Newsday's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team spent six months probing into matters of public policy and private Exclusive concern in connection with investments end activities of former Sen. George A. Smathers (D-Fla.) and Charles G. (Bebe) Re- bozo, and their relationship with President Nixon, who main- report . tains a White House in . In the course of their reporting the team examined more than 20,000 records and conducted more than 400 interviews. How U.S. land deals favor Nixon friends Rebozo, Smothers

(C) 1971, Newsday Charles G. (Bebe) Rebozo, President Nixon's closest friend and the only private citizen living in the Florida White House compound on Key Bis- cayne, received "kid glove" treatment when the U.S. government bought land from him for the Biscayne National Monument in 1969. Reims) and his associates quickly received Melee-to-appraisal prices an an island plat guests of Rebozo and his close associate, while other landowners were being offered fanner Sen. George A. &withers (D-Fla.). tower prices on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. The government bought Adams Key from the Rebozo group for $550,000, Subsequently. Rebozo. through an attorney, then demand- Rebozo's biother-in-law was ed — and received — higher-than-appraisal ,put dri `the- fed- end payroll as a caretaker-watchman on the price on a second piece of property. island, the ,same job he had held for Rebozo The principal property in question, Adams and his associates in a private capacity. And Key, was the home of the Cocolobo Cay Club. one of Rebozp's partners, his lawyer, Thomas a lading resort which over the years had ac- Wakefield. rented the caretaker's cottage commodated such visitors as Presidents Hard- beck from the United States for $350 a year— ing and Hoover and Presidents-to-be Johnson foe personal use until such omt The loner two were there as time as the monu- ment opened for puhin. use inursoay, t.xtober /, I,/ I

Chubb G. (BeisitiRatose irifthft' Ahtte President Nixon, received ploy to" treatment when he sold Florida is- lands to the •U.S.

A profile of 11.6 Rebozo, Page 16 A. E. N, Westcott, an Army Corps of Engl. seers official who negotiated the land awe, said be was given to understand at a meeting of corps officials that Rehm should be "wowed with kid gloves" because hiali-rank- Mg persons in his department felt that "we WS* supposed to be dealing with someone who was an intimate of people in high places" .Aeseaer Official said:that speedy iimUlling Turn to EWA GEORGE A. SMATHERS (1.1l( AGO SUPT - TIMES, Th.4;t 1771 Bebe Rebozo A day in the life of Key Biscayne's 'mayor 1971, Newsday are famous for the same rea ?ley Biscayne is a small, qui- - hotel or the Sonesta Hotel. son that he is able to occupy et and pretty place in the Flor From there, on most da - the only one of five houses in ■ :. ida sun. It has one bank, one - he travels to a small bank side the presidential com- yacht club, several hotels and nearby, a bank of which pound, guarded by the Secret he is multitude of palm trees. the board chairman and presi- a Service, not used by official Many of its residents know dent. The time at which he personnel. each other. makes that trip generally 1 He is Charles Gregory Re- ,, If Key Biscayne changed from day to day to were to bozo, known as Bebe, and he have an unofficial mayor or avoid encounters with the press. enjoys the very important po unofficial leading_ citizen, that - If, on his way to the bank, he sition of closest friend to the man might very well be a local passes any of the many local President of the United States. millionaire of Cuban descent, residents who he knows, Privately public he who has worked his way up will give them a friendly wave from poor boy to world celebri Rebozo is at once one of the To most of them, he is a - ty. most public and the most pri- friendly but shy man who vate men in America, His face helps out in community activi That one local bank is his. - has adorned the cover of Life That yacht club is in his debt ties. and prominent spots in other (since he rescued it from fi Once in his office at the bank - magazines. His name regu nancial disaster), and his is - that he founded, where pic larly appears in news articles - the most celebrated boat • at its tures of President Nixon and around the world. He enjoys dock. former Sen. George A. Sma nobnobbing with faMous politi He makes his first appear - thers (D-Fla.) hang on the - cal figures, relaxing with the ance in the Key Biscayne sun wall, he goes to work. - President, and receiving some shine in the early hours of most Hard-driving businessman of the attentions that such stat mornings, emerging vigor - A study of Rebozo reveals - us can bring. But he maintains ously from one of the houses that he is a hard in a shell of privacy around all -driving busi- die well hedged nessman, shrewd, and usually and closely but the most formal aspect of g u a r de d presidential com- tough and exacting in making these activities, and also pound. He is a chunky man, a deal. He has been described around his personal life and as an ultra-conservative in about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 58 business. years old, and well tanned, business matters by one asso- By 7 a.m. of most mornings, with black hair silvering at the ciate, who jokingly says that Rebozo has started his busi- temples. Ho is always neatly Rebozo is "so careful that be ness day. Re has left the