Prelude To Detroit: Macomb County Anthony Marrocco & Dino Bucci - Indicted & Sentenced

It is getting hot in Macomb County because we know the trafficking tiny humans financial networks they like to launder the money through.

This is just a prelude to Detroit.

May the heavens keep falling.

Feds indict Anthony Marrocco in Macomb County corruption scam

Bucci pleads guilty in Macomb extortion scandal

Dino Bucci

Detroit — Former Macomb Township Trustee Dino Bucci pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling money, extorting contractors and serving as the bagman for ex-county public works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco during a decades-long extortion conspiracy.

The allegations were outlined in a new criminal case that accused Bucci of stealing public tax dollars and extorting businessmen during a crime spree that spanned his tenure as a Republican politician and his county job working for Marrocco. The criminal case was filed hours after Marrocco was indicted and accused of orchestrating a conspiracy that extorted money from country contractors that prosecutors say was spent on personal luxuries.

Bucci, 60, faces up to 10 years in federal prison but prosecutors will recommend a lower sentence due to his “extraordinarily poor health,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bullotta told U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland.

Bucci, dressed in a dark suit and wearing a blue striped tie, appeared gaunt during the videoconference, and admitted he forced contractors to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on Marrocco's campaign fundraisers.

“They had to buy these or bad things would happen to them economically, isn’t that right?" Bullotta asked Bucci.

"Yes, Mr. Bullotta," Bucci said.

Cleland tentatively scheduled sentencing for Oct. 1.

Bucci is the latest among 23 people convicted in a years-long crackdown on public corruption in Macomb County. Marrocco, meanwhile, is expected to make an initial appearance Monday in federal court and The Detroit News exclusively reported in March that former Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith is negotiating a deal to plead guilty to forthcoming federal corruption charges.


“Bucci’s guilty pleas today represent a significant milestone in our sweeping corruption investigation in Macomb County," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement. "The lengthy prison sentence he faces should be an unambiguous warning to all public officials who consider committing corrupt acts that they will be caught and punished severely.”

The plea is the latest development in a legal odyssey that transformed Bucci from what prosecutors portrayed as a bullying, inept crook into a cooperating witness. Since being indicted three years ago, Bucci has helped the FBI and Internal Revenue Service build a case against one of the most powerful politicians in Macomb County who was once thought bulletproof.

The hearing also marked one of the first public signs of progress since Bucci was indicted three years ago. He was accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars while extorting engineering contractors who wanted public contracts, forcing county employees to drive his child to school and plow snow at his home.

The extortion conspiracy started in 1994, the year Bucci started working for Marrocco, prosecutors said. They teamed up to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars from real estate developers, engineering firm employees, municipal contractors and other victims, according to the criminal case.

Marrocco directed Bucci and others to solicit money from victims who bought tickets for Marrocco's fundraisers, yearly holiday parties and summer golf outings, according to the government.

Bucci "would communicate to the victims that if they did not purchase tickets to Marrocco's fundraisers ... the victims would suffer adverse economic consequences caused by Marrocco," prosecutors alleged in the criminal case.

Marrocco threatened to yank municipal contracts, withhold permits and, in May 2016, removed an unidentified excavation firm from a multi-million dollar sinkhole repair project because the company held a fundraiser for Marrocco's political opponent, according to the government.

Some of the money financed Marrocco's luxury lifestyle, prosecutors said. That included flights, car rentals, dinners at expensive restaurants, condominium association fees, spa visits, wedding and holiday gifts and yacht club expenses, prosecutors said.

In 2000, while still working for Marrocco, Bucci was elected to the Macomb Township board.

The elected job would provide more illegal revenue for Bucci, prosecutors said.

In summer 2014, he conspired with paving contractor Christopher Sorrentino to steal money from Macomb Township taxpayers, according to the criminal case.

The 52-year-old Macomb Township contractor funneled at least $96,000 in kickbacks to Bucci, including money delivered in a bag to the county public works office in Clinton Township, prosecutors said. In exchange, Sorrentino was awarded township paving contracts worth more than $500,000, prosecutors said.

Bucci has surrendered $66,000 already. As part of his guilty plea, Bucci must pay an additional $30,000.

Sorrentino, meanwhile, pleaded guilty three years ago and faces 10-16 months in federal prison. He will be sentenced in July and could receive a lighter sentence because he cooperated with investigators.

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Cocktails & Popcorn: The Never Ending Detroit Public Corruption Scandal With ML Elrich & Now Macomb County

Enters Macomb County.

