By itself, Carol Boyce believes, the club would have been profitable while she was a partner if, she claims, Naz had not pilfered cover-charge revenue.
"I never got to see that money," she says.
Despite the high-profile shooting of the ex-football player the previous year, CBNC raked in $10,000 or $20,000 at the door each Friday and Saturday night during February and March 2006, she estimates. In the first couple of weeks the Boyces were there, the place was packed for a Black Eyed Peas performance.
Naz always explained that the door money went to pay DJs or celebrities, or that there were unexpected expenses.
"He would look you straight in the eye," Carol recalls. "By the time the meeting was over, you were like his best friend again."
At the end of March, the Boyces not only had paid their $150,000 but had chipped in another $18,000 to pay bills. Naz put some money in the CBNC account for the next few months as the Boyces pressed him to adopt proper financial procedures. Then, one day in July, Upton changed the locks on the doors.
Believing they had been defrauded, the Boyces took their complaints to Phoenix police in early 2007.
Throughout that year, police say, several other "investors" in, or would-be buyers of, the businesses also were defrauded by Naz for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Meanwhile, Upton threatened to negotiate the sale of CBNC herself. To stop her, Doug Allen — at the direction of Naz — filed documents with the state that claimed a financial interest in the club and car dealerships. The partners ultimately sold CBNC in 2007 and split some of the proceeds with Upton. The new owner never opened the club, which was closed at the time for planned renovations.
Then Upton contracted a kidney infection and needed surgery that cost $49,000. She agreed to sign over Scorch to Naz for this amount. Katie Marie Peters became the new "owner" of the bar.
Upton decided her problems were diet-related and skipped the surgery. She flew to Maine and took a course in becoming a raw-food chef.
"I walked away from it, happy, and never cared to look back," she says.
But it didn't turn out to be that easy.
The Valley played host to Super Bowl XLII in 2008, and Scorch Bar had a special party planned. Katie Marie Peters applied to the city of Phoenix for a permit to put out a few portable toilets.
Officials had grown suspicious of how Peters supposedly acquired the bar from Upton. They were left even more suspicious after Peters was called to Phoenix City Hall to answer questions about her ownership. Inspections were carried out at the bar, one of which found a stash of liquor for sale that had been purchased from a supermarket instead of from an authorized wholesaler, a violation of state law. Fire-code violations also were noticed, and the bar was shut down in late February 2008.
The case was assigned to Phoenix police Detective Jeff Kornegay. He and other officers spent almost two years going through financial records, conducting interviews, and unraveling the Naz-Manriquez connection.
When indictments and arrests were announced in January 2010, authorities made it sound as if they had cracked the case of the century.
Then-Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and former Councilwoman Peggy Neely joined police and representatives of the state AG's Office as they addressed the news media.
The unspoken sentiment was that if the public was looking for evidence of Mexican criminals tainting the Arizona business community in a significant way, this was it.
Poster boards placed around a conference room at Phoenix Police Department headquarters displayed large pictures of cash, vehicles, gold coins, and other items seized in raids on the homes of Manriquez and Mix. Another poster showed a flowchart of the so-called crime enterprise, with pictures of the accused and arrows showing how money was transferred between the businesses and defendants.
Then-Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris crowed that his "top-flight detectives" had "done a fantastic job."
Yet the police version of events had a glaring hole. Kornegay was asked by reporters why the group allegedly had tried to launder money.
The answer (long pause): Police didn't know.
"It was their money," Kornegay said, referring to Manriquez and Mix. "We don't have any reason to believe it came from illegal sources."
Police offered no speculation of a motive for the "criminal enterprise." For his $17 million, Manriquez had received little in return — a few hundred thousand dollars in various payments since 2000, plus several non-exotic used cars sent to Mexico for use in Manriquez's cable business.
The first sign of cracks in the prosecutors' case came during a bail hearing for Manriquez and Mix, who were represented by southern Arizona lawyers Michael Piccarreta and Saji Vettiyil.
