The first Miami City Commission meeting of the year adjourned early this week after a brawl nearly broke out between two members.
Commissioner Miguel Gabela got out of his seat and moved toward Commissioner Joe Carollo after the two traded insults with each other, shouting, “You’re a liar!” and “You’re a small, little man!” the meeting’s livestream showed.
Carollo jumped up from his chair as Gabela approached him, but another man raced over and held Gabela back to stop the situation from escalating.
“You can’t have decorum with a guy that thinks he’s a gangster,” Carollo said as they both sat back down. “You’re the only gangster in here!” Gabela retorted.
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Miami City Commissioners Joe Carollo, left, and Miguel Gabela appeared to nearly come to blows during a meeting Thursday night. (City of Miami Gov)
Onlookers in the sparse audience could be seen standing up and filming the situation on their cellphones.
The meeting was immediately adjourned.
After the meeting, Carollo told reporters he thought Gabela was acting like a “thug.”
“He wants to act like a Tony Soprano,” he accused, according to WTVJ-TV. “He blew his cork and came at me. I’m a senior citizen. I’m not gonna let a young man come and hit me while I’m sitting in a chair. Of course I’m gonna stand up.”
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Gabela claimed he never planned to hit Carollo, saying “sometimes you have to stand up to bullies,” the station reported.
“It was never my intention to do anything,” he said. “I apologize if that’s the way it seemed. but the man starts calling me a gangster. I am not a gangster. I am a law-abiding citizen and I’m a duly elected commissioner like himself, and he needs to respect that, so people can respect him.”
He added according to the Miami Herald, “I’m just saying, ‘look man, if you want to have a fight outside, I’ll go outside with you.” Carollo “doesn’t like losing, and he’s lost control of this commission.”
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The argument reportedly started after the commissioners voted to extend the contract for an embattled city attorney by only five months, which each man on opposing sides of the issue.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Gabela and Carollo for comment.