The Gene Holloway Story

Gene Holloway is alive and for the second time in his colorful life people are shocked to hear it.

Yes, that Gene Holloway. The cowboy hat and boots wearing, sky diving, mountain climbing, woman-chasing, alcohol tasting, exotic animal owning and life of the party whose rags to riches story captivated Tampa Bay in the 1970s and 1980s. Yes, that Gene Holloway. The man who once owned the eighth most profitable restaurant in the nation–the Sea Wolf–married a former Miss Tampa, collected dozens upon dozens of priceless antiques just to brag about how much money he spent, ran for president and tried to bribe the pope to come to dine at his restaurant. Yes, that Gene Holloway. The man who at the height of his popularity and seemingly at the height of his riches was accused of torching his home and then "disappeared" in the Gulf of Mexico one night when he fell off his boat in 1981. Yes, that Gene Holloway–the man who was pronounced dead, only to be arrested for supposedly dealing drugs in Canada a few months later. Yes, that Gene Holloway. If you have never heard of Gene Holloway, everything printed above is 100 percent true. While it seems like the plot of a blockbuster summer movie, it is actually the life story of a local man.

Yes, that Gene Holloway is still alive. However, he barely resembles the Gene Holloway who once captivated Tampa Bay.

His famous trademark cowboy attire has been retired to a storage facility somewhere in Odessa. His Kenny Rogers-esqe salt and pepper beard is now all salt. The only antiques he collects are those he finds while out treasure hunting on the coastline–some old coins, a few meteorites and some random items like discarded bottles. His exotic animals are a thing of the past. He does not even own a goldfish. He no longer desires to be the center of attention. The man who once embodied the fast-living, extravagant, buy-everything-you-want, party hard lifestyle that defined the 1970s and 1980s wants to leave that person in the past. He can't even remember the last time he was invited to a party, and hordes of guests stomping upon his pearly white carpets is the type of scenario that haunts his dreams; he now makes everyone who steps foot in his home remove their shoes.

Yes, it is the same Gene Holloway that once owned the front page headlines of Tampa Bay's daily newspapers. Yet, he appears to be a totally different Gene Holloway.

"I have not really changed too much," argued Holloway in a subdued manner that does not fit the abrasive personality he once showcased. "People like to think I did all these bad things, but the truth is I have only been in trouble with the law one time in my life and it was not for doing anything that could hurt others. I will not say that I have always lived my life like an angel, but I have always been a good person who wants to do good things for people."

"My father is a classic case of temptation," said Holloway's son, Randy. "We all like to think that we will act purely when temptation is thrown our way. The truth is most of us would not be able to resist from the start. My father came from nothing and became a self-made millionaire while still in his mid-30s. Then the temptation came. Everyone suddenly wanted to be his friend. Everyone had their hands out and everyone was handing him something. It was tough temptation to resist and he will admit to that. I think his story is one that people could learn from."

It is a story that begins on May 1, 1937 in Sulphur Springs, the date and place of his birth.

Gene Holloway Growing Up

His family was poor. Real poor. So poor that even as a toddler, an age in which children should see the world through rose-colored lenses, Holloway knew they were poor. Holloway's early life was spent living in a small shack along Route 41 near the phosphate pit at which his father worked. There were four siblings in all, Holloway being the second oldest. His sister was the oldest and he had two younger brothers, and they were the only four children they knew who did not own a single pair of shoes.

Life was far from perfect for the Holloways and it got even more difficult in the 1940s when his father enlisted in the merchant marine to serve his country during World War II. With their sole provider gone, the Holloways moved in with their maternal grandmother. It only provided temporary stability. His mother was caught cheating on his father with a soldier home from war. His father filed for divorce from overseas. This was a patriotic time in America. The troops were fighting for our freedom against an enemy unlike the world had ever seen. Any man risking his life was considered a hero and turning your back on a hero while he was still off at war was looked down upon immensely. Not only did the judge grant Holloway's father a divorce, he also ordered Holloway's mother to leave the state of Florida and never return. She was banned from ever seeing her children again.

Their father was still at war, though, and their grandmother could not handle four rambunctious children on her own. His sister stayed with the grandmother while 7-year-old Holloway and his two younger brothers were sent to live in a small two-story children's home located on hundreds of acres of land across the street from Ballast Point Elementary School. The home was owned by a woman Holloway only remembers as "Mother Hancock." She lived there with her own children and another 20 who, like Holloway, were displaced because of the war. Bunks were stacked in two bedrooms into which the children crammed. And the land was home to hundreds of hogs and cows, animals which the children tended.

"My father paid for us to live there and she also made money off the work we did," said Holloway. "Smart woman I guess."

In the mornings, Holloway milked the cows and fed the pigs. By day, he attended school. And at night, Holloway's job was to rub Ponds cream on Mother Hancock's face as all the children listened to the radio. He was also the home's official rat hunter. He would set traps throughout the home and was paid 25 cents a rat.

"I had a different upbringing," laughed Holloway. "And at least I had shoes for a while."

