The Binge Cases: Scary Terri - The Sellout | 4. Progress Over People

Episode Date: November 9, 2021

When fancy new developments like The Gold Line expansion get proposed, residents of Boyle Heights wonder if it’s actually for them, or if these new new things are meant to attract future residents... a.k.a. gentrifiers. A mechanic is harassed by the city of Los Angeles after he refuses to sell his land to make way for construction. And Huizar's re-election campaign against Rudy Martinez gets petty. A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes now or listen weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What was the last thing that filled you with wonder, that took you away from your desk, or your car in traffic, or your sink full of dishes? As an actor, it's very freeing being part of these shows. You can step in the booth and kind of be anything. Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray.

And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. I literally, when I saw it, when I found out about this, I literally had like a nervous breakdown in a good way. With the best celebrity guests. I've never pirated anything, but I'll steal it if I have to. That was how I felt when I started to get

really hooked on Black Butler. It's coming back. It's coming back. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. When I was younger, I used to take the 60 bus from Pacific Boulevard to downtown LA. I remember looking out the window and watching the shops on Pacific Boulevard turn into factories in Vernon.

And then we'd finally get to the big old buildings in downtown, like the LA Central Library. You can tell a lot about a city from inside a bus, because you're not driving, you're a passenger. So you get to look at everything as it goes by. You're going slow, but you can still cover a lot of ground, miles and miles of the city. Nancy Mesa remembers taking the bus downtown too. miles of the city. Nancy Mesa remembers taking the bus downtown too. I think that's the biggest thing around the 720, just really seeing more hotels, more bars,

more police. When she first noticed downtown changing, she watched it happen from the 720 bus. Like just seeing along the 720, just way development like every single day and just seeing how fast it moves right because the biggest I think shock for me was when Whole Foods came into downtown because my family legit lived in downtown and there were no grocery stores anywhere in sight. I would take the bus back and there was a new hotel, right? Or a new loft or a new bar. So just constantly seeing like new, new, new, new, new, everything was fucking wild. For a long time, a lot of developers really weren't all that interested in downtown. It didn't seem to be gentrifying because in LA, in the early 2000s, what was going to become a flood of interest in downtown was only a trickle. A lot of downtown was still Skid Row.

And around that time, there were also a lot of people living downtown in hotels called SROs. Nancy's family lived in a hotel like that for a little while. My family struggled a lot with housing growing up, Damien. So in the times where we couldn't live, afford to live in Bojaterista, we would rent out different hotel rooms in downtown. So many families lived in those hotels. But it was super run down. The elevator didn't work.

And later, actually, my mom participated in some actions because all the families in that hotel room were evicted to make way for luxury development, you know, right around Staples Center. were evicted to make way for luxury development, you know, right around Staples Center. For many years, downtown was not a glamorous place to live. So Boyle Heights, being so close by, right across the river, it didn't feel like anything to worry about. Until one day, it did. A lot of folks in the neighborhood were really cautious about the Gold Line coming in, right?

In 2004, an extension for the Gold Line was approved. It was going to run from downtown to East LA. It was framed as this really exciting thing. Now it was going to be that much easier to get from Bull Heights into downtown. A light rail car recently tested the track on the new Gold Line extension. This summer, it will link Pasadena and Union Station with LA's East Side. Another much anticipated mode of public transportation is the soon to be completed East Side Gold Line extension. But before the train even leaves the depot, transportation officials are going to...

So in the long run, it might be good for people in Boyle Heights trying to get to downtown. You know, for work and things like that. Or to get to other parts of East LA. But in the short run, it was going to be a huge headache. A couple different bus lines were going to be suspended or rerouted while the new Gold Line was under construction. For years. Folks in Bull Heights are heavily bus riders, right?

But also, like, there's a lot of folks that, you know, rely, especially our elders and young folks rely on public transportation. And then as Gold Line construction started happening, they cut off the route to the 30 and the 31, which was basically the line that took folks from Bull Heights into downtown to work. And, you know, other major bus lines were cut or, like, you know, scaled back. So what we saw with the Gold Line was like, okay, so we're being offered this super high luxury form of transportation. And during that time, our actual modes of transportation are being cut off. The Gold Line was shiny and new. It was progress.

