Mike Carona, A Blogography Chapter 3

CARONA AND THE GANG OF FOUR! From Left to Right: Joseph Cavallo, Mike Schroeder, Don Haidl and George Jaramillo

To truly understand this entire sordid tale, one must understand the Inner Circle who surrounded Carona and influenced his decision making. We must go back in time to the beginning to truly see the culture of corruption that invaded Orange County. The inner circle of George Jaramillo, Don Haidl, Joe Cavallo and Mike Schroeder was an interesting alliance indeed. While the first three simply sought power for themselves, Mike Schroeder was in it to empower the Republican Party. I guess you can say Schroeder was the least selfish of them all, since he was not 100% in it for himself. He was the odd man out in that his goals were not the same as the first three, but they were corrupt nonetheless.

In 1998, when Carona first ran for Sheriff against Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, he got the support of the GOP establishment thanks to Schroeder, who was also helping D.A. candidate Tony Rackauckas. At the same time, Haidl, Jaramillo(fresh from being fired from the Garden Grove PD) and Cavallo saw a way to basically run the show in Orange County. They were obsessed with being “powerbrokers” and dreamt of running a political machine much like Daley in Chicago or Tammany Hall in New York. Walters seemed a little too honest for their taste, so the best choice was a little known Federal Bailiff named Mike Carona.

Carona did not come from a law enforcement background in the traditional sense, instead he was a lifelong bailiff for the Federal Courts rising through the ranks to a Federal Marshall, although he never was out in the field. He actually gained a reputation for being honest, ethical and hard working. Many people who know him personally have told me that they classify him into two times, BS- BEFORE SHERIFF and AE- AFTER ELECTION. Many close friends of his were wary from the very start of Haidl(who made his fortune as a used car salesman) and Jaramillo. They warned Carona, to no avail. It did not take long for Haidl, Jaramillo and Cavallo’s corrupt lifestyle to rub off on Carona, and rub off it did.

Many people who knew Carona try to put the blame on the gang of four, but ultimately, Carona is responsible for his own actions. They never forced him to do a single illegal act. He decided he loved their lifestyle of life in the fast lane. He ultimately threw away his lifestyle of honesty, fidelity and ethics for a lifestyle of lies, sex and greed. It was a lifestyle Haidl and Jaramillo provided Carona as they used taxpayer funded helicopters for jaunts to Vegas to party like rock stars. In once gambling escapade in Lake Tahoe, Don Haidl spoke of an incident where he gave over $4,000 worth of Black Jack chips to Carona, which he blew in minutes(someone obviously never listened to Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler).

Their lives could have made for an interesting Aaron Spelling show. Carona took up a permanent mistress with famed realtor Debra Hoffman, but she was far from the only “other” woman. Some of the other women were Russian interpreter, Vegas showgirls, and even the wives of rank and file officers. Jaramillo even offered up his own secretary as a sex toy for Carona.

In the meantime, this inner circle turned to old fashioned shakedowns in order to keep the flow of money to their pockets, this is where defense attorney Joseph Cavallo comes in. Cavallo was considered a very good and very shrewd defense attorney in Orange County. He struck up a friendship with Haidl and Jaramillo, who in turn introduced him to Carona. Together this little section of the Gang of Four was complete. They even used the jails and the inmates to spread their culture of corruption. They shook down bail bondsmen to “invest” into a pool that would get them new business. In turn they were to “refer”, more like intimidate accused suspects to use the services of Joseph Cavallo.

Bail bondsmen who signed on to their little scheme and paid the “fee” were referred business as well. Newly arrested inmates booked into the Central County or Theo Lacy Jail near the Block were “encouraged” by inmates to use the services of these bondsmen. Of course this encouragement usually involved a couple of punches to the stomach and face, especially of the inmate hesitated at their “offer.” In return, the families of these inmates under the employ of Cavallo’s and Carona’s bondsmen were given a share of the “protection” money. This practice continued among some of these bondsmen even after Cavallo’s scheme came apart and Carona’s indictment.

