Russell Brothers
Russell Brothers | |
---|---|
Born | Russell White Brothers, Jr. June 1937 (age 86) Nashville, Tennessee |
Nationality | American |
Education | Montgomery Bell Academy |
Alma mater | Vanderbilt University |
Occupation(s) | Coal company executive; insurance executive; airplane broker; pilot |
Russell White Brothers, Jr. (born June 1937), is an American businessman in Nashville, Tennessee.
He was born into a prosperous and socially prominent family in Nashville, and had considerable advantages as far as education and upbringing.[1][2] Despite this, his avocation as an airplane pilot turned to cocaine trafficking on a large scale. According to one judge, Brothers became "the giant among giants" in international smuggling.[3] Brothers made his money by flying planes loaded with large amounts of cocaine from Colombia to the Bahamas, then transporting the cocaine by high-speed boats to south Florida and from there to Tennessee, and eventually to Canada.[4][5] The millions of dollars in profits were directed to banks in Belgium, Gibraltar, Montreal, Panama, and Costa Rica.[4] These funds were then reinvested locally in order to launder the money.[1] Brothers testified that he would fly as much as 600 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to the Bahamas, then to Nashville, unload the bags into a van, then take them to his Belle Meade home. From there he would take the cocaine to his family's Williamson County farm, where Canadian purchasers would pick it up.[5]
Early life
Brothers grew up in
First conviction
He was convicted in Florida's Broward County Circuit Court on October 24, 1988, on charges of racketeering, trafficking, and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.[10] According to Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning, Brothers' operation included bribing U.S. Customs officials.[4] The conviction allowed the state to confiscate Brothers' property because it was deemed obtained by illegal means.[1] Approximately $6 million in real estate and other assets was confiscated in what authorities called the largest seizure of property in Florida's history at that time.[1][11] It included a 248-acre farm near Nashville, a restaurant, two airplanes, two boats, a $600,000 loan to a ranch in Limestone County, Texas, and an aircraft-chartering firm.[4] He was fined $1 million and sentenced to 60 years in prison, of which he served 11 years.[4][10]
Second conviction
In 1992, while incarcerated, Brothers was served with a federal criminal complaint charging him with money-laundering and additional drug trafficking.[10] Brothers' attorney, G. Thomas Nebel, was suspected as having a role on the laundering of the money and was charged, as well as Brothers' cousin, Thomas Brothers, a Davidson County (Nashville) Circuit Court Judge.[12]
As a private attorney before being appointed judge, Judge Thomas Brothers did some work for his cousin, Russell Brothers, in 1986. Federal prosecutors tried to prove that Thomas Brothers knowingly helped Russell Brothers conceal a source of his income and channel almost $1 million into a farm on West Harpeth Road, near Franklin, Tennessee.[13] At his own trial, Thomas Brothers was acquitted on the charges, as well as two money-laundering charges.[14]
Nebel was an attorney who had previously represented Russell Brothers, his former golf partner. Federal prosecutors contended that Nebel invested more than $5 million of Brothers' drug-smuggling profits and then lied to investigators when asked about his role in the case.[13] The U.S. Attorney, Janice Bossing, was accused of legal misconduct in obtaining this information.[15] Nebel was offered immunity from prosecution if he would testify as to Brothers' criminal activities, including setting up companies that received drug money.[16] The testimony resulted in Brothers being convicted in 1993 on charges of money-laundering and additional counts of cocaine trafficking .[17][18][19] Also in 1992, Russell Brothers offered substantial assistance to prosecutors, including testifying and giving information in the federal prosecution of another accused drug trafficker, Allan Ross. For this testimony, Brothers' sentence was subsequently reduced making him eligible for immediate release on parole.[10][20][21]
Airplane ransom incident
In 2010, Brothers allegedly loaned a business partner $12,000 to close on a real estate transaction.[22][23] After a dispute occurred when payment was delayed, Brothers was seen on surveillance cameras absconding with the partner's $300,000 airplane from Nashville's John C. Tune Airport.[24] The plane was flown to nearby Dickson, Tennessee, and sequestered pending repayment.[25] Brothers is alleged to have set up a meeting at a west Nashville restaurant with the partner and settle the debt. The partner arrived at the meeting with police, and Brothers was charged with felony theft.[23]
Third conviction
On the night of April 20, 2012, Brothers, age 75, was piloting a private plane solo from
References
- ^ a b c d e Krause, Renee (November 2, 1988). "State Makes Record Seizure Drug Smuggler Forfeits Properties". Sun Sentinel. Broward County, Florida. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ Whitehouse, Ken (October 15, 2008). "Prominent Nashville attorney disbarred". nashvillepost.com. Southcomm. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
- ^ Barchenger, Stacey (August 26, 2015). "Infamous pilot, drug smuggler returns to prison". usatoday.com. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Ditlev-Simonsen, Cecilie (December 14, 1988). "Smuggler Sentenced to 60 Years Businessman Ordered to Pay $1 Million Fine". sun-sentinel.com. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c Murray, Elizabeth (April 30, 1993). "Debts made him do it: Russell Brothers pleads guilty to 14 counts". The Tennessean. 89 (120): 1–2A.