He often got into trouble; usually boys-will-be-boys type trouble like playing with another child's chemistry set against his will or sneaking candy into his room. No matter how innocent the crime, the punishment was always the same–lashes with a riding crop.

This was Holloway's life for five years. Then, the war ended and his father returned home to save Holloway and his brothers from the children's home. His father found work on a dredging team. Unfortunately, he did not have a home. Holloway's sister continued to live with the grandmother while Holloway, his brothers, his father and his father's new wife lived on an old yellow school bus they used to follow the dredging work. The children continued to go to school, attending whichever one was closest to where they parked and at night would roll out makeshift beds of towels onto the bus floor while his father and step-mother slept in a pull out bed in the back of the bus. And Holloway again became the child with no shoes.

"My dad was a heavy drinker by that time," said Holloway. "And he was not a very responsible person. In a way, my father is responsible for the man I became. I looked at him and knew I never wanted to be like him. I wanted to be successful."

They lived on that bus for three years before his father finally settled the family down in a small home in Drew Park. Holloway attended Oak Grove High School, but school was secondary to him. He wanted to make money. He sold newspapers on the corner before school and later delivered doughnuts in Sulphur Springs, making the long trek to work each morning via bicycle. He was a hustler and never shied away from hard work. Within a few months time he became supervisor to all the delivery boys, a job that equaled higher pay and all the doughnuts he could eat.

He dropped out of school during his senior year, got married and fathered a son, Daniel. He was making decent money for a teenager, had a beautiful bride and a new baby. Yet, something was missing–adventure. He had lived his whole life in one small section of the world and knew there was a lot more to see. All he had ever known were the poor streets of Tampa Bay. He wanted to experience life.

The Navy provided him with the adventure he sought. He enlisted at the age of 17 and bid goodbye to his new family.

"He never was father of the year," said an angry Daniel.

Holloway was stationed aboard a ship that travelled to such exotic destinations as New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica.

In New Zealand, he fell in love with mountain climbing. Florida is flat, after all, so he had never seen a mountain in person prior to joining the Navy. To Holloway, they were the ultimate test of his manhood, thousands of miles of treacherous rock screaming out to the paltry humans upon whom they look down on, "You are small and insignificant! You cannot possibly conquer me!"

Holloway earned his mountain climbing stripes on the rocky hills of New Zealand, but he earned legendary status on Mt. Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth and one of the highest mountains in Antarctica.

Snow was as much of a mystery to Holloway as mountains. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. He wanted to run out into the Antarctic like a little boy and frolic about. So, when his commanding officers asked for volunteers to learn to man the dog sleds, Holloway leapt at the opportunity. By the end of his first visit to Antarctica he mastered controlling nine-dog sled teams. One particular trip on the sled brought him to the foot of Mt. Erebus. It was the ultimate challenge. He wanted to conquer it and he promised himself that if he ever returned to Antarctica he would.

His ship returned the following year and he began telling his shipmates of his desire. Word travelled back to his captain, who called him into his quarters one afternoon and asked him if he was serious. Of course he was, he told the captain, he knew if given the opportunity he could make it to the top. Not only did the captain give him permission to make the climb, he wanted to tag along.

A few days later a team consisting of Holloway, the captain, an AP reporter, and a Cal Tech University professor began making their way up the mountain via banana sled.

The journey was difficult, but Holloway was 20 years old and nothing but rippling muscle. He could make it. The others, however, were suspect, specifically the captain who, while in good shape, was over 50 years old.

At around 2,000 feet, Holloway overheard the captain telling Charlie Mayer that he wanted to turn back, that he wanted to call a helicopter to come pick them up. Holloway was having none of that. He rushed into the captain's tent, where the conversation was taking place, and said he refused to go home. He wanted to make it to the top. The captain agreed to allow Holloway to continue. Charlie Mayer and the captain took the helicopter back to the ship. Hugh Anderson continued with Holloway.

At around 8,000 feet a storm hit–a total white out. They did not have a radio to call for help, so they hunkered down in their tents and prayed for survival. In their minds, death was inevitable.

Holloway does not know how, but they survived the night. In the morning, the storm cleared and they were able to continue their journey. They made it to the top and looked into the giant crater, basking in the warmth of the volcanic steam.

The following morning, they began their trek home. A few thousand feet down, a helicopter spotted them and picked them up. The pilot was shocked that they made it to the top. He informed Holloway that just a few weeks earlier, the great Sir Edmund Hillary, famously known for being the first to climb Mount Everest, failed to conquer Mt. Erebus, turning back at the first sight of a white out.

"That will always be one of my greatest accomplishments," he said. But it is far from one of his most famous. When he returned to Tampa a few years later, the seeds of the legend of Gene Holloway were planted.

Gene Holloway Starts His Career

By the age of 23 years old, he was married with two children. The Navy did not provide him with a skill-set for any particular career, but it taught him how to use his drive and determination in an organized way. "The U.S. military breeds organization," said Holloway.

He worked various odd jobs for a few years, primarily earning a living as a junk collector. If he found a broken piece of machinery that nobody wanted, he would take it, fix it and sell it for a nice profit. He made decent money, but the money was secondary to the sales experience he earned.

