And now the Miami New Times picks up our Maquinita story...

Newspapers...

Yesterday we talked about the Miami Herald breifly mentioning the "maquinita" story in one of their articles from last week and now the Miami New Times picks up our coverage of the maquinitas.  Our friend Francisco Alvarado went one step further than we did with regards to the expert witness report and analysis of the maquinitas in police custody, he actually reached out to the expert witness, D. Robert Sertell, and gave him a call regarding the report.  From the article...

You know those gambling maquinitas in convenience stores around Miami, Hialeah, Opa-locka, and Miami Gardens? Turns out Miguel Exposito was right and then some about the racket. Last year, Miami's then-police chief fell out of favor with Mayor Tomás Regalado when cops confiscated 105 "video amusement" machines from dozens of markets, cafeterias, and laundromats.
Exposito said the devices were being used for illegal gambling purposes. When Regalado allegedly tried to stop the raids, the top cop reported the mayor to the FBI for meddling in a criminal investigation. Eventually, Exposito was forced out. But three months before the chief's departure, a gambling machine expert hired by the Miami city attorney's office concluded the seizedmaquinitas were indeed for gambling purposes.
What's more, D. Robert Sertell -- a former slot machine mechanic for an Atlantic City casino -- found that many of them were rigged to make sure the user always lost. Sertell's findings were never made public until recently.
After reading about it on Mike Hatami's blog the Strawbuyer, Banana Republican contacted the gambling expert. Sertell said he spent three days in June 2011 analyzing the machines seized by Miami police officers. "They were designed and manufactured specifically for the purpose of gambling," he said. "It's a slam dunk."
Furthermore, Sertell continued, most of the maquinitas were designed to cheat the customer. He explained that the confiscated machines would not be allowed inside establishments where gambling is legal in Florida. He should know. He has inspected gambling machines for 15 years and has a contract with the state to keep an eye on slots.
If the maquinitas held by Miami police were in a casino, Sertell said, they "would get immediately shut down and whoever was responsible for them would be subject to punitive action."
Even though he was paid $5,221 by the city, no one asked him to provide a written report, Sertell said. He typed one up only after a former Miami police official recently requested a copy. He declined to name the official. (Hatami tells Banana Republican he obtained his copy from a concerned private citizen.)
However, the city might still call on Sertell to give testimony in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the owners of the maquinitas who want their machines back.
Regalado and City Attorney Julie Bru did not reply to four phone messages seeking comment. Ricardo Merida, the lawyer for the maquinitas owners, declined to comment because he had not read Sertell's report.
However, one of their clients, Miguel Gonzalez, scoffed at Sertell's assertions. "He doesn't know what he's talking about," said Gonzalez, who lost ten machines in the raid. "I'm just a hard worker trying to make a living for my family."

Nice!  Isn't it amazing that no matter who the machines are taken from, their line is always something along the lines of "I'm just a hard worker trying to make a living" or "We are not breaking the law, we are just providing entertainment for people who choose to eat a meal here", yet these are the same characters that'll brag about how much money they take in every week from these same machines that they know are rigged to screw the players.  Whatever.  At the very least we know that there's more people paying attention to this somewhat forgotten maquinita story now.

I'm going to attend an important court hearing this afternoon regarding former City of Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito and his termination from his post as police chief by the City of Miami commission last year. I'll update early this evening with the results.

The Herald kind of covers part of the maquinita story...

I was reading through the Herald the other day when I came across this article regarding former City of Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito...

Former Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito’s case to be heard in court
By David Ovalle
dovalle@MiamiHerald.comOusted Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito, seeking to get his job back, will get his day in court Thursday.
A panel of three Miami-Dade circuit judges will hear Exposito’s argument that the Miami City Commission wrongly fired him in September.
During his tenure, Exposito picked very public battles with elected officials and Mayor Tomás Regalado, whom he accused of being in bed with owners of video gaming machines that his department had targeted for seizure.
In March, three judges denied a move by city attorneys to throw out the appeal because Exposito had been scheduled to retire anyway when he was terminated.
Despite his ouster, Exposito, former Maj. Al Alvarez and Exposito’s personal attorney Ruben Chavez sat in on a civil hearing last week between the city and the video machine owners.
The owners have sued the city seeking return of more than 100 machines seized by Exposito’s police officers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward refused to throw out the suit, and now an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled.

