Brooklyn and Washington Park make the news.
Brooklyn fires the officer who lost control of his vehicle and hit a suspect trying to flee. It is truly remarkable to be fired from the most corrupt and incompetent police force around.
The Washington Park follies continue with the Mayor being allowed to use an official vehicle for official duties. Glad to hear that could get settled while Washington Park considers granting two new strip club licenses. From the Post-Dispatch on April 18th,
Washington Park, already home to the most strip clubs in the Metro East area, four, has approved permits for two more.
The village has been struggling financially, and the two clubs approved Tuesday by the village board will bring in more than $100,000 a year, officials said.
"We need the revenue," said board member Charlie Byrd, one of five board members who voted to approve the licenses. "We’re a poverty-stricken village. If we don’t increase the revenue, we’re going to have to start laying off police officers."
The licenses were awarded to Doug Talley, owner of a Washington Park trucking company, and Stephen Romanik, whose father, Robert, is former Washington Park police chief and a one-time strip club owner.
Are these two screaming racketeering clowns to anyone else?
They should,
Romanik’s father, Robert, has said in the past that he was acting as a consultant for his son’s business. Robert Romanik was placed on probation in 1997 for lying to a grand jury during the Thomas Venezia gambling and racketeering investigation.
With just three days to go on a sentence of probation in the Venezia case, Romanik was charged in 1998 with bank fraud for concealing from a bank the true nature of loans used to build topless clubs in Washington Park and Centreville.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Under the plea agreement, Romanik agreed to sell his Washington Park c lub, which is now the Hustler Club.
And with all Metro East nefarious connections, unindicted co-conspirator Jerry Costello is only separated by one degree.
What adults do is their business, but the particular form of businesses in Metro East catering to adults are inextricably linked to racketeering and corruption.