Folder_0047

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

name- at notyeuowin a:bus mp-ms uuiaticeyes xunaer tneir _domes with as many as 48 of William Wegner was introduced. and his endless gymnastics ;Thusbegan -:"pockets; an egg in each. During the 14- - -- - It happened in the form of a phone call the American stampede for cockatoos, sul-- -. hour flight from Sydney to the States, the from Kennedy to Hodges in mid-November phur-crested and otherwise: By1980 the smugglers' own body heat kept the eggs 1999, in which Kennedy proposed hiring price of the average cockatoo was upward . incubated. If any birds hatched during Wegner. "He called and asked me if he could of $ L,000, and as the tide continued, well flight, the couriers were instructed to Bush do it," Hodges says 'He said William Weg- into the '90s, some were going for more them down the toilet of the plane. - ner had had a small contretemps with the than 15 times that. Only a few types were Trade was brisk. More and more peo- : - bred: in. the U.S_ however Australia_ was pie in New Paltz got involved in Wegner's Cairly,_and thatthedtacgesagahis[ tiim h`ad the~motheilode- Of the approximately20 ,--operation, and , they began - forming never been proven-' According to Hodges. . varieties'of cockatoo-13,are;found only ':competing groups. Some found themselves Kennedy-''was very eager to get Wegner. there, making Aiistralia'an:bbject of avid .:. malting so many trips to Australia that they And he said, 'He's cheap.'" Hodges gave the interest to prospective owners. obtained false passports to divert suspi. go-ahead and told Boyle. who did some Unfortunately for them, Australia has cion. In one case, when a new recruit joined checking on Wegner himself. Thais when laws banning the export of its native wildlife, up, he was forced to apply for a false pass- they learned that. as Hodges puts it, "there But for every appetite there are feeders, port because another smuggler was already was much more to the situation than Bobby and one of them was William Wegner. Now using his name. Kennedy had indicated." 49, Wegner has a long-standing and legit- The scheme flourished for eight years, imate fascination with birds: a master fal- and ultimately involved at least six species: Blame it on Baretra. In the late'70s Robert coner, with a master's degree in biology the rose-breasted cockatoo, Major Blake starred in this television series as a from the State University of New York at Mitchell's cockatoo, the sulphur-crested, droopy-drawers detective whose sidekick New Paltz, he studied ornithology there the slender-billed, the white-tailed black, was a sulphur-crested cockatoo named under professor Heinz Meng. "He was very and the red-tailed black. Under company Fred. Viewers were entranced—at least by good-looking," Meng recalls. "Long blond names like Hudson Valley Aviaries, Weg- the bird. They loved his crown—that shot hair. Girls were always hanging around ner hatched and sold them to what an him. He looked a little like this Fabio guy, agent with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Big fish: Robert Kennedy attracted but better-looking." describes as a "don't ask, don't tell" clien- celebrities to the Riverkeepercause, Whether moved by a passion for birds, tele. Prices ranged from roughly $1,000 Including Lorraine Bracco, below, with a passion for money, or some of both, to $16,000, depending on the species. husband Edward James Olmos and, Wegner began smuggling cockatoo eggs By the early '90s, however, the plot was bottom, Alec Baldwin with Kennedy. in 1983.. (When I tried to talk to Wegner, coming undone. Fish &Wildlife had noticed Kennedy responded that a boost in the number of these species in ₹.: Wegner could not be in- America, which could only be due to ille- -. terviewedj - . - gal imports. And Wegner himself was get- illegal trade in wildlife ting careless, shopping a screenplay around is an enormous business; Hollywood about rare-egg smuggling. He . it ranks second only to also wrote a couple of articles for a trade • drugs as the most lucrative publication, American Cage-Bird magazine, type of smuggling around which detailed his experiences breeding the world. Wegner founded red-tailed black cockatoos—a variety no his own network in New American breeder was supposed to have. Paltz, where he recruited Says Dr. Donald Bruning, the chief bird ex- some of his old high school pert at the Bronx Zoo, "Fish & Wildlife asked friends to make regular me, 'Where would he get them?' I said. runs to Australia. There, he 'There's no legal source."' - and his couriers scouted In 1993 agents dropped the net, and locations, assembled maps, by 1994 Wegner and 14 co-conspirators had took photographs. Then been indicted. Fish & Wildlife considered they shinnied up likely it an important case. Says Ernest Mayer. trees, broke into nesting special agent in charge, who supervised hollows, and removed the the investigation, "Others smuggle Icock- eggs (each about half the atoo eggs) once, twice, three times. But size of a hen's egg), which from total number of birds and secre- were kept warm, some- tiveness and size, the William Wegner times with hair dryers, till group was unique." All of the defendants it was time to fly them out. pleaded guilty except one, Wegner's girl- The actual smuggling friend; she was convicted in July 1995. of cockatoo eggs requires She stood sobbing at her sentencing; her nerve, lots of pockets, and lawyer said his client had fallen victim to a cold heart. Wegner's run- Wegner's "Svengali effect." ,~"~' ners boarded their flights As for Wegner himself, he pleaded guilty gu~ t)' home wearing "egg vests" to violating various wildlife-protection

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