Alkhalifa did not discover the mistake until after the wrong ashes were delivered to Mustelier's family. "When we got the permit to take Yetsiyel to Cuba, I went to get him out of the freezer," Bello says. "What I found in the freezer was Mustelier."
Upon learning about the horrible mix-up, Alkhalifa decided to ship Mustelier's body inside a coffin to the Muñoz family in Cuba, Bello testifies. "It occurred to [Alkhalifa] to send a black guy to Cuba because supposedly [Yetsiyel] was not going to be viewed by his family because his face had been smashed." Alkhalifa is "the one who makes the decisions, and anything that you do at the funeral home, you have to run it by him first," Bello says.
Michael McElroy
Rafaiy Alkhalifa has been burying and cremating bodies on the cheap for 15 years.
Michael McElroy
Crematory owner Verl Shaw claims Alkhalifa doesn't care about the bereaved families he serves.
Shortly after the wrong body was purposely sent to Cuba, Bello says, Alkhalifa fired him when he tried to collect $700 in unpaid wages. "I said to him: 'If you don't pay me my money, I'm going to call the police on you right now,' " Bello recalls. "I worked with him for almost eight years with very bad pay."
He has seen Alkhalifa employ all kinds of dirty parlor-room trickery to avoid paying anyone, Bello testifies. "He will, for example, use a cleaning lady for two weeks, and then when it comes time to pay that cleaning lady, he already has others waiting in line to replace her."
Alkhalifa is so cheap, Bello claims, that when he closes the chapel doors at night after a viewing, "the flowers stay inside, and they recycle them."
The morning of Tuesday, August 10, Alkhalifa rushes from Funeraria Latina's rain-soaked parking lot into the reception area. Dressed in a white shirt with purple checks, a purple and red print tie, and a navy-blue suit with a vibrant red rosebud pinned to the lapel, Alkhalifa takes a seat next to two Hispanic ladies who have been waiting for him. The older of the women has just lost her husband, and her daughter is there to help make funeral arrangements. The pair listens raptly as Alkhalifa explains how he will charge them $5,600 for everything, from the casket to the embalming and dressing of the body to the hearse and limo to the cemetery plot. Then comes the kicker.
"I can get you the plot next to your husband for another $3,200," Alkhalifa pitches. "Right now, you go to the cemetery and they will sell it to you for $3,995. They will also charge you 9 percent annual interest if you finance it."
The daughter says her father had life insurance, so money is not really an issue, but her mother is not ready to put money down on her grave. "You know funeral homes love it when you say it's not about the money," Alkhalifa tells them. "Down the road, she may need what she ends up saving if she gets the plot from me."
They agree to go with him to the cemetery to see the plots.
Alkhalifa excuses himself to meet with a reporter to answer questions about the lawsuits and complaints against him. He quickly paces toward his office and shakes hands with two more potential clients before he closes the door behind him. The phone rings. He picks up the receiver. It's someone asking about prices. Alkhalifa launches into his spiel: "I will do it all for $5,600. You will not find anyone who can beat that."
After a couple of minutes, he hangs up and turns his attention to the reporter. "Look, anybody can sue anybody," he rationalizes. "Everybody sues funeral homes because they think funeral homes have money, and it is easy to sue funeral homes..."
Funeral homes are sued with impunity, Alkhalifa adds. "People think they can get money by crying in court," he says. "They say they can't work because they are so distraught. Juries buy this B.S."
Regarding Bello's deposition, Alkhalifa dismisses him as nothing more than a disgruntled ex-employee who was not truthful about how the bodies of Yetsiyel Muñoz and Marcos Mustelier were mixed up. The funeral-home owner insists he had a business arrangement with Gold Coast Crematory to store bodies there. Alkhalifa says Muñoz's remains were in a box that was clearly marked "stored for voyage to Cuba." He adds that it was an employee at Gold Coast who "didn't bother to look at the toe tag," which would have confirmed it was Muñoz. "They gave us Mustelier instead," Alkhalifa says. "Really, we didn't mess up, but you have to take some responsibility. We are working to get a settlement from Gold Coast."
Despite the litigation and accusations against him, he still pulls in customers, Alkhalifa boasts. "If this funeral home was so bad, I wouldn't have people knocking on my door," he says. "I've already signed seven new clients this morning. I don't turn anyone away. If all you have is $2,000, I'll take it. I won't let you walk out."
If anything, he is a victim of his own success, Alkhalifa says. "When I bought a Bentley, I couldn't enjoy it," he grouses. "When you have money in this city, everyone wants a piece of it."
Alkhalifa gets up from his chair. He adjusts the rosebud on his lapel so that it sticks straight up. He walks into the reception area, where he greets a new round of potential customers.
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