Don’t they say that it’s always the cover-up that gets you?
Of the two local mayors that went down a couple of weeks ago in an FBI sting that nabbed them on charges of bribery and extortion, the best case seems to be the one against suspended Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño.
We have all long suspected that suspended Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi is dirty, too. But he’s an attorney. He knows how to talk. He knows what to say. If you read the affidavit in support of Pizzi’s arrest, you find many instances where he seems to be contradicting the con.
“I can’t do it if it’s just bogus,” he says to the undercovers after dinner at a Miami Beach restaurant Feb. 29, 2012. “That I can’t do. I can do it only if you gonna actually, if you are…”
The undercover tells him they will get a feasibility study and that the confidential informant — who we all know now was lobbyist Michael Kesti (more on that later) — had told him “that you need a little more help on the campaign.”
“I’m not worried about that. I just… I just want to do the right thing by the city and make sure that this actually works,” Pizzi says, over and over again, real careful it seems, almost like he knows he was being recorded, or like an attorney would.
Closet move aside (because he was taped in the closet, purportedly being handed $3,000 by one of the lobbyists involved), this constant hemming and hawing could help him.
In contrast to Pizzi, Maroño seems to be downright proud of his ability to defraud the federal government of thousands and, if he got lucky, $1.2 million. Lobbyist Richard Candia, when first proposing Maroño to the feds, described him as someone who is “not gonna be shy, shy to ask for shit. I mean there will be no end.”
He certainly didn’t seem shy about finding other “good liars” like himself. Or so it seems from how he spoke when he met with the undercover FBI agents in preparation for the Florida Leauge of Cities conference, where he was to make introductions to other lying cheats and scammers in public office.
According to the sworn affidavit for the arrest, Maroño — who was rising high in his political career, even talked about as a possible replacement for the lieutenant governor at one point — warned the feds. He said that they ought to be careful choosing cheaters who had the right chutzpah, who would not wince at defrauding federal auditors calling about the grant monies they were knowingly stealing, who could confidently. and convincingly, lie about it.
“I had no problems whatsoever…” Maroño says in the taped recording from Aug. 23, 2012, referring to the call he had gotten from the “auditors” (more undercovers in disguise) in May, apparently beating his chest about his natural knack for the flimflam.
“I didn’t get briefed on what the questions were going to be, but I knew what I needed to answer,” he continued, even presenting them with some of the dialogue, and tripping all over himself to boast about his bullshitting capacity. “Cuz identifying the person and recognizing that he’s going to have that ability to, you know… did they come and meet with you? Yeah, yeah, we had a great time, did you yeah, yeah, yeah, we… you answered questions knowing that you’re fucking lying, but you gotta be able to have that charisma, to be able to pull it off, to bullshit her.”
The cocky talk provides a little window into his thinking, which was that he could get away with it. Because he’s such a good liar.
Well, not that good. Excerpts from that telephone conversation are in the affidavit — a thrilling read that Ladra has pored over three times already –and they show that Maroño had a little bit of a stumble here and there. When asked how often he communicated with a representative from the bogus company, the mayor didn’t know how to answer.
“Sometimes every week, ah, once a week, um, minimal. I’ve spoken to them two times, twice a month, but usually every week, I’d say, we talk,” he bluffed.
He said they were highly efficient, very professional, responsive to the city, which had actually provided the company with a work space to use. When asked what his city’s staff’s assessment was — of course, they never actually met anyone — he was equally fake.
“They’re very happy to be dealing with a professional company, um, obtaining reports that we really want to have, so, so they’re, they’re very happy. They’ve been, um, very responsive to them and they’ve been very professional and easy to work with,” Maroño said.
Ladra says he better bone up on those lying skills if he thinks that “charisma” is gonna work on a judge next.
Spies, lies and audio tape: Manny Maroño’s ‘charisma’ added by Ladra on
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