KC Confidential

Blarney, anybody?

Just spin, baby…

What to do on the heels of the Kansas legislature’s embarrassing snub of the KU Athletics Department after it shot down a request to fund KU’s lavish $17.5 million luxury apartments for basketball recruits…

Especially with KU  basketball deity Bill Self poised to clinch his 10th Big 12 title. After all, Self had shinnied out on a limb shilling for the pricey project, telling basketball devotees it was necessary to keep up with college powerhouses like Kentucky.

And trust me, nobody at the University of Kansas (or in Lawrence) dares disappoint Bill Self. Could cause him to eyeball one of those king-sized NBA paychecks lurking in the shadows.

What was the athletics department to do? Continue reading →

Curiouser and curiouser…

On the heels of not hearing back for several days from a jeweler rumored to be under investigation by authorities, intrepid reporter Paul Wilson was dispatched this afternoon to the offices of said jeweler in an to attempt to set the record straight…one way or another.

Here’s what Wilson found.

“I went by the building the jeweler occupies,” Wilson says. “And there was a sign on the window of the office suite door apologizing for being closed and saying they’ll be back Monday.”

There’s more. Continue reading →

The temperature seems to be rising on the scion of a legendary KC jeweler…

Rapidly. And while – as we’ve explored here – anything’s possible as far as a bust timetable is concerned should stories making the rounds prove true – increasingly the feeling is that this thing may be about to burst wide open…one way or another. There are just too many people in the local news media who’ve begun sniffing about for this story.

And still the jeweler in question is not returning my calls nor answering his telephone.

Meanwhile area police and justice department officials appear to be under increasing media pressure to make a move if there’s one to be made and release the story.

One local jeweler says he’s heard it involves “Internet drug purchases and previously missing pieces of jewelry from prominent local families.” Continue reading →

Not so fast, Sherlock…

The odds of a Kansas City jeweler getting off the hook by cutting a deal with the Feds with no publicity whatsoever: in a word, slim.

So says two-time convicted felon and former special agent to the Kansas attorney general Craig Glazer, who as they say, has been there, done that. Even were the jeweler in question a first time offender, he’s still almost certain to spend some slam time along with a heaping helping of local news headlines to wash it down with, Glazer says.

Here’s how it works. Continue reading →

It’s a sexy story that could generate dramatic, bold headlines…

It’s also a tale that could retreat into the shadows of urban legend where only insiders ever fully knew and understood what really happened. Because when it comes to high crimes like drug and diamond smuggling, anything can happen.

Mum’s the word today among law enforcement officials contacted about the reported pending bust of a local jeweler. Documents have yet to be filed and everyone contacted – from Kansas City Police to the Department of Justice – say no news is no news. And that unless or until charges are actually unsealed and filed, they can neither confirm nor deny.

Here’s another possibility. Continue reading →

This just in…

I’m going to continue to play this one close, but a prominent society matron emailed me this morning – out of the blue – and dropped the exact name of the rumored local jeweler said to be under investigation for smuggling drugs and diamonds. If true this will be the biggest Kansas City scandal of the new millennium to date.

Check it: Continue reading →