The public corruption charges against Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and attorney/lobbyist Bill Riley Jr. revolve around the two political campaigns waged by the lawmaker’s baby brother, Renier Diaz de la Portilla: The 2020 race for county commission and a 2022 judicial contest.
An arrest affidavit lays out the scheme as having begun around May 2020 when Baby DLP announced he would run for county commission in District 5 and continue through his campaign for judge last year against incumbent Fred Seraphin. The campaign contributions that investigators tagged as bribery were made to both of The Dean’s political action committees during those campaigns.
And the affidavit mentions how Renier would be included in meetings at the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, where his brother was the chairman, and seek political donations from people who wanted something from the city or the CRA.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal
But Renier Diaz de la Portilla was not charged with any crime and confirmed to Ladra Friday that he had cooperated with the investigation and provided testimony under a state witness subpoena.
“They gave me immunity, 100% immunity,” Baby DLP told Ladra Friday night. “I told the truth. Nothing happened.
Often called the Fredo of the DLP family — because he’s slower and rides the coattails of his two bigger brothers — Renier Diaz de la Portilla may have really earned the name if his testimony ends up hurting Alex. In The Godfather II, Fredo betrays his brother Michael.
“I went to the SAO and FDLE and I spoke with them and I was very frank and honest,” Renier Diaz de la Portilla told Political Cortadito. “They asked me questions that had to do with Alex. They asked about a bunch of stuff. It’s a fishing expedition.”
According to the arrest affidavit, Renier provided a sworn statement that confirmed Alex Diaz de la Portilla helped with his 2022 campaign and served as an “agent,” approving and paying for mailers and other campaign materials, including those made at Sergio’s Printing. Investigators found that 18 job orders at Sergio’s were paid for by the Proven Leadership PAC. Authorities say those payments are illegal contributions of over $1,000 to Renier’s campaign.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla is suspended after arrest on public corruption charges
That’s not the worst charge against Alex Diaz de la Portilla, 58. He faces one count of money laundering; one count of bribery; one count of criminal conspiracy; three counts of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior; four counts of official misconduct; one count of accepting a campaign contribution in excess of legal limits; and two counts of failure to report a gift.
Renier, a former public defender who also served in the Florida House and on the Miami-Dade School Board, said he doesn’t think he did any damage.
“I went to an interview and I told the truth. I didn’t do anything wrong. And that’s why I’m absolved. And my brother should be absolved. It’s all political,” Renier said in a 16-minute telephone conversation during which he broke down and wept at least once. He also sounded like he might have been drinking.
“This is a hit job. They hit us out of nowhere.
“He tried to build a park. And that’s bad? It’s bad to build a park in an area that was filled with needles and people doing drugs? It’s good for the community, not bad.”
“This is a political hit job. We have a lot of enemies. This is tough for my family. This is tough for me. My brother is a very good person and he doesn’t deserve this.
“This is a friggin’ park that was abandoned for decades and was rebuilt. It’s what commissioners do. Commissioners vote on things. It was a 5-0 vote. It happens every day in Miami. People vote to improve parks. So you’re going to arrest my brother because he built a park. Absurd!”
The issue is not whether or not the Centner Academy’s park project is worthwhile or not. There was another project in the works for the park, by the way, a partnership between the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency and Miami-Dade Public Schools that would have included affordable housing and a public school. The issue is that Alex Diaz de la Portilla sought to monetize his support and, thanks to his pal Riley, did so to such an unseemly degree that they had to conceal the graft.
Read related: Private Centner Academy gets to run Miami public park for $10 million
Renier, who has always had a competitive love-hate relationship with Alex, said to look at the timing of the charges, less than eight weeks before the city elections.
“This has been a political plot to destroy my family and destroy my brother. And it’s all untruthful and unfair. And we are going to prevail. Alex will win. We have a great defense team.
“We always fight back. And we’re going to win.”
He also said that there could be more arrests coming related to his brother’s charges. “This goes very high up, to very high levels.”
When asked how his brother was after spending several hours in jail Thursday, Renier said he didn’t know.
“I haven’t talked to him the last couple of days,” he said.
That means they probably aren’t on speaking terms.
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And what do these people – dlp, carollo, and suarez -have in common? All Republicans. If they were Democrats we’d certainly be hearing about it a lot. Just a fact.
Dirty Miami Politics!
DLP was in bed with COVID Covo. DLP agreed to support Covo in the November election if she agreed to keep him on the Omni CRA where he gets tons of $$ from developers and if she helped him give away Allen Morris park to his BFF lobbyiest and corrupt mayor of South Miami Javier Fernandez.
Dirty Joe Carollo contributed $25,000 to Damian Pardo’s non-profit organization to host his Gay8 Festival on Calle Ocho. Damian Pardo ONLY denounced Carollo on television once he decided to run for office.
Vote for anyone BUT Covo for District 2! Covo is in bed with DLP and he was supporting her in this campaign.
We hear Bert Gonzalez, the corrupt head of the OMNi CRA will be arrested. Bertie was a bagman for disgraced ex-commish now losing attorney Marc Sarnoff. Alex DLP had Bert shake down vendors and developers. The OMNI CRA is just a slush fund for these criminals.
We need to clean City of Miami. I wonder why only Diaz de la Portilla was removed by De Santis…ehat about Joe Carollo? What about Victoria Mendez? What about the Mayor? Inthink its time that the Governor turn and order a deep invertigation in Miami. So many board of Ethic Commisions Complains Denied or just not complains not taken, violations to public records, open goverment, abuse of power, etc…please continue writting until someone listen. Ask the Santis to investigate them all. If the are inocent they have nothing to fear.
His defense is political retribution, and not that he didn’t do it? Blaming political intrigue is the pot calling the kettle black, But family that lives by the sword… I do feel badly for Miguel, who always seemed to be a honest leader and now is the last man standing. There is definitely some irony in the fact Miguel was always the ethics guy on the BCC, instrumental in setting up the IG’s office in the 90’s, and it was the county DOE which initiated the investigation against Alex as an ethics complaint.
If they had stayed in Cuba, they would still be in power, or dead[fusilados]!
The worst timing possible for an arrest highlights the behind the scene politics. Notice that no one is talking about how the Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor was brought in.
https://browardsao.com/statement-regarding-miami-commissioner-attorney-arrests/
Call them corrupt all you want, but if you celebrate these kind of prosecutions, what will you do when the cases fall apart?
Read the entire arrest affidavit here: https://archive.ph/Z6w54
And that’s how the DLP dynasty ends; not with a bang but with a whisper.
OMG. Great piece of work. Thanks.
Did Alex know his baby brother was being interviewed by the Feds? Did Alex think he would get away with stealing a public park? Stealing two public parks in fact. Melreese and Biscayne Park. When will the Sarnoff bagman Bert Gonzalez get arrested?
Good riddance Alex Diaz, you no good, low down dirty rat.
Your brother said it, they have a lot of enemies, why do you get enemies?
Because you screwed so many people over that’s why!
I hope the charges stick and this bozo spends more time in jail.
He’s a former public defender and didn’t know he was sending his brother up the river. True, he was drunk all the time and couldn’t get to work on time, but you would think he would learn something through osmosis. Never more than today he has earned his nickname. Way to go Fredo!!!