Listing his ill-gotten gains through rigged city contracts, and citing a long list of criminal activity including violence, federal prosecutors on Thursday filed a papers asking that convicted contractor Bobby Ferguson get sentenced to 14 to 28 years in prison, but preferably closer to 28 years.
Ferguson is set to be sentenced at 2 p.m. on Oct. 10. His good buddy Kwame Kilpatrick will be sentenced at 10 a.m. that same day. Both were convicted of a host of charges including racketeering and bribery.
The recommendation in the sentencing memorandum likely does not bode well for Kilpatrick. Prosecutors are expected to recommend a harsh sentence for him as well.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, in a sentencing memorandum on Ferguson, wrote:
Although Bobby Ferguson was not a public official, he worked hand-inglove with mayor Kilpatrick in a criminal partnership of enormous proportions. It was Ferguson, rather than Kilpatrick, who was the “boots on the ground” of the extortion enterprise, directly issuing threats to the local business people. Given
these facts and the sheer volume of hisill-gotten gains—over $73 million in city contracts—Ferguson is deserving of a sentence at or near that of Kilpatrick.
The government added:
Ferguson’s stranglehold over municipal contracting in Detroit for six years was seen and felt by the entire local government contracting community in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Some, like the employees of Lakeshore, Inland Waters, and Walbridge, saw it up close, as they themselves were extorted. But, the entire contracting community and most members of the city administration knew that satisfying Ferguson wasthe linchpin for getting or keeping contracts. A less-than-severe sentence for Ferguson’s brazen criminal conduct would send the wrong message to the community. Ferguson needs to be substantially punished so that others are deterred from engaging in similar conduct.
