The Most Offensive People of 2009: Scott Rothstein, Dalia Dippolito, and Jimmy Buffett

Comments (0) By Michael J. Mooney Thursday, Dec 31 2009

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But since he took over the franchise from H. Wayne Huizenga, new Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross has made several peculiar, unnatural moves. He brought in Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, and Venus and Serena Williams as minority owners. He sold the naming rights to the stadium to LandShark beer — ignoring the fact that sharks like to eat marlins and dolphins. Worst of all, though, he had Jimmy Buffett — whose Margaritaville corporation owns LandShark — write a new team song, to be played before the game, after every Dolphins touchdown, and whenever victories are sealed. Buffett reworked "Fins" — one of his old tunes that has nothing to do with football — and included odd lyrics like: "We gotta shut off our cell phones/And get our arms up in the air/We are entering the 'FinZone' " and "In the warm South Florida sun/The tailgate's down so gather 'round/For some pre-game LandShark fun.

In addition to being a cringe-worthy anthem that might actually get the home crowd to root against the Dolphins, the song is also a sad testament to just how corporate-minded the King Parrothead has truly become. Sure, he's capitalized in the past — remember the books? The high-end brand of booze? The dreadful chain of restaurants (operated by Outback Steakhouse)? This new song trumps them all, because it is so weak and blatant — and dumb. Plus, he had the nerve to call the old song "awful."

Dave Arkle

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Who doesn't love the classic Jimmy Buffett hits? What tightass couldn't smile with a beer in one hand and sing along as the jukebox blares, "Some people say that there's a woman to blame..."? But now Buffett has reduced himself to a not-so-thinly veiled shill for soulless corporate America. If Buffett could manufacture himself in China, he probably would. Dear Mr. Buffett — Why don't we get drunk and... stop writing terrible songs?!

Dirt Meter: 6 (Under his T-shirt and shorts is a hidden suit and tie.)

Dalia Dippolito

When Boynton Beach police officers brought Dalia Dippolito to a crime scene and informed her that her husband of six months had been murdered, she burst immediately into a crying, shrieking, convulsing ball of grief. Dalia had a secret, though: Her tears were phony. She'd actually contracted a hit man to murder her new husband, 42-year-old Michael Dippolito.

The police had a few secrets too, though: The man Dalia believed was a hit man was actually a police informant, the entire crime scene had been staged and caught on video, and her husband was still alive.

After her arrest, details of Mrs. Dippolito's murderous plot became clearer. Police released transcripts and tapes of conversations in which Dalia negotiated a payment plan, explained the alarm system in the house, and said she was "5,000 percent sure I want this done." The dark-eyed brunet with toned olive skin and surgically enhanced breasts was a real-life, would-be femme fatale.

Soon it became clear that Michael, her husband, was no saint either. He has served two years in prison for organized fraud and grand theft, is rumored to have ties to organized crime, and skipped out on a paternity suit for nearly 12 years. As a matter of fact, Michael first met his lovebird Dalia when he was already married; Dalia had been an escort he invited over when his wife was out of town. Soon after divorcing, he married Dalia and transferred a $250,000 house to her name. Even after the wedding, however, Dalia continued seeing a number of other men.

For her alleged crimes, Dalia will go to trial sometime next year in what will surely prove to be an entertaining circus. Justice aside, Dalia guaranteed herself a spot on this list the second that footage of those horrendous crocodile tears hit the airwaves.

Dirt Meter: 8 (This story has no sympathetic characters at all.)

Derek Cook and Ryan Levin

At 2:45 a.m. February 13, two British businessmen, Craig Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48, were walking along A1A just south of Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. Seemingly out of nowhere, a white Porsche 911 Turbo came speeding right at them, killing both men before continuing down the road without stopping. The randomness and cruelty of the crime shocked South Florida. As the disturbing facts of the case trickled out, they brought only more questions.

Police records indicate that Ryan Levin (a 34-year-old heir to a costume jewelry empire in Chicago) and Derek Cook (a 37-year-old from Tamarac with several felony arrests) both drove Levin's Porsche that night.

Levin claims that he and Cook partied at the Solid Gold strip club and then at Blue Martini — where he says they switched cars. Eventually they headed south, toward Levin's oceanfront condo. Because there's simply no better way to end a nice night out with friends than endangering the public, somewhere along A1A the two men got into a drag race. As they passed Las Olas heading south, the Porsche struck and killed the two Britons. Both cars sped off.

Not long afterward, an officer saw the two men — driving each other's cars — and stopped Levin in Cook's BMW. Police later found the Porsche, with smeared blood and a smashed windshield, abandoned near Interstate 595. But it's unclear whether Levin is telling the truth or whether he switched cars after the accident. Levin was recently released from jail in Chicago, where he did time for a police chase that also involved cocaine. Police have been tight-lipped about the investigation and whether they've spoken to Cook, but no arrest has been made in the case.