CAN YOU GUESS WHO'S WEARING THE WIRE?

By Juan Montoya
For the uninitiated in local politics, above is a photo that appeared during a grand opening ('tis the season of grand openings, it would appear) of mixed-income family dwellings called Vista Monterrey at the Brownsville Country Club.
There was much ado about the event with the participation of IBC Bank (that's president Freddy Rusteberg looking over over City Commissioner Deborah Portillo's right shoulder) and Bill Fisher, of Sonoma Housing Adevisors of Dallas.
This will be Fisher's fourth housing development managed by Sonoma and include Bowie Gardens, Candlewick and at least another one near Del Angel Funeral Home (Tropical Gardens?).
Why is Fisher's presence in Brownsville Housing authority projects newsworthy?
Mr. Fisher was involved in a FBI sting in Dallas, where Sonoma is headquartered. He eventually provided the FBI and the state with audio evidence (he wore a wire) that got a handful of city
officials indicted for demanding bribes for their approval of his projects. Up to now, it has been the biggest corruption case in the history of that city.
The events took place in mid-January 2005, with Fisher one of the main players..
The case involved former City Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee, a car dealer named Rickey Robertson and con man Jibreel Rashad who claimed to be construction contractors. Robertson and Rashad had formed a phony company called RA-MILL just one month earlier, with Lee as a hidden partner.
In fact, it was later learned that Rashad  had just wrapped up a mortgage fraud scheme that would eventually land him more than 11 years in a federal prison.)
Fisher, whose business was using federal tax credits and tax-exempt bonds to build apartments for low-income tenants, needed city council support for a new project, and Lee claimed he could help him secure a vote from Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill. But first, Lee wanted money.

According to the Dallas Observer article about the corruption case Fisher had a tiny video camera attached to his lapel. A thick cord ran down his left side underneath his shirt and into his pants pocket to a recording gadget. A switch to turn the devices on and off rested inside a coat pocket. A transmitter, clipped on the outside of his black bag and disguised as a garage door opener, fed live audio to federal agents nearby.
The four men had previously discussed two options to win Hill's vote and city council approval of a zoning change needed in Hill's district for Fisher's Dallas West Village – a name Lee suggested because he often spent time in Uptown's trendy West Village. The first option would require Fisher to ink a series of contracts with RA-MILL for subcontracting work at several of his affordable-housing projects, including one for $180,000 to install concrete and dry wall at Dallas West Village. Or Fisher could simply write a check for $540,000—roughly 3 percent of the total cost for
Dallas West Village. And what work would Lee, Rashad and Robertson perform for all that dough? None. Fisher's refusal to pay would eventually become part of the massive federal case that led to convictions for Lee, Robertson, Rashad and Hill along with 10 other defendants, the story states.
 As a result of Fisher's cooperation with the FBI,  Hill is serving a 18 year prison sentence in a federal penitentiary in Kentucky while his wife, Sheila Farrington Hill, ewas sentenced to nine years in Florida. Lee received 14 years; Rashad, four years and nine months; and Robertson, three years. South Dallas shakedown artists Darren Reagan (14 years) and Allen McGill (two years), former NFL linebacker and concrete contractor Kevin Dean (two years) and lawyer John Lewis (one year and one day) also were convicted in the conspiracy.
So the local guys better be sqeuaky clean in their dealing with Mr. Fisher. He, apparently, has friends in high (and low) places.

To read the Dallas Observer article, click on link: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/bill-fisher-handed-the-fbi-a-chance-to-clean-up-city-hall-does-that-make-fisher-mr-clean-6421758



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