Way back in April, New Times reported on how Sir Allen Stanford built a $7 billion Ponzi scheme in the Caribbean thanks to blind regulators and political influence. Yesterday, the Miami Herald fleshed out the local incompetance and greed that helped Stanford rake in more than $600 million from a plush…
What happens when a wayward cop goes unpunished for a blatant crime? Ask Sgt. Juan E. Mendez. Last month a citizen oversight group considered the 92nd complaint filed against the officer in his 25-year career.Those complaints include: 22 for excessive use of force, 22 for discourtesy, 20 for abusive treatment…
Black-Market Cigarettes: Miami’s New Vice
Illegal Immigrant Crackdown
Marlins fans: You might want to grab a barf bag before you read this one.Remember John Henry? The guy with the pretentious eyeglasses who bought the Marlins from Wayne Huizenga in 1999 and then waffled around for three mediocre seasons before selling out and heading to Boston? Well, the 59-year-old…
In this week’s New Times, we report new statistics showing how President Obama’s “Secure Communities” program pulls Miami cops into the deportation game. The program, which runs anyone booked into any Miami-Dade County jail through a national Homeland Security database, has already flagged 8,407 illegal immigrants since January. Critics fear…
What is heroin, you say? Cocaine? Automatic weapons?Try cigarettes. As Western countries hike taxes higher and higher to try to curb smoking, black-market, dirt-cheap smokes are flooding the markets. Some are counterfeits, rolled out by the millions in filthy factories literally buried underground in southern China. Some are legit, smuggled…
Miami has earned its rep as a world-class mecca of crime. Just this weekend, Miami Police gunned down a man stalking the streets with a machete. In recent weeks, a Metrorail guard was murdered on the job, a young man’s body — chopped into tiny pieces and stuffed into bags — floated…
Back in the bad old days of 2002, the City of Miami Police Department had some nasty habits: shooting dozens of people, beating suspects, ripping through the city on dangerous chases.City police averaged 80 shootings every year and killed 15 suspects — most black and poor. Things got so bad…
View Larger Map When MLB nailed Manny Ramirez with a 50-game suspension in May for using banned substances, several newspapers reported that he got his juice from a Florida doctor. Now, if ESPN’s investigative team is correct, we know his name: Dr. Pedro Bosch, a 71-year-old Coral Gables physician. ESPN…
New Times’ favorite accused Ponzi schemer, the island-ownin’, mistress-swappin’, cricket-lovin’ Sir R. Allen Stanford, had his first day in court today.Stanford was finally charged last week with 21 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice in connection with his Antigua-based bank, which the feds say…
One week ago, a lifelong Dolphins fan named Lionel Lightbourne called out Mr. Margaritaville himself, Jimmy Buffett, and demanded an Internet duel for the soul of the aqua-and-orange nation.Buffett had a new, corporate-approved anthem for the Dolphins, soullessly penned in exchange for renaming the stadium after his watered-down Budweiser-hawked beer…
Let’s go ahead and just christen it the cocaine trade of the Double-Aughts: Medicare fraud may be a lot less sexy, but it sure is keeping federal prosecutors in Miami busy.One month after busting up a $21 million, three-state ring, the feds expanded that investigation and charged eight Miami residents –…
Last month, Riptide received a vague but alarming email invitation with this headline: “JIMMY BUFFETT, MIAMI DOLPHINS AND DOLPHIN STADIUM TO HOST MAJOR CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENT.”Riptide quickly RSVPed and was treated to one of the most disturbing displays in sports history: Jimmy Buffett playing to a crowd of Parrotheads and getting…
A few months ago, Riptide reported on Miami-Dade Corrections Chief Tim Ryan’s habit of pissing off his black employees. Now the union representing all 2,700 of his workers is calling for Ryan’s resignation. In a letter sent to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez this month and obtained by Riptide, the union…
Back in April, New Times wrote the first in-depth story about the numerous warning signs over the years that once-billionaire Allen Stanford was running a gigantic $8 billion Ponzi scheme out of Miami, Houston and Antigua.Today, Stanford is finally in custody and charged with 21 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud,…
Our feature earlier this month about the never-ending disaster we call Everglades restoration left little doubt that the Army Corps of Engineers deserves a lot of blame. After all, these are the guys who gutted the Glades in the first place with miles of canals and drainage systems. And these…
You already know the Marlins aren’t so hot at this whole baseball-playin’ gig. Last night, they went for 15 with runners in scoring position and tanked another game at Fenway Park.But even as they sink into the depths of the NL East, the Fish probably shouldn’t think about giving…
Lionel Lightbourne lives just a few blocks from the Dolphins’ home field. When they win and fireworks explode over Miami Gardens, he watches from his front porch. Lightbourne has been a fan since the Fins’ perfect season in 1972 — the year after he was born. So when he heard…
Lionel Lightbourne lives just a few blocks from the Dolphins’ home field. When they win and fireworks explode over Miami Gardens, he watches from his front porch. Lightbourne has been a fan since the Fins’ perfect season in 1972 — the year after he was born.So when he heard the…
They don’t call Marlon T. Moore “X-Large” for nothing. Back in December 2007, Moore, a 38-year-old Miami resident, walked out of the federal pen in Coleman, Florida after serving a six year sentence on felony money laundering charges as part of a cocaine smuggling ring. Soon after his release, Moore…
As New Times über-blogger Kyle Munzenrieder pointed out yesterday, the fact that accused cat killer Tyler Weinman joined the “Catch the Cat Killer!” group on Facebook suggests he was certainly aware of all the media hoopla over his alleged crimes — and perhaps enjoying it.Today, unidentified police officials told the Miami…
