Kwame M Kilpatrick

In a city that routinely sees more than 400 homicides a year, the 2003 slaying of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was an easily overlooked crime. Few people initially took notice when the 27-year-old stripper was found slumped over the steering wheel of her green Buick Skylark. But soon the city was buzzing with rumors that she had danced at a party at the mayor's mansion -- a story that has never been proven.

A Michigan judge sent Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick to jail Thursday after learning that the controversial official violated the conditions of his bond in a perjury case by going to Canada for a business meeting without clearing the trip with the court. Kilpatrick apologized to 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles for the unauthorized trip he made to nearby Windsor, Canada, and said, "I ran in, I made a presentation . . . and I ran back."

A prosecutor Monday accused Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick of violating his bond in an assault case by spending time over the weekend with his sister, one of 11 witnesses listed by authorities. Kilpatrick and Ayanna Kilpatrick were together at their mother's house Saturday, a day after he was released from jail after violating bond in a separate perjury case, said Doug Baker of the Michigan attorney general's office.

Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick called the voters of his downtrodden city "brilliant" and appealed for unity after his upset reelection. Kilpatrick, 35, also dismissed rampant speculation that Detroit, which the U.S. Census Bureau ranks as America's poorest big city, is headed for insolvency. Kilpatrick, first elected in November 2001, won another four-year term.

Amid thundering rap music and the cheers of 8,000 young fans, the handsome star moved to center stage and, the way hip-hop heroes usually do, called out the name of that night's arena crowd. "What's up, Detroit? What's up, Detroit?" The man at the microphone, though, was no rapper. He was Kwame M. Kilpatrick, the elected leader of this city and, according to his introduction at this rally, "America's hip-hop mayor."