Boston Blotter: Machetes, New Fashion Trend?

--Machetes are definitely hot in East Boston. The BPD saw a guy just a-walking around at night with a two-foot-long machete "protruding from his waist area." Could he have been using it to accessorize his belt? Luckily, they arrested him before he got to use it on anyone. We imagine no one wanted to bother him except for a few brave police officers.

--A cold case is warming up in New Bedford. Nine women were killed in the 1980s, and the case was closed, but a district attorney has investigators digging up the driveway and patio belonging to a former home of a suspect. Between 1988 and 1989, the remains of nine women were found along highways, and the new district attorney wants to find out exactly what happened.

WBZ has video from the time in which the bodies were discovered, and it emerges that some relatives thought the deaths weren't investigated because the murdered women had checkered pasts.

In the midst of the arrest of a BPD officer for extortion and cocaine conspiracy, we almost forgot to mention the news that 17 people were indicted Wednesday for gang-related activity in Lynn. Sixteen people were arrested, while one is still on the loose. These people are allegedly involved with a long list of dirty deeds: "11 shootings in just two weeks in January, four shootings in February, and a homicide two years ago."

These alleged members of the Deuce Boyz and Soldiers gangs had a lot of toys with them at the time of their arrest: "$38,000 in cash, crack cocaine, a sawed-off shotgun, a rifle and a Tec-9."

--The kids aren't getting the message that you're not supposed to bring guns to school. Two middle-schoolers from Brighton were arrested yesterday for flashing a gun on a bus on Tuesday. The arrest scene must have been something. When the police arrived to arrest the teenagers (they are 14 and 15 – way too old for middle school) in the basement, one of them fought back, and the other got busted with pot. Charming.

--Ed Davis is instituting a "three strikes and you're out" law for police officers if they mess up. If the charges against Jose Ortiz are true, then it seems the old law was "six times and you're out." Seriously – he was suspended six times and was still able to keep his job. And that involves only the violations the police knew about.

All charges alleged unless proven under law.