South Beach Sins To Go Silver Screen

Our mothers were wrong: crime does pay.

It's not clear exactly how much, but infamous ex-Miami Beach mayor Alex Daoud has sold the film rights to his memoir, "Sins of South Beach." The book recounts his three terms spent both (he says) beating rapists and thieves in allyways, and helping himself to 41 counts' worth of bribery, obstruction of justice, and tax evasion.

Is there a more quintessentially Miami story? Daoud grew up in Miami Beach multi-ethnic and multi-lingual; his ascent to power started with a 1979 election to city commission and coincided with the Mariel boatlift, the rise of the cocaine trade, and one of the most lawless eras in modern American history.

He rode with cops, carried a gun, attracted celebrities and royalty alike, romanced everything on stems, served three terms as mayor, and went out in a flaming big top of a trial in 1991 that featured his second wife announcing her departure from the marriage to the entire court after particulary interesting testimony from a mistress.

Daoud was sentenced to 18 months in prison, during which he wrote "Sins of South Beach."  The film version, with a budget of $15 million, is expected to start shooting in September. 

Time to roll out the Oscar carpet? Er, probably not. The rights were purchased by Clearwater-based producer Philippe Martinez, whose credits include "Ultimate Weapon," starring Hulk Hogan; "The Defender," starring Dolph Lundgren and Jerry Springer; "Wake of Death," starring Jean-Claude Van Damme; and "Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj."

Even Martinez' films made with bigger names like Dennis Hopper and Ralph Fiennes have been not-so-well-received; LA Weekly called his 2005 biopic "Modigliani" with Andy Garcia "tiresome, hammy and ultimately annoying."

Oh, well. If the movie version doesn't do him justice, Daoud's still got his small screen moment: while Mayor in 1989, he made a cameo on "Miami Vice" as a corrupt judge in the episode "Fruit of the Poison Tree."

Of course.

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