U.S. Attorney's Office

Miami Drug Smuggler Pleads Guilty, Has His Plane Taken Away

Will somebody wake him up for his mugshot please?​A 50-year-old Colombian drug kingpin was fined $1 million and sentenced to 22 years in prison Wednesday by a federal judge in Miami. And that was the plea deal.Edgar Vellejo-Guarin was indicted in 2001 after Coast Guard officers discovered 4,000 ki ... More >>

If You Hired a Hooker from Miami Companions Your Name and Sexual Preferences Just Got a Little Less Secret

​Miami Companions had become one of the premier suppliers of high-class prostitutes in the country with a client base that allegedly included celebrities and men with high-up government connections. They were busted in July of last year, and a judge just ruled that a list of the names of clients w ... More >>

Nevin Shapiro's Sentencing Postponed Until Valentine's Day

photo by Tim ElfrinkShapiro's autographed UM helmet inside his palatial Miami Beach mansion.​Nevin Shapiro, the South Beach architect of a $880 million Ponzi scheme, will have to endure another few weeks of Jersey lockup before learning his punishment. His sentencing, which was originally schedule ... More >>

Fifteen Members of "Murda Grove Boys" Gang Arrested by FBI

A handmade t-shirt displaying the group's insignia with guns we found on one possible members MySpace​The Murda Grove Boys are not, as their name would suggest, a horror-core boy band but actually one of Miami-Dade's most violent criminal gangs. CBS4 reports that Miami Gardens police, the FBI and ... More >>

Update: Tons of Contaminated Cheese Sold in Florida, Texas, California, New York

Alex Izaguirre​Yesterday I described what might have been the largest cheese bust in history. Eighty-five tons of the stuff, most of it contaminated with staph, was sold to at least 30 people. Today I learned some of the cheese made it out of Miami to Texas, California, and New York. The FDA has ... More >>

Three Florida Telecom Execs Charged With Bribing Haitian Government

In 2001, a start-up phone company set up shop in a Miramar office park, looking to corner the market on international calls from Little Haiti to Port-au-Prince.​It was a great business plan in Miami. Unfortunately, according to the feds, the company's execs decided there was only one way to make i ... More >>

Miami Hacker Indicted In Largest ID Theft Ring In History, 130 Million Cards

A Miami computer hacker who went by the screen name of "soupnazi" was indicted today in what the feds call the largest identity theft case in history.​Albert Gonzalez, a 28-year-old from the Magic City, and two unnamed sidekicks from Russia hacked into the networks of major retail chains includin ... More >>

Thirty-Six Charged in Huge North Miami Beach Gang Bust

In the early morning hours of Jan. 8, 2008, in a dark alley off South Glades Drive, a gang member named Andrew James Rolle walked up to a white Ford Taurus and blasted the man inside to death.​The driver was an off-duty Miami detective named James Walker, and his murder helped fuel a joint local a ... More >>

Feds Charge 41 South Floridians in $40 Million Mortgage Fraud

Last summer, South Florida sank under a spectacularly burst housing bubble that had been inflated well beyond reason by speculators, absent investors, and more than a few outright criminals.​In June '08, the U.S. Attorney's Office created a task force to track down the last -- the fraudsters who h ... More >>

Jurors Gone Wild

The feds slink away from a flubbed Internet pharmacy case.

Plantation Man Pleads Guilty To Shipping Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

It's probably safe to add "shipping military aircraft parts to Iran" to your running list of "Bad Business Plans."Traian Bujduveanu, a Romanian citizen living in Plantation, learned that the hard way, pleading guilty in downtown Miami federal court today of plotting to ship sensitive military parts ... More >>

Unequal Justice

At federal prisons across the country, guards are preying on inmates. FDC Miami is no different.

Spitzer, Hookers and the Miami Connection

At federal prisons across the country, guards are preying on inmates. FDC Miami is no different.

Crime and Misdemeanor

Humberto Aguilar was a fugitive, then spent years in jail. But now he has a real story to tell.

BEST DOUGHNUTS

Krispy Kreme

BEST TERROR ALERT

October 26, 2004

Miami International Airport

High & Mighty

What do you do when some morons criticize you in a news report? If you're the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, the top federal cop, the answer is easy: You blackball the news reporter

The Greenpeace Effect

Environmental advocates claim they just want loggers to play by the rules. But Brazilian mahogany barons, local lumber lords, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Port of Miami all want these tree-huggers stopped

Letters from the Issue of August 29, 2002

One cop would rather resign than compromise his integrity

BEST CIVIL SERVANT

Minnie Bishop

River of Sleaze

A top Miami-Dade schools cop is the focus of a probe that recalls the area's biggest police scandal

In Pursuit of Willy and Sal, Part Two

Having lost their case against the drug kingpins, federal prosecutors vowed to convict jury foreman Miguel Moya of bribery. Didn't quite work out that way.

