From the penthouse to the outhouse — that describes the plummeting trajectory of Mass. State Police Capt. Thomas McCarthy’s revenue over the past yr.
A yr in the past, the crapulous captain was being topped The World’s Highest Paid State Trooper for a second consecutive yr.
Now the Scourge of Saugus plunges from primary with a bullet (a silver bullet, also referred to as a Coors Gentle) all the way in which all the way down to Quantity 79 on the MSP’s Payroll Patriot Hit Parade.
However he nonetheless made $276,134.10, as a result of there aren’t any recessions for hacks, no less than not in the event that they’re made males within the MSP Crime Household.
It doesn’t matter how dreadfully a state cop behaves, he all the time turns into a millionaire, many instances over.
Until his title is Michael Proctor.
So McCarthy continues to be doing very effectively certainly for a man who was as soon as chased down Route 1 in Saugus by a posse of native police, lastly cornered in a mall car parking zone and charged with drunk driving.
After all he by no means needed to take a Breathalyzer, and some days later he did get to blow off his preliminary courtroom look with no penalties in any way.
Skilled courtesy.
Of all of the latest poster boys for appalling misbehavior by the State Police, Michael Proctor would after all rank primary. However I might price Detective Capt. Thomas McCarthy as the highest runner-up, no less than till his tumble off the MSP gravy prepare final yr.
In 2024, McCarthy pocketed a breath-taking $584,072, together with $349,815.27 in time beyond regulation. Altogether in 2023-24, he pocketed $1.085 million.
However final yr, his OT dropped to a mere $11,478.32.
It’s virtually as if any person excessive up in GHQ lastly realized what a nasty look it was to have somebody just like the Scourge of Saugus as their high earner.
Plenty of the standard suspects, so to talk, stay on the 2025 MSP high earners’ listing. Checking in at quantity 5 is Det. Lt. William Cederquist, with $372,231.63. However even he’s on the downhill slide these days, from $439,000 in 2023 to $407,100 in 2024.
You’re most likely extra aware of his thieving MSP brother, ex-Sgt. Gary Cederquist. He was the longtime road boss of the MSP Crime Household’s CDL crew, which operated out of Stoughton, subsequent door to Canton.
William Cederquist is just not related to his brother’s rackets. Neither is a 3rd Cederquist who’s been amassing a $50,655-a-year tax-free state pension since June 2001 — Deborah. In different phrases, greater than $1.25 million, already. See what I imply about how they’re all millionaires, each final considered one of them.
Gary Cederquist, age 60, was sentenced to 6 years in federal jail in October for stealing a scorching range with out gloves after which coming again for the smoke. He already has a Bureau of Prisons quantity — 96873-510 — however is just not but in custody, in keeping with the BOP web site.
Neither is his 65-year-old capo within the Stoughton heist crew, Calvin Butner. His BOP quantity is 12387-506, however he too stays at giant as of yesterday.
Regardless of their felony convictions and impending incarcerations, each former Met police profession criminals proceed to gather their month-to-month kisses within the mail — $8,850 a month for Cederquist and $6,020 for Butner.
Each New Yr, we get a refresher lesson in simply how a lot these con males are flim-flamming from the taxpayers. We’ll get to ZooMass sooner or later, however immediately it’s the Staties’ flip.
Right here’s one strategy to think about simply how a lot the troopers are making. The two hundredth greatest paid trooper final yr was Sgt. Jonathan Nickles. He pocketed $242,210.07.
And behind these astonishing salaries comes the pension — even generally when you’re convicted and sentenced to a federal stretch, wink wink nudge nudge.
None of this can shock anybody who’s ever pushed previous the MSP headquarters on Route 9 in Framingham. The car parking zone seems like a brand new luxurious automobile dealership.
Regardless of his steep falloff in OT final yr, Detective Capt. Thomas McCarthy has executed very effectively certainly contemplating his sorry file. When he was lugged in Saugus in 2011, reeking of low-cost home lager, he was first informed to show off the engine in his unmarked MSP Crown Vic.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” the captain slurred. “I’m outta right here!”
And that’s when he sped off down Route 1, pursued by three native cop autos. When he lastly staggered out of his cruiser, he was informed he was below arrest.
“Are you kidding me?” the captain repeated.
Contained in the MSP automobile, the Saugus cops found an empty Miller Excessive Life, the Champagne of Bottled Beers, two full Millers, and a gun. Michael Proctor and Kevin Albert couldn’t be reached for remark.
He was not given a Breathalyzer as a result of… skilled courtesy. After blowing off his first courtroom look, a hack decide finally gave McCarthy the normal CWOF — continued and not using a discovering.
It’s not like that was his first brush with a nasty ice dice. In 2000, a motorist complained to Inside Affairs {that a} throughout site visitors cease she’d smelled alcohol on McCarthy’s breath. The MSP dominated the allegation was “false.”
In line with a Channel 25 report in 2014, in 2002 he “crashed into one other motorist at 4 a.m. in Studying…”
Witnesses mentioned McCarthy gave the impression to be throwing beer cans out his window as he fled. Channel 25 reported his title didn’t even seem within the Studying police incident report, regardless that each the driving force he hit and the passenger within the sufferer’s automobile needed to be taken to the hospital.
In 2005, after one other disciplinary situation, McCarthy “forfeited 30 days.”
Try his payroll chart from the comptroller’s workplace. In 2012, after all of the above, McCarthy lastly drew a yr’s suspension and was busted again to trooper. No phrase on whether or not he was inducted into the MSP Alcohol of Fame.
However neither disgrace nor accountability exist to any nice diploma within the MSP. All people’s too busy working their very own scams. Quickly McCarthy was taking the promotional exams once more and was again within the gravy, breaking the half-million-dollar mark twice.
To Shield and Serve. Or ought to I say, To Shield and Overserve. It’s the MSP Approach.
Order Howie’s new guide, “Mass Corruption: Vol. 1, The Cops,” at amazon.com or howiecarrshow.com/retailer.

