"Funny That!"

I have touched on some of these points in some of my much older posts but it never fails to surprise me that some people can be branded as grasses, liars, but this does not apply to all.  I bring this point up because lately there has been graffiti sprayed around declaring "fat John xxxxxxxx is a grass."  Now, I have no idea what this is all about, but it struck me that the term "grass" does not apply to all that do something that compels co-operation with authorities.  This is not meant to apply to law abiding citizens but the criminal classes who cut deals to lessen their jail term or to escape prosecution completely.  Let us start with a man involved in a brutal murder locally, one Sonny Stewart.  He informed on all his cohorts in a deal to save himself from a very long jail sentence.  Five he gave evidence against received, 24 years, 33(min) x 3, and 35 years. Two others received 12 & 13 years.  Yet his evidence was never coherent against the man who received 35 years.  He could not get his story straight.  This interview was shown by Panorama.  I expected to see graffiti everywhere about Stewart but have not seen any.

    Then there is the memoirs of "King Squealer" Maurice O`Mahoney, who spoke of a "crazy psychopath" who walked about with a gun in a shoulder holster thinking he was in Chicago in the twenties.  He later said he discovered that "Mad Alan" was a Police informer but never did anything.  Then there was the celebrated trial of Ronnie Kray for shooting George Cornell.  Frank Fraser gave evidence on behalf of Kray.  According to one book, Fraser named Jack Duval as boasting he shot Cornell.  Duval helped put the Richardsons and Fraser away, so you can see why he named him.  Yet, incredibly nobody has picked up on this.  Or is it a case of "It`s Frank therefore it is different?"  Another puzzler is in Liverpool, where you will see "Frenchy (Stephen French) is a grass" or people screaming "That fucking Paul Grimes, the grassing bastard!"  Yet, do people say those sort of things about that great Scouse folkhero John Haase?  He pulled a con on Michael Howard to get very early release for himself and his cohort Paul Bennett, yet it emerged that Haase was informing for Customs.  Part of his elaborate plot was to have a gun smuggled into Strangeways, then claim a man was to use the gun to take hostages if his trial went against him.  The only high profile case going on locally was that of Tommy Bourke, charged with killing two MoT inspectors.  Suddenly, the Jury had a change of hotel, police marksmen were on roofs around the court, and of course this had no effect on the Jury who convicted.  Haase was said to have commented that Bourke`s trial was a big coincidence.  Of course it was.  Anybody interested in this case simply search "Tommy Bourke - MoT Murders" and see the campaign by his family in fighting for a retrial AND the truth.

    Keeping with Liverpool, former Glasgow kingpin Paul Ferris, claimed to have received a call from Scousers who told him that three major Liverpool villains were working hand in hand with Merseyside Police.  Another point of annoyance is when you tear apart somebody`s "reputation."  With truth.  You get whingers who cry "How could you?" yet they will never say anything like that to their bullshitting heroes.  Funny that.