DAN SEWELL, of The Associated Press

HIALEAH - For the once and present mayor of Hialeah, the future is very tentative. Raul Martinez runs this blue-collar Latin city of nearly 200,000 knowing that within months, he could be trading his business suit and office for a prison uniform and cell.

"It's not an easy thing to live with," Martinez said. "With every thought you have, every dream you have, it's always on your mind."

Hialeah voters on Nov. 9 gave Martinez four more years, knowing that a federal judge had already given him 10.

His campaign spurred legal challenges and allegations that have reached to Washington, where an aide to Attorney General Janet Reno is under fire for her role in Martinez's campaign. His losing opponent, Nilo Juri, has filed suit challenging Martinez's 273-vote victory, delivered by an 826-448 margin among absentee votes. The suit questions the validity of some of the absentee votes.

Reno aide Lula Rodriguez, Martinez's sister-in-law, helped out his campaign and witnessed 11 absentee ballots. She has denied wrongdoing, but faces a Justice Department inquiry into her conduct.

"That is sore loser," Martinez said of the challenges to the absentee ballots.

He said he's getting the city moving again, starting with cleanup projects, and studying the budget. But his tenure could be cut short again if he loses the appeal of his 1991 conviction on federal racketeering and extortion counts.

His election despite facing a 10-year prison term appeared to defy logic.

"What exactly is the mandate for an elected racketeer?" mused Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen. "Is he expected to continue extorting?"

"It's because the people don't believe it. It's because the people know me; they've known me for 24 years," said Martinez, who claims the charges stemmed from politics, not wrongdoing.

Martinez isn't even the first convicted felon elected mayor in Hialeah. The late Henry Milander was re-elected in 1970 after being convicted and sentenced to probation on grand larceny charges.

Martinez, who came here from Cuba at age 11, was first elected mayor in 1981.

Tall, dark-haired and baby-faced handsome, Martinez had a populist style, emphasizing civic pride for a city overshadowed by neighboring Miami. Hialeah's economy boomed.

In 1986, Esquire magazine cited him in its annual register, and the Democrat talked openly of running for Congress.

His popularity and ambition were his downfall, contends Martinez, now 44.

"It was political, and I got caught in the web," he said.

In 1990, Martinez was indicted on charges alleging he extorted nearly $1 million in cash and land from Hialeah developers in return for favorable zoning decisions.

Then-Gov. Bob Martinez, a Republican, suspended Raul Martinez and appointed Julio Martinez to complete the term. None of the three is related.

Dexter Lehtinen was acting U.S. attorney. Later that year, his wife, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, easily won election for her first full term in Congress in a seat Martinez had coveted.