Disgraced Al Lamberti’s Political Career Is Over
BY BUDDY NEVINS
It’s over, Al Lamberti.
After the revelations in the past week about former Sheriff Lamberti’s administration, any hope he had of reviving his political career is kaput. Finished. Done.
As the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board wrote today, Ponzi scamster Scott Rothstein’s alleged corrupting of two former Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies is “a terrible stain on Lamberti’s legacy.”
Lamberti must have known that former Lt. David Benjamin and former Detective Jeff Poole were under investigation for selling out BSO to Rothstein.
Benjamin was one of Lamberti’s closest aides. He was, get this, in charge of Internal Affairs. He was the guy who was supposed to police the police. Talk about putting a fox in the hen house.
So when media reports surfaced about Benjamin, the former sheriff did nothing. When the FBI was snapping at Benjamin’s heels, Lamberti did nothing.
The two men were kept at BSO until the current Sheriff Scott Israel took over and suspended them. They were indicted last week for a long list of alleged crimes.
If that wasn’t bad enough, blogger Chaz Stevens has a post today which details how the hard drive on Lamberti’s computer was destroyed right before the former sheriff left office. According to the BSO report obtained by Stevens, a deputy “was directed by Lamberti to have the drive wiped.”
Stevens’ piece is headlined “BSO Nuked Lamberti’s Hard Drive With A Hammer.”
The blogger speculates that “on that drive were remnants of Rothstein.”
One thing appears clear: Lamberti was engaged in a cover-up of his and BSO’s relationship with the crook Rothstein.
Remember those attack ads during the 2012 election tying Lamberti to Rothstein. They were true!
Lamberti disgraced his office.
Israel has worked hard to rebuild trust in the agency.
There has been a lot of talk in political circles about Lamberti running for sheriff again.
Pleeeeeze.
Lamberti should not be under consideration as a candidate. He should be under investigation.
April 30th, 2014 at 11:52 am
Buddy,
When did you become a shill for Scott Israel? Do we have to list his questionable ethical decisions?
Lamberti wasn’t great. Israel isn’t great. We need a professional appointed sheriff like Dade County.
April 30th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
No disrespect to Chaz but I seriously doubt even Lamberti was dumb enough to let ties to Rothstien sit on his computer for 2-3 years between Scott going down and Al leaving office.
April 30th, 2014 at 12:24 pm
I had the pleasure of working with Al and he was a fantastic Sheriff. What proof is there the he knew about the 2 Deputies that were working for Rothstein. Now Scott Israel is acting like he is a super star so what about the illegal fund raiser for him that Scott denied and yet Bergeon stated that it was a fund raiser for Israel and the week long cruise that Israel and his family took and paid a wow 1500 dollars and yet the owner Pierra charges everyone else 350 thousand dollars. There is so much stuff on him and I hope Israel gets impeached or better yet go to jail
FROM BUDDY:
Unless he was blind, deaf and dumb, he knew about Benjamin. This from the Sun-Sentinel:
Top BSO official Dave Benjamin still not cleared in Rothstein case
By Brittany Wallman April 22, 2011 02:05 PM
“A top official at Broward Sheriff’s Office who escorted Ponzi mastermind Scott Rothstein to his waiting getaway jet to Casablanca still has not been cleared of wrongdoing a year and a half later, but remains in a high level position.”
I could give you at least a dozen more stores from the media while Lamberti was sheriff. Also, how come Sheriff Scott Israel had enough evidence from the FBI two days after taking office to suspend Benjamin?
April 30th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Buddy;
What I find also intriquing is how Broward’s top investigative reporter, Geraldo … sorry, I jest, I mean Trespass Bob Norman knew about the destruction of those hard drives for the last four months.
And once again, he remains silent.
Why? What’s his angle?
April 30th, 2014 at 2:21 pm
Lamberti ABSOLUTELY knew about Benjamin. I told him face to face one week before AL made him his campaign mgr. The afternoon of Rothstein’s fall and the news about Benjamin escorting him to the plane, I spoke with him again and reminded him of that conversation. He hesitated but finally admitted that I had told him in no uncertain about Benjamin’s corrupt history. Lamberti and I had beeb close but he rarely spoke to me again after that. And the destruction of the hard drives is another ABSOLUTE truth! Lamberti set aside an entire office in The Sheriff’s suite where all relevant computers, records, files and phones were brought for wiping, shredding or deleting. This was in the few weeks between the Israel won election and the swearing in. AL knows who I am. I have approached him and he just walks or drives away. Incompetent to the max. Corrupt in more ways than have come out.
April 30th, 2014 at 4:19 pm
I hope the Sheriff or the Feds dig further about Benjamin’s involvement with the Santucci arrest in 2007 or should I say a lack of arrest.
