Re: Pancho Villa's Silver
There are many sources tying Pancho Villa to sources of gold or silver. One is, "The Life and Times of Pancho Villa" by Freidrich Katz:
[When Villa was imprisoned in 1912 and questioned by a judge, he said that "on more than one occasion, he had been responsible for carrying large sums of money, such as 700,000 pesos, for the paymasters of the mines on the Northwestern Railroad, and on another occasion was responsible for transporting thirty-six bars of silver and six bars of gold and he never took a cent from these large sums."]
Pancho Villa was a bandit and murderer, by his own words, so you can take that into consideration when judging his veracity.
From the same book there are these statements:
[Furber had acquired a large silver mine in Durango. "The wagons carrying the concentrates over the long rough road to Durango were drawn by mules," he recounts in his memoirs. "I needed a good man to take charge of the teams and drivers en route. By good I mean good in a fight in case the drivers quarreled or in case the wagons were held up. I chose a tough specimen who gave me his name as Pancho Villa."]
The El Paso Morning Times reported on March 13, 1914. "Villa reportedly paid 20,000 in gold for this property and Mrs. Villa said today that the profits will go to the Constitutionalist cause."
[In 1916, the U.S. Authorities found Villa's brother Hipólito, who had fled to Texas after his brother's defeat, in possession of several hundred thousand dollars. While this money may have been Hipólito's alone--he was notoriously corrupt--relations between the two brothers were such that part of it at least must have belonged to Pancho Villa. It is nevertheless not clear whether this money was to be used for personal purposes or whether Villa intended it as a reserve to buy arms and ammunition in the United States.]
[Once he returned to Chihuahua, Villa had a mausoleum erected for himself in the city's largest cemetery, but most of the money he took in was probably destined for his increasingly numerous and complex family. He built or expropriated houses for some of his wives, gave money to his mistresses, recognized all of his children, and did his best to support all of them.]
[Villa's decision to stay in Mexico and to fight on clearly differentiates him from most of the traditional caudillos in Latin American history. Men like Batista and Somoza, once their troops had been defeated, took millions from the state treasury and fled the country in order to lead the good life in exile. Villa could have done the same. In fact, he and his brothers seem to have brought $500,000 to the United States. "Villa and his brother Hipólito have $500,000 laid away for a rainy day, U.S. Customs officials declare," the El Paso Herald reported in November 1915. "The money was stacked in piles of bills, with a small drawer filled with gold coins. None of the money was taken, as it was personal property."
This was just a fraction of the money that Villa could have accumulated if money had been his main aim in life. He had controlled the finances of the División del Norte, and millions of dollars had passed through his hands. Even with the money that he had, he could have easily led a prosperous life as an exile.]
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It would seem that Villa treasure in the U.S. is not that far fetched after all. The chances are good that it happened.
Joe Ribaudo
