Member-only story
Millionaire Tricked And Murdered By Friend-Turned-Business-Rival
Alan Mackarley was only 17 when he became fast friends with Frank Black Jr.
Netflix is rife with steamy plots of business rivals murdering their competitors. Real-life, sometimes, tends to be just as dramatic. This is one of the instances where that was the case to Frank Black Jr. in February 1996, who owned a bustling bus empire in New Jersey.
Accidentally Inherits Family Bus Business
The story begins in Sussex County, New Jersey, with a coincidence of Frank Black Jr., an only child, agreeing to run his family’s fledgling school bus business in 1958. His father had just passed away, and there was no one else to take the responsibility.
The young Frank soon befriended one of the high school passengers of the bus, Alan Mackarley. Frank found a fast friend in the 17-year-old Alan, utterly unaware that this relationship would one day lead to his brutal murder. Greed really can make a friend not only into a stranger but also an enemy.
Lila Soderlund, Alan’s sister, recalled the friendship, saying:
“They became friends, and that’s how Alan got his interest in school buses.”