Like most Soundcloud rappers, up-and-coming Treasure Coast hip-hop artist YNW Melly has a bunch of face tattoos. Curiously, the 19-year-old Melly had an artist ink the word “Sakchaser” on his forehead, just above his left eye. The tattoo honored a fallen friend: A member of Melly’s rap crew, YNW Sakchaser,…
Each March, thousands of young, drunk tourists descend on Miami Beach, slip into their neon-colored swimwear, and transform into spring breakers. With fake IDs in their beach bags and the complete discography of Pitbull blasting from their portable speakers, this species can be observed guzzling beer from funnels and twerking on police vehicles before passing out face-down in the sand.
Former Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Javier Romaguera’s reputation is so tarnished the U.S Attorney’s Office refuses to prosecute his cases. But he says he’s just a Good Samaritan who’s been wronged. You might remember Romaguera. He was fired last fall and subsequently sued after a woman said he kidnapped…
More than a year ago, a group of City of Miami Fire-Rescue employees got canned after committing what looks, on paper at least, to have been a racist attack on a black firefighter. In November 2017, six firefighters were terminated after they allegedly took their black colleague’s family photographs, drew…
In the five years since he was killed by Miami Beach Police while tagging an abandoned building, Israel “Reefa” Hernandez has returned to life in countless street tributes, a graphic novel, a skateboard line, and his own art. Now, the story of the 18-year-old, Colombia-born artist is headed to the…
Just yesterday, alt-right hero and white-supremacist-adjacent Florida congressman Matt Gaetz tried to kick parents of Parkland shooting victims out of a federal gun-violence hearing. The video footage of the event, captured by CSPAN, is insane for a number of reasons: For one, Gaetz conducts himself like a petulant child. Moreover:…
Westernbank used to be one of the largest financial institutions in Puerto Rico. At its peak, it employed 1,500 people. But it took just one man to take down the San Juan-based bank. In 2010, a Key Biscayne resident named Jack Kachkar brought its operation to an end with a $142 million…
On a Wednesday night in early January, about 20 officers wearing tactical vests and carrying assault rifles raided a family’s home in Sweetwater. The police were looking for James Castro, a 40-year-old registered sex offender accused of slamming his car into a cop during a drug sting earlier that day. But Castro wasn’t at home; instead, only his mother, two younger brothers, and pregnant girlfriend were there.
South Florida couple Mark Allen Bartlett and Dana Scalione celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2019 this way: She screamed at a group of black teens. He then pulled a gun and repeatedly used the N-word. The kids, including an 11-year-old boy, briefly blocked Brickell Avenue while carrying signs demanding the City of Miami protect the affordable-housing complex Liberty Square…
The case is one of the biggest black eyes in the history of the Miami-Dade Police Department and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s administration. In 2015, local cops, elected officials, and Rundle stood at a podium and declared then-15-year-old Deandre Charles had murdered Joseph Raksin, a prominent New York City rabbi. Rundle then revealed an utterly ridiculous witness-drawn sketch.
The Miami Police Department resembles a middle-school playground. Here’s proof. Two brothers who recently won the cop union’s elections, Tommy and Matt Reyes, seem to be suggesting someone tied to the election’s losers is now fabricating evidence to smear them. Yesterday, New Times broke news that MPD Chief Jorge Colina has ordered…
Roberto Destephan, the City of Miami Police officer and former Fraternal Order of Police union vice president, filmed himself last year tossing Hebrew texts into a garbage heap outside an FOP office while calling the books “trash.” That video then leaked to WPLG Local 10 News last…
While living in Cartagena, Colombia, Jose Irizarry allegedly held lavish yacht parties with bikini-clad prostitutes. He took first-class flights to Europe and brought along some Louis Vuitton luggage and a gold Hublot watch. He funded his lifestyle by stealing cash from Colombian drug dealers and engaging in schemes to launder money…
Unlike five other members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office command staff, Col. Frank Adderley remained at the agency over the weekend after Gov. Ron DeSantis ousted his boss, Scott Israel, as sheriff. Adderley, the at-times controversial former police chief of Fort Lauderdale, tried his fate with new Sheriff Gregory Tony, who…
Despite the fact that City of Miami taxpayers in 2016 shelled out $400,000 to equip half of the 1,300-member police force with body cameras, the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP) continues having to call out the city’s cops for misusing the devices. The Miami Police Department needed the cameras after the federal government whacked the department…
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel was basically fired on Friday. Israel’s cops demonstrably failed during the Parkland shooting: A scathing, 500-page report released earlier this month detailed how multiple BSO deputies failed to confront Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooter Nikolas Cruz. Deputies lacked proper training to handle mass shooters and it appears…
On the same day that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended their boss from office and named Gregory Tony the first black sheriff in Broward County history, five top members of the command staff announced their resignations, sources confirmed to New Times. Those who resigned include Undersheriff Steve Kinsey, Col. Jack…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to remove Broward Sheriff Scott Israel from his post today at 3 p.m. during a news conference in front of BSO headquarters. That much is clear. But there is much speculation about whom DeSantis will install as the top cop. New Times has confirmed a Politico report that the governor is expected to choose former Coral Springs sergeant Gregory Tony as the interim sheriff. Tony would become the first black sheriff in Broward history.
As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was sworn in this week, rumors swirled that Broward Sheriff Scott Israel would soon be removed from office over his agency’s botched response to the Parkland school shooting. One possible replacement for perhaps the most powerful job in Florida’s most Democratic county, according to two…
Hector’s Pizza opening delayed.
Florida law prohibits police departments from using drones to surveil citizens. So Miami Beach cops instead got a small blimp. On December 28, MBPD flew a tiny, helium-filled dirigible, or “tethered aerostat,” over an Orange Bowl party called the Capital One Beach Bash. A camera attached to the balloon monitored…
Embattled Broward Sheriff Scott Israel’s second in command, Undersheriff Steve Kinsey, has informed numerous sheriff’s department staff members he is resigning his post, according to three well-placed BSO sources. The decision by Kinsey comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who took office Tuesday, is widely expected to suspend…
