Thug Meets Pug

Lozman is lying on his bed, ruminating on the past eight months as he gazes out at the pink-and-blue sunset over Biscayne Bay. He still can't believe the drama he's been through since his blowup with Coletta back in February. "He's destroyed his little empire over a stupid handicap access ramp and a parking spot," Lozman says incredulously. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Steve Satterwhite

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The battle itself doesn't make sense to Lozman's friends here and in Chicago, either. "They've asked me why I'm playing Russian roulette with this guy," he relates. "They've told me to get the fuck out of here. But Marines don't retreat in the face of adversity."

Nevertheless he has taken Coletta's alleged threats seriously, and he expresses frustration that neither Coletta nor Dugger has been criminally charged since his first meeting with corruption prosecutor Joe Centorino in April. "Maybe the State Attorney should hire another public-corruption prosecutor to pick up the slack when Centorino's not there," he jokes, referring to the weeks Centorino was away on vacation this summer. "How do you allow a guy you're building a case against to stay in office?"

Lozman admits he went to the State Attorney as an insurance policy on his life. "In case I wind up dead one day, drifting in the bay," he says, "I want it on the record that Coletta is the first guy to look for."