Editor’s note: Warning \u2014 story contains raw and vulgar language and descriptions of situations.<\/p>\n
When Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno won the Republican primary on Aug. 18, 2020, he celebrated in a Bonita Springs hotel suite, where close colleagues and friends stood in a circle around the room as he addressed each one.<\/p>\n
Among those in the circle were fellow sheriff\u2019s office employees like Capt. Chris Lalor, whom he called \u201cheaven sent,\u201d and John Holloway, who would later become his undersheriff and whom he dubbed the \u201cbrains of the operation.\u201d But saved for the end was someone Marceno said came from \u201ca different place,\u201d his closest friend, 56-year-old Ken Romano, a Bronx and New Jersey-raised jeweler with both the look and voice of a backroom character on The Sopranos.<\/p>\n
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Special to the Florida Trident<\/p>\n
Before the friendship imploded: Marceno and Romano hang out by the pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody needs a Kenny,\u201d Marceno says to laughter in the room. \u201cYou don\u2019t need guns, you need a Kenny. Kenny is Gianni Versace meets John Gotti. But let me tell you something, Kenny has been the most loyal friend. If I need Kenny at four in the morning, Kenny is there at 4:01.\u201d<\/p>\n
Filming the speech was Romano himself. The two men often shared photos and videos of each other \u2014 Marceno in particular would send selfies to Romano at odd times, while he was at the gym, after waking in the morning. It now amounts to a trove of material the sheriff surely never expected to see the light of day.<\/p>\n
In the hotel suite, Marceno described Romano as his staunchest defender and protector. The two men, who shared a thirst for casino gambling and fast and very expensive sports cars, were virtually inseparable.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people do things behind the scenes,\u201d Marceno says in the video, which was shot by Romano. \u201cWell, Kenny is the guy who proudly attacks people who attack me, signs his name, puts his address, says please come get him, \u2018let\u2019s go champ.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Just four years later, Romano was on the attack against Marceno in a high-stakes public war that has threatened Marceno\u2019s political career.<\/p>\n
As first reported\u00a0<\/a>by the Florida Trident, the jeweler last year alleged to the FBI that Marceno involved him in a kickback scheme, sparking a federal investigation. The sheriff had provided Romano a $5,700-per-month consulting contract with LCSO, courtesy of the taxpayers. Romano said it was essentially a no-show job. <\/p>\n Marceno, according to Romano, instructed him to pay $1,700 a month from his LCSO check directly to the sheriff\u2019s father, Carmine Marceno Sr. The money, Romano said, was for monthly payments on a white Mercedes Benz the sheriff had purchased for his since-deceased dad.<\/p>\n \u201c[E]very month I would just give his father the money,\u201d Romano recounted in an audio recording made at the time. \u201cI would take cash, I would throw it on top of the medicine cabinet and [Marceno Sr.] would come in and take it. Like, it was secretive, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n Special to the Florida Trident<\/p>\n Romano alleges he gave the sheriff gifts totaling a quarter million dollars over the years, all of which went unreported on the sheriff\u2019s financial disclosure forms filed with the Florida Ethics Commission. <\/p>\n He further claimed he bailed Marceno out of heavy gambling losses and gave him expensive gifts totalling roughly a quarter million dollars over the years, all of it unreported as required under Florida law.<\/p>\n He brought receipts, some of them literal. Romano released security video from his Bonita Springs jewelry store of Marceno accepting an unexplained stack of cash<\/a> from him. Another video showed Marceno\u2019s grandmother thanking \u201cKenny\u201d on video for two diamond rings purportedly worth more than $40,000. And there was a receipt for a $9,000 grand piano<\/a> Romano purchased for Marceno in May 2020.<\/p>\n Sources close to the FBI investigation said federal agents recorded multiple incriminating phone calls between the two men regarding the alleged kickback scheme and other wrongdoing involving work done by LCSO-related contractors at the sheriff\u2019s home. As part of the sting, Romano asked the sheriff to reinstate his LCSO contract; sheriff\u2019s office records show he was in the process of being hired again before the explosive allegations went public.<\/p>\n Amid great public buzz around the investigation late last year, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office convened a federal grand jury to investigate and potentially indict Marceno. Throughout the saga, the sheriff remained publicly silent, issuing only a written statement blanketly claiming the allegations were politically motivated and untrue. To this day, he\u2019s never answered questions about the case from the media.<\/p>\n Then, early this year, as public anticipation of federal action hit a fever pitch, the case suddenly went as quiet as Marceno had been.