April 30th, 2014 at 4:56 pm
Hey Buddy,
How about the $180,000.00 dollars Sheriff Israel accepted from Rothstein in his last election. What makes him any better…
April 30th, 2014 at 6:15 pm
Rothstein was throwing money around like a drunken sailor. He was taking good care of law enforcement…and they were taking good care of him! Didn’t the top cop in Ft. Lauderdale, Adderly, also get into some hot water for his cozy relationship with Rothstein? Everything should be exposed. If laws were broken and hard drives destroyed, some of their overly generous pensions should be taken away!
FROM BUDDY:
Fort Lauderdale Chief Frank Adderley was cleared by a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation.
April 30th, 2014 at 7:07 pm
@a real joke
You are funny. A pleasure to work with? LOL LOL Lamberti is a criminal. His Criem Family hurt many good people. Many posted facts that were largely ignored. It feels good that the media can’t hide from this crook anymore. Now if only the Feds would charge Frey, Cavallo, Santucci, Gillette and the rest of the thugs, justice would be served.
April 30th, 2014 at 7:41 pm
Buddy’s assessment is spot on that Lamberti’s future political hopes are shattered beyond repair. It’s true for either of the following reasons:
1) He was knew and approved of his top staff helping the criminal Rothstein, or
2) He was asleep at the switch while his top aide took bribes and misused his authority to assist the criminal Rothstein.
Either way, that’s not elected official material. All the speculation about Lamberti comes down to one of two things.
Either he was a crook. Or asleep at the switch. Lamberti ordering that his computer to be wiped is the coup de grace. He didn’t want the next Sheriff to have that information, which tells us all we need to know about him.
A man’s character is his fate. The end.
April 30th, 2014 at 7:44 pm
Chaz, your question was previously answered but you don’t believe the answer. You don’t have proof of why you don’t believe it. You just don’t.
Holy Toledo! Could that be faith? Coming from you? LOL
April 30th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
Just wait..some judges and lawyers will be the next indicted. I wonder if Crist’s appointment to the 4th DCA is involved?
April 30th, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Lamberti should have never won against Sheriff Israel the first time Frankly, I was pretty shocked he won after those dirty tricks he pulled right before the election—broadcasting lies about Sheriff Israel from Rothstein’s office. People in Broward are really stupid.
April 30th, 2014 at 11:02 pm
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, boat motor thefts, break ins of cars, home burglaries, dangerous driving by dump trucks hauling dirt to the south runway expansion along Griffin Road spiral out of control in Dania Beach. Where is BSO when all of this is going on? Parked behind hedges, out of sight, out of line of vision where they can see the lawbreakers. If they can’t see it, they can’t report it. Crime is down in Dania Beach??
May 1st, 2014 at 7:54 am
….Here’s a challenge for ya: if you want to convince us it us true, @Broward, sign your real name when you slander the sheriff so he can sue you. Otherwise, you’re just proving my point about how false this story is.
May 1st, 2014 at 9:01 am
@11
Look around. Cars, airplanes, buildings. iPods, books, clothing. Agriculture, plumbing, waste disposal. Light bulbs, vacuum cleaners, ovens. These are all the products of scientific research. If your TV breaks, you can pray that it’ll spontaneously start working again, but my money would be on someone who has learned how to actually fix it based on scientific and engineering principles.
Because of my faith, or as I like think of it, my complete understanding of the mathematics behind orbital mechanics, I have faith that the Sun will rise in the morning … like it has for countless billions of times in the past since the dawn of time (aka not 6,000 years ago).
When I fly to Colorado this weekend, I have faith, or as I like to think of it, my complete understanding of the mathematics behind Bernoulli’s Principle, the aircraft I will be flying in will rise in the air and take me on my way.
I have plenty of faith. Lots of it, in fact. Derived by years of studing books about science and arithmetic. My faith can be found in the scientific method, partial differential equations, reason.
Note that, in my mind, I freely exchange my personal definition of faith and evidence.
I have evidence the Sun will rise in the AM. I have evidence the plane will soar.
Not to confuse this matter for those in the audience challenged in the department of critical thinking, but science is not based on your definition of faith.
Science is based on evidence. We have evidence it works, vast amounts of it, billions of individual pieces that fit together into a tapestry of reality. That is the critical difference. Faith, as it is interpreted by most religions, is not evidence-based, and is generally held tightly even despite evidence against it. In many cases, faith is even reinforced when evidence is found contrary to it.
What I don’t have is faith in a book that contains passages such as, “And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.”
For that, I am termed a heathen … to them, I say, thank you!
May 1st, 2014 at 10:08 am
#13 Many believe Israel’s campaign was sabotaged from within. Scotty R used to love giving out expensive watches. Ask around who out of no where on Team Israel ended up with a rose gold rolex.
