CRANSTON - Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins is being accused of taking an antique sports car three years ago from a local businessman and political supporter without paying for it, then repainting it and putting one of his city-issued license plates to drive it without a title or registration.
In a 22-page civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Providence Superior Court against Hopkins, the city and several members of his administration, Davide C. Broccoli of Providence says there has been a concerted pressure campaign from Hopkins and the city solicitor to turn over the car’s title.
He also alleges that the mayor pestered him to sell property Broccoli owns to a real estate developer who is a friend of the mayor’s and retaliated when he refused.
That pressure campaign, according to Broccoli, culminated in late June when, he said, city officials broke into property he owns at the corner of Park Avenue and Budlong Road in late June and seized more than three dozen antique cars stored there.
"I didn't want to be that guy, but I had to protect my interests somehow,” Broccoli said in a wide-ranging interview with The Hummel Report Friday afternoon, explaining why he filed a lawsuit. "I'm at the point, I don't know what to do.
"I'm intimidated, I have apprehension traveling through the city,” he said, adding the final straw was when the city arrived with a court order to seize his cars two months ago. They remain in storage in two different locations because Broccoli refuses to pay the bill to get them out.
Hopkins responds to the allegations
The lawsuit paints the picture of someone who has known Hopkins for years, even donated to his campaign for mayor, but finds himself on the wrong end of a fight with City Hall.
“Mr. Broccoli has a different way of thinking than I do, that's all I can really tell you at this point,” Hopkins told The Hummel Report in an interview Friday morning.
The mayor maintains that Broccoli agreed to sell him the vehicle, but won’t take money for it and turn over the title or registration. And there is no bill of sale.
Hopkins said he and Broccoli agreed on a price, but the mayor said Friday he couldn’t remember what it was, terming the car a “piece of junk” before he restored it.
"I don't have an exact (price)," Hopkins said. "I don’t know, but all I know is (Broccoli) gave it to me, he gave me the keys."
“My legal position is that by giving me the keys he sold me the car," Hopkins continued.
Broccoli laughed Friday afternoon when presented with the mayor’s version of events.
What does the lawsuit allege?
The lawsuit set out this sequence of events, beginning with a section titled "Absconding with the MG sports car":
In the late summer of 2021, Broccoli owned a 1975 Morris Garage MGB Anniversary Edition coupe - commonly known as an MG.
Broccoli alleges Hopkins had seen the car, stored with others at the lot Broccoli owns at 15 Budlong Road and wanted it for sentimental reasons because the mayor’s late wife’s initials were MG – something Hopkins confirmed in an interview Friday.
He eventually set up a time to see the car in the late summer of 2021, according to the suit, arriving in his city-owned SUV with an unidentified woman.
Broccoli elaborated on the series of events in our interview Friday, saying he had seen Hopkins at a ribbon cutting at Rolfe Square when the mayor approached him saying he wanted to come see the MG.
“He didn’t mention anything about buying it, just wanted to come,” Broccoli claimed, adding that the car wouldn’t start because it had been sitting for months, so they jumped the battery using the mayor’s city vehicle.
"He got in it, went in forward and reverse and said 'I'm taking it.'” Broccoli recalled. “’What do you mean you're taking it?’ I said. How are you going to take it: there's no plate, you don't even know if the thing is roadworthy.
"‘I'm the mayor I can do what I want," Broccoli continued. "That's what he said. I was speechless.”
Broccoli said there was no discussion of price or payment before or after the mayor took the car and drove away with one of the city plates (#300000) from his city-owned vehicle. The woman drove away in the city vehicle. Broccoli said after the mayor had it restored, he has driven the unregistered MG to City Hall and Garden City Shopping Center.
Asked if it was “a piece of junk” as the mayor had described, Broccoli said the car was in great condition, with no rust on the body.
Hopkins took the vehicle to State Auto Body in Providence and had it painted green (the car was white), put his city plate 30000 on it and drove the vehicle, which is not registered.
Hopkins says he tried to pay, Broccoli says he was threatened
Broccoli said he didn’t know what to do. He said he was hesitant to go to the Cranston Police, who answered to the mayor. Broccoli and his attorney, Stephen A. Izzi, said they went to the U.S Attorney’s office, then the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office – telling them that the mayor of a city in Rhode Island had, in effect, stolen his car. Both agencies declined to investigate, Broccoli said.
“No one came to our aid,” he said in the interview. “We reached out to see what could be done under the law, and see what rights I had. Nobody reciprocated."
Months after Hopkins took the car, Broccoli said the mayor began texting him, threatening him. “I’ve got the texts,” Broccoli claimed. “He said ‘I’m the f-ing mayor,'" and that if he didn't get the paperwork for the car, he would take legal action.
Broccoli said that City Solicitor Christopher Millea also called and texted him saying the same thing, adding that he had a check for $1,200 and wanted to exchange it for the title.
Asked about that Friday, Hopkins said, "I've asked many people to ask him (for the title and registration). We've had people go to him to pay and have a bill of sale signed and he's refused to do it."
An exhibit filed with the suit contains a Facebook posting by State Auto body on March 3, 2022 with a picture of Hopkins looking at the car. The caption reads: “Happy to have Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins in as we restore his 1975 MG! This beautiful classic convertible will be rolling in Cranston very soon . . .”
A second exhibit reportedly shows the MG, with the 30000 plate, parked in the garage at Hopkins' home on Kearney Street. Hopkins said Friday that although the car is insured, he only has taken it out in the neighborhood occasionally to keep it running and the tires from hardening.
We asked Hopkins if Broccoli did, in fact, sell the car to him, why he would drive off the lot without a title or registration, or any exchange of money?
“Because it was a junk, it needed to be totally restored," Hopkins replied.
Seizure of other antique cars
Another section of the lawsuit accuses city officials of unlawfully seizing antique cars on abutting lots that Broccoli owns. Broccoli had lined up a prospective tenant to run a restaurant in one of the buildings.
According to the lawsuit: “Mayor Hopkins called (Broccoli) on multiple occasions and harangued him about selling 1350 Park Avenue and 15 Budlong Road to a friend of Mayor Hopkins who was a prominent local real estate developer … Mayor Hopkins spoke to the second prospective tenant for the restaurant building and told him that he should not lease the restaurant building from Broccoli.”
Before the incident with the MG, Broccoli said he kept antique cars on one of the lots since 2013 and the city never objected.
“After the incident with the MG and Mayor Hopkins, the city administration initiated a campaign to force the removal of the antique cars stored behind a locked chain link fence on 15 Budlong Road and 1350 Park Avenue," the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit continued: “The City of Cranston lacked any legal authority to break into the locked chain link fence on 15 Budlong Road and 1350 Park Avenue and remove all of the antique cars stored there.”
Hopkins, responding to the allegation, said Friday: "I don't interfere with the police department. They must have either been illegally parked, or a blight to the city."
We asked Broccoli what he wanted from the lawsuit, beyond getting the MG and his antique cars back, along with an awning and sign the city took from another building he owns.
“I want to be left alone,” he responded.
The Hummel Report is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies, in part, on donations. For more information, go to HummelReport.org. Reach Jim at Jim@HummelReport.org
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