Who is Rik from Hole in My Life and what is their importance?

Rik meets Gantos in St. Croix. He originally asks Gantos to make a crate with a false bottom. Once it's completed, Rik fills the bottom compartment with hash, and Gantos helps him to load the crate with other nonsensical items, hoping the crate will be allowed through customs. Rik pays Gantos with hash, and by the time he offers Gantos a job sailing a hash smuggling ship to New York for ten thousand dollars, Gantos is already hooked.