“I’m sorry,” I whispered again.
And then, because I could already hear the sounds of Cardozo’s voice booming to the receptionist on the other side of the barriers, I let the door close and ran in the opposite direction, to escape out the back door like the rat I was.
It killed me to leave her there alone. Unprotected.
But it was the only thing left to do.
Prelude
“Page Six”
The New York Post
September 9, 2018
Socialite Surrenders to Scandal & Splits!
Heiress Nina de Vries Gardner, granddaughter of the late Celeste de Vries and cousin to De Vries Shipping CEO Eric de Vries, pled no contest to accessory to human trafficking and identity fraud this morning at the Kings County criminal court.
“Ms. de Vries is a law-abiding citizen, which is precisely why she turned herself in the moment she discovered her inadvertent part in the scheme as a co-property owner,” said her lawyer in a statement outside the courthouse. “Her only desire now is to cooperate with law enforcement and do everything she can to bring real justice to the true villains of this case, starting with her husband.”
Sources confirmed that early this morning Mrs. Gardner filed for divorce and a legal name change from her husband of ten years, Calvin Gardner, who was indicted on similar charges of human trafficking last May. She was also granted a six-month no-contact order from Judge Stratford, which will prevent Mr. Gardner from contacting his wife or daughter, who reportedly attends a boarding school in Massachusetts. It’s rumored that Mrs. Gardner may have accepted a plea deal in exchange for offering testimony against her husband. Mr. Gardner pled not guilty at his arraignment and is awaiting trial at his residence on the Upper East Side.
Though notoriously low profile, the de Vrieses, one of New York’s oldest families, have been plagued by scandal in the last year. It began with Eric de Vries’s wedding upset, then shocking charges of insider trading (later dropped), and the kidnapping of his wife last January, and the shooting of arms mogul John Carson inside their apartment following the Met Gala last May. Mere weeks later, Calvin Gardner was indicted on charges thought to be related to John Carson’s underground arms networks in Brooklyn.
Mrs. Gardner left the courthouse with her head held high, wearing a suffragette-white vintage Chanel skirt suit. Perhaps a gesture toward her newfound freedom? Or a sign that the Gardner divorce is about to get very ugly?
“It’s an heirloom,” she replied when asked. “It belonged to my grandmother, Celeste de Vries. She always looked very striking in it.”
And in this gossip columnist’s humble opinion, “striking” also runs in the family—at least when they are wearing Chanel.
The Brooklyn DA’s office, represented by Greg Cardozo, officially had no comment.
The Newark Star-Ledger
October 8, 2018
Four charged in multi-state human trafficking ring
Four New Jersey and Brooklyn residents indicted for a simultaneous, multi-state human trafficking ring this morning. Concurrent charges were filed in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in one of the largest interstate cooperative efforts on record between local law enforcement agencies.
New Jersey investigators arrested Ben Vamos, a Paterson landlord, as well as his girlfriend, Gloria Adami, while Brooklyn authorities arrested local gang members Kevin “K-Money” Reynolds and Devon Carter for their alleged roles in the scheme. At four different houses co-owned by Vamos and Pantheon, LLC, an anonymous shell corporation registered in Delaware, investigators found drugs, weapons, forged immigration documents, as well as seventeen women held captive in the basements. In addition to trafficking charges, Vamos has also been charged with the intent to distribute illegal narcotics and weapons trafficking.
Vamos, the leader of the alleged ring, was born in Hungary and emigrated to the United States in 1969 following the failed revolution. He owns a number of properties across New Jersey, several of which were identified as locations through which potentially hundreds of women have been funneled since the early eighties.
“We believe this effort began initially as a way for Vamos and others like him to help friends and family escape the Eastern Bloc before the Iron Curtain fell,” said New Jersey Attorney General Patrick Johnson in a press conference.
“But since the nineties, it seems to have morphed into an entry point through which women from Eastern Europe are funneled into prostitution all over New England.”
Johnson was not able to offer a specific number or any other names in conjunction with the case.
“This operation makes the Epstein case look like a walk in the park,” said one officer who chose to remain anonymous.
No other names have been released in conjunction with Pantheon, but Patrick Johnson assured reporters this was just the beginning.
“This is a sign that local government can and will get things done,” said Derek Kingston, the NYPD detective who headed up the investigation in conjunction with the Brooklyn DA’s office, the Newark DA, and investigative units from New Haven and Boston.
He did not answer questions about why federal charges were absent, though another anonymous source inside the Brooklyn DA’s office speculated that federal agencies as well as other judicial appointees may be involved as well.
The New York Times
November 8, 2018
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York resigns
In a surprise announcement, Seymour Taft has resigned as U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York. Speculation about Taft’s potential corruption was rife when he was tapped to replace Sanjay Ramamurthy after the 2016 election, but grew louder when his office declined to prosecute former munitions contractor John Carson on federal charges of arms and human trafficking. Carson was killed in May, but last month a hack of Taft’s files revealed he had been gifted several large stock holdings from Carson two months before his appointment, and that his portfolio was subsequently reinvested in a fund managed by Calvin Gardner, who is facing charges of human trafficking as a part of Carson’s operation.
Rhonda Klein,
