THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2007
The Case Against Blase
Former Restaurant Owner Tells How Dealings With Village, Mayor Led Him To FBI
By DANIEL CAMERON
Journal Reporter
Cuban-born Roberto Martinez wanted to live the American Dream when he arrived in the country in the early 1960's. He started as a newspaper delivery-boy in Miami, and within a few short years became a successful Chicago restaurateur.
According to Martinez, his fortune changed in 1991, when two men walked into his Logan Square restaurant, Lindo Mexico, with an opportunity to expand into the Village of Niles.
Martinez, 56, spoke via telephone from Costa Rica, where he now lives, about what happened next. His experiences in Niles led to the rise and fall of another Lindo Mexico, and eventually would play a role in a criminal indictment against longtime Niles Mayor Nick Blase, alleging corruption and improper use of mayoral influence.
"I chose this time to speak out because...I wanted people to know what really happened," said Martinez.
Before he owned a restaurant, Cuban-born Martinez eked out a living mowing lawns and doing various maintenance and service jobs at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago. He later received a grant from Motorola to attend classes at Le Moine School, eventually receiving his electric technician's degree. Soon after, he realized what he really wanted to do was operate a restaurant.
The first Lindo Mexico opened in April 1978 in Logan Square. Bolstered by success, Martinez soon opened another in Lincoln Park in 1982. But Martinez soon found himself tempted with an even more lucrative possibility: the suburbs. Martinez opened another location in 1986, near Northwestern University in Evanston. Business thrived. Martinez was eager to expand into more suburban areas. The men who came calling that day in 1991 represented a Niles restaurant that was seeking new ownership. Martinez jumped at the opportunity, and bought the place, located at 8990 Milwaukee Ave., for $90,000, and started renovating the property.
Trouble allegedly started when the same men who'd suggested he come to Niles, now his landlords, said "things would be easier" if he worked with the Mayor to obtain an insurance policy. Martinez had plans to purchase insurance from a colleague, a fellow Cuban who operated a Spanish community insurance agency. The Mayor wanted him to purchase insurance through Ralph Weiner and Associates of Wheeling, Martinez remembered. Martinez went with his choice, and kept insurance through Spanco of Chicago for one year. But it would not be an easy year.
According to Martinez, his refusal to cooperate soured relations with both the landlords and the Mayor right off the bat. Although Martinez went to lengths to ensure everything in his restaurant was up to code, working with the designer of a "Lettuce Entertain You" establishment at the Water Tower Plaza in Chicago, he couldn't seem to get approved for a liquor license. Officials cited a previous criminal record, which Martinez denied having, as the reason he was turned down. An excessive barrage of health and building inspectors seemed to be showing him a brick wall, Martinez recalled.
"Everything was done the right way," charged Martinez. "The Mayor would not let me open."
Tired of being shot down and eager to move forward with opening plans, Martinez sought help from a friend who was a Chicago police commander. After a visit to the police station, the issue was cleared up. Police told his friend the cause of the mistake was that Martinez was such a common name.
That solved one problem. However, inspectors continued to visit Martinez after he opened with his preferred insurance, at one point entering while customers were present and threatening to shut down his restaurant.
According to Martinez, one plumbing inspector bluntly commented, "I know you're trying to run a business. Ralph Weiner is the only one who can stop this."
Finally, Martinez agreed to switch insurance carriers. Things settled down for a while, but problems resurfaced when Martinez announced a plan to expand the restaurant and buy adjacent lots. Martinez hoped to collaborate with a friend who owned a Mexican produce packaging company to build private rooms and increase the size of the restaurant and parking lot. Inspectors started coming again inexplicably, said Martinez, falsely accusing him of serving alcohol to minors. Martinez was also denied permission to patch the parking lot, and told that he would need to go through specific contractors if he wanted to make any changes. Martinez didn't understand what was happening until he heard that the Mayor wanted to make his restaurant into a bank, he explained.
Things took a turn for the worse after a heated exchange with the landlord following a tense meeting with the Mayor, he said. Martinez received an eviction notice the next day based on $90,000 in back taxes, which he said he never owed. He paid it anyway, but eventually was nudged into an agreement to sell Lindo Mexico. The building on Milwaukee Ave. is now home to a Mid America Bank.
Crushed, Martinez sold the Logan Square location and moved to Costa Rica. Suffering from anxiety problems, he said he has had trouble finding steady work and finds it difficult to even discuss the past now.
"It's been the worst five years of my life," said Martinez.
Martinez contacted an attorney to find out who he could speak to about pursuing a criminal case. Eventually information he provided to the FBI became supporting evidence in a criminal indictment against Nicholas Blase.
Blase was arrested on his 78th birthday in 2006. He has been charged with filing false federal income tax returns and honest services mail fraud. The criminal complaint, filed last June, alleges Blase pressured unidentified business owners to buy insurance only through Ralph Weiner and Associates since 1989.
"This is part of a case," said Blase yesterday (Tuesday) "I'm not in a position to discuss it."
Blase's trial date is set for March 2008. That seems like a long time to wait for Martinez, who said he was eager to see justice done.
"I'm not sorry I did what I did," he said. "I'm just sorry it hasn't come to a conclusion yet."
The Mayor's term is set to expire in 2009.