He found steady work with Food Enterprises, a food brokerage company that supplied restaurants and stores with their goods. He was a skilled salesman and, several years after he was hired, he was the top earner in the company. When the owner was killed in a car accident, the company was up for grabs. Holloway approached a gentleman he knew had the money to buy the company and pitched him on being partners. Holloway told the moneyman that if he bought the company, he would run it. They would be 50/50 partners and the moneyman would get rich without ever having to do one minute of work. The potential partner laughed at Holloway, telling him he was going to buy the company for his son and that he did not need Holloway to make the venture successful.

Holloway did not pout or sulk. Instead, he bid good day and started his own food brokerage company, Service Brokerage Company. Many of his old clients went with him. He then added a number of new companies and after his first year in business he was over $70,000 richer–a lot of money to earn in those days–especially for a man who once lived on a bus and could not afford a pair of shoes.

Over the next few years, he was divorced, remarried, divorced, remarried again and then divorced again. While his love life was chaotic, his business was not. It continued to surge upwards. In 1968, he received a major break. A new restaurant called Red Lobster was opened in Lakeland, Florida and Holloway was hired as its food broker. Within a few years time, the solo restaurant exploded into 175 locations and Holloway was the broker for all of them. His company was worth millions, which is what he got for it when he sold it to General Mills in the early 1970s. At the age of 36, Gene Holloway was a self-made millionaire.

The first major purchase he made with his newfound riches was a 9,000-square-foot home on Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland. Of course, this was just the first of many purchases.

Gene Holloway Marries Former Miss Tampa

He met wife #4 in 1974 while skydiving in Zephyrhills. Her name was Debbie Ponton and she was gorgeous, a former Miss Tampa in fact. They both had an affinity for adventure and fast living. She was the type of woman he once only dreamt of dating. Once he was a millionaire, it was possible to win the heart of such a woman.

They dated for a year and were married in 1975. Most newspaper and magazine accounts in the past claimed they were married in 1979, but Holloway said they are wrong. It was 1975.

The wedding was as colorful as their marriage later became. They were married on Lake Hollingsworth in front of 400-500 of their closest friends. As Debbie waited at the altar, a C-47, which is a WWII military transport plane, flew overhead, depositing 30 skydivers as it passed. They formed a ring overhead the ceremony, a beautiful symbol for that special day. Then, the plane passed over one more time, jettisoning Holloway and two of his closest friends, Jim Hooper and Jeff Serles, from 10,000 feet.

It was the first time Holloway made a leap outside of the jump-friendly confines of an airport and the highest jump he'd ever attempted. True to his up-to-that-point storybook rise from rags to riches, he landed the jump perfectly; right on X marks the spot.

The new couple was a match made in the 1970s, fast-lifestyle heaven. They continued to skydive at higher and higher altitudes. They held lavish parties at their home. They bought extravagant artifacts and antiques from around the world. They even collected exotic animals–tigers, cougars, peacocks, Clydesdale horses and more.

"The animals were Debbie's idea," said Holloway. "She wanted the big cats so I said sure. Of course, after we bought them I got into them too. I can't lie about that. I loved those cats."

And they dressed the part of Tampa's new wild couple. Debbie was always beautifully adorned in the latest fashions while Holloway strutted around town in cowboy boots, a cowboy hat and rich rancher attire. He saw himself as a modern day cowboy, a man above the law, so he figured he should look the part.

He would soon learn, however, that no one is above the law.

Gene Holloway Opens The Sea Wolf Restaurant

He was too young to retire. He was in his mid-30s, had all the money he needed, a beautiful wife and was life of the party, yet he was bored. Holloway may have been riding in the fast lane, but that was all a façade. He was a blue collar man to the bone and he needed to be earning a living to be happy.

He'd partnered with a handful of people on seafood restaurants located throughout the state, but none of that made him happy. He was a not a "go along for the ride" type of guy. He needed to be THE man in charge. He enjoyed the restaurant business because he was good at it; his black book full of seafood connections from his years as a broker meant he could find the best deals in town. He was tired of using his connections to help make other people rich, however. He was ready to venture out on his own.

Holloway knew that each Red Lobster was earning close to $1 million a year. He thought he could do better. He thought he could open a more successful restaurant chain than Red Lobster. Because of the low prices at which he could buy seafood, he could also sell it at a much cheaper price than Red Lobster, stealing their business away. His plan was to start with two restaurants–one in Tampa across from Busch Gardens and one in Lakeland–and when they became self-sufficient expand his empire throughout the state and later the nation.

He called his restaurant chain The Sea Wolf, named after the famous Jack London book about a hunting expedition in the Bering Sea. He read the book while stationed in Antarctica and the underlying Darwinian theme of survival of the fittest spoke to him. Considering from where he came and what he had done to survive, it was a fitting name for the restaurant. The décor would be just as fitting; it told each visitor exactly who Gene Holloway was–a wild, exotic, free spending man living in the fast lane. The Lakeland location was popular, but the Tampa location was his marquee, a home for his wild antique collection. As his menu once read:

From the palm-studded parking lots adorned with ornate five-globe street lights, replicas of the lights that Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders rode under on their way to embark to Cuba, to the hand-painted, stained and polished beveled glass, the Sea Wolf, like the many of the museum pieces it contains, is a true masterpiece.