Revisiting the Detroit Public Corruption Scandal with ML Elrich because the investigation never closed.

It just kept growing...

It is not just public office holders, but also the contracts, which are typically federally funded, including the grants, even in child welfare.

And do not forget about all the federal grants and contracts surrounding the public corruption in Detroit Land Bank Authority, the Flint Water Crisis and political campaigns.

I bet Kwame Kilpatrick would make a spectacular reporter with his own show, as an original source.

ML's Soul of Detroit: Closing the book on Macomb County's corruption?

The saga continues...

Macomb County corruption figure convicted in bribery scandal

Fazullah Khan meets with Washington Twp. supervisor Dan O'Leary on Nov. 12, 2014 The Detroit News

Jurors Friday convicted a Macomb County businessman caught on an undercover FBI video giving a politician a $10,000 bribe hidden in a fat yellow envelope.

Engineering firm owner Fazullah Khan, 58, of Troy was convicted of four bribery counts and taken into custody after jurors deliberated for about three hours following a four-day trial in front of U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland in federal court in Port Huron.

Anthony Marrocco

Khan stood trial in a long-running public corruption scandal in Macomb County after rejecting a plea deal that called for up to 2 1/2 years in prison. He could be sentenced in November to more than 12 years behind bars.

The scandal has led to federal charges against 22 contractors and public officials and produced 18 convictions, including those of former Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds, trash mogul Chuck Rizzo and towing titan Gasper Fiore.

The investigation is ongoing and targeting former Macomb County Public Works Director Anthony Marrocco. His former deputy, ex-Macomb Township Trustee Dino Bucci, is cooperating with the investigation.

Khan was accused of paying $11,000 in bribes to Washington Township public officials and fought the criminal case by alleging he was entrapped by the government.

Steven Hohensee

What Khan didn't know was township Supervisor Dan O’Leary and the late Steven Hohensee, Washington Township’s superintendent of public works, were cooperating with federal agents.

The FBI investigation dates to late 2013. That's when O'Leary told FBI agents he was concerned about possible corruption involving Hohensee and a developer.

Khan said he would take care of O'Leary, the supervisor, according to a trial brief filed by prosecutors.

"He told agents that Khan admitted to bribing public officials in multiple municipalities," federal prosecutors Michael Bullotta and Steven Cares wrote in a court filing. "In addition, Hohensee said that Khan offered to bring him in on a land deal."

In an October 2014 meeting recorded by the FBI, Hohensee and Khan discussed a township engineering contract, according to the government. Hohensee told Khan to "help" the Washington Township supervisor, who was "looking for around ten grand," according to the government.

"It's a done deal," Khan said, according to the brief.

The next month, in November 2014, O'Leary recorded a meeting with Khan and requested a $10,000 cash bribe, according to the government.

"Here’s what we’re going to do," Khan said in one recorded conversation, according to the government. "I’ll come to your office. This is how — trust me I’m an expert at this okay? I’ll come to you."

A week later, Khan arrived at O'Leary's office. An FBI video camera recorded the meeting.

In the video, Khan is shown dropping a thick envelope on O'Leary's desk. Prosecutors say the envelope contained $10,000.

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Kwame Kilpatrick Has Many Tales To Tell - Detroit Brady Impeachment Dilemma Continues

Kwame Kilpatrick
Former Mayor of Detroit
ready to serve up some of that
brandy impeachment

It seems Kwame Kilpatrick has much to say.

I do not believe he was ever allowed to tell his tale, considering the fact that the federal government was dealing with an ongoing investigation, which forced its hand to sit on exculpatory evidence, that they had no idea about at the time.

This is about that Detroit Brady Impeachment Dilemma.

This is about to get juicy because everyone knows Kwame is not the sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer.

I have always said that he was groomed by what we call the McNamara Kingmaker.

Just another operation that was being run to cover up the stealin' of the children, the land and the votes.

This is when the "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) began setting up the Detroit Land Bank Authority, right in the midst of the fake mortgage and property tax schemes that led right to that fake ass Bankruptcy and Grand Bargain.

In this video, Kwame is calling out contracts and NGOs, that he probably does not have a clue about considering the internet was not rocking in public search databases at the time.

There are still to this day, politicians, like his cousin Bert Johnson, who got propped up as one of those sad sacks of potatoes you throw under the bus so everyone runs over to get their does of fear porn, while the Meanies go running off in the other direction setting up another complex financial fraud scheme that I have so readily boiled down to be known as stealin'.