In the article Mr. Ovalle briefly mentions a hearing that I attended for a case filed by the maquinita owners in order to get a hundred or so machines back that are in police custody.

Despite his ouster, Exposito, former Maj. Al Alvarez and Exposito’s personal attorney Ruben Chavez sat in on a civil hearing last week between the city and the video machine owners.
The owners have sued the city seeking return of more than 100 machines seized by Exposito’s police officers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward refused to throw out the suit, and now an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled.

It was at this hearing that I finally got a chance to speak to the city attorney who's assigned to this case, George Wysong, about the city not paying the expert witness they had hired in order to examine the machines that they had in custody.  Mr. Wysong's explanation was that he wasn't going to rely on the expert testimony to win the case but instead was relying on a series of laws that basically stated that since the machines were contraband, the city had no obligation to return them to their owners.  He quoted case law from the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church case where the police had seized the followers marijuana and then didn't return it after the church members sued for replevin, once again the theory is that since the marijuana was illegal, the police couldn't return it to its owners.  


Mr. Wysong's theory kind of makes sense in this instance but Judge Diane Ward wanted more, essentially she wanted an expert to determine whether or not the machines in custody were illegal and therefore asked both sides, the maquinita owners and the City of Miami to hire experts to determine whether or not the machines in custody are indeed illegal.  That brings us back to the expert witness report that the city wouldn't pay for, perhaps if the city was armed with the report for this hearing, Judge Ward would have gone ahead and thrown out the maquinita owners replevin lawsuit.  No big deal I guess, the expert that the City of Miami had hired has already examined the one hundred and four machines in question, now it's up to the maquinita owners to hire an expert to examine the machines in custody.  Considering that each of these machines is worth anywhere from three to five thousand dollars, I doubt the owners will walk away from several hundred thousand dollars worth of gaming equipment, legal or not, now it becomes a case of expert witness vs. expert witness and to see who makes a more compelling argument as to the legality of these machines.


The funniest part of this whole encounter?  I asked City of Miami attorney George Wysong whether or not the city was going to pay the expert now for his report to which he responded...

"why when I can download it from your website for free?"

I have to hand it to Mr. Wysong, that was some funny shit!

Illegal gaming machines are illegal...

No shit?  Sounds like a pretty stupid title for today's post right?  Of course illegal gaming machines are illegal!  

In case you forgot, the expert witness who examined over a hundred of these illegal gaming machines (AKA maquinitas) concluded that not only were the machines indeed nothing more than slot machines whose outcome had nothing to do with the players skills and because of the way they were configured, they were designed to cheat the poor folks that were playing them.  From the report...

This morphing permits the machine's computer to defeat any attempt at skill, and to deliver an outcome that was chosen in advance by the computer. Not only is this machine designed and manufactured specifically for the purpose of gambling; it is also designed to cheat the customer.

OK, I'm sure by now you all get it and are sick of hearing about how the machines are illegal, etc, etc, etc...

Let's forget about the machines being illegal for a moment, forget about the fact that they're designed to screw the players and the fact that they circumvent any revenue generating taxing scheme for the city or state.  Back during the summer of 2010, City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado championed an ordinance to regulate coin operated amusement machines which in essence was a ploy to legalize the maquinitas that we've become so fond of talking about.  If you bought into Regalado's theory, since the maquinitas are nothing more than coin operated "amusement machines" rather than have them scattered about the city, his plan was to create a law that required each and everyone of these machines to be licensed and by doing so creating an additional revenue stream for the city.  Check out how he pitched it to the city commission back in June 24, 2010...

Mayor Tomás Regalado:  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission.  FR.2 is an ordinance on first reading.  I would tell you that this ordinance, the final product, is the result of several month [sic] working with the Law Department, with the Finance Department, and the Administration to have this ordinance in place.  The reason that we did a new approved moratorium on the sale of stickers or license for coin-operated machines -- and this moratorium will be in place until September -- is precisely because we went -- we were working on this ordinance and it needed a lot of research.  We met with the chief of Police.  We met with the Finance Department; of course, the Law Department was there.  We also met with the representative of Magic City Casino that will be opposing this ordinance.  However, I think that we need to hear from the Finance Department because what this ordinance does is rectify a process that has been wrong for the last years.  We -- if we pass this ordinance, we will know exactly where each machine is; now, we don't.  In the past, there were some machines that were seized, but at the end, the courts ruled one way or another.  And there's still hundreds of machines in the City of Miami.  