Many authentic Louis Comfort Tiffany glass paintings are featured throughout the Sea Wolf. Truly a master of his art, the beauty is unequaled in his draped and plated glass. Holloway owns the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass in the world.

Personally supervising over 100,000 hours of carpentry work that went into crafting the Sea Wolf, Holloway demanded perfection from the skilled craftsmen who created by hand the lattice, brackets and moldings inside.

The restaurant also featured a Steinway piano and two 1,000-gallon aquariums. It had widows overlooking gardens full of peacocks, palm trees and tropical plants. And it had a stable of Clydesdales that took customers from the parking lot to the restaurant.

The Tampa Sea Wolf seated over 500 people, yet on weekends it was a scramble to find a seat. With its prime location across from Busch Gardens, exotic and extravagant décor, and its delicious and affordable food, it quickly became THE place to dine. In 1979, it was listed as the eighth highest grossing restaurant in the United States, pulling in over $5 million in revenue.

Of course, the secret to the restaurant's success was also Holloway himself. Many people dined at the restaurant as much for the chance encounter of meeting him as they did for the food and décor. Holloway said he was well aware that personal fame could propel the restaurant to grander heights, so he continued to seek out ways to make the headlines–national headlines.

Gene Holloway Runs For President

Sometime in 1979 or 1980, Hollowed said, he heard murmurings that his employees were talking about unionizing. A professor at USF put them up to it. The professor thought it would make for an interesting social experiment– watching students form a union. A number of his students worked at the restaurant and he told them that the backbone of America's workforce was the unions. If the employees ever expected to be fairly compensated for their work, the professor told his students, they needed to join together as one. Together we stand, united we fall!

The union fell.

Twelve students made up the pro-union team. Sea Wolf had over 150 employees, though. In order to unionize, the students needed to convince the rest of the employees to vote yes. This was a tall order. All the employees loved working for Gene Holloway. He treated them all well. They also feared him. He was so controlling that when he heard rumors of employees stealing food, he installed a permanent lie detector test in the restaurant that he used on any suspects. Holloway was not a man employees wanted to cross.

The 12 students' plan was to win over their fellow employees by showing them that the community supported them. The students planned a rally across the street from the restaurant and invited friends, colleagues and pro-union advocates. If they could garner enough attention and make unionizing the richest restaurant in Tampa a citywide issue, perhaps they could swing the other employees to their side.

Holloway, however, was tipped off to the effort and decided to steal their thunder. He organized a carnival in his parking lot on the same day as the rally. He brought a host of his exotic animals to the parking lot, carnival rides and a day's worth of live entertainment, including himself wrestling a bear! Those dining at the restaurant could not see the picketing employees across the street through the thick circus crowd and those driving by paid the picketers no mind. How could they notice people with signs when cougars were roaming about?

The rally never got the attention it needed and the restaurant employees voted against unionizing. Holloway won.

"It was a brilliant plan," said Tony Zapone, one of Holloway's closest friends at the time. "And it really sums up what made him so successful. He knew the secret to the restaurant's success was to continue to generate all the attention."

If the Sea Wolf was going to become a nationally-recognized restaurant, it needed national publicity. It needed national PR stunts.

"I ran for president," Holloway laughed.

Yes, Gene Holloway decided to run for president in 1980. The primary reason was publicity, he said, and the secondary reason was the escalating gas prices. Gas prices were rising too high and the success of his business depended upon people from throughout the state driving to his restaurant. If gas was too high, he explained, he would lose big time money. At the end of 1979, he said he predicted the gas crisis would cost him up to $2 million in 1980.

One night in early 1980, while slamming back some drinks with his buddies from the Tampa Rough Riders, he babbled on and on about the nation's need for a better president and how the lack of leadership in President Jimmy Carter's administration is what led the nation to the current gas problem. He drunkenly pounded his fist into a table as he spoke passionately about what makes a great leader–drive, determination, fearlessness and a vision that works–and how he had not seen a capable man run for president in a long time. When he was finished his lament and sought to catch his breath, a voice from the back of the room yelled out, "Why don't you run Gene?! You'd make a great president." The rest of the room roared in approval. It was decided. Gene Holloway was going to run.

"We did not really think he could win," said Zapone, who acted as Holloway's press secretary. "But we wanted to run it like a real campaign. We thought if we could get some real push behind it, perhaps we could influence some of the other candidates and get them to support some of the things we wanted to see done. And, more importantly, if the Gene Holloway for president campaign could get real national attention, it would turn him into a national celebrity and help the restaurant."

