Contributed by: CBrining
By MICHAEL MILLER, Staff Writer, 609-463-6712 | Posted: Friday, October 2, 2009 | 1 comment
OCEAN CITY - Jim Schatzle said two "Sopranos" wannabes beat him and set fire to his Boardwalk flag shop Tuesday.
But police said this tale of South Philadelphia mobsters extorting a Boardwalk merchant over pricy flags quickly unraveled. Police on Thursday charged Schatzle, 73, of Galloway Township, with aggravated arson and insurance fraud....Continue Reading
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Police said Schatzle filed a police report Sept. 16 alleging that two men he described as South Philadelphia mobsters assaulted him after arguing over the price of his decorative flags at Flags and Specialty Gifts on the 13th Street Boardwalk.
"They argued over the price. At that point, they threatened him," Lt. Steven Ang said Schatzle told police in his report.
Ang said Schatzle conjured up the two villains from his imagination and made up the story of being assaulted Sept. 16 and watching the wiseguys set fire to his store Tuesday. Ang said investigators believe Schatzle was planning the arson for weeks.
Passers-by and employees at Johnson's Popcorn next door pulled Schatzle out of his smoke-filled store. He was taken to Shore Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for injuries to his head and left arm and then released.
Ang said the fire posed a threat to nearby store employees, as well as customers and tenants of the second-floor apartment.
"He not only risked property damage to his own business and risk to himself, but he put all those surrounding himself at risk of physical danger," Ang said.
Nobody else was injured, but the entire inventory at a neighboring dress shop and Johnson's Popcorn was ruined by the smoke.
Ang said investigators grew suspicious when they learned that another novelty store operated by Schatzle in Galloway Township was destroyed by fire in 2006. Police in Galloway Township did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
Police said they also were curious about witness accounts of Schatzle's crying for help when he was just a few steps from the safety of the Boardwalk. Fire investigators found multiple points of origin for the fire inside the store, Ang said.
Schatzle was lodged Thursday at the Cape May County Jail on $50,000 bail set by Municipal Court Judge Richard A. Russell.
Ang said Schatzle eventually cooperated with police.
"He appears to have done this due to the downturn in the economy and the poor season he had on the Boardwalk," Ang said.
Schatzle rented the building but hoped to recoup his investment in his stock of merchandise through an insurance claim, Ang said.
Schatzle and his wife, Marie, filed a trip-and-fall lawsuit against Walmart in 2005, alleging he slipped in some liquid soap and fell while shopping for water. Walmart settled that lawsuit in 2007, according to court records.
The couple declared Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1990, according to federal court records.
Neighboring merchants said they were suspicious about how a fire could spread so quickly in an occupied store. The story of the mobsters also seemed outlandish.
"From what I've seen in the (Martin) Scorsese movies, they don't seem like the kind of guys scrutinizing garden-flag prices," said Rob Neumann, who runs Linda's on the 13th Street Boardwalk.
Neumann said he sympathized with Schatzle's financial straits but condemned his actions.
"Desperate people do desperate things," he said.
E-mail Michael Miller: MMiller@pressofac.com
Posted in Cape_may on Friday, October 2, 2009 3:10 am
Elwood Fire Rescue
https://www.evfc160.com/main/article.php/20091003081907759