Just as Katrina's receding waters revealed acres of ruined houses, flooded cars and pockets of bodies, the post-storm cleanup also raised the curtain on a trail of mass looting that left even the most jaded New Orleans police officers awestruck. As search and rescue crews staged house-to-house searches for survivors during the past two weeks, they repeatedly stumbled upon stacks of merchandise -- from large appliances still in the box to knotted tangles of hastily pilfered jewelry. Much of the loot is being recovered from the drier areas of Uptown and Central City in the 6th Police District. "At first,...