Mar 08 2010
Miami Strip Clubs: Race Card Won’t Play In Commissioner’s Defense
Criminally charged politician Fitzroy Salesman’s attorney is fighting his case in the Sun-Sentinel, claiming the FBI used a thuggish gang member as an informant and a shadowy Irishman as a confidential source and that federal agents “sought out” black elected officials to target.
The problem for defense lawyer Jamie Benjamin is that Salesman took the money.
No matter how much Benjamin, a Hollywood lawyer who specializes in defending strip clubs and sex shops, complains in the press, that basic truth is impossible to ignore. Salesman, who had been removed twice from office before for a DUI and for pulling a gun on a fellow customer at a supermarket, took nearly $5,000 from federal agents in exchange for his help in securing government contracts.
And that fact makes the lawyer’s steady stream of protestations seem shallow and a bit desperate as they are splashed on the pages of the Sentinel before the trial, which is scheduled to begin March 22.