An existential dilemma: Owing the IRS and a Mafia guy: Who gets paid first?
Sometimes, we just need a little luck in life
Having just completed an eleven-part series last week about my relationship with the FBI during my now-49-year investigation of the 1975 Jimmy Hoffa murder case, I wanted to have some fun with this column by repeating an oddball story that I have told to friends and colleagues—but never published on Mobology.
A little over thirty years ago, Kristina Rebelo—a trusted friend and an accomplished investigative journalist who did special assignments for the New York Times and Sports Illustrated, among others—introduced me to William Jahoda, a reputed Mafia soldier in the Chicago Outfit and one of the top illegal bookmakers in the country.
By the time I met him, Bill was already a credentialed good guy, preparing to enter the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program. Without any charges pending against him, he had approached FBI and IRS officials, as well as federal prosecutors—specifically those who had investigated and pursued him for years without success.
Wanting to do “the right thing” after two friends of his were murdered, he voluntarily offered to turn state’s evidence against twenty-one Chicago mob guys and their associates.
Consequently, he and I were considering collaborating on a book about his life and times, featuring his remarkable transition from bad guy to good guy.
But, before he began his new life, the U.S. Marshals Service required him to discard most of his worldly possessions. As part of this process, he offered me his 1990 Jeep Cherokee for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, it was still beyond what I could afford in a lump-sum payment.
Wanting me to have the car, he said that he would finance the deal personally, giving me a low-interest loan with no money down.
Before accepting his generous offer, I discussed this bizarre arrangement with several fellow journalists and members of the law-enforcement community, all of whom, without exception, were fine with it—even though he was under strict Wit-Sec rules of conduct.
But then, shortly after I received the paperwork for the car, I had an unexpected problem with the IRS which notified me that I owed some back taxes—a ruling I did not contest.
Consequently, I had to face an age-old existential dilemma: If you simultaneously owe money to the IRS and to a Mafia guy, who do you pay first?
If I had to make a choice—recognizing that I was getting along well with Jahoda whom I introduced to my friends in the D.C. law-enforcement community for his added protection, which he deeply appreciated—I would have paid my debt to the IRS first. . . . But, in the end, I did not have to choose.
Miraculously, even though he could not sell my project about Jahoda, my literary agent in New York secured a book deal about the police investigation of the O.J. Simpson murder case with the LAPD’s two lead detectives, Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter, who selected me as their co-author.
The first installment of our advance covered both of my debts—to the IRS and to the Mafia guy. . . . And, shortly after its release, our book appeared on every major bestseller list in the country and reached #5 in the New York Times.
Sometimes, you just need a little luck in life.
(With apologies to Diana K)
Love that story.
Your stories continue to entertain as well as inform and always with a unique perspective.