#BecauseMiami: Goodnight to the Bad Guy | 12/22/23 | The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Because Miami closes out its 2023 by showcasing the Miami Herald and a bombshell series of stories called “Shakedown City.” This is a devasting report that could very well take down multiple mayors in the county of Miami Dade. We have two of the writers who contributed to this investigative report. Sarah Blaskey, who discusses just how complicit Miami mayor Francis Suarez is in all of this, and Jay Weaver, who talks about the role of real estate developer Rishi Kapoor. Plus, its the 40th anniversary of Scarface, and with us today is Manny Ribera himself…Steven Bauer.

#BecauseMiami: Goodnight to the Bad Guy | 12/22/23 | The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
————————————————————————————————————————————————————

✅ Follow & Subscribe to Our Podcasts on Spotify & Apple Podcasts ✅

🔊 The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 🔊

🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2FuorRy…

🟣 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…

🔊 Le Batard & Friends Network 🔊

🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZYllDN…

🟣 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…

🔊 Mystery Crate 🔊

🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6nCctQZ…

🟣 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

✅ Follow Us On Social! ✅

☑️ The LeBatard Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lebatardshow ☑️
📸 The LeBatard Show on Instagram: http://instagram.com/lebatardshow 📸
💥 The LeBatard Show on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lebatardshow 💥
🪄 The LeBatard Show on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lebatardandfriends 🪄

✅ Subscribe! ✅
💻 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAIZ…

🤑 MERCH! 🤑 :

HOME

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The Best Daily Sports Podcast on the Internet

#lebatardshow #lebatard #thepirateship #sports #betting #sportsbetting #live #stugotz #danlebatard

There is a culture of corruption that has gone unchecked in Miami city hall for too long they free vacations at taxpayer expense abusing our resources for political Revenge they’re into racketeering audacious pay for clay we are not their constituents instead we are their pre these people say the dumbest [ __ ] that you have ever heard we vote for shady grifters and we get what we deserve and it’s ply observe come ones Morales in the Miami Mafia cooo and

Mendes in the Miami Mafia Higgins and hard of manell VAV the corrupt evil clowns make the Miami Mafia come on over to nor on they all the Miami Mafia Miami Mafia back on their [ __ ] and the Miami Herald back with a bombshell investigative series called I love this title Shakedown City

All about Miami the city of Miami which is a uh a racketeering organization masquerading as a local government uh it seems that uh Miami mayor Francis Suarez is also back on his [ __ ] exploiting his public position for private profit but now apparently working as a secret unregistered foreign

Agent for Saudi Arabia asking the kingdom how can I help and the Miami Herald has the story coming up later though Steven the beast power Manny from Scarface to celebrate the 40th anniversary but first we start with the Miami Herald and this uh bab with the brain of a

Mosquito Pulitzer Prize winner Sarah blasy is a friend of the show and she is also the lead investigative reporter on the Miami herold’s latest uh Sensational bombshell investigative series Shakedown city which has been rolling out all week long starting with the onew punch of these stories that

Sarah had the lead by line on Sarah how did you discover the Saudi connection here and what is the mayor’s relationship to the kingdom I mean people have had this question for a long time where is Francis Suarez where is the mayor of Miami at one point he was all over city

Hall and then he kind of stopped going as I think other guests on your show have noted and so we started looking into that and and we got these police records that showed that he had spent a considerable amount of time in the Middle East and so we started doing a

Little bit of research into that and talking to sources and it became very Qui clear very quickly that most of that time at least far more than half of that time he had spent in Saudi Arabia and so sort of fast forward we get some emails

From the city not a ton but a handful or so that start showing that not only did he spend time in Riad and you know go to these conferences you probably heard of Davos in the desert which is Saudi Arabia’s attempt at you know sort of a international trade Summit he had gone

To those he had parlayed with uh various Saudi royals he had been on stage talking um at various events put on by the sovereign wealth fund there and then we realized through these City emails that he had brought one of these events back to Miami and so that’s kind of

Where it starts right you have all these these strange connections all of these trips that seem odd for a Cuban American mayor of Miami who who has always said that he’s very against authoritarian regimes going over to Saudi Arabia but then but then he does something he

Brings one of their conferences to Miami in March and I think that’s when it became a more serious investigation is when we realized that that had happened because there of course far more legal implications to that and what are those legal implications because it let’s be

Real about this for I mean I’m not casting aspersions uh on the Saudi royals uh far be it for me but these events are effectively infomercials these are produced basically scripted events to kind of reputation launder kind of part of the sportswashing that um that Saudi Arabia has taken part in

Uh through soccer through live golf Etc uh so so what are these events and what was Francis Suarez’s involvement in them and was his involvement as the mayor of Miami or was it in one of his 19 side hustles that you have revealed over the course of your reporting this

Year well that’s a that’s a lot of questions how much time do you have but um but to start with the first one um you are absolutely right this is exactly what the Liv golf thing is this is part of the same campaign Saudi Arabia has recently sort of developed

This master plan Vision 2030 and the idea is to become quite literally one of the global superpowers this is spelled out in a plan you can Google and part of this plan a pillar is how they are using their Sovereign wealth fund the public investment fund to basically break into

New markets across the world they want to build it into a trillion dollar fund that has more power than any other Sovereign wealth Fund in the world but you know and it has a lot of money it can break into markets but the thing that’s been limiting it of course is

This long history of Human Rights uh violations and ties to the 9911 terrorists and all kinds of other very bad for business headlines that have been limiting um the public investment funds ability break into these markets and part of the murder and alleged dismemberment of an American journalist

From The Washington Post Jamal uh kosi I mean there’s yeah problems human rights problems problems yes yes and and that murder of course started a fairly widespread boycott movement and so part of the Kingdom’s effort to overcome that and to keep building itself towards being a global superpower is or was to