OK, so now the Mayor wants to lump together these maquinitas with all other types of coin operated machines and license them, therefore in his eyes, the maquinitas are no different than say a pinball machine or a coin operated PacMan machine.  He goes on...

Mayor Regalado: But if I may, Commissioner, 90 percent of the ordinance is to regulate the machines because now we don't know where the machines are.  Actually, I think the Manager went and look at a number of the machine and called the Finance Department, and he can -- they couldn't say where that machine was because it was one of the hundreds of the stickers that are running around.  If we do this ordinance, then we will know where each machine, each stickers belongs to, what address, and who pulled that permit.  If an inspector or a police officer goes and see that the machine has been altered, because it has to be altered to use that machine for gambling purposes, then there will be a civil fine of $500 to the person that operate the business.  And there's also a caveat that could be included that if a business is operating a gambling machine, then the City has the right to pull the occupational license, which is an extreme measure, but it's part of the regulation.  So the other thing is that now we do not have the manpower to monitor those machines.  They're everywhere.  But if we do this ordinance, then Finance will have the possibility of having their inspector checking each of the places and also checking occupational license, which many in the City don't have.  We have -- I mean, we have a list officially of 13 -- 14,311 occupational license for business [sic] in the City of Miami.  I imagine that there are more that don't have occupational license.  I've seen one, at least.  I've seen one business operator with no license at all.  And we do not have the manpower to go door-by-door.  But I just think that we have several options.  We have the options of keeping the moratorium, not selling any license; keeping the process as it is, selling $480 and you get all the stickers; or changing the Code so we can regulate more, and we could use the revenue to check on the machines.  Actually, we're not condoning or inciting this kind of practice because it's already there.  I mean, in the past, there were a group of police officers that every night went to cafeterias and they took down some of the machines.  Some of the people went to court.  City, I believe, won two cases.  City lost, as you know, several cases.  Many cases were dismissed.  So many, many cases were dismissed because of the arrests that were made that were not good arrests and all that.  So this is the intent to regulate.  

Whatever the fuck ever.  According to this new plan, the machines are all going to get licensed and not only will the city enjoy the revenues from these licenses but according the mayor, the city will also know where each and everyone of the machines are for whatever that's worth.   He concludes with this...

 And I do understand what you are going to hear from Magic City Casino.  You know, they have a casino, but it's different.  You get money and you get -- and the machines are not supposed to give you back.  It's illegal.  It's in the ordinance.  It's in the affidavit.  And anybody who does that will be fined and the machine will be confiscated.  So I just wanted to state that.  

Huh?  Does that make any sense to you?  Try it again...

And I do understand what you are going to hear from Magic City Casino.  You know, they have a casino, but it's different.  You get money and you get -- and the machines are not supposed to give you back.  It's illegal.

I'm not even going to try to make sense of that.  So let's disregard the fact that the machines the mayor is talking about in this ordinance are illegal and for the sake of argument lets say that they're nothing more than coin operated machines that are for amusement purposes only.  By licensing these machines and making their owners pay some sort of tax, in the eyes of our mayor and the City of Miami, these machines are now magically legal.  That's all well and good if you can overlook the fact that the mayor has essentially given a free pass to all the maquinita owners.  So what's this ordinance from nearly two years ago have to do with our story?  Old news you say?  Correct, it is old news, in fact the owners of these "maquinitas" have had two years to get licenses for their machines and therefore theoretically, the City of Miami by now has been collecting at least two years worth of license revenues from the machines that are littered all over the city.  


All good right?  All would be good if that was really the case, let's go back for a moment and take a look at those machines located in the first floor of the building that houses the Spanish radio station, 670 AM "La Poderosa" that we talked about a few days ago, if you remember, we found three "maquinitas" in the cafeteria that's located on the buildings first floor.  Take a closer look at the machines again and see if you can spot any of those coin operated amusement license decals that the mayor was championing back in the summer of 2010...

