The Johnny Boy and the Bananas Story
1962
A true story about importing bananas
Written 1/2012 Re-written 04/03/2016
Howard Yasgar
This is a 100% true story about my good friend Lou “Red” Gladstein.
He was known as “Red” to all his friends, and most of his enemies.
I met Red in 1961, when I was 22 years old, and he was about 40.
When I first met Red, I found it difficult to understand exactly how he operated, and how he made a living.
He was sort of what you would call an entrepreneur. The kind of guy that never passed up a good deal, even if it was slightly illegal.
How I met Red was interesting.
When I was going to college in New Haven, Connecticut, I worked part time at a large auto wrecking yard called Milford Auto Wrecking.
While I was working there, I knew one of the owners, he was a hustler named Lenny.
By my meeting Lenny I eventually met another fellow named Abe, and it was through Abe that I met Lou “Red” Gladstein.
I think you could best describe all of them as a part of a big network of really interesting guys, all of whom at one time or another became my friends.
Lenny was the first in the line of characters that I met, he ran the Milford Auto Wrecking yard and was heavily involved in buying and selling cars, not always legal.
As his employee, I unwittingly hauled questionable cars from place to place for him.
After a while I realized he was probably involved in several illegal things that I didn’t know anything about.
Lenny had illegally leased me a junk yard in Stamford Connecticut, and that’s how I met
Abe, who was the real lease holder of the property.
It was through Abe that I eventually met Red Gladstein.
Red was basically a used car dealer, but he was also an entrepreneur that never turned down a good deal.
In 1962, I had set up a automotive inner tube rebuilding operation in Ansonia Connecticut.
One of our bigger customers was the LeVine Tire Company in New Haven Connecticut.
They were just opening up a new division in Tampa Florida and they were filling railroad cars with tires going to Tampa.
To fill up empty space in the railroad cars they bought my rebuilt inner tubes.
The companies owner suggested I go with his son to see the new Tampa operation and perhaps I would want to join up with them.
The owner of LeVine Tire Company, said that his son, who had already bought a home on Davis Island, in Tampa, would be driving to Tampa the following week, and would I like to go along with him.
I was curious as I had never been to Tampa before, so I agreed, to go there.
The following week I went Tampa with Mr. LeVine’s son.
Once in Tampa they put me up in a nice local hotel, and they gave me a Volkswagon bus to drive around with.
Their operation there was very big, they bought lots of military surplus aircraft tires and they specialized in repairing monster earthmover equipment tires.
Unfortunately the moment I got there, I could feel the tension within his company as everyone thought I was being sent there to replace them.
So, after spending several days in Tampa, I felt it was not for me and I decided to leave.
I felt a little guilty considering all the expense that LeVine Tire Company had spent on me, I wanted some way to repay them.
At the time I was in Tampa, they were just building the Dale Mabry Highway.
I was driving along marveling at all the new construction being done there in Tampa.
That was when I spotted a giant earthmover tire that someone had stood up and was using as a sign pointing to a dump.
The giant tire was about seven feet tall and had a big white arrow painted on it.
After haggling with an old man sitting in a chair at the dump, I bought the tire for $25.00.
Then I found that it was too big and it wouldn’t fit in the Volkswagen van.
I studied the situation and with the old mans help and lots of pieces of rope and wire from the dump, I hung the tire on the side of the van.
I had ropes going over the roof and wrapped around the vans window posts on the opposite side.
Now in those days Tampa was kind of a hick town and no one stopped me driving back to LeVine’s tire company with a monster tire hanging off the side of the Volkswagen van.
At the LeVine Tire Company, I told them that I was giving them the tire in payment for their putting me up for four days but I was leaving.
That tire must have been pretty valuable judging from what I heard them say, as the entire staff came out of the office just to look at it.
I returned to my hotel, and watched TV, and then I had a good night’s sleep.
The next morning I called my friend Red Gladstein in Stamford Connecticut.
I knew Red probably would have something for me to do, while I was in Tampa.
Well, I was right, Red asked me where I was, and I told him I was sitting in a hotel room in Tampa Florida.
Red said, “It just happens I have some business to attend to in Tampa and I’m going to drive down from Connecticut, I will pick you up at your hotel tomorrow.
Red said, “It’s now ten in the morning here in Stamford, and I can leave for Tampa in about an hour, so I will see you at exactly twelve noon tomorrow at your hotel.
I knew it was about 1500 miles to drive from Stamford Connecticut to Tampa, and there was no way Red could ever do this trip in twenty four hours, and I told him so.
But Red assured me he would be there to pick me up the next day at twelve noon sharp.
I mentally calculated that Lou would have to drive about 80 miles an hour nonstop to get to Tampa that fast.
So when I hung up, I was thinking that he would be calling me in the morning from some jail in Georgia, where he would probably have been arrested for speeding.
The next morning I woke up, dressed and walked outside the hotel into bright Tampa sunshine.
I looked across the street and saw a Royal Castle restaurant.
At the restaurant I studied the menu, as a blond waitress with a deep southern drawl came over and asked if I was ready to order.