It's the kind of thing politicians brag about in speeches. But lots of residents of Boyle Heights had this feeling that they were going to get pushed aside to make room for this future. Especially because the metro expansion happened around the same time that a change was coming to downtown LA. For the first time in decades, developers with deep pockets were looking at a piece of downtown right next to Boyle Heights. It was coming to be known as the Arts District.

So the Gold Line expansion construction officially began in 2004, about a year before WESAD was elected. But by the time it was set to open in 2009, Huizat had been in office for years, and he was fully on board, and was also literally on the board of Metro. He was appointed by Villa Raygoza, the former CD14 City Council member who left the district to become mayor. The eastbound lanes have been open for some time, but this all happened because we wanted to open it up for the Gold Line rail line to come through that would connect the east side with the rest of Los Angeles. But more importantly than the better transportation system that we're providing

is the symbolic relationships that we are building between Bull Heights and downtown. Lots of good stuff happening in Bull Heights. Over four, I'm sorry, over $2 million. This was still six years before that showdown with that mobile opera in Hollenbeck Park. Six years before the birthplace of Defend Boyle Heights. But some people, like Nancy, were already starting to see the writing on the wall. By the time the new Gold Line opened, there was talk about making another arts district in Boyle Heights along the river.

It was talk coming from none other than we sat. the river. It was talk coming from none other than Luis Sade. For many years, people would say, what else is there to do in Voa High? But today's announcement coincides with revitalized First Street, where there's people walking on the streets, looking at it as a destination point. You have an organic, grassroots, artist movement going on that is not only going to promote the arts, the Chicano art, the Mexican art, but will also revitalize this quarter, both for people who live near here

and for people who want to come visit Ball Heights. There was this focus on the future and what could be, rather than looking at the people living there now. And when the Gold Line came in, residents like Nancy could see the Arts District creeping across the river along with it. They could see into the future, and they were like, who is the Gold Line being expanded for? The Latinx folks who live in Goyle Heights now?

Or is this actually for somebody else? Is this prepping the neighborhood for other people to come in later? Is this for them? From Neon Home Media and LA Taco, this is Smokescreen, The Sellout, a podcast about a politician dogged to allegations of corruption, harassment, and pathological pettiness. It's about the residents who fought gentrification even as their neighborhoods were auctioned off to the highest bidder. I'm Mariah Castaneda. This is episode four, Progress Over People. Hi, everyone. This is Jonathan Van Ness. Clean water, fresh air, our health. Electricity, honey.

We tend to take for granted the things that matter most, like the separation of church and state. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has been on the front lines defending your freedom to live and believe as you choose, so long as you don't harm others. Most folks don't see how church-state separation affects our daily lives until that freedom is gone. The separation between church and state covers many core freedoms like civil rights for LGBTQIA plus people, women, and racial slash religious minorities, or reproductive justice and freedom. But those rights are not a given. Every day, Americans United works at the state and federal level to make sure these freedoms and more are protected for every American to enjoy and benefit from. They can't do this alone, though. Join Americans United for separation of church and

state and growing the movement because church-state separation protects everyone. Freedom without favor and equality without exception. Learn more and get involved at au.org slash curious. Hi, everyone. This is Jonathan Van Ness. Clean water, fresh air, our health. Electricity, honey. We tend to take for granted the things that matter most, like the separation of church and state. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has been on the front lines defending your freedom to live and believe as you choose, so long as you don't harm others. Most folks don't see how church-state separation affects our daily lives until that freedom is gone. The separation between church and state covers many core freedoms like civil rights for LGBTQIA plus people, women, and racial slash religious minorities, or reproductive justice and freedom. But those rights are not a given. Every day,

Americans United works at the state and federal level to make sure these freedoms and more are protected for every American to enjoy and benefit from. They can't do this alone, though. Join Americans United for separation of church and state and growing the movement because church-state separation protects everyone. Freedom without favor and equality without exception. Learn more and get involved at au.org slash curious. You know that movie Up with the grumpy old man who refuses to sell his house to developers who are building skyscrapers like all around him? Eventually, a court decision comes down against the man. So he ties like a million balloons to his house and just flies away.

