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Apr
13
here’s the flip side to my recent article about living cheaply and safely in panama. check out this new york post story about a staten island philanthropist who came to panama to invest, and start up a bed and breakfast. the wealthy widow was staying just down the street from me, in the edificio Atlantis, one of the beautiful buildings completed last year.
today el critica has even more gruesome details of the her violent death. they report that toni grossi-abrams, was beaten to death, chopped up, stuffed into a suitcase, and burned in rio abajo. it’s early in the investigation, but police have already arrested an american woman, and are looking for a couple of colombians.
this doesn’t appear to be about the random dangers of living in panama. el cangrejo’s a safe area. and panama city’s safer than toni grossi-abrams’ home city of staten island new york. this could happen anywhere. it’s probably much less likely to happen here.
it looks more like the story of an international cabal committing murder, with robbery or payback as their motive. eric jackson of the panama news suggests it’s possible toni grossi-abrams “was involved in more than one argument over money in connection with real estate.”
still, it should give pause to wealthy investors. there’s a reason the rich live with the rich. it’s safer. and in panama, there’s a juego vivo culture. locals don’t trust the government to protect them, or their assets. nor should you.
the natives all tell me the same thing, “don’t tell anyone you have money.” not a problem. i’m poor. they just think i have money because i can pick up the check. but if i really did have money, i’d keep that information to myself, no matter where i was living.
update - it’s interesting to hear the buzz on the street about this story. the locals are horrified by the savagery, and pointing fingers at the colombians. they don’t trust colombians, even though many have colombians in the family.
“you just can’t distinguish a criminal from colombia,” a friend tells me. “panamanian thugs have gold teeth, and dress the part. but colombians are just as likely to wear suits and ties. so never know who you’re dealing with.”
sunday april 15 - here’s my rough translation of today’s la critica update.
it’s alleged toni grossi-abrams fought over island property. and that debra ana ridley, an american woman, is being held on suspicion of her murder. 2 colombians (possibly members of ridley’s family) are being sought for questioning.
for english speakers, here’s a link to the ny post’s latest update. the post spells debra ana ridley’s name as Debra Ridgleia.
and yes, i agree with okke. in the scheme of things, this is perhaps, much ado about a dead gringa.
join the cult of cojito. just drink the koolaid.
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An “international cabal committing murder” …
Have you been reading the Turner Diaries again, brother?
Reads like a Ludlum. I’m very poor so I’m very safe in Panama?
I had to look all over Eric’s site to find the story so i lifted it and put it here to make it simple. I suppose you’re going to rip me a new one like you did Don Winner (?) :)
On April 10 the charred and dismembered body of Toni Grossi-Abrams, 58, was found by children on a field between Calle 11 and Calle 11 1/2 in Rio Abajo that’s used for soccer games. The corpse had been stuffed in a suitcase, which was set on fire at the field, after the American woman, who was identified a couple of days later by Panama’s Institute of Legal Medicine, was apparently murdered at her apartment on Via Veneto. Grossi-Abrams also had a place in Gorgona and owned several other properties in Panama. Police detained several people for questioning as they investigated several theories — robbery, a continuation of a dispute in which Grossi-Adams won a lawsuit against a woman who sold her a piece of land in Contadora and also sold it to someone else, and an argument with a tenant in an apartment Grossi-Adams owned. Also, at least one other American is claiming that the deceased woman had cheated him on a Panama City real estate investment deal. As these briefs were written no formal charges had been announced and several other suspects were being sought for questioning.
haha no worries marco - thanks. i didn’t know eric had written the story up yet. i was quoting his remarks in the panama forum. and i linked his paper because i couldn’t link his forum posting.
what is the link to the panama forum?
you have to join to read the panama forum postings. but it’s free to sign up. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/panamaforum/
[…] weblog Panama After Hours has an interesting view of this case so far. The blog is for American expats and is written by the pseudonymous […]
I followed the link to Okke’s site and, as usual, found nothing of value. Lots of pent up anger and hatred of people he perceives to be not morally pure enough. Some crocodile tears about Corundu (he’s a great champion of the poor, you know). Sarcastic, devoid of useful information and..what’s this? a link to a book on amazon about the Holloway thing that he just finished dissing? Looks like Okke’s not above making a little money on Natalie even while he takes the moral high ground…
Winner, on the other hand, “steals” a shitload of interesting facts and opinions on the situation and refrains from prosetlyzing in a juvenile way about everybody unreleated to the case that he happpens to hate.
Meanwhile, Eric jackson works diligently behind the scenes trying to unearth more facts.
alas, Okke, you really need to get a life and stop polluting the net.
lol - hey man, you harshing my buzz.
i’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you tonight marco. you’re welcome to hate okke. climb on board with all the others. one of the reasons i respect okke is that he knows he’s going to be hated, he knows he’ll be a target, yet he writes what he writes anyway. no fear.
while i remain an anonymous coward.
there are many many writers i hate. so i just don’t read them. life’s short. but if you like eric and the panama news, how can you defend his content stealing competition?
i avoid winner’s site out of respect for eric, and all the other hardworking journalists in panama. and because i don’t trust winner. i’ve read his comments in forums, heard what his former associates say about him. the man’s got a track record, and it’s not good.
On another note, here’s one of the reasons I enjoy studying spanish.
carbonizada
What an amazingly discriptive word. One doesn’t even have to know the language to understand what occurred.
yes lakesdiver, very descriptive. but i’m rather fond of “sin tetas no hay paraiso” (no tits, no paradise).
maybe i should add a spanish word or phrase of the day to the site.
Well, I, for one, would appreciate and enjoy that. “sin tetas no hay paraiso†Excelente. Me gusta mucho la frase…y estoy de acuerdo.
lakesdiver — “sin tetas no hay paraiso†— it’s also the title of a book about the recruiting and training of teenage hookers (starting at age 13 )by drug lords in colombia.
author is Gustavo Bolivar Moreno
publisher quintero editores, bogota
quinteroeditores@hotmail.com
lol marco - it’s also the title of a soap opera out of (i think) mexico.
I wind up reading more than enough in the papers about narcotraficantes and their “collateral damage”. Besides, I’m a slow enough spanish reader that I’ve got enough books now for a couple of years.
And, yes, it is a soap.
the staten island newspaper has two reporters here in panama investigating and this is what they found out:
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/117681121166360.xml&coll=1
another informative article:
http://truecrimeblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/paging-dominick-dunne-murder-of-toni.html
quite troubling: why aren’t panamanian newspapers reporting this story? international press says grossi won a lawsuit against attorney angela healy watkins, but always ommit that this attorney was representing a member of the influential panamanian aleman family.
wow, excellent links bb.
the story’s been reported. but influential families are coddled down here. printing the truth can get you sued.
and they also said, that we couldn’t last togethe. Mihangel Caiaphas.