Whipped Cream Difficulties

We’ve got wrongful convictions, we’ve got banana republicans, and we’ve got pizza. Something for everyone: a comedy tonight. (Dammit, I miss Zero Mostel.)

In 2004, Omar Bradley, then mayor of Compton, was convicted of misappropriation of public funds. Also convicted with Mr. Bradley were Amen Rahh, a former council member, and John D. Johnson II, the former city manager.

Prosecutors said the men had used their city-issued credit cards for personal items and “double dipped” by taking cash advances for city business expenses and then charging the items to their city credit cards. Bradley was accused of misusing about $7,500 for purchases that included golf balls and shoes, cigars, a three-day stay in a penthouse hotel room and in-room movies.

Bradley’s conviction was on a felony charge: he served three years, could not hold public office, and lost his teaching credentials.

However, in another case last year, the California Supreme Court held:

…that officials must know or be “criminally negligent” for not knowing that they are doing something illegal in order to be guilty of misappropriation of funds.

The punchline?

Based on that case, the appeals court reversed its previous decision in Bradley’s case and overturned his conviction Wednesday.

(Rahh’s and Johnson’s convictions were not overturned.)

I’ve previously alluded to the police shootings in Anaheim, and observed that I don’t have a clear grasp of what’s going on. The NYT ran this story while I was on vacation, which I think gives a decent overview, and follows-up today with this story, which is more about the political and cultural divisions in Anaheim. (Note the correction at the bottom.)

As long as we’re on the NYT site, there’s another interesting story to talk about. Baithe Diop was a cab driver who was killed in 1995. Five men were convicted of his murder as part of  “an elaborate plot to distract the police from the intended crime: the theft of $50,000 worth of cocaine from a passenger in Mr. Diop’s car”.

But now, 15 years after the criminal trials, federal authorities have concluded that all five of those now imprisoned for the murder were innocent of the crime.

More:

The new findings suggest that there was a colossal breakdown in the criminal justice system. Robert T. Johnson, the Bronx district attorney since 1989, said through a spokesman on Thursday that his office had been notified of the new evidence discovered by federal prosecutors but had not yet been able “to resolve all of the questions that have been raised by this evidence.”

It now appears that the murder was actually committed by members of the “Sex Money Murder” gang.

So. Pizza. Mangia Pizza. As we have previously noted, Mangia went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. Mangia’s founder has proposed a plan to get them out of Chapter 11. However, another creditor has proposed a counter plan. The founder’s plan would (in theory) pay back unsecured creditors 100% of what they’re owed over the next ten years; the competing plan would give that creditor control of the company, and pay back the unsecured creditors 22 cents on the dollar. The founders have since modified their plan so that the unsecured creditors will get 22 cents on the dollar immediately,”with assurances to pay the remainder of the amount owed in coming years”.

(If I was a creditor, given the situation, I wouldn’t count on getting 100% of my money back in ten years, or ever. I’d take my 22 cents on the dollar and consider anything after that found money.)

What makes this even more interesting is that the competing creditor, “Cloud Cap LLC,  a subsidiary of Austin-based management and investment firm Pileus Group LLC” became a creditor by buying a claim from a place called Knife Sharpist, which (duh) sells knives and does knife sharpening. (I’ve been there a couple of times. They do good work.) The total amount of Knife Sharpist’s claim was $244.66.

Cloud Cap’s plan calls for changes to Mangia’s menu, a revamp of the restaurant’s décor and additional locations.

(For Austin residents who might be confused, the Mangia at Gracy Farms (which the Statesman constantly calls The Domain: it isn’t) and the one on Lake Austin are owned by another company and aren’t involved in the Chapter 11 proceeding. The Chapter 11 proceedings only involve the location on Mesa and the one at the airport. But it does make me wonder: if Cloud Cap takes control, will they force those two locations to change the name?)

[Michelle] Musick [Mangia’s bookeeper] said Mangia’s management has already taken steps to get the company back on stable footing, including closing stores in Round Rock and on Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas campus.
“The Guadalupe store was actually breaking even, but the rent was so astronomically high,” she said. “The Round Rock store was bleeding money.”

Mangia, according to the article, owes “more than $750,000”. (How much more?)

Records show that the Internal Revenue Service is owed the most, about $190,000. Other creditors include the state comptroller’s office, Travis County and the Round Rock school district, as well as several businesses.