Earlier this month, Carlos Bertonatti finally left his Key Biscayne house arrest and headed down to the Gerstein Justice Building to face charges that he drunkenly killed a cyclist on the Rickenbacker Causeway in January 2010. His criminal trial, after nine delays, was at last scheduled to start last Monday.It…
With crisp autumn weather and no rain in sight, thousands of costumed revelers packed the street party on CocoWalk in Coconut Grove last night. Amidst all the drunken, blood-soaked zombies, though, a very real bloodbath broke out around 3 a.m. last night.After a fight erupted among partiers leaving CocoWalk, four…
In the desperate fight to snag Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade — a battle that could easily swing Florida, and thus the presidency — Romney’s campaign has decided to pull out the oldest trick in the GOP handbook: Tying Obama to Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.It’s ridiculous, of course,…
Despite an Everest-sized mountain of evidence that Rep. David Rivera orchestrated a sham campaign by an unknown candidate in the Democratic primary, the incumbent has steadfastly denied knowing anything about the case. Rivera also denies being under federal investigation even though multiple sources tell the Miami Herald otherwise.Don’t expect any…
Miami-Dade voters have been inundated with political ads for going on six months now, but among the most visible — and probably the most risible — are the billboards all over I-95 and now the full-page Miami Herald ads showing Obama bowing to a Saudi sheik and blaming the Prez…
Three weeks ago, Orlando Cruz signed up for a Twitter account and sent out his first message: 25 words, first in Spanish and then English, that changed his sport forever. “As a boxer, I am proud to tell the world that I have always been and always will be a…
There’s no need to raid Publix for water, hurricane shutters, vodka and “Golden Girls” DVDs just yet, but you might as well prepare yourself for a miserable end of the week thanks to Tropical Storm Sandy.The strengthening storm is set to become a Cat 1 hurricane before walloping Jamaica later…
For more than a decade, Gus Lopez ran Miami Beach’s procurement department, directing bids for multimillion projects. It’s a vital job in a development hub like South Beach — and a job rife with opportunities for collusion and corruption. Earlier this year, Lopez was investigated for allegedly giving in to…
For two decades, Boy Scouts of America leaders kept exhaustive, secret lists of men banned from volunteering, mostly because they’d been caught molesting boys. Many of the thousands of men in the so-called “Perversion Files” were never charged with a crime, as the Scouts fought to keep the records private…
No one denies that John Errol Ferguson is insane. Ferguson’s been having psychotic visions for more than four decades, and for years has firmly believed that he’s the “Prince of God” who will ascend directly to the right hand of God when he dies. The last judge to consider his…
They can be truly hard to find in Miami, always lost between the film crews chasing Kardashian sisters to their next luxury club, the Russian oligarchs loudly racing Brazilian expats in souped up Lotuses, and the parade of art-collecting billionaires snapping up property in Fisher Island.But Miami does have a…
In Miami’s federal courthouse downtown, thousands of lawsuits are filed every day over every conceivable kind of property: houses, boats, cars, drug money, jewelry, fine art. It’s a fair bet, though, that a suit filed two weeks ago is a first: A demand that the Venezuelan government give a lock…
Ever spend your weekend biking around Coral Gables and Pinecrest, looking longingly at those stately old houses under shady mango trees and thinking to yourself, “Man, I could definitely live here”? Well, no, you can’t. Not unless you’ve recently become an international arms baron or sold your shares in Facebook,…
As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis this month, disturbing new details about the near-nuclear war keep leaking out. Last week, newly declassified papers showed that the Soviets left 100 nuclear bombs in Cuba for a month after the crisis.Now, just released German files show…
Last night, Labranche got into an argument at a car wash that ended with a hail of gunshots, killing the musician on the spot.See also: – Bizzle, Murdered Miami Rapper, Was A Strip Club Star and a Family Man -Hip-Hop Fame at South Florida Strip Clubs-Top Ten Stripper Songs of the Moment…
If Barack Obama wants to win Florida and nab its vital 29 electoral votes, he’s got some big-time work to do at tomorrow’s debate. Two new polls out today find not only that Mitt Romney has gained five points in Florida since dominating in the first debate, but more worryingly for…
Imagine how the last fifty years of Miami history would have played out if Fidel Castro had been sitting on an arsenal of 100 tactical nuclear missiles just 90 miles away from Florida.That’s exactly what nearly happened after the Cuban Missile Crisis, according to new documents made public this morning…
Just a short 18 months ago, chef Jonathan Eismann was one of the biggest names in Miami’s restaurant scene with acclaimed eateries Pacific Time, Fin, Q, and Pizza Volante under his management. By last April, his enterprises began toppling: The restaurants folded, lawsuits piled up, and his Venetian Islands home…
Miami Customs Agent Roger J. Kiley Faces Prison Time After Pretending to Be a Diplomat to Impress a Mistress
Bad idea: Cheating on your wife while working overseas for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Worse idea: Telling your new girlfriend you are a divorced, high-ranking diplomat, when in fact you are a married, low-ranking customs grunt. Incredibly awful idea: Forging diplomatic letters to wow your girlfriend and steal thousands…
Will Carlos Bertonatti finally go to trial over the death of cyclist Christophe LeCanne, the 44-year-old cyclist police say a drunken Bertonatti slammed into on the Rickenbacker Causeway? Signs finally point to yes.For the first time since his trial was delayed for the ninth time back in March, Bertonatti appeared…
Yoanni Sánchez is a true oddity in Cuba — a young political activist famous worldwide for penning a blog critical of the Castro regime. Sanchez’s courage has earned praise from President Obama and a place on Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential” list, all while dodging government censors by emailing her…
