February 26, 2016 — They called him “The Codfather” and like his namesake in the movies, everybody secretly loved him.
Sure, he was a rough, tough guy who said “mother——” every other sentence.
Sure, he liked to brag about how he got the money to buy his first boat might not have all been on the “up and up.”
But he was a big success.
Carlos Rafael parlayed one boat into two boats and then two boats into a fleet of boats and then the money from the boats into a seafood processing house.
On a waterfront where the once mighty groundfish industry has been slowly rotting to a sad shipwreck, we admired Carlos.
Like everybody on the waterfront, he made money on the scallopers but how the hell was he doing it on groundfish? Nobody else understood how to make money groundfishing anymore.
Now, we know how Carlos did.
Or at least how the feds say he did.
The rough, tough Codfather had fish that were on the books and fish that were off the books. He had low-priced haddock that was really higher priced dabs or gray sole. He had an elaborate scam he called “the dance” under which he and his bookkeeper had their boat captains bringing off-the-books fish down to another wise guy in New York.
The off-the books fish sold for cash in the big city and Carlos is said to have made a killing. More than $600K in just six months. Probably millions over time.
Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times