www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I really think his passing could use a bump, don't know what else to say except he
was a prolific poster and will be missed ( by some ), would have thought his passing would have garnered more attention, but I guess that is the way of the board today.


I meet ID on my first trip to CR, he was at the bar at the SL. El S introduced us, I had a nice long convo with him and a "few" drinks. I spotted him later that night at Key Largo sitting at the bar with the hottest chick, to this day, I have ever seen in CR.
His wit, sarcasm and wealth of knowledge about CR will be missed.
RIP
Regards, 911 Driver

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The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

5 years ago, sure - lots more banter and give and take then between <at least a core of regular posters> guys vs today. Some of it was even good natured I don't know that the board was "better" - but it was more engaged.

You also have guys who stopped traveling for whatever reasons, or moved on. You also have a core of guys who "discovered" other places like Colombia, the PI and Thailand.

IMO, today we have a lot more clueless, few post takers (these are non VIP members for the most part who you just know will never be contributors - and I also know the nature of message boards - guys just looking to have a few questions answered, and questions get recycled all the time) looking for info that should be aparant - I don't expect new guys to know about the airport bus, but some guys I just want to ask "Have you never been out of Bugtussle????" (I guess not )

OTOH, I do expect them to have a clue that Costa Rica is not one giant whorehouse, and not every hotel welcomes working girls, especially resorts/hotels that from even a casual glance at their web site indicates a business and/or family atmosphere.

I love the threads that start out with "I'm down to attend a wedding - we are staying at "XXX Resort" located in Bum Phuck Egypt, Costa Rica - where is the action. Or some place most of us have never heard of with the same question. One thing to come down for a wedding; another to pick the place and then ask the questions, when lets face it - eating a hot latin pu*sy was your intent from the get go.

I know your intent was to pay tribute to ID, 911 - and I share that sentiment with you; I posted on the other thread - while I would not consider my post a hijack, b/c its in direct response to something you wrote, I will thank you for letting me vent a little on what I perceive are some issues with the board

I'll miss him. He was knowledgeable and I got some good info from him. I don't think I met him in person, though it's possible I just didn't know it was Irish Drifter.

The board has changed, the gulch has changed, San Jose has changed, Costa Rica has changed and the world has changed. There's still plenty of good times left here, but it's not like 2004 when everybody thought they would get rich flipping houses or via "The Brothers." Still, probably hundreds of girls turn 18 every day here. There's that.

_________________
"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

I agree with you as I so often do - hell, probably 75% of the board have no idea who "The Brothers" were

(They were 2 Cuban guys who offered an "investment" - you handed them money and got a return on it better than what you could get at a bank or in the stock market - probably some permutation of a Ponzi scheme, however a lot of guys did well with them and enjoyed a great return - there is probably lots more I'm leaving out but that is gist of the who the brothers were - if memory serves, I think they ended up going to jail - someone can fill in the blanks but that is a rough outline)

The Brothers were Ticos. Ran a ponzi for 20 years with huge interest payouts, like 40% per annum on $10k minimum, paid 3% monthly like clock work. In '01 Canada got involved accusing them of money laundering for drugs and that started the demise. Alot of gringos went totally under having invested everything they had in this "to good to be true" deal, but they paid out for a long time, 20 years? One brother turned himself in, was tried and was sentenced to 18 years but I don't know what happened to that. The other, Luis Ennrique Villalobos, now 73, is still to this day an int'l fugitive. Lawsuits galore against CR for non-regulation. The missing brother sends occasional emails saying he'll come back if. The govt found 7 million and froze that, but still missing is hundreds of millions, some say up to billion. How can you hide that much in view of todays' banking?

Alot of people made the mistake of putting everything into the Brother's, so when it got busted, alot of people were flat broke in CR. A few suicides. Irish's friend Garfield, who would be carted around SJ in limo's, lost everything and headed to the jungle to live off the land and died prematurely.

A big mess that is still going on. Here's an old news article that will give you a historical perspective of what was going on and how it unraveled.
http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/2 ... 0511p5.asp

Here's a news story 10 years after the above for a current view.http://www.costaricantimes.com/10-years ... fund/13914

The Cubans were a later scam that paled in comparison to the Brothers.

Guess I had the nationality of the scammers confused I remember reading about the Brothers and thought they were Cuban - Cubans were involved in a separate scam, I guess

Good post, and very informative - what amazes me is how long they paid out on a Ponzi scheme and how guys would invest everything in something that with just a little common sense was not completely kosher.

I can see someone taking 10k and rolling the dice, but everything you have so if you lost it you were basically destitute , investing with someone who was not, lets face it, Merrill Lynch

That's what everybody said after it crashed--how could you put everything into this with just a handshake. Garfield was a stock broker in the states or so he said; lesser known money market managers were investing--in fact I think one of them has been the driving force to this day to find the $. The brother still on the lam, Luis Enrique Villalobos, still emails and says he'll come back and repay everyone provided he is not imprisoned and his borther is released. Stalemate. Still can't figure out how he can still hide all that money. They may never catch him. The only foto they have is some grainy thing. He's obviously a genius and it wouldn't surprise me if he was living without flare somewhere in CR with fake papers and a few million buried under some rocks in the mountains for walking around money. Few other then family would recognize him, certainly not today. Or maybe in Nicaragua and he's paying Ortega. He's the Robert Vesco of this millinium

The Cuban ran a "legit" bank. Luis Milanes, who was really a gringo looking naturalized American thru marriage, paying the same as the Brothers but only lasted for a short time before he absconded, busted by Interpol after a few yeas, somewhere I forget, brought back to CR a few years ago--I think his legal proceedings are still going while under house arrest. Not sure.

