By Allan Lengel Deadline Detroit DETROIT — Painting him as a bully, extortionist and violent criminal who hid assets, a Detroit federal judge on Friday sentenced Bobby Ferguson, the city contractor and good buddy of ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, to 21 years. “Bobby Ferguson was the catalyst at the center of an historic and unprecedented…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for running a complex racketeering scheme out of city hall. The sentence is one of the stiffest ever leveled against a corrupt politician. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said she wanted to send a clear message that corruption would not…
By Allan Lengel Deadline Detroit DETROIT — He was Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s good buddy, his confidante, his favorite city contractor. But Bobby Ferguson managed to turn off many in Kilpatrick’s inner circle. Contractors and city officials — including Victor Mercado, the head of the water department — complained about Ferguson. Even Kilpatrick’s sister, Ayanna, found…
By Allan Lengel For Deadline Detroit DETROIT — Ex-Hip hop Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t on trial. He wasn’t in the gallery. But his presence Tuesday was undeniable. His good buddy, contractor Bobby Ferguson, went on trial in downtown Detroit in a $12-million bid-rigging case involving a low-income housing…
By Allan Lengel For Deadline Detroit DETROIT –– Does race matter when it comes to jury selection? Yes, yes, yes. I can say so, at least from my first-hand experience as a juror. But before I go there, let me explain why I bring this up. Last week, during jury selection in the…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com DETROIT — The feds in the Motown just keep digging a deeper and deeper hole for Kwame Kilpatrick, the ex-mayor Detroit who was once dubbed the “Hip Hop Mayor.” The Detroit Free Press reports that Kilpatrick and longtime friend Bobby Ferguson were charged Wednesday in a superseding indictment with extortion involving…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, already facing an avalanche of legal trouble, was hammered again on Wednesday when a federal grand jury in Detroit indicted him, his father, a city contractor and former aides on public corruption charges centering on government contracts and kickbacks. In announcing the 38-count indictment at a televised…