presi- wears a belt and suspenders. dressed " **Hal compound and is often He is nelthrr Rebozo is capable of great vavernment to be found at a conference employe nor tact and charm, many of his A 80 , cri;,ilent ut breakfast- at the Royal Bis- tidal. But his name and face friends say. Donald Berg, own cayne Hotel. the Key Biscayne - er of Key Biscayne 's Jamaica President Nixon and his host, Bebe Rebozo, board Rebozo's houseboat at Key Biscayne for a cruise to the Florida Keys in August, 1968, three months before Mr. Nixon was elected. Dockmaster is at right. Inn, a favorite Rebozo water- bartender at the Jamaica Inn ing spot, decribes him as "a men around him. Later, it Was real gentleman and a very said that he could be "arro- gant and demanding." Mr. Nixon and Smathers and kind man." the political figures that Sma- .Rebozo enjoys many One middle-class couple that forms thers brought down to' Florida retired to Key Biscayne of relaxation. He likes to boat, recently gushed: "He's so fish, drink at Toots Shor's in for a few relaxing days In the New York and be seen with democratic, he'll always come sun. sports personalities. He be- over to your table at the yacht Rebozo is proud of a came a friend of the late club and smile and pass a few wristwatch that was presented heavyweight champion Rocky words — publicity hasn't to him by Lady Bird Johnson, Marciano and attended fights turned his head." and he has entertained her with him. And in IMO he teamed husband and other Washington The other side up with A t 1 ant a restaura- He also is capable, however, figures in company with Sma- teur Harry Hester and other thers. And he has occasionally of quick flashes of anger, an undisclosed partners in an entertained Sen. Rhssell B. occasionally demanding atti, abortive bid to get the Miami trade and of throwing his Long (D-La.), the former Sen- franchise from the American ate whip. One of weight around, particularly it Football League. Rebozo's fa- he thinks he is being picked vorite pre-Nixon pictures was upon. A waitress in a Key Bis- But the study of Rebozo in- taken in 1955 and shows him on his cayne Wei ...remembers how dicates that he most prefers boat with his guests: John- Reboso the company of politicians and %on, smathers, the late Sen. trtedao have her fired Richard when she told him that she re- businessmen who move in po- Russell (D-Ga.). for- litical circles. .1a ' Pr Ce.,1 Carle Clements sented his attitude, a former the early (D- years, it was Smathers and the Turn to Page 17 The:::..keys- to-Bebe-Re ,unoutiru 1l will .fragr of Reboia' had been Urged because - -- su~ "we didn't want to embarrass an incoming i President." Rebozo, the son of immigrant Cubans, at- Miami tended Miami High School with Smathers and joined Smathers' political organization after World War II. He coupled management of fi- nance companies with investments with oriter • Smathers' associates. "I don't think he ever operated alone," one man who had business dealings. with Reba= said. Rebozo is said to have atcustitadlid:a net worth estimated at more than $1 million eyn—ialley today. — It was Smathers who introduced Rebore W . . Adams Key was one of the Rehm in- vestments; land in an area called Florida Fruit Lands was another. Examination of Re- bozo's dealings in these two cases illuminates his method of operation and sketches the close relationships that sometimes exist be- tween businessmen, politicians and govern- ment. Moan 141 Rebozo sold 150 acres of Florida Fruit Lands this year at $850 an acre to the Florida Power & Light Co., which apparently cannot Key Largo use the land without either buying more from Rebozo or buying part of the nearby 80-acre S," Times Map by 11111 Linden tract that Rebozo sold to Smathers last year Map locates Adams Key and Elliot for $400 an acre. Smathers had fought In the Key, two islands sold to the U.S. by Senate to prevent the Federal Power Com- Bebe Rebozo, a close friend of mission from regulating the company's rates. Prgaident Nixon. Sun-Times Map by Bought Key in 11163 Bill Linden Rebozo joined banker W. Sloan McCrea, at- torney Wakefield and — although it was se- mainland cret until 1968 — Smathers, in buying Adams and open them to resort devel- opment. Key in 1953, when many land speculators were investing in island sites in the hope that In 1963, the Dade County (Miami) Board of Commissioners advanced the idea of turning weannewayesersttelly•wdolttlitnit them to the much of Biscayne'llay into a park, ard the •. ozo s Fla. Inctdom dwners of -Adams Key put the island on thr " July, .1970 Smathers took a deed to 80 acres market.--The- next year-,the--State- of Florida of Land for what tax stamps indicated was took an option on it for $550,000, although the a price of $32,000 or $0100 an acre. Then, last state's appraisers valued it at only $416,650. February, Rebozo sold 150 acres of the land But the agreement lapsed and the owners to Florida Power & Light for $127,500, about could not find buyers for Adams Key. 9850 Five years later, Rep. Dante B. Fascell (D- dollars an acre. Rebozo owed about $5,300 to the Bank of Fla.) successfully sponsored a bill to create Kendall (Florida) on a mortgage on the land the Biscayne National Monument by buying part of the shallow bay and Islandia, the is- he sold to Smathers but did not pay the mort- lands that form a barrier between it and the gage until the same week he sold to the ocean. power company. In 1969, the Corps of Engineers began