New revelations surrounding the City of Miami’s actions against the historic Little Havana venue Ball & Chain, first reported by The Miami Herald, are raising renewed questions about the role of senior city officials and the potential financial consequences for Miami taxpayers.
According to the reporting, the legal battle tied to the city’s enforcement actions against Ball & Chain owner Bill Fuller continues to unfold in court, with lawsuits that could ultimately cost the city millions of dollars. As those cases proceed, attention is increasingly turning to what senior officials knew at the time—including current Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales, who was serving as an assistant police chief during the events in question.
In a sworn declaration signed last month, former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo made striking allegations about the involvement of top city leadership.
Acevedo stated that he “personally witnessed” city employees—including former City Manager Art Noriega —carry out what he described as “a well-known and, in my view, notorious unconstitutional custom and policy of political retaliation on behalf of Commissioner Joe Carollo against Mr. Bill Fuller.”
Even more notably, Acevedo wrote that he witnessed Noriega and the assistant police chief at the time—now Miami Police Chief Morales—“personally supervising the targeting operation against Mr. Fuller, which involved numerous police officers and code enforcement officers who were knowingly carrying out political retribution against him.”
These allegations reported in The Miami Herald raise difficult but necessary questions. If these claims are accurate, how much did the current police chief know about the operations directed at Ball & Chain? And what role, if any, did he play while serving in the department’s command staff?
The financial stakes are significant. The lawsuits tied to the Ball & Chain dispute have already generated substantial legal costs and could expose the city to millions of dollars in damages. Ultimately, that liability falls on Miami taxpayers.
“When lawsuits of this magnitude emerge—especially those involving allegations of political retaliation and unconstitutional enforcement—the public deserves transparency and accountability from those who held leadership positions at the time, especially in the Miami Police Department,” said a high-ranking Miami Police officer who asked his name not be disclosed due to fears of retaliation.
