The good folks at the Star seem determined to milk this one till the teats fall off.
Not that there's much to work with. A certain amount of spillover from the corruption probe in Quebec. Various Italian-Canadians who have had their pictures taken while holidaying in their homeland. But day after day the paper spills tanker-loads of ink on this non-story.
Which reminds me of a guy I knew who figured out how to send tanker-loads of gasoline across the US border, collect the excise tax refund, and then bring it back to sell at his gas stations. He wasn't Italian though, so I don't imagine the Star would be interested in the story.
I'm surprised they haven't globbed onto the REAL story behind the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Guelph was a hotbed of mafia activity back in the day. It was also the epicenter of small-scale salami manufacturing. Guelph is a mere three hours up the road from Bloomfield. Surely someone on their research team must have heard the rumors...
Jimmy Hoffa. A giant among union leaders. May he rest in peace.
But I digress. So far we've learned practically nothing from the Star's mafia expose other than 40 to 50 senior police investigators are on the file full time in the Toronto area.
Hmm... let's do some math. A constable first class in Ontario pulls down around 90k a year. These senior investigator types must be worth half that again. So they're spending somewhere around 8 or 9 million a year investigating the mafia and they're getting what?
Not much.
The Star does have some breathless coverage of the Quebec corruption scandal though. They even covered the Donny Brasco publicity stunt. That's where the Quebec investigators flew in the former FBI guy who infiltrated the New York mob thirty years ago. Apparently he has keen insights into what is happening in Montreal today.
And I've got Italians in my extended family who like to visit the old country now and then. I expect to see their pictures in the Star any day now.
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