Larry Keefe, who has been referred to as Florida's "Public Safety Czar", used a fake identity to communicate with the CEO of Vertol Systems. Keefe and Montgomerie exchanged communication for several days to coordinate terms for the flight from Texas to Massachusetts, as well as two other flights planned to Delaware and Illinois.
The email address heat19.heat19@gmail.com was used by Keefe to communicate with Montgomerie. It is not clear if the call sign in question is Heat 19 or Clarice Starling, as the Office of Open Government stated in a memo at the start of these documents that both were call signs.
Keefe reminded Montgomerie to use the Starling pseudonym after being addressed as "Larry" by Montgomerie.
In an email on August 30, Keefe outlined the terms of a contract between the Florida Department of transportation and Vertol Systems, which was then reformatted into an official communication on Vertol Systems letterhead signed by Montgomerie. The relocation of immigrants from Texas to Massachusetts is referred to as "Project 1" in the memo. There is an email and a document.
VSC proposes to provide to FDOT transportation-related, humanitarian relocation services (hereafter the “Services”)...This first Project (hereafter “Project 1"), shall involve the relocation of individuals to the state of Massachusetts or other, proximate northeastern state designated by FDOT based upon the extant conditions...The estimated total price for all Services related to Project 1 is an amount between $445,000.00 and $525,000.00 subject to FDOT approval.
Between September 19 and October 3, 2022, Montgomerie sent another memo to the Florida Department of Transportation. A plan to relocate up to 50 immigrants to Delaware was scrapped at the last minute.
Gizmodo reached out to Keefe and Montgomerie but they didn't respond to our request for comment.
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