Rolando Vera knows jails. He’s done short stints in quite a few, including three Florida state prisons. The 32-year-old Cuban has committed crimes such as possession of cocaine, resisting arrest, and burglary. But even Vera couldn’t have expected the events that he asserts unfolded after the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization…
Toss out the name of any county politician and it’s a sure bet Chris Korge has raised money for his or her election campaigns. County Commissioner Betty Ferguson? “Betty I’ve fundraised for,” Korge says. “I think in her last election I raised almost $10,000 for her, which was a lot…
The tide is going out along the coast of South Florida. The water level of the narrow Miami River drops, exposing rotten pilings propping up docks and lichen-covered hulls of ramshackle freighters. Several trading boats pass through the city’s system of drawbridges, leave behind the last land, and steer for…
It was just last summer that Raymond Molina stood up in Little Havana’s Versailles restaurant to announce his campaign for Miami mayor. “I know how to make things happen,” Molina remarked. “I have the experience, the knowledge, and the commitment that Miami needs. The city needs a real mayor to…
The dove-gray Sugar Hill housing complex on NW Fourteenth Court is bordered by tall metal fences. A security guard watches over it 24 hours a day. Yet some of the windows are broken and appliances have been looted from unoccupied apartments. Aluminum railings along walkways are rusted at their joints…
A fleet of ships with billowing sails moves across a large plywood sign posted at the Express Hand Car Wash on NW Second Avenue. The boats, flying Haitian flags, weave determinedly toward their island home, amid gulls and frothy clouds. Bright red hand-painted letters spell out the bottom line: Paye…
If you dream of the high-bohemian version of the writer’s life, slip on your safari jacket, polish your daiquiri glass, grab your fishing gear, and come on down to Key West for Hemingway Days, which start this Friday, July 17. You can enjoy ten days of the legend — fishing,…
Info:Correction Date: 07/30/1998 Info: Ebony and Larceny How did a stolen Steinway concert grand end up in North Miami? It’s a long and sordid tale. By Kirk Nielsen Jonathan Rosen, a 34-year-old entrepreneur of the well-coifed, Italian-loafers-with-no-socks variety, has a very hot commodity: a Steinway & Sons concert grand piano…
As Raymond Johnson stood on a curb near his Liberty City home last month chatting with his brother-in-law, he didn’t think he was breaking the law. But a Miami patrolman arrested Johnson for standing in a “well-known drug area,” according to a June 17 police report. The official charge was…
In an area of open spaces, scampering marsh rabbits, and circling red-shouldered hawks along SW 168th Street, layers of debris-strewn soil fill roadside trenches. Plastic bottles, carpet remnants, and rubber tubing protrude from the brown earth. Michael Black, who lives nearby, points disgustedly at the mess. He’s furious. He knows…
Miami-Dade County’s only public detoxification unit, slated for closure July 1, got a 90-day reprieve last week thanks to a last-minute effort led by County Commissioner Barbara Carey. The extension, approved unanimously by commissioners July 7, followed publication of a New Times story on the detox unit (“A Quick Fix,”…
As the sun set on Sunset Island No. 2, the back yard of developer Craig Robins teemed with political luminaries. Dress ranged from severe gray suits to more casual ensembles. But all the big names were in photo-op uniform. Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Miami Beach…
A producer behind the camera flashes a cue and Pedro Sevcec, whose bearded visage is known to television viewers throughout much of the Spanish-speaking world, begins his pitch. “?Que le paso?” he asks. “He betrayed you? She betrayed you?” His voice deepens slightly with the empathy of a trusted confidant…
Miami Northwestern Senior High School principal William E. Clarke III is facing two federal sexual harassment lawsuits from female school employees under his supervision. In addition, sexual harassment complaints against Clarke have been filed with the school district by two other female Northwestern employees. The four cases have overlapped and…
For twenty years Ed Oleck has collected vintage guitars. He has purchased, repaired, and sold hundreds of them — Fenders, Martins, Gibsons, Gretsches. Rock stars and wannabes have sought out his west Dade shop for rare instruments, hard-to-find parts, or the perfect reverb. Now Oleck says his store is on…
“Everything is nice,” says Giacomo Coschignano, smiling through a screened-in window next to the front door of his sprawling one-story house in suburban west Miami-Dade. Things are nice for Coschignano. Extremely nice. After all, the genial, hard-working 59-year-old earned $91,259 last year, more than enough to buy that shiny black…
Shabber, a 31-year-old businessman, arrives at his Boca Raton bachelor digs after a long day’s work. He switches on the computer in his bedroom and then does something prosecutors insist is illegal. He brings up the homepage of intercasino.com, which depicts the portico of an elegant Monte Carlo-style casino. He…
If you’re a heroin addict or an alcoholic and you want to kick the habit, don’t ask Miami-Dade County for help. The only public detoxification center in the area was scheduled to stop accepting patients on July 1. “We will no longer offer that service,” says Dean Taylor, director of…
Miami Senior High principal Victor Lopez is game for a challenge. Last month state regulators reported that his school had violated recruiting rules, and they demanded a response. After conducting a two-week probe, Lopez penned a four-page, single-spaced declaration of innocence on June 24. “We have found no evidence of…
The silver Honda Civic careens past a no-entry sign into the parking lot of Little Havana’s police substation. After it stops in a space marked “Lieutenant,” a man and woman get out of the car and hustle toward the building’s glass-doored entrance. But a frowning police officer flings open the…
Info:Correction Date: 07/30/1998 Info: The Don Adrift in Miami’s fierce political maelstrom, Donald Warshaw is one cool customer Tristram Korten Donald Warshaw enters a back room in Miami City Hall filled with political types and lawyers. He tells a joke, then settles into a cushy swivel chair. No one says…
Soaring in a universe far removed from Miami is an elite constellation of media moguls. Ted Turner is a member. So are Michael Eisner, Rupert Murdoch, and a select few others. We all see their faces on the news, maybe catch a tuxedoed photo-shoot in Vanity Fair. Sometimes we skim…
