Detroit Strip Clubs: Wrist slap is wrong message
July 16, 2009 at 8:48 pm | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsSTEPHEN HENDERSON
Wrist slap is wrong message
BY STEPHEN HENDERSON FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
July 16, 2009
Someone in the local U.S. Attorney’s Office may have some ’splainin to do.
They have it all backward in the ongoing city hall corruption probe.
Here’s why.
Based on the indictment handed down Wednesday of political consultant Sam Riddle, it seems prosecutors believe Riddle and former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers were running a pretty robust shakedown operation.
The documents say they hit up a strip club owner for $25,000, extorted $20,000 each from a technology company and a restaurant, and tried to put the arm on a real estate developer.
Riddle’s facing a slew of charges related to each of those acts, as well as his involvement with Conyers on the rotten Synagro sludge deal and some other stuff. By statute, he could face a sentence in excess of 100 (yes, one hundred) years.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Monica Conyers, Shakedown Artist?
July 16, 2009 at 3:00 pm | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsSo said Detroit political consultant Sam Riddle — now under federal indictment for bribery — about his erstwhile partner in crime, Monica Conyers, wife of Rep. John Conyers.
The Detroit Free Press has the indictment details of a modern-day gruesome twosome looking upon businesses in the ravaged city of Detroit as personal ATMs.
Apparently Mrs. Conyers was the strong arm of the pair, sending Mr. Riddle out to do her bidding. On plans for extorting $10,000 from a Detroit restaurant, the honorable Mrs. Conyers told Mr. Riddle: “You better get my loot, that’s all I know.” Mrs. Conyers should enter that phrase in the ongoing contest to conjure a new motto for the city.
All in all, the Conyers-Riddle tag team netted around $65,000 shaking down restaurants, a strip club, and a technology company. Under a previous plea agreement, Mrs. Conyers cannot be charged further by the feds, but she is still eligible to serve up to five years in prison. Riddle could spend up to 20 in stir.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Feds paint Conyers as bold shakedown artist
July 16, 2009 at 9:12 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsShe also resigned from the council, putting an end to one of the loudest, weirdest, shortest, most polarizing and corrupt political careers in memory.
While Conyers plea agreement precludes any additional charges, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn can consider the information contained in the indictment when he decides her sentence. Under the plea deal, the maximum Conyers can do is five years.
Conyers first took office in January 2006. Just 15 month months later, according to the indictment, Conyers and Riddle began their extortion racket.
The indictment charges:
• Conyers conspired with Riddle to hit up the owner of a technology company for $20,000 to make Riddle a bogus consultant.
• Conyers and Riddle pressured a Detroit restaurant owner to pay Riddle $20,000 for another consulting job that didnt exist.
• Conyers and Riddle received $25,000 from the owner of a strip club with an issue before the city council.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Detroit consultant accused of corruption
July 16, 2009 at 9:12 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsDetroit consultant accused of corruption
Former aide to Conyers indicted with ex-state rep
Ed White and Corey Williams
July 16, 2009 From Lansing State Journal
DETROIT – A federal grand jury indicted a political consultant Wednesday on corruption charges, accusing him of working hand-in-hand with a City Council member to shake down businesses for bribes in exchange for favors.
The charges against Sam Riddle came less than three weeks after his former boss, Monica Conyers, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from a sludge hauler and quit the council.
The charges in the corruption probe so far have focused mostly on that $47 million-a-year deal between the city and a Houston company. But the indictment against Riddle describes other pay-to-play schemes involving a strip club, a technology company, a restaurant and more.
Detroit Strip Clubs: STEPHEN HENDERSON Monica Conyers’ wrist slap is wrong message
July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsSTEPHEN HENDERSON
Monica Conyers’ wrist slap is wrong message
BY STEPHEN HENDERSON FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
July 16, 2009
Someone in the local U.S. Attorney’s Office may have some ’splainin to do.
They have it all backward in the ongoing city hall corruption probe.
Here’s why.
Based on the indictment handed down Wednesday of political consultant Sam Riddle, it seems prosecutors believe Riddle and former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers were running a pretty robust shakedown operation.
The documents say they hit up a strip club owner for $25,000, extorted $20,000 each from a technology company and a restaurant, and tried to put the arm on a real estate developer.
