Word: choppings
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Major league baseball teams will play the same teams more often and play-offs will be longer starting next year, thanks to a new format that will chop the American and National leagues each into three geographical divisions. A wild- card qualifier from each league would join the division leaders in the play-offs. The makeup of each of the six divisions may be finalized this week...
...cars since the age of 14," says Lindsay Stott Jr., an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the muscleman's operations. "He was proud of his expertise. He was very much in love with himself." Last year the feds and local police busted Wills' six- man, 14,000-sq.-ft. "chop shop" set in an industrial park in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. But, while all his cohorts were prosecuted, Wills fled after his arrest -- and remains at large. What has emerged of his saga illustrates how easy and lucrative it is to make a living abducting and dismembering automobiles in America...
While driving his quarry to the chop shop, Wills kept a red plaid scarf -- his trademark -- wrapped tightly around the steering column to hide the damage and avoid suspicion. He used the same red material to block the warehouse's windows and keep out prying eyes. A stern taskmaster, he forbade drug use by employees and demanded that they keep the garage immaculate. Oil spills were mopped instantly, while car parts were piled like groceries -- in perfect stacks. Ever wily, he split his operation into distinct divisions: thieves and choppers. No one but Wills knew the complete workings...
...that's how law enforcement cracked down. Wills quarreled with a partner, who ratted to the Bensalem police. Government agents then rented the chop-shop property to Wills as part of a sting operation. Over a four-month period last year, the FBI and police tracked 35 cars -- some from as far away as Washington and North Carolina -- into two of Wills' warehouses. Half the cars were stolen; many others were insurance "give-ups" by financially strapped car owners. Not long after, the FBI revealed itself, Wills escaped and law enforcement officers have been tracking him ever since -- with...
...other major cities, the motive is largely commercial. Police say more than half of the thefts are committed by organized car rings that chop up stolen cars and resell the parts or ship them across borders. (See following story.) Overall, about a quarter of stolen cars end up in chop shops, where they are taken apart and resold for as much as triple their value whole. Two skilled choppers with power tools can cut up a car from hood to trunk in three minutes. The demand is huge: a thief can steal a $10,000 Nissan Sentra, strip...