Friday, May 20, 2005
Anthony Doyle, aka, "Captain Crunch"
Well, it's been a while hasn't it? I have no explanation for my lengthy hiatus, so let's cut to the chase. ...
Late last month, Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced the indictments of several Chicago mafiosa and two of their associates, both of whom were Chicago cops at one time. The feds are alleging those arrested were engaged in a far-flung conspiracy to murder numerous people, including the late Tony "the Ant" Spilotro, over the last three decades. One of the retired cops, Anthony J. "Twan" Doyle, lived in Wickenburg, Ariz., population 5,300. Readers of this blog, who no doubt number in the dozens, may recall that last year I reported extensively on the death of another Wickenburg resident, the late Jesse Lee McBride, aka, Jesse Eugene Stoneking. Stoneking was a St. Louis hoodlum who rolled over and became a FBI snitch, ratting out the Eastside mob in the 1980s. The Eastside mob here is controlled by the Chicago Outfit. After his informant status became public knowledge, the mob allegedly put out a $100,000 contract on Stoneking's life, according to former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Ronald Lawrence. Stoneking, who in later years used the alias Jesse Lee McBride, spent the rest of his life on the lam. It all ended in January 2003, when he allegedly shot himself in the head on the side of a highway in Surprise, Ariz. after having a flat tire. When the indictments were issued last month, I became curious about Doyle's Wickenburg residency. After all, the retired Chicago cop's role was to provide law enforcement data to the mafia, and the Wickenburg Sun reported that, at the time of his arrest, Doyle was a member of the Maricopa County Sherriff's Posse, a local police auxillary. Wickenburg is a relatively small town and, according to a police source quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2003, many people there suspected that McBride, aka, Stoneking, was a mobster. So obviously, according to press reports, Doyle had maintained some ties to law enforcement even after he retired and "McBride's" secret identity wasn't much of a secret. This led me to check Doyle's property records. Fortunately, Maricopa County has most of these records available online. The latest record in Doyle's name is dated May 3. It is a forfeiture petition filed by the federal government to seize what appears to be Doyle's condo on Vulture's Mine Road in Wickenburg. The weird part is that, although defendent Doyle's name is handwritten at the top and bottom of the document, the defendent is referred to in the body of the text as "Captain Crunch."
Of course, I'm assuming that by naming the defendent as being a cartoon character from the front of a kid's cereal box the federal government has invalidated its forfeiture claim. I just don't know why the Justice Department would do this. My guess is that Doyle has been working with the feds, either before or since the indictments, and, as a part of the deal, the FBI has created the false impression that the bureau is taking his property so that the "bad guys" still think Doyle is one of them. If somebody at Justice has the answer, please email me. Thanks. And I must say, you guys have quite a sense of humor.
[read more]
Late last month, Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced the indictments of several Chicago mafiosa and two of their associates, both of whom were Chicago cops at one time. The feds are alleging those arrested were engaged in a far-flung conspiracy to murder numerous people, including the late Tony "the Ant" Spilotro, over the last three decades. One of the retired cops, Anthony J. "Twan" Doyle, lived in Wickenburg, Ariz., population 5,300. Readers of this blog, who no doubt number in the dozens, may recall that last year I reported extensively on the death of another Wickenburg resident, the late Jesse Lee McBride, aka, Jesse Eugene Stoneking. Stoneking was a St. Louis hoodlum who rolled over and became a FBI snitch, ratting out the Eastside mob in the 1980s. The Eastside mob here is controlled by the Chicago Outfit. After his informant status became public knowledge, the mob allegedly put out a $100,000 contract on Stoneking's life, according to former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Ronald Lawrence. Stoneking, who in later years used the alias Jesse Lee McBride, spent the rest of his life on the lam. It all ended in January 2003, when he allegedly shot himself in the head on the side of a highway in Surprise, Ariz. after having a flat tire. When the indictments were issued last month, I became curious about Doyle's Wickenburg residency. After all, the retired Chicago cop's role was to provide law enforcement data to the mafia, and the Wickenburg Sun reported that, at the time of his arrest, Doyle was a member of the Maricopa County Sherriff's Posse, a local police auxillary. Wickenburg is a relatively small town and, according to a police source quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2003, many people there suspected that McBride, aka, Stoneking, was a mobster. So obviously, according to press reports, Doyle had maintained some ties to law enforcement even after he retired and "McBride's" secret identity wasn't much of a secret. This led me to check Doyle's property records. Fortunately, Maricopa County has most of these records available online. The latest record in Doyle's name is dated May 3. It is a forfeiture petition filed by the federal government to seize what appears to be Doyle's condo on Vulture's Mine Road in Wickenburg. The weird part is that, although defendent Doyle's name is handwritten at the top and bottom of the document, the defendent is referred to in the body of the text as "Captain Crunch."
Of course, I'm assuming that by naming the defendent as being a cartoon character from the front of a kid's cereal box the federal government has invalidated its forfeiture claim. I just don't know why the Justice Department would do this. My guess is that Doyle has been working with the feds, either before or since the indictments, and, as a part of the deal, the FBI has created the false impression that the bureau is taking his property so that the "bad guys" still think Doyle is one of them. If somebody at Justice has the answer, please email me. Thanks. And I must say, you guys have quite a sense of humor.
[read more]