Establish this conference series The Future future investment initiative so it is it was established through the fund it is a government sponsored government run the Board of Trustees are royal appointees um it’s it’s that kind of conference um and it’s been traveling around the world trying to trying to

Have different International Summits in addition to the one in Riad and so so while Francis uh mayor Suarez is in Riad um in October of 22 he gets a call from a representative of this um initiative who is a royal appointee of the Sai government and this person says we’re

GNA do this in in March and Mar Suarez says March 2024 they’re talking about bringing a summit to Miami and and the man says no March 2023 and mayor Suarez seems surprised at the quick turnaround of bringing an international Summit to Miami but he says okay and then the

Emails that the Miami heral um was able to obtain show that City staff and also his private political fundraiser helped make this happen and when I say help make this happen bring this Summit that is by Royal Decree a PR campaign for the Saudi government I mean these representatives for the Saudi

Initiative gave talking points to the mayor um for his opening remarks they asked the mayor staff and Associates to make introductions to Power Players around Miami celebrities business tycoons that kind of thing and some of those introductions got made they told the mayor when to show up and who he

Might want to meet they introduced him to VIP guests and asked him to be a special guest at VIP events trying to uh entice others to be there effectively they were trading connections like currency in this effort to effectively um try to gloss over a very questionable human rights history and

Instead project the regime and project the kingdom as a leader in sustainability in humanity this this Summit was called priority Humanity uh that was like one of the slogans for this Summit and and so it was it’s a very intent public relations effort to the extent that um going to your original point

About what about golf how does golf have anything to do with a summit like this well it’s quite literally part of the same campaign livol was bought by the public investment fund um or sorry it was established by the public investment fund and has now uh been moving to

Acquire the PGA Tour there’s been a huge battle over the future of golf whether golfers going over to live golf or taking Blood Money from the Saudi Arabia but but when you read the fine print of Saudi Arabia’s plans when you talk to experts from the region what they’ll

Tell you is this is an effort to get people to say good things about the kingdom and effectively drown out the bad bad headline and and you do that not just with their own good headlines but by also recruiting celebrities and influencers to say nice things about the

Kingdom as well and Mayors as it turns out and and I want to be clear about this cuz we have not this the reporting is so detailed um that there’s like leads everywhere in the story they’re not buried they’re just like everywhere throughout this investigation and to be clear Saudi

Arabia is a client of Mayor Francis Suarez’s Law Firm so with one haton he is effectively being paid by Saudi Arabia to Lobby the in the interests of Saudi Arabia ibya and its reputation um a propaganda campaign but he is also using the office of the mayor of Miami with

His staff with a fundraiser who seems to be way too involved with uh with the mayor’s office and his staff also while he may be running for this may have overlapped to some extent with his presidential run which may raise issues of National Security I mean there this

Is just a Minefield of not only conflicts of interest but potential uh uh violations of federal law I don’t really think there was a question there but I’m I’m I’m slowly making my my my way to it um where what was he doing was he working

For his Law Firm for the Saudis or was he working as a mayor as the president of the US Conference of Mayors Which hat was he wearing and when here that’s the question um and what he has said is he switches his hats frequently and sometimes wears one

Sometimes wears another um but he has not provided specifics about Which hat he is wearing at which time um with a few exceptions he he has said he has only worn his mayoral hat anytime he participated in these Saudi Summits so he was doing this in his official

Capacity as mayor he says but that doesn’t mean he traveled to Riad as mayor that doesn’t mean that any of these other things outside of those moments he on stage were in His official capacity as mayor he has not been clear about who paid his way to Saudi Arabia

On any given day what we do know is that he has made trips to the kingdom on behalf of his Law Firm the law firm that pays him over a million dollars a year according to his Federal disclosures um to basically introduce them to new clients to help them grow their business

And um so so your question here here I think and you ask it the first time and there are so many things here it’s it’s hard to keep it straight but the real question is legally what what could be the problems and there are several kind of distinct issues here one is certainly

A question about conflict of interest there are multiple different conflict of interest laws uh in Florida that would govern him so one at the state level one at the county level uh the state level being more narrow the county level being a bit broader and the real question is

Did he use his public office in a way that benefited A Private Client um there’s a lot of room to sort of split hairs here over is is the public investment fund his client The Firm says no they said it’s he has nothing to do with any cases involving the public

Investment fund um but he certainly attended their conferences representing himself as both the mayor of Miami and an attorney of Quinn Emanuel the law firm so these lines get blurry as he’s switching these hats back and forth right um so that’s that’s the question of conflict of interest there’s also a

National security question here and that question um you know we talked to multiple experts basically um there are laws in the United States that require transparency if anyone is promoting the interests of a foreign government here in the United States and if they’re doing it basically the words are if you

Are wor working at the direction of and on behalf of a foreign government or P predominantly on behalf of a foreign government then you have to register as an agent of that government it doesn’t matter if you get paid it doesn’t matter if you’re a politician and your agenda

Is Goodwill amongst Nations that doesn’t matter if you are working under under the direction of and on behalf of a foreign government then you have to register as an agent and the expert that we spoke with said that the emails that show the mayor’s staff sort of taking these unilateral directives from

Representatives of the Saudi government do raise questions as to whether or not the mayor of Miami was predominantly working on behalf of the residents of Miami when he brought this Summit or if he was predominantly working on behalf of the Saudi government which again is

Also a client of the law firm that pays him and I just want to make one final Point here the Summit that he endorsed with his mayoral office using the city of Miami seal was actually held in Miami Beach a completely distinct municipality that he has absolutely no jurisdiction