Riddle’s facing a slew of charges related to each of those acts, as well as his involvement with Conyers on the rotten Synagro sludge deal and some other stuff. By statute, he could face a sentence in excess of 100 (yes, one hundred) years.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Feds: Riddle, Conyers extorted thousands
July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsA high-tech communications firm, a restaurant and a strip club were extorted, the indictment says. In all, the indictment says, he got $50,000 from these three businesses.
…
(2 of 4)”Remember, an indictment is just the government’s theory,” Steingold said. “It’s not even smoke that suggests there’s any fire at all.”
The lawyer for Conyers, who already has pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe and awaits sentencing, scoffed at the payoff figures cited by the feds.
“The $65,000 — in so far as it relates to Monica Conyers — is preposterous,” Steve Fishman said. “It’s just absurd.”
Riddle and Waters are expected to be arraigned today in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
According to the Southfield indictment, between April 2007 and May 2008, Riddle and Waters conspired to bribe Southfield City Councilman William Lattimore with $12,500 to influence and reward Lattimore for his support for the relocation and expansion of the Zeidman’s jewelry and pawnshop in Southfield.
Steingold said that Riddle “believes the only …
Detroit Strip Clubs: BILL MCGRAW | MOTOR CITY JOURNAL
July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsShe also resigned from the council, putting an end to one of the loudest, weirdest, shortest, most polarizing and corrupt political careers in memory.
While Conyers plea agreement precludes any additional charges, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn can consider the information contained in the indictment when he decides her sentence. Under the plea deal, the maximum Conyers can do is five years.
Conyers first took office in January 2006. Just 15 month months later, according to the indictment, Conyers and Riddle began their extortion racket.
The indictment charges:
• Conyers conspired with Riddle to hit up the owner of a technology company for $20,000 to make Riddle a bogus consultant.
• Conyers and Riddle pressured a Detroit restaurant owner to pay Riddle $20,000 for another consulting job that didnt exist.
• Conyers and Riddle received $25,000 from the owner of a strip club with an issue before the city council.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Riddle charged with $100K in shakedowns
July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsConyers, although peppered with allegations in the main Riddle indictment, faced no new charges. She won’t face more charges under the terms of a June deal with prosecutors under which she pleaded guilty to a five-year bribery conspiracy charge. She resigned soon after.
“What do I care about the ravings of a rogue employee?” Conyers attorney Steve Fishman said of Riddle, who was an aide to Conyers in 2006 and 2007.
Though it does not identify the business owners by name, the main Riddle indictment alleges a series of shakedowns involving Riddle and Conyers. Many of the allegations have already been reported, including those involving restaurant owner and businessman Jim Papas, owners of the Greektown strip club The Zoo, real estate developer Melvin Washington and sludge contractor Synagro Technologies Inc.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Kid Rock is back with back-to-back Comerica Park shows
July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsWhen those parties showed an unwillingness to budge, he launched a series of innovative ticketing plans, including six-packs of upper deck tickets for $99, and VIP packages that include Kid Rock baseball bats and bobble heads.
“You have to forward think,” he says. “Years ago there was a Walkman, and now there’s an iPod because somebody thought of a better way. That’s how I approached these shows: Let’s always think of a better way.”
The concerts — part of Rock’s 22-date Rock and Rebels outing — mark a return of the loud and proud, pyro- and stripper-laden affairs of yore, after Rock’s relatively stripped-down shows in support of 2007’s “Rock and Roll Jesus.” During the latter concerts, he said he needed to prove he wasn’t all about flash and let the music speak for itself; but, having accomplished that, he now says it’s time to go out and have fun again.
Detroit Strip Clubs: Conyers bribery case nets consultant
July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am | In Detroit strip clubs | No CommentsA conservative public interest law firm in Virginia has filed a House ethics complaint against Mr. Conyers that states he wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting another wastewater project involving a company with links to his wife. The Landmark Legal Foundation’s complaint involves a different company and project than the one that led to Conyers’ guilty plea.
A message left for a spokeswoman for Mr. Conyers seeking comment was not returned Wednesday evening, but the congressman has denied any wrongdoing.
Mr. Riddle has also denied any wrongdoing. A message left with his attorney was also not returned Wednesday evening.
In the indictment, Mr. Riddle and Conyers are accused of extorting money from people and companies who had business with the City Council or pension board, of which she was also a member.
In one example, according to the indictment, Mr. Riddle and Conyers extorted $25,000 from a strip club seeking a license change from the City Council.
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