This bird is no dope

MIAMI -- The undercover drug investigation was called Operation Giraffe, because the prime suspect ran a wild animal farm.

So when agents listening to a wiretapped conversation overheard the phrase 'a kilo of toco toucan,' they assumed that it was a code name for cocaine.

That started police on a wild goose chase until they discovered that 'toco toucan' referred instead to a real toucan -- a banana-beaked, saucer-eyed bird named Skippy, a ringer for the bird used on Fruit Loop cereal boxes.

This week, 18 months after the misunderstood conversation, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges are being dropped against the bird's owner, attorney Harold F. Keefe, said prosecutor Peter Outerbridge.

'It has not been a happy 18 months,' said Keefe, 39, a former assistant U.S. attorney who could have faced 35 years in prison had he been convicted.

Twelve suspects still face trial in the case, called Operation Giraffe because of suspect Mario Tabraue's Dade County wild animal farm.

Keefe said the trouble began when Tabraue, his client, gave him Skippy.

Police suspected Tabraue of heading a drug ring, and were monitoring Tabraue's telephone calls when he and Keefe had a late-night conversation in early 1981.

'I've got your kilo of toco toucan,' Tabraue said.

'What?' Keefe asked.

'I've got your bird,' Tabraue answered.

Police reported 'nervous laughter' followed and then Keefe asked when he should pick it up.

'I hate to keep it in a box all night,' Tabraue responded, so Keefe went to pick it up in the middle of the night.

Keefe said that if police thought he was picking up cocaine, they should have arrested him and searched the car.

Furthermore, agents should have realized the meaning of the discussion the next day when Keefe's wife, Lois, called Tabraue on the same wiretapped line to get advice about caring for the bird.

That conversation was not transcribed until recently, however, when Outerbridge took over the case.

Keefe was arrested on May 26, 1981.

William P. Cagney III, Keefe's attorney, planned to bring Skippy to court 'sitting on my shoulder.' Even when the bird died in September, Keefe followed Cagney's instructions to put the bird in his freezer to keep as evidence.

Now, Keefe says he will keep Skippy 'as a memento of how this can happen to somebody in the system.'