This culture of corruption was the order of the day, and all this was known to the fourth member of the inner circle, Mike Schroeder. Schroeder had a different goal though, his was to make the Republican Party of Orange County into a monolithic organization by any means possible. He knew having control of the DA and the Sheriff would allow the party to operate at a level of corruption not seen in years without worry of consequences. He encouraged the Sheriff to hire his friends as consultants or reserve Sheriff’s such as Adam Probolsky and Jon Fleischman. He influenced Carona to give official badges to Republican insiders in Orange County and campaign donors such as Casino owner Gary Primm(pictured at right), many of whom took advantage of this and abused this system to get special treatment. Then, in the most egregious abuse of power of all, Schroeder had Carona give Concealed Weapon Permits to all prominent Republicans throughout the county, many of whom should never have received them. One recipient of these CCW’s pulled a gun out on men in a golf course who were moving too slow.

The DA and the Sheriff were nothing more than slaves to the GOP and their culture of corruption flourished. Rackauckas sat in silence as voters were disenfranchised, who were being shaken down or outright secretly switched by meth and cocaine addicts to register Republican. It was only with public outcry and an OC Register investigation that this was brought to an end. In fact the house of cards all began to come down in the summer of 2002, just after Carona was dubbed “America’s Sheriff” when Don Haidl’s son Gregory Haidl and his two friends Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann videotaped themselves raping an unconscious girl.

Carona: THe Movie

Chris Emami likes putting together matches for politicos who could be portrayed in a movie on THE OC. There is one saga that I know could be a worldwide hit, a movie on the rise and fall of "America's Sheriff", Mike Carona. Below is what I believe to be the perfect cast ensemble for the major players of this saga. Of course there is only one director who could capture the intrigue, corruption and drama, that man is none other than MARTIN SCORSESE(pictured below). The rest of this all star cast would be:

THE INNER CIRCLE

Nicholas Cage as Mike Carona

James Cromwell as Don Haidl












Javier Bardem as George Jaramillo

Michael Imperioli as Joe Cavallo

Kevin Spacey as Mike Schroeder

THE WOMEN

Edie Falco as Deborah Carona

Marcia Cross as Debra Hoffman

Bryce Dallas Howard as Susan Holloway

Jessica Alba as Erica Hill

Olga Kurylenko as the Mysterious Russian Interpreter

THE PLAYERS

Peter Gallagher as Tony Rackauckas

Steven Van Zandt as Rick Rizzolo











Shia LeBeuof as Greg Haidl

Dennis Quaid as Wayne Quint

Harvey Kietel as Bishop Todd Brown

Dennis Farina as Patrick DiCarlo(No pic was available for DiCarlo)

Neil Patrick Harris as R. Scott Moxley (no pic was available of R. Scott)

Ellen DeGeneris as JoAnn Galinsky

Betty White as Shirley Grindle

BREAKING NEWS! Rampage in New York

It is being reported by CNN that a gunman has gone on a rampage at an immigrants rights center in New York. Four people are confirmed dead, although more may be dead or injured. Police are unsure of the motive, which may be the deadliest case of immigrant bashing in U.S. History. There may also be a hostage situation unfolding at this time. More on this as it develops.

UPDATE: THe gunman was confirmed to have killed himself after murdering 13, wounding 4 more and taking up to 30 others hostage. His name was Jiverly Wong, a 42 year old who may have been disgruntled with the Civic Association. Thirteen lives, potentially more as three of the wounded are in critical condition were wiped out by this madman.

Mike Carona, A Blogography Chapter 2

When I sat down with my “Source” who was a victim of priest abuse and learned the truth, all the puzzle pieces fit together. The Greenhut editorial scapegoating liberals and employees at Marywood, the sudden silence by Rackauckas after seemingly pledging to aggressively investigate abuse cases, it all fit together. When it was clear the Republican connections to the case, when it was clear the truth would almost certainly turn Orange County “blue” it was clear a cover up needed to be orchestrated. Mike Schroeder was Mike Carona’s political consultant and former Chairman of the California Republican Party. He relishes being called by his nickname Darth Vader, but I see him more like a Napoleon Bonaparte, a little man trying to be larger than life.

