Michigan CEO Led Double Life as Drug Lord With Plans for a Cocaine Submarine, Feds Say

A high-flying Michigan telecommunications executive led a double life as the financier of a sprawling international drug ring, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. Among his alleged secrets: plans for “the Torpedo,” a parasitic submarine meant to haul clandestine cocaine across the globe.

Marty Tibbitts was the CEO of Clementine Live Answering Service, but he often went by the generic code name “Dale Johnson” in communications related to his work as a drug trafficker, prosecutors say. He was killed at age 50 in a plane crash in 2018. An aviation buff with the pockets to prove it, he founded the World Heritage Aviation Museum in Detroit. He died when the vintage fighter jet he was piloting nosedived into a dairy barn in Wisconsin, taking 50 cows with him.

The details of Tibbitts’ double life emerged as part of a federal indictment against Ylli Didani, the 43-year-old alleged leader of the worldwide drug ring, on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances on a boat in U.S. jurisdiction, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and money laundering. Didani was arrested in North Carolina this week. His cartel allegedly sold cocaine in 15 countries.

The two were allegedly at work together on “the torpedo,” a remote-controlled submarine that would attach to the hulls of cargo ships via strong magnets. They planned to stuff the sub with cocaine, track it via GPS, and detach it from the host up to 100 miles off European shores, prosecutors say. A fishing boat would then retrieve the underwater drone and its contents.

https://news.yahoo.com/michigan-ceo-led-double-life-224450053.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

Much more at the link

Saw this floated a few hours ago, waited for the expanded story