Corruption, Mismanagement, Nepotism in the City of Tampa
The past administration of the City of Tampa of Mayor Dick Greco and Tampa Police Chief Bennie Holder was smeared with mismanagement, corruption, nepotism and the infamous "good ole boy network" favoring personal interests. Yet, these misdeeds went largely without any repercussions. That administration "ruled" as if it was above the law and the past city's legislative body, the City Council, remained mostly silent and unwilling to pursue the gross negligence. It's simply a rubber stamp for the administration. In the past 10 years Tampa has faced an array of problems. Following are examples of the gross mismanagement of these administrations:
The decent, law-abiding citizens of Tampa have been placed under siege by their own police force. Among other offenses, local cops are known to have concealed citizen complaints filed against fellow officers; falsified official police records; negligently discharged firearms (causing serious injury to innocent bystanders); engaged in sex with prostitutes while on duty; committed perjury, etc., etc., etc.. But that's not the worst of it. In addition to such run-of-the-mill misconduct, malfeasance, and incompetence, the Tampa PD, in cahoots with Tampa's arrogant political establishment, is enforcing a city ordinance that has been ruled unconstitutional. Evidently, the City Council and the Police Department simply have no regard for the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the 1st Amendment. Uphold the Law of the Land and Defend the Constitution? Forget about it-- if any Tampa cops ever swore such an oath! , it seems that they've long since broken their word. Their primary function now is to enforce every idle whim of the city council. It's "Sieg Heil", as they march off to fulfill their orders.
Mayor Greco takes a weekend trip to Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro, without the approval of the City Council or the Governor.
Ron Rotella is the only advisor in the Mayor's office that has a city paid office with staff and who has been under scrutiny for possible conflict of interests with the City of Tampa and his personal business associations yet, the position remains.
Steve LaBrake a city contractor whose nepotism, use of public funds for personal gain and sweetheart land deals under the guise of the non-profit THAP were known and supported by Mayor Greco until the press revealed the damming issue that eventually cost him his job.
The nuisance abatement board of the City of Tampa has not heard a single case in the past several months of 2002
The Code Enforcement department is lacking in support and funding allowing abandoned buildings to be left unsecured, however. Mayor Greco has selectively enforced code to evict families from apartments without assistance to relocate those affected.
Taxpayer's monies have been diverted from neighborhood improvement projects,
instead going to pet projects costing millions of dollars like Ybor Trolley
Car system that has gone over its budget of 22 million Riders turn out
for new trolleys
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/20/news_pf/TampaBay/Riders_turn_out_for_n.shtml
The firehouse Police program that was intended to keep officers in neighborhoods is depleted on weekends, when it is needed most. The police are used in Ybor City during the weekends leaving many neighborhoods without adequate protection and causing many delays when 911 calls are placed.
Police Chief Holder and Mayor Greco knew about the Drop Program for early retirement of many officers several years ago and failed to plan for their replacement, now causing a severe shortfall
Tampa Police officer Terry Green admits paying for prostitutes and avoids jail.
Police Chief Jane Siling mismanaged the Sulphur Spring's police program known as Weed and Seed, for years. Yet she continued to work for Holder http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/archive/020506siling.shtml
Tampa's Police Athletic League Cleaning up Tampa's Police Athletic League is a worthy goal. The group exists to give troubled kids a chance to interact with positive role models, but it has been a model itself of what you don't want to see in a charity. PAL's history of weak management and poor spending controls are now the subject of a police investigation. The inquiry should prompt a broader discussion of whether PAL serves a purpose at all. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/21/Opinion/Buddying_up_PAL.shtml Tampa's PAL investigated as $7,000 comes up missing http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/2004/02/040216pal.shtml
Tampa Police Chief Tina Wright did not know of an investigation of a family member being a subject in a murder case of Felecia Himes. Yet, officer Wright is the deputy chief of investigations and it is her job to know http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/archive/020820wright.shtml Chief Holder will not transfer the Felecia Himes murder case to an outside agency to avoid a conflict on interest.
