in waging the war on drugs to one of
the leading drug-smuggling and money-laundering crime families in the US.
Don Aronow was murdered by Mafia-style professional killers on February 3, 1987.
During the last days of his life, Aronow is reported to have made numerous personal
telephone calls to Bush. Aronow had been aware that his life was in danger, and he had
left a list of instructions to tell his wife what to do if anything should happen to him. The
first point on the list was "#1. CALL GEORGE BUSH." [fn 9] Lillian Aronow did call
Bush, who reportedly responded by placing a personal call to the MetroDade Police
Department homicide division to express his concern and to request an expeditious
handling of the case. Bush did not attend Aronow's funeral, but a month later he sent a
letter to Aronow's son Gavin in which he called the late Don Aronow "a hero."
When Lillian Aronow suspected that her telephone was being tapped, she called Bush,
who urged her to be calm and promised to order an investigation of the matter. Shortly
after that, the suspicious noises in Mrs. Aronow's telephone ceased. When Lilian Aronow
received reports that her husband might have been murdered by rogue CIA operatives or
other wayward federal agents and that she herself and her children were still in danger,
she shared her fears in a telephone call to Bush. Bush reportedly later called Mrs.
Aronow and, as she recalled, "He said to me, 'Lillian, you're fine.' He said that 'ex-CIA
people are really off.' That's the truth." [fn 10] Later, Mrs. Aronow heard that Gen.
Noriega of Panama was interested in buying some of her boats, and she began to prepare
a trip to Panama in the hope of generating some orders. Before her departure, she says
she called Bush who advised her against making the trip because of Noreiga's
involvement in "bad things." Mrs. Aronow cancelled her reservations for Panama City.
But in the summer of 1987, Bush snubbed Mrs. Aronow by pointedly avoiding her at a
Miami dinner party. But during this same period, Bush frequently went fishing with
former Aronow employee Willie Meyers, whom he had mentioned in the letter cited
above. According to Thomas Burdick's sources, Willie Meyers was also a friend of
Secretary of State George Shultz, and often expressed concern about damaging publicity
for Bush and Shultz that might derive from the Aronow case.
According to Thomas Burdick, Meyers says that Bush talked to him about how the vice
president's staff was monitoring the Aronow investigation. Bush lamented that he did not
have grounds to get federal agencies involved. "I just wish," said Bush to Meyers, "that
there was some federal aspect to the murder. If the killers crossed state lines. Then I
could get the FBI involved." [fn 11] The form of the argument is reminiscent of the views
expressed by Bush and Tony Lapham during the Letelier case.
In May or June of 1987, several months after Aronow had been killed, Mike Brittain,
who owned a company called Aluminum Marine Products, located on "Thunderboat