[2] The younger Oko grew up spending time with his father's and his mother's families in Cincinnati and Northern California.
[3] Adept at drawing, Oko maintained a lifelong interest in fine art and antiquities, a fact that served him well when he worked in San Francisco as a salesman at S & G Gump in the 1920s, and in later years as well.
In 1942, Oko joined the US Merchant Marine, serving on six ships on nine voyages, ending as a chief mate.
[5] In 1947, Oko and partners purchased the ex-USS Aries, then called the S. S. Adelanto with the intent of sailing the ship to Israel.
[6] When a plan to smuggle half-tracks from South America to Palestine fell through, the ship was put up for sale.
During these voyages, Bonicos and his brother Gerassimos, the vessel's captain, maximized profits by underpaying crews and severely neglecting the ship's conditions.
In 1948, Haganah, the main Jewish underground in Palestine, through two chief intermediaries, Elie Shalit and Rafael Recanati, in a series of complex transactions, purchased the Kefalos from its owners.
There, a cargo of machine guns from Hawaii via Los Angeles (where most were confiscated by U. S. authorities) and arms secured in Mexico City were loaded on the Kefalos.
The ship survived several dangers en route, but managed to arrive at Tel Aviv on September 8, 1948.
On November 8, 1948, the Kefalos left Naples and headed to Bakar where 4,300 refugees from Eastern Europe had arrived in boxcars.
[18][19] Apparently, fallout from Oko's concerns at Naples and in the refugee operations led to his dismissal by Israeli officials on January 5, 1949.
Oko resided in Point Reyes Station, California[20] where he conducted a real estate business.