May 1st, 2014 at 1:26 pm
It’s been rumored for a while now that the feds have Lamberti on their radar. Maybe Benjamin flips, maybe he doesn’t. Lamberti must be walking on egg shells right about now.
I’ve been around long enough to remember Stack, Butterworth, Brescher, Navarro, Cochran, Lamberti, and now Israel. Stack was terrible. Butterworth and Brescher were okay. Navarro and the chicken man should have gone to jail. Cochran was very good. Lamberti was atrocious. Israel is a very good sheriff. Impeccable credentials and a true law enforcement professional. He’s also a very nice person.
It’s interesting to watch channel 10 try and bring down Israel. Don’t think they will.
If I were channel 10, I would stop trying to get Scott Israel kicked out of office and concentrate on the Lamberti hard drive story. Now THAT is news.
May 1st, 2014 at 2:07 pm
cen·sor
ˈsensər/Submit
noun
1.
an official who examines material that is about to be released, such as books, movies, news, and art, and suppresses any parts that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
synonyms: expurgator, bowdlerizer; More
PSYCHOANALYSIS
an aspect of the superego that is said to prevent certain ideas and memories from emerging into consciousness.
2.
(in ancient Rome) either of two magistrates who held censuses and supervised public morals.
verb
verb: censor; 3rd person present: censors; past tense: censored; past participle: censored; gerund or present participle: censoring
1.
examine (a book, movie, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it.
“my mail was being censored”
May 1st, 2014 at 8:26 pm
Buddy,
Frank Adderley was cleared by FDLE but that simply means that they couldn’t produce any charges that would hold up in court. He and Rothstein were joined at the hip! Why was Rothstein getting all these special privileges from law enforcement? Use your imagination!
May 1st, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Not enough investigations have been conducted of the politicians who received money from Rothstein and why they received the money. A 2009 Sun-sentinel article said the Gunzburger would return 5,600 dollars. According to campaign finance records She actually received 40-500 hundred dollar checks accounting for 20,000 dollars in one day from M3W,Inc. this was a dummy corporation set up by Rothstein. That was all returned by her but why wasn’t that looked at? Why so much and all in 1 day? This goes way deeper than anyone would care to know.
May 1st, 2014 at 8:35 pm
Regarding the recent article above, I believe the truth of the matter is that when Sheriff Lamberti (retired) learned of the help Benjamin gave to Rothstein, he cooperated fully with the FBI. He made a simple choice and maybe that choice was a suggestion of the investigators. He was forced to abide by a Collective Bargaining Agreement that gave him two choices on the action he could take against Benjamin. Either suspend him with pay or move him to a desk and make him earn the $110K salary he was going to collect anyway from the taxpayers, not to mention the benefits he was entitled to. Poole’s involvement wasn’t initially known until later. If you add in his salary and benefits, that gets us closer to $250K collectively for both employees. Lamberti chose to make them work for the money they were going to collect anyway. He surely would have fired them had they been charged. Israel chose to suspend them both and pay their compensation while they could go to the beach or play golf or whatever, simply an attempt to create a political issue, which you have obviously bought into. Everyone knows what side of the isle your so-called journalism sides with. Calling someone washed up because of your misguided opinion is ridiculous. Who made you judge and jury ? The questionable character of the current Sheriff has already been at issue. When he got caught taking the cruise, he blamed everybody but George Bush for his ignorance. I thought ignorance of the law was not an excuse, but he got a BIG PASS. You need to look under the rug going forward. You also need to curb unfounded allegations against Sheriff Lamberti (retired)to serve your political handlers. Baghdad Bob would be proud of you ! If the Feds are looking at anyone, it just might be your pals.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:16 pm
@Truthiness
OK hypocrite …post your name. None of this is a game. People were hurt and their civil rights violated by Lameberti. He belongs in jail. Go ahead, post your name in defense. Didn’t think so. Oh yeah..the Feds don;t think it is false or they wouldn’t be here. It is a travesty of justice that the Feds have to clean up local thugs masquerading as pubic servants. ex-Sheriff, Judge, Lawyer…they are all involved.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:22 pm
@Dr. Bill
You can’t really believe that. Lamberti had to hold on to the Sheriff’s Office (at all costs, legal or illegal) to further his criminal enterprise and conceal from public view, the crimes of his co-conspirators. I asked Lamberti personally the day after the story broke about Benji taking Rothstein to the airport to flee, when he knew. He couldn’t even look me in the eye to give me a straight answer. He is guilty as sin. IF he is cooperating with the Feds, it is to reduce his sentence. RAT.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:25 pm
@Dr. Bill
and another thing…if the Feds are looking at my pals, and they are guilty, I hope they go to prison, just like where Lamberti belongs.