What do targets have in common?

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Here is Jerry DeMarco's take on The Record's recent investigations into political and law enforcement officials, including Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa. DeMarco, the former Record editor behind Cliffview Pilot.com, sent it in response to my post Friday, Throwing good money after bad:

"Competition is good for business," someone I highly respect told me recently.

It's also extremely satisfying when you enter a race as a single long-distance runner vs. a squadron of sprinters -- and STILL win. Got the timestamps to prove it, too.

Sure, they get their share of firsts. But shouldn't that be the standard when you have such resources?

I agree with you. But I believe the "understanding" isn't with KZ.

They went after Coniglio, but the feds got him first. Same with Ferriero.

Then came Mordaga -- oh, how they went after the former friend of the family, the "Clint Eastwood" of cops, jokingly known in the old newsroom as "the house dick" (that's a noir-era term for detective, young'uns). But Mike retired & they found no evidence of any wrongdoing. Boy, would I love to be HIS lawyer.

Running out of targets, they had one more crawdad hole left to find that big fish that so long has eluded them, the one that would get them some kind of cred in the industry -- which they don't seem to realize doesn't translate into ad revenue, & matters less to readers than Charlie Sheen leaving "2 1/2 Men."

Molinelli is squeaky clean -- and, boy, can he take a punch: Remember, he survived the cruise fiasco without a scratch (My "pal"? So what about it? Bring what he & his staff do every day & maybe I'll consider buying you lunch). So he wasn't an option.

The only target left was an old stand-by. They had the sources at their fingertips (they love to make phone calls instead of actually talking face-to-face). They even did a rimjob on Bobby Egan, KZ's sworn enemy & a crackpot from the word "go." Still, they couldn't pull the trigger.

So what happens? Molinelli's crew, w/ a little help from his feds, got Zisa first. And when Kenny blurted it out to staff, who immediately got calls? Yep: me.

So what did all the "investigative reporting" produce? The kind of work both Clints -- Taplin & Riley, newshounds who span generations -- would have laughed at. The kind Ritt/ McGarvey/ Cunnigham would've Jackson Pollock-ed with a grease pencil.

They didn't even explain to us how "Charles" begets the nickname "Ken."

So what say we raise a question: What do all these "targets" have in common?

 Eye on The Record says:

It seems most of the targets are Italian-Americans. Is that a coincidence? Do The Record's lazy, incompetent editors go after Italian-Americans? What do you think?