Word: palamarchuk
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...child, he was raised by a foster family that included two car-thieving brothers before becoming the Artful Dodger to the Fagin of Bucks County. After his arrest (and before fleeing), Wills told the FBI that he learned much of the craft as a teenager from John Palamarchuk, a 68-year-old former body-shop owner known to law enforcement as "One-Eyed." (His right eye socket, filled with a plastic orb, is barely open.) Wills, who did not own a driver's license, sometimes enlisted his mentor to rent the trucks that hauled his booty. Palamarchuk, who has never...
...snatchers such as Palamarchuk claim that the center of Philadelphia's black market is Passyunk Avenue, in the southwestern part of the city. Here lies a sprawling shantytown of 70 salvage yards, and journalists are about as welcome as the rusty mud after a heavy rain. "Is that your car?" barks the manager of one junkyard. "Leave it there a couple of hours, and see what ! happens to it." His sidekick, an unfriendly German shepherd, growls in agreement...
Nobody knows precisely how much of Passyunk Avenue's merchandise is hot. Palamarchuk believes it's more than 90%. Tony Kane, a special agent who covers Philadelphia for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, guesses 40%. "The general attitude on Passyunk is that if I don't buy it, the next yard will," says Kane. "You'll walk into a lot of yards and see nothing but a few doors and a lot of junk. That's because calls are made, orders are taken, and things get done through the back door...
Among suppliers in Bucks County, few were as intimidating as Wills. "Mark could pick up 400 lbs. with one hand," says Palamarchuk, who was always fearful of Wills. Still, Wills mastered the one-eyed thief's cardinal rule: swipe, dismantle and dispose of one vehicle at a time. That ensures control -- and safety. "A good car thief can't be caught," Palamarchuk says. "He can only be informed...
| 1 |