After graduating from UCLA, Albert Robles served terms as
mayor, councilman, and deputy city manager of South Gate, California, an
industrial community about 12 miles outside downtown Los Angeles. Soon after
Robles became city treasurer in 1997, he plotted to rule the city purely for
his own benefit. He even proclaimed himself “King of South Gate” and referred to
the city as his “fiefdom.” Once in power, Robles got involved in a number of
convoluted illegal schemes, including:
❚ Using the city’s treasury as his “private piggy bank for
himself, his family, and his friends” (according to acting U.S. Attorney George
Cardona), costing South Gate more than $35 million and bringing it to the verge
of bankruptcy
❚ firing city hall employees at will, replacing them with
supporters who had little experience
❚ Recruiting and bankrolling unqualified
local supporters for city council until he controlled the council
❚ Threatening anyone who stood in his way (suspiciously, one of his
adversaries on the city council was shot in the head)
Robles and his corrupt cronies then cooked up schemes to
line their own pockets with the public’s cash. In one such scheme, Robles
coerced businesses to hire a financial consultant, Edward Espinoza, in order to
win various city contracts, including senior housing and sewer rehabilitation
projects. As part of this plan, Robles and Espinoza set up a shell corporation
that raked in some $2.4 million—more than $1.4 million of which went straight
into Robles’s pockets. He used part of the money to buy a $165,000 beach condo
in Baja for his mother; he also forked over $55,000 for “platinum membership”
in a motivational group. In another scheme, Robles steered a $48 million refuse
and recycling contract to a company in exchange for more than $30,000 in gifts
and campaign contributions. In February 2003, Robles was targeted by a federal
grand jury looking into the handling of federal loans and grants. FBI and IRS
investigators pored over city records to uncover his illegal schemes. The
citizens of South Gate ultimately voted Robles and his cronies out of office
(but not before he racked up huge legal bills at the city’s expense), and he
was convicted at trial in July 2005. Two of his business associates—including
Espinoza—also went to prison. Robles’s illegal acts were the product of careful
plotting and planning. They were motivated by greed and not need. To some
criminologists, stories like these confirm the fact that many crimes are a
matter of rational choice.
Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Corruption in
City Hall: The Crooked Reign of ‘King’ Albert,” January 8, 2007
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