Miami Beach code enforcement boss at center of FBI nightclub sting pleads guilty

Miami Beach code enforcement boss at center of FBI nightclub sting pleads guilty - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com: "Miami Beach’s lead code enforcement officer at the center of a bribery scandal that rocked City Hall pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge Monday. In April, Jose L. Alberto, 41, was among seven Miami Beach employees arrested by the FBI on charges of conspiring to extort a South Beach nightclub owner out of $25,000 last year. In his plea agreement, Alberto admitted personally accepting $16,600 in bribes. Other charges in an indictment will be dismissed. Alberto, who was hired by the city in 1993, earned $122,000 with overtime pay in 2011 as the second-in-command of the Building Department’s code compliance division. Now fired, Alberto is facing up to six years in prison at his Nov. 2 sentencing before U.S. District Judge Robert Scola. Prosecutors accused Alberto and his colleagues of shaking down the owner of Club Dolce on Ocean Drive while demanding he pay for “protection” to avoid city fines and inspections. The sensational sting operation featured an undercover FBI agent posing as the club manager who fooled them all as he partied with some of the municipal employees. According to a recorded conversation in November 2011, the agent told Alberto that he “would take care of people” to ensure the nightclub’s success. Alberto responded: “As long as you ain’t no FBI or none of that s---. We are straight. . . . ”

Or as Obama might say: another hard working, underpaid public servant goes down.

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