There are former Corporate Counsel individuals who have unaddressed public allegations of stealin'.

There are former Michigan Democratic Party leaders who have issues with stealin'.

There are current Michigan Republican Party leaders who also have histories of stealin'.

Oh, the oh so many "Elected Ones" whose tales of stealin' could be preserved in the historic record.

Kwame knows everyone, all over the world.

He was the Big Baller Hip Hop Mayer.

Oh, the stories he shall tell.

I am quite sure Trump would just adore preparing a venue for public listening to each and everyone of them.

Kwame Kilpatrick, as written by the Wikipedia.

I have heard tales that Kwame immediately requested transfer to a Texas facility upon his incarceration because there were individuals who were tasked with silencing him.

But, hey, what would I know?

I know Kwame knows Janice Winfrey.

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Cocktails & Popcorn: What Do Kim Kardashian & Barbara McQuade Have In Common? The Detroit Brady Impeachment Dilemma

Previously, on Cocktails & Popcorn, we entered into the nomenclature The Detroit Brady Impeachment Dilemma

If Kim Kardashian is championing getting people released from prison, basically, on exculpatory evidence the government sat on, then that means Kwame Kilpatrick may have a valid premise to petition Trump for a pardon.  

ML Elrich just did a podcast on the brilliance if Trump pardoned Kwame with Michael Bullotta, the one who prosecuted him.

Kwame said he would campaign for Trump.

Barbara McQuade is championing the road to impeachment on the premise that Trump is obstructing justice because he sat on information that could have stopped the 2018 election crap in Detroit, well, all over the nation.

That means Kwame is gonna snitch, and it is going to be absolutely glorious.

ML's Soul of Detroit: Dissecting Kwame's love letter to Trump

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Detroit Grand Jury Probe On Gabe Leland & His Lust For Cocktails & Popcorn - Michael Bullotta Is Back In Action

"I C Public corruption. Woop, Woop!"

Well, at least we know one thing about the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, they like Cocktails & Popcorn!

Now, you know darn well that the U.S. Attorney, particularly Michael Bullotta, is not going to just subpoena a bar bill over cocktails and popcorn.

I speculate it has something to do with election irregularities, you know, like absentee ballots, voting machines, data manipulation, campaign finance, forgery, fraud, you know the schpeil. 

Or it could have something to do with that pesky "attorney-client privilege" going back to those darn Detroit text message case precedent.

Michael Bullotta prosecuted the Kwame Kilpatrick case, perhaps, he was lecturing on text messages in countering global transnational organized crime to law enforcement to the FBI.

Quite obviously, certain individuals in the FBI were absent for that lecture.

Forgive me for my digression.

"Hmmmmm....does William Isaac Robinson suck?
He is a 'Legal Genius' (trademark pending), you know."

Anyway, I wonder if the federal grand jury probe has to do anything with Gabe Leland's staffer, William Isaac Robinson, of whom recently, surprisingly, won the election for Michigan, probably on his previous professions of being the one individual, to gloriously go down in history, as the one who took John Conyers, Jr. out of office.

Or, just perhaps, it the grand jury probe may branch off into election fraud, but, of course, I would have no reason to imply election fraud, or voter fraud, or any other forms of violating voting rights by and through the use of absentee voting ballots using forged precinct delegate candidate forms, or even forged absentee ballots, you know, at those Detroit Land Bank Authority properties that seem to be slowly reverted back to the authority of the City of Detroit.

https://www.waynecounty.com/elected/clerk/election-results.aspx

Or, perhaps, it has something to do with campaign finance, stolen database, espionage, TARP, and your classic Detroit public corruption investigation that never went away....Hmmmm.... maybe it has to do with the fact that Perkins Coie sucks...but hey, what do I know?

That would make much more sense, right?

Or, it could just be a simple case of Cocktails & Popcorn, but I doubt it, but, hey, what do I know?

Detroit Councilman Gabe Leland subject of federal grand jury probe

A federal grand jury has been impaneled to investigate claims that Detroit City Councilman Gabe Leland allegedly extorted thousands of dollars in free alcohol, food and other items in exchange for political promises from a shuttered downtown bar, according to a subpoena obtained by the Free Press.

