 who lives in Baltimore, Christopher Pasco or Fields, also of Baltimore, to pick up the money, police records show. McCoy said in the past that the robberies had been carried out peacefully but that in one case James Pasco had tied up a Dundalk victim with a phone cord, according to the records.
Recently, the robberies became increasingly violent. Police began sending out warnings about the scheme last week, but the robberies continued over the weekend. The victims — one as old as 94 — were pushed and slapped, and one had a towel put over her head, Connolly said. Most were robbed of thousands of dollars, she added.
Police records show that the suspects were arrested after the nephew of one of the intended victims alerted police to a suspicious call from someone claiming to be a "Ms. Wallace" from the tax department. Detectives were then able to trace the phone used to make the call to Powers and McCoy.
In all, Connolly said, police are aware of 10 incidents, have confessions relating to seven and are confident they have all the people involved in custody.
Victims of the scheme reached by The Baltimore Sun declined to comment.
In 2002, Powers was convicted of a similar scheme, The Sun reported at the time. She posed as a representative of Medicare, claiming the victim's benefits would be denied, or of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co, telling the victims their service would be shut off. The scheme earned Powers $34,000, including $25,000 from one woman.5-lipoxygenase ( 5-LOX ) is a member of the lipoxygenase family of enzymes. It transforms fatty acids into leukotrienes and, as we age, its levels increase. Excess levels of the enzyme 5-LOX sets in motion inflammatory responses that have been linked to ageing-related effects. Food rich in omega-6 fatty acids like red meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products, trigger overproduction of arachidonic acid. In response to high levels of arachidonic acid, the body produces the 5-LOX enzyme. 5-LOX converts arachidonic acid to pro-inflammatory compounds like leukotriene B4, a molecule that mediates attacks to joints, arterial walls and other tissues.
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In the previous article about this topic, I showed what various historians said about Pope Pius XII with regard to the Holocaust; here, I want to answer the question of what the pope did specifically, particularly through his public acts and utterances, as well as his workings behind the scenes through his nuncios and bishops.
The nuncios, with the exception of Orsenigo in Germany, spoke frequently.[1] Out of the entire diplomatic corps, in Europe, the two most active nuncios appear to be Rotta in Hungary and Burzio in Slovakia; both men were outspoken critics of the racial laws in their countries, and the Holy See would use them as mouthpieces to complain.[2] As for the bishops, they had a tendency to write pastoral letters on the Holocaust relative to their countries.
In Hungary, the bishops issued a pastoral letter asking Admiral Horthy, the Calvinist regent of Hungary, to stop the deportation of Jews.[3] In Slovakia, the bishops asked the president, Fr. Josef Tiso, to allow for the sparing of at least baptized Jews.[4] A second letter appeared a year later, which was slightly more forceful than the last.[5] In Slovakia, the letters were relatively unsuccessful, while in Hungary, the pope sent Horthy a telegram before the pastoral letter had a chance to have any effect.[6] In France, the bishops showed a good degree of responsibility with regard to protesting the anti-Semitic laws of the Vichy regime.[7] The nuncio, Valeri, would speak to the Vatican on the issue of these laws, and the largest problem that both the bishops and the Vatican had was with regard to the persecution of the baptized Jews.[8] In Germany, the bishops had a tendency to be mixed on the issue.
Bishop von Preysing was not happy with Orsenigo, and was not happy with what he saw as wishy-washiness on the part of the pope.[9] Von Preysing was of the sentiment that the Vatican should have taken a more outspoken stance on the issue of the Holocaust. It is evident that some other German bishops shared this view. [10] In spite of themselves, some of the German bishops remained silent. This upset von Preysing, who wanted a more public hierarchy.[11] The overall situation in Germany was not helped by the relative ease that some bishops had with the Nazis. In the pontificate of Pius XI, the bishops of Osnabrueck and Baden were openly courted by the Nazis, in one case by Goering.[12] It can be said that the Germans had hoped to court the Catholic Church in this respect. It is clear, however, that Pius XI would not like the idea.[13] In Poland, the bishops were distraught about the apparent silence of the Papacy as a result of the Nazi occupation. Hlond, the Cardinal Primate of Poland, attempted to comfort the Poles when a group went on pilgrimage to Rome, though his criticism of the Nazis was rather damp.[14] Hlond would warn the Pope of the feeling of abandonment that the Poles had on the part of the pope even as late as December 1941. Bishop Radonski Wloklawek criticized the pope from London, where he was in exile, saying that as the pope remained silent, people suffered.[15] On the whole, it is clear that the Polish hierarchy was not composed of people that were fond of the pope. The pope did, however, speak directly when he had to.
The country of Slovakia presents itself with an interesting case. The reason for this is the fact that the president of Slovakia was himself a Catholic priest. The first policies that would prove to be problematic were implemented in 1941. The ensuing drama would ultimately make Tardini lament the fact that the Holy See could not manage one of its priests.[16] The reason for the drama was because of the scandal of a Catholic, someone who would have to be diametrically opposed to racism, implementing what was clearly seen at the time as racist policy.[17] On the ground, the nuncio, Burzio, was the mouthpiece of the Holy See to voice displeasure to the Tiso regime.[18] In the Vatican, it was principally Maglione who would deal with such issues.[19] Indeed, there were issues. In October 1941, Burzio heard that the Jews were being shot if they were discovered by Slovak soldiers. The situation escalated. There was a rumor that Jewish women were being used as prostitutes for German soldiers. Before that, there were rumors of gas chambers in Poland, to which the Jews were being deported.[20] The Holy See, which had protested the deportations, was taken back. The bishops would release their pastoral letters at around this time, the second one being released a year after the first.[21] In the meanwhile, Maglione would use Burzio to issue complaints to Tiso, the result of which being the cessation of the deportation of at least baptized Jews. Overall, Tiso did not cooperate. The discourse between Vatican officials, principally Maglione and Burzio, and Tiso’s government, particularly Tuka, the prime minister, was nothing short of redundant. On one side, the Vatican maintained that anti-Semitic policies were inherently anti-Christian, while the Slovaks insisted that they were justified in their actions. Tuka himself believed that the Vatican was influenced by the Jews.[22] Once the Soviets got closer, the danger for the Jews rapidly increased due to the greater German influence in the country. Burzio, armed with a letter from Roncalli in Istanbul, forwarded by Bernardini in Switzerland, was instructed to complain, while Maglione himself would go and complain to Sidor, the Slovakian representative in Rome. Evidently, the complaint worked, as the deportations ceased, only to resume with a greater ferocity within the week, sparing not a single Jew, baptized or not.[23]
The entire ordeal came to a head when Pius, seeing that the mess was going nowhere, personally interceded for the Jews. He wrote Tiso a letter.[24] The pope told Tiso that it was his priestly duty to end all deportations, and that he must therefore stop them. The pope ordered Tiso to act according to his “sacerdotal conscience” and out of “dignity”. Tiso responded with a letter written in Latin that defended his actions, claiming that the actions that Slovakia supposedly took were not really taken, but were calumnies by Slovakia’s enemies.[25] The only evidence of any response made by the pope of Tiso