What is going on everyone? Welcome back to the world according to Briggs. I am Briggs and I once
did the Kessel Run in less than 11 parceps. My record doesn't stand because I was using those
Nikes that have that little pogo stick in them apparently. I guess they're saying that was cheating. How are you supposed to get ahead if you don't do a little cheating? Did you know that
it's not just athletes that cheat? Sometimes our leaders and elected officials cheat. When they do
it, it's called corruption, fraud, conspiracy, theft of government funds, tax evasion, extortion
racketeering, insurance fraud, to name a few. Can you say corruption? The people on this list can
They heard it a bunch during their trials. We hear so much about government corruption these days
it almost sounds like it's something new. But trust me, it's been going on since the Romans
before the Romans. It's not just the big-time politicians, like the federal government and
stuff like that. Sometimes it's local politicians, like mayors. You know the dudes that give away the
oversized key to the city? The United States has a bunch of cities that had mayors due time
Some did a little time and others got the big ride like 20 years worth the big ride today
We're looking at cities that had mayors that went to prison and for how long I guess anytime you're talking about corruption
You're gonna have to start with Number 10 Camden, New Jersey Mayor Milton Milan
He was the first Latino mayor of Camden, New Jersey and he was elected 1997 before being convicted of corruption and as you can imagine removed from office becoming the third Camden mayor in 20 years to be
found guilty of corruption. To be honest, this list can be done with only New Jersey mayors. Most
of them only did a year or two, so they didn't make the cut for this list, but still, there's a
lot of them. Camden is known as one of the worst cities in the United States already, and then the
people get dudes like this, just making it worse for the 77,000 people that live there. Probably
it'll be closer to 70,000 in the upcoming census. That's what's predicted. He was convicted because
he laundered $65,000 in drug money, staged a break-in with his former business partner to
collect insurance money illegally. Like staging a burglary isn't already known as illegal. Is
there a legal staged break-in for insurance money? I don't know. He used campaign money to
pay for a vacation in Puerto Rico. He received two vehicles and thousands of dollars of free
work on his home from contractors and authorized a shakedown of a $5,000 political contribution
from the city's public defender. That's always great. Shaking down attorneys. The judge sentenced
them to the maximum allowed under federal sentencing guidelines of seven years and three
months in prison. Number nine, Cicero, Illinois. Betty Lauren Maltese is a former town president
of Cicero, Illinois. It's a city of about 84,000 and a suburb of Chicago. She is a member of the
Republican Party and was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but raised in the Chicago area. Wow
surprise, surprise. She's from two of the most corrupt places in the country, and she's a corrupt
politician. I guess nobody saw that one coming. Betty hit national spotlight for her role in an
insurance scam, which robbed the town of $12 million in funds back in the early 2000s. Betty
was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. She did her time in California. She was released
on February 26, 2010. I read a lot of things about Betty and most people feel that she was
pretty much a fall guy. Her husband was like a low level mobster and had mob ties and all that
stuff, I guess. Number eight, East Cleveland, Ohio. Emmanuel Anonwar is a Nigerian-American citizen who is the former mayor of East Cleveland
Ohio, a city of about 17,000 people. It a suburb of Cleveland in case the words East Cleveland didn tip you off Anonwar was sentenced to nine years in federal prison back in 2004 for public corruption and tax evasion Onan War is seen in a secret FBI video accepting seven bills in an envelope
Prosecutors said that it was bribe money from a one-time powerful Cleveland consultant
Earning time for good behavior, he was released to a halfway house in January of 2012
Now, okay, I'll give him this. Most of the time when I read things about corrupt politicians
they always claim that they were framed, they were set up, It's conspiracy from, you know, whatever
It's always something like that. They never own it. This is a quote from Anon War. He said to Fox News upon his releases
I wish I could go back, but I'm not going back to recount what happened. We all make mistakes
I made very bad choices and that's all it takes. So he owned up to it
At least there's that. Number seven, Progresso, Texas. Mayor Omar Vela, his father, Jose Guadalupe Vela Jr
and brother Michael Vela were arrested and charged with conspiracy mail fraud
violations of the Travel Act, theft, and bribery. These guys had the full boat
The 10-count indictment alleged that from June 2004 until somewhere around 2013
the Veloff family members conspired to obtain bribes and kickbacks from several service providers