The suspects had been thrown in jail following raids of their homes and slapped with an initial $5 million bond. Their lawyers soon proved to then-Maricopa County Superior Judge Gary Donahoe that the men were trustworthy. Strengthening their argument was that Manriquez and Mix had no criminal records and were considered respectable businessmen with strong ties on both sides of the border.
I always thought celebrity leisure time was a thing not really interesting to me. If they spend their money on charity or environment protection, that would attract me. But buying expensive toys is rotten and antisocial and rude!
William - http://www.carid.com/
Do your thing girl. I'm kind of envious of your adventure through this life, let em hate, stay up.
Interesting how the editor picks and chosses the comments and wants to keep or delete.. Enough said!
@Mary Mary -- some of the comments were randomly deleted after we switched over to the new commenting system. In fact, one of my own was deleted accidentally -- it mentioned a minor correction we made to the story, (Upton's former boyfriend in Massachusetts was erroneously called her "hubby" in one of the references to him.)
I did not at anytime receive any money for this article... Really... it's comical how you people think...
.She then bought a house in Phoenix with money she had earned from the sale of a classic 1933 Ford her father had given her?? Im sure that was stolen too.. lol Are you Serious Ray?? YOUR SOURCE (JODI) IS NOT VERY CREDIBLE HERE.. I WOULD BE ASHAMED TO WRITE SUCH AN ARTICLE KNOWING THE PAST SHE AND HER FAMILY HAD.. NAZ DOESNT HAVE A PAST LIKE THAT!
That's exactly how I bought my house... I sold the vehicle to mario... through the dealership and used the money as down payment on my home... the vehicle was not stolen... it was purchased in Massachusetts from a reputable dealer... ALL OF THIS IS PUBLIC RECORD!
again dumb fuck.. ol salty.. NAZ OBVIOUSLY DIDNT HAVE A CRIME IN MIAMI.. GET YOUR STORY RIGHT! DAMN YOU ARE WORST THAN RAY STERN WITH YOUR LIES!!
Hey dumb ass ol salty.. get your facts staright.. naz and Ara have been LEGALLY IN THE STATES FOR 45 EFFING YES YOU MORAN!! Dont you think if they were illeagal they would have been deported by now? Maybe they need to start deporting dumb asses like yourself that think they know it all!! bahahahahahaha...
JODi. YOUR. JOKE!!!!! AND a WHORE oh and lets not forget A GOLD DIGGER and a FUCKED up MOTHER!!!!)!
honestly i thought this spread was about a man .. rupaul looking mofucker.. someone get this bitch off the cover!!!!!!!!! dam!
Ray Stern, you said her hubby, that is short for husband, is it not? Didn't you write , when "her child was 2 she decided to leave her hubby" You also wrote she was a victim, she obviously did not tell you all of the story, she sold part of her bar to young man for 100,000, got the money,and then kicked him out of the business and walked away from it and sold it again, for 1.00 and all of the hundreds of thousand of dollars of debt, she did not let it go for a fake kidney surgury, you should of talked to the young man that gave her that money. How do you sell a business, recieve the cash, and not own it? She ripped him off, and he had no recourse, and tried to get his money back, to no avail. You should have done your homework, instead of letting her scam you, like she has everyone else.
A fantasy that rich people don't always spend their money according to capitalist wetdreams? or that Stern couldn't be bothered to have learned in HIGH SCHOOL that in 1955, Armenia was a Soviet Republic and folks were getting free passes to be taken in as political refugees for pretty much any reason from those countries - especially if they provided a debriefing to the CIA when they arrived here? I would have liked to see if there were any criminal records of Naz' family in Armenia.
Your so right Tomato, but this reporter, did not do his homework at all, she lied about so many things, she never had a husband, that's public record, did he check out any of her story at all, or just write . To let her hurt so many people in this story without checking it out, is terrible,
Who was hurt in this story?... I realized that there have been many hurt in the course of this investigation... but this Story? really?... who... did I not read the same article?