<\/p>\n The corruption case is shut down<\/p>\n Coinciding with the silence were changes in leadership at the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office following the election of President Donald Trump. In February, U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg was forced out of his position by Trump, who just a month prior had begun his second term in the White House. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed longtime federal attorney Greg Kehoe in Handberg\u2019s place.<\/p>\n As the silence became more deafening, Marceno appealed directly to Trump (\u201cI love Trump,\u201d the sheriff said) while floating the idea of running for Congress in March. His closest supporters began touting Marceno as \u201cTrump\u2019s sheriff.\u201d<\/a> Romano, meanwhile, voiced concerns\u00a0<\/a>that trash titan Anthony Lomangino, a close ally of the sheriff who also happens to be one of Trump\u2019s largest individual donors, was going to bat for the sheriff to kill the case. Others worried about potential political ties to Bondi and Sen. Rick Scott, who appointed Marceno to the sheriff\u2019s post back in 2018.<\/p>\n On Nov. 17, the sheriff\u2019s Naples-based attorney, Donald Day, received a letter from the Middle District informing him the criminal case against Marceno had been closed. Day claimed to media outlets, including the Trident, that Marceno had been \u201ccleared\u201d of wrongdoing, but a screen grab of the close-out letter he shared publicly said only it had been closed and specifically left the door open to re-open the case.<\/p>\n Omitted from the screenshot was the name of the person who signed the letter. When contacted for an explanation, U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office spokesman William Daniels referred all questions back to private attorney Day.<\/p>\n What is clear is that the feds spent months investigating a case it believed had merit and federal prosecutors convened a grand jury to determine whether Marceno should be indicted \u2013 before the case was shut down under murky circumstances.<\/p>\n As the case languished, an increasingly frustrated Romano created a TikTok page<\/a> where he shared several candid videos and audio recordings of Marceno, many of them made while the two men were still pals. Some of them are mysterious in their origin and several were obtained independently by the Trident.<\/p>\n All of them paint an unflattering \u2013 and at times disturbing \u2013 portrait of the sheriff.<\/p>\n Gambling \u2026 and losing<\/p>\n In two of the videos Marceno can be seen intensely playing on a slot machine in an unspecified casino.<\/p>\n Special to the Florida Trident<\/p>\n The sheriff playing slots. He reported nearly half a million dollars in income from the Seminole Hard Rock over a two year period. <\/p>\n \u201cPiece of f\u2013king shit,\u201d the sheriff says after a losing spin. \u201cThat was six thousand [lost].\u201d<\/p>\n In another video he lets out a string of profanities when he again loses on the slots, before he appears to win $279 in bonus play.<\/p>\n Marceno\u2019s gambling habit isn\u2019t a secret. He disclosed nearly half a million dollars in earnings from the Seminole Hard Rock over a period of two years \u2013 equaling more than his public salary at the time.<\/p>\n When the Trident broke that story in 2023<\/a>, Undersheriff John Holloway claimed Marceno gambled only low stakes amounts and had developed a love of slot machines from his grandmother, Nan. Romano however claimed the sheriff played very high stakes \u2013 and posted the video in which the sheriff apparently lost $6,000 as evidence.<\/p>\n Romano alleged he covered tens of thousands of dollars in gambling losses for the sheriff over the years, while also providing lavish gifts to both the sheriff and his grandmother.<\/p>\n Marceno opened \u201cNan\u2019s Ranch\u201d in honor of his grandmother. <\/p>\n In one video shared by Romano, Nan reclines in a hospital bed and talks with a family member about gifts she\u2019s been given by Romano. It\u2019s not clear who is behind the camera.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did he give you?\u201d a woman not seen in the video asks Nan.<\/p>\n \u201cOne diamond five carats,\u201d Nan answers while looking down at the ring on her finger. \u201cAnd then he gave me a diamond with rubies in it, a Jaqueline Kennedy ring.\u201d<\/p>\n In the video, someone then asks Nan, who died in 2021 and was the inspiration for LCSO\u2019s animal rescue shelter \u201cNan\u2019s Ranch,\u201d who gave her the rings. There is no hesitation in her answer.<\/p>\n \u201cKenny,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Wishing death for a former LCSO commander<\/p>\n A common theme in the recordings is Marceno\u2019s rampant vulgarity. In one of the more disturbing recordings, Marceno can be heard insulting former Lee sheriff\u2019s commander-turned-whistle blower James Bogliole.<\/p>\n In the audio posted by Romano, Marceno lambastes Bogliole in incredibly crass fashion, even voicing a death wish for the former NYPD officer and U.S. Army veteran.<\/p>\n Facebook\/Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/p>\n Bogliole alleges he was pressured to cover up a deputy\u2019s intoxication on the road. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s f\u2013king the worst cop I have in the entire f\u2013king agency \u2026 I hope he dies in his sleep, the m\u2014-f\u2014-,\u201d Marceno can be heard saying. \u201c\u2026 I have his ass, so I don\u2019t give a flying f\u2013k. He can suck my d\u2013k and f\u2013kin\u2019 blow a load in his face.