Full Coverage: Bell Scandal: A Times Investigation

Bell isn’t a big town, or a wealthy one. But some of its top officials are paid double or triple the salaries of their counterparts elsewhere.

Robert Rizzo seemed right for the town -- until he became an ‘unaccountable czar.’

The city asked voters to back conversion to charter status in 2005, the year the California Legislature limited the pay of council members statewide. Only 400 people in a city of 40,000 voted on the measure.

Eight are held in scandal the D.A. calls ‘corruption on steroids’

Continuing efforts to recover money lost during the years of scandal, Bell has sued a former councilman, a steelworker foundation and a construction company for millions of dollars it says they received illegally when former City Manager Robert Rizzo ran the town.

After pleading no contest to corruption charges and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, former Bell administrator Robert Rizzo would not be interviewed for his own probation report before he was sentenced.

L.A. County judge also orders the former Bell administrator to pay the city nearly $9 million in restitution.

Angela Spaccia is the first ex-Bell official to be sentenced in the municipal corruption case. She also must pay the city $8 million.

For the last three months, musicians, painters and poets throughout southeast L.A. County have traveled to Eric Contreras’ garage for an open-mic night called Alivio, the Spanish word for relief.

Five former Bell council members plead no contest to misappropriating public funds, ending the prosecution of city leaders accused of bilking Bell out of more than $10 million.

Thursday is the deadline for five former Bell council members facing retrial on corruption charges to accept plea deal. All must agree or the offer is off.

Robert Rizzo, the city administrator who oversaw an era of corruption and graft in one of Los Angeles County’s poorest cities, was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in state prison.

The attorney for Spaccia, Rizzo’s former assistant, says he will subpoena the former city administrator, who has never spoken publicly about the case.

Robert Rizzo, the former top administrator who oversaw an era of corruption in the small, working-class city of Bell, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison Monday on tax fraud charges.

The five former Bell council members now have until early April to consider a four-year prison deal in exchange for guilty pleas.

After prosecutor offers 4-year prison terms for guilty pleas, ex-Bell officials must agree on whether to accept or again stand trial.

Guilty plea is part of attorney’s strategy to ensure Robert Rizzo serves sentence in federal prison for nonviolent offenders.

Was former Bell official Angela Spaccia’s claim that she was an unwitting participant in boss Rizzo’s crimes convincing? The jury’s still out.

Prosecutors in Bell corruption case confront Angela Spaccia about city contracts approval, loans and a deal with her son’s firm.

Officials say the city’s gotten $5.5 million in legal settlements and sold $15.5 million worth of property, leaving it in the strongest shape since 2010, when it defaulted on bonds.

Randy Adams, who had repeatedly invoked the 5th Amendment in previous court appearances, will be a defense witness in the trial of former Bell official Angela Spaccia.

Bell administrator Angela Spaccia left phone messages with the L.A. County district attorney’s office about its investigation of Maywood while also filling in as city manager there.

The former assistant city manager continued to draw her full salary and benefits while taking time off to care for her ailing grandfather and son.