Did you ever see the movie Scarface with Al Pacino you know the Tony Montana guy Well in 1980 I was in the right place at the right time two blocks from my grandfather’s bar in Key West was the US Naval base that’s where all those family members and criminals came in I was very fortunate to be one of the photographers at the Key West Citizen newspaper I was the photographer assigned to photograph all the refugees and the chaos going on there, the way it was Castro would give you one of your relatives but you had to take 10 mentally ill or criminals out of the hospitals an prisons some very wealthy families in Miami we’re paying major bucks to make the boatlift to Cuba not only did I publish 17 photos 10 of them front page I also sold some of them to other newspapers around the country, while I was doing all that some very wealthy Cubans got in touch with me to get some boats this photo right here was one of my front page images I learned a trick these refugees coming across the Florida streets we’re dying for a cigarette so I would bring a couple packs with me sometime actually throw it on the boat before it even tied up I got an a little trouble for that stunt anyway it was an amazing two months for me made a lot of cash brought me to the level of a real photo journalist Key West the way it was