Whipped Cream Difficulties

This is a great day.

Somebody (I believe it was Harlan Ellison) once wrote that the most eloquent speech of Spiro Agnew‘s career in politics was “Nolo contendere“.

Robert “Ratso” Rizzo, former city manager of Bell, gave that same speech today.

Longtime Bell city administrator Robert Rizzo, who became a national symbol for public corruption for alleged graft in the small city, pleaded no contest to 69 charges, prosecutors said Thursday.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement that Rizzo had agreed to serve 10 to 12 years in state prison, which she described as the largest sentence ever in an L.A. County public corruption case.

10 to 12 years in state prison. I have only one thing to say about this:

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena!

(The comments at the LAT do raise some interesting questions: is this part of a deal where Rizzo is going to roll on the other council members? Remember, all but one of the indicted council members still have retrials pending. Also, Angela Spaccia, Rizzo’s former assistant, is still facing trial; will he roll on her? And there’s no mention in the LAT that Rizzo will have to pay any restitution.)

Edited to add: The LAT is still updating coverage:

Rizzo also plans to testify against his former second-in-command, Angela Spaccia, who is still facing trial on similar charges, according to his attorney, former federal prosecutor James Spertus.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 3rd, 2013 at 3:01 pm and is filed under California Über Alles, Clippings, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.