Those allegedly included a construction company and an architectural firm that was hired by the city of Progreso
and the Progreso Independent School District to do some work. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison
This town is an absolute mess. In 2014, a school board trustee, so this is like a year after all that nonsense went down
the trustee, Felix Hernandez Jr., was arrested driving a tractor trailer loaded with about 1,200 pounds of marijuana
Now, that's according to the court records. I want to call a real estate agent and move here
There's so much drama, it's better than television. This place is more dysfunctional than most of my family reunions
Number six, New Roads, Louisiana. Former new roads mayor Tommy Nelson Jr.'s 10-year prison stretch came from his conviction in an FBI sting operation dubbed Operation Blight Official
Nelson was found guilty in 2011 of accepting more than $22,000 in cash and other gifts for a municipal contract to a fictitious garbage can cleaning business called Cipher 5000
He wasn't the only one caught up in this, you know, Operation Blight Officials, but the other ones were either too small or there's other factors
We won't get into that. Okay, maybe one that's a little strange. The sting also netted White Castle mayor Maurice Brown
What I found strange about this one, the mayor got 10 years for various forms of corruption
and the town named a street after him. I'm not even kidding, here it is. Number five, New Orleans, Louisiana
Ray Nagin was first elected as mayor in March of 2002. He was re-elected in 2006, and at the time, at least two-thirds of the city of New Orleans
were still displaced from Hurricane Katrina. He was term limited and left office on May 3rd, 2010
He was also famous for saying New Orleans is a chocolate city and it'll remain a chocolate
city at a news conference. This wasn't like him out drinking with friends
He said it like on the news. It seemed a little racist to me even at the time
And these days, I'm sure he'd be run out of town. Maybe not. I don't know. They really liked him
I remember him during the Hurricane Katrina coverage. He seemed very committed to the people of New Orleans and he actually seemed like he cared
I guess he did, but he was also very committed to having a large bank account
A federal jury found Ray Nagin guilty of bribery and fraud. The former New Orleans mayor, who was 57 at the time
was accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks
He was found guilty on 20 of those counts. Prosecutors also said Nagin accepted perks such as free travel
and he played a role in funneling money and granite actually to Stone Age a company that was run by his sons The Counts covered large portions of Nagin two terms as mayor So apparently he was doing this the whole time from 2002 to 2010
Like I said, he was there during Katrina and a lot of the money came from, you know, federal aid to
help rebuild New Orleans. It's just a shame because he was like a up and coming political star, I would
say at the time. Ray Nagin was convicted to 10 years in prison in 2014 for corruption. He's still
appealing and trying to get it overturned to this day. Number four, Jersey City, New Jersey. Thomas
Whelan was born in Jersey City on January 28th, 1922 as one of 13 children. To say the man had
roots in this town, it's kind of obvious he did. Whelan flew 63 missions in World War II as a pilot
for the Army Air Force. And that's what it was called before. It was the Army Air Force. It wasn't
I think the mid-1950s that the Air Force was split into its own thing, but it originally was part of
the Army. Anyway, thanks for your service, Tom, but this is where it gets a little squirrely
Whelan was appointed mayor in 1963 when his predecessor was forced to resign over questions
about his citizenship. Whelan then ran for mayor in 1965 and again in 1969, winning both times. In
1971, during his second term, Whelan was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of
New Jersey as a member of the Hudson County Eight and was convicted in federal court for conspiracy
and extortion in a multi-million dollar kickback scheme connected to the city and county contracts
Whelan served seven years of his 15-year sentence. He passed away in Florida in 2002. Now, the thing
about the Hudson County Eight, Whelan was one of eight city officials that were blatantly corrupt
From everything I've read, it was common knowledge that you had to go through these guys to get any
contracts in the city. And it was just, when it's common knowledge, you know someone's going to find
out about it eventually. And from everything I gathered, I don't think they cared. They were
accused and convicted of having demanded and accepted kickbacks amounting to hundreds of
thousands of dollars to do business in Jersey City and Hudson County for more than a decade
Number three, Birmingham, Alabama. Larry Kangford was an American politician who had a one-term
tenure as the mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Kangford was a very well-liked mayor by