His party affiliation was "The Bull Moose Party" in honor of Theodore Roosevelt, who ran under that party name when he was denied the Republican Party nomination in 1912. The campaign printed buttons and T-shirts and bumper stickers that it mailed around the nation. They purchased billboard space in Tampa. Holloway spoke throughout the state on why he was running. They planned a national radio and television commercial campaign and even released a platform. Holloway spent a total of $30,000 over a few months before he pulled the plug on his campaign. Despite their best efforts, it was not garnering the type of national attention they had hoped.

"Besides," said Holloway, "when [Ronald] Reagan announced he was going to run, I figured I wasn't needed anymore. He was a fine candidate."

This was not his only failed PR stunt in 1980. That same year, he also tried to lure the pope to his restaurant with a priceless painting, Baptism of Lithuania, by renowned Polish artist Wojciech Gerson. The painting depicts the marriage of Queen Hedwig of Poland and the Prince of Lithuania, a marriage that resulted in the conversion of Lithuania to Christianity. Holloway purchased the painting at an auction in New York and put it on display in his restaurant. A local bishop told Holloway that Pope John Paul II was Polish and would probably love to own that important painting, so Holloway announced that if the pope dined at the Tampa Sea Wolf he would give the painting to him. Holloway offered the painting both as a kind gesture to the pope and as a PR stunt. If the pope actually dined at the Sea Wolf, the restaurant would garner worldwide publicity.

The pope never dined at the restaurant.

"It was worth a try," lamented Holloway. "Then the next thing I knew, it was 1982 and I woke up one morning to see a black man in the corner of the room curling his hair and another man sleeping on a cot next to me. I was in prison. I remember saying to myself that it was all a dream, that I was not really in prison. I told myself that I would wake up in a few minutes and be in my own bed and the whole nightmare would be over. Well, I didn't wake up for another five years. I was real. I was in prison for real."

Gene Holloway Fakes His Death

The house was gone, burned to the ground. There were no witnesses, yet investigators did not need long to finger their top culprit–the owner of the Thonotosassa home, Gene Holloway. The timing was too perfect, thought investigators.

In 1981, Debbie Ponton filed for divorce, claiming she walked in on Holloway and his secretary having sex in the Thonotosassa home. In the divorce case, she asked for the Thonotosassa home. The case was a long way from seeing a court room, but Debbie already had a minor victory–a judge granted her an injunction barring Holloway from the home.

He agreed to stay away, but asked Debbie if he could throw one last party there. Debbie figured, "Why not?" so she and her brother, who was staying with her at the house, stayed elsewhere on the night on April 14, 1981.

It was a particularly wild party and Holloway was particularly drunk, witnesses said. Witnesses also said that he was parading around the home, chest puffed out, bragging that he was going to burn the home so that his soon-to-be ex-wife received nothing. Witnesses claimed he said on that evening that he was going to liquidate everything that she could take and then spend the money before the divorce was settled. He was not going to leave her with a thing!

Witnesses also stated he said he was going to use the fire as another publicity stunt. They said he was bragging that he would light the house on fire, climb to the roof and parachute off, later boasting to the press that the fire was an attempt on his life by certain individuals who wished him dead.

"Yeah, a lot of people think I burned that house," said Holloway. "But I was not there when it started. I was real drunk that night, too drunk to drive, so a few of my friends picked me up and drove me [to my Lakeland home]. Somehow, that building blew up that night. Not sure how."

Investigators at the time were positive that Holloway did it and vowed to bring him to justice for arson.

This was just one of many problems Holloway was facing at the time.

According to investigators, he was in debt up to $4 million. He was earning good money off the restaurants but he was spending more.

In 1980, he sold his Lakeland restaurant for, according to Zapone, $250,000. Zapone said he made the deal for Holloway and then helped his friend secure a $210,000 loan from Second National Bank using stock as collateral. He then began putting out feelers for the Tampa restaurant. Zapone said he was negotiating with Busch Gardens to sell it for $2.5 million.

In addition, an anonymous source said that Holloway's life was in danger. The source said that Holloway's good friend Jeff Serles had been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and asked Holloway to hide $750,000 for him. The source explained that Holloway thought he could spend the money on the restaurant and have plenty of time to earn it back, but Serles was released after only two or three years and was angry when he learned that Holloway did not have his money.

"Serles was the type of guy who would just as soon kill you as look at you," said the anonymous source. "Gene was scared."

Holloway admitted that his life was in danger, but he fingered a different culprit–Debbie Ponton.

He said that during happier marital times he took out a $10 million insurance policy on his life that he put in her name rather than his for tax reasons, which meant only she could cancel it. He made the payments each month, but after she filed for divorce he said he stopped making payments on the policy; it was the only way he could get it cancelled. He said that Debbie found out and she and her brother resumed the payments. Holloway said that sooner after the payments were taken over someone put out a hit on his life with Jimmy Donofrio, a well-connected and feared man. He does not know if Debbie was behind the scheme, but he believes the hit had to do with the insurance policy.

Holloway has been telling this story for years. Both his sons echo this tale, as does the transcription of an interview he did with the University of South Florida's Special Collections Department in 2002.

He was in debt, there were threats on his life and he had a pending divorce case that he knew was going to be costly. He was ready to disappear.