Judge F. Dennis Alvarez March 2001 Alvarez announces his retirement from the bench. Alvarez denies that his departure is part of a settlement with the Judicial Qualifications Commission, although others say it was investigating his handling of the courthouse scandals. http://reports.tbo.com/reports/courthistory/
Judge Robert Bonanno December 2001 Bonanno announces his resignation. While the JQC said it had had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in its own investigation, a move to impeach Bonanno was afoot in the state legislature. http://reports.tbo.com/reports/courthistory/
Judge Gasper Ficarrotta October 2000 Ficarrotta resigns amid investigations by the JQC and a special grand jury of his affair with bailiff Tara Pisano, and allegations that Ficarrotta helped solicit contributions for Sheriff Cal Henderson's re-election campaign. http://reports.tbo.com/reports/courthistory/
Judge Ed Ward June 2000 Ward announces his retirement three months after he is accused of sexually harassing four female colleagues, including two judges. He was scheduled to appear before the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission on those charges. http://reports.tbo.com/reports/courthistory/
Judge Harry Lee Coe III or State Attorney July 2000 Coe commits suicide shortly after learning that Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered an inquiry into his conduct in office. Coe had been accused of soliciting loans from employees and using his office computer to visit gambling sites. http://reports.tbo.com/reports/courthistory/
Judge Cynthia Holloway January 19, 2002 I never lied, says defiant judge But a judicial ethics panel recommends that the state Supreme Court reprimand and suspend Judge Cynthia Holloway for 30 days. http://www.sptimes.com/2002/01/19/TampaBay/I_never_lied__says_de.shtml
Court Bailiff Tara Pisano March 2001 - Pisano was suspended for 10 days on a charge of conduct unbecoming an officer for having sex at the courthouse with former Circuit Judge Gasper Ficarrotta. She and Ficarrotta had a 16-month affair that ended in 1999. http://reports.tbo.com/reports/courthistory/
Hillsborough Circuit Judge Gregory Holder, who for years has been blowing the whistle on courthouse shenanigans, was in danger of assassination -- physical, character or both -- by corrupt judges or law enforcement personnel, according to a confidential police affidavit obtained by the Weekly Planet. "We emphasized to Judge Holder the extreme danger he was in," Tampa Police Detective James Bartoszak said in his affidavit, signed Oct. 27. "This was done for his protection and that of his family." http://www.weeklyplanet.com/2003-12-04/news_feature.html
Officer Beverly Youngblood v.s. Officers Jonathan Touchton and Officers Mark Montague A report faults a third officer who was working an undercover prostitution sting for not identifying herself. http://www.sptimes.com/2002/02/26/news_pf/Hillsborough/Two_officers_are_clea.shtml
Sgt. Jenny Terrell v.s. Capt. Jake Slater and Sgt. Andrew Stertzer and
Sgt. Dan Grossi
Inquiry clears 3 police officers The pricey investigation of allegations
of harassment in Internal Affairs leaves a residue of anger, torn careers.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/02/16/Hillsborough/Inquiry_clears_3_poli.shtml
Officer Dana Berry v.s. Detective Ricky J. Shears Jun 2, 1999 Ricky J. Shears was a veteran undercover narcotics detective with the Tampa Police Department and an officer of the month in 1997.At the time of his arrest, Shears said he was just joking around with Officer Dana Berry, who was posing as a prostitute on N Nebraska Avenue. But police brass didn't believe him after he said he knew she was a cop, identified her by name minutes after his arrest and mentioned the name of her previous supervisor as proof that he knew she was an officer. Police said Shears was off duty on the afternoon of Nov. 7, 1997, when he and Berry talked at N Nebraska Avenue and E Crawford Street. Police said Shears had driven his 1997 green Dodge Ram pickup truck past Berry several times before the conversation took place. Archives: St. Petersburg Times
Tampa Police Chief Bennie Holder Officer Lee J. Pope v.s. Chief
Bennie Holder
Police sex harassment case to cost Tampa $83,000 http://www.sptimes.com/News/053100/TampaBay/Bay_area_briefs_.shtml
Bennie Holder appeared in this ad for GyroCam. http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/17/Columns/Police_are_addicted_t.shtml
Sheriff's Maj. Rene ''Rocky'' Rodriguez's investments in a questionable venture led to a federal ''goose chase,'' his lawyer says. http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/30/TampaBay/Inquiry_snagged_sheri.shtml Sheriff's Maj. Rocky Rodriguez gave his resignation letter to Sheriff Cal Henderson this week. Here's what it said: Sheriff Cal Henderson It has been my honor and privilege to have served in the capacity of a deputy sheriff with this office. I'll never forget the employees with whom I have worked; the women and men who wear the green and white uniform have a supreme work ethic. For the public, I want to thank those of you that I have called upon for non-profit organizations and charities. You have never told me no and I'll never forget your generosity. I also want to thank the residents of Tampa and Hillsborough Count! y for allowing me to serve them in my years with the Sheriff's Office. I will never forget my career with this office however my personal life remains personal. In closing, this letter is to inform you that, as of 2 May 2003, I will be retiring from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Sincerely, Rocky Rodriguez, Major http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/14/TampaBay/Under_pressure__major.shtml
