Wacky Miami, by gimleteye

What a city this is. On any given day you can go to Prime 112 on South Beach, pay $50 for a steak, and glimpse celebrities like Jerry Springer. Or you can read the front page of the New York Times and bump into people like Efraim E. Diveroli, a 22 year old kid who runs a $300 million Pentagon contract to supply ammo to Afghanis from an apartment on Miami Beach.

I had just finished watching a segment of Frontline's disturbing "Bush's War" and picked up the Times before nodding off to sleep. Top of the fold: a huge photo of tarnished ammo, tied to the story; "... the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22 year old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur." Had to be Miami.

Mr. Diveroli, who would qualify for the Young President's Organization as chairman of AEY Inc., seems a pretty ordinary kid except for run-ins with police for abusing girlfriends. But think about it: running weapons into Afghanistan from Miami Beach: that's a lot of pressure for a young kid.

"AEY is one of many previously unknown defense contractors to have thrived since 2003, when the Pentagon began dispensing billions of dollars to train and equip indigenous forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its rise from obscurity once seemed to make it a successful example of the Bush administration's promotion of private contractors as integral elements of war-fighting strategy."

Ah, privatization!

Apparently, it was only pestering by the New York Times for details on Mr. Diveroli and his company's activity on behalf of the world's only superpower that caused the military to terminate AEY's contract.

I'm guessing someone at The Miami Herald is wishing they had not missed this one. (The Herald plays catch up on today's front page, rehashing the Times' work.)

I can imagine that an entrepreneur like Mr. Diveroli can't be kept down. I'm guessing he will show up as a Miami mortgage broker anytime soon, or, drilling wells for the water management district.