BOB ARUM’S “BOY” JAILED IN PHOENIX!
Phoenix, AZ– It was a story that I broke in late 2004, promoter Peter McKinn, then the front man for Bob Arum’s Top Rank, bounced a $5,000 check to ex-champ Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas. The story evolved over the years, spinning in a multitude of ways. Now McKinn is in the Maricopa County Jail charged with five Felonies: Fraud, Grand Theft, Forgery, Perjury, and Conspiracy. He was arrested in the early hours of October 1 at his home and is being held on a $10,000 cash only bail.
AZ COPS SNAG PEDRO IN PHOENIX!
At one juncture, I was detained in an Armani suit by the State Police one morning while peacefully walking a picket line in front of the Arizona State Capital, the building that houses the Arizona Boxing Commission. That just shows you how powerful McKinn, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, and ex-chairman of the Boxing Commission, and of course now former Asst. Director John Montano were.
HEAD OF HOMELAND SECURITY REFUSED TO ACT
It’s always been said, the “wheels of justice grind slowly.” But grind they do and the fallout from this case might go all the way to the Dept. of Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona Governor. She ignored a plethora of evidence that was sent to her office illustrating that the Wilcox’s (husband Earl Wilcox too) and Montano were crooked.
GUILTY OF FELONIES HIMSELF ARUM SNITCHED ON IBF HEAD
While some of you diehards might remember this, the majority probably don’t. That being said, I will take you through as best I can. When the aforementioned Peter McKinn controlled Arizona boxing, he did so because Bob Arum was prohibited from promoting in the state, this after he admitted in court papers (that I made public) that he bribed then International Boxing President Bob Lee Sr. with over $100,000 in cash to allow then heavyweight champ George Foreman to fight a “stiff” (Axel Schultz) instead of a top contender.
GANG MEMBER BECOMES ANOTHER ONE OF BOB’S BITCHES
So with Arum forbidden to promote in Arizona, he made McKinn, a small time huckster and club promoter his “front man.” At a May 2004 card, McKinn gave Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas a check for $5,000 that bounced. Commission Assistant Director Montano, the man a jury found guilty last year of taking over $100,000 that belonged to the World Boxing Organization, he did nothing. Neither did the Arizona Republic’s ex-boxing urinal-ist Norm Fraunheim, who should be in the lockup for “Impersonating a Journalist.” Ah, but truth be told, this creep was just another one of Bob Arum’s many media whores.
PIT BULL JOE JUST WOULDN’T LET IT GO!
So when the erstwhile Joe Diaz, Campas’ trainer, began his crusade to rid Arizona boxing of corruption, he approached many members of the media, but only I got involved. On one of my trips to Phoenix, I visited the bank where the bounced check was drawn on (something Fraunheim never did and the prick lived there) and found out that there was “never (ever) sufficient funds” in the account to cover the $5 grand and a $500 check to Norm Longtin, then with the IBA sanctioning body, that were written post fight. Montano refused to get involved and McKinn looked like he was going to skate. But I kept digging, and a sometimes off the handle Diaz, crazy to some, crazy as a fox to others, like a pit bull with a steak, he just refused to let go.
FORGED RECEIPT IN HANDS OF WILCOX/MONTANO FOR YEARS
When Diaz filed a request under Arizona’s “freedom of information” act more than two years after the fact, a box full of documents arrived from Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. The contents revealed a never before seen receipt payable to Joe Diaz for $5,000 cash. The document, allegedly signed by Joe Diaz, was in the possession of Mary Rose Wilcox who had sent it to the City Attorney, was deemed a forgery. The Phoenix Police, in addition to independent handwriting expert William Flynn, both stated the receipt was a fake. At the same time “Papa John” Montano could see no evil, hear no evil, and yet all the while it was he, Wilcox, and McKinn who were truly evil!
CHARGES WILL INCLUDE TAMPERING WITH COURT JUDGE
Then Earl Wilcox, husband of the recently deposed Boxing Commission Chairman and Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, as well as an aide to the Governor, got involved at his wife’s request. With McKinn about to go to trial on the bad $5,000 check, it was Earl who took McKinn into the chambers of the presiding Judge Carlos Mendoza and asked him to drop the charges!
FBI HAS JUDGE ON TAPE SAYING WHAT HE TOLD ME!
Wilcox said, “I represent the Governor, you know my wife Mary Rose Wilcox, she controls your budget.” Judge Mendoza realized this was beyond inappropriate and ordered the pair out of his office. Having told me this years ago, Mendoza recently repeated this to the Phoenix FBI.
WIRETAP CATCHES MCKINN AND SUBORDINATE
Gabe Esqueda was McKinn’s flunky. He affirmed that he had given the $5K to Diaz in cash and that Diaz signed for it. As law enforcement officials leaned on him, Esqueda started freaking out. Caught via wiretap, McKinn tells him, “Just stick to your story and everything will be OK.”
IF ONLY THE GUY HAD TAKEN BETTER AIM…
Mary Rose, who was shot by in her obese backside by an irate constituent several years ago, she did everything she could to derail the prosecution (see article entitled: City Attorney’s Report A Deadly Bullet For Arizona Boxing Crooks) of McKinn, was finally removed as the Commission head by the new Governor in July, this after ABC TV Channel 15 in Phoenix did two damning stories on the corruption of Montano and Wilcox’s. Montano, whom I think will soon be in dire need a criminal attorney, John’s last day of work was said to be September 21.
CREDIT GOES TO JOE DIAZ FOR NEVER GIVING UP
Having penned a plethora of telling stories on John Montano, Peter McKinn, Earl and Mary Rose Wilcox, that I thought proved my case, nothing happened until ABC Channel 15 mirrored the work of RingTalk.com and began a probe of their own.
AGAIN BOB ARUM APPEARS TO BE TARGET OF FEDS!
A couple of years ago, Bob Arum’s Top Rank escaped RICO charges of being a criminal enterprise, this when two ex-New York Policemen on the fringes of an FBI sting dubbed Operation Matchbox, documented people in Arum’s employ doing Cocaine and fixing fights, this was before the cops were convicted of killing six men for a New York Mafia family.
OSCAR WAS SURPRISED AT YORY’S PETITE PURSE
Now Arum’s company will likely need to defend themselves for their alleged defrauding of “Yory Boy” Campas in 2001 when he faced Oscar De La Hoya. It seems Arum who has a big mouth, known to be uncontrollable at times, filed an affidavit regarding Campas’ pay for the De La Hoya fight that the Feds are looking to use against him. One thing that will never go away is that the purse amount for Campas on the contract was obviously altered. And that Campas was charged $10,000 for a post fight urinalysis!!! None of this is speculation folks, it’s fact. Hey Bob, don’t look now, but it’s the FBI all over again!
BOB’S SAVIOR NO LONGER SO POWERFUL
And this time that former appointee that served the first President Bush, he doesn’t have the clout he had when John Ashcroft and Alberto “I Don’t Recall” Gonzalez were the US Attorney General. Again, the wheels of justice grind slowly, ah but for the folks doing business on Howard Hughes Parkway in Las Vegas, unfortunately, they still grind!
Note: Special thanks to the Las Vegas and Phoenix divisions of the FBI, the Phoenix City Attorney, Phoenix PD, Josh Bernstein of ABC Channel 15 in Phoenix, and of course Joe Diaz.
THE SAGA CONTINUES TOMORROW AT RINGTALK.COM
Pedro Fernandez