Arnold Alex Daoud (born May 19, 1943[1]) is the former mayor of Miami Beach, Florida who served the City from 1985 to 1991.

At the age of six, Daoud contracted polio; he was in a wheelchair for six months and later needed braces and crutches, but he eventually recovered without lifelong disability.

[5] In 2007, he published Sins of South Beach: The True Story of Corruption, Violence, Murder and the Making of Miami Beach,[6] which "chronicles the sex, violence and corruption of his time in public office.

"[3] It is an autobiographical depiction of Miami Beach in the 1980s, a "retirement ghetto" plagued by rampant crime, and its regeneration into a premiere vacation and nightlife destination.

He describes how crime was reduced by "attitude adjustment sessions," in which police would severely beat known criminals and then dump them in Miami across the causeway.