The Many Faces of BULK PETROLEUM
From Crack Alley to inside the Beltline

 


Citgo, 3505 E. Washington, Madison, WI

WHAT IS SI PETROLEUM LLC?
All the SIP Stores are controlled by Bulk Petroleum.  There are several other Bulk Petroleum stores in town. It's a classic dodge that all the owners and managers up the chain deny they can stop the sketchy activities of the clerks.  The clerks tell us the managers force them to sell this crap.  Bulk Petroleum is owned by Darshwan Dhalwali of Mequon, WI.  Mr. Dhalwali is a very smart man with a phenominaly lucky family.  He was cool enough to help put a statue of Mathatma Ghandi in Milwaukee.   We should be assured that he has enough control over his personal empire that when he tells several hundred store mangers to behave responsibly, they will comply.


Shell, E Broadway, Monona


Mobil, 4601 Verona Rd, Madison


Marathon, 2601 E. Washington, Madison



Citgo,  3111 W. Beltline Hwy, Middleton


Marathon, 2702 E. Washington, Madison


Marathon Quick Mart, 605 Cottage Grove Rd, Madison

LET'S GET DOWN TO INDIVIDUAL CASES

UNION CORNERS MARATHON
2601 E. Washington
It's open 24 hours and declined to help the neighborhood association and other merchants deal with the aggressive junkie panhandlers and scary crack whores that used their lot as a refuge.  They bought the Union House (oldest bar in Dane County) and plan a big MiniMart on the site when Todd McGrath builds condos at the old Gisholt and Rayovac toxic dump sites.
 
Give me some spare change or I'll touch you.  Guy on right was twitchy and moved around the block.  Guy on left was always there and too well-fed.  He may have been a  freak cover detective.  He played the role like it was a sit-com.  Go away.

 

ALLIED MOBIL
4601 Verona Rd., Madison
Here is the money shot.  There's the crack pipes actually sitting in the Chore Boy box, on an empty register drawer, next to the ephedrine.  Some of the clerks are embarrassed about having to sell this stuff.  This is how the manager wants it done.  It also demonstrates an absolute lack of respect for the community.  It shows that Bulk's front man, Farook Shahzad, isn't acting in good faith.  He was clever enough to promise he wouldn't sell 40 oz beer to calm objections about a new beer license.  This is much worse than 40 oz beer.  One gets the impression that putting pre-packaged crack rocks or syringes in a coin-operated vending machine would be acceptable to Bulk.  But the clerks at the Bulk station exactly across the street are already selling crack.  Two older gentlemen who seemed to command respect (one in a light-colored and one in a maroon turban)  entered the store across the street during a crack deal.  The transaction didn't miss a beat as our staffer looked on.  There's not much to talk about.  Time to pull some licenses.

 

CITGO MINI MART
3505 E. Washington, Madison
This is the new facility and looks very upscale.  Non-addict citizens aren't intended to grasp why there is a box of Chore Boy for sale at exactly eye level as one enters the front door.  This is the crack pipe depot for several low-income apartment complexes with troubled histories.

 

EAST SIDE SHOP MARATHON
2702 E. Washington, Madison
This store is open during the day and operates in tandem with Union Corners Marathon.  The poor quality (sorry) images at the right are the same car (top) at 2601 and (bottom) 2702 E. Washington within a five-minute time frame.  There has long been a runner who delivers the bootleg cigs to each station.  These two stations have been integral to the sleazy veneer of Union Corners.  The George Webb restaurant closed because they couldn't handle the waitress being found unconscious with a spike in her arm.  Metro Squad is all over the heroin houses on North street.  The junkies at 2408 E. Washington were collecting a $5 fee for letting the hookers bring tricks to over.  The new redevelopment will move the porn store.  The junkies and hookers will be there as long as they are protected.

Let's Get Down To Federal Cases.

WI State Senator Gary George indicted.
Senator accused of taking $435,000 in kickbacks

 
Bulk Baron Darshan Dhaliwal,
meeting with oil business advocate George W Bush
Gas station owners fuel campaign
George backed funding for pollution cleanup

By BRUCE MURPHY
bmurphy@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: May 24, 2003