Over right so he was working for the people of the city of Miami but in the city of Miami Beach on behalf of Saudi Arabia who are paying clients of his Law Firm the aristocrats so Sarah I want to be clear about this event which I

Referred to earlier as a as a piece of propaganda as you call called it PR I called it an infomercial again everybody’s entitled to put on their own dog and pony show if they want to pay for it if they want to pay the mayor for

It but I want in response to your reporting this week uh journalist Mark Caputo formerly of the Miami Herald of uh Politico of NBC news now at the messenger.com he uh tweeted that uh this specific event that you were reporting on uh he was invited by a PR rep uh this is the

Tweet uh and it has a screen cap of a text message from March 22nd of this year uh Caputo writes a PR rep offered me a chance to interview Liv gf’s Greg Norman at this event involving Miami mayor Suarez as Saudi Arabia paid his firm despite a good money offer I

Couldn’t do it because they wouldn’t let me ask re 911 and Jero uh Jamal kogi’s murder Integrity matters I say that not to let not not to give Mar Caputo a p in the back although I guess he deserves one but to show that this was in fact an

Infomercial this was a bought and paid for event they were paying journalists whether it was celebrities influencers interviewers in this case the mayor of Miami Francis Suarez um this appears as though the exactly the kind of thing that the foreign agents registration act also known as Farah uh was created for

Is that what your experts are telling you yes I mean the point is to have transparency if there is co influence happening in the US the United States citizens of the United States have the right to know that that’s what far law is about and for a long time it

Wasn’t really enforced um but we’ve seen a ramping up of enforcement um against folks who are lobbying on behalf of foreign governments primarily after the 2016 election so all of these rumors that um you know foreign influence had affected the election and suddenly Federal Authority are starting to very

Much crack down on unregistered lobbying and you’ve seen a a massive increase in the amount of cases being brought under this law including of course um Senator Bob Menendez who was accused of being a foreign agent in October he was charged with being a foreign agent of Egypt and

In that case of course there’s gold bars I do just want to clarify right now we have no indication that that mayor Suarez was paid for his work on these conferences he says anytime he does a speaking gig as mayor that he is not paid but he he also has not addressed

The rest of the work he has not addressed um you know the fact that of course his his Law Firm is paid by this group and he has he has said I’m sorry to interrupt but he has said that he has traveled to Saudi Arabia on behalf of

His Law Firm so if he is being paid through his law firm as an attorney working for Saudi Arabia and then also wants to be able to say but when I’m doing their propaganda and their infomercials I’m working for the City of Miami I mean that you know that doesn’t

Pass the smell test that dog don’t hunt I mean you’ve reported that since his starting his second term as mayor Suarez has spent at least one out of every five days traveling and has been out of state if not out of the country for onethird of the city Commission meetings and

These Saudi Arabia trips this is a guy who lives his life on social media and for a lot of these Saudi Arabia trips where the Saudis themselves have promoted his visits on social media the mayor has been strangely silent so there’s a level of secrecy to these trips that further muddies the waters

Here right about whether he’s acting as the mayor or the or or the attorney for the Saudis no it is interesting that he has said he’s participating in these conferences as mayor but has not promoted his participation on any platforms any of his social media platforms he says he

Gives these speeches to promote Miami on the global stage again but doesn’t doesn’t post about them in one case during one of these um excursions abroad he actually went to Dubai where he signed a memorandum of understanding um with the government there and it was kind of like a sister city agreement

Between um Miami in Dubai and and while the Dubai government was tweeting and posting on Instagram about this this signing um mayor Suarez had mentioned that he was out of town there are no posts mentioning he was out of town and instead he he had actually posted about

A different Proclamation he signed that day making it the national or sorry the city of Miami’s fla day yes like the dessert fla and then put up a video um showing himself eating fla sort of spliced into some local coverage of this so that that was actually the

Proclamation that he promoted um you know over this memorandum of understanding it’s not clear why he said he was doing that as mayor he was signing that as mayor but um you know this Law Firm that he works for Quinn Emanuel does does represent a lot of

Clients who he tends to run into in these trips abroad so they represent a number of sovereign wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates they represent government um entities in Cutter they represent um several Saudi royals and The Sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and they also represent

Other clients like FIFA which will be bringing the World Cup to Miami um in in 2026 and of course uh mayor Suarez also spent some time overseas with FIFA officials it’s unclear if that was in his capacity as mayor or some other capacity um and he’s also been pictured

At the World Cup in Cutter with um Soccer Star David Beckham who we all know as a city of Miami lobbyist we’ve talked about this before I think on the show um you know they went to the World Cup together um and and that’s an interesting question because of course

Maris Suarez helped push a no bid deal that um Mr Beckham brought before the city to use city land for a stadium deal a MLS Stadium deal and just to bring this full circle and and show you how many potential pitfalls there are here MLS is also a client of Quinn Emanuel

The law firm sports unbelievable I’ve been saying the whole time when I watched Francis Suarez and Jorge Moss sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on one side of the table across from the Miami Herald editorial board at that meeting that they did back in like 2018 2019 I said wait a second he’s on their side of

The table he’s clearly a client representing them and as it turns out from your reporting that’s exactly what happened before we go Francis Suarez has responded to your reporting calling it Hocus Pocus I want to play the clip and give you a chance consulted with has

Told me that that is a completely um you know that’s completely unnecessary because we haven’t been representing any country any foreign entity so there’s absolutely no far uh registration requirement that’s completely Hocus Pocus again we’ve already had this conversation uh is your reporting what you found from your investigation the

Records the experts consistent with the fact that there is no reason for him or any of his City staff who worked uh on this event to register with far I mean what every expert that we spoke to said is it takes a full investigation to actually know if

