{"id":1607613,"date":"2022-08-16T05:05:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T09:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1607613"},"modified":"2022-08-16T05:05:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T09:05:35","slug":"landlord-problems-illinois-dem-pays-thousands-in-rent-to-cocaine-pushing-butcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/landlord-problems-illinois-dem-pays-thousands-in-rent-to-cocaine-pushing-butcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Landlord Problems: Illinois Dem Pays Thousands in Rent to Cocaine-Pushing Butcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flandlord-problems-illinois-dem-pays-thousands-in-rent-to-cocaine-pushing-butcher%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1607613&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Rep. Danny K. Davis rents his Chicago office from a convicted drug pusher<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tRep. Danny K. Davis (D., Ill.) and cocaine \/ Getty Images and Wikimedia Commons\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/robert-schmad\/\" title=\"Posts by Robert Schmad\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Robert Schmad<\/a> \u2022 August 16, 2022 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Rep. Danny K. Davis (D., Ill.) rents his district office from a convicted cocaine dealer who was once affiliated with a Chicago drug ring, according to documents obtained by the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Since January 2017, Davis&#8217;s campaign account has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&#038;committee_id=C00172619&#038;recipient_name=MARIOS+BUTCHER+SHOP&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2008&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2010&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2012&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2014&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2016&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2018&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cut<\/a> regular $600 checks for &#8220;office rent&#8221; to Mario&#8217;s Butcher Shop, FEC records show. The shop, which is registered as a corporation with the state, lists Mariano &#8220;Mario&#8221; Lettieri and his wife as the sole members of its board of directors and was at the center of Lettieri&#8217;s 1990 conviction for drug trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>Lettieri, whom the <em>Chicago Tribune<\/em> described as &#8220;reputedly tied&#8221; to a &#8220;crime syndicate,&#8221; was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/ct-xpm-1990-11-17-9004050274-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sentenced<\/a> to nearly 16 years in prison after authorities identified him as the primary supplier of cocaine to a major Chicago drug ring led by an ex-cop. The Drug Enforcement Administration reported that Lettieri trafficked as much as 80 pounds of cocaine over a six-month period. Lettieri also <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/appellate-courts\/F2\/983\/1443\/466680\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">allowed<\/a> heroin to be packaged in his butcher shop&#8217;s boiler room and used &#8220;rib-eye steaks&#8221; as a code word when discussing drug prices.<\/p>\n<p>Lettieri is an odd landlord for Davis, who has long championed efforts to fight drug abuse. Davis in 2006\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbez.org\/stories\/davis-money-needed-to-help-drug-addicts\/d95fd4c1-55df-4bbd-af3e-e6c3ef2d943b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> for $4 million in emergency aid funds to be allocated to Cook County to address the growing heroin problem in the area. Last year, Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/chicagocrusader.com\/reps-davis-and-ford-to-address-opioid-impact-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> that he had formed a coalition of drug prevention organizations in Chicago to help address the growing opioid crisis. He told the local press that &#8220;there is no part of Chicago that is worse hit than the West Side.&#8221; The West Side of Chicago is where Lettieri ran his drug operation in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>Tumia Romero, Davis&#8217;s chief of staff, would not directly address the congressman&#8217;s payments to Lettieri but told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that Davis believes in giving people &#8220;second chances.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Davis is no stranger to controversy. In 2005, he took a trip to Sri Lanka <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/ct-xpm-2006-08-24-0608240213-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">funded<\/a> by the Tamil Tigers, an ethnic terrorist group from that country. He is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/news\/articles\/democratic-rep-danny-davis-calls-louis-farrakhan-an-outstanding-human-being-farrakhan-says-jews-are-satanic-and-did-911\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">close<\/a> ally of noted anti-Semite and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and once participated in a religious ceremony with Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the controversial Unification Church. Moon, who died in 2012, was a convicted felon who said Jews deserved the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<p>The congressman also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/congressman-who-crowned-rev-moon-the-messiah-attends-dedication-of-scientology-lobbying-shop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attended<\/a> the 2012 dedication of the Church of Scientology&#8217;s Washington, D.C., lobbying office.<\/p>\n<p>Davis, who faced a tough primary challenge this cycle, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/chicago-politics\/election-2022-president-biden-endorses-danny-davis-amid-heated-7th-district-primary-fight\/2866420\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">boosted by an endorsement<\/a> from President Joe Biden. The longtime congressman\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/chicago-politics\/rep-danny-davis-fends-off-kina-collins-primary-challenge-nbc-news-projects\/2868985\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">won his primary<\/a> by single digits and is now expected to coast to reelection in November.<\/p>\n<p>Reached for comment, a Mario&#8217;s Butcher Shop employee said he would relay the\u00a0<em>Free Beacon<\/em>\u2018s inquiry to the\u00a0establishment&#8217;s owner.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Rep. Danny K. Davis rents his Chicago office from a convicted drug pusher  Rep. Danny K. Davis (D., Ill.) and cocaine \/ Getty Images and Wikimedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":894,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}