On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for stupid people. Without them I wouldn’t have much material to share with you on this website.
Some HOA Nazis in Altamonte Springs, Florida called the cops and told them there was an illegal mahjong game being played in the Escondido Community Condo Association clubhouse. Well, the vice cops hit the doors, busted up the illegal game and arrested the criminals, all ladies between the ages of 87 and 95.
Deborah Goonan is one of the most learned and articulate people in the country on the subject of Homeowners Associations. She, along with Nila Ridings, have expressed major concern about a wacky situation in Pagedale, Missouri, where the city has taken on the role of HOA lawn Nazis. It’s so far over the line that it has even attracted a lawsuit by the Institute for Justice. Her column on her own blog (linked below) is a critical subject for all of us.
Since 2007 newspapers and TV stations around the country have been collapsing. Newspapers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News and many others have simply gone out of business. But I’m learning that the Las Vegas Review-Journal is thinking about growing and creating a new investigative team. As far as I’m concerned that’s incredibly good news.
Without the investigative reporting of staff member Jeff German this country would know nothing about the massive Las Vegas HOA scandal that sent more than three dozen people, including lawyers, cops and public officials to prison.
I’ve been in the news business for 40 years and I’ve seen so many goofy things happen. Nothing surprises me anymore.
Yes, police investigators need to ask for lighter prison sentences for informants. But they have an overwhelming obligation to protect the public. That’s their primary job. When the number two player in a 60 million dollar scam victimizing Las Vegas homeowners agrees to cooperate with investigators, does that mean he gets off scott-free? Apparently in Las Vegas that’s exactly what it means. Ralph Priola could have been sentenced to 22 years. But federal prosecutors say he deserves no prison time. NONE!
Remember, Priola didn’t voluntarily cooperate with the cops. He was forced. This was a man caught throwing around 20,000 dollar bribes. This was a man as fundamentally corrupt as his boss, Leon Benzer, the mastermind of this massive scam. No jail time? Come on, guys, this was one of the two crooks who crashed the Las Vegas housing market. Prosecutors say he should only pay about 12 million dollars in restitution. But that’ll never happen. That will never, ever happen.
Jeff German, reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, deserves a Pulitzer for the work he’s done on the HOA scandal. It would be a major crime if he didn’t win ALL the journalism awards.
There’s an excellent column in the Las Vegas Review Journal about one of the sleazy cops who took part in the massive HOA corruption scandal. It’s linked below.
Also linked is an FBI press release on its long-running HOA investigation. Supposedly, this was a ten million dollar swindle, but now the FBI is using the figure $58 million. The real losses are many times that amount because the Leon Benzer HOA swindle helped collapse the Las Vegas housing market and an untold number of people lost their homes and life savings. Someday, some smart investigator will start calling it the billion dollar swindle, which it clearly was.