Would you look at that?  Not a single decal, sticker or any sort of license for these machines from the City of Miami!  In fact, the only sticker of any sort on these machines is this one...

Of course the machines are for amusement purposes only!

So there you have it, unless the City of Miami licenses are affixed beneath these machines, they appear to be operating illegally.  Even under the mayor's goofy licensing scheme where the machines would be legal, without the licenses whether they're games of skill or games of chance, they're 100% illegal because they're not properly permitted!  LOL!  So much for the mayor's ordinance and all the additional revenue it was supposed to bring the city...

In search of the elusive Maquinita....

Here we are talking about those pesky maquinitas again.  Their natural habitat always seemed to be in the nastiest neighborhoods of our lovely city, they were usually found in the back of cafeterias and bodegas in the lowest income areas, sometimes out back, hidden behind racks or sometimes even in hidden back rooms.


That's all changed now though, under Mayor Tomas Regalado's administration, the machines have now worked their way out of the shadows and are featured prominently in the businesses where they're located.  What with the lax (non existent) enforcement of these machines by local police, why hide them?  Why not put them front and center so as to attract as many customers as possible?


Case in point, the lovely building located at 330 SW 27th Avenue, home to Spanish radio station 670 AM "La Poderosa".  Now this isn't some dank building out in the middle of the hood, "La Poderosa" is located in a nice class "B" office building in a decent neighborhood right on a major thoroughfare, take a look for yourselves...

Now, consider what this radio station means to the community, on any given day you'll find a bevy of local politicians going in and out of this station, some for their regular radio shows while others, both local and national, make the obligatory stop in order to garner votes from the Hispanic community.  So whether it's local Mayor Regalado or his daughter Raquel or perhaps someone like Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, let's say they've been on the radio for an hour or so and they're ready to leave the station and on the way down they decide to stop by the cafeteria that's on the first floor and grab something to drink or perhaps something to eat. What they'll find is a nice quaint cafeteria with halfway decent food...

 So you grab something to eat, have a seat and 

SHAZAM!

So there you have it!  Illegal gaming machines right out in the open, under the City of Miami's current administration they've made their way out of the shadows and are now out front and center, in this case in plain view in a building where some of the most powerful people in our city and perhaps our nation regularly walk by them!


What I want to know now is just how long will it take before these gaming machines find their way into City Hall?

The expert analysis of the maquinitas...

Now that we've had a chance to look over the expert witness's analysis of the illegal gaming machines (AKA maquinitas) that were seized by the City of Miami PD in the maquinita raids under then police chief Miguel Exposito's reign, what conclusions can we draw?  The expert witness, D. Robert Sertell, examined all the different types and brands of machines and came to similar conclusions for the different machines.  Through various types of analysis, whether through video analysis, physical analysis of the machines electronics, photo analysis, or analysis of the algorithms that the machine runs on, without a doubt the findings were the same, take this excerpt from the report for example...

As the string of icons spins in front of the player, the pressing of the skill stop button causes the last icon to morph, or change into a different symbol than the one which is supposed to be displayed.  This morphing permits the machine's computer to defeat any attempt at skill, and to deliver an outcome that was chosen in advance by the computer.  Not only is this machine designed and manufactured specifically for the purpose of gambling; it is also designed to cheat the customer.

So not only are these machines designed "specifically for the purposes of gambling" but they're also designed to fuck the poor guy that's dumping his money into them!  Say what you want about casino's but at least legal gambling machines are highly regulated and are designed to be at least somewhat fair to the player, with the maquinitas it's all about fucking the customer as the owner of the machines can adjust how often the machines allow the player to win!  Again, from the report...

Because of its newer design, Golden Treasure Island employs an on-screen menu by which the operator can set the payout percentage.  The manual describes a procedure whereby the operator must first enter the password and then proceed to a menu screen called "SETUP".  Once within that setup screen, the manual shows the operator how to enter the "WIN RATE" mode.  The Win Rate screen permits the operator to select from among 6 different percentage choices.  This is the equivalent of having the operator utilize a dip switch for this purpose; simply a more modern technique.  The existence of such an arrangement, generally called reflexive percentaging, whereby the operator may command the computer to deliver a specific payout percentage to the customer, and may change it by simply flipping some switch levers, or by making an on screen menu selection, is proof that the game's outcome is determined by the computer, and that skill plays NO ROLE in whether the player wins or loses.  

