As Nasty as He Wants To Be

Miami Beach sours on Luther Campbell's Memorial Day freak show

A A A Comments By Brett Sokol Thursday, May 9 2002

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The Miami-Dade Department of Community Relations' Larry Capp -- at Campbell's side for several meetings with De Lucca and various Beach officials -- backed away from Campbell's accusations. "My dealings with them have been very much aboveboard," Capp said. Although he wished De Lucca would have reconsidered deploying county officers to Campbell's concerts -- "it's a no-brainer" -- he declined to cite a "conspiracy."

"I can't speak to any motives as far as sabotage is concerned," Capp continued. "Miami Beach can be very difficult to work with at times, and for someone who's not used to dealing with all these rules and regulations, it can be very frustrating. There's a lot of hoops to jump through. I would call it bureaucracy. I wouldn't call it racism."

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Chief De Lucca did not return calls for comment.

"I'm scared of the police right now," Campbell cautioned. He was unsure what, if any, involvement he'd have with Memorial Day weekend. "I'm not going to be part of an event where I bring my people there, and they're going to get their ass whipped. Or get maced because they're just standing outside the club trying to get in, and now they're spilling over into the streets because I don't have the overflow outlet for them."

If this latter scenario unfolds, Campbell promises to join in mass civil disobedience blocking Beach-bound traffic. "I'll be right up on the MacArthur Causeway, laying down in the street with Victor Curry, saying, 'Don't go over to this motherfucker!'"

And regardless of what transpires, he vows to remain a highly visible local presence: "I've been working here on the Beach long before Christina Cuervo. Maybe she'll try and get her friends over at the Herald to write something like 'Luther doesn't pay his taxes' or some other bullshit. Well, fuck 'em. I ain't going away that easy."

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