The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 1

The Miami Herald Herald MiamiHerald.com ECUADOR Scandal has sex, drugs, grave robbing In the wake of a notary's death, thousands are in a panic over the millions of dollars they invested in an elaborate pyramid scheme. BY STEVEN DUDLEY A small town has blown up into scandal involving military officers grave diggings Notary Quito hotel in the mistress, authorities notary's pyramid scheme a full-fledged national everything from senior to Viagra to impromptu and even Miami. Cabrera died Oct. 26 in a company of his 18-year-old say. An autopsy showed the 71-year-old had cocaine, whiskey and Viagra in his system, but the cause of death has not been determined.

His sudden demise caused panic among thousands of people who had invested a minimum of $10,000 on the promise of receiving upwards of 8 percent interest per month. Some of these investors were high-ranking military personnel, judges and politicians, investigators say. The rest were rank-and-file residents of Machala, a small city on the Peruvian border and site of Cabrera's office. NOTARY: Cabrera ran a $900 million pyramid scheme in Ecuador for roughly 10 years. In Latin America, notaries are influential because they handle property transactions, but in Ecuador it is illegal for notaries to act as banks as Cabrera did.

Cabrera brought in the town's residents around 2001, when his then-5-year-old pyramid scheme in which high returns for early investors lure in more who lose their money was starting to crash under the weight of the 12 percent monthly interest rates he was paying out. The investments were staggering. Investigators say Cabrera may have collected up to $900 million over a 10-year period, most of it from Machala residents. "They begged, they prayed, they even cried so he would take their money," Celio Rosario, a Machala investigative journalist TURN TO SCHEME, 2A WAR ON TERRORISM Miami-raised FBI agent leads terrorist hunt Philip Mudd, who grew up in South Miami, is part of a team trying to organize the FBI's intelligence efforts to counter terrorism threats. BY FRANK DAVIES WASHINGTON One of the nation's top officials hunting terrorists today learned culture shock as the only non-Cuban on the LaSalle High baseball team and used to sneak over the right-field fence at Mark Light Stadium to watch the Miami Hurricanes play ball.

These days, Philip Mudd works with senior leaders on "mahogany row" in FBI headquarters near Director Robert Mueller. His job is to "think like the enemy," al Qaeda, which he says is "absolutely dedicated to striking again at us, the head of the snake," as it did on Sept. 11, 2001. Four months ago, after a 20-year career at the CIA, Mudd was named deputy director of the new National Security Branch at the FBI, which is still scrambling to beef up counterintelligence, monitoring the threat from Islamic extremists and striving to prevent attacks. Mudd, 44, describes that threat with the caution of an analyst, which he was at the TURN TO MUDD, 2A KY 50 CENTS 103RD YEAR, NO.

104 THE MIAMI HERALD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2005 KEYS FINAL TROPICAL LIFE SCALING BACK HOW MUCH EXERCISE WILL IT TAKE TO BURN OFF THOSE TEMPTING HOLIDAY GOODIES? OUCH SPORTS, 1D PANTHERS FALL GOALIE ROBERTO LUONGO LETS ONE SLIP PAST IN THE SHOOTOUT AS FLORIDA LOSES TO PHILADELPHIA INSIDE NATION, 3A READING SKILLS GO DOWN THE PROFICIENCY OF COLLEGE GRADUATES DECLINES, STUMPING EXPERTS LOCAL NEWS, 1B BUS DRIVER TIED TO BOMB THREAT A BROWARD BUS DRIVER WAS CHARGED WITH POSSESSING A HOMEMADE BOMB BUSINESS, 6B STORAGE FIRMS FILLING UP FAST FLORIDA CAPITALIZES ON SENTIMENTALITY WITH A BOOM IN SELF STORAGE SPORTS, ID LSU PLAYERS HELP EVACUEES LSU CAMPUS BECAME AN ARMY CAMP, AND PLAYERS HOUSED DOZENS OF FAMILY MEMBERS WEATHER VERY SUNNY, COOL TODAY'S HIGH: 72 LOW: 57 Bryan Norcross' forecast, back of section Online: weather.herald.com INDEX ACTION LINE. 118 EDITORIALS. 16A SE 3E LOTTERY. 12B BUSINESS. 6B CLASSIFIED.