The subpoena was issued Aug. 8 by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Michael Bullotta and sought all d ocumentation related to Leland possibly obtaining:

• Free entry into parties or events
• Free alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks
• Free food, including entrees, appetizers and desserts
• Any other items of value provided free of charge or at a discounted price

The probe is the latest twist in a lengthy legal battle that began in November 2016 when the co-owners of the former Centre Park Bar, 1407 Randolph, first filed a lawsuit against Mayor Mike Duggan and other city officials. Leland has not been charged with any crime.

The original suit, which is still winding through the court system, claimed police harassment and alleged Dennis Archer Jr., former Mayor Dennis Archer's son, received favorable treatment while buying the building the bar occupied.

A separate lawsuit was filed in July by attorney Andrew Paterson on behalf of Centre Park co-owner Kenneth Scott Bridgewater, alleging Leland stopped by the bar in fall 2016 to speak with him about the ongoing issues the bar was having. The lawsuit also names Detroit Police Officer Robert Harris and Detroit Fire Department Captain Calvin Harris.

Leland did not respond to a request for comment but his attorney Steve Fishman said in a statement to the Free Press:

"The allegations made by the former owners of Centre Park Bar that Gabe Leland received preferential treatment are too ridiculous to deserve further comment.  Contact me again if even one document exists that supports that claim."

Paterson said in a statement Thursday regarding the federal probe that his clients were forced to close earlier this year “due to the unethical and possibly illegal actions of certain elected and appointed officials of the City of Detroit and the Detroit Downtown Development Authority.”

“My clients are thankful for the opportunity the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI have given them to help expose the unlawful and corrupt conduct of certain city officials and their associates,” Paterson said in a statement to the Free Press, adding that they plan to assist the "ongoing criminal investigation."

The U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI declined to comment.

In late July, the councilman called the July federal lawsuit filed against him a "witch hunt."

When asked by a Free Press reporter at the time whether the allegations were false and whether he'd accepted any free alcohol or food, Leland did not directly answer the question.

"These are allegations," Leland said. "I sat in the restaurant and I had a drink and I had some food. That isn’t illegal. … Anybody in this city who thinks they can get some influence out of me for a tequila and a taco is greatly mistaken."

The bar initially signed a lease in August 2013 with the Detroit Downtown Development Authority, which was not set to expire until Aug. 19 of this year.

But in September 2015, the DDA requested development proposals from developers to acquire properties owned by the DDA to redevelop the old Paradise Valley area.

Centre Park also prepared a development proposal for the property but Archer's investment group, Gotham Capital Partners, was eventually selected as the winning bidder.

After Centre Park ownership started to publicly question the process, Bridgewater alleges the bar was retaliated against and was visited and ticketed several times by police officers.

Bridgewater claims during their initial conversation and "without being asked," Leland offered to assist him in addressing the issues Centre Park Bar was experiencing.

But according to the suit, Leland later in the conversation demanded "free entry into parties," as well as free alcoholic drinks and food whenever he visited the bar.

Bridgewater claims he asked Leland whether his demands were ethical and lawful, and Leland said it was “normal practice” for local restaurants and bars in the City of Detroit to "provide members of the Detroit City Council and other elected and city officials with free alcoholic drinks and free food upon request."

"Plaintiff Bridgewater did not want to honor Defendant Leland’s demands, but felt compelled to do so," Peterson wrote in the July suit. "... Bridgewater feared that if he did not honor Defendant Leland’s demands that Defendant Leland would make sure that Centre Park Bar would continue to be ticketed and closed."

Bridgewater alleges in the suit he feared retaliation because Leland said if he didn't honor his demands, it would be a "sure thing" that the bar would be harassed and evicted from the property.

The bar eventually closed in April 2018, Bridgewater says, in part because of the alleged harassment.

City of Detroit Corporation Counsel Lawrence Garcia said in a previous statement to the Free Press that "any allegation that DPD Officer Harris or of DFD Capt. Harris were acting inappropriately by 'harassing the Center Park Bar into closing' are false."

The lawsuit is the latest legal woe to hit Leland and comes less than four months after a Detroit businessman claimed in a separate federal lawsuit that Leland demanded $15,000 for his re-election campaign weeks before the August primary in exchange for a political favor.

In January, Leland was named a potential target in a wide-ranging FBI corruption probe involving local towing magnate Gasper Fiore. Leland, who was re-elected to a second term on council in November, has not been charged with any crime.

Fiore, who pleaded guilty last December to bribing a Macomb County official, faces up to five years in prison. His case is part of a broader corruption scandal that has ensnared at least 20 individuals, many of whom have pleaded guilty.

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