Someone should have registered um and but from the limited view that we have from those records it does seem to The Experts we spoke to they they said you know there’s a lot of smoke uh here this is exactly the type of situation that the justice department would be

Interested in looking into because it involves a public official I mean it will really come down to determining whether he was working predominantly on behalf of the citizens of Miami or predominantly on behalf of the Saudi government and and that would take an investigation to to prove but of course

These these emails do show a sort of unilateral direction from the representatives of the Saudi public investment funds nonprofit conference series to the mayor of Miami and his office and and the kind of things that rais red flags just to underline it according to the experts we spoke to are

Asking for introductions that that is something if you make an introduction on behalf of a foreign government to someone locally that is one of those things that really is a red flag of doing political advocacy or PR work that would potentially raise to the level of needing to register the other thing are

Talking points talking points can be indicative that you are not speaking independently but you are in fact paring a line that was given to you by a foreign entity you are effectively transmitting their message now who’s to say exactly without an investigation um by federal authorities if he did break

This law but those are those are the things that rais the flags to The Experts we consulted with Sarah blasy find Shakedown City the full investigative series at miamiherald.com I I think I smell another Pulitzer is that what that smell is Roy I think I think that’s what that is s blaski Merry

Christmas thank you for being here thank you Pulitzer Prize winner Jay Weaver has been writing about federal crime in federal courts in the most exciting town probably in the world to write about such such things uh at the Miami Herald where he has been for nearly a quarter

Century uh he is part of the investigative team responsible for the series Shakedown City along with Sarah blasy who we just spoke with uh Jay’s story uh that dropped is an extraordinary one it is about real estate developer Rishi kapor very Miami character this guy is a Atlanta transplant of Indian descent attended

The University of Miami and hustled his way into uh the multi-billion dollar real estate business I should say multi-trillion dollar real estate business here uh in Miami uh and lived large I mean he lived in we’re talking about Yachts McLaren’s six figure watches I think he had a house in cocoa

Plum which the DEA used to call cocaine Plum which was actually it was the model for for Tony Montana’s house which they shot mostly in Los Angeles but but it was supposed to be in that neighborhood of cocoa plum and I I got to tell you the Rishi kapor story is like Scarface

But with real estate instead of cocaine Jay we had you on earlier this year to talk about this story because this really was the first Domino to fall in Francis Suarez’s no good very bad uh well Francis suarz is terrible horrible no good very bad year Jay uh what is

What is it that we learn here uh in this story um that you told us about earlier this year in terms of uh the investigations going on uh in terms of the secret payments that capore was making to the mayor in order to allegedly Curry favor with the with the

City and City policy what are we learning now that’s new basically what have we learned is this you know it’s become very clear over the years and decades in Miami political culture that it doesn’t take a lot to buy your way in you can be an outsider it’s very

Transactional you come in you start buying things here you start buying things there could be a dinner tab a bartab tab it could be any kind of tab and the next thing you know the mayor is your best friend you’re giving money to his campaign then all of a sudden you

Put them on the payroll and so what it shows is is that it’s so easy to buy your way into and I’m not going to use the word on your program because it’s really not suitable for family listening but it’s basically buying your way into

A I I don’t know if I can say it but you know I I I don’t know if I can say it really first of all no no families listen this program let’s be perfectly clear I’ve been accused of a lot of things this Show’s been accused of a lot

Of things never of family listening I I assure you of that you can say anything you want in this program and Roy our censor uh will if if it doesn’t pass muster what do you think right well let’s see what it is let’s tell us what

It is well let’s just I’ll use I’ll use I’ll use a euphemism it’s like buying your way into a house of ill repute and basically you know anybody a hor house you mean oh I don’t know if we can use that one bil Billy you said that did you

You meant a wh house right Jay well is that what you meant all right I was just W double check You’ you’ve nailed me you’ve nailed me I think Nails you like like we’re in a wh house Jay yes yeah I I got you don’t have to press sure okay all right sorry

Uh Jay what were you saying again about the wh house well I’m just saying it’s it’s just easy to buy your way into it and so the reality is you got a guy like mayor Suarez and even Vince Lago for that matter let’s not leave him out

Let’s not and you know but for the fact that Rishi kapor is you know trying to Curry favor with these guys he he wouldn’t have you know he wouldn’t have caused them so much trouble I mean he insinuates his way into their lives he’s an outsider he’s from Atlanta he’s a um

Grad he’d gone to law school you know he he Mickey moused in marketing and sales for a few years and then detoured into the Rough Tumble world of Glen Gary G Glenn Ross you know and that would be Miami’s real estate market right and and it’s just remarkable to me how he was

Able to create this little Empire bamboozle so many people get the mayor on board get investors on board get lenders on board and even get condo buyers to buy into his whole thing and to get political officials as well he gets favors in return he gets zoning approvals in return all this stuff

Happens meanwhile he’s living you know living large as they always do to make everybody think that they’re you know richer than they they actually are it impresses people it makes them want to invest more with them and do more things with them and if there’s one thing that

Suarez loves to do he loves to be close to people with money forget about the poor forget about the middle class his best friends are people with money in Deep Pockets those are his constituents and so it was a match made in heaven with Rish kapor Jade do you remember

What Tony Montana said about about Miami that it’s a it’s it’s like a great bit I’m trying to get him to say that line you know what line Roy I’m trying to get him to say but he’s not going to say it is he no no okay all right I I I think

The listeners probably know too this town is like a great big something you froze up there this uh Tony Montana said about uh yeah I think he’s bullshitting me here I think he’s I didn’t hear you you froze up no no remember Tony Montana and Scarface said Miami is like a great

