The Havana Exchange

In January 1934 a Minnesota banker was kidnapped, taken to Illinois and held for about two weeks until a $200,000 ransom was paid in marked five- and ten-dollar bills. In June 1934, months after the victim's release, a Detroit man whose main business was gambling in Chicago, Detroit and Havana became involved. That September he exchanged about $92,000 of the marked ransom money for unmarked currency in Havana, taking a 25% commission. He was tried with two others for conspiring to kidnap, transport interstate and hold the victim for ransom. The defence argued the conspiracy ended when the ransom was paid and the victim freed, months before his involvement; that the kidnapping law covered transporting a victim, not changing money; and that he did not know it was ransom money.