ERRATA: Fixed duplicate audio issue.
When we think of car bombs we often think politics. Of war by another name. The Irish Republican Army, fighting for independence. Of the Middle East and the warfare in that region. The Lebanese Civil War. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Iraqi insurgents.
There’s also organized crime. By 1974, in fact, Cleveland, Ohio – Cleveland, Ohio – had become the leading site for car bombings in the U.S. The main cause? A gang war between Italian crime families and a group of Irish-American gangsters. And here’s the key revelation: Wherever you find them, car bombs are a preferred method of assassination because the evidence is often destroyed in the explosion, leaving police with no leads. And death? A sure thing. Instantaneous.
That's actually part of the attraction. The bomb thoroughly destroys everything in its wake.
But here's the rub: Rigging a car bomb is a complex operation. It's not like, say, a handgun where a sponaneous outburst can lead to homicide. Car bombs are the opposite. They take planning, plus time. And caution -- the bomber, if not careful, can end up as the victim.
That said, Anchorage police quickly turned up at least one break: another car bombing in Fairbanks. More than three hundred miles to the north. A practice run? Maybe? Maybe not. It was, actually, the first among several. It's that old adage in which we start to see a pattern just because we're looking for it. You know the one: "I just bought a Volkswagen and suddenly every car I see is... A Volkswagen."
There was, in fact, another complication. On the day of her murder, Muriel Pfeil was ferrying her three and half-year-old son between home, preschool and daycare. And yet. And yet he was not in the car when the explosion occurred. Was not harmed. Ok, so that tells us -- or seems to tell us -- that Muriel was the sole target. And that tells us...
Well, it might give us the name of our chief suspect. All eyes quickly turned to Neil Mackay, the boy's father. And the estranged ex-husband of Muriel Pfeil. That starts to raise the old "who benefits" question.
Except… What about the bit where Neil Mackay did not seem to know where Scotty was, much less whether he was safe or not? Was that all for show?
https://lelandhale.com/wordpress/why-a-car-bomb/