In which case you should simply write an addendum to the article and submit it to New Times for publication. That way you would get (1) credit for reporting the 'truth' as you see it, and (2) you will show Mr. Stern what a terrible reporter he is. We will be waiting on pins and needles..
This is a joke, I have known this woman, and a long time.Shame on the New Times not checking out all of her lies. She was NEVER been married in her life, the story talks about her violent husband, they were crack addicts, and he died in a car wreck, she then moved here and lived in her car. She is a money hungry bitter bitch. She has not seen her 10 year old child since the day school let out. She left him with his father for the whole summer as she always does, yet she talks about him that way, seriously if that were true, would you leave him there, and never even see him until school starts? She has stolen, lied, and embezeled for years, she went to the state and told all these lies with the other creep Doug, about Mario and Naz, thinking she would get something, she got nothing but arrested. While she was in jail she let her children sleep in a garage on a mattress with another crack head friend, instead of with their grandmother. She is evil, and whoever took the pictures did a great job of touch up, as she on a daily basis looks like an ugly transvestite, seriously! I hope Mario, all the stars, and everyone else she lied about sue the paper, and she ends up back in jail, it is inevitable, she is just like her criminal father. She never needed a kidney operation, that was a scam to get 49,000, and she got it, and said it went away, because she ate raw food, what a disgrace, She even admits in the article her old boyfriend when she was young bought her boobs, but she doesn't give his name, as she is afraid, because he was a drug dealer, hopefully the next one she scams, is for mental help, she surely needs it. Shame on her, and shame n the New Times!
WOW... you are quite the person... and my goodness how well you know me... truly... a few things that you might want to know before going on another rant... Nubar spends every summer with his grandmother and father... I have no issues with Naz, what so ever... this whole escapade brought us closer together and we rely on each other alot... the 49k... I never got (check your facts) and yes it did (my kidney issues) go away, until recently... you are obviously bitter at me for some reason... If i have wronged you, then I apologize that my actions have made you feel such anger and resentment... any one that knows me knows that I DO NOT ever do things to hurt people intentionally... At one time I did, to NAZ... but NEVER once did I go to the authorities, Doug did all of that.... As for a crack head... well Dwights father was no such thing, I on the other hand pulled myself out of that nasty little ordeal and went on to become who I am today 'an ugly transvestite'... ANOTHER point... the first person that my boys stayed with when I went away, is an amazing person for taking on 2 children that were not hers and she only had them a few weeks because NO ONE... NO ONE stepped up except for MY FRIENDS... Nubars grandmother was unable to care for the boys... they had no vehicle and no money... there is so much more to the story... I would love to meet for tea and chat, seriously... it seems that you have a one sided view of who I am... if not... I get it... it's easier to vent in a safe forum and share a convoluted story, Ray and I have spoken about the facts that he mixed up and he is willing to do all he can to revive the story on line... Take care and remember there is always more to a story.... Ray wrote this himself with information he received from EVERY source... not just me... Re read it....
@JodiAgree, there's always more to every story. Hidden meaning, between lines sense, you know..
William
You have no idea wat ur talking about number 1 number 2 Upton stoled from Naz and his family and doing this spread shows u wats she's all about MONEY!
who is this bitch trying to look like and portray herself to be? Marilyn Monroe.. pathetic. sounds like to me somebody got a little mad over rejection and needs some money huh?! I just dont understand how someone involved in such a "case" is now writing some story to gain attention.. or maybe not get in trouble so shes whipping up a storm about other people?! This whole article sounds like some destitute woman trying to either not get in trouble for some crime she did , or just get attention and money.
Interesting story. I kept asking myself where the dirty money was coming from..... It appears Ms. Upton has learned well from her father, however. Seems the apple didn't fall far from the tree in this case.
Giving the new commenting system a test. Hey @Keith Plocek I have your Facebook walls! And your @keithplocek twitters!
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
