State attorney: Joe Martinez broke our trust for $15,000, help with bank loan

State attorney: Joe Martinez broke our trust for $15,000, help with bank loan

Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez spent five hours in jail Tuesday after he was charged with unlawful compensation for having sponsored legislation to change county code restrictions in exchange for $15,000. Legislation is going cheap these days! Martinez told reporters as he left that he could not talk about the arrest yet, but would speak — […]

Joe Martinez claims public corruption charge is really a political hatchet job

Joe Martinez claims public corruption charge is really a political hatchet job

Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez, who is scheduled to surrender himself Tuesday to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office on a public corruption charge, is the victim of a political attack, says his lawyer in a pair of statements that question the timing. After a five-year investigation, criminal charges will be filed against Martinez Tuesday, Miami-Dade State […]

Sources: Joe Martinez will turn himself in on Tuesday after 5-year investigation

Sources: Joe Martinez will turn himself in on Tuesday after 5-year investigation

Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez — who everyone knows wants to run for county sheriff in 2024 — is said to be turning himself in to authorities Tuesday after a five-year public corruption investigation. Several sources who confirmed this to Ladra did not know who Martinez would surrender to, although the logical answer is the State […]

Corrupt Carlos Gimenez is caught by ethics commission covering his tracks

Corrupt Carlos Gimenez is caught by ethics commission covering his tracks

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and other top county officials used burner cell phones — yes, the kind used by drug dealers and money launderers — during their 2018 China trip so we wouldn’t know they met with representatives from Genting, which later became part of a group with an “unsolicited proposal” to build a monorail to […]

Ethics Commission’s finger waving plays important role

Ethics Commission’s finger waving plays important role

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust issued another couple of slaps on the wrists Wednesday, further convincing critics and watchdogs who wish it had more teeth that it is woefully incapable of handling the 305’s level of unethical behavior. Other than the occasional negligible fines that are worked into the “cost of doing […]

Red flags: Michael Pizzi ran from crash, changes story

Red flags: Michael Pizzi ran from crash, changes story

Whispers of a cover up are getting louder in and around Miami Lakes, where Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi wrapped his car around a tree last week and ran from the scene of the accident, only to return less than an hour later. He left again without so much as a warning, and details that continue to […]

Public corruption watchdogs let the big fish swim free

Public corruption watchdogs let the big fish swim free

Sound the trumpets and break out the champagne! Our Miami-Dade State Attorney announced another public corruption arrest of someone stealing the taxpayers’ dollars, a public official on the take. But instead of looking into the lobbying connections at County Hall and kickbacks or the half a million in PAC money from Miami Beach vendors and […]

Homestead bonds pass as voters forget Steven Bateman

Homestead bonds pass as voters forget Steven Bateman

Voters in Homestead passed two bond referendums that will raise $25 million to build a much needed police station — the bank the cops currently use is riddled with mold and radon — and finally renovate the Seminole Theater, which many city leaders hope can be a beacon to downtown revitalization. It wasn’t a great […]

Miami-Dade employee gets 30 months for $13K in bribes

Miami-Dade employee gets 30 months for $13K in bribes

In yet another sign that the federal authorities ought to be looking into all the shenanigans down here, a former Miami-Dade Public Works employee was sentenced Friday to 30 months after he accepted more than $13,000 in bribes — which included an oven and a fridge — from a county contractor in 2011 and 2012. […]