Park West, the city’s after-hours district, is a place where glamour meets gutter. Women in high heels step out of Ferraris right next to one-legged panhandlers. In some ways, the hood is a symbol of everything that’s messed up about class division and gentrification in this city. It’s also –…
In early 2007, after winning a $300 million U.S. Army contract to equip Afghanistan with munitions, Miami Beach arms dealer Efraim Diveroli, age 21, went scavenging in Albania. There he subcontracted Ylli Pinari, head of that Balkan country’s state-run arms agency, to fill the order from derelict stockpiles. Pinari and…
We’re not supposed to make fun of certain groups, including overweight people. But every once in a while, a morbidly obese person comes along who so horribly exemplifies every stereotype that it’s hard to resist mocking him. Almost as hard to resist as it is for that person to avoid…
Gov. Charlie Crist’s security team is on alert this afternoon after an anti-government group called “Guardians of the free Republics” (sic) sent threatening letters. The FBI sent alerts to police around the nation this morning after 30 governors received the group’s missives, which warn that unless they leave office within three days,…
It’s been nearly three months since aspiring model Paula Sladewski’s body was found burning in a North Miami dumpster. Efforts to find the killer have stalled, and now Sladewski’s family back home is in a bitter argument over her personal property.Detroit’s Fox 2 reports that Paula’s sister Kelly Farris and…
If you watch CSI: Miami, you might be under the impression that Miami-Dade has the most tech-savvy crime fighters in the state. You might be wrong. A Santa Rosa County deputy used Google Earth to help track down a man and make an arrest.The crime isn’t nearly as interesting as…
Three men were shot and one killed on NW 44th Street early this morning, just a few blocks from the trendy heart of the Design District.Around 1 a.m., two men walked up to a house at 40 NW 40th St. and sprayed the three victims with bullets before fleeing the…
From cocaine to black-market cigarettes, Miami has long been America’s preferred gateway for smugglers. Add Chinese steroids to the list.Last week, Miami feds charged 36-year-old North Carolina resident Eric Davis — nicknamed “Triple H”– with distributing steroids through the Internet. His alleged co-conspirators, Michael “Gasman” Reich and Timothy “Bossman” Tate,…
Last Thursday night, Florida International University football player Kendall Berry was stabbbed to death with a pair of scissors on campus. It doesn’t seem like it could get much worse than that. But an FIU Police officer tells Riptide that students are lucky that the under-equipped and undermanned department was…
Twenty-two-year-old Quentin Wyche has surrendered to police for the on-campus stabbing death of Florida International University football star Kendall Berry. Wyche had spent a few days on the football team as a walk-on before being let go. He also worked in Berry’s dormitory. Reportedly, the two got into an altercation Thursday night…
Florida International University’s campus is still in shock this morning after Kendall Berry, a junior running back on the football team, was stabbed to death in the heart of the Miami campus last night.Just after 9 p.m., Berry got into an argument with someone who pulled out a knife and…
Apparently, there were so many cats killed during last Spring’s feline murder spree that rocked Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay that prosecutors forgot to charge the suspect, 19-year-old Tyler Weinman, with all of them. In a status hearing yesterday, prosecutors announced that they had left out two cat killings in their charges. Weinman…
We’re pretty sure the ornately logo-ed purse trend has been done with for a while. Now that we’re all “recessionistas” ladies who can still afford luxury leather goods prefer to buy expensive bags with the designer brand only noticeable to discerning eyes. Touting around a purse that cost $5000 and let’s everyone…
A federal judge in Boston is set to sentence Miami’s own superhacker, Albert Gonzalez, tomorrow for leading what prosecutors call the largest identity theft ring ever busted. Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty in September to 19 counts, faces 15 to 25 years for stealing millions of credit card numbers from national…
Lost luggage? Overpriced beers? Another canceled flight back to Pittsburgh? It’s not clear what exactly set off Michael John Jones at Miami International Airport yesterday, but damn if the Pennsylvania native wasn’t angry about something. A little after 2 a.m., the 44-year-old went nuts on two MIA employees in Concourse…
Two men have been arrested in connection with a large South Florida shoplifting scheme, possibly putting an end to a streak that spanned three counties. Hector Collazo and Carlos Ramirez Martinez were caught after allegedly putting their sticky fingers to action in multiple stores at Aventura Mall this past weekend. Boca Raton…
Nineteen-year-old Rodgrick Girtman has been arrested in the murder of Corneshia Miller, also 19, after confessing to police.Girtman shot Miller in front of their two children, a toddler and an infant. She was found with gunshot wound on Thursday afternoon in her home around Northwest 68th Street and 14th Avenue…
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy There have been few breaks in the case of Paula Sladewski, the aspiring model who turned up dead in a North Miami dumpster after visiting Miami for New Year’s with her boyfriend. The story has already been featured…
Danny Perez, the man who was mysteriously shot and killed while riding his bicycle Friday night, was also a Special Olympic athlete who was named Miami-Dade County’s Inspirational Athlete of the Year in 2008.Perez was riding west on NW 79th Street between NW 17th and NW 22nd after getting off…
Wachovia bank executives have admitted that the banking giant laundered millions of dollars for Mexican drug lords between 2003 and 2008, prosecutors announced in Miami this afternoon. The bank has promised to pay $160 million in fines and penalties and to set up new safeguards within a year to prevent…
Shedrick James Copeland, a 29-year-old social studies teacher at Robert Morgan Educational Center, was booked into jail this morning on two charges of sex crimes involving a child. The incident was reported by one of Copeland’s students.He’s accused of engaging in oral sex with a 17-year-old female student.Copeland is charged…
U.S. Marshals Captured two men wanted for the murder of a Maryland woman late last year after they were tipped off the pair was in Miami.Joel Milburn, 20 and Seth Jedlicka, only 17, were arrested today at the Motel Blanco at 5255 Biscayne Blvd.They are two of four men believed…