\u201d<\/p>\n Bogliole has alleged he was pressured to lie<\/a> about a case involving another former deputy, Michael Soto. The former commander claimed that when Soto was pulled over on suspicion of DUI in 2023, he informed higher-ups the deputy was belligerent and reeked of alcohol. But instead of being taken to jail, Soto was given a ride home. Bogliole later alleged Undersheriff Holloway wrote a false report claiming Soto was \u201cill, and not impaired,\u201d and that he signed it \u201cunder duress.\u201d<\/p>\n When and where the audio of Marceno railing against Bogliole was captured isn\u2019t known. After the Trident reached out to the sheriff about it, attorney Day claimed some of the recordings posted by Romano were illegally made under Florida law, which requires both parties to agree to being recorded during private conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been recordings made of the sheriff unbeknownst to the sheriff,\u201d said Day. \u201cWe have asked law enforcement to investigate those recordings. It would also be a felony to publish recordings that are made unlawfully. I\u2019d ask you to be careful with that.\u201d<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t answer further questions. A detailed request for an interview with the sheriff regarding Romano and the recordings was met with silence.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody be naked\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The biggest scandal Marceno endured prior to the scuttled federal investigation regarded a woman named Deanna Williams, whom he met in 2018 after she reported a crime.<\/p>\n Marceno pursued Williams romantically and when she became pregnant he pressured her to have an abortion \u2013 which runs in contradiction to the staunchly conservative beliefs he espouses as a Republican politician.<\/p>\n Special to the Florida Trident<\/p>\n Marceno routinely sent Romano selfies from his daily life.<\/p>\n Multiple sources previously close with Marceno say womanizing is as glaring a vice for the sheriff as gambling. And the Romano recordings appear to further substantiate that claim.<\/p>\n In one video taken by Romano, the unmarried Marceno talks of having girls at his home.<\/p>\n \u201cF\u2013king girls in here drinking, it\u2019s over,\u201d he says to Romano. \u201cI put the f\u2013king pool at 90, the jacuzzi on 105, everybody be naked, jerking each other off, I f\u2013king don\u2019t give a f\u2013k. I shut these blinds, you can knock all you want motherf\u2013ker. The gates are locked, unless you jump that f\u2013king fence you can\u2019t come in.\u201d<\/p>\n In another audio recording, he can be heard talking about Ivanka Trump, who visited the sheriff\u2019s office in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. \u201cShe\u2019s a different level, buddy,\u201d he says of the president\u2019s daughter. \u201cClean f\u2013king beautiful upscale Manhattan p\u2014y.\u201d<\/p>\n In another audio, he has a very different take on Casey DeSantis, Florida\u2019s First Lady.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s disgusting,\u201d he says. \u201cRough, rough, rough. Her nails are f\u2014ed up. Rough. Like rough. I\u2019m telling you.\u201d<\/p>\n He says he thinks there\u2019s \u201csomething wrong\u201d mentally with her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he deems a \u201cf\u2014ing Down Syndrome asshole\u201d in one of the recordings.<\/p>\n Marceno is also fond of high-end sports cars, including Ferraris and Lamborghinis, both of which he\u2019s owned. While Marceno claims \u201czero tolerance\u201d for those who break street racing laws, Romano videoed the sheriff gunning a Lamborghini\u00a0<\/a>and speeding, in apparent violation of those laws himself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe community deserves transparency\u201d<\/p>\n Dozens of Lee County residents expressed their shock and dissatisfaction with the decision to shut down the federal grand jury investigation on the Facebook page \u201cLee County Florida Corruption,\u201d which has nearly 7,000 followers.<\/p>\n \u201cHere in Lee County, we\u2019re expected to accept corruption as normal,\u201d wrote resident Bill Esposito in one comment. \u201cThe community deserves transparency, not intimidation. We deserve leadership, not control. And nothing changes until we demand it together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course the case is closed,\u201d wrote another. \u201cMarceno is so far up Trump\u2019s a\u2013 that he uses Trump\u2019s transverse colon as a hammock.\u201d<\/p>\n Facebook\/Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/p>\n Marceno, seen here on talking about new school bus patrol initiatives on Dec. 4, has yet to field questions from the media about the federal investigation. <\/p>\n Numerous media outlets echoed Day\u2019s claim that the feds had \u201ccleared\u201d Marceno, but the letter clearly left the door open for further investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis letter does not bind any federal, state or local law enforcement or prosecuting authority, including this office, nor does it address or limit any civil or administrative action that a federal, state, or local authority may pursue with respect to this or any other matter,\u201d the letter concluded.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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