The Federal Criminal Prosecutions in St. Louis Have Just Begun
The prosecution of five St. Louis politicians on the payroll of international drug traffickers is shocking - but barely the beginning.
My last few articles have been a fun romp down memory lane to the deep history of St. Louis organized crime. However, there are so many Federal prosecutions of top St. Louis politicians this week for being on the payroll of today’s gangsters that I have to bring it back to the present for this episode.
Because it’s also about the future. One that will involve a stunning number of individuals in the Eastern District of Missouri to be charged with connections to organized crime, hostile foreign intelligence, and all-too-regular public corruption.
The local media almost always downplays these Federal prosecutions. When the Feds hit local officials with major criminal charges, even if they are nominally over small stacks of cash, people might consider that the DOJ only unleashes these charges when 1) the U.S. Attorney has overwhelming evidence and 2) the prosecution serves a broader purpose for U.S. national security. And as I’ve mentioned, there are quite a few national security assets to protect around here.
So when the Feds reveal bribery cases connected to a Palestinian drug trafficker indicted as far back as 2017, smart locals might reflect on the national security implications of so many politicians being on that guy’s payroll. If they are really forward-thinking, they might wonder to whom else said drug trafficker might be connected. Because neutralizing those organized crime networks—and the spy networks which often attach to them—might be the real impetus behind the U.S. Government’s prosecutions.
And because there are many to more to come.
A steady increase in Federal criminal charges in St. Louis—even during the Trump era
You might think that during the Trump presidency, all forms of national security activities suffered. Last week’s prosecution in which Trump and his henchmen walked out the door with stolen top-secret docs from the CIA, NGA, NRO, DOD, DOE, etc. clearly indicate things were not going all that well from 2017 to 2021. However, the prosecutions in St. Louis during that same period showed that the FBI and DOJ still were making important progress toward cleaning up this very dirty place.
Here are a few of the full prosecutions that make you think that, despite no-doubt major obstacles, the Feds still drove toward making St. Louis safer.
Larry Arnowitz - St. Louis City Alderman
The DOJ indicted St. Louis Alderman Larry Arnowitz, who represented the historic neighborhood of Carondelet. Arnowitz held jobs in the treasurer’s office, license collector’s office, sheriff’s office, Board of Public Service’s office, city marshal’s office, the Department of Personnel and the city comptroller’s office, and also was personal assistant to some very, um, colorful power brokers in town. His connections to the Villa family were, of course, the most important of those.
To my mind, the Feds’ indictment of Arnowitz was more of a warning than anything else. The dollar amounts in his campaign finance mail fraud charge were de minimus and reflected practices, however felonious, shared among hundreds of Missouri politicians, that of dipping into campaign bank accounts for personal expenses.
Arnowitz’s daughter Traci had passed away only weeks before his Federal indictment, and a year later, before his imprisonment, Larry died of a heart attack.
I remain interested in why the U.S. Attorney’s Office here pursued Arnowitz.
Steve Stenger - St. Louis County Executive
While the “Mayor of St. Louis” sounds like the biggest executive job in the area, the City itself only has 330,000 residents. St. Louis County has 1,000,000 inhabitants, and thus the County Executive has the most power among local elected officials.
Steve Stenger, St. Louis County Executive from 2015-2019, was indicted for taking bribes from a local, um, businessman named John Rallo, whose family built parking lots for Las Vegas casinos, which of course has no interesting connotations at all, nope.
A lawyer/accountant with a very, very interesting client list prior to running for County Executive, Stenger was charged with honest services fraud-bribery and mail fraud. Yet to my mind, his shining achievement was producing the assholiest verbatims from Federal wiretaps ever reduced to written form for felony charging documents. They are to douchiness what the Herculean labors were to work: legendary to the point of disbelief.
With regards to Stenger’s 2018 electoral victory, which was to be short-lived:
STENGER: “How ‘bout that motherf---ers? I don’t show up to the Council meetings. I don’t do f---ing shit. I’ve been sitting at my house for the past two months f---ing raising money and then won by 20%! The world’s a f---ed up place.”
It reminds one of Augustus Caesar, Richard III, Roosevelt, Andrew Dice Clay.
On the subject of the patronage job he secured for an associate of billionaire Rex Sinquefield, he was similarly, um, frank:
STENGER: “I have aligned myself, the very best way you can be aligned with these guys [Better Together], which is like John Doe, which is like, I’ll explain it to both of you [William Miller and Jeff Wagener] in person. John Doe is here for one reason and one reason only. John Doe is an insurance policy. His wife is working for Rex, it’s a good faith effort on my part, I’m saying, hey look at, I’m willing to hire John Doe at 130 Grand. She’s Rex’s assistant. Kind of sends a message to all of them that I trust them. And they’ve done a lot to demonstrate that they trust me and they should. They’ve given me a lot of money, they’re almost up to like 700 Grand. I just want him to shut up, and make your 130 Grand and leave everybody alone. Quit doing what he’s doing. If he doesn’t like it, I guess he could go somewhere else, but I’d rather have him stay, then I can get my money. Just enjoy himself, enjoy the chain of command. Some people are here because they’re married to the Chief of Staff of Rex Sinquefield, and you’re one of them. Calm down.”
Stenger’s role with Rex Sinquefield and a plan for him to be the unelected executive of a greater St. Louis Metro Area is deeply interesting. And I’ll bet we haven’t heard the last of it from the Feds.
Lewis Reed - President of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen
On the payroll of drug traffickers, arrogant about his entitlement to be excused by Federal prosecutors over it, and I don’t have much else to say on that. He’s in Federal penitentiary right now, and the city is better off.
Do I have questions about his family’s potential connections to real estate transactions exploited by foreigners for money laundering which could have been applied to intelligence operations?
Yes.
Brandon Bosley - St. Louis City Alderman
Scion from a famous St. Louis political family, his hitting a pedestrian with his car, brandishing a pistol at her, and defrauding the police over it last Christmas (crazy video here) didn’t exactly indicate that he approaches public service with a sense of obligation, decorum, and gravitas.
Yesterday’s indictment for being in the pocket of drug traffickers was to be expected.
Tip of the iceberg
Mob-inspired normalcy bias leads Missourians to think that every one of these Federal prosecutions are separate incidents, each more unfortunate and less laden with implications for the entire city than the last.
The future, of course, doesn’t need anyone’s belief to happen. As such, the future here is that we will learn who is providing the money for this kind of public corruption, and why.
The answers are not all domestic, and the foreign answers are very ugly indeed.
More to come! Subscribe!