There are so many movies and books about that kind of thing. All these stories about people who find themselves in the way of some kind of progress with a capital P. But when you're a real person facing that same situation in real life, you can't just tie a bunch of balloons to your house and fly away. You're stuck, and sometimes you get crushed. My co-reporter Lexus Olivier Ray spent months chasing down a man who got crushed like that. I am on the border of Lincoln Heights and El Sereno in Los Angeles, about half a block away from G-Spot Automotive. I've been trying to track down the mechanic that reportedly owns this shop for months now. So now I'm here outside of his shop. There's a couple of old school lowriders parked across the street near the shop. Looks like they're open.

Hey, Lex. Hey, Mariah. So let's talk about Francisco. Yeah, so his name is Francisco Gonzalez. He runs a mechanic shop called G-Spot Automotive in El Sereno, which is also in CD14, basically north and east of Boyle Heights. Around 2005, he starts getting these visits from law enforcement. They're from this task force on car theft. It's called TRAP, and it's basically a coalition of a bunch of different kinds of cops, like the Sheriff's Department, the LAPD, and CHP.

By the way, when I spoke to Francisco, his dad was also there, so you'll be hearing tape from both of them. Twelve cops at a time, rushing in with guns like we're criminals or something. What the heck? What are you guys doing, you know? Basically, Francisco says the cops are coming every couple months, checking that he didn't have stolen parts in his shop. So why do they think he has stolen parts? Right. That's what Francisco wants to know.

I mean, I'm talking about every couple months, every three months. No, it was more than that. I think it was more than that. They always had stupid reason. And they came for that car one time and they threatened, they were going to... They said it was stolen. We're going to find something here. So after a couple years of this, Francisco gets an offer from the city. They want to buy his land for $200,000.

So at that point, the cops are coming by. All of a sudden, the city wants to buy his land. And Francisco is like, are these two things connected? Right. He's like, what's going on? And the reason the city wants to buy his land is because it's in the way of this big construction project. The Soto Street Bridge demolition. Exactly. When we came to the bridge and we went through the curve, like I knew, okay, I'm almost home. I'm home. I'm here.

That was a landmark for us growing up. Like we knew, okay, we're home because we hit the bridge. So this is Yoli Garcia. She and her husband, Jorge, run the El Ser Sereno Historical Society which does preservation work out there. Here's Jorge. And it was made to accommodate the four-track trolley system from the Pacific Electric trolley system that used to run down Level Street on Soto and Mission. But it was a dangerous intersection because all the trolley traffic that was expressed. So it was a very highly used intersection. So the Garcias feel like this is a historically important bridge.

At one point, Jorge calls it the gateway to El Sereno. They heard there was some kind of plan for the bridge, but had a hard time finding out what was actually going on. And then the demolition project just kind of starts. They say they don't get a chance to weigh in. Yes, a blueprint. Yeah, but you also need money. What? Money. Yes, money. This is a video of Huizar talking at a ribbon cutting for the new intersection. Wow, he's really proud of that Soda Street Bridge demolition. Yeah, seems like it. Okay, so let's back up for a second.

Around 2009, before the demolition, Francisco heard the city wanted to buy his land because it's in the way of the bridge demolition, like 100 feet away from the intersection. They're offering $200,000, and he was like... What the heck are these decomps? For the whole property? They were going to take part of this building and they were going to go all in a big circle.

But it left me with nothing. Basically, the city offers to buy Francisco's land for $200,000. He says, no, my land is worth way more than that. You've got to make me a better offer. They don't. And then around 2014, the construction just kind of goes ahead. And Francisco starts to feel like the city is punishing him for refusing to sell his land. And we actually spoke to other mechanics in CD14 who had similar stories.

