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December 5, 1952. This is a pg-statement by me of some statements
made to ma hy Brooks Ray-r at node city, Florida.
:n the l-" of October. 135- Brooks Paine, an employee of the Game
.nd Fresi titer Fish Commission, was sent to Tampa for the purpose
of fixing re price on 1951 automobiles which were to he ispoaed
of.
the deal is this. Each year the OGMe and Fresh Water FISh
Commission buys a number of automobiles. mostly Fords and Chevrolet:
thou: 35 in number. when those cars are approximately one year
old they are sold, and can he sold at a price of around $1330.00.
This is an excess over the coat of these automobiles to the Game
and Fresh Mater Fish Commission since it is able to buy them on a
bid price at less than $1300.01.
raine'a Jot: was to go to mpa, figure the price at which these
automouiles should be usin¢.as evidence the red cook and
his knowledge of used car values and the condition of the particular
care which he appraised.
It is Faine's information that prior to his being sent to Tampa
these cars together with a nulber or Jeeps, numbering in exeeas
or 200, were located at the base or the Fresh Hater Fish Commission
at Williston. Florida. While they were there it is Mr. Paine'a
information that w. T. Cooper, a used car dealer of Tampa. Florida,
made a bid on all the cars and Jeeps located at the Williston base.
But Cooper never received an acceptance of it. Paine docs not know
what the bid of Cooper was at that time, but has information that
the price then bid was in excess of a price this same used car
dealer later purchased the same care for.
After this bid was refused these cars were transferred to 6112
Florida Avenue, Tampa, Florida, into the custody of Tip-Top Motors,
operated by Nick Furci.
when faine arrived on the Job in Tampa one or the first things
presented to him was a bill for repair to automobile which at that
time had already been disposed of in the amount of $2695.00 (the
repair bill). Paine okayed these repair bills, not at that time
understanding what the deal was that he was involved in. He did not
see the repairs which were the basis for the bills, but knows that
the cars had already been disposed of at that time.
Hnile Paine was on the Job in Tampa Nick Furci had a mechanic,
an Italian whose name is not remembered by Paine, to survey these
cars and make up an itemized bill for repairs to the same. These
repairs were never made and the cars were sold "as is". They were
purchased, or approximately 90% of them were purchased, by w. T.
Cooper, the same man who had offered to buy those cars at
williston, at a price less than the price he had bid in williston,
and from the purchase price received by Purci for the Game and
Fresh Hater Fish Commission. a 15 commission was paid to Furci
for selling them.
Nick Purci was accumulating a group of repair estimates on this
bunch of cars that had been brought down from Hilliston intending
ultimately to get Brooks Paine to okay then, but Paine had no
intention of doing so as he observed that no repairs were made.
Thereafter Nick Furci told Brooks Paine to take one 1951 Chevrolet
2-door sedan to an auction market at Macon, Georgia to dispose
of it. The sedan had been re-painted a red enamel on the oody,
black enamel on the top, so that it looked like a second hand
coca-cola car or some other company car, and was not in a good clean
condition inside. Furci told Paine that if he could sell the
car for $1u33.00, he could report that he had sold it for 31100.0 ,
and Paine could pocket the $300.00. Paine of course refused to
go along with this deal.
However Purci paid Paine's expenses to Macon ano .;nt him up
with the car to sell it anyway. At the nacon market Paine was
offered $1,000.00, refused that price,4uwr1n1ne, called Purci
to tell him he had done so. Furci told him to take it over to
the market at Valdosta, which Paine did. There during the
auction he was offered $1075.00. He likewise refused this price.
After the sale was over a party who was at the sale came to him
and made a private offer of $1100.00 which was finally upped to
$1150.00. Paine accepted this offer, but went back to the
auctioneer. the sale was completed through the auction market, a
deduction was made for the auctioneer's charges of $5.00, Paine
having previously paid a $5.00 registration charge, a check was
drawn for $11h5.00 to Nick Furci and Paine returned to Tampa.
Paine reported to Furci when he returned to Tampa and Furci
intimated that Paine had virtually given the car away. Paine
in deciding to sell for $1150.00 took into consideration the
fact that anybody who purchased it would have to remove the
enamel Job. which shouldn't have been put on there in the first
place, re-paint it with a laquer job, at of course an additional
cost to the purchaser, and get his profit above that price.
Paine also reports that while he was working on a flying sauadron
in the Tallahassee area he discovered a field known as the Little
field in Wakulla County which was baited with salt, corn and
oats. He examined the field and observed that Mr. Little, the
owner of the field, had split up a number of rails and had already
prepared blinds for goose hunters. Little told Paine that he
did not bait the field himself. said that he placed the corn
there for his hogs but didn't know how the other baiting material
got into the field, but also said that he had invited the entire
Game Commission, including Ben McLanflin, out to hunt on his
field the next morning. Paine had received information concerning
the field from the federal wildlife officer. but when he returned
to the Commission headquarters that evening he discovered that the
story had already gotten back about Little's baited field.
It should be interpellated that Paine had required Little to
padlock his own gate and told him that there could be no hunting
within one-half mile of that field while the field was baited.
