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Friday, June 23, 2023

Convicted For Cash: An American Grand Scam

 The following article can be found here.

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Frank X. Panico and Xs in the Sky Films present “Convicted for Cash: An American Grand Scam,” a film about a Catholic priest falsely accused and imprisoned for life.

June 21, 2023 by Frank X. Panico and X

in the Sky Films

Editor’s Note: This is our first “video post” at Beyond These Stone Walls. This 44-minute documentary film was created by Frank X. Panico, an award-winning short filmmaker whose work has been featured on EWTN, NewsMax, Salem Now and multiple other venues. Here is Frank X. Panico:

Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but expose them.”

— Ephesians 5:11

I created this short documentary film because I believe that railroading, convicting and imprisoning a Catholic priest through lies and deceitful tactics is an unfruitful work of darkness. The railroaded Catholic priest I refer to is Father Gordon MacRae. This documentary film is entitled “Convicted for Cash: An American Grand Scam.” It exposes the plight of a man of God wrongfully imprisoned.

When I learned of this true story, it drew me in. I have known Fr Gordon MacRae for less than a year, but after researching this story I feel that I have known him forever. I have studied every detail, and I have never personally vetted a subject of my films so extensively. There were many credible sources before me: The Wall Street Journal, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, The Media Report, The Catholic World Report, all bravely taking up the case of this wrongfully imprisoned priest against an avaricious tide of Catholic scandal and media coverage.

During production of this film, I often felt as though unseen spiritual warfare was in play. The evil one and his minions would have liked nothing more than for me to abandon this cause. I rejected such thoughts and came to know the truth. Father MacRae is an innocent man and the victim of a sham trial. I felt called to help someone who was absolutely falsely accused through a rogue communist-like legal system.

Don’t get me wrong. This is not the only reason I produced this film. I also found its subject matter to be intriguing and marketable. Not long after Tucker Carlson aired footage from the January 6th affair, an innocent prisoner caught in its net was released from prison just days later. I pray for the same result that this innocent man might be freed.

I am immensely pleased with the documentary, Convicted for Cash.” Salem Now has picked it up so obviously they were pleased with it as well. As a daily communicant, I continue to pray at Mass for the well being and release of Fr. Gordon MacRae, a brother in Christ. Please view and then share Convicted for Cash by clicking on the link or the image below.

Who Is Frank X. Panico?

A native of Queens, New York, Frank X. Panico moved to Hollywood at age 24 to pursue a film industry career where he studied under the tutelage of Michael C. Conley, of the California Scholastic Press. Skilled in the art of Feature Film Screenplay Writing, Frank earned a position as Assistant to Gary Roberts, Executive Vice President of 20th Century Fox Films Legal Group. In 2005, Frank relocated to Florida where he founded his own production company, Xs is the Sky Films. Frank Panico’s films have been featured or distributed by EWTN, Pureflix, Right Side Broadcasting Network, Christian Cinema, Amazon Plus, Amazon Prime, Salem Now, Epoch TV, and the One America News Network.

Frank’s first film, Lambs Among Wolves, received a nomination at the Treasure Coast International Film Festival. His second, A Different Kind of Church, earned distribution on Amazon Prime and Christian Cinema. In 2017, Frank Panico’s powerful biopic, My Friend Raymond, was nominated for two awards including “Most inspirational Documentary” for which it won the category at the International Christian Film Festival. It also won awards for “Best Local Film” and “Most Inspirational Film” at the Fort Myers Film Festival and “Outstanding Faith-based Film” at the FAM Film Festival and the Cherub Film Festival.

In 2020, Frank completed work on Leaders for Life featuring interviews with movie legends Kevin and Sam Sorbo, Executive Producers of the film. In 2021, Kevin and Sam produced Frank’s groundbreaking film, Systematic Deception, aired by NewsMax and One America News. Currently, Frank Panico is promoting his Feature Film Screenplays, Stoneflower and Jaws of Justice, and three more recent documentaries, Unabashed, Crushed by the Woman, and Trans Wreck. We thank Frank Panico for his work on Convicted for Cash.

NOTE — NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE: In 2022, after Father MacRae had served 29 years in prison, compelling exculpatory evidenced surfaced. It turns out that former Keene, NH sex-crimes Detective James F. McLaughlin was censured for “falsification of records” in another case four years before MacRae went to trial. Previous Supreme Court rulings required that this be revealed to defendant MacRae and his legal counsel before trial. Instead, it was kept hidden. Since then, a Court has secretly sealed McLaughlin’s police file from further discovery. Nonetheless, news reports in New Hampshire reveal that the detective had a long history of police misconduct including allegations of falsifying evidence, threatening witnesses, tampering with tape recordings, selective investigation, and lying under oath. He briefly appeared on a list of dishonest police that is now also under judicial seal in New Hampshire.

2 comments:

  1. It has been awhile since I published an article from Father Gordon’s blog. I published this one in my own blog to serve as a reminder that there are innocent priests who have been falsely accused of child sexual abuse. In Guam, we had almost 300 allegations of child sexual abuse. Most of these allegations were against dead priests who cannot defend themselves. Even Father George Maddock was accused of child sexual abuse. This was a priest who was praised by many youth. His accuser, however, did not come out until after he died. Therefore, we really do not know how many were REAL victims because there were no investigations and the dead could not testify.

    The bankruptcy cases has come to an end, and the Archdiocese is simply in the process of transferring its assets over to the alleged victims through their court appointed trustees. The loss of these assets and properties was because of a law that was introduced by CCOG and the JungleWatch Nation. Part of the responsibility also lies with our lawmakers and Governor at that time who passed the bill into law.

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  2. Thank you for sharing this article Diana. Small films like that one deserve much more attention.

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