You Can't Say Dick Greco Didn't Warn Us
Jan 12, 2004 DANIEL RUTH Former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco always admitted cavalierly that when it came to numbers and money and banking and business stuff, he was more clueless than Britney Spears trying to comprehend the meaning of a marriage license. Indeed, back in 1982 when he was board chairman of Metropolitan Bank, which collapsed under tens of millions of dollars of hinky loans, Greco avoided criminal responsibility by saying Bonnie and Clyde knew more about high finance than he did. Yet despite his well-earned reputation for having more interest in a comely teller's legs than in her bank's bottom line, Greco was returned to the mayor's office in 1995 and then re-elected again in 1999 with less political opposition than Moammar Gadhafi. Good grief, this guy blew through more public money with less due diligence than Paris Hilton rummaging around Cartier. So it should hardly shock anyone to find out on! e of Greco's pet projects, Centro Ybor, is about as financially solvent as a Talmud shop in Riyadh. Because of deals led by Greco, the city is on the hook for more than $16 million over 14 years to bail out developers of Centro Ybor, the real estate investment equivalent to ``Freddie Got Fingered.'' The problem, of course, is that while Centro Ybor opened to great fanfare in 2000, it remains rather hard to market an entertainment venue generally perceived as little more than a gussied-up vomitorium. Oh, sorry, almost forgot - there are the tattoo parlors, too. Holding The Bag What is it about Tampa's mayors of the past two decades? They have seemed driven by more passion than a bookie with Pete Rose's phone number to leave the city holding the feed bag for all manner of public follies. On his way to the governor's mansion, Bob Martinez bequeathed us the convention center - obsolete before it opened, virtually impossible to expand, a spider hole compared to Orlando's convent! ion capabilities. Sandy Freedman left Greco to figure out what to do w ith the ill- conceived Florida Aquarium, which stays afloat only thanks to millions of dollars in city subsidies. Not to be outdone, Greco built upon that legacy of debt with a $56 million novelty trolley system that travels from A to B and back again. Now comes the Centro Ybor debacle, which apparently will require the city to pay out $760,000 a year until 2018, when a $5.6 million balloon payment comes due to cover the tochis of the project's private leadership. 3-Card Monte If anyone should be more puckered than Margaret Dumont fending off a leering Groucho Marx, it has to be former Commissioner Olympic Rings Ed Turanchik. He wants the Tampa Housing Authority, Tampa City Council and the Hillsborough County Commission this week to pave the way for spending perhaps $50 million in public money - so that he and a bunch of rich investors can get even richer replacing public housing with private development. As bad timing goes, Turanchik's gilt-edged panhandling falls somewhere! between pitching a script for ``Gigli II'' and Princess Anne saying, ``Oh, let the dog off the leash. What could happen?'' The city has just been mugged again by another corporate welfare scheme that makes those old Soviet five-year grain programs look downright visionary, yet along comes Turanchik's Civitas group to play three-card monte with the public purse. By the way, did you know ``Civitas'' is Latin for: ``What? Spend our own money? Isn't that precious?'' Well, that's a loose translation. This story can be found at: http://tampatrib.com/News/columns/MGAC7E6WBPD.html
Dick Greco and Chief Pete Botto Botto also was close to Dick Greco. His family contributed $2,000 to Greco's 1995 mayoral campaign. When Greco got elected, he appointed Botto fire chief, leapfrogging him over higher-ranking officers. http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/27/TampaBay/He_s_a_firefighter_s_.shtml
He's a firefighter's kind of chief
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/27/TampaBay/He_s_a_firefighter_s_.shtml
Tampa fire chief gets tattoo as firefighters control blaze
Mayor Dick Greco and Attorney Jim Palermo
Greco asks old pal to be city attorney
Tampa Mayor-elect Dick Greco has offered the city attorney's job to James
D. Palermo, a close adviser, old friend and distant relative. Archives:
St. Petersburg Times
Palermo's current salary is $121,388, and he has been in the six- figure
range since the mayor gave him the city's top legal job in 1995. http://www.sptimes.com/News/040601/news_pf/Hillsborough/Once_a_pension_holdou.shtml
The change allowed City Attorney James Palermo to cash in on about $44,000
in unused sick leave. http://www.sptimes.com!
/2003/05/10/Hillsborough/Ex_city_attorney_gran.shtml
Greco taking care of employee, or rewarding political crony?
