Secretly recorded conversations that took place shortly before the apparent suicide crash of an Opa-locka city commissioner were obtained exclusively by NBC 6 Friday.
The conversations came shortly before the demise of Commissioner Terence Pinder last month. Pinder, recorded by the police confidential informant, was talking about bribe money. He was working with a vendor to bring a garbage transfer station to Opa-locka.
"Got to make money," Pinder is heard telling the informant in one excerpt.
"Money's first, without money forget it," the informant says.
"Get the money, get the power...money, the power," Pinder replies.
"Then you get the girls, Tony Montana," the informant says.
"And it don't even cost you nothing," Pinder says.
Local
NBC 6 took excerpts out of hours of taped conversations. In one portion, the two talk specifics about money.
"What's the number? You tell me, I am not arguing, you tell me?" the informant asks.
"Let's do eight," Pinder replies.
"$8,000," the informant says.
"$8,000 at one time (inaudible) let's do it," Pinder says, laughing.
"I'll give you $500 today, alright? Brings it to $7,500 and then I'll see you in another week or two and I'll see how much more I can grab from 'em," the informant says.
Pinder was set to turn himself into authorities on a Wednesday on bribery charges, but crashed into the tree at Opa-locka Executive Airport the day before.
In another excerpt the two talk about the time frame to deliver the cash.
"We're down to seven," the informant says.
"We're down to seven. What is the time frame we are going to get that done?" Pinder asks.
"We can start rolling that, I'll bring you another grand, give me two weeks, I'll bring you another grand," the informant replies.
Politics in Opa-locka have been upside down lately, with the state stepping in to oversee the city's operations. With Pinder's death, the local investigation into his actions has halted.
The FBI continues to investigate alleged corruption involving several other elected officials.
