Posted on 03/29/2025 4:03:15 AM PDT by Libloather
EVERETT, Mass. (AP) — For years, the mayor of a Boston suburb dreaded Wednesdays. That was the day when a local weekly would publish shocking allegations that he was on the take, sexually harassing women or under investigation by the FBI.
Friends trashed Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria on Facebook over what the Everett Leader Herald printed. His father threatened to disown him — over stories the mayor knew were lies.
“They labeled me as a ‘Kickback Carlo.’ Accusations that I was settling all kinds of sexual harassment lawsuits, that I put a knife to a girl’s throat and asked for sexual favors,” DeMaria said. “It was awful. It was disgusting.”
An unusual libel law win
Almost everything the paper wrote about DeMaria turned out to be fake, enabling him to win a $1.1 million settlement in December that finally shut down the nearly 140-year-old paper.
Such defamation victories are exceedingly rare under the Supreme Court’s “actual malice” standard for public figures. That willing disregard for the truth became abundantly evident when the paper’s editor swore in court to tell the truth, and admitted to fabricating story after story in an unrelenting smear campaign.
But DeMaria hardly had time to celebrate. Now preparing for his seventh mayoral campaign, he’s been accused of padding his salary with bonus payments — an issue the paper covered four years ago — and this time, the state of Massachusetts is pressing the City COUNCIL...
**SNIP**
After a lengthy investigation, the Inspector General concluded in February that DeMaria colluded with his finance officer and budget director to retroactively get $180,000 from 2016 to 2021, hiding the payments within other line-items. The IG also concluded that DeMaria may have violated state ethics law by participating in the drafting and approval of the ordinance that padded his pay.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
What’s his mob nickname?
I had to ask my AI to verify his political affiliation, which the AP failed to report and you can guess what it is? Situations in a Liberal enclave like Everett have to get really bad before the people wake up. It’s almost as if the people are all masochists.
.
Tiny
Looks a lot like John Belushi in his prime.
Jabba the Hut
I was thinking more like Flounder than Bluto.
LOL
Kinda reminds me of Capone…
No scar, however.
The scars are on the inside! ::sobs::
WHERE THERE IS SMOKE—_THERE IS FIRE
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