Weird Couple of Incidents Have Me Wondering Right Now

A couple months ago, a good friend sent my wife a 100 dollar check with a note to take the two of us (her and I) for dinner on him. The letter, sent from Upstate NY to here in the Midwest, had only one post mark on the envelope, but the original envelope had been opened, and the contents (the note and the check) had been sandwiched between the front half of the original envelope (neatly cut away with scissors or a razor) and a 2nd envelope that hadn't been used at all prior to scotch taping it to become the other half of a new envelope, which contained the note and the check. Extremely weird. My friend didn't perform this bizarre surgery on his letter, and the post mark indicated that the letter never left the official postal route (as in the original letter being caught in a machine or something) to be repaired or officially altered. In fact, the front part of the original envelope wasn't marked or creased at all.

Okay, that was weird, but this thing that happened last night is what got me really buzzing.

My wife and I rent with Netflix, and every Saturday night, we sit down and have a movie night together. It's been this way for the last 3-4 years, unless I'm traveling for work or something important preempts the tradition. I always defer to my wife's movie choices, since she's much more sophisticated in her ability to find a movie that will be more than the usual big market thing (unlike me, who would just choose the latest blockbuster). The Netflix queue is her responsibility and she's very much into populating it with movies that will be right for the time of year, and I always wait until Saturday to open the envelope to see what the movie pick for the night is. It's just the way it's all evolved over the years.

Last night I was kind of surprised to see a movie called "Kill The Irishman" in the envelope. It was St. Patrick's Day, and my family name is pretty notoriously Irish - even boasting of being responsible for the most malevolently haunted Irish castle (Leap Castle). So yeah, it was a bit weird to see that title. So I asked her about it, and she has no idea why that movie came to our house. We checked the queue and it wasn't listed. So we watched it, and its a true story about a Irish guy in Cleveland in the mid-to-late 70s who has a war with the Cleveland Italian mob and gets killed, but his murder takes apart the Cleveland mob when all is said and done. When the movie was done, I watched the documentary (bonus feature) about the guy and apparently he was an FBI snitch (as a lot of those types were) whose code name was St. Patrick (because the guy was gung ho about all things Irish), and it struck me as odd that we'd have this movie about this guy who was an FBI informant with a code name of St. Patrick on St. Patrick's Day for our movie night.

But, then I remembered the weird letter that my buddy sent us (how it got intercepted, opened and then obviously prepared to make sure I knew it got opened), and here's where I have to explain why this stuff has me disturbed.

In 2010, I published a book and it is a true memoir about trying to figure out how to write the story of Alan Cancelino and his battle with the FBI and DEA back in the 1980s. Alan and I wrote the book that provides all the proof anyone would ever need to know that the book's incredible claims are all true. The truth is that it makes the feds look like idiots, and in the end, the reader likes Alan and sees that the feds were chasing a dope user while inventing him as a big time drug trafficker to boost their local/regional budgets. The book's started to really sell recently, and I'm wondering if there might be someone in the FBI that's gotten pissed off about the ridicule.

And yes, Alan is the guy who sent me the letter with the check for dinner (that got hijacked and weirdly repackaged) and another fact that seems to link Al to the movie incident last night is that the feds had based their case on FBI lies that connected him (back in the 1980s) with the Gambino family (making that Irish versus Italian mob movie last night almost relevant in the same weird way, since I'm Irish and he's Italian) I called him about it this morning to warn him that someone who can f*ck with the mail might be either warning me or who knows what, concerning him, but he laughed and thinks I'm making too much out of it.

To be honest, I have no idea what these two odd things might have in common - or if they have anything in common - but I do know that my intuition is jazzed right up right now.



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The game is on!

i would get one of those mirrors-on-a-stick and start checking under your car, watch for anyone seeming to tail you, get a cheap go-phone for private conversations, keep a tight check on your credit rating scores with the 3 companies. i also would check into getting some device that can check for bugs in your home, car, office.
document everything you find suspicious, it might be useful if you came under some real threat. remember, they could care less about taking out one individual...accidents happen, right?

reply to post by NorEaster


Well this whole story will make more people want to buy your book! True or not! If true...watch your back...if not...good story writing!

Originally posted by elrem48
reply to post by NorEaster

 

Well this whole story will make more people want to buy your book! True or not! If true...watch your back...if not...good story writing!