1F 12E DEATHS 4B MOVIES. 6E 3A 4A WEATHER WORLD. 19A RIDDER) UPFRONT SUPER-SIZED ATHLETES AMERICA IS GETTING BIGGER. SO ARE NFL PLAYERS. AVERAGE LINEMEN ARE 320 POUNDS.

EVEN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS ARE HUGE. ARE YOUR KIDS AT RISK? BY LINDA ROBERTSON Stockar McDougle, son of a chef, is the largest Miami Dolphin at 6-4, 348 pounds. He wears size 16 cleats, size 46 pants, a size 62 suit jacket and a size 15 ring. He is a mountain of a man, but a mountain who can run the 40-yard dash in 5.2 seconds and bench press 450 pounds. McDougle's teammate, Wade Smith, majored in eating as a college senior, adding 25 pounds to impress NFL scouts.

He has packed on almost 100 pounds in seven years to remake himself as a football player. He longs for the day when his wife can see him slim down from 315 to 220 because that is "the real me." University of Miami tackle Eric Winston insists he won't bulk up as Smith did. He hopes his reputation as a master of the "pancake block" and his 312 pounds will be enough to make it in the NFL. Teenager Kevin Perez, 275 pounds and growing, dreams of being a pro. So he drinks three high-calorie "Gainer" shakes per day to supplement frozen pizzas for breakfast and mounds of Cuban food for dinner.

The Miami Killian High player hired a personal trainer. The focus on body expansion paid off; he signed a scholarship to Georgia. Like Perez, Pace High's Javon Hill 6-4, 330 pounds TURN TO POUNDAGE, 12A AL HERALD STAFF HEFTY LINEMAN: Dolphins tackle Vernon Carey weighs 340 pounds and once was 370. 'We are gladiators. It worries you, but it's the life we've he says.

REAL ESTATE Pioneers with their Urban pioneers who placed a bet on their futures when they bought homes in dicey neighborhoods are cashing in as property values soar. BY LISA ARTHUR Tony Velazquez and his girlfriend grabbed their wine glasses and strolled out the front door of his house to the seawall at the end of Northeast 25th Street for a moonlit capper to their dinner date. As they enjoyed the bay view, two neighborhood crackheads started harassing them and threatened to rob them. Velazquez got in their faces. Cursed them out.

Invited them to follow him to his house so he could drop off his girlfriend and get his gun. He dialed the police on his cellphone. The thugs took off. "It's easy to be an urban pioneer when you have a badge," said Velazquez, 41, a federal law enforcement agent who has seen the market value of his property in the 400 block of Northeast 25th Street nearly triple since he bought it in 2000 for $255,000. He encountered the thugs a month after he moved in.

It didn't make him think twice MIAMIHERALD.COM: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HEAVY ATHLETES? DISCUSS IT IN A MIAMI HERALD READER FORUM IN TODAY'S EXTRAS strike gold, homes in TROPICAL BACKYARD: Noel Suarez, Rodriguez at Suarez's house in backyard into a tropical haven. about his investment. Now he's reaping the benefits. He took the equity out of the house to buy a half-million-dollar home in Morningside, which he rents out, and a condo for his father. As Miami remakes itself, reclaiming once-stately neighbor- 77785 13333 see green urban areas RONNA HERALD STAFF left, chats with friend Alex Palm Grove.

Suarez nurtured his hoods lost to neglect, poverty and crime during the '70s and '80s, such TURN TO URBAN, 20A MIAMIHERALD.COM: FOR A TOUR OF THE NEIGHBORHOODS, CLICK ON TODAY'S EXTRAS 1 INFORMATION FOR LIVE.