Conversations with a hit man

(magazine.atavist.com)

132 points | by gmays 2 days ago ago

15 comments

  • keiferski 13 hours ago

    Interesting story, worth reading if you’re interested in crime and corruption in the South circa 1960-1980. The atmosphere reminded me of the first season of True Detective, also set in Louisiana.

    • genewitch 4 hours ago

      As someone who lives here now, the corruption is still alive and well. We're - the citizens - currently fighting against having CO2 "pumped in via pipes" and injected into "geological formations". Every citizen in the state gets their water from a well. Injecting refuse "CO2" into the ground will contaminate our water supply; but as the person at the meeting i went to on Monday said, "When there's money involved the politicians stop thinking about the citizens."

      I don't know. I don't really like it here, but my kid's family live here. And on the other side of the coin, where isn't there corruption?

      • akudha 2 hours ago

        If there are humans somewhere, that place is going to have some level of corruption. I suppose a more practical way is to look at relative levels of corruption. Countries like Singapore, Norway etc have lower levels of corruption (at least according to various rankings)

  • garaetjjte an hour ago

    Eh, he's old man sitting in prison probably spinning tales to anybody who will listen. He didn't tell them anything that wasn't publicly available, and on details that they needed to dig for into archives actually contradicts them ("Imagine that. Nobody’s ever seen him." about Rick, but he appeared before grand jury). Neither do they explain why such apparently notorious criminal would appear in the investigation only under alias in this case, but not in the many others mentioned (and why nobody that previously saw him as Rick noticed).

  • Communitivity 5 hours ago

    This brings back memories. I enjoyed following the travels described in the She's a Flight Risk series. I never did quite buy that it was a hoax either, though perhaps I am too gullible. If Isabella V. was real, then I hope she's chilling on a tropical beach in Buenos Aires, or somewhere else.

    • fipar 4 hours ago

      She'll need a lot of help from climate change before Buenos Aires gets a tropical beach though :)

  • Neywiny 3 hours ago

    This was a good read. I'm not sure I'm fully appreciating its role on this site specifically, but it's worth it nonetheless

  • RickJWagner 6 hours ago

    Nicely written, and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing, OP.

  • shermantanktop 17 hours ago

    [flagged]

    • tomhow 16 hours ago

      > I quit before I got to anything interesting

      This is the kind of shallow dismissal we don't want on HN.

      • therein 14 hours ago

        I think it exceeds that bar. If he had said "TLDR" and ended it there, sure but he approached it with humor and with a few quips I found relatively eloquent. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with that.

        He is humorously criticizing the author's artistic choices. I think he did it pleasantly enough, how else do we want this to be done on HN?

        • n4r9 14 hours ago

          In my opinion it's a shallow and tangential post. If you're going to comment on aesthetics over substance, at least caveat your comments with that and do it thoughtfully.

          • stronglikedan 7 hours ago

            And here I am clicking dead comment links to read tangential posts. How about leave it like it is, where tangential posts can be hidded/flagged/killed but still available to those who want to read them. No one likes a gatekeeper.

            • n4r9 6 hours ago

              I'm fine with leaving it like it is and didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Just saying that a tangential post has a better chance of staying alive if it's thoughtful.

        • jajko 13 hours ago

          Is bored teenager approach "humorous" and "pleasant enough"? Not really, au contraire