Did commissioner weaponize code enforcement to hurt Little Havana biz? Trial set Monday

If Bill Fuller is to be believed, a decision he made to back a relatively obscure legislative aide running against Joe Carollo six years ago sent the longtime Miami city commissioner into such a tizzy that he commandeered city code enforcement investigators to “target,” penalize and shut down Fuller’s businesses.

Carollo’s retaliation, he claims, ultimately cost four businesses he had interest in $27.9 million. The lawsuit against the commissioner seeks $2.5 million, as well as punitive damages.

“The expectation is, it’s so chilling to him or any legislator, that ultimately no one will ever want to do it again,” Fuller said.

In a civil lawsuit scheduled to go to trial on Monday, Fuller’s attorneys will argue that the commissioner went on an unhinged attack to destroy him after the businessman threw support behind Alfonso “Alfie” Leon one evening at Fuller’s popular Little Havana nightclub Ball & Chain. Leon — a law firm partner and former policy adviser to Carollo’s younger brother, Frank Carollo, when he served as a Miami commissioner — lost the election in a runoff.

Fuller and his business partner Martin Pinilla’s lawsuit says that even in victory, Joe Carollo wouldn’t let go. And Miami’s former city manager backs them up. In a deposition taken two years ago but filed with the court as evidence in October, 2022, Emilio Gonzalez said that soon after he was hired, Carollo convinced him to take a midnight ride through Little Havana’s business district, where he quickly become intensely focused on businesses owned by Fuller, the neighborhood’s largest property owner.

Gonzalez said Carollo didn’t like the murals and art work. Some businesses were too loud, he complained, and the neighbors were always griping about the parking situation. Gonzalez also said he was pressured by Carollo to direct code enforcement to scrutinize Fuller’s nightclub.

“...It was very evident that Misters Fuller and Pinilla were being targeted by Mr. Carollo,” Gonzalez said in the deposition. Gonzalez would resign under fire in 2020, calling Carollo and the rest of the commission “a circus.”

Monday’s trial is long in coming. Fuller filed the lawsuit in 2018. Three years later, federal Judge Rodney Smith ruled the case could go to trial because Carollo, as an elected official, should not have been directing code enforcement operations. Carollo then turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing he was entitled to a special privilege known as “qualified immunity,” which protects public officials from lawsuits when they’re doing their jobs. The court disagreed. And the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Carollo, who has been bombastic and outspoken at virtually every stop in his tumultuous, now-four-decade political career, refused to discuss the case with the Miami Herald in the days leading to the trial. Leon, his former city commission opponent, also refused comment. Carollo’s attorney, citing Judge Smith’s order from the federal bench to limit what is said to the media, gave a boilerplate response to questions about the case.

“He [Carollo] looks forward to the trial starting Monday and to finally have his day in court,” said Attorney Ben Kuehne. “The court filing reflects that the commissioner denies the allegations and is confident this position will be sustained.”

LAWSUIT CLAIMS A BARRAGE OF ATTACKS

Fuller’s 48-page lawsuit includes a lengthy list of allegations of Carollo attempting to damage the businessman’s name and reputation. He calls the commissioner’s alleged vendetta, “unchecked retaliation and political payback” on a scale that “would lead the United States down the path of Cuba and Venezuela today.”

According to Fuller:

▪ A week after Carollo’s 2017 runoff election victory over Leon, the commissioner directed police, fire and building officials to raid Little Havana’s Sanguich de Miami, where Fuller and Pinilla were landlords and investors.

▪ A month later he tried to cut off Fuller’s Christmas party at the Ball & Chain nightclub, demanding code enforcement shut it down for lack of a special permit.

▪ Then, Carollo forced the shutdown of another Fuller interest, the Union Beer craft brewery’s anniversary party. Fuller and Pinilla are landlords and partners in the company.

▪ After that, the lawsuit contends, Carollo began harassing Fuller’s main business, the Ball & Chain, which he owns with two friends. Fuller says Carollo claimed to be taking part in an “official investigation” when he was seen photographing cars in the valet parking lot. Then, according to Fuller, he talked nearby residents into filing noise complaints.

▪ He also issued orders to shut down Domino Plaza, where Viernes Culturales has its monthly festival which Fuller chairs. He eventually created his own agency to wrest control of events from the neighborhood cultural initiative.

The lawsuit even contains a sworn statement from former Carollo aide Steve Miró, who said his old boss pressured him to lie to ethics investigators about the code issues. Miró told investigators Carollo wanted him to say there were anonymous code complaints even though there were none.

Carollo has denied all those claims.

JURORS TO BE SELECTED MONDAY

On Monday, jury selection begins at Fort Lauderdale’s new federal courthouse before United States District Judge Rodney Smith of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The first of a witness list that numbers more than two dozen could be called that afternoon.

The list includes a who’s who of political opponents Carollo has battled with over his career.

There’s former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, a high-profile hire from Houston who was driven out of office after only six months by a group of commissioners led by Carollo — for not adeptly maneuvering Miami’s unique Cuban culture. On his way out, Acevedo asked the FBI to investigate the city’s alleged misdeeds and filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming his First Amendment rights were violated and that he was illegally retaliated against for blowing the whistle on what he describes as a toxic stew of corruption and wrongdoing at City Hall.

Also on the list is Ken Russell, a former District 2 commissioner in Miami who resigned after an unsuccessful bid at a congressional seat. The two often butted heads. But Carollo seemed to elevate the friction last year when he insinuated that Russell and his business interests were behind a failed recall attempt of the commissioner.

There’s also Gonzalez, the former manager who resigned in 2020 rather than face the possibility of an ouster by city commissioners. In his deposition, Gonzalez said the relationship between Carollo and the administration deteriorated because Carollo “thought we were stonewalling his efforts to put Mr. Fuller out of business.”

And there’s Richie Blom, a longtime fixture in Miami policing circles who moved on to become Doral’s police chief in 2013 at the insistence of the city’s manager at the time — Joe Carollo. By 2018, Blom returned to Miami City Hall as chief of staff for Commissioner Carollo.

But their relationship soured quickly and they parted ways a year later. Blom said in a pair of letters that circulated through City Hall that Carollo often went on “profanity laden rants” and scolded employees in public. Blom also said on his way out that he was uncomfortable and often refused to research properties owned by Fuller, who he said was responsible for much of Carollo’s ire.

For Carollo, the stakes are high and potentially could be expensive if a jury rules in Fuller’s favor. It’s also likely to provide plenty of fresh material for critics of City Hall. And though the city is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, it’s bankrolling the commissioner’s defense.

Horacio Aguirre, longtime chairman of the Miami River Commission and who is also serving as chairman of a Political Action Committee raising money for a Tomas Regalado run for Miami mayor two years from now, called past embarrassments like the humiliating and very public ousting of Acevedo in 2021, “child’s play” compared to the charges that are being levied against Carollo now.

“From outside of City Hall it looks horrible and everybody knows it,” he said. “This is scary. The payments to Stormy Daniels are funny and humorous compared to what is going on here. Here, you’re actually destroying businesses.”