Posted on 05/04/2005 6:38:15 AM PDT by franksolich
Erik Fallo, a central smuggler of illegal spirit, was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years on charges of murder by poisoning after being behind shipments of moonshine lethally tainted with methanol.
Fallo, 58, was charged with seven deaths by poisoning and two cases of two of grave personal injury. According to the charges Fallo sold 50,000 liters of smuggled spirit from January 2002 until the summer of 2003.
Per Erik Fossum, 76, received a five-year sentence in the trial, charged with one count of murder by poisoning and one count of involuntary manslaughter under especially aggravated circumstances.
Fallo had previously admitted guilt to smuggling but not to the murder charges.
"Moonshine" is not the proper translation. My experience with Pennsylvanian and West Virginian moonshiners has always been that these guys did what they did with much tender loving care and attention.
If a batch did not meet their standards, they chucked it.
These hardy mountaineers made moonshine with as much affection as they raised children or hound-dogs.
On the other hand, we have these other people who mass-produce the stuff--50,000 liters (quarts) in this case--with no regard for quality, no solicitude for the customer, and this third-rate product gets the first-rate monicker, "moonshine."
Never trust a Norwiegian to do a hillbillies job. If you want good shine go to W. Virginia.
Well, I've never observed home-made brew from Norway, but I have observed home-made brew from Ukraine and Russia, and trust me, it is an insult to real moonshine, to give the name "moonshine" to these utterly inferior products.
It's like calling Hilarity Clinton "Laura Bush."
Or something like that.
Sloppily-produced moonshine can be contaminated with toxins, mainly from materials used in construction of the still. Despite the well-known hazards, it is claimed that stills constructed using car radiators for a condenser are still used. The lead used in soldering these radiators ends up (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00016616.htm) in the moonshine, and in some cases, glycol products from antifreeze used in the radiator can appear as well. Both are poisonous. Occasionally moonshine is deliberately mixed with industrial alcohol-containing products, including methanol and denatured alcohol. Results are toxic, with methanol easily capable of causing blindness and death. Methanol and other toxic alcohols can occur naturally in distilled spirits and are called fusel oils. They are concentrated in the first few percent of condensate produced in a batch, and the oily consistancy is noticeable to the distiller. Ordinarily this portion is discarded, though if ingested alone or included with the rest of the distlled product it may cause toxic effects. Like commercial beer, wine, and liquor, properly produced moonshine contains small amounts of methanol at levels that are not toxic. A common way to determine the "quality control" of a batch of moonshine was to see if the moonshiner would dare to drink it.
If it burns blue then it's ok for you.
If it burns yellow it'll kill a fellow.
About 18 years ago, I was working in a small, south GA town that seemed to have a hospital chuck full of dialysis patients. It seemed to be a really disportionate number compared to other towns in the area.
I found out that it was the 'swamp shine' that'd done caused the renal failure.
ACK--
That'd CAUSED the renal failure (I need coffee).
I like the way you said it the first time ;-)
The stuff was produced in Portugal, he merely smuggled it.
Yeah, it wasn't moonshine, but then again who cares when it kills people?
Like most things alcohol is taxed beyond belife but nothing excuses this mans actions...
Btw, if he had raped these people and not killed them he would have gotten less then 5 years (total) but if he had raped them and then taken their wallet he would have gotten 15 (per person)
I hate the Norwegian court system, its manned by a bunch of wimps!
If the Max penalty is 21 years and the minimum is 2 then they get about 2 1/2 years for it.
I'm gonna make a post on this subject and get some opinions from you guys, atleast you get to kill the onces that do horrible crimes
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