influence for mark was father jim flavin. the street punk and the parish priest struck up an unlikely friendship. father flavin saw a glimmer of wahlberg's future one day during one of mark's many appearances in court before a judge. >> flavin: he was just pouring it onto the judge-- you know, "i'll never do it again." you know, "i'm sorry," and he was wonderful. you know, he started tearing up, and the judge just melted and said, "all right," you know, "this'll be it." and he turned around and started out, and he looked at me and winked. and i said, "you little bugger." that was an academy award performance in the courtroom. >> logan: father flavin says that he could barely see you over the steering wheel when you were driving around, waving at him from stolen cars. >> wahlberg: that is true. i just liked to drive. >> logan: a lot of people like to drive cars, but they don't necessarily steal them to drive them. >> wahlberg: well, that was not a good idea. >> logan: but on an april night in 1988, mark's crimes turned more ser