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THERE IS NO SHAME IN THE CITY OF MIAMI, WHERE THE SCAMMERS AND SCHEMERS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED BACK WITH OPEN ARMS, EVEN AFTER THEY'VE BEEN RECORDED ON A WIRE TRYING TO BRIBE THE CHIEF OF POLICE

I kid you not, this is not a fake news story. This shit actually happened!  

On June 9, 2011, I wrote a story about Larry Spring, who had been the City of Miami's Chief Financial officer, stating that he was an irrepressible scalawag that had made an art form out of using restricted funds to balance the city’s books, along with other hocus pocus financial tricks that so delighted the Mayor and City Commissioners when it was in support of one of their schemes.

He was the CFO when the city falsified its comprehensive annual financial reports in 2007 and 2008, and sold $153 million of municipal bonds to investors.  During his years as CFO, the city fraudulently transferred millions of dollars from restricted capital project funds into the general operating fund to conceal declining fund balance that resulted in what became known as the SEC case that cost taxpayers millions in penalties and attorneys fees.  

Spring's tenure as the City's Chief Financial Officer also included the attempt in early 2011 to bribe then embattled Chief of Police Miguel Exposito to resign.

Larry Spring acted as the conduit between Mayor Tomas Regalado, his then City Manager Tony Crapp Jr and Exposito, and he was captured on the FBI/FDLE wire that Exposito wore discussing various ways - and the amounts of money required - to get Exposito, who had become a giant thorn in Regalado's side as a result of his continued raids seizing illegal maquinita gambling machines, to resign.

Among the conversations that Spring had with Exposito that were captured on the wire, was this one:  You can hear a portion of the actual audio tape and read how it all went down HERE.

Boxing promoter Don King, Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring and Miami City Manager Tony Crapp Jr.

Instead, the failure to understand the source of the check ended the conversations between Exposito and Spring, and killed the case.

Long before all of that happened though, and in fact just a few months after Springs efforts to bribe Exposito fell through, he decided that perhaps it was time for him to leave the employ of the city, and he made sure that on his way out the door, he nickel and dimed the city for every dollar he could get, leaving with a Golden Parachute worth $125,734.56.

You can read all about it here.

In the years since, Spring bounced around and eventually ended up as the City Manager of North Miami, another community with a long and unsavory history of municipal malfeasance.

Why, you ask would these stories from yesteryear be important now?  

Simple, Larry Spring on April 12th of this year, was appointed to the Off-Street Parking Board.  The big question is, who is the rocket scientist who came up with the idea to put Larry Spring on this Board.

The scheming involved was better than an episode of The Wire, and eventually Spring called to tell Exposito that he had a $200,000 check waiting for him.

Exposito balked, because in order to get Regalado and company on a bribery charge he needed - or so he and the agents working with him at the time believed  - to be paid in cash.  The cash would provide the prima facie evidence that would have established that the money was a bribe.

What none of them knew or understood at the time, was that the check that Spring told Exposito he had, had been illegally obtained from the City Attorney's Settlement Account, which coming from that account would have allowed Exposito to avoid paying taxes, thereby meeting his requirement of not wanting to pay taxes.

The claim that the $200,000 check was illegal was based on the requirement in the City Charter (Sec.18-232), that any check over the amount of $25,000 being issued from that account had to be approved by the City Commission.  It was a hot check, issued illegally and had Expositio and the FBI/FDLE agents known and understood that at the time, there was a real possibility that a whole bunch of people might have gotten arrested, if not gone to prison..

Here is a copy of that check with Larry Spring's initials and instruction for "Pick-Up.".

WHY PHOTOS ARE WORTH 1000 WORDS

Above are two photos taken in recent months.  Look at them closely, and ask yourself, in each of those photos who looks least likely to be the guy with the dominant personality, the guy, who faced with a challenge you would feel comfortable in his having the backbone to make a serious decision and not waffle after making it.

Photos don't always get it right, but more often then not photos can capture the power dynamic between individuals, and whether you like him or not, Francis Suarez doesn't come off in these photos as the guy would would stand up against a bully, stand up on principle, or stare down an adversary when the chips were really on the table, because in real life he's failed to do those things.

In the photos above, Francis is the young guy in the office who you let get in the picture before you tell him to go get the car, and he's the guy with a group of real sharks who let him stand in the middle to feed his ego, because if push comes to shove, they will remind him that they are the ones who put him where he is, and he should never, ever forget it.

That's who Francis Suarez really is, and the notion that he's got the backbone and moxie to become the Strong Mayor of Miami is a bad joke that to insiders is only funny because it's true.

NUMBER 33 - MAY 20, 2018

Larry Spring is not the only ringer with questionable morals, and even more questionable behavior who has made a miraculous return to the City of Miami since Francis Suarez has become mayor.

The notion however, that Larry Spring, after his involvement in the antics that led to the SEC filing fraud charges against the City of Miami along with the Exposito affair would ever be appointed to any City of Miami board, and especially the Off-Street Parking Board is a slap in the face to the residents of the city, and underscores the reality that a vote by any 4 of the 5 City Commissioners to ratify this decision at Thursday's meeting is evidence that they're morally unfit to make decisions on behalf of the long suffering citizens who are continually subjected to this bullshit!.

It's Miami, Bitches!

NUMBER 34 - MAY 21, 2018

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ AND COMMISSIONER KEN RUSSELL ARE UNDER POLICE PROTECTION DUE TO ALLEGED THREATS

For the last week or more, the Mayor and City Commissioner have been under 24/7 police protection due to alleged threats.

According to multiple sources the name of the alleged person making the threats is known to the police and the Mayor and Commissioner.  NO, these threats supposedly have nothing to do with Commissioner Carollo or comments made during Commission meetings.  The person involved is supposedly a "civilian."

What those threats entails, The Crespogram has not been able to discover yet, but one of Commissioner Russell's neighbor's counted 7 police cars around his house several days ago.

This morning, I went to both of these individuals homes and verified that there are police cars stationed in front of their houses, and at the Mayor's house it looked like the Lincoln navigator that is used by the Mayor, and driven by one of his bodyguards was parked in the driveway, which might mean that he has police protection inside his house.

This story will be updated if inquires sent to both individuals are answered.