Kwame Kilpatrick’s arrest and conviction on multiple corruption charges rocked the black power structure in Detroit. Kilpatrick is currently serving a 28-year sentence in federal prison for crimes committed while he was mayor of Detroit. Now Derrick Miller, one of Kilpatrick’s top aides and a co-conspirator has detailed his crimes and life in what has been called the “Cass Tech Mafia” in an interview with the Detroit Free Press.
Miller reveals dramatic details and regrets regarding his descent into corruption with Kilpatrick. The resulting series of crimes led to 17 people being sentenced to federal prison. Miller served as Kilpatrick’s chief administrative officer and served as a go-between for contractor Bobby Ferguson. According to the government, Ferguson and Kilpatrick’s criminal enterprise netted millions in cash and gifts. Miller admitted that he once gave Kilpatrick an envelope from a contractor stuffed with $10,000 cash in a bathroom. Miller claims that he committed his crimes out of loyalty for Kilpatrick.
Miller claims he was pushed out of the inner circle of Detroit power over his concerns with the level of corruption in the mayor’s office. Miller is quoted as saying, “I said ‘no’ more than once to Kilpatrick about doing something wrong. … It didn’t go over well.”
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds handed down Miller’s sentence and acknowledged his cooperation with the government. Instead of being sentenced to prison he will do time at a halfway house for at least a year. In addition, last week Edmunds allowed Miller to set up a 100-year payment plan for the $240,858 he owes to the IRS.
