Miami City Manager Art Noriega. Former city managers Emilio Gonzalez and Daniel Alfonso. Former Police Chiefs Art Acevedo and Jorge Colina. The current and former code enforcement directors.
The majority of the witnesses listed for the first amendment trial against Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo are current or former city employees. Carollo was sued in 2018 by Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, co-owners of Barlington Group, which owns properties in Little Havana. They accuse Carollo of harassing them and their tenants and weaponizing the city’s police force and code enforcement office to shut their businesses down because they supported his opponent in the 2017 election.
After several attempts to delay were quashed by U.S. Southern District Judge Rodney Smith, the trial is scheduled to start on Tuesday. Both sides say they expect it to take 10 to 13 days.
Former Commissioner Ken Russell is expected to testify about the ordinances that Carollo introduced and passed to target Fuller and Pinilla’s businesses, including Ball & Chain Lounge, which Fuller co-owns with brothers Zach and Ben Bush. Gonzalez is expected to testify about how Carollo looked for ways the city could administratively close their businesses and their tenants’ businesses. Colina is expected to testify about Carollo’s intimidation of city employees.
Ah… let’s just post a full list of both the plaintiffs’ and the defendant’s witnesses.
Plaintiffs’ Witness List:
- Former District 2 City Commissioner Ken Russell
- Former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez
- Steve Miro, Carollo’s former chief of staff who later sued him and the city for wrongful termination
- Former Police Chief Jorge Colina
- Former Police Chief Hubert “Art” Acevedo, who wrote an 8-page memo accusing Carollo — as well as Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — of corruption
- Former Deputy City Manager Joe Napoli, who is expected to testify about “Carollo’s interactions with the City Manager’s office and its employees, the Commissioner’s violations of the City of Miami Charter, the Commissioner’s commandeering of city employees for purposes of targeting Plaintiffs’ properties, and the inspections and investigations of Plaintiffs’ businesses by the City of Miami.”
- Ignacio “Iggy” Ortiz-Petit, former chief of staff to the city manager
- Richard “Richie” Blom, another one of Carollo’s chiefs of staff, who is expected to talk about the weekends he spent researching the plaintiff’s properties for Carollo and his refusal to “sneak around” their properties
- Orlando Diez, Former Director of Code Enforcement at the City of Miami
- Daniel Figueredo, who is expected to testify about being targeted by Carollo as a result of being plaintiffs’ tenant
- Rosa Romero, another victim of Carollo’s wrath because she was a tenant of the plaintiffs
- Daniel Rodriguez, another tenant of the plaintiffs’
- Cecilia Rodriguez, another tenant of the plaintiffs’
- Alain Garcia, who owns GMA Valet Parking and handles incoming customer traffic at businesses in Little Havana, including Ball & Chain
- Alejandro Del Bosque
- Darius Green, director of operations at Mad Room Hospitality, which Fuller co-owns with brothers Zach and Ben Bush.
- Matt Malone, who is expected to say that Carollo told him he would support his business anywhere in Little Havana as long as it was not at any of the plaintiffs’ properties
- Miami firefighter Eduardo “Eddie” Cagnin, who allegedly has knowledge about the targeting
- Former Code Enforcement Director Adele Valencia
- Michael Kunert, Former Captain of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, who is expected to talk about how Carollo repeatedly used his unit to investigate and raid Taquerias, a tenant of the plaintiffs’ without any cause
- District 3 Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo
- City Attorney Victoria “Tricky Vicky” Mendez
- Former code enforcement inspector Ricardo Franqui is expected to testify about his own inspections of the plaintiffs’ properties
- Historian Paul George is expected to testify about the plaintiffs’ restoration efforts in Little Havana. Carollo’s attorneys have objected to this witness. Carollo objects to George testifying as “an expert to any expert opinion rather than from his own personal knowledge of any facts regarding this case.”
- Martin Pinilla
- Bill Fuller
- Fuller’s wife, Melissa Bernheim, who is expected to testify as to the damages suffered by Fuller. Carollo’s attorney have also objected to her as a witness
Defendant’s Witness List:
- City of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo
- Building Department Director Asael “Ace” Marrero
- Senior Assistant City Attorney Rachel Dooley
- Rene Diaz, Senior Chief Director of Unsafe Structures at the City of Miami
- James Bernat, former Director of Code Compliance at the City of Miami
- Dennis Uriarte, Code Compliance Inspector at the City of Miami Building Department.
- Daniel Sierra, Code Compliance Supervisor at the City of Miami
- Yacmany Salvatierra, former Code Compliance Inspector and current Zoning Examiner at the City of Miami
- Humberto Escandon, Senior Manager of Operations with Miami Parking Authority
- Dan Goldberg, current Director of Zoning and Zoning Administrator at the City of Miami; former Assistant City Attorney for the City of Miami
- Mary Lugo, Vice President of general employee union (AFSCME Local 1907)
- Former City Manager Daniel Alfonso
- Jose Suarez, another one of Carollo’s former chiefs of staff
- Will Ortiz, Carollo’s deputy chief of staff
- City Manager Art Noriega
Miami employees, ex employees fill witness list for Joe Carollo federal trial added by Ladra on
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