Remember that guy Joe Illuzzi? He’s got a sordid past filled with robbing banks, being a deadbeat, bankruptcies, and generally being a massive part of the WNY political problem.
Turns out, he hasn’t stopped his deadbeat ways. Just within the last week, Illuzzi has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection for almost $233,000 in debts against $19,000 in assets. He claims to be earning just $1,600 per month, and has tax liens from the feds and state of over $66,000 – a tax debt means there was income earned to incu
Lots of his debts seem health care related, so one could assume Mr. Illuzzi would begin to advocate for a different type of healthcare system, instead of saddling local medical and nursing providers with zero cents on the dollar.
You can read Illuzzi’s bankruptcy filing here.
Highlights of his filing include the revelation that Illuzzi has $13 in his checking account, and $950 cash on hand. That’s WNY F-You money! He owes $18k on a 2008 Buick that’s worth $13k. There are federal tax liens for 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2011, and a 2009 state tax warrant.
Deadbeat.
He owes the Bon Ton $26,000+ from a 1996 judgment against him, we’ll cover the sordid details of that judgment in a future article. The Buffalo News judgment from 2001 is for $2,300. He maxed out his Capital One credit card to the tune of $25,000. He owes E-Trade $15,000. He even owes his dentist $90.
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As much as Illuzzi has become some kind of Republican mouthpiece and a hateful holy roller, this is his second bankruptcy in 25 years, and it seems as if he has a hard time accepting and paying the debts he incurs. That local politicians continue to want to be associated with this homophobic spewer of hatred and rumors is astonishing.
Yes, it was absolutely worth coming out of blogging “retirement” to publish this article. Yes, there will be more details tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. Also, I’ll be at the courthouse to cover Mr. Illuzzi’s bankruptcy hearing on December 12th.
A few background posts on Mr. Illuzzi:
The Buffalo Record 
Amazing. You would think his extortion website would bring in enough to keep him solvent. Guess not.
This petition is golden!
Anyone else notice that he is stiffing Carl Paladino out of almost two grand?
His attorney in the matter is Dennis Gaughan, who is apparently being paid with advertising at the top of Joe’s website. Fucking brilliant. Schadenfreude ahoy!
Schadenfreude indeed! What a great start to what will hopefully be a happy Election Day! I can’t wait to read more, welcome back!
Welcome back. Twitter’s a little too noisy for me and so I enjoy (missed!) your writing here.
glad to have you back. have a few in City of Tonawanda could use some exposure to the light of day but in the meantime, this is precious. Sure he’s paying his tithes to the Chapel though as he is such a gospel believer
Welcome back, Chris! I was hoping you wouldn’t resist for long.
If the author is correct that DennisGaughanHamburgNewYork (that’s apparently his name, listen to the 341 tapes) traded advertising on Felonnuzzi’s site for partial payment of his fee in addition to the $1500 allegedly paid, then at least one “certification” and one “declaration under penalty of perjury” in those schedules would be false and subject to prosecution as bankruptcy crimes. By the husband of “Do Not Elect Kathy Hochul To Congress 2012.” Go get im, Bill.
Chris,
So this idiot is what it takes to get you back in the saddle? Finally, Mr. Illuzzi has performed a positive civic function. And just for you information, Joe was an asshole when we graduated from Bennett HS with Bobby Lanier.
Ahh, Chris Smith blogging is like a cool breeze on a hot day.
Joe Illuzzi’s response:
It’s a tip for Mr. Illuzzi that posting public records is not considered libel. I have more public records to post and I will indeed do so as Mr. Illuzzi is a herpetic sore on the lip of this community. If you’d still like to sue me, Joe, I’m happy to loan you the money you’ll need to hire an attorney. I’m sure you’ll pay me back after you settle up that claim with your Dentist, you deadbeat.
Does Joe still live here in Buffalo? Someone said the other day he’s basically a full-time snowbird and spends most of the year in Florida. What’s his game plan, to ask Tom Golisano for a loan? GO GET ‘EM CHRIS!!!
What does Illuzzi think of the Penn State scandal? Is Dennis Gaughan trying to get more legal work from that scandal? Will Joe state his opinion for all of us to see. I can’t wait to see.
Thanks for posting this, Chris. It amazes me how Joe Illuzi has been able to get away with what he does. He charges you with libeling him. I just read his site, and I would suggest some of the subjects of his criticism could make a case of being libeled.
I once wrote a public office holder, asking him how he could support such a horrible website. I received a kind reply. He basically said he was covering his bases — that he buys ads in all sorts of publications from the Bees to the News, and that buying space on Illuzi’s site was part of his media buy. Oh well! I tried!
I actually removed Illuzi’s site from my bookmarks so that I wouldn’t be tempted to check it out on a daily basis. You know, it’s like a car wreck. You can’t look away. But I really don’t want to give him more hits than I have to. So, I only check out his site when I see something on your blog or elsewhere about something stupid he’s done.
The bottom line is that if all the public office holders who pay for an ad on his site would just stop, he’d go away. Don’t worry about whether you’re attacked. No one is reading his site.
I have a McAfee security program that assesses the safety of websites. It also has a neat feature that assesses a site’s popularity. I don’t know what metrics McAfee uses to assess readership. But in all tests of websites — both large and small — that I conducted, all the results made sense. The Buffalo News site, for example, gets a rating of 4 for having many users. He gets a rating of one. You might be pleased to know, Chris, that McAfee shows your site has more readers than Illuzi’s.
I know, I know that deadbeat will proclaim to the world that he has millions of hits. Well, he’s a liar. Candidates, you’re pissing your money away by giving into Illuzi’s extortion. Just stop! And maybe, this cancer will go away!
And I have to laugh at how he brags about he was once an analyst on Hardline and on the cable show “Crossroads.” That’s ancient history. There is not a main stream media outlet that will ever use Illuzi again because he’s so toxic.
Although I think Illoser is a complete fool, I was going to resist kicking him when he’s down … or more down than usual I guess… but at any rate, after reading his reaction i can’t resist. Please continue to expose this miscreant. Oh, and since I now know you read these comments, Joe … you are a hypocritical SCUM BAG. F U.
Joe,
Don’t wish anyone ill when they are ill, but don’t ever say I betrayed Lenihan. Everyone who knows me, knows what bs that is. and yes, it is my name
How can so called “Christians” do and say what they do??? the Methodists taught me better
Someone in Cleveland seems to be taking credit for your Cash Mobs idea: http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf/2011/11/cash_mobs_replace_flash_mobs_u.html.