The scenario unraveled like a bad B-movie and Producer/Director BJ Davis felt like he was playing one of leads in this travesty. The Union picketers would not leave until BJ agreed to a compromise. Unwilling to allow a known organized crime leader Salvatore “Bill” Bonanno to star in a film starring legitimate screen legends, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Robert Loggia and Charles Durning, in a forced trade-off, he reluctantly agreed to give a small part to Bonanno’s nephew, Tarantola (top, left).
But the extortion didn’t stop. To make matters worse, after receiving suspicious reports from the company’s stock transfer affiliates, First American Stock Transfer secured by Paloma, BJ found out that stock certificates with his forged signature have been issued in rapid succession. BJ contacted Phil Young with the First American Stock Transfer and directed them to immediately stop issuing any other stock certificates. BJ contacted Paloma, his attorneys and business affiliates in writing, demanding that they stop their activities with the stock.
Paloma and his cohorts either ignored BJ’s requests or responded in an arrogant fashion by telling BJ there was nothing he could do to stop them. Paloma repeatedly reiterated his ties to the Bonanno crime family - after all, he made up his moniker “Paloma” in honor of the infamous Joseph Bonanno, Bill Bonanno’s father, who was known as “La Paloma” (the Dove).
Something serious was happening. BJ knew he needed help. He called the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and arranged meetings with both agencies. They told him something astounding: apparently, Paloma had quite a reputation in the stock world.
It all started to make sense. By surfing the Internet, BJ Davis discovered a horrifying penny stock scheme, with press releases he had never seen or approved, listing him as the source. The fact that Paloma was previously charged by the SEC and got away with a mere fine was even more appalling - especially in light of the fact that Paloma never paid the ordered $442,319 dollar disgorgement and a $65,000 penalty and blatantly continued his penny stock operations.
The FBI and the SEC officially enlisted BJ’s help with their investigation, started to obtain information from managers of defrauded companies and wiretapped Paloma’s telephones. The authorities would certainly get an earful of information, as Paloma and his confederates were in the midst of another stock fraud scheme, 10 years in the making.
The government’s filings state: “The defendant, Michael Saquella, defrauded over 24,000 investors and numerous companies of millions of dollars (over $20,000,000 in total for the conspiracy) largely so that he could finance his lavish lifestyle and his vanity film projects starring himself in a leading role. Caught on a “wire tap,” the defendant’s deceptive methods laid bare the pervasive nature of his greed and deceitful ways, as well as his utter contempt for the many victims he left in his wake.”