In the summer of 1981, Holloway took out a new $16 million life insurance policy, this one listing an ex-wife as the beneficiary. Then, in a lease-purchase agreement, he handed over ownership of Tampa's Sea Wolf to Robert Dourney. Zapone said he sold it for $150,000 down and payments over the years that would total $750,000.

"Busch Gardens would not budge on the deal we wanted," explained Zapone. "I think we could have gotten more money, but Gene wanted to take this deal. Looking back, it is obvious why he was in a hurry to sell."

The deal was finalized on September 2, 1981, a day in which Holloway was on a week-long pleasure cruise in the Keys with a group of friends.

On September 4, 1981, the other passengers aboard the 44-foot trawler called the Coast Guard and claimed that Holloway had stepped out onto the deck for air that night, tripped and fell into the water. His boat mates later told investigators that they tried to save him by throwing him a lifeline, but it was all for naught; before he could reach the tube he was swept away by the turbulent waters of the gulf, six miles south of the Upper Matecumbe Key. The Coast Guard searched for his body for days with no luck. Without a body, even though he was pronounced dead, the insurance company would not allow Debbie to collect on the life insurance policy, a fact of which Holloway proudly stated he was aware.

The Coast Guard couldn't find the body for an obvious reason. Holloway was not really dead.

Zapone was freaking out when he heard of Holloway's death. Holloway had never told Zapone he was faking his death, but Zapone knew it had to be a hoax and he knew it was only a matter of time before investigators learned that he helped Holloway secure a loan and sell his two restaurants, money he said that Holloway obviously needed in order to disappear. He said he felt it was only a matter of time before the police called him, so he beat them to the punch and called them. Within hours of hearing the news of Holloway's "death" he went to the police and told them that he believed Holloway was still alive.

Police told him that he had not provided them with any breaking news. They also knew it was a hoax and asked Zapone if they could tap his phone in case Holloway called. He agreed.

"I was covering my own ass," said Zapone. "I was not going to jail. I was innocent but you never know how a court will rule."

Daniel was in prison at the time for "petty crimes." He had not talked to his father for a while, but when investigators showed up at his cell and told him that his father had fallen off a boat and died he immediately knew it was a hoax. According to Daniel, his father often told people that if life ever got to tough he would simply fake his death and disappear for a while, take a much needed break and then reappear a few years later ready to start anew.

Investigators promised Daniel a reduced sentence if he could help lead them to his father. He said yes.

"He never did anything for me," said Daniel. "So I had no problem helping them out."

In exchange, investigators gave Daniel a new, much larger and solo cell with a police-tapped telephone. He was instructed to talk to as many people connected to his father as he could in hopes of one of them "spilling the beans." Daniel said about two months later his brother Randy was taped telling him that a friend of the family's told him that their dad was alive and well and living in Canada.

Holloway said that he left the pleasure cruise on September 3 and on the day he supposedly fell off the boat he was actually on a plane to New York with his new life insurance policy and a briefcase full of cash. He would not comment on how much he had, but investigators later stated that they believed he had over half a million dollars. Once in New York, he checked into Central Park's Wellington Hotel under the name James LaRue. In mid-October he crossed the border in a limousine with a girlfriend. A few weeks later, he sent her back to the United States. Susan Wall said Holloway later told her he did so because the girlfriend smoked too much pot and he felt she would bring unneeded attention upon him. Zapone said that Holloway never told him what happened in Canada, but a call he received one night may prove that he sent her home simply because he wanted to meet other women.

"I received the call around 7:30 p.m.," remembered Zapone. "It was a girl with a thick Canadian accent and she was asking me all sorts of questions about Gene. Did he really used to own a big restaurant in Tampa, was he really dead, and so on. It was about a three minute call, maybe two and a half minutes. I later came to find out that it was a girl in Canada he was trying to pick up. He was using his real story on her and he had her call me to confirm it! Unbelievable."

There was one woman he met, however, who did not know the true story until it was too late.

Gene Holloway Found Alive In Canada

Susan Wall was born and raised in Niagara. Except for trips to Toronto and a few other cities, she spent almost every day of her 25 years in the small town. That does not mean she was naïve. She was far from it. Niagara is a border town, after all, and shady characters passed through on a regular basis. She could tell a con man a mile away. Yet, when she met Holloway, she let her guard down.

She was sitting alone at the bar of the Thunder Bird Room, a then-popular Niagara watering hole known for its great live music, when she met him. She had met a lot of colorful characters in her life, but he was by far the most exotic. He was wearing his trademark cowboy hat and boots, along with a full-length suede coat with a fur collar. He told her his name was James LaRue and he was a seafood broker from Texas. He bought her drinks all night and, trying to impress her, he would tip the bartender $20 a drink. He was also obviously almost twice her age, despite his best efforts to hide his years behind hair dye. She said in retrospect she should have known he was full of BS, but he was so fascinating and exciting to be around that she fell for him.

"At the end of the night he gave me his phone number and told me that if I wanted to have dinner I should call him," remembered Wall. "And he told me I could bring whoever I wanted, except for boyfriends or husbands. For some reason I trusted him, but not enough to meet him alone. I brought my sister."

