Some criminals spend their dirty money on drugs. Others blow it on luxury cars, high-end escorts, or trips to obscure rich people enclaves like Gstaad, Switzerland. Or, if you’re Dr. Fernando Mendez-Villamil, a man accused of running one of the largest fake-prescription schemes in history, you invest heavily in paintings of…
The South Beach dinner crowd was still buzzing with the news that O.J. Simpson had been acquitted of murder charges when Richard Clements got the call about a man flashing a gun near 16th Street and Washington Avenue. It was Oct. 3, 1995, and within minutes, Clements would find himself…
Javier Ortiz, Miami’s outspoken police union chief, habitually lets his opinions fly whenever law enforcement issues make national headlines. Famously, he called for a boycott of Beyonce’s latest concert in Miami after the artist’s Black Panther-referencing Super Bowl performance this year. He also called Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy shot…
Earlier this morning, an accused murderer executed a Houdini-like escape from the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, forcing the Broward Sheriff’s Office to evacuate the courthouse and mobilize an all-hands-on-deck manhunt. Dayonte Resiles, 21, had been charged with murdering Jill Su, a Davie woman who’d been found dead in…
In the heat of their quest to nail baseball stars buying banned drugs from Coral Gables steroid den Biogenesis, Major League Baseball’s investigators admittedly went overboard. Some witnesses were offered stacks of cash to cooperate. Others were threatened with lawsuits. MLB’s lead investigator even slept with one potential witness. And…
Three weeks ago, Miami Beach police rolled out a new crime fighting initiative aimed at stemming a tide of robberies in South Beach, and they’ve had some recent success. Some of the arrests may be due to beefed up manpower and squads of detectives working longer hours (with overtime benefits, of course.)…
Earlier this year, Miami Police sent out a bid request for 687 “active shooter kits,” which contain multiple types of military-grade body armor, as well as two holsters, apiece, for AR-15 rifle ammunition. On March 7, a police-supply company gave the city a quote, claiming the purchase would cost the…
Miami Police Chief Rodolfo Llanes and Latin crooner extraordinaire Marc Anthony are apparently pretty tight pals. Anthony recently gave $25,000 to the Police Athletic League and came to speak at a dinner for the group, where he met the top dog at MPD. The two hit it off, so Llanes said…
Dear non-Miami residents: This city is trying to move on from its days as the nation’s drug-crime capital. We’ve built an entirely new, “hip” neighborhood miles from the beach, where the world’s best visual artists visit every December. We’re trying to invest in start-ups. We even might ban liquor sales…
In an already wild political season, first-time Democratic candidate Andrew Korge has been an agent of chaos. Korge started off in a heated race against sitting GOP Sen. Anita Flores, then hastily switched last month to District 40, where sitting Democratic Sen. Dwight Bullard was already running. Bullard says Korge — …
Across the nation, Black Lives Matter protesters have taken to the streets over the police killings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. Miami’s marchers gathered on Saturday, shutting down traffic downtown and on the MacArthur Causeway. More than 200 people started the protest outside the Wynwood…
A small but obvious tip for police: Don’t accuse a man with a debilitating eye condition of “turning a blind eye” to drug dealers in his area. And then don’t also hit him right in the eyes. Yet that’s exactly what a 74-year-old landlord accuses a group of City of…
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is on lockdown while Miami-Dade police investigate reports of an active shooter and a bomb threat, according to the department’s Twitter feed. The threat was reported around 3 p.m. “Precautionary measures” are being taken to ensure the safety of patients, doctors, and visitors. A hospital representative tells…
Tensions between police-reform activists and law enforcement could not be higher today. Cops shot two nonviolent black men dead this week on film. A Dallas sniper gunned down 11 officers during a police brutality protest last night, killing five. So when Dashana Honore, a 26-year-old resident of Ives Estates in…
In 2013, New Times called Jimmy Sabatino Florida’s “most notorious con man.” For a con man, the word “notorious” basically means “has been caught a bunch of times,” so we’ll refrain from calling the 39-year-old “talented” — but damn if he isn’t persistent. Case in point: Federal authorities said yesterday that…
Exactly one year ago today, Ruben Sebastian was driving across the Rickenbacker Causeway with a trunk full of groceries in his Chevy HHR station wagon. Sebastian, who at that time was an armed security guard for Miami-Dade County, had been earning some extra cash by delivering groceries and was in…
Rayne Burse was walking her dog, Mojito, near a canal in her new neighborhood Sunday evening when an older woman first approached and shook a finger in her face. “You’re part of South Miami,” said the stranger, later identified by police as Maria Dorrbecker, who had come out of a…
Miami Beach Police issued a dire warning to residents last week: Stay off the beach when the sun goes down. The warning came after a string of high-profile robberies culminated in a Texas woman getting sexually assaulted by a trio of men on the beach after dark. They also robbed…
As part of an “aggressive hiring plan,” the Miami-Dade Police Department wants to beef up its stockpiles of weapons, armor, and ammo. And they’re asking county commissioners for millions in new body armor, “ballistic shields,” and night-vision rifles — as well as a controversial license-plate reading system. The request, which…
Miami, we talked about this yesterday. Firing your gun in the air to celebrate Fourth of July is a very bad idea. Falling celebratory bullets have seriously injured multiple people in recent years, including two kids in separate instances. But you didn’t listen. In fact, you even found a new…
With Election Day rapidly approaching, Desmond Meade’s calendar has been jam-packed with political rallies and fundraising galas. In the past few months, the Miami native has been a part of a handful of panel discussions about reforming the criminal justice system, appeared as a guest on MSNBC, and headed to…
Anaid Romero was chilling outside the Biltmore Hotel in 2012, watching fireworks light up the Coral Gables sky when she noticed a weird sensation. “I just felt something wet on me and I looked down and I had blood everywhere,” Romero told NBC6 at the time. Romero soon found the source: A…
