In what could seem like a hasty and behind-closed-doors decision, the Miami Lakes Council agreed to pay former Mayor Michael Pizzi — who was arrested in 2013 on federal bribery charges but acquitted a year later — for $1.7 million for the legal fees he incurred in his defense.

Wasn’t this supposed to come back for a hearing with public input?

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DEVELOPING STORY: In the first council meeting for a new council member, without any real public notice, the Miami Lakes Council narrowly voted Tuesday to offer former Mayor Michael Pizzi, who was arrested in 2013 on federal bribery charges in an FBI sting, a $1.7 million settlement for legal fees incurred during the criminal trial.

Las malas lenguas had told Ladra weeks ago after the runoff election that this would happen.

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Miami City Commissioner Miguel Gabela wanted the city to stop payments to attorney Ben Kuehne in cases where he was representing former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla in civil court. Kuehne is also Diaz de la Portilla’s attorney in his felony criminal case on money laundering, bribery and other public corruption charges.

But before he could vote on a resolution he brought to the commission last week, he got news that ADLP had already replaced Kuehne with former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi, who was charged with federal bribery and extortion charges himself, caught in an FBI sting plotting to take some bogus grant money in 2013.

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Political consultant and gypsy conartist Vanessa Brito is scheduled to appear in Miami-Dade Court Tuesday, but not on a campaign violation or the defemation charge against her.
No, this time she is defending a petite theft charge that stems from a shoplifting incident at the Target store in Midtown. Stealing clothes instead of votes.
It happened around 4 p.m. last Aug. 28. Brito — who has worked on several local political and judicial campaigns, including the 2011 recall of Mayor Carlos Alvarez — was seen going through the store, stuffing clothes, shoes, houseware items and a phone charger into a large silver bag before walking out, “passing all available cashiers and checkout points,”  and walking out, reads the arrest report. Store personnel stopped her outside. Total value of the items was $118.24.
The docket history found online seems to suggest that Vanessa entered a”deferred prosecution” program in October — in which defendant’s usually pledge to take some kind of class and/or to pay the victim back — and hasn’t followed through. Because the deal was revoked on Jan. 22. The court records also indicate that she got a stay away order for the Target at 3401 N. Miami Ave.
Brito’s case is on the calendar for 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, and she will be represented by attorney Rick Yabor, not former attorney Michael Pizzi, who has represented her in other matters. Yabor would not comment on the case. Not even to tell what Brito’s got on him.
Ladra was not able to reach Brito, although I did leave messages and send texts to the cellphone I have. The number listed on the police report was disconnected. And the address on the report, 43 NW 41st St., is the New Horizons Community Mental Health Center, which provides services to the homeless as well as people with emotional or behavioral health issues. But las malas lenguas say she doesn’t live there anymore and that she moved to Daytona Beach, where she plans on getting a tattoo, according to a post on Facebook.
Daytona is where she was arrested in December for trespassing, according to the Volusia County Corrections Department. No longer the dewy ingenue, she looks in the mugshot like she was shooting up or doing meth. And that may explain the shoplifting.
Why is Ladra bringing you this news? Why is it important? Because this gifted snakeoil saleswoman continues to pretend to be a political analyst and legitimate activist. Because you never know what movement or campaign she will crawl into next, what out-of-towner will hire her to collect petition signatures, what fake recall she will conviince someone to fund, what smear campaign she will stage.
Because she is up to something.
After several months, perhaps a year or more absent from Facebook, she recently shared Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa‘s photos from the soccer announcement and has also posted items about Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
Maybe she’s trying to elbow her way into one of the county campaigns this year, having worked with some of the commissioners and judges before.
That would be another crime.

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Former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi is out of the limelight and out of politics, losing the mayoral election last November to Manny Cid. But he’s not out of the legal debt stemming from that elected office.

Pizzi has been sued by Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, one of the lawfirms that represented him during his battle with the town of Miami Lakes to get his seat back. They say he owes them $56,795. Pizzi says he doesn’t owe them squat.

“Carlton Fields was paid every penny they earned,” Pizzi told Ladra Wednesday. “I’m not going to pay them a penny more. And for them to do this two years later is absurd.”

Let’s bring the newcomers up to speed, shall we?

Read related story: Chatty Michael Pizzi claims innocence, blames Michael Kesti

After Pizzi beat federal charges of bribery stemming from a bogus grant scheme set up by undercover FBI agents, he sued to be reinstated as mayor, even though the town had elected someone else during his trial after he was suspended by the governor. A court forced the governor to unsuspend him and then forced the town to take him back. Then the court found that the town was liable for his legal fees in that fight to regain his office.