In Pursuit of Willy and Sal

When infamous drug smugglers Falcon and Magluta won the first round, prosecutors vowed revenge. This time it's personal.

These Numbers Are Up

1998 was a great year for corruption. New Times puts a price tag on the year's malfeasance

Letters

1998 was a great year for corruption. New Times puts a price tag on the year's malfeasance

Howard Gary Sings

1998 was a great year for corruption. New Times puts a price tag on the year's malfeasance

Friends in Low Places

The feds suspect that Tony Martin, Miami native and NFL star, helped his childhood pal launder drug proceeds

The Smuggler as Savior

Juan Garcia Pino was obeying a higher law when he rescued nineteen family members fleeing Cuba. But a more mundane law ruined everything.

Rundle Arrives

Juan Garcia Pino was obeying a higher law when he rescued nineteen family members fleeing Cuba. But a more mundane law ruined everything.

Sleazy and Lovin' It!

Juan Garcia Pino was obeying a higher law when he rescued nineteen family members fleeing Cuba. But a more mundane law ruined everything.

Stealth Indictment

Juan Garcia Pino was obeying a higher law when he rescued nineteen family members fleeing Cuba. But a more mundane law ruined everything.

Our Hero the Drug Dealer

The feds call Rickey Brownlee one of South Florida's biggest narco-traffickers. His friends and neighbors in Opa-locka call him a valiant victim.

Witness Hampering

The feds call Rickey Brownlee one of South Florida's biggest narco-traffickers. His friends and neighbors in Opa-locka call him a valiant victim.

Over the Edge and Under Investigation

The feds call Rickey Brownlee one of South Florida's biggest narco-traffickers. His friends and neighbors in Opa-locka call him a valiant victim.

Witness for the Prosecution

Bruce Udolf spent seven years arguing public corruption cases for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. A report from the front lines.

Deep Inside the Scandal

Howard Gary discusses OPERATION GREENPALM, the ambitious corruption investigation rattled by mismanagement and blown apart by astonishing leaks of secret information

Three Lies

Howard Gary discusses OPERATION GREENPALM, the ambitious corruption investigation rattled by mismanagement and blown apart by astonishing leaks of secret information

Big Wheel Keep on Turnin'

Outgoing U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey has a little farewell soiree, at which everyone remains fully clothed

Scalded

A long-time aide. A few thousand dollars' worth of dubious insurance receipts. A cauldron of allegations. U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey has been . . . scalded

The Boulder Boys Must Die

When federal prosecutors seek the death penalty in drug-related murders, the defendants are almost always black. Why should Miami's first "kingpin" case be any exception?

The King Was Shot but Survived

And now federal proescutors face a daunting challenge: Take down Raul Martinez once and for all

Barring Inquiry

Federal agents probe a local neighborhood's recent vote to install barricades and guardhouses

Belly Away From the Bar

The Florida bar puts a pathetic period on Metro Commissioner James Burke's 1994

Mad Dog Bites No More

In the latest twist to the Bangkok Six orangutan-smuggling case, Matthew Block's flamboyant defense lawyer takes his own life

Toxic Runways

Years of neglect have poisoned the land and contaminated the water under Miami International Airport. Investigators are just now beginning to grasp how bad it is. It's very bad.

The Further Adventures of Willy and Sal

Being thrown in jail was supposed to bring down the curtain on Miami drug lords Willy Falc and Sal Magluta. But there was an encore: Death threats, clandestine cameras, illegal searches, and major security violations.

Automatic Transgression

The penalty for selling an unregistered World War II Sten gun? In this case it might be six months of house arrest, three years of probation, and one $36,000 Turbo Z.

Letters

The penalty for selling an unregistered World War II Sten gun? In this case it might be six months of house arrest, three years of probation, and one $36,000 Turbo Z.

The Rearranging of the Guard

With Dexter Lehtinen and Diane Cossin out of the U.S. Attorney's Office, the public can look forward to unprecedented openness, right? No comment.

Janet Reno's Greatest Hits

With Dexter Lehtinen and Diane Cossin out of the U.S. Attorney's Office, the public can look forward to unprecedented openness, right? No comment.