[NYTr] The Plot that Went Nowhere: anti-Castro "Gun Collector" Goes to Prison
 
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 16:51:07 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Progreso Weekly - Sep 6, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=133&Itemid=1

The plot that went nowhere

Anti-Castro 'gun collector' goes to prison 

By Emilio Paz

You've got to feel sorry for Robert Ferro. The poor fellow will not be
allowed to bring down the Cuban government and re-enter triumphantly
his native land. Instead, he will remain in a federal prison in
California for at least the next five years.

Ferro, 64, last week was sentenced to 65 months' imprisonment for
amassing a huge arsenal with the intent of overthrowing the government
of Cuba.

The weapons -- about 16,000 firearms and 89,000 rounds of ammunition --
were found in Ferro's home in a Los Angeles suburb during a police raid
in April 2006. It was the largest arsenal ever seized from a civilian
in the United States.

The sentence that U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips gave Ferro
on Aug. 27 was 13 months longer than the one suggested by government
prosecutors. Ferro's appeal choices are limited because he had earlier
entered a plea agreement that allowed the prosecutors to charge him
with the illegal possession of only 16 firearms and a hand grenade.

When arrested, Ferro told the police that he gathered the weapons at
the behest of the Miami anti-Castro group Alpha 66 and the Central
Intelligence Agency. Both organizations denied that allegation.

Even at his sentencing, Ferro continued to maintain that the weapons
were intended for use in an invasion or in terrorist activities on the
island. "They were to be used in Cuba, in Havana," he told the judge
last week.

Ferro's lawyers tried hard to minimize the gravity of the charges. They
told the judge that Ferro's membership in Alpha 66 ended 30 years ago
and asked her not to consider that association as a factor in his
criminal history.

Judge Phillips rejected that argument. She pointed out that Ferro was
sentenced in 1991 for illegal possession of explosives (C-4 plastique)
and that he claimed at the time they would be used against Cuba. Both
in that instance and in the current case, Ferro had alleged "the need
to invade Cuba," the judge said, and she was not going to overlook that.

The judge also rejected an explanation that Ferro needed the weapons
for his personal protection. The weapons in the indictment included
machine guns, a live grenade and guns with silencers, she noted.

"There's only one reason to have guns with silencers, and it's not for
protection," she told the defense lawyers.

Attorneys for Ferro also argued for a reduction in his sentence because
of his age and medical history: he has diabetes and a heart condition.
Phillips was unimpressed; age does not exempt a criminal from
punishment, she said.

As to his diabetic condition, the prosecutors pointed out that Ferro
had deliberately worsened it while in jail by eating large amounts of
candy. The judge said she believed medical care could effectively treat
Ferro in federal prison "if he chooses to be compliant."

Phillips also fined Ferro $75,000. But don't feel sorry for him. Court
documents showed that he has $4.5 million in assets.

[Emilio Paz is a Miami-based writer.]
 
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