MIAMI - The photograph shows four well-dressed men around the table at Piccolo’s steakhouse in Omaha in 2006, root beer floats with straws on each placemat. Next to the reigning American League MVP, Alex Rodriguez, is the investor Warren Buffett. They are joined by Rodriguez’s then brother-in-law, Constantine Scurtis, and A-Rod’s longtime friend and associate, Jose “Pepe” Gomez.
On Wednesday, almost a decade later, Scurtis filed an explosive $100 million civil suit against Rodriguez in Miami state court, triggering an internecine legal war in which Scurtis, the younger brother of Rodriguez’s ex-wife, Cynthia, alleges Rodriguez used Newport Property Ventures Ltd.