There's a lot of stories coming from Bob Scandiffio, Scott Rothstein's former bodyguard. He spent thousands of hours providing security for the Ponzi schemer, after all. I'm compiling as quickly as possible, but for now, let me share some quick observations from Scandiffio regarding some of the bigger-name public officials with whom Rothstein socialized.
Scandiffio, upon questioning, told me that Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley was at Bova Prime "every day." But he liked the police chief. "He was a real nice guy," Scandiffio told me. "He's just super nice."
I asked Scandiffio if he ever saw Adderley get comped drinks or meals at Bova, an allegation the chief denies. "I never hung around to see if he paid his bill," said the bodyguard. "But let me put it this way: If you drank with Scott, you drank for free. It was on his bill, period. That's all I can say."
Scandiffio went along on the private plane trip to the New York Jets-Dolphins game that was attended by Adderley, Broward Undersheriff Tom Wheeler, and BSO Lt. David Benjamin. He said that they flew in car dealer Ted Morse's jet, a Falcon, but that Rothstein paid for everything that day, including ground transportation and any meals or drinks. He said everyone watched the game from a luxury skybox at
Giants Stadium for the December 28, 2008, game that the Dolphins won 24-17. During the game, he said that Adderley couldn't see past someone standing up in the stands in front of them. When Adderley asked the young man to sit down, he started yelling at the police chief and called him the N-word, Scandiffio said.
"When I heard that, I grabbed the kid and pulled him up into the box," said Scandiffio, who is six-foot-two, 270 pounds. "I actually grabbed him out of his sneakers. His shoes didn't come up with him. I stood him there and had him apologize to Adderley and to everyone else in the room."
While Benjamin and Wheeler were tight with Rothstein, Scandiffio said he always got the feeling that Sheriff Al Lamberti wasn't comfortable around his former boss.
"They didn't have much of a relationship, I don't think," said Scandiffio. "I would say it was a very small relationship. I don't think Lamberti liked the way Scott acted around him. Scott loves for people to know he knows these people like the sheriff and the governor. So when he saw Lamberti, he would throw his arms around him and say things like, 'Sheriff, how the fuck are you doing? Come over here and sit down, you fucking scumbag.' It was a big show for Scott with these guys, and it looked funny when he did it with Lamberti. He was never comfortable around Scott, and he didn't come around very much."
He said Rothstein would pull the same stunt with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
"I saw the governor at his house a few times," said Scandiffio. "He'd say, 'Hey, motherfucking governor,' you know. He'd call him 'your governorness' and slap him on the back and say, 'How the hell are you doing?' He'd treat him like he was just as important as he was or more important. That's the way Scott did it."
(Thanks to Model Citizen for permission to use his Lamberti-Capt. Stubing photo illustration.)
