DIVORCE BAD BOY STYLE

  John "Bad Boy" Boom had other unorthodox talents that came in handy in the Immokalee ghetto. Ray Barnett remembers one of them. As he tells it:

 After I'd left the NPD and joined the CCSO, I witnessed Bad Boy performing one of his famous divorces. He split the possessions--better then any court--and told the male partner what he had to pay in child support, and when he could visit. 

  I was told that at times he would make them swear on his badge.  The divorces were handled faster and better than the courts. And because they were a Bad Boy edict, no one with half a brain would violate them. Incidentally, there was no fee for the legal or medical services. This worked well, too, since his clients were usually short on the long green stuff. 

 We used a similar system in McDonald's Quarters in the City. When it became obvious that a couple needed to be separated before they separated each other via murder or mayhem, we'd divorce them.

 The ceremony involved having them jump backwards over a broom on the floor. This voided a marriage that had been made by jumping forward over a broom, one of the "old ways" of doing it.

 Then the cop, with fitting solemnity, would place his hand over his badge and recite, "By the power vested in me by the State of Florida, I pronounce you divorced." A return visit was seldom necessary.
 A strange way to do business? It wasn't for all, but for those who believed in mojos, black cat bones, and possum pecker good luck charms it worked just grand.