Those who were rightfully outraged about the case of a man in upstate New York getting fatally beaten for his valuable comics collection will be relieved to know that suspects have been apprehended and charged for the crime. Columbus, Indiana's Republic has reported that Rochester restaurateur Rico Vendetti and five other city residents have been apprehended for burglary and racketeering. The list of stolen goods they’re accused of transporting over state lines includes expensive goods like power tools, GPS devices and rare comics. It was an eBay listing of the latter, which matched the victim’s itemized collection, that linked this man to the assault case. Vendetti allegedly gave his accomplices a list of items he wanted to buy once they'd stolen them for him. In the case of the comics, he paid $3,000 to get comics whose resale value was 40-100,000 dollars.
The collector, Homer Marciniak, died after being assaulted in July and investigators are considering exhuming his body to determine if the heart attack that killed him may have started during the break-in. If that’s proven to be the case, the suspects may be leveled with even more serious charges, as they aren't currently being accused of murder. == TEASER ==
The police chief handling this affair reiterated that Marciniak had visited comic shops in Rochester to find out how much his comics might be worth. In doing so, he most likely brought himself and his collection to Vendetti's attention. Once again, I’d urge any collectors here to use this case as a cautionary example to treat rare comics like any other valuable asset and be appropriately careful about who you let know about what's in your collection.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! &UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazonhere & here .
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