I ordered two eggs with bacon and toast. “You all, want grits with that she asked.” Hey, I was from New Haven Connecticut, and when she said that, I thought grits might be some kind of sand paper, but I didn't want to appear to be a dumb ass, so I said sure, I wanted grits.
When it was about twelve noon, I knew that Red couldn't possibly be there yet, so I waited in my room, reading the local Tampa newspaper.
By one in the afternoon, when Lou failed to call my room, my curiosity got the best of me, and I called the front desk to ask if a Mr. Gladstein had left a message for me.
Yes they said, there was a message from a Mr. Lou Gladstein who had checked in the hotel about an hour ago.
They said, Mr. Gladstein was resting in his room and I should wake him up at four that afternoon.
To this day I don't know how he did it, but he made the trip from Stamford Connecticut to Tampa Florida in exactly twenty four hours.
I looked outside and saw by the “Junk Dealer” Connecticut license plates, he was driving a 1958 Ford station wagon.
So, at exactly four PM, I went to Red’s room and woke him up.
Red told me that we needed to go to the Port of Tampa, as there was something he needed to see that afternoon.
He said was looking for a refrigerated cargo ship named the “Johnny Boy” that was supposed to have just arrived from Argentina.
I didn't want to appear rude so I didn't ask Red as to why he wanted to see the ship, I knew he would tell me sooner or later.
When we arrived at the port of Tampa, just as Red had said, there was a big refrigerated freighter unloading, it was named the “Johnny Boy”.
He walked over to a pallet to see what the cargo was.
I could see that it said in Spanish “Carne Seco de Argentina”, or dried beef from Argentina.
Lou looked up at the freighters bow and said, “Those dirty bastards, they did changed the name of my ship.”
I could see Red was very agitated.
He stormed back to the car with both his hands in his pockets.
After he settled down he said, “I have to get an attorney in Florida before we head back to Connecticut.”
I told Red that the only attorney I had met in Florida was a guy my mother used in Miami.
So Red said, “Let’s head for Miami.”
It was on the drive to Miami that Red told me the following story.
He said, that about three years earlier he had invested several hundred thousand dollars with a partner in New York, and together they had purchased a refrigerated freighter that was registered in Liberia, the name escapes me.
It apparently was the same freighter that was now docked in Tampa, and was being called the Johnny Boy.
Red said that his New York partner was involved with a big shipping company there.
Red said that he felt they treated him as though he was an outsider in the deal.
But the refrigerated freighter, was suited exactly for what Red wanted to do.
His intentions were to buy green bananas in Panama and ship them to Miami.
But right from the start Red said that he didn’t trust his partner in New York. He said he had a bad feeling that they would swindle him out of his share of the ownership of the ship.
What scared him he said, was that the group in New York were professionals with lots of connections in the shipping industry, and Red had none.
Without red knowing anything about it, they had already hired a crew, from Liberia and a Captain from Guyana, Red said, he was insulted that they never mentioned anything to him.
So Red’s feelings were hurt, and here the ship was ready to sail.
Red said that it was his job to fly to Panama, where he was to negotiate with a banana broker to buy a shipload of green bananas direct from the plantations.
They were plantation hat formerly sold their bananas to United Fruit Co.
Red already had pre-arranged an order to deliver the green bananas to a wholesaler in Miami.
The whole deal had been put together in New York, with Red guaranteeing payment for the bananas.
He was to make a bank transfer to the Panamanian broker.
Red was to collect payment from the wholesalers when the ship unloaded in Miami.
It was a sweet deal that would make Red and his New York partner a lot of money, because they were now not only just a shipper, they were the owner of the cargo as well.
Red told me that was the reason they needed a refrigerated ship, because all bananas are picked green in Panama and must be kept refrigerated in the ships hold so they don’t ripen and spoil on the voyage to Miami.
Red said he had wired the payment to the banana broker in Panama and the ship was then loaded with green bananas.
But in a conversation with the banana broker in Panama, the broker told Lou that he recognized the ship’s Captain and he told Lou to watch out for him.
It appeared that the ships Captain was a well known alcoholic from Guyana. Red’s New York partners had hired very cheap because no one wanted to use him.
So right from the beginning Red didn’t like their choice of captain. He felt he was being set up for failure by his New York partners.
The trip from Panama to Miami was a short one and should have been trouble free.
However, when the ship arrived in Miami, his partner’s called him from New York. They called to tell him the captain had already radioed them, and he said that the entire banana shipment was ripe and it was starting to rot in the ships hold.
Red knew immediately that this meant that the refrigeration on the ship had stopped working during the voyage and the heat in the hold had ruined the cargo.
The next problem he was faced with was what to do with a ship full of rotten bananas, so Red took the next flight to Miami to address the problem.
He already knew it was going to be a financial disaster for him.
There was the cost of the bananas, there was ships docking costs, and there was the loading costs, the cost of the fuel, the cost of the captain and crew, an now there was the additional cost of the dockage in Miami, and what about all the rotting bananas.
