Columnist James Ingram
OK, you know the drill by now. East St. Louis City Hall is raided by federal agents. Boxes are hauled off in full view of media. City officials are indicted. Convictions soon follow, and a few political bloodsuckers are hauled off to federal prison. Got it? Good.
Because on last Thursday, ESL Mayor Alvin Parks Jr.’s office was the latest target of an FBI and IRS raid. TV cameras rolled as federal agents hauled away a flatbed cart full of files, boxes and records pertaining to an “ongoing investigation” into potential irregularities regarding liquor license fees, according to an FBI spokesperson.
Parks, upon returning from a “business trip,” said, “They’re (FBI and IRS) looking for some records from the office … of the liquor commission (Parks is also the Liquor Commissioner) … to the best of my knowledge, we’ve been doing things completely within the law and above board.”
We shall see, Mayor Parks. Conspicuously unavailable was ESL Deputy Liquor Commissioner Walter Hill, an appointee and political crony of Parks’.
I would bet that during Parks’ conversation with the FBI (on last Friday) that Mr. Hill either was a part of (or a topic of) their discussion.
Let’s cut to the chase here. In municipal government, some of the areas most prone to political kickbacks are in the areas of building permits, business permits or liquor licenses. The “shakedowns” generally come from crooked liquor officials or inspectors who extort dollars (under the table) in exchange for the granting of licenses or permits.
Hopefully, Parks and Hill are completely innocent of such impropriety. For the record, I’ve never known the FBI and IRS to haul away tons of records only to, later, say, “Oops, our bad.”
Generally, the feds confiscate records to corroborate incriminating evidence (and recorded conversations) that they already have. The raids are a mere formality. If I were Parks, I’d be very, very nervous about now.
First, Parks’ brother-in-law (Rocco Goins) lost the accreditation for ESL emergency disaster services. Now with “Liquor-gate,” East Boogie could be in danger of federal indictments against those within his administration.
Just last week, Parks was noticeably absent at a press conference held by federal, state, county and local law enforcement officials calling for an earlier closing of ESL nightclubs and establishments which serve liquor in an attempt to prevent crimes and murder. Parks has been reluctant to comply with requests for such restrictions.
A word of advice to Parks: Assume that everyone around you is wearing a wire. That’s not paranoia. That’s recognition of the fact that East Boogie is filled with politicians with felony records who still need to fulfill their obligations to the feds.
And I would stop alluding to the feds’ raid as a “distraction and an inconvenience.” You need all the friends that you can get at this point –especially those who have a track record of sending ESL politicians to federal prison.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.