Thank God, our very own state attorney weighs in on the Maquinitas!

Just in the nick of time no less!  With illegal gambling machines (aka maquinitas) popping up all over the place despite the fact that the governor signed legislation into law banning them and clearing making them illegal, what could be better than an opinion from our very own state attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, regarding these machines and their legality?

First we'll start with an email from John Tupps to one of our readers from Governor Scott's press office regarding these machines...

Governor Scott was pleased to sign legislation that banned illegal internet cafes across Florida, including Allied Veterans – a multi-state criminal conspiracy. Law enforcement officers must make the determination whether any machine violates the law. Accordingly, you should speak with local law enforcement and the state attorney’s office.

Ok, great!  Logically, the next step would be to reach out to our state attorneys office since at least one municipality, Hialeah, is under the impression that these machines are legal.  With that said, take a look at the response from the state attorneys office...

Since the machines themselves are not illegal, unless and until there is some sort of “payout” for playing them, there would need to be some police undercover work in order to make an arrest for possession of the “maquinitas”.  Hillah Mendez, Legal Counsel for the Hialeah Police Department, contacted our office and we explained this investigative requirement to her.  It is up to the Hialeah Police Department, or any individual police department, to undertake such an investigative effort. Thank you. Tere ChavezMedia RelationsMiami-Dade State Attorney's Office305-547-0885

Oh, OK!  So the machines are not illegal despite all this grandstanding and other bullshit...

Alrighty then, I guess the problems been solved!  Despite our very own governor outlawing these machines statewide and shutting down the businesses that housed them, now our very own state attorneys office has given them her blessing and made them practically immune to prosecution.  Perhaps the machine owners just need to affix one of these stickers to the machines and their problems with law enforcement will be a distant memory...

Doesn't this man look amused?

Check out our friend Elaine de Valle's story on the ever present maquinitas, tomorrow we'll get back to our discussion of former state attorney Richard E. Gerstein.

Spanish language TV picks up the Maquinita story...

Or at least I think they did?!  I don't speak or understand Spanish, nor am I able to get the video where channel 41 allegedly discusses the maquinitas that are being found all around town to play on line.  Here's the video embeddedm the discussion starts at around the 17:00 mark...



Video streaming by Ustream

And here's the link to the story just in case the embedded video doesn't show up.  

Ironically the commercials before the video worked just fine for me but the actual video where they discuss the maquinitas refused to work for me for the first few tries, by the third time it worked.  The best part though comes at the 18:43 mark where a cop shows up where the TV crew is filming and looks dumbfounded when the reporter asks him about the illegal gaming machines inside the restaurant...

If I'm not mistaken, I think the cop actually tells the reporter that the machines are legal in Hialeah!

That's enough for now, it's Friday, we'll pick up where we left off next week.

They're ba-ack! Fucking maquinitas are popping up all over the place again!

Can you believe this shit?  After fighting these goddamn machines for years on end and finally thinking we had won, they're back with a fucking vengeance!  Back in March the Florida senate passed a bill outlawing these machines, that doddering old fool of a mayor Tomas Regalado even came out publicly and stated that the maquinitas are illegal...

Despite all of that, despite all of the press conferences, despite all the grandstanding by local pandering politicians, it was all bullshit as they're showing up in all the usual places.  Take a look at some of these photos that one of our readers sent us, mind you, these photos were all taken within the last 48 hours at various locations throughout the City of Hialeah...

In the backs of restaurants, hidden in the back corners of small mom and pop grocery stores, whether out in the open...

Or hidden behind shelves just out of view.  Would you be there?  Could you be there...

For those establishment owners with a modicum of common sense, they try to hide them behind boxes off in a far corner...

Or secret them in a back store room just out of view...

On the other hand, you have those business owner that are so brazen that they not only have them machines out in the open in plain view for anyone to see in storefronts...

With the photos of the machines plastered on their storefronts!

Can you believe this shit?  Despite all the hoopla about the machines officially being made illegal, despite all the media coverage, despite all of the photo ops with bulldozers crushing illegal gaming machines all over the local press, the machines are back, back with a vengeance no less!

What makes matters worse though is that one of loyal readers, who happens to be a public servant, sent the photos you see here over to the feds in an effort to stop what ostensibly looks like, smells like and certainly feels like illegal activity.  What the feds did with that information though is borderline scandalous, what's that old saying?

"the cover up is worse than the crime?"  

We'll discuss in depth tomorrow, in the mean time, if any of you guys spot more of these maquinitas, take photos and send them to me!