This week The Keys Store debuted a new shirt design and immediately received questions. The design, which we named the Bum Farto, depicts a pair of tawdry rose-colored sunglasses, the question, "Where is Bum Farto", and "El Jefe". While some of you are covered in layers of crusty Key West salt and know exactly what all that's about, others may need some background, as the tale is nearly a quarter century old.
It was the 1970s, and Key West, Florida was a different place than it is now. some say better, and others would disagree, but that's a post for another time. Today is all about Mr. Farto. And yes, that is his real name...at least partly.
In the decade of disco and excess, Joseph "Bum" Farto became famous for a few reasons. Like most Conchs, a term for a native Key Wester and the local high school's mascot, Farto was proud. he dressed to impress, often wearing vibrant red leisure suits which looked super fly with his rose-lensed glasses. Farto was proud of his job as fire chief and affixed a vanity tag that read, "El Jefe", Spanish for chief, to his flashy lime green car. Stories often support Farto's character, describing him as a good chief, a local hero, and a proud supporter of Conch baseball. He was a true eccentric on an island famous for eccentricity and the unconventionalities do not end with his clothing or car.
Farto was convicted of selling cocaine right out of the fire house and briefly went to jail with dozens of other high-ranking and well-connected Key West citizens. Among those arrested on various drug offenses, Farto was bailed out by one defendant, and represented by yet another which, even by Key West standards was unusual.
Also unusual was Farto's belief in rituals and what some call witchcraft. He believed some of these would help the local team win games and other aspects of these belifes are alleged to be the reason he did not testify on his own behalf when he was on trial for selling cocaine to an undercover informant.
Farto was found guilty and between his trial and sentencing, he told his wife he had business to attend to in Miami and that he'd be back later that night. It took her three weeks to report him missing, plenty of time for him to either make a clean getaway or for the mafia to clean up the evidence, depending on what story you believe. What is for certain is that nobody willing to go on record has any evidence of seeing Joseph "Bum" Farto since early March of 1976.
Farto would be over 100 years old today if he did make a run for Costa Rica or the Bahamas as some would lead you to believe, and it us unlikelier by the day that he will ever be seen alive again, but here in the Keys, we don't let legends die, and will continue to ask the world, "Where is Bum Farto?".