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Clean Plate Charlie

Bobby Gordash Leaves Holy Mackerel

By David Minsky
Clean Plate Charlie

First Look: Amatsu Sushi & Sake

By Sara Ventiera
Clean Plate Charlie

Boca Raton's The Mexican To Reopen As 101 Cantina

By Nicole Danna
Clean Plate Charlie

Free Fondue for Graduates at the Melting Pot

By Sara Ventiera
Clean Plate Charlie

Chef Walks Out at 3rd & 3rd

By Sara Ventiera
Clean Plate Charlie

S3 Restaurant to "Pop" Open This Month

By Sara Ventiera
Clean Plate Charlie

Help Benihana Support St. Jude

By Rebecca Dittmar
Clean Plate Charlie

Poland Bans Frankenfoods: Florida Activists, Reps Move Forward

By Sara Ventiera

Best Local Boy Gone Good

Dan Catalfumo

A A A Comments (0) Thursday, May 12 2005

Accused of abusing his fiancée, Dan Catalfumo followed the textbook defense taken by many a rich man before him. Catalfumo, who heads a $100 million construction empire, faced an aggravated battery charge for a November 2003 fight with girlfriend Heather Hill that could've landed him in state prison for 15 years. So he hired a high-priced legal team headed by Richard Lubin, brought in a cadre of friends to discredit his accuser, and then paraded a superstar list of expert witnesses to pick apart her story. Instead of being an indictment of Catalfumo, it became a three-week, 45-witness trial of Hill's credibility. Instead of choking and beating her, the story became that Hill was a messy drunk who fell into a glass picture frame on her own (don't you hate when that happens?). She caused the 53 stitches, not Catalfumo. And that ex-girlfriend who claimed Catalfumo had beaten her? She was deftly recast as a liar and backstabber who's nothing more than an ex-stripper. By the end, Catalfumo followed in the footsteps of O.J. and walked. A jury acquitted him March 1 on all charges. It was a victory for the justice sys... uh, no, a victory for rich men everywhere who have been accused of abusing their women. And in a court system in which everybody knows it's a waste of time to charge the rich with a crime, isn't Catalfumo the real victim here?