By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Vivian Blake’s peaceful death in a Kingston, Jamaica hospital bed March 21 is a grim contrast to his life steeped in violence – much of it in South Florida.
Blake, formerly of Miramar, was a founder of the “Shower Posse,” a politically connected drug gang that got its name from the bullets it [...]
Archive of entries posted on March 2010
Broward-based boss of Jamaica’s brutal Shower Posse dies; politically connected drug gang lives on
Conflict of interest shuts down lobbyist Ron Book’s work for bail industry
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Flagged by Broward officials for a conflict of interest, county lobbyist Ron Book has agreed to stop pushing for a new state law that county officials say would seriously undermine Broward’s pretrial intervention program and cost local taxpayers millions.
The new law is being sought by another of Book’s clients, the Florida bail [...]
Florida justices forbid falsifying criminal court records, abolish secret dockets
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Following up on a decision three years ago that barred judges and court clerks from hiding civil court cases from public view, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the same ban on secrecy also applies to criminal cases.
Also on Thursday, the justices wrote new rules forbidding the falsification of official court [...]
Contractors, campaign contributions and questions about Broward’s big money runway expansion project
By Dan Christensen
As Broward commissioners prepare to publicly debate the merits of a proposed new ethics code, a county contractor is accusing county officials of unfairly playing politics when handing out multimillion-dollar contracts.
CH2M Hill, the international engineering giant, says it ran into a buzz saw last year when it sought the lucrative job of lead [...]
Lawyers, accountants seek big fees in Rothstein bankruptcy
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Attorneys and accountants for the court trustee in the messy bankruptcy of scamster Scott Rothstein’s collapsed law firm have asked a judge to authorize nearly $2.2 million in fees for less than three months’ work.
The biggest slice of that plump pie – more than $1.2 million – was billed by Berger Singerman, [...]
Satz, Finkelstein fight yields change at the courthouse
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
The smoke has cleared in the recent public dustup between State Attorney Michael Satz and Public Defender Howard Finkelstein over the quality of justice in Broward County.
Neither man has changed his mind.
Finkelstein still contends Satz favors the influential and the police over the average citizen when it comes to charging decisions. Satz [...]
Year long probe delays retrial in case of ‘94 triple murder caught on tape
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Broward prosecutors said this week that they have cleared a Florida convict of involvement in one of the county’s most notorious crimes – the 1994 video-taped murders of a Miramar club owner and two models.
For nearly a year, the quiet investigation of inmate William Ortiz had caused the postponement of the Supreme [...]
