Interestingly enough, there is a common denominator in the two different arrests this month of three local mayors on corruption charges: South Dade lobbyist turned FBI informant Michael Kesti. Kesti, who served Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi up to federal authorities as a paid informant in a bribery […]
Another day, another local mayor arrested: Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman was taken into custody Wednesday on charges of taking unlawful compensation. That’s police code for bribes and kickbacks and, in this case, taking secret jobs to use your political influence on other government officials. The mayor has been under investigation for a multitude of things […]
Former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi — suspended by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this month after he was arrested by the FBI on bribery and extortion charges –misses his office and want’s his seat back already. At least that’s what we have to think after his son picked up a candidate packet for him […]
Don’t they say that it’s always the cover-up that gets you? Of the two local mayors that went down a couple of weeks ago in an FBI sting that nabbed them on charges of bribery and extortion, the best case seems to be the one against suspended Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño. We have all long […]
The Florida League of Cities annual conference in Orlando this week has got to be an interesting place. Remember, this is the same event at which, last year, then-League President and then-Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño was going around introducing his political bigwig buddies to two businessmen that could help them graft thousands of dollars from the […]
Miami Lakes Interim Mayor Ceasar Mestre — who was vice mayor until the arrest last week of Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi on bribery and extortion charges after an FBI sting operation — has dropped out of the race to replace Pizzi permanently. In a text message to his friends and other council members, Mestre said […]
Add one more name to what looks like a quite crowded special mayoral ballot for Miami Lakes to replace the suspended Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi, who was arrested Tuesday for his role in a federal grants kick-back sting set up by the FBI. Despite rumors that Miami Lakes Mayor Wayne Slaton, who lost to Pizzi […]
The federal kick-back sting that led to the arrest this week of two Miami-Dade mayors and two of our local lobbyists also sheds light on some stark differences between two council members in Miami Lakes. The feds call them Councilmember A and Councilmember B in the affidavit that supported the arrest of Miami Lakes Mayor […]
You mean, there were only two? That’s one of the questions I am left with after Tuesday’s big news that Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi were arrested on federal bribery and extortion charges. Ladra is not too surprised that these two mayors — both of whom have been accused of abusing their power in […]
Scaling back the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit is actually a good thing for local investigations and is being done in an effort to work more closely with federal authorities. That’s what Miami-Dade Police Director J.D. Patterson, who took over after the last chief suddenly took an early retirement last year smack dab in the […]