Dear Mr. Tedrow,
This letter follows up your colleague Jean-Philippe Mesplede’s recent trip to the D.R. to view casino-site locations and to discuss the possibility of building said hotel-casinos in this country. I am pleased to tell you that President Joaquin Balaguer is very anxious to have your businesses here and has pledged considerable resources in an effort to convince you to come. A brief history will give you a sense of the D.R. and our island neighbor Haiti and will, above all, convince you that this is a safe place for American tourists and your overseers and their hotel-casino personnel.
The D.R. comprises the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, and Santo Domingo, discovered by Columbus in 1492, is considered to be the oldest city in the Western world. Innumerable coups involving Spain, France and Holland led to the current Dominican secession from Spain; numerous battles between indigenous Negroes and the French resulted in independence for Haiti. Relations have remained strained between the D.R. and Haiti; this stands as the case today. Haiti, however, exists in a state of dire poverty, while the D.R. is developing into the very model of a safe and sane, pro-U.S., anti-Communist republic. The Haitian border is heavily patrolled by Dominican forces, assisted by agents of President Balaguer’s personal intelligence unit La Banda, in collaboration with my security firm. Informant networks have been recruited by the above agencies; the Haitian population of the D.R. and illegal Haitian immigration into the D.R. has been well interdicted and suppressed. The Haitians are a primitive race of people, heavily reliant on their practice of voodoo and made tractable by their addictive use of klerin liquor and mind-altering herbs. The president of Haiti, FranЗois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, came to power as a voodoo proponent and keeps his people suppressed by allowing voodoo to flourish. His private police force, the Tonton Maeoute, are recruited from voodoo societies and enforce voodoo as President Duvalier’s chief means to retain the societal status quo and keep himself in power. Under Dominican President Trujillo’s rule (1930-1961), there were several Dominican army slaughters of unruly Haitian йmigrйs; on June 14, 1959, a Castro-ite group called the 6/14 Movement staged a failed invasion of the D.R.’s shores. The brief 1965 Civil War was, in fact, a farce, sternly resolved when President Johnson sent in a marine contingent to restore order to a nation seeking to establish free elections. A leftist named Juan Bosch was fraudulently elected and held power briefly. A truly free election was held in 1966. Bosch was deposed and pro-U.S. President Balaguer was honorably elected. The last official marine unit withdrew from the D.R. on 8/19/68.
President Balaguer is no flamboyant Rafael Trujillo, but President Balaguer knows how to keep dissent at a low roar and understands the importance of maintaining a tidy nation that American and European tourists will want to visit. He is on superbly good terms with the military, should crack-downs or clean-ups of Haitians or left-wing insurgents be required. And President Balaguer is willing to proactively invest in your hotel-casino foray by pledging land free of charge for casino sites in Santo Domingo proper and outside of it (see addendum report for structural studies and soil-composition studies). He will grant Hughes Air the exclusive flight rights to reserved VIP landing strips at the Santo Domingo Airport, will build extra runways for the increased air travel free of charge and will supply un-skilled Haitian and Dominican peasant workers for the casino build. A construction company that he is part owner of will supply building materials at a reduced cost and my security firm and La Banda stand ready to provide 24-hour security for the building sites. I am recommending four Cuban men-WILTON MORALES. FELIPE GУMEZ-SLOAN, CHIC CANESTEL and CRUZ SALDнVAR-as casino-site work bosses. They are Cuban mercenaries, Spanish- and English-fluent, and have pre-existing work relationships with the operatives in my security firm and the agents in La Banda. Again, I will stress: the threat of revolt or the shenanigans of left-wing gadfly groups will pose no threat to the casino build, and the presence of unruly Haitian йmigrйs and Dominican peasants will be curtailed before it can reach the point where it might upset visiting tourists. As of this writing, President Balaguer is preparing an addendum incentive package as his way to say “Bienvenidos!” to you and your investors’ group.
In summation, I can only state that you and your people would be well advised to say “Sн!” to our proposal. You will be welcomed to a country with a stable political climate, a solid economy and a leadership anxious to lend a helping hand.
Sincerely,
Ivar S. Smith, USMC (Retired)
61
(Las Vegas, 2/16/69)
The Clark County Sheriff’s sent more paperwork. Wayne went through the folder and pinned documents to the wall.
Interview notes-LVPD file repeats. Repeat dispo reports, smudged file carbons.
The file alcove was overpacked-let’s move chem bins for more shelf space. Stop, here’s something-
Wayne pinned it up. A parking ticket, 11/29/63. Fire-hydrant obstruction. 2082 Monroe Street, North Vegas. Reginald Hazzard got tagged the week before he disappeared.
It was tri-racial turf. Nellis AFB decreed that. The commercial strip was all slot joints and one-buck buffets. They were one-race-only deals. Whites had the Shamrock, blacks had Monty’s Mosque, the Mexicans had Al’s Alamo.
The residential streets were mixed and cut through diagonally. Wayne parked on Monroe and went walking. He’d read Ivar Smith’s report and summarized it for the Boys. The soil and structural stats were superb. Balaguer wanted their biz. He was paying them to come and build. The Boys said let’s go. Wayne called Smith in Santo Domingo. Smith said Balaguer wanted fifty grand a month personal. Wayne said okay. The Boys said okay. Wayne proposed a hands-off chit from Dick Nixon. Farlan Brown said we need a phone-chat liaison. Wayne’s candidate: Dwight Holly.
The prez was a cop buff and an FBI washout. He loved to schmooze with tough-guy Feds. Dwight “the Enforcer”?-none better.
The houses were all ant-sized and eroded cinder block. Windows were foil-crimped to beat the heat. Wayne started at 2082 and knock-knocked. It was 4:10 p.m. He got tri-racial residents off shift at Nellis. He smiled, he said hello, he showed Reginald’s picture. He got four no answers and fourteen straight nos.
He kept walking. A North Vegas PD car cruised by. A cop recognized him and went Pow!
He got three more no answers and nine more nos. He walked by a house with an open garage adjacent. He saw a black man vat-boiling on a hot plate. He smelled tropical plants and ammonia base.
The man waved to him. Wayne walked up. The vat fumes knocked him back. The man laughed and laughed.
They shook hands. The man squeezed words out between chuckles. He had a French island lilt. Wayne scoped the garage. It was his lab unkempt-cheap gear and tape-marked bottles.
Urera baccifera. Diodon holacantheus. Crapaud blanc. Theraphosidae E., Anolis colestinus, Zanthroxyllum matinicense.
Spiny plant powders, topical irritants, ground tarantulas, lizards and toads.
The man smiled. Wayne said, “Tetrodoxin posioning.”
The man bowed. “You are a chemist?”
“Yes.”
“Have you other things to tell me?”
Wayne scanned labels. Tremblador, Desmembres, puffer fish, stinging nettle. Diffenbachia seguine-a prime spiny plant.