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Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast
When George Bosque stole $1.85 million and went on the lam, he
invented a new identity—as a movie producer with bags of cash
and a dream to film a Roman-themed porn orgy.
Ashley West and April Hall
. . : PM ET
1
981: Nyack, NY
It’s fall in a muddy field 35 miles
north of New York City, but it feels
more like the middle of winter.
Especially to the men standing
around shivering in short Roman togas and
sandals.
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MY ACCOUNT
LOG OUT They’ve been up since 6 am for an unfeasible
activity: They’re filming scenes for an unnamed
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MY ACCOUNT Socks to Relieve Pain
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Schoolmate Albert Poledri remembered him
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Others found George more difficult. Lester
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT Severns remembered, “He was the type who
MY ACCOUNT could get in an argument in a locked closet—
alone.”
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Raoul Fuertes was also uneasy. “He was very
bright, but he was a shrewd person. Personally, I
was always a little bit scared of him. I didn’t
trust him at all.”
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In August 1975 George moved to Washington
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became labored. It could take up to half an
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fingerprint and background checks. He had
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run for sheriff of San Francisco. So what if
Dear Lady.
Yours,
A Man in Trouble.
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When the dust settled, the cops calculated that
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT George had made off with bank bills totaling
$1.85 million.
MY ACCOUNT
The victims were Honolulu’s First Hawaiian and
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Central Pacific banks, though checks covering
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The note said:
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Dear Mr. Avanzino.
MY ACCOUNT
You are a good and honest man.
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Mr. Anonymous.
Here’s the money I owe you for your beat and the
equipment.
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lease on an apartment in Greenwich Village
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students from the time remember Chris as
And for the next decade, they did just that. Chris
wrote, edited or was production manager for
many of Chuck’s films. He acted and helped
Chuck direct too. And then he made his own
films, often with the same humor that had
marked his early skits. Chris lived at 322 West
57th Street in Manhattan, and they formed a
loose and informal network of gay filmmakers
that included the Amero brothers and David
Davidson making largely straight pornographic
Davidson, making largely straight pornographic
film product. JOIN
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Chris was a charismatic and popular member of
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT the group. He was vibrant, the life and soul of
MY ACCOUNT any gathering. His peers regarded him as being a
more talented filmmaker than most on the
LOG OUT scene, technically gifted, hard-working and
bursting full of ideas. Many of them considered
Scorpio’s story
George Bosque and Chris Covino settled on an
initial budget of $100,000, which already made it
one of the most expensive gay porn productions
of its time. Over the course of the next months,
the budget would balloon still higher. For this
kind of money, Chris Covino was willing to direct
fil
a gay film.
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Chris hired the actors (predominantly gay)
x and
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crew (predominantly straight) and they
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT arranged the shoot for early 1981.
MY ACCOUNT One of the first actors that Chris wanted to hire
LOG OUT was a newcomer sent to him from Jack Deveau,
the founder of the influential New York adult
company Hand in Hand Films. The actor’s name
was Scorpio, and Chris liked his look: trashy,
rebellious, but vulnerable and sensitive too.
Scorpio was starting to make waves in films and
magazines of the time and Chris wanted him for
his new movie.
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work too. Soon he was traveling out to Long
LOG OUT on the editing, but more funds were needed for
postproduction. The trouble was that now that
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By now George had disappeared completely.
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In November 1981, George left his New York
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT apartment and returned to San Francisco for the
MY ACCOUNT first time since the robbery. The sole reason: to
find Carl and get back together again.
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It was a risky move. The $150,000 reward for
information leading to his arrest was still in
place, and posters with his likeness were widely
circulated around San Francisco.
Th f ll i d h db f US
The following day he appeared before a U.S.
Magistrate where bail was set at a near- JOIN
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
MY ACCOUNT 1981 – 1986: Prosecution and
LOG OUT Punishment
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
MY ACCOUNT Spring 1981: Nyack, NY
LOG OUT Back on the set of Centurians of Rome, George
Bosque sits in the back seat of his limousine. He
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT Says a friend: “He was one of the first to get the
MY ACCOUNT illness. With hindsight I guess it wasn’t such a
surprise given the wild lifestyle he had. But at
LOG OUT the time it was a complete shock. We didn’t even
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MOONLIGHTING READ THIS LIST
MY ACCOUNT
The Hezbollah Sleeper Agent
Was a Russian Plot Behind the Venezuela
Coup?
ANNIKA HERNROTH
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Trump Nominates Obama-Era Border Patrol
America
But Is It?
SHAWN COHEN
EXCLUSIVEbyCONTENT
internet hate sites and following
online instructions to build a bomb in
MY ACCOUNT
the kitchen of his mom.
PREPPERS
Feds: Hezbollah
Recruited American to
Be Sleeper Agent
Katie Zavadski
Kourani was born in Lebanon in June
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1984 to a family he claims has
JOIN connections with Hezbollah. He has told
x
EXCLUSIVEtheCONTENT
FBI that his clan were “the bin
Ladens of Lebanon.” He was 16 when his
MY ACCOUNT
familial social stature enabled him to
EXCLUSIVEwith
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10 other Americans, as well as the
truck bombing of the Marine barracks
MY ACCOUNT
there later that year that killed 240. His
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driven to meet the man who would
allegedly be his handler.
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“Whom Kourani knew as ‘Fadi,’” the
criminal complaint says. “Fadi typically
wore a mask during their meetings.”
EXCLUSIVE“AsCONTENT
cover for the storage of firearms
MY ACCOUNT
intended for ESO assassinations and
attacks in the U.S.,” the FBI report
LOG OUT explains.
EXCLUSIVEThe
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arrest prompted the NYPD
MY ACCOUNT
Intelligence Division to interview
Kourani on a number of occasions. He
LOG OUT came to the further attention of law
enforcement in September of 2015,
when arriving from a trip to Lebanon
back to the same airport he had
extensively surveilled.
EXCLUSIVE“I'm
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going to reach you at that phone
MY ACCOUNT
number,” the agent said. “Make sure that
no one knows that you have that phone.”
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The FBI repeatedly called Kourani over
the days ahead to arrange meetings,
during which they urged him to become
an informant.
MY ACCOUNT
Bronx apartment above Naomi
Rodriguez. Agents there found lined
LOG OUT notebook paper on which Kourani
appeared to have handwritten notes in
English concerning what he wanted
from the FBI, including cash and an
apartment in a Manhattan building with
a doorman.
EXCLUSIVEshopping,
CONTENT he helps me carry some bags
or helps me with the shopping cart.”
MY ACCOUNT
She could only remember seeing
LOG OUT Kourani once, as she is seldom home,
leaving early to work 12-hour shifts as
an EMT and returning late from
attending school to become a paramedic.
She is also raising two boys of her own,
aged 10 and 4.
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