Federal agents seized 175 boxes of evidence last month during an investigation into alleged wire fraud and tax evasion against Milton Tillman Jr., the man with several criminal convictions who prosecutors say controls large portions of Baltimore City’s bail bond market.
On Tuesday, agents filed the last of seven search warrant returns in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, making at least this much clear: The federal government is closely following Tillman’s money.
“Milton is no MIT graduate,” said retired Baltimore Vice Enforcement Sgt. Craig Gentile, who locked up Tillman in 1996. “But Milton knows money and he knows how to play money.”
Agents seized 14 boxes of evidence from the Dundalk Marine Terminal, where Tillman, 51, is purported to have worked as a longshoreman along with crews, or “gangs,” of some 25 people, while furthering an alleged wire fraud conspiracy. The evidence included a Mercedes-Benz lease, credit card statements and a $2,000 money wrapper.
Federal authorities also confiscated time sheets, labor slips and personnel rosters pertaining to union No. 953 of the International Longshoreman’s Association, the documents show.
Steven Lukiewski, a labor coordinator with the union, said agents were searching for records of Tillman’s work at the port.
“The union is not under investigation,” Lukiewski said. “Nine-fifty-three doesn’t have anything to do with the investigation.”
Lukiewski said Tillman is a member of ILA No. 333 — which represents longshoremen, who make $29 per hour — and has worked at the port for “a while.”
Kermit Bowling, the president of that union, did not return phone calls seeking comment. Mark Schmidt of Ports America, which runs the terminal, also did not return a phone call.
Tillman, who has been convicted of two federal crimes — conspiring to bribe a public official and tax evasion — did not respond to a request for comment.
Last year, Tillman, along with his son, Milton Tillman III, and Bernard Dixon, were acquitted of corruption charges in Baltimore City Circuit Court over the alleged “double posting” of bonds.
Tillman’s attorney, Dwight Pettit, derided the state’s case, saying prosecutors “wasted all this time and energy on a non-case.”
But Gentile said he knew Tillman to play fast and loose with the law when he owned a club called Odells.
“I was there numerous times,” he said. “It was supposed to be a private club, but he was charging at the door and serving alcohol.”
Gentile’s case against Tillman was placed on an inactive docket. The veteran vice cop believes it was the impetus for federal tax evasion charges that sent Tillman to prison.
“There was more to him,” Gentile said. “I don’t think there was enough to get the feds excited to go on a RICO [Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act] charge. Back in the day, in the ’70s, and Odells in the mid-’80s, there were a lot of eastside dealers, westside dealers. Milton knew everybody. There was a lot of money being laid down in there.”
“And money,” Gentile said, “is the root of all of the evil.”
What was seized
Agents took the following from seven Tillman-related properties:
73 boxes of evidence from 1101 North Point Blvd., the headquarters of New Trend Development Inc., including property records, deeds, settlement statements and gambling tax forms.
58 boxes of evidence from 2332 E. Monument St., the home of 4 Aces Bail Bonds, including daily logs, credit card log sheets and cashier’s checks.
27 boxes of evidence from 1003 Greenmount Ave., the home of XPress Bail Bonds, including life insurance policies, payment logs and computer hard drives.
14 boxes from the Dundalk Marine Terminal, building 1200A, including union seniority lists, personnel rosters and payroll forms.
Two boxes from 2410 Pinewood Ave., including an American Express card, property tax records and a laptop computer.
One box from the home of Milton Tillman III, on the 3800 block of Kimble Street, including a bank statement, a casino advertisement and small-business finance statements.
Items from a 2001 Buick Regal registered to 4 Aces Bail Bonds Inc., including a cell phone, telephone numbers and bail bonds forms.
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