Tuna Catch

Computer hooks a drug ring

"Black tuna, black tuna," crackled the clandestine radio. That was the signal that another planeload of marijuana was being picked up from Colombia to be sent to the U.S. by the Black Tuna Ring, whose members carry medallions engraved with the fish. The gang is estimated to have smuggled $300 million worth of narcotics into the U.S. since 1974. Last week a federal grand jury in Miami hooked 14 Black Tunas with a 40-count indictment for, among other things, racketeering and smuggling. It was one of the biggest drug busts in history.

Among those indicted were the ring's alleged bosses, Robert Meinster, 37, and Robert Platshorn, 36, both natives of Philadelphia. They own Miami's South Florida Auto Auction, a used-car firm that the Government calls "a business front" set up to launder the drug earnings. With a membership of 50 or so, Black Tuna was described by one Drug Enforcement Administration official as consisting of "a very sophisticated and educated group of professional people." Drugs were ferried, for example, by a couple of former commercial airline pilots who are believed to have known the gaps in the U.S. coastal radar network. A communications expert monitored secret DEA radio frequencies, and a yacht broker painted fake water lines on hulls so that boats would appear to be empty and riding high when actually loaded with marijuana.

After the money started rolling in, Meinster and Platshorn moved into a suite in a posh Miami Beach hotel, and began accumulating boats, cars and houses and bought some prime Palm Springs real estate. In September 1977, according to the indictment, they deposited $1 million in cash in a Miami Beach bank.

Despite its scale, the Black Tuna roundup lacked the melodrama of many narcotics crackdowns. The main action took place in hushed financial offices and on a silent computer terminal screen, as a task force of some 30 DEA and FBI agents, aided by two undercover informants, traced the enormous sums of money generated by the drug running. Dubbed Operation Banco, the investigation scrutinized thousands of financial transactions, hunting for suspicious deposits and investments and then following the funds as they were laundered and transferred to Florida banks.

As a result of its success, Operation Banco may become a prototype for narcotics investigations across the nation. DEA agents in New York City are already working with the IRS and the Federal Reserve Bank. The Government hopes that the ubiquitous computer will prove to be the best sleuth yet in tracking illegal drug traders.

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