They felt they were being targeted by authorities while the areas around them changed dramatically. Right. Like Francisco, who's just kind of caught in the middle of all this. They tried to really make us get out. They really tried to force us. Like this one day that they were doing work right next to Francisco's shop, right next to his car, which is a lowrider.

He collects them. They just started pouring cement right near my car. They never said that on my yellow CRX. Oh yeah, yeah. There's still cement splashed on the side of the car. I had a fresh paint job. They didn't give a shit, bro. Yeah. Meanwhile, this whole time, Francisco says the cops are still coming by every couple months. And Francisco is ultimately charged with a felony in 2014. But it's not even for stolen parts. It's for something else, for workers' compensation fraud. Eventually, the case is dismissed, though. And we should just say for context,

the charges were coming out of a troubled unit of the DA's office. There were lots of allegations of misconduct against prosecutors in that unit. There was even a situation where a supervisor allegedly instructed her subordinate to offer a Black defendant a worse plea deal for a similar crime as another defendant, which the subordinate believed was an attempt to punish her for blowing the whistle about sexual harassment in that office. For the record, the DA denies the allegation. Anyway, this was the unit that was charging Francisco. It took all the joy from working our cars out of us, man.

Like, literally, we'd have to deal with this, scare the shit out of everybody, interview everybody separately. You have a car? So there's a lot of different stuff going on. The sheriff's department is coming by, the jackhammering. And meanwhile, Francisco says the construction is really getting in the way of his business. Customers can't access the shop easily. And obviously for a mechanic, it's important that people can kind of, you know, drive in and out of the shop. Right, that makes sense. And so it was around 2015 that Francisco went to ask Huizar for help, right?

Yeah, he did. Specifically to complain about the construction part of it. But Huizar, I tried to get a hold of him. I went down there, I filled out papers. They said, no, just give us a paperwork paperwork or I'll make sure that he gets it. They never showed their face. They never showed their face. So I'm like, what the... The only thing they did do is put up a sign saying construction over there.

But yeah, it was a mess. It was a complete mess. We actually found this one paragraph report from a Weezer staffer through public records requests. The staffer said that Francisco complained about, quote, the frequent blocking of his driveway. And then the staffer said that when he went to visit Francisco, he saw the unprofessional way these construction foremen speak to him in front of his customers. The report says Francisco wants to sit down with someone from Huizar's office.

It's not obvious what happened after that, but Francisco says he never got that sit down. So Francisco is really frustrated. And by this point, he's actually already gone to the local news. Gonzalo says this is the real reason they're after him. They have a $14 million project going on in front of the shop. This is from a local NBC story about Francisco, from when he finally decided to talk to the media. Gonzalez claims the constant visits by police and inspectors

is a consorted effort to push him out. We also contacted the city about that. They also had no comment. The city could use eminent domain to acquire the property, and Gonzalez is not opposed to it, but it would require a reasonable offer. He says they've only offered him about $200,000. He believes it's worth close to a million dollars. That's in line with our online research of the area. Now he says because it's worth that much he thinks the city is gonna use every other tactic

to get his land. So just kind of, you know, harass us till we break. Francisco felt like the city of Los Angeles was trying to break him. Like the bridge project, this future intersection, was more important than his very real present day business that happened to be in the way. Like the city of Los Angeles would do whatever it had to to get him out of the way of progress.

And this is what Francisco always says when he talks about this. The city of Los Angeles did it. He doesn't say Huizar, but here's what we know. Francisco was Huizar's constituent. The city tried to buy part of his land. He asked for more money, and then for years, he was harassed. He tried a bunch of different avenues to get help. The media, even Huizar himself.

Nothing worked. I had my savings for a house, bro, and I wasted the whole everything just to stay open during those times. It was so bad. It was so bad. So, things still aren't going too well for Francisco, huh? Business isn't what it used to be. When I went there, Richard pointed out how the whole point of the construction project

was supposed to make the intersection safer. But there's still this blind spot that makes it dangerous. They were trying to get rid of blind spots, right? Well, they created a blind spot right here. And Francisco says that it's actually still dangerous to pull into his shop, which again is a huge problem because he's a mechanic. People need to pull their cars in and out of his shop so he can work on them. There is an article in a Spanish-language newspaper about Francisco.

