MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Leroy Griffith asks how City can extort $30,000 from him

NAKED EXTORTION IN MIAMI BEACH - CONTINUED

Due Process Denied

By David Arthur Walters MIAMI MIRROR 21 September 2013 MIAMI BEACHLeroy Griffith has revived his moribund effort to obtain a liquor license for Club Madonna, his full nudity establishment. He filed a suit on in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on September 15 against the City of Miami Beach, claiming that its officials tried to extort $30,000 from him in exchange for fair access to the legislative process.

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

The Complaint alleges that The City continues to make these demands to this day, and asks for treble damages, costs and attorney fees, under Floridas Civil Remedies for Crim inal Practices Act, in addition to lost profits ensuing from the violation of the Griffiths constitutional right to due process and breach of a settlement agreement reached with the City that induced Griffith to withdraw his lawsuit against it. The $30,000 is identified as the legal fees of a private person, Jane Gross, wife of Commissioner Gross at the time he appeared before the City Commission in an effort to change the outdated ordinance, frequently violated by other clubs with virtual impunity, which prohibits full nudity where liquor is served. His liquor license was nearly in the bag, he thought, after a first reading by the Commission. However, at the second, public hearing, he lost his cause after a crowd of kids and their teachers and parents showed up to protest his application. The protest was orchestrated, he alleged, by Jane Gross, who had engaged in a smear campaign against him which included defamatory statements. He sued her for libel but dismissed his claim with the understanding that each party would pay their own legal fees and that he would get a fair hearing on his cause. He also dismissed a federal lawsuit against the city to that end. However, the City then insisted that he reimburse Jane Gross for her fees in order to gain legislative access, something that the Ethics Commission advocate thought would never be required of an ordinary Jane Doe or John Doe. Secret meetings of city attorneys and commissioners revealed that they took Griffiths suit personally because it was a family matter. The family perspective was openly affirmed from the dais at a public hearing where Griffiths access to the legislative process was denied because of the pink elephant in the room. Griffiths attorney had at the time referred the demand for $30,000 to the State Attorney because it appeared to be an extortionate act, a serious crime. Assistant State Attorney Joe Centorino, now Director of the Ethics Commission, handed off the allegation to the Ethics Commission, which sat on the fence, noting an appearance of impropriety and issuing an Instruction that such appearances should be avoided. The extortionate demand, which could have resulted in a $250 fine for an ethics violation instead of a fine and jail sentences under criminal law, had been made under advice of counsel, and it was the tradition of the Ethics Commission, read the ethics advocates revelatory report, not to condemn unethical acts committed under legal advice. All but one of the Miami Beach officials involved in the alleged extortion conspiracy are attorneys. The alleged conspirators included City Attorney Jose Smith, former Mayor David Dermer, former Commissioners Simon Cruz and Saul Gross, and city attorneys Gary Held and Murray Dubbin. As far as the city officials were concerned, Griffiths lawsuits were extortionate attempts to get a liquor license, so their extortion was tit for tat.

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

We hear these extortion threats all the time in litigat ion, Jose Smith said during a secret discussion to settle the matter. There isn't a lawsuit that doesn't sound like extortion, so I'm not worried about that. ## COPY OF COMPLAINT http://www.scribd.com/doc/169841991/Griffith-v-City-of-Miami-Beach-re-Extortion

HISTORICAL EXPOSITION http://www.scribd.com/doc/159721247/The-Club-Madonna-Bamboozle

CLUB MADONNA BAMBOOZLE The Hoodwinking of Leroy Griffith

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