Just before 2 a.m. inside a tony Key Biscayne waterfront condo, a woman clad only in panties chased a dark-haired 22-year-old into the hallway, screaming and smacking his face.
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The year was 1993. The half-naked lady was Dorothy Naomi Black, just divorced from South Florida's most powerful criminal defense attorney, Roy Black.
The young man was Metro-Dade cop Frank Carollo, little brother of former Miami Mayor "Loco" Joe Carollo. Today Frank is the leading candidate to replace mayoral hopeful Joe Sanchez on the Miami City Commission. Though the 39-year-old Brickell accountant has failed in three campaigns for the Florida House, this time he has raised more than $170,000 — a lead of $70,000 on anyone else in the seven-way race. And players such as County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and über-lobbyist Ron Book have given him cash.
But the police report from that escapade — which has never been written about — shows Carollo not only broke into Black's apartment and found her with another lover, but also later lied to Key Biscayne cops about his identity to try to wiggle out of trouble.
It's just the kind of sordid scene that could rain on Carollo's hopes of pulling off a big win in the November 3 general election.
The trouble traces back to April 1993, when Naomi Black divorced her husband of nine years. Roy Black had become Florida's most famous lawyer after helping clear William Kennedy Smith of rape charges in 1991.
Soon after the divorce, the former Mrs. Black and Carollo began dating. By June, however, the passion had cooled — as least on her end.
In the wee hours of June 23, according to a police report obtained by Riptide, Carollo grew tired of Black avoiding his phone calls and drove to her condo off Crandon Boulevard. A little before 12:30, he parked across the street, climbed a wall, and used a key to enter her apartment.
Inside, he found Black with another gent. She was less than thrilled to see Carollo, and chased him and hit him repeatedly. Someone called the cops, and the other man wisely fled the scene.
When Key Biscayne Police arrived, Carollo was "evasive" about his name. But one officer recognized him and called a Metro-Dade lieutenant to the scene. Again, Carollo tried to cover up his identity, telling the officer his last name was "Car."
The lieutenant eventually persuaded Carollo to tell him his unit name and badge number, and quickly found his real identity.
Black eventually dropped all trespassing and assault charges against Carollo. But his police superiors officially reprimanded him for lying to the lieutenant about his identity. "In an effort to thwart a superior officer's investigation of your involvement in the disturbance, [you] improperly identified yourself when you lied about your name," a final disciplinary report notes. "Your conduct leading up to and during the incident was an affront to the... code of ethics."
Carollo did not respond to repeated phone messages at his home and office. His campaign manager, Jose Riesco, declined to comment.