buy- The land bought from Rebozo by Florida Power was oddly shaped, consisting of 10- ing the land by offering prices belOwl secret government appraisals. Owners felt, not with- acre tracts, with 10 tracts side by side and out reason, that if they did not accept the the other five extending out of the cluster, rather like legs on a table. Florida Power 'price the land might be tied up for years be- fore a higher one could be negotiated. has been buying land in the vicinity recently, Steps in the Rebozo transaction preparing for a housing boom there, but had tOre re- not bought any close r than half a mile to ported to Washington, and the Interi r De- partment's files showed an early nota ion on Rebozo's holdings until it bought the 150- Adams Key that said: "This 77-acre k may acre tract from him. or may not 'iecome a problem dependent on A public relations man for the utility said the owner's attitude." i that the land was bought for "transmission Getting top dollar PurPoses." 1 A federal appraiser set the island's value at Although the land is half a mile from an $555,000 and Westcott, the Corps of Engineers apparent right-of-way purchased by Florida official, sent Wakefield an offer of $500,000. Power, a company vice president said there After discussion, agreement was reached and were no plans to buy any more land from Wakefield wrote in a price of $555,000. Rebozo or Smathers. Westcott then offered Rebozo 990,000 for his Smathers, as a senator, joined land on Elliott Key, and said he was Sen. Spes- told that sard Holland (D-Fla.) in 1955 in sponsoring a Rebozo had been disappointed in the price bill that would have prevented the Federal paid for Adams Key, so the matter was re- Power Commission from regulating Florida fe rred to higher authorities. After six days of Power & Light's rate structure. The bill was negotiations, the government agreed to pay not passed, but Smathers tried again in the Rebozo $99,000 for Elliott Key. The secret ap- next session. After that attempt was unsuc- praisal price was $90,400. cessful, the company started a court case In 1953, as part of his other land spec- against federal regulation, which is expected ulations, Rebozo bought some land in an un- to reach the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. developed tract west of Miami named the Florida Fruit Lands, paying $19 an arra. Rebozo, Smathers and Wakefield have been In unavailable for comment. Bebe Rebozo, the mayor, Continued form Page 18 to Africa, but his duties, which Bank & Trust Co., Ky.) and Sen. Stuart Sym- always returned him to Miami, ington (D-Mo.) is the president and left him ample time to check part of an adjo Son of immigrants on the gas station. building; a house Rebozo was born Nov. 17, cayne; large ch The Goon Squad 1912, the youngest of nine chil- in corporations that dren of parents who had ar- It was in that period that Re- of the only undeveloped rived in Tampa from Havana. bozo began to associate politi- in Miami's harbor; He was nicknamed as a child cally with what later became ing title company in because of a brother's trouble known as the "Goon Squad," a ing Monroe County; a string of yin properly pronouncing the small group who had hitched c o 1 n-operated laundries; a "word "baby." He went to their fortunes to Smathers' ris- combination of a gas station school in Miami, where the ing political star. After the and stores; a land bank' in un- family had moved, and helped , war, Rebozo moved more developed western Dade Coma swell the family income by de- directly into the Smathers or- ty, and some strategically livering newspapers and pluck- ganization. He became the No. placed building plots in am i chickens. 1 aide to McCrea, by then the Greater Miami area. No. 1 aide to Rebozo married his 17-year- Smathers. Mfltlooaira old sweetheart, Clara Gunn. Many of the other members The last available net-word But, according to some pub- of the group would later hold statement was filed by Rebozi lished reports, they never lived top positions in the Democratic on Sept. 1, 1967, with the Sinai -together as man and wife, and Party and in state and federal Business Administration 11 the marriage was annulled government or would become connection with a loan that hi several years later. He mar- men of importance and power was repaying to that leder& ried her again in 1998 and in Florida business circles. agency. moved out in 1948, and they Today, among other hold- were divorced in 1950, child- In that statement, Rebozo ings, Rebozo can count a lion's valued his own holdings, afte less. share of the Key Biscayne the deduction of debts, a He is devotpd.to..hiszmother,7 • 4108.. ,:wporation4, 1..;Ine that lit for her in Coral Gables. He went through Miami High School, where he became a Key Biscayne, Fla. friend of such schoolmates as $682,295.61. In the intervening additional W. Sloan McCrea, who later properties and hold- years, a number of Rebozo's ings have been acquired and became a banker and an im- investments have grown in some holdings were not includ- portant business associate, and value; in some cases, property ed in the 1967 statement. Al- Smathers, who 'later became listed on the 1967 statement lowing for those factors, Re- U.S. senator and the man who has since been sold for several bozo's present net worth goes introduced Rebozo to Nixon. times the value listed there; well over $1 million. Learning to fly Rebozo worked first as a "kat. fir..1r few than Mnritia Year