Lately, I’ve been noticing a Baltimore-L.A. connection.
During the Christmas holidays, I was in L.A. I read in the newsprint L.A. Times about the Zell meeting or press conference, where he discussed his intentions toward the newspapers he’s gained control of: Chicago Trib., L.A. Times, Baltimore Sun, etc. Of course, the article discussed possible real estate machinations in L.A., and barely mentioned the other cities. So I had to scan the Baltimore Sun online to learn what might be happening in Charm City.
I had to do the same thing when it came to the coverage about Rick Neuheisel being hired as the new UCLA football coach. I don’t think I ever knew that he had been with the Ravens (I barely pay attention to football). The article in the L.A. Times about his hiring didn’t describe what he’d been doing for the Baltimore team, so I had to find an article online at the Sun website.
I just picked up the latest issue of the Baltimore City Paper, the free weekly. The cover story is about a big drug bust involving a Baltimore drug wholesaler and his Latino (Mexican or Mexican American) suppliers in L.A.
It turns out that this Baltimorean was key to a series of arrests that eventually included a L.A. grocery chain owner, who the authorities have been itching to convict as a drug trafficker.
The grocery guy is a former business associate of a fellow who owns parking lots and warehouses in downtown L.A. This real estate magnate has a son, who (the article says) was convicted in the mid-90s in the biggest drug case in Minnesota history. (Is that still the largest on record? Was Guy Noir involved?)
The son was pardoned by Clinton in 2000. Afterwards, it “became publicly known” that the father had “donated money to prominent local, state and congressional representatives to write letters on his son’s behalf.” He had also persuaded the U.S. Attorney (L.A. District), L.A. County Sheriff, and the L.A. (Roman Catholic) Cardinal to lobby the White House.
The scandal got worse when Drug Enforcement Administration documents “later surfaced that alleged [the businessmen] were major Southern California drug traffickers.”
Anyhow, the impression I get from these three stories is that Baltimore is in danger of becoming a background backwater accessory to news and scandal out of L.A. Of course, Baltimoreans wouldn’t think so… but maybe it’s become a moot point, by now.