Rhode Island mayor accused of unauthorized use of classic MGB

The lawsuit alleges that Kenneth Hopkins drove off with the Providence resident’s MG without transferring the money or receiving a bill of sale

The mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, has been accused of being a thieving bully who took a classic British MG sports car without paying the owner and harassed him into giving up the title.

In the lawsuit, Davide Broccoli’s legal team accused Mayor Kenneth Hopkins of “unlawfully taking the motor vehicle of Davide C. Broccoli without authorization and without any payment agreement with him.”

Related: MG Cyberster Red Roof Edition pays tribute to classic MGA and MGB

Broccoli said Hopkins and an unidentified woman came to his home in 2021 to check out the 1975 MGB Roadster, which had been seen before, but Broccoli claimed the mayor had not mentioned the purchase of the MG at the time. Hopkins admitted he was attracted to the car because its “MG” badge matched his late wife’s initials.

“He got in the car, backed it up and said, ‘I want it,'” Broccoli told Providence Journal“I said: ‘Why are you taking it away?’ How are you going to take it away? It has no number plates, you don’t even know if it’s roadworthy.”

Broccoli claims Hopkins responded, “‘I’m the mayor, I can do what I want.’

Hopkins installed the official Cranston “30000” license plate on his SUV and drove off with the white MG, which he later sent to State Auto Body in Providence to have it repainted green and fitted with new leather seats.

Broccoli said Hopkins then harassed him, demanding he give up ownership of the car, and that the harassment extended to interfering with Broccoli’s business affairs, dissuading potential tenants from renting one of his properties and directing Hopkins to forcibly remove as many as 35 other classic cars Broccoli had stored inside a locked chain-link fence.

Hopkins claimed he did not interfere in police affairs and told Providence Journal Other vehicles “are either parked illegally or are a pollution to the city.”

He also said the timing of the lawsuit — just days before the Republican primary and three years after he drove away with the MG — proved the whole thing was a political conspiracy. But even so, with no bill of sale or record of any money exchanged, Hopkins’s claim to the MG looked unconvincing.

Hopkins told Boston GlobeWe wonder if the same defense would apply to the criminal gang that stole a batch of Raptor trucks from a Ford lot in July, using keys that had been left in the cab.

The MGB pictured here is not part of the set and is for illustration purposes only (Credit: Mecum/Cinema Vehicles)