The Underground Church of the Most High/The T.O.K.E. Organization present:
PRISONER of WAR

William "Bunky" LaMorte

'Bunky' LaMorte dead at 60

'Bunky' LaMorte dead at 60

Bill LaMorte during an interview at Schuykill Federal Correction Institution in June 1998.
1998 Suffolk times file photo

Convicted international drug smuggler dies in prison
By Troy Gustavson
Former Southold resident William "Bunky" LaMorte died of a heart attack on Wednesday, July 4, at the federal correctional institution in Fort Dix, N.J. He was 60 years old.
Mr. LaMorte, who lived on the North Fork from the late 1970s until 1989, had served 16 years of a 50-year sentence for conspiring to smuggle 120 tons of marijuana and hashish into the United States from 1970 through 1989. He was convicted in March 1991 and would not have been eligible for parole until 2019.
Mr. LaMorte was born in Pelham Manor, N.Y., on Dec. 8, 1946. His parents were Willard and Mignon LaMorte.
He graduated from St. Bonaventure (N.Y.) University, and began work for his family's pollution control business. Later, after moving into a log cabin estate overlooking Shelter Island Sound, he owned five Key Food supermarkets in the New York metropolitan area, including ones in Cutchogue and Hampton Bays. In a 1998 interview with The Suffolk Times, he estimated annual sales for the supermarkets at $50 million.
It was through these legitimate businesses that Mr. LaMorte was presumed to have amassed the personal wealth reflected by his numerous homes, 100-foot motor yacht and helicopter. He and his family were quickly accepted by members of the North Fork community, and he even sponsored a local CYO basketball team and hosted political fundraisers at his Southold estate.
However, as government prosecutors were later able to prove, he was leading a double life as the principal of a major international drug smuggling operation. At the time of his conviction, he was fined $49.2 million and stripped of $24.6 million in cash and personal property, including the boat, helicopter and residential properties in New York, Connecticut, Florida and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Mr. LaMorte is survived by his second wife, Dawn LaMorte of Mount Vernon, N.Y.; his first wife, Katie LaMorte of Southold; three children, Tiffany, Tammy and Andrew; a granddaughter; and six siblings, Ann, Mignon, Debbie, Lisa, Rita and Thomas.
Private funeral services were conducted July 10 in New Rochelle, N.Y. Cremation followed.
In his 1998 interview with The Suffolk Times, Mr. LaMorte was asked if the luxurious lifestyle he enjoyed from smuggling drugs had been worth the price he eventually paid. He replied:
"Was it worth it? I'm being honest when I say it was exciting. But I'm certainly not recommending it to anybody. Maybe if I hadn't lived that lifestyle I wouldn't have realized that that lifestyle is not what it's all about. How many people are going through life today thinking that money is what it's about? That's what the world is ... That's not what it's about. But would I be able to sit here and tell you that if I hadn't gone through the whole thing? No, I don't think so."
The family requests that any memorial donations be made to St. Labre Indian School, Ashland, MT 59004 or Running Strong for American Indian Youth, P.O. Box 670, Raton, NM 87740.

PRISONER OF WAR

of the war on us!!!