Big something waiting to be something I don’t know if you remember that line yeah yeah don’t say a second so so but but here’s the interesting thing here obviously this has all ended in litigation acrimony allegations of fraud um allegations of bribery investigations by an alphabet soup of federal agencies

Um it’s I’m not sure if if this guy was a fake it to make it guy because it did seem for a minute that he was making it he had these major Duty developments he was it looked like he was breaking some ground he raised a ton of money it

Wasn’t like there was no money there so I guess my question is was he a fake it to was this guy a just kind of like a con man in and out like [ __ ] in [ __ ] out or was this guy like he meant well at the beginning and he just flew too close

To the Sun what what is the story of the rise and fall of Rishi kapor in that way it it’s the latter he he his intentions were good in the beginning he hired a lot of good people some from his um days some from the you know the marketing and

Real estate world and they formed a company and they started you know developing projects a lot of them were on paper but some of them they got done and the one that he really completed that was a signature project was the Via Valencia at 39 units in Coral Gables

Near downtown and you know he he got that done with the exception of three Penthouse units which are costing him dearly everything else is sold and occupied but he kind of used that as a beacon and then he had he had done some previous to that but smaller ones

Smaller projects but the one that via Valencia is the one that sort of jumped started him into the real world of Miami’s real estate industry and started getting more and more investors to loan him money but they were always private investors and private lenders you know he doesn’t go to Conventional sources so

All of this was costing a lot of money his problem was he was in over his head he juggled too much he did not estimate these costs very well he was always running into overruns he was always moving money between projects and legal do doents explain all of this you he’s

Been sued left and right you know this isn’t just discret sourcing he’s been accused of all these things in lawsuits and he moved money around he even took condo buyers money and moved it between projects He took investors monies and moved it between projects He took private you know lenders money and move

It to between projects and he also Advanced Monies to himself which is clear from lawsuits and emails and records and text messages and he did all this in a way and it basically the whole house of cards collapsed and now we have a situation where he might have finished

A couple of projects he might have had four or five good ones you know on on the horizon but they couldn’t get done and the whole thing collapsed at the end of July what’s really striking about this guy is that he knew the proverbial

[ __ ] was going to hit the fan a year ago and he was still buying the new yacht to replace the old yacht you know he was still you know buying all these things to make himself look like he was just sitting pretty and he was so wealthy and

It was absurd because he knew that you know he knew it was all about to end and you know this is the mind of I guess somebody who just doesn’t either think clearly or is desperate or is just so concerned about his image I I don’t know

What it is because he wouldn’t tell us he wouldn’t talk to us but in the end in July he loses his job he’s forced out as the CEO of his own company and a liquidation manager has to take over what does he start doing selling off whatever assets they have to pay off

Creditors a lot of people got hurt a lot of condo buyers got hurt and you know even the private investors and lenders got hurt I mean you know they were they were you know hoping to make a lot of money off these projects you know they’re legitimate projects in pretty

Good locations but you know they just you know he just wasn’t a very good Steward he wasn’t George Perez now let me tell you what I am most fascinated about here I am most fascinated about Rosa commercial real estate this is a brokerage firm out of the City of Coral

Gables which at its peak if you will had only about five licensed Realtors who you know hung their shingle there or whatever the term of art is and this is what I was getting at earlier like at least one mayor could could fall down with this house of cards but there seems

To be a direct Connection by way of this real estate firm to no less than three mayors of three different municipalities in Miami Dade County the five uh licensed real estate brokers in this firm or a former hiia city councilman Oscar Delarosa uh his I believe stepfather uh

High a mayor estabon Steve bovo Coral Gable’s mayor Vince slago Coral Gable corl Gable’s mayor Vince lago’s Chief of Staff uh Chelsea uh grenell Lindsay and the last one was Bill Riley the attorney and lobbyist who was just arrested along with Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz La Portia on

Charges ranging from bribery money laundering campaign Finance violations and through business dealings and real estate transactions with Bill Riley’s clients lobbying clients uh the cers of the antia uh private Academy in the city of Miami so you have these connections out let’s be clear 20% of the people in

This brokerage have been arrested okay that’s one one out of five of them and you have these uh connections between Riley and Alex latia and county commissioner Keon Hardeman and between Rishi kapor and Vince slago and uh uh um uh Francis Suarez you have this like

This what I always referred to as this incestuous Cesspool of corruption here but I’m fascinated by this brokerage firm which seems which could be alleged people are saying you know could very well be nothing more than kind of a real estate moneya laundering Factory for bribes to to uh public officials right

Well that’s a very good question Billy because the reality is this brokerage room you you know you speak of in detail is associated with coral Gable’s mayor Vince slago you know he’s part of that team but he did not receive any piece of that commission the $640,000 commission

On rishik kapur’s you know sale of that land or purchase of that land you know for the you know for the purposes of of uh building a condo project there this would be at 1505 ponon his next big project so long story short but what about the office space Jay oh well

That’s a that’s another situation Vince lot well I don’t want to Let’s separate this up let’s unpack this first so the reason why I said that was a very good question is because when they got $640,000 what did they do with it we don’t know if they kicked back any money

To Vince logo we don’t know if they kicked back at back any money from that big commission to anybody you know we have no idea and I can assure you that if I were an FBI investigator or an IRS you know forensic analyst I’d be looking

At those bank accounts I’d be looking at their you know that the money moving between those people and I’d be looking at what they make in salaries and I’d be looking to see how inflated it is from this P particular transaction now you asked separately about a little karate

Storefront office karate you know shop uh storefront office next door to this site well it was it was rented by the mayor you know for half a year to a year to kapor for the purposes of putting in a sales office for the new condo project