OK, I think we've already established that the machines are a joke and that they're designed to fuck the people playing them, but here's where it gets better...

In a legal gambling jurisdiction, such as Nevada, New Jersey, or Mississippi, the discovery of a reflexive percentaging scheme in an acknowledged slot machine, would cause Gaming Inspectors to turn that machine off immediately, and would result in fines and disciplinary action for the casino responsible.

LOL WTF!  How do you like them apples!  Even if the "maquinita" in question were in a legal casino, because of the way they are designed, THEY WOULD STILL BE ILLEGAL!

And the final nail in the coffin...

The three elements of gambling are present in these machines.  I believe that each of these machines is a gambling device because (A) consideration is present in that the customer is required to pay something in order to play the game; (B) chance is present in that the customer is not able to actually predict or control the outcome of the game, the outcome of these games is determined overwhelmingly by chance; and (C) reward is present in that the customer may become entitled to receive something of value as a result of the outcome of the game.

So what have we learned from this report?  We now have an expert that confirms that the maquinitas are nothing more than slot machines (DUH) and the icing on the cake?  Even if these maquinitas were in a legal casino, because of the way the operator can manipulate the payouts, THEY'RE STILL FUCKING ILLEGAL!  So what happened to City of Miami mayor Tomas Regalado's assertions that these machines were for amusement purposes only?  We now know in fact that they're nothing more than illegal gaming machines whose sole purpose is to fuck the poor folks who play them and to line the pockets of the owners with tax free cash.

What's most upsetting about this mess is that the tax payers are still footing the bill for defending the city against the lawsuits brought forth by the machine owners and that we're still paying for storing the confiscated machines while the litigation is ongoing.  To add insult to injury, there hasn't been a single high level arrest regarding these machines, it seems to me everyone arrested to date has been a lowly store clerk or store owner that's gotten away with a slap on the wrist, add to that the way the powers that be at the city attorney's office tried to hide this report by not paying for it and you have taste of the shit sandwich that the Regalado administration is trying to shove down the taxpayers throat.

Maquinitas, games of skill or games of chance?

If you believe the shit the City of Miami feeds us, then the gaming machines at the center of the shit ultimately ended with the firing of the city's police chief, are nothing more than games that the players can win based on their "skills" and are therefore perfectly legal.


Last time we left off with talking about the expert witness's report regarding these gaming machines and how the current powers that be over at the City of Miami did whatever they could to keep the expert's report from ever seeing the light of day.  As we mentioned, a private citizen dug into their own pocket, paid for the report then sent it over to us.  Now, before we look at the report, remember that according to Florida statute 849.16:

(1)  Any machine or device is a slot machine or device within the provisions of this chapter if it is one that is adapted for use in such a way that, as a result of the insertion of any piece of money, coin, or other object, such machine or device is caused to operate or may be operated and if the user, by reason of any element of chance or of any other outcome of such operation unpredictable by him or her, may:
(a)  Receive or become entitled to receive any piece of money, credit, allowance, or thing of value, or any check, slug, token, or memorandum, whether of value or otherwise, which may be exchanged for any money, credit, allowance, or thing of value or which may be given in trade; or
(b)  Secure additional chances or rights to use such machine, apparatus, or device, even though it may, in addition to any element of chance or unpredictable outcome of such operation, also sell, deliver, or present some merchandise, indication of weight, entertainment, or other thing of value.

So what it comes down to is very simple, is the games outcome determined by the computer or is the outcome determined by the "skills" of the player?  Take a look at the report and see what the expert says...
Maquinita Expert Report by Bob Sertell

Anyone surprised by what the expert found?  We'll discuss the details of this report in depth next time...

What the City of Miami didn't want you to know about those gaming machines...

