How can Mayor Slay NOT be Involved in Towing Fraud?
July 20, 2009 Prepared by Percy Green, II/Chair/ ACTION ReUnion 2009 (314) 533-1686
Let’s examine the S&H Towing System scam again through the eyes of an investigator.
When Francis G. Slay became mayor in the spring of 2001, the police chief was Ron Henderson. Henderson was the second African American police chief of the City of St. Louis. Shortly thereafter, Henderson mysteriously resigned as police chief to become a federal marshal. This resignation made room for Slay to make his brother-in-law, Joseph Mokwa, the replacement police chief. Yes, Slay and Mokwa are married to sisters. These sisters are very close.
With Mokwa obligated to Slay for his police chief position and because they are also family, surely most major incidents and confidential information are shared between them. Usually, there are endless phone calls to one another or messages delivered by courier. Many discussions occur among family members and friends during birthdays and holiday gatherings. During such discussions, it would not be uncommon for a discussion to occur regarding those in the family who may need assistance of some kind. Or, which family members have connections to get things done. The Slay-Mokwa’s family network is no different.
Federal investigators must know that Slay knows what Mokwa knows and vice versa. The investigators must realize that Mokwa’s daughter is NOT the only family member that benefited from the S&H fraud. Slay has many brothers and sisters that are wheeler-dealers so it is unlikely for such a fraud to exist that close or within the family network and they, too, not to have benefited.
The investigators must be aware that a few years ago, Mokwa was busted publicly for fabricating the crime statistics for St. Louis to make Slay look good politically as mayor. Mokwa then claimed that crime had decreased in the city when in fact he chose NOT to count certain criminal acts as crimes.
Good investigators are not naïve regarding political shenanigans either. Slay had established a public record of supporting Mokwa regardless of his poor performance record as police chief. That support continued even though Slay recently cast Mokwa a NO vote on a separation package. Behind the scenes, Slay and the other 4 police board members had appeared to have worked up a complimentary separation package for Mokwa in exchange for his resignation. On the record, Slay voted against Mokwa receiving such a favorable package knowing that the other four board members were voting for it. Mokwa’s resignation package included full pay for one year ($100,000 plus), full retirement benefits, and legal fees to be paid by St. Louis taxpayers.
Federal Investigators surely know by now that Slay has no shame to his game. Records they have obtained certainly have revealed Slay’s profile, viz., that he appointed an older brother as deputy airport director in 2001 with no qualifications; he terminates the first African-American Fire Chief (Sherman George) to hire a high school friend bypassing another qualified African-American; and forced the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper to terminate one of it best columnist, Sylvester Brown.
With all the tools that federal investigators have at their disposal, there is reason to believe that they could bring charges against Mayor Frances Slay soon. How strong a case could be brought becomes the question. And whether the investigators feel that the evidence now collected is strong enough for a conviction. That is where the in-house politics begin among the investigators. Some investigators may feel that there is sufficient evidence to bring charges. Others may feel to the contrary. If no charges are brought against the mayor at this time, it does NOT mean that he was not involved in the fraud. It only means that the investigators did not feel that they have sufficient evidence to make the charge(s), yet.
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