The Waterfront Commission is allegedly in charge of policing the docks for mob corruption, drug smuggling and other major crimes. But recently, they've been engaged in a six month probe into a suspect who swiped a $2 bottle of iced tea and used it to wash down a stolen 50-cent piece of sausage. "It's like Capt. Queeg and the strawberries...It's a $2.50 ongoing investigation," said New Jersey state Sen. Raymond Lesniak.
Known as Operation Missing Link, the agency has been pursuing the thief, who stole from food trucks who cater to dock workers. The case was actually quickly completed: the thief confessed, and the victim didn't want to press charges and have him arrested. According to the News, top commission officials were convinced its investigators mishandled the case, and ordered a second probe, including at least 80 interviews.
"The whole investigation is bull----. It's a waste of manpower, money and resources," said one source. The commission argues that there's more to the case than meets the eye ("theft involving extortion"), but another source said the case was an embarrassment to the department. The whole thing reminds us of season 2 of The Wire, when a petty tiff between Major Valcheck and Frank Sobotka inadvertently leads into a massive investigation of corruption at the docks...except the real life version is much, much dumber.
