March 2: Gibson robs David Altieri's Nissan 300ZX at gun point. Selling price: $175.

March 3: Walls pistol-whips Halle outside the Macy's in Plantation. He is captured soon after -- by Plantation police.

Mid-March: Gibson and some of his pals commit eight more robberies, each time putting guns to the heads of their victims, and each time selling the stolen cars to the sheriff's squad.

The sheriff's own auto-theft investigators and Fort Lauderdale police were puzzled over the crime wave. They were the kind of tinder-box crimes that detectives like to snuff out fast.

Capone said he knew fellow officers were struggling to solve the cases, but didn't want to blow the unit's cover. He phoned in an anonymous tip, he said, when a BSO auto-theft unit issued a bulletin with a composite sketch resembling Gibson and an accomplice.

The secret operation began to unravel on March 22, the day several of the teens got into a gunfight with Buck, when he caught them hot-wiring his van outside his West Broward home.

Prosecutor Walsh read an article about the battle the next morning -- and recognized the name of one suspect who was arrested. He was a steady customer of Trade Winds.

"At that point, I knew there was real danger, " Walsh said. "I said, 'Yeah, this is an undercover sting operation, but I can't let people sit in the dark anymore.' "

About the same time, Fort Lauderdale detectives caught up with Gibson. He confessed. Detectives were furious when Walsh told them the BSO undercover unit was running the fencing operation and knew about Gibson all along.

Under pressure, Navarro called in a trusted aide, Bertucelli, to rescue the investigation.

"The case was falling apart, " Bertucelli said last week. "They didn't have a sense of who would be arrested and who would not. They didn't know what they were doing."

After Trade Winds shut down in early June, the sheriff's office spun some publicity out of it.

Standing in front of TV cameras and reporters, Navarro announced the operation's conclusion. Dozens of stolen guns were displayed on a long table. Navarro said 70 suspects committed close to 300 crimes. He said nothing about the problems getting the crooks behind bars.

Navarro and Capone sent a letter to police chiefs, telling them that they had recovered property stolen in their cities.

The letter proclaimed Trade Winds a success that sent a strong message to South Florida's criminals.

"Crime does not pay, " the letter said.