A lawyer by trade, and I will admit a good one at that, Schroeder has succeeded in evading law enforcement by making sure his fingerprints were not at the crime scene. Even at the apex of their power, while Jaramillo, Haidl and Cavallo got sloppy in their crime spree, Schroeder stayed cautious and made sure he would not be caught when the feds came sniffing around. Yet the actions and the cover up and the favors doled out to Republican insiders proved to the most casual observer that he too was part of the net of corruption on the Orange County Sheriff’s office. He convinced Carona to give concealed weapon permits to all the REPUBLICAN Board of Supervisors members and any Republican insider. In California, one has to show good cause as to why they need to carry a concealed weapon, the good cause Schroeder ordered Carona to give was that they were Republican.

The “Source” informed me that it was Carona’s office who “accidentally” shredded the proof that could have put Tom Fuentes, former Bishop McFarland and Monsignor John Urell away for many years(Bishop Johnson died in 1986 and therefore evaded any Earthly punishment). Many abuse victims believe Schroeder, in an attempt to cover for his beloved Republican Party gave the order, but it was ultimately Don Haidl the father of rapist Gregory Haidl, whose fingerprints were on the shredding.

Learning this truth was nauseating. The Sheriff who was exploiting his entire career on catching a pedophile murderer assisted in covering up for hundreds of pedophiles within the Catholic Church. I knew before I was not going to vote for him, but it was at that point that I would dedicate myself to getting a new Sheriff elected.

By this time it was 2006 and Carona’s re-election campaign was well under way. I proudly protested Governor Schwarzenegger’s fundraiser for Carona. I ended up supporting Ralph Martin, an LA County Sheriff Commander, for OC Sheriff after seeing he truly was about being a Sheriff first and a Politician second. Ralph Martin was a true officer of the law determined to ensure the bad guys were put behind bars and getting the OCSD back to doing what they were supposed to do.

In this time, more and more people began to see the Sheriff for what he really was. His own rank and file officers refused to endorse him, instead endorsing another candidate Bill Hunt. During this campaign, more scandals came out on “America’s Sheriff.” There were more tales of infidelity including a picture of his beautiful Russian “interpreter” with his Sheriff’s coat on and ONLY his coat. There was the phone calls to the wife of a Sheriff’s deputy that he was allegedly involved with. There was the answering machine message in which while getting hot and heavy with one of his mistresses, accidentally forgot to put his key lock on his phone(solution: flip phone Mike, flip phone). Then came the picture of Sheriff Carona attending a party and posing in UNIFORM with a known organized crime figure, Rick Rizzolo. This was a going away party for Rizzolo, who was being sent to prison for 11 months for tax evasion. It was a blatant insult to the men and women in uniform for him to pose with a convicted felon and known mobster.

At this point, Carona was not even trying to hide his corruption anymore. Yet at every revelation, the finger was pointed at his three original cronies, George Jaramillo, Don Haidl and Joseph Cavallo. Mike Schroeder and GOP operative and now Sheriff’s spokesman Jon Fleischman dismissed each revelation and insulted the honest critics of the Sheriff as crazy. Or at each revelation they would once again exploit the grieving mother of Samantha Runnion for their political gain.

In the end Carona was narrowly re-elected in June 2006 with a little more than 50% of the vote. At this point even Democratic party supporters told myself and others to stop the opposition to Carona, that he is our Sheriff and won fair and square. What they failed to understand was that this was NOT just a simple campaign to stop a re-election, this was a campaign to take back our Sheriff’s department from a corrupt Sheriff who thumbed his nose at the law and had let a culture of corruption and partisanship be created. This was an alliance of honest people from both the Left and the Right. We may have lost a battle that June, but the fight was far from over and Carona’s troubles were just beginning.

Before the election, the gang of four was fast unraveling. As Cavallo, Jaramillo and Haidl faced their own charges, the pressure was on to cave in to Federal Investigators, who seemed to be the only ones who had realized that Carona's political opponents were not just blowing smoke.