Nutts!

January 6, 2006 3:54 AM

Finis Shellnutt has had a rather interesting life. The apparent principal source for the 'bands of looters killing police' meme seems to have some connections to that thing they called the Iran-Contra affair as well as being this guy's brother-in-law and the husband of a certain special someone.
posted by well_balanced (11 comments total)

I am waiting for Rod Serling to start his voice-over.
posted by localroger at 5:12 AM on January 6, 2006

good work on exposing such a worthless indivudual. people like that test my faith in humanity.
posted by moonbird at 5:36 AM on January 6, 2006

Whatever happed to 'three strikes you're out' for people like this? I mean, after commiting so many crimes and making so many false statements it seems logical someone like this should be removed from the public eye. To the gulag with him!
posted by mk1gti at 6:07 AM on January 6, 2006

It's interesting that Fox and O'Reilly found him during Katrina. All sharing space under the same rock, I suppose.
posted by gingembre at 6:26 AM on January 6, 2006

First link is a 404.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:41 AM on January 6, 2006

Corrected first link.
posted by grabbingsand at 6:50 AM on January 6, 2006

When we were watching Katrina unfold, I really did question the veracity of all these looting/raping/killing stories. And many people here were loudly shouting me down. It's been sadly gratifying to see most of those stories fall apart in the calm, cold light of day. This New Yorker piece last week on the chaos in the NOPD was a very interesting look at the kinds of crazy interpersonal forces and communications snafus that were sparking during the crisis, giving rise to hyperbolic and unfounded reports.
posted by Miko at 6:53 AM on January 6, 2006

This paragraph is true, based on reporting from the NYer piece and the many other sources that showed or discussed it.

The Cadillac dealership downtown, right by the Superbowl, all the cars were stolen. All the shops down on Canal Street, that is the main thoroughfare, your listeners don't know it's a major street downtown, all of those have been looted. The police asked them, you know, why don't you guys stop these guys because they're carrying tennis shoes from the Foot Locker right past them in front of my building. He said we don't have a jail. It's all flooded.
Amusingly enough, though, it was the police who stole Cadillacs, after their cruisers ran out of gas. But they didn't leave documentation, and they didn't secure the building when they left, so the remaining stuff was plundered.

The NYer piece also describes the difficulty police had with lack of a jail space. There was one makeshift jail; but at one point, officers resorted to nabbing people, taking photos of them with their loot, and then releasing them for some eventual pickup.

But the shooting in the head, the shooting at helicopters, the people 'raping babies' in the Superdome: Now we all know what mass hysteria looks like.

Anyway, we probably heard from Shellnutt just because someone with that weird set of connections knew how to phone up the newsroom and get through the screeners.
posted by Miko at 7:01 AM on January 6, 2006

something else to think about re the Katrina coverup is that the indicated dead is said to be over 1,000, yet the persons missing are almost 7,000 . . . What's up with that ? ? ?
posted by mk1gti at 7:39 AM on January 6, 2006

Miko, people with those "weird" sets of connections are usually the only ones we ever hear from in these situations.
posted by allen.spaulding at 7:48 AM on January 6, 2006

Allen.Spaulding: True.
posted by Miko at 7:53 AM on January 6, 2006