There's this one quote. It's in Spanish, but here's what he says in English. Owning a mechanic garage has always been my American dream, but the city of Los Angeles has turned my dream into a nightmare. I don't want to say too much but you don't know who to call anymore. Who do you call? What do you do? And that's like the whole problem when you can't trust people in power who are supposed to be looking out for you. Like who do you call? What happened to Francisco wasn't just exhausting and unrelenting it also felt you. Like, who do you call? What happened to Francisco wasn't just exhausting and unrelenting. It also felt petty, like the city of Los Angeles was coming after him personally.

And around the time Francisco was being harassed, there was a man in CD14 developing a reputation for pettiness, for keeping a list of his supporters and his haters. I'll give you one guess who I'm talking about. We'll be right back. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points.

Visit superstore.ca to get started. Infamous is celebrity gossip, but smart. It takes you deep into the stories that we just can't stop ourselves from following.

From who Meghan Markle really is. Apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing. To the scandal at Lululemon. You've got this man saying that his yoga pants don't work for women because they're too fat to wear them.

We've got over 100 episodes ready for your binging pleasure. Listen to Infamous, the gossip show that's smart. So, it's about two weeks into 2011, January 17th, and the LA Times publishes a story. It's about a series of lists put together by the staffers of Jose Huizar. Here's the headline. Huizar's staff graded civic leaders on their clout and support for him. They had a scoring sheet. You get negative numbers or positive numbers based on how they perceived you in supporting the council member.

This is Nick Pacheco again, the former city council member for CD14. Whoever decided to do that was pretty stupid because you shouldn't be deciding on whether a project gets done based on who asked for it because even an asshole can have a good idea, okay? They would grade you on how much you supported him. That would have affected the service that you got. This is Eric Hakofian. And this actually came out in the LA Times. If you Google it, you will see it. You can actually see one of these lists in that LA Times article about them.

It's a neat little spreadsheet with the title Community Power Analysis. So the LA Times headline says the list are about civic leaders, but there are all kinds of people and organizations on this list. There's the owner of a local pizzeria. There are at least five different principals of elementary schools. There are members of the neighborhood watch. principals of elementary schools. There are members of the neighborhood watch. There's even the local Rotary Club. On one list, they even got a developer. Remember 15 Group? You know, the company that was allegedly trying to tear down Wyvernwood? One of their executives is ranked as an active supporter of WeSAD. The LA Times article says another city council member, quote,

The LA Times article says another city council member, quote, burst out laughing when she was shown a copy of the list. Wow, this is complicated, she apparently said. In the same article, Ouissad says he had already told his staffers to stop making it. There's a reason the LA Times got their hands on this list in 2011. It came out as part of a contentious re-election campaign between Moussaad and one of his old friends, a man named Rudy Martinez. Well, I mean, he's a reality TV star. Eric Hakopian again. Hakopian is a longtime political strategist. He's worked on a lot of campaigns, including this one for Rudy Martinez,

the restaurant owner and reality TV star. I forget what the name of the show was, but it was having to do with the rehabs. So he was sort of like the Latino version of these rehab shows. Come on, we gotta work! My name is Rudy Martinez. Born and raised in L.A. I buy and sell houses. I've been working my whole life to make the city I love even better. The and raised in L.A. I buy and sell houses.

I've been working my whole life to make the city I love even better. The show was called Flip This House. And it was about pretty much what you'd expect. They'd take properties in different cities and flip them for profit. Martinez was the host for the segments out of L.A. This is the scariest house I've ever seen. When I'm not flipping houses, you might find me turning out fresh sushi at one of my restaurants. I love you. Have a good day. So picture this. He's wearing sunglasses on his forehead, right above his eyes.

He's driving a bulldozer. He's walking and talking on his cell phone. You get the whole picture. Martinez is a businessman and a house flipper. He was a bit of a celebrity on the east side for doing that. In fact, him and Ruiz are very good friends for a long time. And his mom actually worked for Ruiz. But, you know, Rudy's just a character, you know. He does TV shows.

He owned a sushi place. He owned a bar. You know, he was just something out of a book, you know. That's like the kid that came out of nothing, you know, very poor and made something of himself. But, you know, he had his quirks, he had his things, but it was hard not to like him. Hakopian couldn't remember exactly why Rudy had decided to run against WeSAD. Neither could anyone else we spoke to who remembers this campaign. We tried many times and in many different ways to get a hold of the man himself.

We even tried calling Rudy's mom. We never heard back. Anyways, all Jacopin remembers is that Rudy and Wisad had some old drama. So I don't know exactly what broke their relationship. I believe it had something to do with the mother and something to, uh, there was work that Rudy did on his house. So Hokopian came on board as a consultant for the Rudy Martinez campaign. I thought we're going to be running some normal challenger campaign. You know, it was a bad time for the city. The economy was upside down. It was, you know, right after, right in the heart of the recession. So we're going to be running this classic raid against the machine campaign. But that's how I was going to approach it,

naively and stupidly. The campaign was petty right from the start. Like, shockingly petty. Councilman Jose Huizar, whose campaign manager had sent an email to staff saying that the campaign would... This is a story that aired on a local public radio station, KPCC. It's about Huizar apologizing to Martinez saying that the campaign would put a political bullet through Martinez's head.

And that wasn't all. And calling Martinez a disgusting human being that needs to be sent back from the vile bag of tripe he emanated from. That's a direct quote from the email from Jose Huizar's campaign manager. And here's Huizar last night. I want to apologize to my opponent, Rudy Martinez. I want to apologize to his campaign. And I want to apologize to his mother. And that's still not all.

A local blog called Mayor Sam reported that Huizar kept trying to ban Martinez from being in all these different parades in the district. First, the Fourth of July parade, then the Veterans Day parade. An article in LA Weekly at the time said that after Martinez told Wissad he was going to run up against him, city workers suddenly showed up at his Highland Park restaurant to tell him that his patio was too big and he had to tear it down. Officials from the Department of Building and Safety said the complaint didn't come from Wissad's office, but he had to tear it down. Officials from the Department of Building and Safety said the complaint didn't come from Huizar's office, but Martinez had his suspicions. The LA Weekly article has a quote from a spokesman for the Martinez campaign.

If you agree with Jose Huizar, you get what you want. If you're against Jose, you get fucked. But he was well known that if you crossed him, there'd be payback. But he was well known that if you crossed him, he would definitely pay back. But once the campaign got started, that all faded into the background. Hakopian got a lucky break. Two, actually. A lot of times, you gotta dig for dirt on your opponent. But in this campaign, the dirt came to them.

And the people dishing the dirt were Wissad staffers themselves. The Wissad staffers were mad enough to be snitching to his opponent about things they'd witnessed in his office. And they weren't just snitching to Hakopian. That I hear that essentially Rudy is working with the FBI, and there are Wizar staffers that are helping us who are also talking to the FBI. Jacobian is in this weird position. He knows the FBI is looking into Wissad for something, but he's not sure what. He's trying to get these Wissad staffers to talk to the press, and they seem to want to. But they can't, because the FBI is telling them not to. Sometimes literally like a reporter is waiting outside and the FBI is on the other

line and we're trying to convince this guy to talk. And it was multiple people. The only thing that we could get them to say is to go on record with the LA Times that there are Wiesar staffers who have been interviewed by the FBI. Let's say it was a tug of war between me and the FBI and quite unsurprisingly, FBI won. There were lots of things that Wiesar's staffers had told Kopian that weren't public yet, that he wanted out. Because he was trying to win a campaign and And he wanted to make Wisad look bad. And not just bad. Petty. Vindictive.

You know, a man who's got a shit list and updates it obsessively. But some of the allegations were serious. Payoffs from different people in the city. From developers, things of that nature. Hakopian kept hearing things that sounded like something out of a movie. Pickups, where the person who actually picked it up guessed it was money but wasn't sure. But if you go in some place every month and you're picking up an envelope, it's obviously not legal work. Documents from his office, pictures from his office.

