{"id":6199,"date":"2010-12-16T12:10:36","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T16:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=6199"},"modified":"2011-04-05T14:34:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T18:34:16","slug":"feds-detroit-organized-crime-family-the-michigan-view-com-12-16-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2010\/12\/feds-detroit-organized-crime-family-the-michigan-view-com-12-16-10","title":{"rendered":"Feds: Detroit organized crime family (The Michigan View.com 12.16.10)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using legal instruments designed to bring down mafia mob bosses, the feds’ massive, 38-count federal indictment Thursday of the “Kilpatrick Enterprise” – if true – exposes a political empire built on shakedowns of city and federal taxpayers for tens of millions of dollars through extortion and bribery.<\/p>\n

While then 31-year-old prodigy Kwame Kilpatrick was elected mayor in 2002 promising a new generation of city leadership, he was apparently just the new generation family don – a junior Detroit Corleone who saw his position as an opportunity to milk constituents to grease the palms of family and friends.<\/p>\n

He came by his behavior naturally. While her son and husband were being indicted Thursday, Mob Mom Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, Detroit’s soon-to-be-ex-representative in Congress, was shaking down – albeit legally – America’s taxpayers for $1.5 million in pork as Democrats forced through a last-minute omnibus spending bill in Washington.<\/p>\n

The View’s Mike Brownfield has a full report\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cheek-Kilpatrick’s’ money grab came on top of news last week that she – and fellow Democratic Rep. John Conyers – were the only two members for the Michigan Congressional delegation to use taxpayer dollars for personal cars. How tacky – two state reps using the state’s poorest district to live a rich lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Fox2 News reports about that\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Conyers is further proof that corruption is hereditary. His $80,000, $1250-amonth Cadillac Escalade Premium edition was leased – and illegally provided – for his 20-year-old son.<\/p>\n

But as the Kilpatricks prove, Detroit corruption is a family affair. The federal indictment alleges that Kilpatrick and his father extorted “hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, free flights and other benefits from a variety of contractors. Some of the allegations date back to Kilpatrick’s days as a state representative before he was elected mayor in 2001.”<\/p>\n

The Detroit News has the full report\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 13 instances of extortion read like something out of The Godfather. Kwame’s pal Bobby Ferguson, a construction contractor, allegedly “kicked back at least $424,000 in cash and other benefits to the former mayor and Bernard Kilpatrick deposited more than $600,000 in cash into his personal bank accounts while his son was mayor,” reports The News. For example:<\/p>\n

\u2014 The mayor canceled a $10 million sewer repair contract because the winning bidder refused Ferguson’s demand for a 25 percent share. He awarded the work to another contractor who agreed to Ferguson’s demand.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Twice Ferguson extorted contractors for $10.4 million in work on sewer repair contracts for Detroit. And he extorted a company for $5 million in work on a combined sewer and recreational facility.<\/p>\n

Kwame is already in federal prison for violating probation. “If you steal from taxpayers, you are going to be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade after indicting the Kilpatricks under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) act traditionally used to combat organized crime.<\/p>\n

Organized crime? That’s the Kilpatricks all right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using legal instruments designed to bring down mafia mob bosses, the feds’ massive, 38-count federal indictment Thursday of the “Kilpatrick Enterprise” – if true – exposes a political empire built on shakedowns of city and federal taxpayers for tens of millions of dollars through extortion and bribery. While then 31-year-old prodigy Kwame Kilpatrick was elected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6199"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7072,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions\/7072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}