Gas stations have been a big source of campaign donations for Gary George, who depends heavily on donors from outside his district.
George was a supporter of the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Award program, which provides grants to gas station owners and others with leaky underground storage tanks.
Since the program was created in 1987, there have been increases in the funding in the years when George was co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. In 1999, as co-chairman of the Legislative Audit Committee, George also pushed for changes that helped ensure the fund was not killed.
To date, the state has paid out some $1 billion in grants, mostly to gas station owners, despite periodic complaints from some legislators about the program's expense.
One company that did very well was Bulk Petroleum Corp., owned by Mequon businessman Darshan Dhaliwal, who owns hundreds of gas stations in eight states. To date, Dhaliwal has received 72 cleanup fund grants totaling $6.8 million for his gas stations in Wisconsin.
Dhaliwal, in turn, has been generous to George and other cleanup fund supporters. An analysis by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign of donations given between 1993 and October 2002 showed that Dhaliwal donated $7,000 to former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson and thousands more to more than 35 legislators. Only four of those lawmakers got more than $1,000 from Dhaliwal, and no one gained as much as George, who received $3,500.
When added to donations from other gas station owners and those connected to oil companies or convenience stores, who also pushed for the cleanup fund legislation, George gained a total of $10,400.
George received loans
Beyond that, George also gained some curious loans. In 1998, his campaign for governor received a loan of $10,000 from Jangbir Thakur and two loans of $5,000 each from two couples in Waterloo, Iowa: Natalie and Muhammad Anwar, and Melissa and Ahmad Saaed.
When called about the loan to George, Ahmed Saaed said, "I don't remember making the loan." He added that his then-wife, from whom he is divorced, might know something about the loan, but he said he had no idea how to reach Melissa Saaed, who has no listed phone number.
Saaed said he and Muhammad Anwar were business partners and "work for" Dhaliwal.
"We have a loan for the (gas) pumps and canopy for the station" from Dhaliwal, Saaed said.
The other lenders could not be reached for comment, but a receptionist at Bulk Petroleum said Thakur leases three gas stations in Illinois and two in Kansas City, Mo., from Dhaliwal, including one at 9449 Blueridge Blvd. in Kansas City, which was the address listed for the loan to George from Thakur.
Dhaliwal and George did not respond to requests for an interview. Three years ago, Dhaliwal was accused by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign of violating a state law prohibiting any individual from giving more than $10,000 a year to politicians. The group said Dhaliwal had contributed $11,800, but Dhaliwal said $5,500 of this had actually been donated by his wife, Debra Dhaliwal.
On campaign documents filed with the state, George indicated he had paid back $2,000 of the $20,000 in loans from these families, but Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state Elections Board, said "it's clear (George) has stopped reporting the balance on the loans" on more recent reports. Kennedy said his staff may need to audit this.

A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 25, 2003

"Reason for Raids Unknown"
Federal, local agents close down, and search
Bulk Petroleum Stores

By Greg Lindenberg

Jun 26, 2003

WATERLOO, Iowa -- Stores shuttered Wednesday during raids by federal and local officers are open for business once again, said a report in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier in Iowa.

But authorities are not saying why they searched the six convenience stores and one grocery store in the Waterloo, Iowa, area or what they were seeking.

Uniformed police officers, sheriff’s deputies and agents from the FBI and Immigration & Naturalization Service began showing up at the stores at about 7:30 a.m. and turning customers away. The establishments were closed for hours before they were opened again.

Questions about the action were referred to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kandice Wilcox in Cedar Rapids. “I don't want anybody to be fearful. On the other hand, it's a pending investigation, and I'm not permitted to comment on it,” she said.

The stores include Express Marts in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, the Triple J/New Star Mart, the CITGO and the Pony Express/3 Star Mart, the report said. Four of the stores are operated by Muhammad Anwar of Waterloo or his company, Anwar Corp., according to liquor permits and public records. An acquaintance said Anwar was in Pakistan Wednesday, according to the newspaper.

Anwar Corp. pleaded guilty to bootlegging in January, said the report. Court records showed that Anwar Corp. sold beer after the Pony Express lost its state liquor license. Black Hawk County sheriff's deputies conducted a beer purchase at the store in March 2002 and confirmed it didn't have a Class C beer permit, records stated.

And in 1998, the campaign of Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Gary George--a supporter of the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Award program, which provides grants to station owners and others with leaky underground storage tanks--received, among others, two loans of $5,000 each from two couples in Waterloo, Iowa: Natalie and Muhammad Anwar, and Melissa and Ahmad Saaed, a business partner of Anwar. Both Anwar and Saaed reportedly had dealings with Mequon, Iowa, businessman and Bulk Petroleum Corp. owner Darshan Dhaliwal, who owns hundreds of stations in eight states. To date, Dhaliwal has received 72 cleanup fund grants totaling $6.8 million for his stations in Wisconsin, said a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“We have a loan for the pumps and canopy” from Dhaliwal, Saaed told the newspaper.

An analysis by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign of donations given between 1993 and October 2002 showed that Dhaliwal donated $7,000 to former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson and thousands more to more than 35 legislators, said the report. Three years ago, Dhaliwal was accused by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign of violating a state law prohibiting any individual from giving more than $10,000 a year to politicians. The group said Dhaliwal had contributed $11,800, but Dhaliwal said $5,500 of this had actually been donated by his wife, Debra Dhaliwal.

Dhaliwal and other Asian Indian business executives and owners reportedly also approached the Thompson administration about establishing a University of Wisconsin satellite campus in Punjab, India. Thompson included a $2.5 million plan in his proposed budget for the university to study creating overseas programs and campuses. That amount was ultimately reduced to $400,000, the report said.

It is also not known if any of these political donations are connected