The government used years-old text messages Wednesday to offer its strongest evidence yet that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was part of a conspiracy to rig city contracts to enrich his friend and himself, the Free Press reported.
Jurors saw several text messages involving at least two water projects that landed Kilpatrick's longtime contractor friend and co-defendant Bobby Ferguson nearly $27 million in work. Jurors also saw text exchanges between Ferguson and Kilpatrick in which they discussed concerns that Ferguson might be left out of deals. Their main gripe was with their co-defendant, former Detroit water chief Victor Mercado, whom they blasted in several texts.
"His slick (expletive) is running out. I got his (expletive) on something. I aint happy," Kilpatrick texted Ferguson on March 14, 2004.
Kilpatrick was responding to a text from Ferguson, who had expressed concern that Mercado was leaving him out of a deal to replace water mains in downtown Detroit. Ferguson ultimately got the job for $6.9 million.
