Public corruption in Miami-Dade: Is something in the water?

Public corruption in Miami-Dade: Is something in the water?

The political bomb that exploded in Doral last week has had its aftershocks. Already, there is an investigation into the campaign office rental of Mayor Luigi Boria and another inquiry on his links with a friend and property owner who bought the property from Boria’s children with money the mayor may have lent him and […]

New claims about Michael Pizzi is tip of federal iceberg

New claims about Michael Pizzi is tip of federal iceberg

Thank God for the feds coming to the rescue. I’ll call them the cavalry. The scandalous claims that came out Sunday about former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi wanting three years ago to plant cocaine on former Councilman Richard Pulido or take him out more permanently — as in hire someone to whack him […]

Manny Maroño plea deal may mean handing over bigger fish

Manny Maroño plea deal may mean handing over bigger fish

Former Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño was facing federal extortion conspiracy charges for his role in a bogus grant application scheme in which authorities say he intended to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. government in exchange for thousands of dollars in kickbacks. But Friday, Maroño — once on a rumored shortlist […]

Sasha Tirador comingles campaigns on Hialeah mailer

Sasha Tirador comingles campaigns on Hialeah mailer

Is she at it again? Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador is under investigation for co-mingling campaign funds from her judicial and municipal campaigns last year (more on that later). But that doesn’t stop her from flirting with the same kind of disaster for the upcoming Hialeah elections. Tirador doesn’t only represent Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez […]

Joe Carollo goes off the reservation, naming names in Doral

Joe Carollo goes off the reservation, naming names in Doral

Doral City Manager Joe Carollo might want to get a bodyguard or some protective custody from the FBI, maybe. That’s because he went on a verbal rampage Tuesday night and threw everybody under the bus in an effort to defend himself against allegations of acting unprofessionally with a business associate and friend of Mayor Luigi […]

Whole Hialeah council may have violated state Sunshine law

Whole Hialeah council may have violated state Sunshine law

In what may be the biggest mass violation of the Florida Government-in-the-Sunshine laws in history, video shows every single member of the Hialeah council filing into the Mayor Carlos Hernandez‘s office about two hours before the council meeting in which they voted to pass the budget. Former Mayor Julio “The Other” Martinez, who is running […]

Chatty Michael Pizzi claims innocence, blames Michael Kesti

Chatty Michael Pizzi claims innocence, blames Michael Kesti

It’s been almost a month since he was arrested and charged with federal bribery and extortion charges, and suspended Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi has been more chatty than ever about being an innocent bystander in the FBI sting and questioning the motives behind the lobbyist-turned-informant he said poisoned him. He talked to New […]

Post-scandal Miami Lakes candidates qualify, 5 for mayor

Post-scandal Miami Lakes candidates qualify, 5 for mayor

Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi decided not to run, after all, for the seat from which he was suspended earlier this month, after he was arrested on federal bribery and extortion charges in an FBI sting where he allegedly and knowingly facilitated bogus grant applications in exchange for kickbacks and campaign contributions. The race to […]

Meet Frank May of Homestead: Steve Bateman’s brain

Meet Frank May of Homestead: Steve Bateman’s brain

In the wake of the arrest this week of the now-suspended Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman on public corruption charges, questions are starting to arise about how much his campaign manager and confidant, Frank May, had to do not only with his graft but with day-to-day city operations. Described to Ladra by several people as a shady […]

Tainted Commissioner Steve Bovo should walk the walk

Tainted Commissioner Steve Bovo should walk the walk

When the unions come to heads with the Miami-Dade Commission today on their multiple impasses, one commissioner may be even more aggressive toward them than others. Judging by Monday’s committee of the whole performance, Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bobo has taken on the role of labor raider in the county’s very obvious efforts to lay blame […]