We now know why none of Massport's 1,200 employees could be bothered with stopping any of the Arab terrorists who flew out of Logan Airport and into infamy on the morning of Sept. 11.

The Massport hacks were all too busy with wheelbarrows - which is the only possible way they can take their weekly paychecks to the bank.

Here are the final numbers, for this week anyway:

44 Massport hacks make more than $100,000.

38 Massport employees make between $90,000 and $99,999.

Another 57 coatholders make between $80,000 and $89,999.

84 more make between $70,000 and $79,999.

A couple of years ago, I was doing my semi-annual Massport hack column, focusing on Peter Blute, the ex-congressman from Shrewsbury who was then presiding over the hack hiring hall.

Blute was being knuckled by Steve O'Neill, then the patronage boss for then-Gov. Argeo P. Cellucci. Last week I went back and looked at the O'Neill hires, and guess what. They're all still at the Massport trough.

O'Neill has a brother named James. James became a Massport firefighter the same month Cellucci became governor in 1997. He now makes $60,856.85 a year. Also on the fire department: Brian Haley, brother of the former House chairman of Ways and Means. He also makes $60,856.85 a year - that must be their base pay, before overtime.

The same month James O'Neill went on the payroll of Logan Airport, Steve O'Neill's sister-in-law Julie Cullen McDonnell settled in at Massport. When I wrote about Julie two years ago, she was making $80,000.

Imagine my non-surprise when I perused the new payroll and saw that she is now up to $92,465.62 a year.

Julie's husband, by the way, is a guy named Jack, and Jack works at the state Highway Department, where he makes, as of Friday, $1,518.68 a week. His boss is Matt Amorello, who used to be a state senator with Jane Swift, who is now the governor and who herself, as you by now surely know, once had a $78,000 Massport hack job herself.

Anyway, would you care to guess where Mrs. Matt Amorello works?

That's right. Charlotte Amorello is a ``project coordinator'' for $52,175.70.

One reason that this payroll is so incredibly larded with hacks is that unless you're at the very top, you never get whacked. Take Blute himself. He was broomed after a tragic afternoon involving a bad ice cube and a treacherous bimbo named Gidget.

Yet most of the hacks from his congressional staff that he brought on board (Massport, not the S.S. Nauticus) still draw a paycheck. Lou Cabral, a Bristol County payroll patriot, now makes $93,394 as ``director, asset management.'' Marquis Berquist is up to $49,376.25. Derek Brodin makes $59,772.25 as ``community representative.''

And the titles they've handed out to one another. Did you know that Massport has a ``chief of party''? Surely his real title is ``life of party.'' Does he go around on all the Massport booze cruises asking ``Can I freshen your drink, Congressman?'' The chief of party makes $55,952 a year.

Massport also has a speechwriter on the payroll. His name is Theodore J. Frier Sr. and he makes $78,750 a year. All of his speeches now begin the same way:

``What happened on Sept. 11, tragic as it was, could have happened at any airport in the country. . . .''

Now Massport is under the gun. Watch out, all you $8.50-an-hour security guards. As ex-Rep. Gus Serra would say, ``Our way or the highway.'' Gus is now up to $128,977.53. He's the ``director, strategic planning.'' His strategic plan is to get his salary up to $150,000.

One way you can usually tell how redundant a job is is by the number of diminutives in the title. Massport's got more ``deputies'' than Sheriff Rouse. The ``associate chief legal counsel'' makes $100,042. The ``senior legal counsel'' makes $88,302.50. The ``associate deputy chief legal counsel'' takes down $93,988.40.

Massport's awash in assistants and special assistants and even a ``wildlife maintenance technician.'' He makes $55,276.

Remember the late Congressman Joe Moakley? His nephew, Tom, makes $49,868. Remember ex-city councilor Diane Modica? Her cousin Mike makes $52,624. . . .

I'm out of space today, but there's always tomorrow. If you'd like to drop a dime on a Massport hack who hasn't been dragged out of the shadows and humiliated yet, leave me a message at (617) 779-3433. The Hack Hotline is always open.