Friends of Ours

Bulger-Enforcer-Turned-Church-Official Charged With Looting Congregation

Edward MacKenzie, Jr. once provided muscle for mob boss Whitey Bulger, and later became the operations director for a Boston church.  However, he apparently couldn't understand that collections in a church wasn't quite the same as collections on the street. 

The feds have charged MacKenzie with racketeering for allegedly "systematically loot[ing] the church of its considerable financial assets through a combination of fraud, deceit, extortion, theft and bribery" as reported by The Associated Press. 

MacKenzie chronicled his mob years in the 2003 memoir Street Soldier in which he expressed "get[ing] sexual pleasure out of breaking the bones of other men" as reviewed by John W. Dean for The New York Times. 

In June 2012 MacKenzie wrote in the church's newsletter "I believe that salvation and redemption come to different people in different ways" as reported by Akilah Johnson for The Boston Globe.

Maybe the poor soul just needs to pray a little harder next time around.

Report: JFK Airport Plagued By Luggage Thefts

A motley crew "of baggage handlers, jetway workers and even security people" allegedly are involved in a luggage theft ring which rips off aboout 200 airline passengers a day at John F. Kennedy International Airport as reported by Marcia Kramer for CBS 2:

Sources told Kramer that a “significant” number of workers have criminal backgrounds. To get a job handling luggage at JFK the requirement is simple — no felony convictions within 10 years. But if you manage to cop a plea and get the charges reduced, that’s apparently okay.

Airline Employees Become Sky Pirates

Some airline employees allegedly are forming crime crews as reported by Mosi Secret for The New York Times:  "they stowed drugs in secret panels inside planes; stole laptops, lobsters and fine clothing flown as freight; and rifled through passengers’ belongings for perfume, liquor and electronics."

Cops: Lamb Rustling Ring Busted

The storied Texas Rangers have busted six men for their alleged roles in rustling 6,000 lambs worth $800,000 from the 30-acre Immel Feed Yard in Gillespie County, TX as reported by Zeke MacCormack for the San Antonio Express-News:  "Benny Cox, president of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association, based in San Angelo, said he had not heard of such a large theft from one site before."  One of the defendants was a long-time employee of the feed lot.

Weekly Gang Roundup

***  MS-13 is down but not out in San Francisco, CA: 

"They're not gone," said Special Agent Mark Roberts, who runs ICE's San Francisco gang enforcement division. "They're definitely still part of the criminal activity that's happening in the Bay Area."

***  Five different Asian gangs busted by police in Long Beach, CA:  "the reputed gang members allegedly were involved in home-invasion robberies, burglaries and thefts."

***  Bloods members cop to racketeering involving murder and drugs in Portsmouth, VA.

***  Crips members cop to racketeering in Pittsburgh, PA:  "According to the U.S. attorney's office, the men participated with others in a pattern of racketeering, which included armed robbery, attempted murder, heroin and cocaine distribution, obstruction of justice and witness intimidation."

***  A Tenth Street member pleads guilty to racketeering including the murder of a 16-year-old boy in Buffalo, NY.

***  Officials in Suffolk County, NY seek injunction to prohibit gang members from associating with each other within a two-mile safety zone:  "members of the Wyandanch Bloods or the Braveheart Bloods are among those targeted."

***  The Crips is the target of a racketeering indictment in Albany, NY:  "The main thing about being charged with a racketeering offense is you're not only responsible for what you do as an individual but you are also responsible criminally for what you and your criminal associates in the gang do as well."