Those fees originally were somewhere around $600,000, but the town refused to pay more than what they paid for their own legal fees during the case, which was approximately $460,000. A settlement with Pizzi and the attorneys in question meant that they would each have to lower their fees by a certain percent. Apparently, Carlton Fields was not happy and never signed on to a discount figure. It’s unclear if they got any of the pie. 

And, no, Pizzi didn’t pocket the money himself. It’s the first thing Ladra thought, too. But the town paid the lawfirms directly after reaching the settlement. And it was apparently Pizzi’s decision to leave Carlton Fields out of it. So they sued him.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi and his legal dream team — at what cost to who?

The lawsuit, filed in February, includes an agreement Pizzi signed in August 2014 agreeing to the schedule of fees for video taping, secretarial work, messanger services and a slew of other incidentals, plus the $870 an hour for Peter Webster, the attorney who represented Pizzi for the petition to the state to have him reinstated. The motion says that Pizzi saw the invoices every month and never objected, further approving the fees.

Pizzi played possum with Ladra.

“It’s ridiculous. A big law firm trying to get money they’re not entitled to,” Pizzi said. “I’m offended by their conduct.”

The former mayor, who is still fighting County Hall on the megamall on behalf of a group of residents, says that the firm should sue the town. After all, he is not responsible for those fees. The attorneys won him that battle.

Pizzi said that Carlton Field was paid a portion of their “exorbitant” fees. “If they feel they are entitled to any more money, they should have filed a claim against the town.”

The documents filed with the lawsuit show the total balance as $56,795, so it’s unclear if they were paid anything.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi sues Miami Lakes for $3.2 million in legal fees

Meanwhile, the town is still fighting Pizzi’s attempts to have taxpayers pay the $2.5 million legal fees for his federal bribery trial, for which he had more attoreys than O.J. Simpson (read: too many). The town says nana nina.

“We don’t believe any of the conduct was in the course and scope of being mayor of Miami Lakes,” said Town Attorney Raul Gastesi. He is talking about when Pizzi backdated bogus documents and took a $3,000 campaign contribution in an office closet. At the very least, he added, half of the charges in the indictment stem from actions Pizzi took as town attorney in Medley.

A court agreed with the town and ordered Pizzi to be deposed so he could answer questions about the fees, which the town believes are also excessive. Pizzi has refused to be questioned and appealed that decision.

Of course he did! He is facing $2.5 million in lawsuits!

Talk about kicking a man when he’s down.

First, former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi loses his re-election just a couple of weeks ago, getting an abysmal 23% against newly elected Mayor Manny Cid. Then, boom, a Miami-Dade court tells him Wednesday that the town is not on the hook for $2.5 million in legal fees incurred during his 2013 federal bribery trial.

Pizzi had been arrested in a bogus grant sting set up by the FBI targetting local electeds. He and former Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño were charged after undercover agents caught them accepting bribes in cash and campaign contributions in exchange for getting bogus grant requests passed through their own and other cities.

While Pizzi was found not guilty, Maroño entered a plea deal and got a 37-month sentence. Guess he didn’t have the million dollar lawyers.

Read related story: Spies, lies and video tape: Manny Maroño’s ‘charisma’

After Pizzi got off, he had to sue the state to get his suspension by Gov. Rick Scott lifted and then had to sue the town of Miami Lakes to get his job back. But, in August of last year, he still sued his beloved town for the $2.5 million bill from his legal dream team.  He had up to eight attorneys at once — like he was O.J. Simpson or something. Guess you get what you pay for, because his acquittal is nothing short of miraculous, considering he had been recorded taking cash from a lobbyist/informant in an office closet.

Ladra always suspected that the price had been artificially inflated, jacked up so that Pizzi could have a piece of the pie.  

Maybe Judge Antonio Marin smelled something too and said nana-nina. He cited precedents that established that “for public officials to be entitled to representation at public expense, the litigation must (1) arise out of or in connection with the performance of their official duties and (2) serve a public purpose.”

The city’s legal argument focused on the public purpose part and the judge bought it.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi sues Miami Lakes for $3.2 million in legal fees

But wait just one minute. Because while Pizzi certainly wasn’t serving a public purpose — he was only looking out for himself — you can’t argue that the litigation wasn’t a public purpose, if by litigation they mean Pizzi’s prosecution.

Look, Ladra doesn’t want the town of Miami Lakes, or the taxpayers, to pay this bogus bill. But it’s pretty certain that Pizzi couldn’t have been indicted for bribery in a bogus federal grant scheme if he wasn’t acting in his official capacity as mayor and performing his public duties. Or pretending to. It was the very elected office that federal prosecutors said he used to get those $6,000 in bribes. He wouldn’t have been bribed if he wasn’t the mayor.

The court granted Pizzi — or his multiple attorneys, probably — 20 days to file an amendment to the complaint. And I suspect it will go a lot like that.

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