Both Wall and her sister missed further red flags during their dinner date with Holloway. He would tell stories about himself yet kept referring to himself as Gene rather than James LaRue.

"I thought he must have been telling stories that always included his friend Gene," laughed Wall. "I wondered why this guy Gene was always with him."

They continued to date for a few weeks with Wall often bringing her sister along for the ride. Wall said that after knowing one another for only two weeks, Holloway confided in her sister that he was in love with Wall and would marry her. When her sister told her the news, she was flattered but said she was not in love with him ... yet.

"I had feelings for him," she said. "But love is a strong emotion. I was excited, though. Here was a fascinating and successful man who was in love with me and kept promising me that he was returning to the U.S. one day and would bring me with him. It was an adventure."

A week after he expressed his love for her, he invited her to go to Toronto with him for an eye tuck. Holloway said he never received any plastic surgery, which Wall said is partially correct–an eye tuck is not major enough to be classified as "plastic surgery."

"It is a very minor procedure. He just had some lines he wanted taken care of," she said. "And he said when we left Toronto we were going skiing further north."

They had a blast in Toronto. They shopped all day at the finest stores and dined at night at the fanciest restaurants. For a man who was trying to convince the world he was dead, he was drawing a lot of attention to himself. Compounding matters, Holloway said he errantly chose his alias.

"Apparently, James LaRue was a wanted bandit in Canada," laughed Holloway. "Just my luck. Here I am, checking into a hotel as James LaRue and I give the hotel employees a big bag of cash to put in their safe. Pretty soon, the Royal Mounted Police took a room next to mine and began watching me."

The same limousine driver who took Holloway across the border was taking them to their ski destination. Wall said that she later learned Holloway had planned the ski trip with the girlfriend with whom he crossed the border into Canada. Before the limo driver left them, this ex-girlfriend had him promise to bring her more marijuana, which he did. He was not aware that Holloway sent that woman back to the Unites States. Wall said she was not a pot smoker and neither was Holloway at the time. Holloway said that when the limo driver handed Holloway the bag of marijuana, he wanted nothing to with it so placed it in a shoebox and hid it behind the vending machine down the hall, a move the police witnessed. It was all they needed to see. A man by the name of James LaRue had a ton of money in the hotel safe, was spending money loosely, and had a bag of marijuana. He was surely the infamous LaRue Canadian law enforcement had long wanted to arrest.

The next day, Wall and Holloway climbed into the limousine. Before the driver could exit the hotel's parking lot, the vehicle was swarmed by police and they arrested Holloway for drug trafficking. When they later fingerprinted Holloway they learned he was actually a man pronounced dead in the United States.

Wall was placed in an interrogation room with "a wall splattered in blood," she said, where she was informed of Holloway's true identity and story. She was not going to be charged with anything and the police would provide her with a ride home. She said that on her way out of the police station she saw Holloway sitting in an office with a few officers, laughing and having a ball as though nothing bad had happened.

"I got along fine with those officers," remembered Holloway. "They brought me a bottle of Jack Daniels at one point and we all had a few slugs. I stayed there for a few days and it was not bad at all. I then went to court in Canada and the judge told me he was going to transfer me back to the United States. I then look out into the court room audience and who do I see? I see all these news people from Tampa and around the country! I later found out that Johnny Carson mentioned me on his show!"

Back in Tampa, the legend of Gene Holloway exploded unimaginably following the news that he was alive. He was the topic of seemingly every conversation. Songs were written about him and played on Tampa radio stations and local DJs hosted Gene Holloway look-alike contests. Ironically, the winner of WRBQ's was Kent McGregor, Tampa's lead investigator on the Holloway disappearance case.

"[McGregor] was later the best man at my wedding," laughed Zapone. "Life is funny."

Gene Holloway Goes To Jail

The trial changed him, said Wall. It brought him back down to earth, she claimed. It helped him realize that he had lost sight of reality and had gotten too caught up in the fast lane partying world.

What really drove that fact home was that his friends turned on him in the arson trial. The same people he supplied with endless fun for so many years took the stand and told the jury that he told them he burned down his Thonotosassa home.

Holloway said it did not bother him. He said his friends were only doing what they thought they needed to do. But Wall who, despite Holloway's lies, moved to Tampa to be with Holloway after the arrest in Canada, said she thinks it did bother him.

"It wasn't just the trial," she said. "I think it became obvious to him that people were using him by the actions of friends who were not involved in the trial. We were living in a place on Busch Boulevard and people would stop by all day and night and the first thing they would do is go to his liquor cabinet and pour themselves a drink without even asking. They acted like they owned the place. Then we would go out to dinner with friends and none of them, not one, would pull out a wallet when the bill came. Gene always had to pay for everything."

On top of friends testifying that Holloway told them he was going to torch the house, the prosecution had investigators testify that Holloway's car was also lit on fire that night but before it was consumed someone removed its vanity plate that read, "Holloway."

Holloway's defense painted a picture of the witnesses being former friends who were angry with Holloway or who were paid by the prosecution to testify against him.