That was going to be be built next door which was months away from breaking ground the reality is they never sold a single condo in this particular project the project for now is is is is dead although it might be revitalized through the new investors but my point is why

Was he doing deals with Vince logo on the you know the rental of the storefront next door to the new development why was he doing deals with the brokerage firm you know that uh that was involved in the sale of the land for rishik kapur’s next new condo

Development these are all really good questions we couldn’t get to the bottom of them because they’re not part of any public record but the reality is I am certain investigators will be following that money Trail I want to be clear about this what happened was is that

Rishi kapor bought this piece of land for this major Duty development in Coral Gables and then the mayor of Coral Gables along with a cousin of Francis Suarez the mayor of Miami bought a building across the street which Rishi kapor could have himself bought considering he was spending tens of

Millions of dollars on these other properties then about a month after Vince Lago and Francis Suarez’s cousin bought this building Rishi then rents it from them for upwards of about $122,000 a month for over a year and the building as we sit here and talk today is still empty it was never

Occupied Rishi kapore paid a five fig rent every month to the mayor of Coral Gables and to the cousin of the mayor of Miami to rent an empty building an empty office space that he never occupied a single day never so much as put put

Never so much as put a desk or a chair and the building still on the outside if I’m not mistaken has a sign that says karate uh on the building I mean I don’t even know how else you expl like in a movie that would be an obvious

Front for some kind of a kickback payment bribe what and involves once again two separate mayors I want to know so much more about this this is so so interesting to me Jay and uh congratulations on more great work well let me leave you on one final

Note I don’t know what kapor is up to he has refused to talk to us he thinks he’s been given a raw deal he said so to me in an email a few weeks ago when I was doing a story about his yacht being seized by US Marshals after the lender

Of that you know for that lot went after him for it and and they US Marshals with a court order went and seized it for him it was a $4 half million dollar loan he had out on it but I wonder when he’s going to be talking with federal and

State authorities because he’s you know got a lot to gain by pointing fingers and providing a little direction to these these uh investigators about who he knew what he did how much money he gave them if he gave them money how much and you know what was the purpose of it

Because he knows better than anybody else the question is if he will flip and when that will happen exciting times in which we live and exciting journalism you could find Jay Weaver Sarah blasy Tess risky Joey fletches all their work in the Shakedown City investigative series online now at Miami herald.com

Jayw Weaver merry Christmas happy New Year thanks for being here yeah same to you guys thanks a lot you want to see something funny hey take a look over there you see see that man watch that guy I got to style him I got to watch my

Friend here he going to stick his tongue out to that girl oh look at that yo you’re sick you see what happened to here hey hey you know if I wasn’t a nice guy I play for you come on trouble like come on B what I try tell

Lesbian what I try to tell this country you got to make the money first then when you get the money you get the pap then when you get the power then you get the W that legendary scene from Scarface was shot here in Miami Beach at the world

Famous Fountain Blue Hotel Scarface was Unleashed on the world 40 years ago this month can you believe it Roy 40 years ago now wow I think the movie changed the world it certainly changed my life I saw it for the first time many years later on VHS and sure about 20 plus

Years after it came out it inspired my producing partners and I to make a documentary called Cocaine Cowboys our our second feature documentary which was kind of marketed as the true story of Scarface cuz Scarface was you know kind of notoriously ripped for being operatic and overthe toop and

Unrealistic Scarface was a documentary let me be perfectly clear what Oliver Stone and and Brian depal and their team were able to put into two and a half hours of that movie really captured Miami and changed Miami forever because that was started Roy the cycle of like art imitating life imitating artart

Imitating life the onew punch of Scarface and then Miami Vice solidified Miami’s reputation is like this sexy dangerous cool place that everybody wanted to be and come to it was America’s Riviera it was Casablanca it was Dodge City it was lawless you could do anything say anything and get away

With it and people loved that and that that has been a big part of miam’s branding and reputation for all of these decades and now to celebrate the Ruby anniversary of Scarface and Tony Montana you know him from kpasa USA uh uh Ray Donovan Queen of the South Breaking Bad

Better col better colal traffic uh two of my favorites Running Scared with Gregory Hines and Crystal and Primal Fear with Richard Gear um I love and the guy’s got a million credits but most significantly Manolo Riva the right-hand man alpacino Tony Montana and Scarface Steven [ __ ] Bower Stephen what does

It feel like to be a part of something so iconic that four decades later strangers come up to you on the street yell dialogue wiggle their tongue at you like a lizard is it is it cool is it annoying are you tired of hearing about it and talking about it already no it’s

Wonderful and thank you for the introduction that was that was very good you barely took a breath and you you covered everything um I’m getting high on my own Supply Stephen um it’s it’s wonderful after so long and after the trials and tribulations of the status of the film in

Society um and it’s it’s it’s it’s a challenging relationship with the media uh over the years but the tremendous acceptance of the hip-hop generation I think brought Scarface back from that disastrous uh launch not with the people the people always got the movie but the the media the the the the

Press the film press the film critics just just Savaged the film and Hollywood was not crazy about it either but even but but even before that Stephen um this movie was controversial from the jump and I’m curious how attuned you were to that because uh here in Miami one

Particular City Commissioner at the time Demetrio Perez was on a public campaign against this movie thought that it would uh that it uh uh cultivated negative stereotypes about uh cuban-americans and Marios in in particular he basically threw you guys at of town I was wondering how attuned you as a Cuban

American as a as a Miami and how how aware were you of that at the time back in in in ‘ 82 and ‘ 83 and how what how did you feel about it how disruptive was it did you have to move the whole show it was very disruptive and I was

Very attuned to it because of my quick rise my quick movement through the casting process I was seen on the first day by the casting director before she saw anybody else I was I was recommended because because somebody else a lot of people were seeing me in New York City where I was

