Dirty Dozen 2023: Get a Load of Miami's Most Unsavory Characters of the Past Year

If we were to sum up the past 12 months in a single sentence, it'd be that 2023 was a year when Miami felt more Miami than ever.

Longtime residents were priced out of town while developers fervently bulldozed local history to make room for high-rent apartments with paper-thin walls. Our mayor tried to bullshit his way onto the presidential debate stage, and the nation's most profitable hedge fund set up shop with plans to build a sky-scraping headquarters in the Magic City.

So much mis-, mal-, and all-around nonfeasance emanated from Miami City Hall alone that the stench of ignominy hovered over Miami like fumes from the Covanta trash fire. Suffice to say, in order to level the playing field for the miscreants, ne'er-do-wells, and all-around shame magnets of greater South Florida, we limited City of Miami public officials to a single Dirty Dozen 2023 roster spot.

So before you carp at the absence of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — he of the $63 million abuse-of-power verdict in civil court — consider that he wore the sullied crown in the 2021 edition of the Tarnished Twelve. This year, we simply had to make room for Joe's erstwhile colleague, Alex Díaz de la Portilla, who was booted from the dais following a bombshell bribery indictment.

Alleged deviant behavior lurched to the absurd: Yes, that town Santa might be a perv. And yes, that investment deal pitched by the Invisible Man of Porn was indeed too good to be true.

All the while, South Florida's reputation as a haven for the LGBTQ community was tarnished by a cascade of culture-war laws pushed through by hypocritical legislators seeking to score political points by marginalizing their fellow citizens and neighbors.

Speaking of hypocrisy, Florida Republican Party chair Christian Ziegler missed this list only because his bizarre moment in the spotlight occurred a little too close to the end of the year. (In case you missed it, Ziegler — whose wife, Bridget, is a member of the Sarasota School Board and a cofounder of the infamous book-banning group Moms for Liberty — was accused of sexual assault by a woman with whom he and his wife are said to have previously engaged in a ménage à trois.)

So much for preserving our innocence.

On a lighter note, the Dolphins don't suck, and David Beckham brought the world's most dynamic soccer player to town.

Enough with the formalities. Below, listed in alphabetical order, are your 2023 Dirty Dozen, an appropriately motley crew of Florida Men and Women.

Charlie Adelson

A TV set would have been sufficient for his sister's divorce present. Instead, Fort Lauderdale periodontist Charlie Adelson hired two hit men to kill his sister's estranged husband, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, in Markel's Tallahassee driveway in 2014. After years on the police radar, Adelson was arrested in April 2022. During his trial this past fall, co-conspirator and Adelson's ex-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua told a Leon County jury how Adelson approached her about finding a hit man on Halloween and how she linked him up with Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera. Taking the stand in his defense, the dentist maintained that Garcia and Rivera took it upon themselves to murder Markel and then tried to extort him out of money. Adelson insisted he was joking when he spoke of hiring a hit man as a divorce present for his sister. Declining to buy what Charlie was selling, the jury convicted the 47-year-old of first-degree murder, solicitation, and conspiracy to commit murder. Adelson's mother, Donna, is a candidate for next year's Dirty Dozen: A week after her son's conviction, she was arrested while attempting to board a flight out of Miami International Airport to Vietnam — a non-extradition country. Coincidence? Tell it to the jury.

Fabián Basabe

On the campaign trail en route to a Florida House seat in District 106, which covers barrier-island communities from Miami Beach north to Sunny Isles, ostensibly grown-up reality TV star/"it" boy Fabián Basabe pledged to support LGBTQ rights and abortion access. But when legislation targeting the LGBTQ community came up for a vote in the Republican-dominated House, the self-styled GOP moderate voted in lockstep with Gov. Ron DeSantis' culture-war agenda, then declined to take a stand on the governor's six-week abortion ban. Basabe again thumbed his nose at LGBTQ Floridians when he put in an appearance at the Miami Beach Pride Parade, blowing kisses to the crowd as attendees showered him with boos. Though he doesn't grace the tabloids the way he did in his party-boy days, Basabe scores bonus Dirty Dozen points for popping up in headlines for alleged face slapping and butt groping.

