Efraim Diveroli Update

A couple of years ago, the NYT broke the story of a 22-year-old Miami Beach arms dealer, Efraim Diveroli, who had landed a $300,000,000 Pentagon contract to deliver ammunition to the fledgling Afghan Army, and was illegally fulfilling the deal using aged Chinese ammo. It was a nine-days-wonder of a story as many were sure at first that Cheney or Rumsfeld or somebody like that was involved.

But, as I was the first to point out, it probably didn`t involve a conspiracy that-goes-straight-to-the-top. Diveroli was apparently just a young hustler from a family of hustlers (his grandfather owns a big, scary gun shop in South Central LA; his uncle Shmuley Boteach was Michael Jackson`s rabbi) carrying out the kind of semi-bait switch business (offer a low price, then deliver low quality) that is familiar to customers of Brooklyn camera shops. And sign up as an ethnically disadvantaged small business.

Well, Diveroli`s back in trouble again, peddling ammo to federal undercover agents out of the back of his silver Audi convertible.