The whole mess regarding the gaming machines, aka maquinitas, that brought the City of Miami to its knees finally culminating in the firing of the city's police chief all comes down to whether or not the machines in question were games who's outcome was determined by the players skill or simply games who's outcomes were determined by the computers that operated the machines.  Seems like a stupid question right?  As far as I can tell, whether the outcome is controlled by the player or by the computer, as long as money goes into to the machines and some sort of payout comes out, who cares who controls it, in my book that's a damn slot machine!  As dumb as that whole premise may sound, City of Hialeah police chief Mark Overton even went on the record saying...

“If it’s a game of skill or has some element of skill in it then it isn’t illegal,” Overton explained. “And that basically is what the statute says.”

What in the FCUK does that mean?  From the very same interview, Jim Defede goes on to ask Chief Overton...

But where is the skill to hitting a button marked “credits” and then hitting a button marked “play”?  “I don’t know, that’s part of the issue,” Overton said.

HUH?!  If Chief Overton doesn't know, then why comment about something you have no clue about?  What are we left to think, that there's some sort of black magic that controls these damn machines?

So how the hell are you to figure out just what's behind these machines?  Say for example you're an embattled police chief who crusaded against these machines who then found himself embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the owners of the 500 or so of these machines that you had confiscated, what would you do to prove that these machines were indeed nothing but illegal slot machines?  A smart chief would go ahead and hire an expert witness to go ahead and analyze these machines scientifically and prove that indeed they're nothing but slot machines designed to bilk people out of their money.  Said chief would then go ahead and submit this report to the court at which point any defense the machine owner would have would promptly get blown out of the water.  Makes sense right?

Here's the problem, when the maquinita owners filed their lawsuits to get their machines back, it was police chief Miguel Exposito that was spearheading the campaign against the machines and their owners.  Chief Exposito and his crew went ahead and hired the expert, not just any expert but the foremost figure in the field of electronic gaming and gambling machines, D. Robert Sertell.  The City of Miami retained Mr. Sertell to do a forensic analysis of the maquinitas that were in the city's custody, from what I understand, he spent a week going over the machines.  But just a few months later, City of Miami Mayor, Tomas Regalado successfully ousted police chief Exposito, and just like that the campaign against the illegal gambling machines was over, but where does that leave those lawsuits the maquinita owners filed to get there machines back?   You'd think that the maquinita owners were shit out of luck, what with the results of the forensic analysis of their machines and all, right?

WRONG!  A funny thing happened after Chief Exposito and his crew were fired, it seems like the City of Miami didn't want to pay the expert witness for his work.  While the city did retain and pay Mr. Sertell for the week he examined the machines, somehow the city didn't see fit to pay him for his report!  Think about it for a moment, no report from the expert witness results in an instant win for the maquinita owners!  And what better way to make sure that the report doesn't make it to court?  Easy, DON'T PAY THE MAN WHO WROTE THE REPORT!  Brilliant!

So there you have it, another day in the City of Miami.  The powers that be decided to protect their friends and campaign contributors that owned the maquinitas by directing the city not to pay the expert witness whose report would have destroyed any chance they had of getting their gaming machines back.  Fucking brilliant.  

It would have been a perfect plan if it wasn't for a private citizen who couldn't sit by and watch this bullshit, a private citizen who pulled several thousands of dollars out of his own pocket and paid for the report himself and was then kind enough to forward us a copy of the report...

LOL!  We'll discuss further on Monday...

No really, whatever happened to all those maquinitas?

Remember all that fuss over those damn machines a few years back?  Check out the story Jim Defede did a while back...

The war that erupted between then police chief Miguel Exposito and City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado ultimately ended up costing the chief and most of his command staff their jobs.  And worse, the folks that were arrested for having these machines in their businesses ended up winning the criminal cases that were filed against them.  So what about the machines?  The word on the street was that the City of Miami PD had several million dollars worth of these machines locked up in their warehouses and according to what we were told, the owners of these machines were going to stop at nothing to get their machines back.  With the chief out, it seemed like a slam dunk, in fact these documents from our friend Al Crepso's website seem to indicate that the machines did end up going back to the businesses where they were taken from...

There you have it, two court orders ordering the City of Miami PD to return Mr. Abdelhamid Machour's machines as well as the money that was contained inside them.  End of story right?  At least according to the coverage the local media was giving us, it was the end of the story, that is until you check the court docket for case #M09037660, it turns out that things didn't go quite the way the maquinita owners wanted to, from the docket...

