Fun_People Archive
6 Sep
Weirdness [445] - 16Aug96

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri,  6 Sep 96 12:03:16 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness [445] - 16Aug96

Excerpted-from: WEIRDNUZ.445 (News of the Weird, August 16, 1996)
		by Chuck Shepherd

* Willie King, 37, was arrested moments after he had allegedly mugged a
94-year-old woman in a housecoat just outside her front door in New York's
Greenwich Village in July.  The woman is the mother of Vincent "Chin"
Gigante, the reputed godfather of the Genovese crime family.  (As this issue
of "News of the Weird" goes to press, King is still alive.) [New York Post,
7-22-96]
[New in the Neighborhood?  -psl]

* According to a report in The People newspaper in London in July, British
spies who set up high-tech clandestine cameras to gain intelligence on the
Irish Republican Army discovered that the cameras also recorded much kinky
sex.  The newspaper said the British government is planning to use some sex
scenes, including episodes in which IRA leaders have sex with the wives of
their jailed comrades, in an upcoming propaganda campaign.  [New York Post,
7-8-96]

* In March, after the parents of Huang Pin-jen, 27, and Chang Shu-mei, 26,
of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, refused to bless their wedding, the couple opted for
suicide.  They drove a car off a cliff (but survived), tried to hang
themselves (but survived), and leaped from atop a 12-story building (but
survived, landing on an adjacent roof, suffering multiple fractures).  In
April, the parents reconsidered. [New Haven Register-AP, 4-24-96]

* Fifteen New York City police officers were indicted in July and as many
as 700 other city employees are under investigation for not paying federal
taxes.  The cops had bought fake-legal- gibberish documents (for $900-$2,000
each) from scam artists who had convinced them that, despite the fact that
they were police officers, they could legally claim not to be subject to
government jurisdiction.  (In the document, the officers were "non-immigrant
non-residents" who are "alien to the United States.")  In each case, the
City payroll office unquestioningly accepted the form and did not withhold
federal tax, in some cases for up to four years. [New York Daily News,
7-18-96]

* Jeffrey J. Pyrcioch, 19, and an alleged accomplice were arrested in West
Lafayette, Ind., in May on theft and fraud charges.  Pyrcioch allegedly
cashed checks that he had written with disappearing ink, apparently
believing the checks would be blank by the time they were presented to the
bank for collection.  However, traces of ink remained, and police said
Pyrcioch would have a better chance of getting away with it if he had not
used checks pre-printed with his name and account number on them.
[Washington Post, 6-2-96]

* In April, Edward Lopez, 19, and Eric Harb, 18, were arrested in
Lincolnwood, Ill., after police were called to a Summit department store.
According to a clerk, the two men had approached him and asked politely if
he would permit them to pay for clothes with a stolen credit card. [Skokie
Life, Apr96]

* In March, in Clawson, Mich., and in January, in Federal Way, Wash.,
parents mistakenly packed cans of Bud Ice beer in their elementary
schoolchildren's lunchboxes.  They said they confused the Bud Ice with a
Hawaiian Punch can (Clawson) and a holiday can of Pepsi (Federal Way).
[Edmonton Sun, 3-30-96]

Copyright 1996, Universal Press Syndicate.  All rights reserved.
No commercial use may be made of the material or of the name
News of the Weird.

© 1996 Peter Langston