Now Red being a resourceful guy, he quickly made arrangements for the ship to leave Miami again, he wanted to do it before any agencies came to inspect the rotting mess and fine him.
He also didn't want to have to deal with the Miami Longshoreman's Union regarding the unloading of a stinking rotting cargo.
Red also knew that after unloading the ship in Miami, he would have to dispose of tons of rotten bananas. He would have to pay a garbage man a lot of money to haul the banana’s off to a dump.
So as soon as the ship was out to sea, Red had the crew open the hatches and with the shipboard cranes they lifted out all the ripe bananas and illegally dumped them all in the ocean.
What Red was doing, was illegal, and everyone knew it.
Another problem was that the captain and crew didn't want to do it.
Not because it was illegal, but because they didn't want to work like stevedores, it was not their job.
But now Red was really pissed off, and he became belligerent, screaming and yelling, and the crew finally gave in, unloaded the ship and dumped the bananas into the ocean.
Then Red started questioning the Captain and the ships Engineer.
He wanted to know who let the ships refrigeration shut off.
This was no joke, but Lou got little satisfaction from the Captain, and he got less from the chief engineer, who pretended he didn’t speak English.
Red couldn't get a straight answer from anyone, and no one would tell him why the generator that ran the refrigeration had not been restarted when it shut off.
Red was livid, he was yelling and screaming at them.
After all this, Red and the engineer finally got the generator started up again, and the ships refrigeration was working.
After that, Red made arrangements for the captain to take the ship back to Panama, and he flew to New York to discuss the situation with his partners.
This rotting banana problem had cost them all a fortune, and Red was now running out of money.
To make matters worse, his partners in New York blamed him for all the losses, and they wanted him out of the picture.
They said Red was a hot head, and he had now alienated the Captain and crew.
Red said he suspected that the Captain and crew had gotten drunk, and when the generator that ran the refrigeration went off, they were all so drunk that they didn't even notice it.
He felt that the only solution was for him to fly back to Panama himself, buy another load of bananas, but this time he would stay aboard the ship to make sure the refrigeration remained running until the ship made it to the port in Miami.
However by this time Red's relationship with the Captain and all the crew members was bad.
Red’s cabin was right next to the Captain’s cabin, so he could hear the Captain’s muffled voice through the steel cabin wall.
He knew that the Captain, the engineer and the whole crew hated him, but Lou’s attitude was that he owned the ship and they were all working for him, and it was his money that was at stake, not theirs.
That night, Lou tried to get some sleep but he could hear the drinking party going on in the Captain’s cabin.
The partying was loud enough for Lou to hear that everyone was very drunk, and they were all talking.
He could hear that they were all talking in English, but he couldn't make out exactly what they were saying.
By one in the morning, Red decided to check on the refrigeration, as he hadn't slept at all.
The party in the next cabin was still going full blast, and He thought he heard his name mentioned.
He took a drinking glass, and put it to the steel wall to listen to what they were saying about him.
He heard the Captain saying, “We will put that red headed mother fucker in the ocean tonight, I will kill him myself.”
Red didn't know what to do, he was scared.
He knew he couldn't fight the whole crew, also he had no weapon to defend himself, so he quietly left his cabin, and went to the engine room.
He was hoping to perhaps find a pistol or other weapon in the ship’s engineer’s quarters.
That’s when Lou found the refrigeration generator had shut down again, and the engineer whose responsibility it was to keep it running was in the captain’s cabin, drinking.
Red tried to restart the refrigeration generator himself, but he couldn't do it.
He picked up a three foot piece of pipe, and carried it back to his cabin.
Once in the cabin he could hear the Captain and the crew were still drinking, but even using the drinking glass against the wall, he couldn't understand very clearly anything they were saying.
Red finally made a decision, and he walked into the Captain’s cabin and struck the captain hard on the head with the piece of pipe.
The captain fell on the floor, and the rest of the crew ran from the room.
Red grabbed the engineer and pushed him with the pipe to the engine room to restart the generator.
One of the crew members went to the radio room and had called the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance.
By morning they were three or four miles from the Port of Miami when the Coast Guard came aboard and arrested Red.
At that point, we were nearing Miami and Red stopped talking. He didn't seem to want to talk about his arrest, but I gathered that his partner’s in New York had found a way to get Lou's share of the ship.
Lou said that the ship was eventually auctioned off on the Miami court house steps and his partner had bought it for near nothing as he was the only bidder.
Red was left out, and lost everything.
He said the ship’s Captain survived, but Red never told me what happened regarding the charges that were brought against him.
I know Red hired the attorney in Miami, and I know that he tried several legal maneuvers to get his share of the ship back.
I don’t think Red recovered any of his loses.
Red was convinced that his former partners had made sure he lost his share of the ship, and he heard the ships name had been changed to “Johnny Boy”, that’s why Lou went to the Port of Tampa, to confirm for himself that it was the same ship.
I never heard him discuss anything to do with the Johnny Boy again, and I never asked him. But the part he had told me, I think was quite a story.
