By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com For better or worse, the defining moment of Marion Barry’s storied political career was an FBI bust that revealed the D.C. mayor smoking crack in a hotel room in 1990. “Bitch set me up,” Barry said of the woman who was a part of the sting. Barry, who also was a…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Republican governors have been under heat recently, and the latest is Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. The FBI is investigating whether Brownback confidantes were running an influence-peddling operation over getting people personal access to the governor, MSNBC reports. He’s far from the only Republican governor receiving scrutiny. According to MSNBC: New Jersey Gov….
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI rushed its investigation into Trenton Mayor Tony Mack because agents were worried the administration knew about the probe, the Trenton Times reports. A city carpet salesman, who was Mack’s fraternity brother, warned the mayor of an investigation, prompting the FBI to scurry for search warrants. “We needed to execute immediately…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI was listening to Trenton Mayor Tony Mack’s cell phone calls for nearly six months under the authority of a court. But that authorization ended two days after agents raided Mack’s home last summer, the NJ.com reports. Government records now suggest agents continued to tap Mack’s phone, raising major questions surrounding…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com When it comes to politics in the small Texas town of Progreso, it’s safe to say the Vela family flexed some muscle. Omar Vela, 35, is the town’s mayor. His brother, Michael Vela, 28 (pictured), is the president of the school board. And their father, Jose Guadalupe Vela, 64, works in management…
By Allan Lengel Deadline Detroit DETROIT — Federal prosecutor Mike Bullotta loaded up with plenty of ammunition and never stopped firing away Monday afternoon during a forceful closing argument in the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption trial. Standing in front of a lectern, before jurors, he said Kilpatrick turned the mayor’s office into “a private profit machine”…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com DETROIT — After 4 1/2 months and about 80 witnesses, the prosecution in the federal trial of the ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick rested Thursday morning, opening the door for the defense to begin calling witnesses in what’s expected to take less than two weeks. But things didn’t go so great for…
By Allan Lengel Deadline Detroit DETROIT — On Thursday, Derrick Miller finally talked about the much anticipated payoff in the bathroom — something out of an episdoe of “The Sopranos.” Miller, a former close friend who was in Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s administration, testified at Kilpatrick’s federal trial that the then-mayor asked him to get…
