Eighteen of them crowd together under the basket at the south end of the court. Most stand menacingly with their hands on their hips, in tank tops that show well-defined muscles. The loudest of them is Rick Smith, an African-American debt collector from here in West Palm Beach who isn’t…
The guy behind the wheel of the Corolla doesn’t look amused. It’s too early in the morning to put up with harassment from some dirty bum. The driver starts to roll up the window before the drunk, who looks as if he has rubbed cake mix on his face, shouts,…
Jimmy King leans forward over the poker table with his arms crossed in front of him and glares at the few dollars in the pot, counting what he’ll win. Tight poker players like King, who go to the casinos every day just to scratch out enough for a modest living,…
Before all the fighting and bickering, before the arguments that seem to bring George W. Bush that much closer to reelection, 65-year-old Ruth Pleva sits comfortably between the oversized cushions on her living room couch. She fiddles with a brie-and-cracker spread on the table in front of her and spears…
Duane Brown has been dreaming for a week now, so it’s certainly possible that this vision he’s seeing is the start of a new one. There’s a doctor standing over him. He can see the man’s outline and white coat, though what he sees must be clouded by a concussion…
It was lunchtime on a hot Friday in October, and the Ortiz family cottage on Morton Avenue in West Palm Beach seemed to be bursting with restless kids. The house, a cramped, two-bedroom rental unit, maybe two dozen paces from end to end, resounded with the din of five hungry…
“She’s hot and horny and double busty,” says the DJ at T’s in West Palm Beach. “Guys, put your hands together for former governor candidate Mary Carey.” Out prances South Florida’s own Mary Carey, the Broward County-bred porn star turned politician, in a horned hat and leopard pelts over her…
It’s been too long since Joe Buffalino has smiled. We’ve been in the rumbling Greyhound bus for going on 30 hours now, and any sign of happiness has long passed into boredom. But he has reason to smile now. From behind the chemical plants spread like moss over northern New…
The Sunset Lounge had just finished serving its last drinks late one night in June 2001 when Officer James Megathlin parked his patrol car around the corner. At Henrietta Avenue and Eighth Street, the Sunset is dead center in West Palm Beach’s downtown ghetto. Clubgoers began spilling out, mixing on…
Irv Mordes has a manuscript under his wrinkled and spotted hands, but he doesn’t want to open it yet. It’s too soon. He needs to build up anticipation for that four-inch-thick text of his life’s most important work. So he ponderously goes through his story the way old men do,…
The sun had just peeked over the slash pines in Loxahatchee early on a recent Monday as Terry Wolf got ready for the dirtiest job around. He looked the part of a man who oversees the care of 1,100 animals at Lion Country Safari, the drive-through zoo in this western…
Carla Coleman had many titles in her 18 years working for Florida Atlantic University, from low-paid research assistant to her most-recent gig as senior vice president, pulling in a six-figure salary. Now, the heroine of the school’s fundraising efforts is serving a new role: fall guy. Coleman allegedly went behind…
Hernán Marcelo Vega should have his own infomercial describing his recipe for fast cash. Sure, it involves skirting a few hefty federal laws. And yes, it centers on supplying guns to terrorists and guerrilla groups that could kidnap and kill thousands. But Vega, and dozens of other gunrunners in South…
Back in May, the South Florida Blood Bank brought in former surgeon general David Satcher and a cadre of local politicians to break ground on its new headquarters in northern Palm Beach County. Things seemed peachy as the blood bank announced a campaign to raise $10 million to pay for…
A smoke machine fills the doorway with fog as two studs enter from stage left. Looking as if they have just walked off the set of A Night at the Roxbury, they’re wearing gray suits and satin shirts with three buttons undone at the top. The camera pans them slowly…
Usually, Sebastian Ordoñez is a race-car driver only when he’s pushing toy cars across his bedroom floor. The 8-year-old will sputter engine noises between his lips as he maneuvers imaginary Formula One racetracks all over the globe. “In like Brazil, Australia, lots of places,” he says. He’ll be a star…
“Gooood morning, everybody,” the guy with the comb-over bellows before stopping himself and turning to the blond woman on his right. “I mean, gooood morning, Florida. Ha, ha, ha.” It’s just the kind of cheery greeting Bob Nichols wants for his opening monologue on his new show, Good Morning Florida…
It’s 28 hours before showtime and Jim Bailey hasn’t found his inner woman. He’s on stage for the final rehearsal at the Atlantis Playhouse, a strip-mall theater in Lantana where he’s doing a 12-show stint impersonating Barbra Streisand. Bailey is trying to sing “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” but…
It began with a knock on the front door, as had so many murders before it. Ciro Garcia had come to the rundown trailer on Gun Club Road in West Palm Beach to claim his wife. Kim Garcia was deep in a crack addiction. He had heard Kim was living…
Walking around his Riviera Beach headquarters, one can easily figure out that Warren Mosler isn’t trying to impress the buying public. The place has needed a good sweep for months. Dirt and leaves are strewn across the entrance. The white walls are streaked with greasy fingerprints. The counters look as…
Nicholas J. Kalman sits on the edge of the high office chair and bends his slender upper body over the desk in front of him, neatly clasping his hands together. He has a caring smile, perfectly parted hair, and an honest, freckled face that’ll get him far in the affairs…
It’s the second round of an extreme fighting match in Atlantic City on Friday, and the crowd isn’t happy. Fighter Din Thomas, who trains in Fort Lauderdale, dominates the no-holds-barred bout with jabs and right hooks more akin to boxing. The quick punches keep opponent Matt “The Terror” Serra from…