From what the docket tells us, the order that we posted above were vacated and as recently as 6/2/11, the motions by the maquinita owners to get there machines back have been denied therefore all those gaming machines are still in the possession of the City of Miami PD.  Strange isn't it?  If these machines really were for amusement purposes only, why haven't the owners gotten them back yet?  Something's haywire here, we'll have to go down to the courthouse today and see what we can find...

Whatever happened to those pesky maquinitas in the City of Miami?

Everyone remember those maquinitas that created such a fuss over at the City of Miami?  Who could have forgotten those illegal gaming machines that were at the center of the war between the City's mayor, Tomas Regaladoo and it's police chief, Miguel Exposito which ultimately lead to his firing by the City Commission.  Many allege that these gaming machines which the city claims are for "amusement purposes only" are nothing more than quasi legal gambling machines whose owners provide cash payouts once in a blue moon to the poor schmucks that empty their pockets into them as evidenced by this video from the Miami New Times...

We're going to talk about these machines that litter our city and the ongoing legal war regarding these machines over the next few days, in the mean time, check out these photos...

No big deal, just a couple of guys in the city of Miami unloading some gaming machines aka "maquinitas" from the back of a trailer...

Now, here are the same folks repairing those same machines they were unloading earlier and now the best part, they're doing all of this in front of one of these guys...

LOL!  All this going on right in plain view and in front of a City of Miami cop no less!  Back during the Chief Exposito's administration, cops were going after these machines and their owners now it seems like under the currents chief's reign, the owners and operators of these machines operate with relative impunity!


More tomorrow...

Crime in the City of Miami up by 10.7%!

Amazing isn't it?  The Miami Herald reports that "Crime rate drops slightly statewide and in Miami Dade, rises in Broward" yet the completely ignore the fact that the crime rate in the very city their headquarters are located in has jumped by 10.7%!  Take a look at the statistics from the Herald's own story...

You can find the FDLE report that the story is based on here.  No matter how you cut it, crime in the City of Miami has gone through the roof under Chief Manuel Orosa, blame it on whatever you want, whether it's pay cuts, drastic reductions in the tactical robbery units, etc, Chief Orosa owns this embarrassing statistic.

What I find even more alarming is the refusal of the Herald to report on this black eye for the Regalado/Orosa administration while taking the time to slam Broward county whose crime rate only went up 3.5%!  WTF guys?

Trying to understand what's going on with that ethics investigation...

I wonder how that investigation by the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission is going?  You all remember when we discovered that the City of South Miami was doing business with it's police chief's wife's business right?  We discovered that this business relationship was a clear violation of the city's own code of ethics and clearly against the county's code of ethics as well.  As we reported a while back, the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission found this business relationship so interesting that it decided to conduct an investigation to see what was going on down at South Miami.


While I was over at the ethics commission, I met with its head, Joe Centorino, and was then introduced to the investigator who was going to look into the strange relationship between the city and the chief's wife's business. The investigator I met that was assigned to the City of South Miami seemed a little less enthusiastic than I thought he would be about this case, at the time I couldn't figure out why.  Regardless, I told him everything that I knew and he basically told me that he'd get back to me after he had a chance to look at everything.  In the interim, I sent this investigator several emails to no avail.  I figured that they're doing their thing and it would be best to sit back and wait, so I left it at that.


Fast forward to last night when I got a bombshell dropped on me.  One of my sources tells me last night that the investigator assigned to South Miami is good close personal friends with the City of South Miami city manager, Hector Mirable, who is obviously tight with the chief!  So much for a fair and unbiased investigation!  It's no wonder that this investigator seemed uninterested in what I was telling him and it's rather obvious that considering the relationship between the investigator and the people that he was "supposedly" investigating that this ethics complaint wasn't going to go no where.  Oh well!

So you think you've been screwed by law enforcement?

I know, I know, we've all got our own law enforcement horror stories, how we got screwed over by stupid cops, bad prosecutors, the nasty criminal justice system etc.  As bad as our stories may be, take a few minutes and listen to this story from This American Life...

Unbelievable!