- ^ Loggins, Kirk (March 13, 2002). "Funeral today for civic leader Russell Brothers, 92". The Tennessean. Vol. 98, no. 72. Nashville. p. 3-B. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
- ^ a b "The 1956 Bell (the Yearbook of Montgomery Bell Academy)". e-yearbook.com. Montgomery Bell Academy. p. 93. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
- ^ "Forbes 400". Forbes. November 30, 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Rippy, Lisa and Davidson, Marshall. "The Retirement of Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota, III: A Tribute to a Legal Legend and All Around Nice Guy.Tennessee Journal of Law & Policy: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 4". trace.tennessee.edu. Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d "United States v. Brothers, 856 F. Supp. 388 (M.D. Tenn. 1993)". law.justia.com. Justia. February 26, 1993. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ Cone, Tracie (November 2, 1988). "State seizes millions in cocaine case". No. November 2, 1988. The Miami Herald. p. B–1, B–4. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
- ^ "Tenn. Judge Charged". European Stars and Stripes. 51 (114). Darmstadt, Hesse: A7. August 9, 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
- ^ a b Loggins, Kirk (March 9, 1993). "Nebel prosecutor decides against trip to Gibraltar". The Tennessean: 2A. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
- ^ Loggins, Kirk (April 2, 1993). "Jury clears Judge Brothers". The Tennessean: 1–2.
- ^ McGee, Jim (April 30, 1994). "Federal Judge to Investigate Tactics of U.S. Prosecutor in Tennessee". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "United States of America, Plaintiff-appellant, v. G. Thomas Nebel, Defendant-appellee, 16 F.3d 1222 (6th Cir. 1994)". law.justia.com. Justia. January 19, 1994. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ "Money-laundering Trial Delayed (Associated Press)". TimesDaily. Florence, Alabama. March 7, 1993. Retrieved 3 December 2015 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "U.S. v. Brothers (No. 3-92-00102)". leagle.com. Leagle, Inc. December 18, 1992. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ a b c Gonzales, Tony (October 24, 2014). "Notorious drug smuggling pilot, 77, guilty on gun charges". The Tennessean. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ Loggins, Kirk (February 3, 1993). "Telling truth toppled smuggler, lawyer says". The Tennessean: 6B.
- ^ Loggins, Kirk (October 16, 1992). "New lawyers required for Judge Brothers". The Tennessean: 4B.
- ^ "Police: Man with smuggling record abandoned plane" (Associated Press). foxnews.com. Fox News Network. April 23, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ a b Kotz, Pete (June 17, 2010). "Russell Brothers Steals Airplane, Holds it for Ransom Over $12,000 Debt". Voice Media Group. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ Ridley, Jim (April 23, 2012). "A Tale of Two Leads: Mystery Deepens in Airplane Crash". nashvillescene.com. SouthComm. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ a b "Noted ex-drug smuggler crash-landed plane into closed airpark". Nashville City Paper. April 23, 2012. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ "Russell Brothers Indicted on Federal Weapons, Obstruction Charges". Nashville City Paper. March 6, 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ "Drug-Smuggler Russell W. Brothers Jr. Headed Back to Prison After Plea to Weapons Charges". wdkn.com. R & F Communications. October 27, 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.