Up through the years, including high school, I got to know Charles a little. He actually had a good sense of humor. Also a problem with authority like a lot of us.
Our class had its own Marlon Brando and it was Charlie. He was wild and crazy in junior high. He had a large motorcycle until he ran it into the back of a Miami Springs trash truck. He was on our HHS football team for an hour at most. It ended when the coaches realized he could not be umm, coached. In the early 70's I ran into The Wild One in Coconut Grove. I was practicing law in the Grove at the time. He told me he had spent the intervening years playing Cops and Robbers. This probably meant he had spent time doing both.
At our ten-year reunion he showed up late wearing a ripped t-shirt and carrying a six-pack. He did it right and I enveyed him inside my lawyer suit.
Charlie did well enough "in the trade" to finance his own 19-year HHS reunion at Viscaya. It was great! I remember him sitting in the shadows offering "smokes" from a small fancy box. These were his Godfather years.
Most of the people I knew that got into the business that made Miami famous (in the 70's) did not live long. Live by the sword... I guess. Charlie was no exception. I recall being in my late 30's when I learned of his demise. I turned my sadness into his obituary that appeared in the Coconut Grove newspaper.
In 1955 Charlie and I bumped up against each other in the elem hallway. He said to meet him after school and we would work this out. I was not quite smart enough to figure out that showing up was not in my best interest so there I was waiting for Charlie. He gave me more credit than I deserved and blew it off . He was amazed later to find out I had actually shown up and somehow we became friends for the next couple of decades. This started in the 3rd grade so it went thru grade 23 more or less. Over time our encounters became more sporadic but certainly punctuated the time line tape in unforgettable ways. You get to know a lot of people over the years and some stick and some evaporate. Charlie stuck. I was truly saddened by his loss .
Allen Beck
Up through the years, including high school, I got to know Charles a little. He actually had a good sense of humor. Also a problem with authority like a lot of us.
Glenn Terry
Our class had its own Marlon Brando and it was Charlie. He was wild and crazy in junior high. He had a large motorcycle until he ran it into the back of a Miami Springs trash truck. He was on our HHS football team for an hour at most. It ended when the coaches realized he could not be umm, coached. In the early 70's I ran into The Wild One in Coconut Grove. I was practicing law in the Grove at the time. He told me he had spent the intervening years playing Cops and Robbers. This probably meant he had spent time doing both.
At our ten-year reunion he showed up late wearing a ripped t-shirt and carrying a six-pack. He did it right and I enveyed him inside my lawyer suit.
Charlie did well enough "in the trade" to finance his own 19-year HHS reunion at Viscaya. It was great! I remember him sitting in the shadows offering "smokes" from a small fancy box. These were his Godfather years.
Most of the people I knew that got into the business that made Miami famous (in the 70's) did not live long. Live by the sword... I guess. Charlie was no exception. I recall being in my late 30's when I learned of his demise. I turned my sadness into his obituary that appeared in the Coconut Grove newspaper.
Billy Kunz
In 1955 Charlie and I bumped up against each other in the elem hallway. He said to meet him after school and we would work this out. I was not quite smart enough to figure out that showing up was not in my best interest so there I was waiting for Charlie. He gave me more credit than I deserved and blew it off . He was amazed later to find out I had actually shown up and somehow we became friends for the next couple of decades. This started in the 3rd grade so it went thru grade 23 more or less. Over time our encounters became more sporadic but certainly punctuated the time line tape in unforgettable ways. You get to know a lot of people over the years and some stick and some evaporate. Charlie stuck. I was truly saddened by his loss .