Forget about it, it's Trash Town

Very good to see the trash men who rule us are finally able to put aside their differences and allow their system of rote bribery to continue apace.

Nearly five years after federal authorities abruptly abandoned a massive corruption investigation targeting local landfill owner Fred Heebe, a civil case with similar contours — this one brought by a competitor in the sometimes bare-knuckles trash-disposal business — was settled on the eve of what was expected to be a two-week trial starting Monday in federal court.

Given that the feds never brought charges, the trial over Waste Management’s civil racketeering claim against Heebe and his stepfather, Jim Ward, looked likely to be the closest thing to a public airing of the allegations that investigators were exploring before they gave up the chase.

Now those issues may never be aired. The terms of the 11th-hour settlement, reached Thursday, are confidential, according to court records.

I don't keep up with such things the way some people do but I do still wonder if Heebe and Ward have ever thanked Sal Perricone for his service. These days we're never quite sure whether or not the President is going to start a war by posting a fart noise on Twitter. But if one guy saying racist things in NOLA.com comments could derail a whole federal racketeering investigation, then we may only be beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible.

This article laments the things we may now never learn about River Birch. But another benefit of living in the Age of Trump is that it probably doesn't matter what comes to light or doesn't now. Nobody is ever going to be held accountable.  Besides, what more brazen admission than this are we hoping for?

The now-aborted trial appeared likely to provide a window into the broader allegation that River Birch built a web of influence by illegally subverting Louisiana campaign laws.

A summary of the two sides’ cases drawn up by Engelhardt noted that Ward, in his deposition, “incredibly admitted that River Birch made campaign contributions to Broussard through various shell companies in order to give more than the legal maximum of $5,000 to Broussard and ‘to make it not as obvious to anybody that’s looking into the records as to what is going on.’ ”

Most of the shell companies were in the name of Dominick Fazzio, River Birch’s chief financial officer, who had a low public profile until he was indicted amid the federal probe. The feds later dropped their case against Fazzio, who had been expected to testify at the trial.

And remember this is what Engelhardt will write even as he's the person responsible for keeping most of this bottled up through his rulings in this civil case and through his role in reacting to Perricone's impact on the Danziger trial. As we sink further and further in to the kleptocratic hellworld, Engelhardt is nothing if not an appropriate judge for such times. Looks like he's also being recognized for his service.

Engelhardt, who was nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, may be in his final weeks in his current post. President Donald Trump has nominated him for a spot on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located next door to the federal district courthouse.