http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/2003/04/030410palermo.shtml
Mayor Dick Greco and Doran Jason
A few dozen classy apartments a la mode, perched atop a working retail center and downtown market, why, it’s almost ... metropolitan. Hence Dick Greco’s smiles and support when the Doran Jason Co. proposed its development plans for the Kress Block downtown. Greco asked Tampa City Council to give the go-ahead on an application for $15 million in guaranteed loan funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, about $4 million of which would be allocated to Doran Jason, a Miami-based real estate developer, for use in the renovation and restoration of existing buildings near Franklin Street Mall. Plans for the Kress block project include about 70 upscale apartments set above a retail shopping area across from the new federal courthouse. Another $6.5 million of the HUD-backed loan are slated for a 1,500-space downtown parking garage th! at Doran Jason would also build. The remaining $4.5 million are targeted for an extended-stay hotel project presently in the early planning stage. According to the Kress Block feasibility study, Doran Jason Co. states that it will secure $6.5 million in first mortgage debt and contribute $3.25 million in equity funds. The plan must meet with City Council approval before city officials can apply for the low-interest HUD loans. A final hearing is scheduled for April 10.Greco gave his endorsement, saying that even though future loans to the city would be jeopardized if the developments fail (future block grants would be used to secure the loans), he feels confident the private developers will make good on the money. Raymond Buckner, president of Channelside Market Inc. (d.b.a. Franklin Street Market), Doran Jason's current manager of the Franklin Street property, isn’t so sure. Neither is Sue Smith, Channelside Market executive director. I'm a big believer in downtown revitali! zation, but I also believe that if this project receives the endorseme nt of the city, and the project fails, taxpayer confidence in Tampa’s City Council will not recover in my lifetime," said Smith at last week’s hearing. "Let’s revamp downtown, but let’s not have another (Florida) Aquarium debacle. If you need a parking garage, build a parking garage, but for the sake of Tampa’s taxpayers, don’t tie it to this project." http://www.hotpolitics.com/hotpolitics-5.html
Mayor Dick Greco And Glazer
We paid for it; it paid off
http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/News/012501/SuperBowl2001/We_paid_for_it_it_pai.shtml
Mayor Dick Greco and John Oliva and Angel Oliva And Steven Green
Green deal not unusual, city insists
http://www.28news.com/stories/archive/020822green.shtml
Mayor Dick Greco and STEVEN ALLEN LaBRAKE
Greco's swan song has same old tune
http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2002/12/15/news_pf/Columns/Greco_s_swan_song_has.shtml
Mayor Dick Greco and Phil Alessi
City builds $436,000 bathroom for mayor's pal
http://www.tampabaylive.com/stories/archive/011219alessi.shtml
Mayor Dick Greco and Bruce "Buzz" Papalia
Greco hired kin of an old friend
http://www.sptimes.com/News/082901/TampaBay/Greco_hired_kin_of_an.shtml
Dick Greco handpicked the son-in-law of Eddie DeBartolo Jr. for a $50,000-a-year
post in the Real Estate Department. TAMPA -- On Independence Day this
year, Mayor Dick Greco spent a long weekend at a Montana ranch accompanied
by close friends. Among the activities: trout fishing. Among the guests:
a mid-level bureaucrat in Tampa's Real Estate Department. http://www.sptimes.com/News/082901/TampaBay/Greco_hired_kin_of_an.shtml
---
"The mayor is a friend of mine, and I'd rather just leave it at that."-
Bruce "Buzz" Papalia on his relationship with Mayor Dick Greco, who appointed
him to a job in the city real estate office. Papalia is the brother-in-law
of Eddie DeBartolo, one of Greco's closest friends. He quit after five
months, complaining of the workload. They were both at DeBartolo's Montana
ranch for Independence! Day. http://www.sptimes.com/News/082901/TampaBay/Greco_hired_kin_of_an.shtml
---
Greco a millionaire. Financial disclosure records show that as late as
1997, DeBartolo Corp. owed Greco a $450,000 promissory note. http://www.sptimes.com/News/082901/TampaBay/Greco_hired_kin_of_an.shtml
Mayor Dick Greco and Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr
Mayor Dick Greco and Edward DeBartolo Jr
Stock promoter's new troubles sound like his old ones
http://www.saintpetersburgtimes.com/2003/01/10/news_pf/Columns/Stock_promoter_s_new_.shtml
Former mayor back home with DeBartolo
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/06/23/story6.html
The DeBartolo Family and Organized Crime
http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium/moldea.html
Politics Gets Billionaire Benefactor
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGACEME4O7D.html
Greco hired kin of an old friend
http://www.sptimes.com/News/082901/TampaBay/Greco_hired_kin_of_an.shtml
Enron collapse stirs echoes of '80s savings and loan woes
http://www.saintpetersburgtimes.com/2002/01/13/news_pf/Columns/Enron_collapse_stirs_.shtml
Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy: Propaganda Due
http://www.drugwar.com/propagandadue.shtm
Centro Ybor alive. Former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco
made a deal to cover a $9-million loan if developers couldn't make payments
http://www.sptimes.com/Channel10/2004/01/08/Hillsborough/Taxpayers_to_keep_Cen.htm
His Legacy, Her Hurdles
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAFENT6XQD.html
Term limits to remain
With the measure soundly defeated, Mayor Dick Greco is denied a chance
at another term.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/110800/news_pf/Election2000/Term_limits_prevailin.shtml
Experimental technology intended to identify fugitives on the sidewalks of Ybor City raises practicalas well as constitutional concerns. http://www.sptimes.com/News/070301/news_pf/Opinion/Face_time_in_Ybor.shtml