I’m a frequent critic of the New London Day, so it’s only fair that I give credit when they do something right, and they’ve done just that recently.
In my other life I spend a lot of time in housing court, and the subject of their recent exposé is not unknown to me. Zane Megos is a local landlord, who has apparently made quite a bit of money on the side by conning poor people out of money for apartments that never seem to become available, despite repeated promises on his part. The Day ran a long story about him recently, exposing his criminal activity, and today ran a followup:
Norwich police confirmed Monday that they are conducting multiple investigations into allegations that Zane Megos accepted cash deposits and advance rent payments for apartments that were condemned or never became available, while more would-be tenants continued to come forward.
There’s an old saying to the effect that “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread”. A corollary is that police are trained primarily to look under bridges, in the streets, and in the markets (except for stock markets) for law breakers. As soon as I read the paragraph quoted above I just knew, having tried to interest the Norwich police in white collar crime of a different variety, that past complaints against Mr. Megos had been ignored. Not surprisingly, I was right:
[One tenant] said he filed a complaint with Norwich police at the time and plans to do so again now that police say they are investigating.
You can take it to the bank that were in not for the Day, Mr. Megos, unobstructed by the Norwich police, would be happily conning more poor people. The Norwich cops are not unique, of course. We have priorities in this country, and we’re far more interested in jailing the poor than in protecting them from predators like Megos.
So, congratulations to the Day for a job well done. Real journalism, which might hopefully lead to some real justice.
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