Studying with cell Adler and and they and they recommended me to her to see me first and I did and then she sent me on that same day to Brian Department’s office in h in the village and then I got on a plane and went to LA and and he

He called Marty bregman and told him to to see me and that I was perfect so I I Rose very quickly through the casting process but but then I had to wait three months for Al to see me because he was busy and the fact that I I went through

That and I and I was talking to it about about talking to what was happening to me uh to to my people in Miami and they were quite aware that de Demetrio Perez was was on this Savage campaign of like no scarfish there’s not going to be a

Hollywood movie that portrays Cubans as clowns as uh criminals uh and and he was totally wrong he I don’t think think he read the script but it did cause enough of a of a nerve a nervous reaction to Universal and to the bosses over there to the producers that they didn’t want

Any protest and they said [ __ ] you know [ __ ] it we’re we’re moving it to can I say that on the show we’re moving the film to to Los Angeles till further notice and so they built the sets famously at Universal um so proportionally I think maybe not a lot

Of people realize this because it’s such a Miami movie um how much of it did you shoot in Miami like can you kind of remember I mean obviously Ocean Drive you know the chainsaw scene so how much of it was in Miami compared to out west that’s it that’s it Billy yeah literally

We went there for the drive up on Ocean Drive to the interior where the shootout is right we shot the Interiors in an in the apartment in in a studio in LA in November and then in a and then in April in Miami we shot the drive up and the leaving of the

Apartment and the shooting on the street where he shoots uh he shoots um the guy the Colombian and you but you were in G in part for for uh Frank’s house right for Frank’s house we were there and um and we were at the at the fountain blue

And that’s about it that’s about it so wild we shot but that day that we shot on Ocean Drive you were a little kid were you born in 83 I was I was five all right so you were a little kid but you couldn’t ask somebody to bring you to a

Set of Scarface but by then had cleared all the obstacles and so we were welcome but it was still like a one horse pony one you know Pat Town Miami Beach was and it was a retirement really retirement row on the on Ocean and and so they cordoned off the street and I

Had all my family and all my friends with there and to see me shoot a a Hollywood movie with alino by then everybody had you know swallowed their their pride and eat and Crow and whatever but and we you know I I sailed through it and but I did take a lot of

Heat when nobody knew about it when they were just rumors oh you’re gonna play You’re Gonna Play This role you’re GNA play a Cuban and you’re a criminal and I was like don’t just mind your business you know I know what I’m doing so Pacino loia uh Master Antonio even F Marie

Abraham half Syrian half Italian a lot of Italians playing Cubans in this movie how who had the best accent Stephen oh um uh Sosa um Paul shanar the late Paul Shar okay Paul shanar in the Bolivian scenes in Santa Barbara the we shot in Santa Barbara he he had a great

Accent you know but the Cuban accents vary as you know it depends on when you got here and how good is your ear uh because I have friends who grew up here who are my age who are PE my peers and they grew up in a Cuban

Household like I did but maybe I watch more TV than than they did I was determined to learn English right away I’m three years old four years old I was learning how it sounded because I didn’t want to stand out in school I had a

Very complex uh you know I was very very very insecure about being a foreigner when I was a child in school here and so I made a point of sounding like an American but but the but there are a lot of my peers who never got that sound so they thought

They talk like this like a little bit like this so that’s a Cuban accent but the B you know panar that’s a very you find Cubans who speak like this you know they have a very a very pronounced accent like this and then what I I what

I tried to give him was the sound and the the accent that my dad has except in the in the movie they sort of justify that his action is not fully fully Cuban sound but because he said my dad he was a Yankee he taught he teach me to talk

Right and the first in the interview he says my dad was a Yankee so he was able to have a very good Cuban accent for what he was so so when I when I would he after after the film came out and I’d hear from my friends oh come on Pino’s

Accent terrible and I say [ __ ] you I mean like what do you know I mean I mean how many Cubans do you know who speak shitty English and sound like that or they sound worse or they sound a little bit better all right Stephen let me let

Me ask you this though which was which was more convincing Pacino’s Cuban accent in Scarface or Pacino’s Puerto Rican accent in Caro’s way I think they’re both great uh Caro um I’ve watched it a few times obviously and uh and that’s a very subtle thing the uh

The sort of uh Spanish Harlem or bronx uh Spanish uh speaking English with that accent that you learn from Puerto Rico you know and you have this sound like this and you have it’s just slightly different than the Cuban but it’s also very Street very New York Street and

They they retain a little bit of the Puerto Rican uh Lil so his action was very good because he makes a point of it he makes a he wants it to be perfect and so the great thing about his accent in Billy in in Scarface is that it’s iconic

That’s how consistent it was in and of itself is that it’s now iconic how I mean how many movies do you know that you can site that you can that you quote more than one line because you enjoy saying it people people enjoy learning how to say say hello to my little friend

That’s that’s that’s a really interesting point because the the the accent is unmistakable It’s Kind it’s kind of a little like you know like Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies it’s like its own unique kind of language and character and accent uh that’s kind of cool I I

Hadn’t thought about it that way I’m Stephen I’m going to do a very quick pivot here because I I I brought you on to talk about yes under the opes of talking about Scarface in the 40th anniversary but I you went to Miami Dade community college right here in downtown

Miami now Miami Dade College then you went South okay you went to the South the south campus and then you went to the University of Miami where you studied theater and I happened to know that you were in a production of Of Mice and Men that you co-starred

In with Ray [ __ ] Leota the late great Ray Leota is that true I I I remember this story vaguely and I was wondering if you could talk about that a little bit well we the thing was that that you know you have certain produ C that are