When he returned to the commission headquarters in Tallahassee
a meeting was held at 8 o'clock in the evening at which 8. P. Rich
presided and 25 or 30 Game and Fresh Hater Fish Commission ,
employees were present. Some of those were Jerry McLeod, Joe Dikes,
Hayne watkins, Jim Stewart, and Earl Frye. This meeting was held
about Nov. 15, 1952.
Rich interrogated each one of the officers as to what they knew
about this baited field, and when he came to Brooks Paine Paine
told him what he had seen. that he did not know who had baited
the field other than that he observed that it was baited and that
Little was there and owned the field, and that Little additionally
told him of this invitation he had extended to the Game and
Fresh water Fish Cemmission members.
Rich then told those present that while he was glad to have the
flying squad in his district he wanted it clearly understood
that any official cooperating with the federal wildlife officials
would be discharged from the dams and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Paine states that Rich's bias probably came from the fact that he
himself had previously purchased some live seese to use as
decoys on his own land, a mun advised by a federal
wildlife official, Hudson by sale, that such baiting was a
violation of federal laws, he wide a personal application to
a federal 'udge to determine whether or not such was the fact,
and upon wing the opinion of the federal wildlife official
confirmec scams angered to the extent that he thereafter
ordered nr further cooperation by members of the Third District
dome and Brash utter Fish Commisgbn employees with the
federal wildlife officials.
Paine is also very much of the opinion that the experimental
:eining is extremely detrimental to zonservstion in Florida;
that it is a device used by illegal seiners by which they
seine with improper equipment in nets not set aside for
experimental seining, and that upon the catching of such fish
tags which are similar or identical with Game and Fresh Water
Fish Commission tags, out not produced by them, are affixed
to the illegal fish in Such a way that it is impossible to
tell which are the legal and which are the illegal. Paine
states that he has been with groups which have caught people
using 3D? yard nets, and believes that nets running up to
590 yards are used in some lakes illegally under this procedure
in the catch of fresh water fish.
Bob Revels, an employee of the Game and Fresh water Fish
Commission. now an educational officer in the First District,
told Brooks rains of an instance where he observed a biologist,
name unknown to Paine, stood on the bank and watch a haul where
legal seining was permitted. The biologist walked down to the
seiners, sked them how much they had caught or brought in on
that haul. was told that there were about 500 pounds, and without
further investigation or check on that fact got in his car and
went back to the office to make his report on that basis. Later
on Revels asked the biologist how he had determined whether or
not they were telling the truth,-and the biologist told him that
was approximately correct. that they had issued tags for them,
that they ran about one pound to the tag and therefore if they
issued a thousand tags they must heve caught 1000 pounds of
fish, 5 tags would he 500 pounds.
thine says that the fishermen receive 1 to 16¢ per pound for
their cats, l¢ is paid for the tag purchased from the Commission
to put on the fish. approximately d is paid to the women who
n the tagging and for icing the fish, boxing the fish and
preparing them for shipment, 7¢ is paid to the Game and Fresh
water Fish Commission as a tax per pound on the fish. This is
a minimum if 26¢, and yet :aine has seen bills of lading from
stokes FSh House in Leesburg selling these fish to Grorgia
,urchazers a: PE .
.hzne he- also seen fish that were originally caught in Floridc,
hauled to Jolumlus, Georgia, hauled back to Albany, Georgia,
3-13 H, EH" Zolunrus Wish Company incolumhus,oeorgie to J fish
hause 2h Albany, Georgia, ind then sold to the x1111: trade ul
"5" 1 "l- wiulezele
PAGE 1
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00aarts Ihat. wIii~.e he w..ta working an a f~yirihmee a re-a "r.e d isc overed a f te 1cl kriowri a e akal l a C -sunty wi.' ch w:.s a ited with salt el exallrmd the field and ot:dierveri that Mr .11: -e field, bid spltup a mimber of rails a-y linds for saose huntras. ~dtt~.e r.old pa'ne t the fleid nimself, said that he placed t! IG hD& t-tlt didn 't klOw h0w the Other hait.. -trfield rout a'.so said that b.e had invited .m iori, frar lud ing E'en McDiafiirt, out to hurtt -.ext ni;ireng. r-a'.no had received inforelarli frori ti.e rederal wildlife of"f'cer, but wher, aissic:i headquarters that everting he discover -:iready gottel 1.c.c)< about att le a bai ted C.e inte%'p@llated triot Faine had required Lit -riwri gate find to).d :--.igj 1,1710 there ceij ] d be -hal r raile of thei. Cie-2.d while the fleid wm mened to the cominlestor: headquarters in 'fa' -'a held at 8 o'clock ira tne evening at whig -id 25 or _s:1 G 112 artd Frr-se Water Fish Coma wrsre pressrib .SoTe r31' t hose were Jerry bleu me Jim Stewart and j-:arl Fr'Je .J'bla meet: 15, ropte1 no one or the officers as to we.ar r:-aited fleid, and w|-en ile arme to Brooks N .at he had seen, that he did not kriow who he -ither shar. that he observed tha.t it was ba't t here ar.d owned t|-:e field and that Little r t.his lrtvitati-m N Md exteraded t.o the Gr := t'ist. Conmies i0:1 inenir..ara sold those presera that while he was glad t-: US tri his district he wanted it I'lear-ly imde Efteial coopersting with the feder&.1 wijdlit tech-tegec from the Garie -ind Presh Water -'ini
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