Jon Roberts

 ( 1948 Births ) 

Nat Riccobono was deported from the United States following a federal crackdown on the American Mafia in the late 1950s, after which Roberts' mother had his surname changed. Roberts' mother died during a medical operation when he was thirteen years old, and he subsequently lived with his stepfather and then with various relatives, including a sister in Brunswick, Maine. In the early 1960s, Roberts was a member of the Outcasts, an Italian-American street gang in Teaneck, New Jersey. At the age of sixteen, he returned to New York and began working for his loan shark uncles as an enforcer and debt collector.

In 1965, at the age of seventeen, Roberts was arrested for kidnapping and attempted murder after a severely beaten debtor escaped from a basement "with a chair tied to him and no clothes on". Roberts later made claims that he was given an opportunity to expunge his criminal record with military service and subsequently joined the United States Army, serving for five years. However none of his claims about his military service could be verified.

In American Desperado, Roberts recounts his service, saying that he enjoyed Army life. He made claims that he had served on a long-range reconnaissance patrol team and was selected for missions to carry out assassinations in Cambodia. According to Roberts, he and his team committed a variety of atrocities, including killing children and women of all ages, and torturing and skinning alive Viet Cong in retaliation for the enemy committing similar atrocities. In a 2009 interview with Gus Garcia-Roberts of the Miami New Times, Roberts said of his time in Vietnam: "I thought it was great. There were no rules. You could kill people, do whatever you want." In 2011, he told Guy Raz of All Things Considered: "Nobody really controlled us. And eventually after you do this for a while, you decide you're pretty much your own boss. And to me it was an education in how to do things."

Despite all of Roberts' claims about his time in Vietnam, journalist Evan Wright who profiled his life in the book American Desperado found absolutely no records of him ever serving in the military. This included a Freedom of Information request to the National Archives which showed no data on him ever fighting in the War in Vietnam or serving in the military. Jon was also unable to supply any material evidence of his service, including medals, pictures or memorabilia.

Nevertheless, Roberts and Munday began working under the supervision of Max Mermelstein, who had an agreement with Salazar to manage the transportation of cocaine from Colombia to Miami. He then oversaw the delivery of the loads to cartel safehouses in the Miami area. Roberts was able to increase his monthly cocaine business through this direct connection. Mermelstein and Munday established the routes for trips to Colombia, using boats, tow truck companies, safehouses, and airstrips, thereby setting up an effective transportation route for the cartel. Roberts claims to have made over $100 million USD dealing cocaine during this period. He spent $50 million of that money on his extravagant lifestyle. In the book American Desperado, Roberts claims that he had $150 million in a Panamanian bank, over $50 million invested in real estate and businesses, as well as several million in cash hidden in various safe houses and hiding spaces.

In Chapter 62 of the book, Roberts recounts a variety of processes by which he used horses to launder money. Additionally, "He also learned how to fix races. There were many tricks."

Also in chapter 62, Roberts describes another benefit to horses: "Dealing cocaine had promoted me into high society. Owning racehorses took me into the stratosphere." He recounts prominent people he met through his racehorse connections, such as "Judge Joe Johnson, who hosted horse auctions", and through him, "We got friendly with Cliff Perlman, who owned Caesar's Palace. When I'd go to Caesar's and get comped, everybody assumed it was because of my Mafia connections. No, I was connected to Caesar's Palace by a Kentucky judge." Through the same circle, "We ended up becoming friends with Al Tannenbaum and his girlfriend, Gloria. Al was a guy who'd made it big in stereos."

He describes a particular horse in the epigraph to his book:

Desperado, the horse that I thought would win the Derby and make me famous as something more than a gangster, was a baby when I got him. He hadn't been trained how to run, but he could already fly on the grass. He had good instincts. He didn't like other horses. You don't want a sociable horse. They stay in the pack. You want a horse who likes to run in front of all the other horses. Desperado was a killer. I named him Desperado because I saw myself in his eyes.

Roberts also describes an honest jockey he had hired, and that jockey's demise:

At Calder, I had a jockey named Nick Navarro who worked for me. He was one of the good guys. He wouldn't hold horses or charge them or run them on dope. He was very skilled, and when I ran my horses clean, I used Nick.

One day in 1977 sic he ran a race for me at Calder. I walked up to him after he finished. He put his hand up to wave, and there was a powerful explosion. A bolt of lightning came out of the sky and hit him.

Multiple news outlet reports support Roberts' recollection, except they fix the date one year later. As they document: on December 28, 1978, jockey Niconar "Nick" Navarro was killed by a direct lightning strike after completing the second race at Calder Race Course. The remaining eight races at the track that day were cancelled.