Scheduled for the year and already that year by then I was in my second year and the great acting coach and director Bob Lowry bucket Bob bucket Lowry he was cool the coolest Irishman and he was and we just loved him and he was intense and

He was a great director so he was going to direct of M and men and we all read it and we all seeing ourselves in it right and I thought well you know I’m I’m I’m going to play Lenny because I understand it I I think I

Understand and I have the size well lo and behold Ray read it and he’s like well he was like the hot shot at the University Miami he was a year ahead of me or two and when I got there and he was already playing Stanley Kowski and

He he he did all these things he didn’t and so and and he also opened Westside stor our the first production I did there was Westside Story and we’re the first two Jets dancing on stage in the beginning anyway so but he didn’t really know me then but so we weren’t friends

Because I was kind of competitive I was he was competitive and um he didn’t like the competition that I that I presented and so he wanted to play Lenny and and buckets just said to him Ray you’re playing George Rocky’s playing Lenny and that’s it get to know each

Other and work on it and that was it he had to he had to just accept me and we became good friends and and we had that strong bond of those two characters and that’s why it converted it transferred it translated onto the production because we were those two when we

Imagined ourselves out in the dust bowl and trying looking for a job and you know and I’m a liability to to for George but he’s loyal and it’s it’s ruining his life and so that was a beautiful production that bu buckets directed and that really cemented my my place here because we got

A great review from the great by the critic at the time Candace Russell at the Harold at the Miami Harold and I was like oh and we had a picture she used a picture of us and and I swear I get I’m getting all these stupid notifications right now you God and I’m

Not good at that I not good at taking care of theking here with the phone Stephen before we go I I know you got to come back because we have to talk uh Roy wants to talk Breaking Bad and better Calla with you I want to talk I want to

Talk about manam golum for like an hour with you and and how that and how you brought that accent to Ray Donovan I want to talk about all this [ __ ] with you next year but before we go can I see your shirt yes you can see yeah describe

The shirt for slowly I Rise so so you see Parts you see it the whole thing I would how cool do you have to be to walk around wearing a shirt of yourself I mean that is I’m not cool enough to do that you could do that but I can’t

Self-promote like like that I only wear it in the house now is this part of the new swag yes this is called Sho Palace and it’s out and store mostly it’s the online store shoe palace.com and just look for the Scarface line I mean there’s beautiful stuff jackets leather

Jackets and shirts like this and and colors beautiful colors I’m telling you this is the second time I’ve done a second year that I’ve done it and the quality just went went up from last year and last year they scold out and also for people doing last minute Christmas shopping the

Book the book is called say hello to my little friend by a great it’s called say hello to my little friend A Century of Scarface which it begins at the beginning with with that right and it’s a great great writer naty gof he’s written many books on movies and he loved my my

Input so much that he asked the Publishers if I could do the forward so he helped me a little bit just structure it and I wrote the forward to the book and there I am in a published literary work finally I love it I I can’t wait to

Read it I can’t wait to see you I will also tell the story uh next year we get together on the show about how you and I work together it’s a great story um I love you my friend be safe be healthy Merry Christmas yes one more thing I

Made a have a great role and a comedic role in a movie called beautiful wedding that opens January 24 and theater’s all over finally I’m in a theatrical release and finally they let me do comedy so I play a role that you’ve never seen me in

And um in a movie and it stars Dylan sprous uh who’s this kid who’s great it’s a Trilogy Beautiful Disaster beautiful wedding beautiful baby and this is the second one and I’m I have a prominent role it comes out January 24th all over the country check it out check

Out the trailer at in Access Hollywood it’s all over and you’ll see the trailer look for beautiful wedding Billy you’ll get a kick out you’ll see me in the trailer all right well you’re hilar I love that you’re doing comedy now that makes me happy he hasn’t done comedy

Since K Pasa USA eh I know well I think Breaking Bad was comedy so black comedy yeah better call SA all right man I love you merry Christmas happy New Year all right you guys you too everybody over there and my my regards to Dan Dan lard 40 years ago this month Scarface

Was released here in South Florida The Big Show was at the miracle theater on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables where the legendary journalist Michael Putney went out to see the movie give do his own review bang bang snort snort and talk to miamians about their reaction to the

Movie on opening weekend 40 years ago I wish everyone a white Christmas happy New Year cocaines well I saw a Scarface yesterday and for any Cuban who was worried the movie was going to offend Cubans don’t worry it just offends everyone the most violent film I’ve ever

Seen and just in time for Christmas I’m Michael Putney was it worth the wait more to the point is it worth four bucks the sea Scarface well the 100 people I would say about 100 people who are already lined up here at the miracle clearly think it is worth the money and

The wayed several hundred people a soldout crowd who saw mat here this afternoon here now are some mini reviews from the first miamians to see Scarface it’s a bloody picture it’s a very very uh dirty and uh doesn’t give the real image of the uh cure that come

From uh marel well it’s a good action movie you know and it’s a good movie I I enjoyed it you didn’t think it was too bloody or too violent no it’s neither you know you see horror films around all the time and they’re more violent and

More bloody than this is weird and I think it didn’t make the Cuban people look too good okay doesn’t make Miami look bad it makes Miami look bad too very bad they they the people see this movie here they think this is what’s going on down here

And it’s really not okay enough reviews what about the movie It’s the bloody story of a Mariel Refugee called called Antonio Montana but Dad never taught Tony how to talk good what a mumbler and what an accent Al Pino has here a mongrel mixture of the South Bronx Milan

And matanzas so say good night to the bad guy and say good night to a bad film you can sum up Scarface in two words bang bang snort snort bang bang is for gunfire snort snort is for cocaine there’s a lot of both in Scarface reporting live from Coral Gables Michael Putney news4