Matthew Bergwall

Matt Bergwall wasn't your run-of-the-mill University of Miami undergrad. According to a recent federal indictment, from December 2021 to the spring of '22, the computer science major from Darien, Connecticut, also identified in court documents as "MXB," was leading a double life — a fraudulent one that had him flaunting a $41,000 Rolex watch and jetting with his new girlfriend to Mexico, Spain, and Dubai. How'd the New England nerd do it? Feds say Bergwall hacked into an unnamed multinational "shipping, receiving, and supply chain management company" and executed 10,000 fraudulent returns totaling $3.5 million, including electric skateboards, a TV, and an $80 pair of Reeboks. Late last year, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Bergwall with mail fraud and conspiracy charges that could land him in prison for 45 years. As he awaits an early 2024 trial date, though, Bergwall appears to be partying on. A judge approved a December trip to New York City followed by a cozy Yuletide sojourn at his mother's home in a tony Connecticut suburb.

Frenel Cenat

Take a suspected dirty cop, sprinkle in a few kilos of fake cocaine, and you have a recipe for a quintessentially Miami scandal. Federal agents say officer Frenel Cenat of the Miami Police Department believed he was shaking down coke traffickers when he performed two November traffic stops wherein he identified himself as "Officer Martez" and gave the ostensible suspects a choice: hand over their cash and blow or get hauled off to the hoosegow. Unfortunately for Cenat, the tipster who clued him in to the supposed traffickers, along with the traffickers themselves, were part of an elaborate undercover FBI operation. Prosecutors say he didn't realize he was the mark until he arrived at an agreed-upon meetup to split $80,000 in proceeds with his partner and was greeted by an anti-corruption unit and charges of Hobbs Act extortion, theft of government funds, and attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Katherine Colabella

Erstwhile adult film star Katherine Colabella (AKA "Kitty Bella") knows a thing or two about rear ends. In September, she allegedly plowed into a car that was stopped at a red light in Plantation, then drove off in her black Mercedes-Benz. In an incident report, the officer who caught up with her noted that she had "bloodshot watery eyes" and the smell of alcohol on her breath and that she tearfully said she was unaware that she'd been involved in a crash. When asked to perform a roadside sobriety test, she allegedly replied, "I can do whatever you want. Jumping jacks. You want fucking toe touches?" Colabella, 34, was arrested and charged with DUI. Sad to say, Colabella was already familiar with the drill. Criminal and civil court records show she has been accused of causing at least four South Florida car crashes since 2016. In fact, at the time of the 2023 accident, she was on probation for running down a cyclist on the MacArthur Causeway two years earlier. She fled to her South Beach condo, where an observant valet called police after noticing her car's dented hood and smashed windshield. The victim, a pastor, was placed in a medically induced coma for several weeks. Fortunately, no one was injured in the Plantation mishap.

Anthony DeFillipo

A disconcerting question weighed on North Miami Beach residents' minds as 2023 dawned: Where does our mayor live? Anthony DeFillipo claimed to reside in a cozy apartment within the city proper, but a complaint submitted to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust alleged that he resided in a swanky Davie manse miles outside the municipality, in violation of the city charter. The controversy led to a government deadlock. Commissioners refused to acknowledge DeFilippo as mayor and city business ground to a halt. For months, DeFillipo refused to step down — until he was arrested in May on voting misconduct charges (a separate issue related to votes he cast in North Miami Beach). Governor DeSantis swiftly stripped him of his title. But as the wheels of justice slowly grind on, the residents of North Miami Beach seem to be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees stemming from the case.

Alex Díaz de la Portilla

Puncturing a political dynasty spanning three decades, at least four different elected offices, and more than a few scandals, Governor DeSantis suspended Alex Díaz de la Portilla from office in September after the Miami city commissioner was busted on charges of money laundering, bribery, and criminal conspiracy. The city hall veteran was handcuffed, jumpsuited, and jailed alongside lobbyist William W. Riley Jr. after state investigators determined that Riley had illegally funneled tens of thousands of dollars to DLP's political committees from local multimillionaire power couple David and Leila Centner, who were seeking city approval to build a downtown sports complex for their private school, Centner Academy. (The Centners merited inclusion in the 2021 edition of the Dirty Dozen for their anti-vaxxing ways and all-around weirdness.) Maintaining his innocence, Díaz de la Portilla campaigned for re-election in Trump-esque fashion, buying Spanish-language ads lambasting the Broward County state attorney for indicting him. It didn't work: Challenger Miguel Angel Gabela unseated DLP in November.

Manny Diaz Jr.