I worry about Alan, not about me. I'm just an idiot who wrote the book. He's the one who beat those guys and came back after they tried to wipe him off the face of the earth. He's still dissident in his own way, even if he's not taking everything on to the extent that he used to. Maybe it's some FBI guy who kind of felt bad about what they did, and who is trying to warn me that they're watching him again? Maybe he was a Jr. field op back then, but has risen in rank in the last 20+ years or so? I don't know. You'd kinda have to have some pull to do that sort of thing - the mail being the FBI's domain and all. Its pretty weird, that's for sure.

reply to post by NorEaster


Well first of all, reading something from an admitted Irishman on the morning after the day before does smell of blarney, though it's one helluva tale. So allow me to symbolically buy ye one from the horse that bit ya.

Having said that, (as I felt someone just had to) Your tale does have intrigue and tension, so congrats for that. If it is true, then watch your back. Someone appears to be toying with you.

wow, not sure what to make of that to be honest.
If thats true someones definately tryin to tell you something.
Why would they still be interested in him though if they made fools of themselves publicly the first time round?

reply to post by daydoesez


they never let sleeping dogs lie

reply to post by maryhinge


yeah, fair point....
What would be a persons next move in a scenario like this then?

Originally posted by daydoesez
wow, not sure what to make of that to be honest.
If thats true someones definately tryin to tell you something.
Why would they still be interested in him though if they made fools of themselves publicly the first time round?

They didn't make fools of themselves the 1st time around. Not publicly. This book is the only public account of what really happened during that whole mess, and it's starting to sell. That means that talk might be circulating among some of the feds who were involved in the original case. Maybe even some goofing on them from others in the NY office....I don't know. I do know that people are people, even when they put on a badge, and getting a public shellacking isn't fun for anyone. Maybe a few of them are pissed off and looking into Al's private life right now to see what's up with him after the last 15 years or so (he got out of club-fed in 1997)?

Like I said, I'm trying to piece together the indications, while not trying to go overboard with conspiracy theories. The coincidence theory might be plausible, but my intuition is definitely reaching out there to find out if there's anything else to discern here. If Al's being investigated again, maybe someone's trying to warn him (through me) about it?

Originally posted by maryhinge
reply to post by daydoesez

 

they never let sleeping dogs lie

This is true too.

reply to post by NorEaster

If the story is selling as you say then a reaction like that from them would seem plausible.
The coincidence theory however would not.
But your friend is not concerned at all?

reply to post by daydoesez


bob lazar springs to mind
he told his story to the public
if true to help keep him alive

but i would just get out of the country
change name grow facial hair i dont really know
the right answer

maybe a combination of all the above

Originally posted by maryhinge
reply to post by daydoesez

 

bob lazar springs to mind
he told his story to the public
if true to help keep him alive

but i would just get out of the country
change name grow facial hair i dont really know
the right answer

maybe a combination of all the above

Well, this is public, and I'm sure "they" check in on stuff here. If so, then they know that I know and now know that I have now told you so now you know. So, who knows? Maybe it'll work? Sure beats leaving the country and growing a beard.

Y'know?

reply to post by NorEaster


yes but nobody would know you had been bumped off
as we do not know your name

do not tell us your name anyway

Originally posted by NorEaster

Originally posted by elrem48
reply to post by NorEaster

 

Well this whole story will make more people want to buy your book! True or not! If true...watch your back...if not...good story writing!

I worry about Alan, not about me. I'm just an idiot who wrote the book. He's the one who beat those guys and came back after they tried to wipe him off the face of the earth. He's still dissident in his own way, even if he's not taking everything on to the extent that he used to. Maybe it's some FBI guy who kind of felt bad about what they did, and who is trying to warn me that they're watching him again? Maybe he was a Jr. field op back then, but has risen in rank in the last 20+ years or so? I don't know. You'd kinda have to have some pull to do that sort of thing - the mail being the FBI's domain and all. Its pretty weird, that's for sure.

Wow. You got the wrong movie from those minimum-wage mail jockeys at Netflix, and you've extrapolated the whole incident to whether your friend may be being "watched", but the FBI is coming after you to get the message to him instead??? No wonder you're a writer. Good stuff.

I would most definetly keep your eyes wide open, in front and in back, if you know what I mean.

I have always followed my inner feeling that there are no coincidences.
Best be safe, than sorry

It is quite an usual way to conduct a conservation. Post a letter to yourself with the title of a movie that you feel is appropriate for 'them'.

If you're the one who published the book, you may be as much of a target as you publicized the dirty laundry. Assume you're being wiretapped. You might want to talk to a US Postal Inspector.

If your radio ever starts to spark or skip out JUMP.


Lol or at least thats what youll be thinking