Hard times all around

An economically telling detail in the ProJo's coverage of the big OC bust earlier this week:

In addition, longtime mob enforcer Gerald M. “Gerry” Tillinghast, 62, was accused of resuming his storied criminal career upon his release from prison last year, after serving 30 years for the 1977 murder of loan shark George Basmajian. Tillinghast allegedly ran a narcotics and gambling ring.

But in a sign of these tough economic times, the state police said, Tillinghast’s initial base of operations, a Cranston second-hand furniture and appliance store, went out of business, forcing him to move to the Valley Street Flea Market.