Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Usual Suspects, The Sequel: Son of Kayzer Sosa

This is a pretty amazing story which, among other things, illustrates far better than anything Robert Samuelson would EVER admit, the amazing synonymies between 'bidness' and 'crime.' As the late Arthur C. Clark said of technology and magic, so too, in any reasonably developed society there is no effective difference between them, either.

This story also exemplifies again why the civic polity NEEDS newspapers--big ones, like the NYTimes/LATimes/CHITrib, and outfits like McClatchy (WHO COULD HAVE EVER ANTICIPATED THAT?), which provide a record of the facts they uncover and report. This kind of journalism really IS what journalism is supposed to do, is at least a good example of that rara avis.

The piece is longish. It involves what appears to be a naked profiteering scam between some really low-lifes with Eastern European connections dba "AEY" and the purchasing arm of the US Army, which paid millions to the scammers for defective, cold-war ammunition scavenged in former soviet-bloc countries, mainly around the Balkans. Oh, yeah, the president of the company supplying the ammo is a 22-yr-old thug with a habit of beating up his girl-friends.

The fotos? The one on the left is David M. Packouz, 25; he was AEY’s vice president. He is a licensed masseur. The douchebag on the right is Ephraim Diveroli, president of AEY. He seems to have escaped prosecution for harassing and abusing a woman 'friend' by claiming he was the only person who could operate his business, protecting freedom and fighting terrorism. Really.

Sometimes, don't you wish they were making this shit up?

No comments: