From the M.U.S.C.L.E. Enlightenment Faction

Part one in a series of articles focusing on the truth behind
 The M.U.S.C.L.E. Preservation Society

Late in 1996 Darrin's M.U.S.C.L.E. page evolved into The M.U.S.C.L.E. Preservation Society.  The M.P.S. gained an incredibly large following and boasted of fans in just about every country worldwide.  Throughout the years the design and graphics of The M.P.S. were nothing short of sub par, but the content was so detailed and unique, no one in the hobby ever really put the site under a microscope. 

Mr. Vindiola was loving his fifteen minutes of fame, and his legion of fans and later on "members" of his organization were incredibly dedicated to himand his gang of collectors. Much to Vindiola's surprise however, many other collectors started following suit. Furthermore, many of these new sites popping up all over the web, were making claims of being the best, or most original sites on the web.  These sites were of particular interest to Vindiola.

Over the next few years, scattered claims of electronic sabotage and intimidation began surfacing from M.U.S.C.L.E. Collectors who were not members of The M.P.S.  As time went on, further reports came to light of corruption, intimidation, and lawlessness within the organization.

A former M.P.S. member who claimed to live somewhere in Florida and wishes to remain anonymous, told us the following in an exclusive phone interview which I personally conducted.

M.E.F:  We know Mr. Vindiola was the president of The M.P.S.  What kind of leader was he?

Ex-MPS Member: Ha! Sorry.. president sounds kind of funny.  We all called him the "Boss" or "Don".  Don Vindiola was truly respected by all in the hobby.  While he opened membership to all who would pay their yearly dues, it was obvious to all, that he had an inner circle which closely surrounded him.

M.E.F:  You spoke of "Dues" do you mean like union dues?

Ex-MPS Member:  Sort of. We would pay a yearly due to be a member of his organization and in return he would offer protection under the umbrella of The M.P.S., or  "The Family" as we called it.

M.E.F:  Protection? Surely you're joking.  This was a toy collecting club, what could a little toy collecting club based in Colorado protect you from?

Ex-MPS member:  Don't fool yourself pal!  The MPS had people everywhere.  Two days after I joined  The M.P.S. online, someone came knocking on my door at eleven o' clock at night. It was one of Don Vindiola's enforcers. This cat was wearing a muscle shirt and had huge guns!

M.E.F:  He brought firearms to your house?

Ex-MPS Member: Don't be stupid!  I was talking about his biceps. This cat demanded my dues and in return he handed me my membership package.

M.E.F:  What exactly was in this membership packet?

Ex-MPS Member:  I really don't feel comfortable talking about that.

M.E.F:  Can you give us any names of those in the inner circle or Don Vindiola's enforcer that visited you?

Ex-MPS Member:  Sorry pal, this is where we part ways.  I'm done with this interview!

Our informant abruptly hung up cutting the interview short.  A quick phone trace showed he was calling from a pay phone in Racine Wisconsin and not Tallahassee Florida as he led the M.E.F. staff to believe. What was this ex-MPS member scared of?  What did he have to gain for withholding negative information about The M.P.S. and it's founder?

It's through The Allied Internet News source web-site that The M.E.F. uploads our articles from random internet cafe's.  We do this from fear of retaliation from Don Vindiola and those who are still members of what we like to call his Internet crime family.

In the weeks to come, The M.U.S.C.L.E. Enlightenment Faction will expose lies, corruption, and deceit within an organization that in our opinion proved to be nothing more than a front for something much much bigger.  In our next article we will discuss The M.P.S. inner circle and intimidation tactics directed towards other M.U.S.C.L.E. organizations and collectors.