The Miami city commission's first meeting of the year came to an abrupt end on Thursday when commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela nearly came to blows.
Footage from the commission meeting livestream shows Gabela getting out of his seat and charging toward Carollo.
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WATCH HERE"You are a liar. You are a liar," Gabela repeatedly said before he jumped out of his seat. Someone rushes to hold him back.
"You are a small little man," Carollo responded.
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The meeting was then abruptly adjourned.
Outside city hall, Carollo spoke out, saying Gabela wanted "to act like a thug."
"He wants to act like a Tony Soprano," he said. "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 said he never planned on hitting Carollo and called him a "bully."
"Sometimes you have to stand up to bullies, but 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."
Seconds before the altercation was a 3 to 2 vote to extend the contract of City Attorney Victoria Mendez for five months. Carollo and Gabela had different opinions on her future.
Commissioners initially had a vote on the agenda to fire her due to a lawsuit against her and her husband for alleged real estate fraud. The five-month extension would give the city time to find Mendez’s replacement.
Filmmaker Billy Corben, a frequent city hall critic, came to Thursday's meeting to speak in favor of firing Mendez.
“Just look at social media, we’re getting reactions from all over the world," he told NBC6 on Friday. "People love these clips, they love to watch them, but they also love a trainwreck and that’s what this is, an absolute trainwreck and most importantly, nothing is getting done for the people of Miami when it descends into this kind of chaos."
Earlier in the meeting, Carollo took center stage, responding to U.S. Marshals being ordered to confiscate his assets and personal belongings.
"They would have a right to get some of my underwears, some of my socks, some of my shirts," he said.
A jury found Carollo liable in a federal civil lawsuit brought by Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, accusing him of weaponizing city code enforcement, the police department, and shutting down some of their businesses as political retaliation.
The jury awarded them more than $63 million in damages.
"Whatever he can afford to pay, everyone recognizes, we feel this way. He is gonna have to pay for it," Fuller said. "Whatever it takes, whatever small amount of assets he has, he will have to pay for it."
