ESL players face prison time in 2006
Two years ago, I predicted that East St. Louis political boss Charlie Powell, Regulatory Affairs Director Kelvin Ellis and other East Boogie political bloodsuckers were headed for prison.
I’m not a prophet. Anyone living and breathing in ESL knew that these characters were arrogant and brazen in their exploitation of politics for the achievement of their own selfish ends. Unfortunately, most ESL natives were either too afraid to denounce them or too dependent upon them for political crumbs.
In 2005, not only did their demise come to fruition but, thanks to an extensive federal investigation into vote fraud, unimaginable and wanton cases of political corruption (by others) were also revealed, causing a virtual housecleaning of ESL city government.
For the hopeless, the past two weeks have been nothing short of reassuring and reaffirming.
Former ESL Police Chief Ron Mathews, 56, was convicted on charges of obstruction of justice, attempted obstruction of justice and perjury before a grand jury. This resulted from his attempts to seize a handgun from federal evidence, in order to prevent the prosecution and possible deportation of Ayoub“Dave” Qattoum, a felon who just happened to be an ESL auxiliary cop and local businessman.
Mathews, a 32-year police veteran, faces up to 30 years in prison and the loss of his policeman’s pension, all over a $1,500 bribe. As Forest Gump would say, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Mathews is scheduled to be sentenced on March 20.
According to testimony, Qattoum paid Mathews a bribe of $1,500 for the return of the gun, which was taken (from Qattoum) during a scuffle with an ESL cop.
However, acting as an undercover mole, Rudy “Showtime” McIntosh (of the ESLPD) arranged the exchange of the bribe for the gun, intercepting the gun (on behalf the FBI) as evidence.
The trial revealed multiple layers of political corruption (at various levels) within ESL city government. Qattoum testified that he not only loaned Mathews $500 to bail his girlfriend out of jail, but also claimed to have frequently given money to Powell, Ellis and others to gain political influence.
Qattoum even described his gas station as a sort of personal Stop N Shop for Coucilmen Powell, Eddie Jackson, Ellis and other politicians who, according to him, were allowed to literally help themselves to merchandise from his shelves.
Speaking of Kelvin Ellis, guess who found himself back before a judge two weeks ago?
Ellis, a two-time loser who already did one prison stint back in the early 1990s (on federal extortion charges) and is currently on lock-down, resulting from his guilty plea to obstruction of justice charges, is accused of approving a murder plot against a federal witness.
This time, however, Ellis stood before Judge William Stiehl, who (very generously) referred to him as a “political parasite” before handing him a 21-month prison sentence for failure to pay over $43,000 in taxes.
To make matters worse, Ellis even collected over $30,000 (in rent) from New Life Christian Church on a building that he didn’t even own. Talk about going to hell with gasoline drawers!
Ellis is the classic example of the reprehensible, political vulture who has no intention of ever reforming, no matter how many times he is caught in the act. He is contemptible and clearly lacks anything resembling a conscience.
Ron Mathews epitomizes the greed and corruption that has existed in ESL politics since the days of Alvin Fields, East Boogie’s last white mayor.
In 2006, ESL taxpayers will breathe a sigh of relief when Mathews, Ellis, Powell and their cronies will be sent away (hopefully for a long time) for violating the trust of the ESL community.
The New Year will find more ESL politicians under scrutiny and on trial (you know who you are). So, with the exception of these characters, I’d like to wish everyone a prosperous and safe New Year!
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.