Obviously not legal work. Documents from his office, pictures from his office. You know, he had, I think, a godfather photo in his office that we got a photo of. Here's the thing. We don't actually know why the FBI was investigating Wissad in 2011. All Jacopio knows is what staffers were leaking to him. And also apparently saying to the FBI, little tidbits that sound salacious, but it's not really clear what they add up to. By the way, we reached out to multiple staffers who were working in Wisad's office around the time

to try to corroborate what Hakopian told us. Nobody got back to us. There was an LA Times article about the FBI investigation that came out at the time, but it just said that Martinez was being interviewed by the feds and that two ex-WESAD staffers also confirmed being interviewed for the investigation. It didn't have any details of what they were looking into. Things that involved WESAD's personal behavior with the staff, you know, taking toys for the Christmas thing and not giving it away and keeping it for himself and using it as Christmas gifts. Definitely not cool to steal toys from kids.

Financial payoffs for return on votes and other things. Let's just say that when it came to women staffers, affairs, his wife, not knowing, not knowing, all of this was compounded during the entirety of the campaign. It's not really clear what to make of all this. There's not an obvious thread he can grab onto, like, oh, okay, this is what the FBI was looking into. By the way, we also asked Wisad about this investigation when we sent a request for comment. We never heard back. The fact that Wissad was under investigation by the FBI sounds shocking,

but is it? Here's Scott Frazier, one of the hosts of LA Podcast. Remember, he's kind of like a Rolodex when it comes to LA politics. Actually, it's not uncommon for the FBI to be investigating local L.A. city politics. There are a lot of rules about what you can and can't do as a city council member. There are actually lots of ways you can break the law. Like if you don't file your ethics disclosures right, or you use city funds, or you use resources improperly. There are lots of reasons the FBI might look into you, or might look into you and decide, eh, not enough there. Here's Scott again. I find that frequently I'm coming across descriptions of investigations that either

don't seem to have panned out, or that later sort of morphed into a different investigation. or that later sort of morphed into a different investigation. The FBI does eventually charge Jose Huizad with a crime, but not for years, almost a decade after Martinez runs against him. And it's not clear if the FBI investigation back then had anything to do with his eventual arrest, especially because a lot of the stuff that we said was eventually charged with didn't seem to be happening yet back in 2010 and 2011. Erika Kopian again. How much are you going to get a shakedown from dry cleaners? $5,000, $10,000? The sort of the industrial-scale criminality started after this campaign.

Downtown got redistricted into a district. And if you look at almost all of the major cases, they all involve big projects in downtown. Next time on The Sellout, how Jose Huizar reaches the pinnacle of his power with a little help from his friends. The Sellout is produced by Neon Hub Media and LA Taco. I'm your host, Mariah Castaneda. My co-reporters are Alexis Olivier-Ray and Carla Green. Carla Green is our lead producer, and she wrote the episodes. Our editor is Catherine St. Louis.

Vikram Patel is our consulting editor. Associate editor is Stephanie Serrano. Associate producer is Liz Sanchez. Our executive producer is Jonathan Hirsch. Samantha Allison is our production manager. Fact checker is Sarah Ivry. Our sound designer is Hans Dale Sue. Eduardo Arenas made our theme music.

Other original music by Moni Mendoza, with an additional track from Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to Erica Lindo, Javier Cabral, Tanner Robbins, Haley Fager, Natalie Wren, Adrian Riskin, Shara Morris, Navani Otero, Janet Villafana, Vanessa and Jorge Castaneda, and Ivan Fernandez. If you want to know more about what you've heard on the show so far, head over to LATaco.com to see a beautiful map of some of the places we talked about made by Tommy Gallegos, as well as new reporting and interviews. This week, you've got a deep dive into what happened with the Soda Street Bridge and Francisco's shop from my very talented co-reporter, Alexis Olivier Ray. Thanks for listening. See you next week.