The Island Mob
In the Texas tourist town of South Padre Island there are allegations public officials are illegally using city employees to attack their critics. Even voting on measures that benefit their businesses and harm their competitors.
Most folks are scared to speak out about those who control different levels of government, this ISLAND MOB – Not Us!
“Hey Joe, I hear you’re the big boss in town,” Wayne Dolcefino said to Joe Ricco.
You’re watching another elected official try to escape a Dolcefino Media camera.
The city secretary tries to block us.
“Don’t do that. Don’t ever do that again” Dolcefino said.
But that doesn’t fly with us.
Joe Ricco is the mayor Pro- Tem of South Padre Island.
He will hide behind a building column at city hall to avoid our camera, claiming he is just trying to stay in the shade.
Yeah right.
“What are you doing hiding behind the post?” Dolcefino said.
“I’m in the shade,” Joe Ricco said.
“Ok, well you can be in the shade right here. Come talk to me,” Dolcefino said.
Think that went well.
Wait till you see what happened when we tried to interview the mayor at his island home in a fancy gated community.
Look how many cop cars showed up because of the threat little old me posed.
We even made the nightly police blotter.
Nine million people will come to South Padre Island this year.
A lot of them in the summer.
They hit the beach. Enjoy the waves.
And marvel at what Mother Nature brings here.
But only two thousand people call the island home.
And we are here on a different mission, investigating allegations of abuse of power. Public corruption. Official oppression.
“You’re scared of them?” Dolcefino asked.
“I already feel like I’m being retaliated against. They have all the power and influence and control on this island. You know, who gets permits, who get to do business,” said Erin Macauley.
She may be scared. We’re not.
This is the Entertainment District on South Padre Island.
Millions have come here to eat and drink.
Hugo Lara was one of them.
Supposedly drinking for six hours straight.
Cameras last place him here at Tequila Sunset for more than three hours.
Lara got on the Queen Isabella Causeway leaving the island.
He was driving the wrong way.
“A blood alcohol content test conducted on Lara that night showed a result of over 2 and a half times more than the legal limit,” was said on Channel 4.
And she paid the price.
Mariah Enriquez was just twenty years old.
“She was a happy person always,” said Cynthia Hernandez.
The Rio Grande Valley media reported the family’s lawsuits against the bars Lara went to that night.
But they didn’t share the explosive political connection that we will.
The Texas Secretary of State says Tequila Sunset is owned by Fired Up SPI LLC — a corporation managed by three other companies.
One of them is GTGSPI 24-7 LLC.
We traced the owner. It’s that city commissioner, Joe Ricco.
South Padre has been a windfall for Ricco. He came here from Cleveland as a bartender.
Now he owns two big bars on the bayfront.
Public access to the water on the bay is now limited.
“Do you believe your bar is responsible for Mariah’s death?” Dolcefino asked.
“I have no comment,” Ricco said.
“Did you fire anyone?” Dolcefino asked.
“Again, I have no comment,” Ricco said.
A second owner is the company RedCup Management LLC.
Guess who owns that?
This guy — Patrick McNulty.
He’s the mayor of South Padre Island.
“You really believe that they are accessories to murder?” Dolcefino asked.
“Yes,” said Cynthia Hernandez.
A year after this deadly crash, Mariah’s death has never been mentioned once — not a single time — at a city council meeting.
“Why hasn’t the city talked publicly about the death of that girl Mariah?” Dolcefino asked.
“Why would we?” Angelique Soto said.
We can tell you why they wouldn’t want to talk about that young girl’s death, besides the bad publicity for a tourist town.
The biggest bars in the Entertainment District have something in common.
They are all owned by public officials.
Louie’s Backyard is co-owned by the mayor and commissioner Ricco.
They are both owners too of Tequila Sunset.
And Driftwood Landing, a few doors down, is owned by the city’s fire chief, who appoints the fire marshal — the city official in charge of making sure these bars are safe.
But here are the facts.
The chief did get a kitchen inspection last year, but nothing more — not for five years.
Tequila Sunset hasn’t seen a fire inspector in five years either.
Get this…
During that annual fire safety inspection eight years ago, the general manager was told he had to post an occupancy limit… and he said no.
And he told the marshal to start his inspections on the other side of the island.
Must be nice to pull that kind of thing off.
The tourist town claims there’s nothing to see here — there’s simply a backlog of safety inspections.
But how does the fire marshal defend what’s going on?
“I just got here, so I haven’t been here for so long,” said the Fire Marshal.
“How long have you been there?” Dolcefino asked.
“Umh, since 2020,” said the Fire Marshal.
He didn’t just get here. That was five years ago.
“I’m sorry I can’t make any comment right now” said the Fire Marshal.
Guess it was a different Robert Garcia who failed the fire inspection at Louie’s in 2017 — with no evidence he ever went back.
There were 72 fire code violations noted on that inspection, some of them real serious… but there are simply no records that anyone ever followed up. Wonder why…
Maybe it can be argued improvements in the South Padre Entertainment District benefit the whole town.
But the council’s decision raises ethical questions, that most locals are simply afraid to raise in public.
“You’ve never voted on an item that helps your business economically?” said Dolcefino.
“I have not. Nope,” said Ricco.
“I’ve seen the votes.” Said Dolcefino.
“You may think you’ve seen the votes, but I have not.” said Ricco.
This is Laguna Blvd, it runs right in front of the politically connected restaurants and bars.
In November of last year, Councilman Ricco made the motion to improve the drainage on the street.
Look at this, large cement columns lit at night along the walkway on Laguna Street — a protected pathway for customers.
Invoices we obtained show the city voted to spend $364,000 on these bollards.
We found video of the meeting where the island city council voted to spend the money from the general fund.
It was November of 2023… and we wanted to see if the mayor and Commissioner Ricco would abstain from the vote.
They didn’t.
But the walkway literally runs right in front of the bars Ricco and the mayor own.
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent right in front of your buildings,” said Dolcefino
“They’re not only property, Wayne” said Ricco
“They’re right across from your restaurant and bar,” said Dolcefino.
“They are not on my property. I do enjoy your stuff,” said Ricco
“You do?” Dolcefino asked.
“You’re kind of like the Morton Downey Jr. of YouTube,” said Ricco.
‘What should I call you, bitch’ Morton Downey said.
Morton Downey was the first king of trash talk TV back in the 80s.
‘I hate being associated with the left-wing knee-jerk pablom puking press,’ Morton Downey said.
“Are you a tough guy or a mean guy?” said Dolcefino.
“Do I look like a tough guy?” said Ricco.
“No.” said Dolcefino.
South Padre Island is clearly overdue for some media scrutiny.
There are growing complaints that Joe Ricco is abusing his government power to punish his adversaries.
“I want to be able to operate my business without, you know, fear of retaliation,” said McAulley.
His competitors.
“They benefit from it. They don’t care about the rest,” said Bill Carroll, former owner of Skully’s bar.
Even punishing a local DJ for allegedly playing tunes at the wrong bar.
“He sounds like a bully… his employees literally stated, ‘We’re all afraid of him,’” said Sherii Morelli
“Why do people say this is like a mafia down here, like a cartel that you guys control?” said Dolcefino.
“Never heard that, sir,” said Ricco.
“Never heard that?” said Dolcefino.
“Basically, they do what they want to do, and no one else can do it,” said Bill Carroll.
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