A former Miami-Dade high school teacher and baseball coach, Manny Diaz Jr. won a Republican seat in the Florida Senate in 2019, where he sponsored that body's version of Governor DeSantis' controversial Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act. You know, the one a federal judge decimated in 2022 with the observation, "This is positively dystopian. It should go without saying that if liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." Anyhoo, by then, Diaz's fealty had been rewarded by DeSantis, who appointed him to serve as the state's 28th education commissioner. A COVID vaccine skeptic, Diaz kicked off 2023 by blocking the College Board from teaching its Advanced Placement course in Black history in Florida high schools. In August, he unveiled an "anti-woke" middle-school curriculum that includes the following ostensible pre-Civil War factoid: "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." He virtually guaranteed himself a place in this year's Dirty Dozen a week later when he ducked a public forum on the new Black history standards at a Miami Gardens church.

Eryka Gemma Flores

She's the self-appointed godmother of the Miami Crypto Scene, but when all is said and done, Eryka Gemma Flores' legacy may well extend beyond the world of digital currency. The venture capitalist and onetime low-key crypto promoter who created Miami's first Bitcoin Center found herself at the heart of national intrigue when she was said to have supplied Proud Boys chairman and Miami native Enrique Tarrio with a blueprint to overturn the 2020 election. Entitled "1776 Returns," the document outlined a detailed plot to storm government buildings around the U.S. Capitol and played a key role in the seditious conspiracy charge against Tarrio and other Proud Boys. Texts revealed during Tarrio's trial appeared to show Flores proudly providing the document to Tarrio just weeks before the January 6, 2021, attack, telling him, "If you don’t like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere. But I want you to be the executor and benefitor [sic] of my brilliance."

Vicky Méndez

Her bio on the City of Miami website contains a lot of background on Miami City Attorney Victoria "Vicky" Méndez. But it won't tell you what WLRN's investigative duo of Danny Rivero and Miami New Times alum Joshua Ceballos uncovered in the spring of 2023: that Méndez and her husband, Carlos Morales, are armpits deep in an alleged reverse Robin Hood scheme in which the homes of Miami-Dade's poor and vulnerable are purchased at rock-bottom prices — ostensibly for the benefit of their owners, who have been adjudicated as incapacitated — and then quickly flipped for a tidy profit. Méndez and Morales steadfastly deny the allegations in the report and the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Inspector General's Office says the agency is conducting an audit of the Guardianship Program. Newly elected District 1 City Commissioner Miguel Gabela — the man who defeated Méndez's fellow Dirty Dozen member Alex Díaz de la Portilla in November (sure is a small world, ain't it?) — recently filed a resolution to fire the city attorney.

Carl Ruderman

One by one, former Playgirl magazine owner and Aventura resident Carl Ruderman looked on for years as executives from his bankrupt merchant cash advance company, 1 Global Capital, were convicted on fraud charges for an investment scheme that roped in $250 million. Chief financial officer Alan Heide, chief operating officer Steven Schwartz, and two attorneys were sentenced to federal prison while Ruderman skated by with fines and regulatory action but no criminal charges. It seemed that the tycoon once known as pornography's "Invisible Man" might somehow be invisible to the feds. But the gavel came down hard on Ruderman this past July when he was indicted for wire fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors said 1 Global failed to loan out tens of millions of dollars it had raised from investors because Ruderman used the cash to cover a mortgage, chauffeurs, a luxury car for his wife, and insurance payments for his art collection. In October, Ruderman pleaded guilty in exchange for a five-year sentence and a $250 million forfeiture order.

James Silverstone

If you're looking to hire a Santa Claus impersonator for your company holiday party, you'd best cross James Silverstone off your list. Silverstone, who for years had volunteered to serve as Santa for the small beachside Broward burg of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, was indicted last fall on federal charges of possessing more than 1,500 child-porn images and videos. According to the federal complaint, he'd landed on police radar after his house was linked to an IP address that shared several hundred child porn images via the filesharing app BitTorrent. Silverstone confirmed to police that he'd used the search term "PTHC" (preteen hardcore) but claimed he routinely used BitTorrent to download movies and couldn't distinguish between children and adults online. Police say some of the downloaded files depicted sexual activity involving infants. Update published 5/30/24: On May 29, 2024, James Silverstone was sentenced to five years in prison plus 20 years of supervised release for child porn possession. The 63-year-old pleaded guilty in March. He must surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service on June 28 under U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith's order. The court recommended that Silverstone be placed in a Florida prison with a residential drug abuse program.

Hungry for Another Dozen (or Two)?

Dirty Dozen 2022

Dirty Dozen 2021

Dirty Dozen 2020

Dirty Dozen 2019