SALUTE 2 MEATBALL CRIMINALS

A ROBBER ATTACKED A 72-YEAR-OLD RETIRED BOXER WITH A KNIFE . . . AND GOT A BEAT-DOWN:

If you ask me, there's nothing sweeter than when some young punk attacks an old person who they THINK will be an easy mark . . . only to get beaten up. Here's a case in point . . .

Gregory McCalium is a 24-year-old from Botley, England. Last August, he got completely hammered and decided it would be a good idea to go pick a fight with his neighbor . . . 72-year-old Frank Corti.

So Gregory grabbed a KNIFE and broke into Frank's house. But get this . . . --Frank's a former BOXER and SOLDIER, and when Gregory attacked him, his old instincts kicked in . . . and he basically beat the snot out of Gregory.

Frank says, "[Gregory] was holding a knife . . . He made a slashing movement at me but I dodged it by stepping back and he missed. As I saw it, it was a matter of do or die. Fortunately the element of surprise was with me, so I adjusted my position and hit him with my right hand. --"It was just below the eye. I did not knock him out, but he was stunned. We grappled. I was trying to drag him out of the back door. We both fell to the floor. I had to subdue him by punching him, which I did not take a great deal of pleasure in."

On Monday, Gregory was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. (London Times)

(--Check out a photo of Frank and the damage he inflicted on Gregory. . .)

====================================================================

A COUPLE BONEHEADS WERE BUSTED FOR ROBBING A GAS STATION . . . AFTER THEY RAN OUT OF GAS A MILE DOWN THE ROAD:

Now it's time to recognize our next Meatball Criminals of the Day . . . 51-year-old Phillip Weeks and 29-year-old Lonnie Meckwood of eastern Pennsylvania. On Monday, Phillip and Lonnie robbed a Quickway convenience store and gas station in Kirkwood, New York.

But as the guys were making their getaway, their car RAN OUT OF GAS . . . and they were left stranded just a mile down the road. A little later, police caught up with these boneheads and arrested them. (--And that's why you, Phillip Weeks and Lonnie Meckwood of eastern Pennsylvania, are our Meatball Criminals of the Day!) (WMAR News 2 - Baltimore)