The Mangroves, the Cash, and the Mystery

During the brisk winter days when the northwest winds howl and the emerald gulf turns into a black at white war movie at sea, the Marco Beach Boys and Girls have always found inspiration with the forces of nature. Admiration of our friends from overseas and the unbelievable stories that arise from their vacation experience is another never-ending source for creative excitement. 

The following episode might read more like a movie script than a feature story, but on Marco Island, Goodland, and the Isles of Capri, almost anything is possible.

Marco Island and the surrounding mangroves may be one of the best bird watching regions in Southwest Florida, but the old and battered briefcase found by Stewart Martin and Teresa Harris of Great Britain was holding much more than the reclusive sighting of a rare tropical bird.

The two birdwatchers from Cornwall, England were trudging through the waterside mangroves near the Goodland Bridge in January when they discovered a very battered and weather worn satchel-type briefcase. The leather-bound container was waterlogged and covered with barnacles when it was found at low tide near a saltwater tidal stream. When the rusted latches on the case were forced open, Martin and Harris suddenly felt they were on a James Bond movie set. Inside the damaged and salt-stained container was over $500,000 American dollars in the old currency used back in the 1980’s. 

There was also an automatic pistol with a silencer and two spare clips of ammunition. The bullets and the gun were also saltwater distressed as was much of the currency after spending decades in the wilds of the mangrove forest.

Florida state officials and a liaison officer from the Department of the Treasury were called to the Goodland Bridge after the two birdwatchers reported their find to a local Marco Island Marine Patrol.

“It was really like something out of a film,” Stewart Martin explained. “We were stalking along an animal trail and hoping to sight and photograph a covey of tricolored herons when we came upon the old satchel.”

“We discovered the case along a tidal estuary as it was caught beneath a section of mangrove roots,” Teresa Harris confirmed. “After a bit of difficulty, we pulled the case free and with a great deal of excitement - and a small measure of trepidation - we opened the box. When we saw the gun with the silencer, and that the American dollars were of the old sort, we decided to call the authorities. It was obvious the container was from some type of criminal activity. We were also concerned that the American money might have been counterfeit. After all,” Harris continued with a smile that added to her English accent, “if we had kept the money and tried spending the forged cash, we might have ended up with a much longer holiday in America that we had planned.” 

“Marco Island and the Goodland community were certainly in the hotbed of drug smuggling during the 1980’s,” Richard Blackmore explained. Blackmore was called to the scene by local Marco Police as a liaison officer working with the State of Florida and the Department of the Treasury.

Because the half-a-million in cash was in the old-style currency and dated from the 1980’s, Blackmore was tasked with evaluating the money to determine if the old 20’s, 50’s and 100’s were real or counterfeit. 

“The reason our currency was changed to the new style with watermarks and larger portraits was because of all the counterfeit bills coming in from overseas. During the 1980’s, many of these large shipments of forged cash were coming into South Florida via the drug trade and the international counterfeiters were so good at producing replicas of the US greenbacks it was difficult to determine the genuine from the bogus.”

Adding to the mystery of the British bird watchers long lost briefcase is the possibility of a new murder investigation. In 1990, previously unidentified skeletal remains of a man in his mid-40s was found in the mangroves. The skeleton at the time of discovery was transported to Collier forensic authorities and is believed to have been weathering in the elements for about five years. The skeletal remains were originally encountered about three hundred yards from where the bird watching couple discovered the barnacle-covered satchel. With the discovery of the waterlogged cash and the silenced pistol, it now remains unclear if a new motive for murder has been determined.

“There were a lot of crazy things going on during the 1980’s and a lot of people went missing or worse,” Treasury agent Blackmore confirmed. “When the smugglers shifted from marijuana to cocaine, they started killing each other. All of the big cocaine deals were done with large packages of cash. We now believe the English birdwatchers have discovered a long lost drug deal gone wrong and the answer to the human skeleton found in the mangroves in 1990.”

After a methodical evaluation of the waterlogged cash, Agent Blackmore has concluded that all of the soggy 20’s, 50’s and 100’s were in fact genuine U.S. greenbacks and legal tender.

State authorities have announced there will be no reward or finder’s fee for the bird watching couple from Cornwall and that the outdated cash will be reconciled with the Department of the Treasury, then shredded, and burned.

The briefcase and the ruined automatic pistol with the silencer might possibly be a new exhibition at the Marco Museum along with photographs of the satchel and the cash. Rumors of future exhibits include Rum Running from Cuba during the era of Prohibition and The Drug Running Days in the Ten Thousand Islands.  

Upon closing . . .  it is VITAL that all readers must understand this entire Beach Boy Chronicle is only for entertainment and is a complete work of fiction! There is no truth in this tale whatsoever. You have just read a Beach Boy story with only one intention: entertainment during the winter season!