More on the Issue of Mark’s Concerns about His Safety

This post expands on the issue that my brother had expressed concern about his safety at the place where he was working as a security guard (see post of September 24, 2016).  According to more than one individual, Mark bought a pistol for protection at his job as a security guard at M&M’s, a Seneca Indian-owned business selling gasoline and discount cigarettes, in nearby Steamburg, N.Y., just off I-86.  Although he reportedly kept the gun in the glove compartment, the police report makes no mention of a gun among the items found in his truck, which included the gas can suspiciously located on the passenger’s side floor.

What reasons could Mark have had for his concerns about his safety?  When I brought up the issue with an individual who according to one source had also worked at that M&M’s location, that person denied ever working there but was familiar with the location.  The individual mentioned that there were four gas stations within a mile of each other on that same strip.  Apparently, Pete Rapacioli has had no problem with his safety working at M&M’s, where Mark had helped him get a job as well.  According to Rapacioli, who called me in June of 2013 to protest my mention of his name on this blog, he was still working at M&M’s at that time, some ten years after my brother’s death.  (On Rapacioli himself, especially the alleged phone call with my brother’s wife for half an hour before the truck fire, see esp. posts of June 24 and December 26, 2013, and April 19, 2014).

Mark apparently worked at M&M’s from mid-afternoon into the evening Wednesday through Sunday.  If he felt some kind of danger, it would presumably have been at night, especially if the place was closing up.  As previously mentioned (see post of June 21, 2016), a comment made on another website, Cattaraugus County Corruption, indicates that my brother apparently had “taken action when he saw something wrong” and paid the price for it.  Of course, if that is the case, it is not at all clear what Mark might have seen and where he might have seen it.

However, it would certainly be useful to know the identity of the neighbor whom my brother was reportedly visiting the evening of September 23, 2003 (see post of August 11, 2014).  Mark might well have mentioned to that person what he was worried about at the time, ironically just before the truck fire that so brutally took his life.

Was that neighbor Todd Lindell?  Mark had been at his house and apparently remained there for most of the evening after his DWI, for which he had been arrested following an argument with Salamanca police officer Mark Marowski at a local club the very day before the truck fire.  In November 2003, Lindell told me that he in fact had had an “open door policy” for Mark at his house.  Unfortunately, he did not return my calls after that point.