Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Found Guilty of Racketeering

A cold Monday in Detroit.

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This is rock bottom for Kwame Kilpatrick.

Today, a jury announced that the disgraced former mayor of Detroit had been found guilty of the most damning charge in his federal corruption case—that of racketeering. Though he'll be sentenced at a later date, Kilpatrick could face a maximum of 20 years in prison. This afternoon, a judge will decide whether Kilpatrick and the other defendants will remain free men until the sentencing or go straight to jail.

Along with Bernard Kilpatrick and Bobby Ferguson, the former mayor was slapped with over 30 charges including extortion, federal mail and tax fraud and racketeering; Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 of the charges. Ferguson was the only one to escape charges for tax fraud, and Bernard Kilpatrick managed to dodge the racketeering charge.

Among the allegations were claims that Cobo Hall contractor Karl Kado recognized that he had to bring $10,000 in cash to the mayor's office whenever Kilpatrick asked him to stop by. Another businessman who sought contracts from City Hall claimed that he received compensation of $4,800 to retrieve the mayor's suits from layaway before being invited to make a bid on a contract.

There are other sordid details, like Bernard Kilpatrick giving an earful to contractor James Rosendall for delivering cash in a public parking lot while the FBI tapped the meeting. This reeks of the whole Clay Davis and Stringer Bell subplot on The Wire, doesn't it?

Anyway, Monday—and life—just got a lot worse these gentlemen.

[via CBS Detroit]

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