 The Herald's story about Kerry Healey and Mitt Romney honoring the wonderful works of former Whitey Bulger enforcer Edward "Eddie Mac" MacKenzie is really pretty shocking. The image at left (click for larger image) is from the back cover of Eddie Mac's book, which as MetroWestDem notes is available at Amazon. He's not exactly shy about his past.
Nonetheless, Healey is protesting that there's no way they could possibly have had any idea that Mr. MacKenzie, who seemed like such a nice man, was anything other than an upstanding citizen. That's just bullshit, and I don't care how many other citations Mr. MacKenzie received.
As soon as I saw that the church Mr. MacKenzie works for is the Swedenborgians, that rang a bell -- it's an unusual name, and I knew it had been in the press not long ago in connection with some shady dealings. So I Googled it, and lo and behold:
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that accused new leaders of a small Beacon Hill church -- including a self-proclaimed enforcer for fugitive mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger -- of trying to loot one of the city's richest but more obscure congregations.
On Friday, US District Judge William G. Young dismissed the suit filed against Edward J. MacKenzie Jr. and the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem, which runs the Swedenborgian Church on Bowdoin Street, across from the State House.
The suit was brought by longtime church members and by the national denomination, who "contended that MacKenzie and others orchestrated a hostile takeover to cash in on the church's considerable assets, which include a $30 million apartment building." It was dismissed on a technicality: "the plaintiffs had failed to show that the new leadership, in power for just 14 months, had engaged in a pattern of racketeering for more than two years, the usual federal standard."
And it's not like a two-second Google search doesn't bring up other matters of, well, concern about Mr. MacKenzie. From March 14, 2004:
Suffolk County prosecutors have charged MacKenzie with stealing about $200,000 from [73-year-old Elisabeth] von Bober. He is also accused of stealing a 4.5-carat diamond ring, which von Bober says was appraised at more than $200,000 some 15 years ago. Boston police who investigated the case say the alleged theft of the ring was a vintage MacKenzie maneuver.
And from a huge story that same day:
There are many places you would expect to find a South Boston hoodlum like Eddie MacKenzie on a Sunday morning, but the pulpit of the Swedenborgian Church on Beacon Hill is not one of them....
Edward J. MacKenzie Jr. is a man of parts -- many parts. A convicted drug dealer, he is the author of a maim-and-tell memoir about his years as a legbreaker for South Boston gangland leader Whitey Bulger.
He has been, as he describes himself, a man almost irresistibly drawn to cons and scams. He recently admitted to filing phony worker's compensation claims and is awaiting trial on charges of swindling $200,000 from an elderly woman. And he faces charges in another court that he threatened to kill his ex-wife by chaining a cinderblock to her leg and throwing her off a bridge....
[The article then sets forth some details about the racketeering lawsuit:]
The suit claims the new leaders "have utilized a pattern of racketeering activity to wrongfully take control of a 185-year-old church to obtain dominion over its $30 million apartment house, which now generates more than $1.2 million in annual income." The suit seeks to void the memberships of more than 40 people who joined the church in the last two years, and to transfer the church's assets to the national organization.
"MacKenzie is a criminal," the suit alleges. "He has infiltrated the Church only to access its resources for his own personal benefit."
There's plenty more in that article. This information was all there for anyone who cared to look for it. The Romney/Healey citation was issued in July, and there's absolutely no excuse for not knowing about this stuff before issuing it.
Oh, one more thing. However much we all dislike Howie Carr, he does know more about Boston's mob violence in general, and Whitey Bulger in particular, than just about anyone else out there. I'm looking forward to his column trashing Muffy Kerry Healey for honoring this well-known thug. You know that if Deval Patrick had had anything to do with this guy, Carr would be all over it like a cheap suit. |
