Thursday, August 18, 2011

This is really only funny if you work with me...

Everyone knows the story; sweet, innocent and caring Sam.I.Am pressures an unnamed man into sampling green eggs and ham. But is it really as simple as that?

No.

Sam.I.Am was no kind verde-food loving kid. Sam.I.Am isn’t even his real name. It was a nickname given to him by Klaas Bruinsma, the famous Dutch drug lord. Green eggs and ham were code for black tar heroine. Sam.I.Am’s real name was Hans-willem Verver.

Hans-willem/Sam worked for Klaas as a mule, bringing drugs into the United States. But Sam was greedy and craved a higher commission. The kind of commission that could only be earned by selling product.

Unfortunately for Sam, the FBI had their eye on him. They’d heard of his connections, and sent an undercover agent to try and turn Sam. If they could get Sam to snitch on what he knew about Klaas they would be able to bring down the whole operation. The FBI sent in their best agent, Gage Preston O’shea.

It was a tough assignment. Agent O’shea had to keep Sam believing that there was a chance that O’shea would make a large purchase, proving that Sam had what it took to be a big-time dealer. But Agent O’shea also had to chip away the loyalty Sam had with Klaas’ operation.

It took almost 18 months, but Sam finally broke. And with Sam’s testimony and O’shea’s reports of what he had seen Klaas was put behind bars. But at a cost.

Klaas’ trial was extremely high profile, and garnered much publicity. O’shea’s face was plastered on newspapers all over the country. His career as an undercover agent was over. But worse, other member’s of Klaas’ cartel began threatening O’shea’s family. After an arson attempt on the O’shea family home, the FBI chose to put the O’shea family into witness protection.

O’shea and his family were relocated, given different names, and even had cosmetic surgery to disguise themselves.

1 comment:

Nettie said...

Who knew the tragedy underlining this beloved children's classic? Thank you for you tireless investigation into this heinous crime syndicate.