MIAMI – Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo’s former aid testified on Friday during a civil trial in federal court, as the owners of Ball & Chain demand $2.4 million in damages.
While under oath, Steven Miro, who served as the District 3 liaison, said he went from being Carollo’s right-hand man to becoming a target of his anger after he reported his “improprieties” to the city manager and the mayor.
Before a U.S. District judge, Miro said Carollo “didn’t like anything to do with public records” or “any type of trail” even though as a city employee and as a public official records were required.
Miro also said the former Miami mayor had shown a pattern of targeting the businesses owned by William “Bill” Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who filed the lawsuit against Carollo in 2018 alleging First Amendment violations.
Fuller and Martin accused the veteran politician of abusing his power during a relentless political vendetta after they supported his opponent. The alleged harassment involved police raids, repeated code inspections, and even the commissioner’s late-night visits.
Miro’s testimony followed that of two other witnesses who reported Carollo, a Cuban American, complained about a mural depicting Black Cubans on Eighth Street in Miami’s Little Havana.
The witnesses, who used to work for the city, said he didn’t want visitors to think the neighborhood was like Liberty City, a predominantly Black inner-city neighborhood in Miami with a history of segregation.
Miro said Carollo retaliated against him and this resulted in him losing his job with the city. He also told Carollo’s attorneys that some of the commissioner’s efforts while in office were part of a campaign promise to improve residents’ quality of life.
During his recent testimony, former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, who is a police chief in Colorado, also attributed his firing to Carollo’s vindictiveness after he reported the commissioner’s misconduct to his higher-ups after just months on the job.
Assistant Police Chief Richie Blom, Carollo’s former chief of staff, and Acevedo’s predecessor, Jorge Colina, also testified that Carollo had often targeted the businesses that Fuller and Martin owned in the city.
Earlier in the trial, Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, said police and code enforcement officers were afraid that if they didn’t do what Carollo wanted they too could be fired.
The civil trial was set at the federal courthouse in Broward County, but the recent flood emergency in Fort Lauderdale forced the court to move the case to the federal courthouse in downtown Miami.