most of the residents in Birmingham. The man did a lot of good for the city. And then there's the people that didn't like him
The people that didn't like him talked about Lankford's 2009 conviction for taking $235,000 in bribes
while serving on the Jefferson County Commission. He got caught sending a county sewer project
to an investment bank. Prosecutors said during the trial that Lankford accepted luxury suits, watches, and cash
He was sentenced to 15 years and released by a federal judge after only serving eight
He was in really bad health, really bad health. Langford died on January 8th of 2019 at the age of 72. He suffered from several illnesses, including which was the final blow COPD
I know a guy from birmingham that lived there most of his life He just recently moved to oregon a couple years back two years three years ago
Anyway, um, I mentioned this video to him and he said yeah He Langford got a lot of things done and he said a lot of people do like him
But this is what he said in my eyes. He'll always be a crook So I told him but yeah, you're a personal injury attorney
So that doesn't mean much he hung up the phone on me known this guy forever He hung up the phone on me
We haven't talked since. It's only been about three days, but still. Number two, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Ed Polowski is an American politician who served as the mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania
He was elected in 2006 and stayed there until his resignation in 2018
He resigned after he was convicted on 47 federal charges related to corruption at City Hall Now before that on April 17th 2015 Polowski announced that he would run for the Senate in 2016 but suspended his campaign the following July Now he also in 2014 said he was running
for the governor, but he couldn't get any money, so scrap that plan. So that's two scrap plans. But
on January 20th, 2016, the Allentown City Council unanimously voted no confidence in the mayor and
called for him to resign. He didn't, but he still had his plans for the Senate. What made him think
running for the freaking Senate was a good idea. The city didn't even want him anymore
but he still had plans to run for the Senate. So his trouble really started in 2013
The FBI began listening to communications in the Allentown City Hall. On July 2nd, 2015
the FBI raided the Allentown City Hall and Mayor Ed Pawlowski's home
as part of a more than two-year investigation into Allentown's contracting practices
Now that was in 2015. He still was going on with his plans for the Senate
and his freaking house got raided. Are you confused at this point? I am too. I don't know what this dude was thinking or what his advisors were thinking
This was a weird story and I read about it for two hours. I'm still totally confused
He was sentenced to 18 years, 15 years in prison and three years supervision
And number one, Detroit, Michigan. Kwame Kilpatrick was born June 8th, 1970
Kilpatrick attended Detroit's Cass Technical High School and graduated from Florida A&M University
with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1992. the Detroit College of Law
It's changed its name since, but still. Kilpatrick's mother, Carolyn, was a career politician
representing Detroit in Michigan's House of Representatives from 1979 to 1996, and serving in the United States House of Representatives
for Michigan's 13th Congressional District from 96 to 2010. I tell you all that so you know
this man knows right from wrong in politics and in life. Detroit's had a bad enough time
without all the garbage that was brought to this city by this guy and his people
That garbage includes denial of courtesy, protection from the police because of late night parties the police wouldn't protect him anymore
after hours because of what was going on at the mayor's mansion or his house or whatever preferential
hiring of friends and family he was accused of that abuse of power allegations 2010 indictment
for tax evasion and mail fraud fbi corruption investigations into kilpatrick's family and
friends sec investigation into pension fund influence peddling a dead stripper named strawberry
you name it it's happened with these people the federal bureau of investigation investigated
corruption within Detroit City Hall, in particular, how contracts were awarded. This all happened with
undercover video, wiretaps, and informants. As a result, Kilpatrick, who's 49 currently, will be
serving 28 years in prison for public corruption. He asked President Obama for a pardon and didn't
get one, and most recently, he reached out to President Trump asking for a pardon. Kilpatrick's
a lifelong Democrat, and I read the letter that he sent President Trump, and it's a whole lot of
butt kissing. It was pretty pathetic. But anyway, he's in jail for the long haul, and I'd be shocked
if he gets out any time before he's 70. All right, so that is my list. The most corrupt mayors in
America. I could probably do three lists like that, but those are the ones that kind of stuck out. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Hope you got some information out of it. Don't forget all the links
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