The New York Post has a weird relationship with criminals; though the paper routinely calls them “fiends,” it judges them harshly when they turn straight and testify against one another. So when a mob associate not only sold out an alleged accomplice, but admitted to crying when he was arrested, you knew the Post was going to have a field day. And it did: “This mobster turned rat has one heck of a sob story,” reads the lede of Thursday’s story, before delving into four more paragraphs about alleged “seven-second bandit” Jack Mannino’s tears. The rest of Mannino’s testimony sounds kind of interesting: a die-hard thief forced to “starve or steal” after blowing through his money. But you’ll have to get that in the New York Daily News.
