South Florida's new FBI chief is on a mission, one that could alter the region's political landscape and send more government officials and prominent figures to prison.
John Gillies, who took the reins of the nation's fifth-largest FBI field office two months ago, calls public corruption the No. 1 criminal threat in South Florida.
Gillies said he is adding another anti-corruption squad to the dozens of agents already working "a number of investigations." In recent years, five politicians in Palm Beach County and four in Broward County have traded public office for handcuffs, brought down on federal charges.
"The corruption that you have seen, and I believe will continue to see, is alarming," Gillies said in a recent interview at his office in North Miami Beach, where he supervises 500 agents from Fort Pierce to Key West.
"We're talking about elected officials who are elected to do a job and represent the citizens, and they're violating that trust by representing only their own personal interest," he said. "We will continue to investigate these cases and bring to justice those who have violated the public trust."
The straight-laced career FBI man, who as a youth skipped parties where drugs might be present and says he's "always thinking of what my mom would think if I were to do something bad," gets fired up when he discusses what's become his passion.
"Next to terrorism, I think [combating] corruption is the best work that the FBI does," Gillies said. "Taxpayers pay more because of corruption. The bridge costs twice as much because of bribes that were paid. The road that gets paved costs more because of bribes. Our safety is put at risk because inspectors who are supposed to inspect buildings or health facilities, restaurants for health codes, get paid off to look the other way."
Gillies, 50, came here from St. Louis, a smaller FBI office where he set up an anti-corruption squad and went after bad cops and state legislators. The arrests of a prominent state senator and two representatives sparked proposed ethics reforms at Missouri's Capitol and left politicians guessing whom the FBI would go after next.
Gillies earned a reputation as a corruption-fighting crusader and sent a clear message to elected officials, said Missouri state Rep. Tim Flook.
"I knew one thing for sure," Flook said. "Stay away from anybody who's got any kind of improper inclinations because if this guy sinks his teeth into something and thinks you've done something corrupt, he will bite down and hang on like a junkyard dog, and you will not win."
In South Florida, Gillies replaced Jonathan Solomon, who retired after almost four years as the FBI special agent in charge.
Gillies arrived in mid-October, just after the FBI arrested Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher, County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion and former Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman in a far-reaching and ongoing corruption investigation. Gillies also took over the largest fraud investigation in the region's history, the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly run by now-disbarred Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein.
The prevailing motive in many of the cases he's worked: greed.
"You're seeing people living for the moment and not taking anything else into consideration," Gillies said. "They see what they could have or what the next guy has, especially here. The wealth in South Florida, with all the boats and the cars and the big houses and all the other stuff, they want it, and it doesn't seem to matter to them how they go about getting it."
Raised on the West Side of Chicago in a family of 10 children, Gillies speaks admiringly of his parents: his father, who held down two jobs working for a utility and managing a McDonald's; and his mother, whom he credits with "raising all of us to be good kids."
"Five of us might have been in diapers at the same time," he said.
When he was 10, Gillies set his sights on the FBI after reading a book about the history of the bureau.
"Even though I was a young kid, I was intrigued," he recalled. "This is what I wanted to be when I grew up."
He talked to his mother about the two best career paths, an accountant or a lawyer, "and I figured the fact that lawyers had to go school for a few more years wasn't for me." He chose accounting and joined the FBI in 1983, a year after graduating from Illinois State University.
Gillies was an agent in New York City, San Diego and Honolulu before becoming a supervisor in 1997. He was an assistant to the top agent in Detroit and led two divisions at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.: violent crime and financial fraud, which includes bank failures, identity theft and cyberbanking.
Married and the father of 10-year-old twin boys, Gillies lives by the advice he gives his agents: take advantage of your community. Since arriving in South Florida, his family has visited the beaches — "We're like the only ones in the water." — and hopes to take in Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins games. His sports loyalty, he points out, remains with his hometown.
"There is only one professional team in Chicago," Gillies said. "That would be the Cubs."
The G-man's schedule leaves little free time. Up at 3:30 every morning, Gillies is usually in the office by 5:15 and works a 14-hour day — plus weekends.
"I love the job," he said. "Some day it'll all end, and I'll look back and say, 'I did not leave anything behind. I did everything the Bureau had to offer.'"
Now on his fifth move in seven years, Gillies said he hopes to retire in South Florida — after leaving his mark. "We have a lot of work down here," he said, from the worst health care fraud problem in the nation to organized crime, gangs and financial schemes.
As the bureau's top agent in the region, Gillies ensures his office follows the FBI director's priorities, including counterterrorism, intelligence and cybercrime. He also has latitude to set his own priorities. Topping the list is dishonest public servants.
"One of the things that frustrates me the most is that these people already have everything. They have money, they have power and they have education," he said. "It just seems never to be enough."
Corruption starts with one ethical breach and grows, fueled by rationalization, Gillies said. "I've had judges tell me, 'If I was in private practice, I'd be making a lot more money, therefore it's OK.' "
In his public speeches, Gillies closes with this: "The worst day at work is still better than the best day in prison."
"That's true, and I don't understand why these people don't understand that," he said. "I also love that they all are sorry to their family, and want to spend more time with them, and they all find religion after the fact.
"Those people should be punished," he said. "We will use every tool that's in our bag to ensure that this behavior stops."
Sally Kestin can be reached at skestin@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4510.
