United States v. Sokolow

In July of 1984 Andrew Sokolow, using the assumed name Andrew Kray, booked airline flights from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Miami, Florida, for himself and his girlfriend, Janet Norian. He paid cash for their tickets, bringing out a substantial roll of $20 bills and peeling off the requisite $2100 in front of a rather surprised airline ticket agent. The ticket agent found Sokolow's manner of payment for his tickets unusual, and thought that Sokolow was "acting nervous." Accordingly, the agent alerted Officer John McCarthy of the Honolulu Police Department to the situation. McCarthy investigated by attempting to telephone "Kray" at the phone number Sokolow had left with the ticket agent, but was only able to reach a message machine at the number. The ticket agent listened to the message on the tape and confirmed that it was Sokolow's voice on the recording. McCarthy then found that "Kray" and Norian had booked a return flight from Miami to Honolulu just three days hence, making their stay in Florida exceedingly short given the 20 hours of flying time required for the round-trip journey. He also determined that "Kray" and Norian would make stopovers in Denver, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California, on their return flight.