Explain this scam to me

Well, apparently I do have (or once had) some distant kinfolk in Florida. I met some of them, for the first time, at my father’s funeral (in Los Angeles). Seems that some distant kin, a few generations back, owned a fabulous tract of waterfront land on a cape in Florida. Then, for some reason, some Big Government agency condemned the whole area and forcibly bought it from them under Eminent Domain, for some reason.

Fast forward a few years . . . that fabulous tract of land became Cape Canaveral.

ETA: As a matter of fact, I happen to have in my fambly, not one, but three genealogies: My father’s father’s family, by father’s mother’s family, and my mother’s side. Maybe you’re there somewhere!

All, more or less, variations of The Spanish Prisoner,

which dates back to, at least, the late 16th century. I’ve no doubt that it’s even older in its basic details,

CMC fnord!