FBI Arrests 2 Mayors in Florida for Accepting Over $50,000 in Extortion Scandal
FBI agents arrested two Florida mayors on Tuesday on charges of extortion following a two-year-long investigation.
Manuel Marono, the mayor of Sweetwater, and Michael Pizzi, the mayor of Miami Lakes, face charges for conspiracy to commit extortion. Both men were arrested following an undercover operation that revealed proof of the men's guilt.
Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Maroño and lobbyist Jorge Forte were discovered after accepting $10,000 hidden in a notebook during a March FBI setup. The men allegedly split the money. In a second case, Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi met with lobbyist Richard Candia in an office closet at Medley Town Hall, where Pizzi worked as the town's attorney. During the setup, Pizzi accepted a $3,000 cash kickback.
"This is a sad day for South Florida," Wifredo Ferrer, the U.S. attorney for Florida's Southern District said in a press conference. "This betrayal of our public trust is intolerable."
FBI agents posed as officials at a fictitious, Chicago-based not-for-profit company that claimed to help local governments obtain federal grants. Both Marono and Pizzi agreed to help the company collect grants in exchange for cash bribes. Elected in 2003, Morono is believed to have accepted at least $40,000 in bribe money. A former attorney now serving in his second term, Pizzi is believed to have accepted $6,750, according to Reuters.
"Our democracy suffers when ... elected officials use their power and political influence for personal gain instead of for public good," Ferrer added.
Lawyers Amanda Maxwell and Ben Kuehne will represent Pizzi. Maxwell said Tuesday that her client was innocent.
"We know him as an attorney, a public official and a man of integrity, and today begins his fight for vindication," she told The Miami Herald.
The two lobbyists, who are scheduled to surrender to authorities Wednesday, have been cooperating with authorities since June.
