Each year, New Times puts together a list of the
sketchiest politicians and unholiest celebrities and weirdest human
beings to call the Magic City home. So who made the filthy cut this
year? We're releasing the names one by one ahead of next week's issue,
which comes with a full-page illustration of the dynamic dozen.
Say this about Buju Banton: the reggae legend has some great friends, and some even better lawyers. Just a few months ago, Banton looked as burned as a stray doobie at a Marley Brothers show. The feds accused Banton of trying to buy 11 pounds of cocaine at a Sarasota warehouse. They had hours of taped conversation of Banton chatting up a snitch about coke. Yet in September, a jury deadlocked on the charges, with some jurors buying Banton's line that he was just trying to impress the undercover witness with all his coke talk, and that he thought he was going to check out some boats at the warehouse. Either way, the trial's been good to Banton: First, an album released while he was in a Tampa jail shot up the charts and earned a Grammy nod. Then a judge granted him bail and house arrest after Stephen Marley put up his Miami house as collateral. The cherry on top: The judge even gave Buju permission to play a show in Bayfront Park on January 16. Enjoy it while it lasts, Buju: A retrial gets under way in February.
Previous dirty denizens of Miami for 2010 include:
Jennifer Lopez
Rick Scott
Carlos Alvarez and Norman Braman
Bill Parcells
George Alan Rekers
Jeffrey Loria
Capri Anderson
Kat Stacks
Wyclef Jean
Carlos Bertonatti
Jersey Short Idiots
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