More and more interesting info!

Re stockbrokers; I worked at Merrill Lynch for 14 years, although not as a broker - most are good salesmen; a lot are downright naieve and dumb.

In fact, I know a few who invested with Madoff, and I would consider these guys smart and savvy. Madoff was a POS; but he made the fact that he would take <steal, actually> your money an honor - not everyone he scammed was a zillionare; many charaties who's endowments were decimated, many older people unable to work even if they could - I'll never understand that mind set, and that's a good thing, I guess. He made affinity marketing an art form.

Robert Vesco - now that's a name from the past that I'll bet fewer know about than the brothers!

Now that you say it, I do remember something about house arrest; thought the Cuban was the same as the Brothers, but the Brothers scam was many years before - I do remember a scammer on house arrest.

I HATE scammers - sure, stupid greedy people play a role in their own demise, but I hate those who look to cheat others, especially on a wide scale (think Bernie Madoff, Ponzi, Scott Rothstein, and so many others)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/world ... d=all&_r=0

Robert Vesco - now that's a name from the past that I'll bet fewer know about than the brothers!



For anyone intersted in Robert Vesco, the ultimate American con before Madoff but far more interesting, who had to get out of the US to avoid prosecution for massive securities fraud after stealing zillions, gave Nixon's cousin Donald a mil for US Justice Dept to take a dive--didn't work. Then sunk $11 million in Costa Rica baloney (yep holier then thou Costa Rica) as quoted in the above article so that the then CR govt would protect him, that worked for quite a while, but eventually had to leave, even though the CR president said we need more Vesco's. First to the Bahamas, Mexico, Italy, back to Mexico, finally to Cuba, where Castro catered to him for many years, but eventually locked him up for a supposed defraud of Castro's nephew on a new medicine scam and locked him up for a long incarceration during which time Castro/Cuba took the rest of his $$$. He died in Cuba, read the above NY Times link for a primer.

Probably impossible in view of today's post 9.11 int'l banking laws. There's a few books about Vesco's life, who was a bad guy, but surprised no movie yet. It would be far more interesting then Madoff's or the Brother's or the various Cocaine movies. This guy was thumbing his nose at the world by buying various goverment's sanctuaries or when he couldn't for a while, was living in mega-yachts in int'l waters w/the finest broads and the best of everyting being flown in. He lived life at the highest while on the lam for many years as opposed to the others who had to live in secrecy. Finally, he got out of prison in Cuba but not for long and died in Cuba with an Italian passport with Italian diplomats involved in his burial in a common grave in Cuba. A scumbag who hurt innocents--but what's new with guys like this? Quite a story not likely to repeat.

Talking about hijacking a post . Read above. The one time Irish and I sort of went at it was when I mentioned something about the cheese at Akropolis Pizza being white or yellow I do not remember and he said no way my family were pizza makers and you do not use that kind of cheese on pizza. I never could convince him that was what the man told me and to go and ask him in person.
Another thing, you never knew he mongered as I can not recall in one single post of him even mentioning the subject. However it was brought up he sat in Key Largo with one of the finest girls in town.
Goes to show you something you should of learned in High School to keep your love life and conquests private. I never met him but gained by having him as a friend on the board. I miss him already and always looked for his post.

ID was my friend and will be sourly missed. If I needed advice that I did not want to post - i asked ID

A true cornerstone to CTR has passed.

R.I.P. Irish Drifter

Wow, I had not heard of this...

Irish Drifter was a true contributor to the board since as far back as I can remember and it's sad to hear he's moved on.

This one ends, must start a new
new life, new friends, new girls to screw
many will cherish your way and face
but alas, you're in a better place
all here are sad to see you go
keep an eye on us down here below
while in that cantina in the sky
enjoying Heavenly brew and babes, oh my!
new rules with new start while at that end
but this one won't change, don't forget, "NO CIEN!"
so whatever bar in the sky you may be
try to save atleast a few chicas for me...


Goodbye, CRT brother. Be thou at peace.

-Ruffnutz

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EVERYONE'S A ROCK STAR IN C.R.!!
"Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in." -- Ruffnutz on trying to quit CRT

I've been away fro the board for some time so this is the first I am hearing about ID. He was one of the posters who I always followed and brought a great deal of knowledge. I'll miss his input

This was Irish Drifter's signature when I first joined the board.

"A good friend will come and bail you out of jail... but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn... that was fun!"

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* These are the "Good Ole Days". Enjoy Them.

* RENT but, "Don't Buy a Home in Costa Rica" until you have lived here for THREE years.