The defense worked. Holloway was acquitted.

One juror told the daily newspaper reporters that the jury believed that Holloway was guilty, but they acquitted him because, "Nobody believed nobody," referencing the fact that the jury thought the prosecution was corrupt.

"The jury as a whole did not think the government gave sufficient evidence to prove Mr. Holloway was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because of a conflict in evidence," the jury foreman was quoted as saying in daily newspapers following the acquittal.

Holloway was not clear yet. He still had to go on trial for conspiracy charges stemming from faking his own death. He said he could have beaten those charges as well, but chose to plead guilty and serve a five year sentence in order to remain alive. "There were still people trying to kill me," he said.

Before he disappeared from the public eye for half a decade, he gave reporters one last story. He met with reporters at his residence and explained why he faked his death. He said had been bored with his life and wanted to start anew so he could pursue adventure throughout the world. He even went into specifics, explaining that prior to faking his death he had been in contact with South African mercenaries who regularly frequented the Sea Wolf. He said they wanted his help with a coup attempt in Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and it was they who gave him the fake name James LaRue, told him to fake his death, and go to Canada to await their orders. Holloway said that following the coup attempt he was going to return to Tampa. He said he only set up the new life insurance policy in case he was killed in the coup.

"I'd rather not comment on that," said Holloway when asked if that story is true. "But I can tell you what is not true. A lot of people think I collected on that new life insurance policy. Well I did not. I never collected one penny on it. Print that please. I am tired of the lies. I could not collect on a policy that big without a body to show!"

He served his sentence in Kentucky. Wall moved there and the two were married in 1982. She visited him almost every day of his incarceration. She said she saw firsthand how she believes prison changed him for the better. He began eating properly, she explained, exercising regularly and even ran marathons sponsored by the prison. He was a bright light in a dark place, she said, sponsoring Christmas contests that gave prizes to the best decorated cell and he would help other prisoners better decorate their own cell by finding them things such as matching sheets for the beds.

"He would even scavenger around the prison for items he could turn into decorations for himself and others. I think he wanted to turn the prison into a Sea Wolf," she laughed.

Upon being released from prison, he opened three new Sea Wolfs between 1985 and 1990. One was located in a Best Western across from Busch Gardens. Another was in Hyde Park and the third was in Citrus County. He again tried to bring attention to them through outlandish PR stunts, such as hosting the Chippendale dancers.

Despite his best efforts, all three restaurants failed and he ended up in bankruptcy court in 1990.

"I never saw the originals," said Wall, "but I was with him for the second go around and from what I can tell from pictures I saw of the originals, he did not have the same money to put into the new ones. They were smaller and not as well decorated. I guess you can't recreate the past."

Wall said the number of hours he poured into trying to make the restaurants succeed placed too much stress on their marriage. Then, her mother became ill and she had to return to Canada. Shortly thereafter, they were divorced.

"He worked so much," she said. "He was the most driven man I had ever met and have not met anyone so hard working since. At times it was a detriment. I don't know if he always took the time to enjoy life. He was so consumed with being successful that the little things sometimes seemed unimportant to him."

When the success was gone, so were his many so-called friends. Without booze and parties to offer, they had no need for him anymore. Suddenly, Gene Holloway was alone ... and then, at some point in the 1990s, he disappeared and has rarely been heard from since.

Gene Holloway Today

He keeps quiet about what he is up to today. He likes to talk about treasure hunting and the skill that goes into it, but he is mum on his personal life. He is an open book when reminiscing about the past but when life for the present-day Gene Holloway is asked about, he clams up. His personal life is no longer public information. It is no longer a marketing weapon. His personal life is, well, it's personal.

He has no desire to return to the fast lane, he said. He has no desire to be the center of attention anymore, he promised. He enjoys the new simple life he has carved out for himself, he swears.

Following the closing of his last Sea Wolf in 1995, he relocated to Odessa and began his career as a treasure hunter along the coastline. He said treasure hunting had always been a dream but he was always so busy with making money that he did not take the time to pursue it.

He is also back in the food business. About eight years ago he noticed grocery stores throwing away food that was still safe for consumption. It was too old to sell but still fresh enough to eat. He began visiting every grocery and convenience store in the area, collecting the food and delivering it to homeless shelters, churches and soup kitchens in his area, anywhere that helps the needy.

Randy said that his father owes so much money to the federal government due to unpaid taxes and fines dating back to the 1980s and 90s that only a presidential pardon could free him of the debt.

Holloway seems honest when he says money means nothing to him anymore. He said only wants to help his fellow man. To prove his sincerity, he said that his current treasure hunting mission is to find the legendary missing H-bomb that conspiracy theorists claim the U.S. government lost somewhere off the coast of Savannah, Georgia in the 1950s. Holloway said he is concerned that if it is not found, it could one day harm countless innocent people.

"I don't care about the fame," he said. "It's all about helping others now. It used to be about myself. Now I am least concerned with myself."

He sounded and looked earnest when he made that statement. But, then again ... he is Gene Holloway