A new book has been released, Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination was written by Lamar Waldron. In the book it proposes that Mafia Mobster Boss, Carlos Marcello from New Orleans had JFK killed.
This is not a new theory, but the book cites a testimony from Marcello where he said “Yeah, I had the son of a bitch killed. I’m glad I did. I’m sorry I couldn’t have done it myself.” It seems that Marcello does not care who knows that he orchestrated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The former mobster boss also claims that he knew Jack Ruby, and he had him kill Lee Harvey Oswald. The new book which has 848 pages also looks at the links between Marcello and the murders of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
How to Build Your Own Organized Crime Family
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Paramount Digital Entertainment announced that The Godfather® II videogame will be shipping on February 24th in North America and on February 27th in Europe. The Godfather II allows players to both act like a mobster and think like a Don, by immersing them in a 1960’s organized crime world. As a Don, players can build a crew and grow their family in an effort to become the most powerful mob syndicate in America. Players will be able to choose how and when to use their Made men, either by commanding them directly in battle as part of their crew, or by sending them to do a job in another part of the world – bombing rival family rackets, attacking their businesses, or defending your own.
Players who pre-order The Godfather II at participating retailers worldwide will receive an exclusive crew member, named Tommy Cipolla, to hire into their family. While the other soldiers at the start of the game come equipped with one specialty and level-one firearms, Tommy will be the only crew member to possess two specialties – arsonist and medic – as well as carry a level-two double-barreled shotgun. With Tommy in your family, players will have a strategic advantage in the game, using his advanced skills either directly in battle, or sending him to take over and defend rackets on his own.
The Godfather II takes the open-world genre in an entirely new direction. Part of the fascination with The Godfather fiction is the feeling of power that comes with being the Don of an organized crime family – and The Godfather II game puts the control in your hands. While at its heart The Godfather II remains an action game, it also features deep new strategic gameplay mechanics never before seen in an open-world game. The strategic elements to the game allow you to extend the fantasy of building and running your own organized crime family. This means that you have to build and invest in your family, manage your businesses, and reach out to corrupt officials – all of which is done through the revolutionary Don’s View. The Don’s View is a 3D representation of your criminal empire in all three cities; it allows you to coordinate your strategy, plan hits on rival Made men, attack enemy rackets, and much more. The Godfather II delivers the ultimate organized crime experience by allowing you to call the shots.
Developed at the EA Redwood Stores studio, The Godfather II will be coming to the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PC. The Godfather II has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ for PEGI.
Players who pre-order The Godfather II at participating retailers worldwide will receive an exclusive crew member, named Tommy Cipolla, to hire into their family. While the other soldiers at the start of the game come equipped with one specialty and level-one firearms, Tommy will be the only crew member to possess two specialties – arsonist and medic – as well as carry a level-two double-barreled shotgun. With Tommy in your family, players will have a strategic advantage in the game, using his advanced skills either directly in battle, or sending him to take over and defend rackets on his own.
The Godfather II takes the open-world genre in an entirely new direction. Part of the fascination with The Godfather fiction is the feeling of power that comes with being the Don of an organized crime family – and The Godfather II game puts the control in your hands. While at its heart The Godfather II remains an action game, it also features deep new strategic gameplay mechanics never before seen in an open-world game. The strategic elements to the game allow you to extend the fantasy of building and running your own organized crime family. This means that you have to build and invest in your family, manage your businesses, and reach out to corrupt officials – all of which is done through the revolutionary Don’s View. The Don’s View is a 3D representation of your criminal empire in all three cities; it allows you to coordinate your strategy, plan hits on rival Made men, attack enemy rackets, and much more. The Godfather II delivers the ultimate organized crime experience by allowing you to call the shots.
Developed at the EA Redwood Stores studio, The Godfather II will be coming to the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PC. The Godfather II has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ for PEGI.
Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse
Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse was once actually one of the 10,000 speakeasies in the Chicago area controlled by Capone. Built in 1917 as Reitmayer's Resort and Beer Garden, the establishment catered to tourists and well-to-do residents who built summer homes along the shore of the Fox River in the Valley View area north of St. Charles.
With the passage of Prohibition, the Reitmayers entered a wild and daring time, manufacturing their own liquor and catering to some shadowy figures. In case of a raid, secret copper lines carried the illicit booze into a hidden storage area in the hen house.
In 1972, Bill Brooks Jr., a computer salesman visiting the area, noticed the rundown old beer garden and restaurant and bought it. Preserving the pine plank floors and walls, Brooks decorated his restaurant with memorabilia from the Prohibition Era. If you like history, allow a little time on your visit for reading newspaper stories of mob hits, receipts and letters from Capone's business, and looking at photographs of the Chicago Outfit.
Bill Brooks III, 32, who was born and raised upstairs of the restaurant, said Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse ages and trims all its steaks in-house. Two charcoal grill chefs, Brooks' uncle Mike Mosher and Ray Heaberlin, have worked the grill for 35 and 32 years respectively. Every week, the duo serve about 1,200 customers and use 1,400 pounds of charcoal. The menu is loaded with steaks, seafood, bullet holes, pictures of Capone and his cronies and, naturally, Eliot Ness.
Capone's business, of course, was illegal liquor. He once said, "When I sell liquor, they call it bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, they call it hospitality."
Legal liquor has become an important part of the Brooks' Alphonse Capone Enterprises. The Brooks family wholesales Roaring 20's Wine, Microbrews and Spirits. A vodka called Tommy Gun Vodka is sold in a glass bottle shaped like a 20's era Tommy Gun, complete with a barrel and two handles. Their vodkas are distilled in Poland. One, named Kul, Polish for cool, scored 91 of a possible 100 points in recent taste testings conducted by the Beverage Testing Institute. Kul, which retails for $10.95, was awarded a Gold Medal and Best Buy. "Kul got a higher rating than many $30 vodkas," said Brooks.
"The restaurant will always stay a part of our lives," said Brooks. "It's the base foundation for everything else, even though the liquor business can do in a month what the restaurant does in a year."
With the passage of Prohibition, the Reitmayers entered a wild and daring time, manufacturing their own liquor and catering to some shadowy figures. In case of a raid, secret copper lines carried the illicit booze into a hidden storage area in the hen house.
In 1972, Bill Brooks Jr., a computer salesman visiting the area, noticed the rundown old beer garden and restaurant and bought it. Preserving the pine plank floors and walls, Brooks decorated his restaurant with memorabilia from the Prohibition Era. If you like history, allow a little time on your visit for reading newspaper stories of mob hits, receipts and letters from Capone's business, and looking at photographs of the Chicago Outfit.
Bill Brooks III, 32, who was born and raised upstairs of the restaurant, said Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse ages and trims all its steaks in-house. Two charcoal grill chefs, Brooks' uncle Mike Mosher and Ray Heaberlin, have worked the grill for 35 and 32 years respectively. Every week, the duo serve about 1,200 customers and use 1,400 pounds of charcoal. The menu is loaded with steaks, seafood, bullet holes, pictures of Capone and his cronies and, naturally, Eliot Ness.
Capone's business, of course, was illegal liquor. He once said, "When I sell liquor, they call it bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, they call it hospitality."
Legal liquor has become an important part of the Brooks' Alphonse Capone Enterprises. The Brooks family wholesales Roaring 20's Wine, Microbrews and Spirits. A vodka called Tommy Gun Vodka is sold in a glass bottle shaped like a 20's era Tommy Gun, complete with a barrel and two handles. Their vodkas are distilled in Poland. One, named Kul, Polish for cool, scored 91 of a possible 100 points in recent taste testings conducted by the Beverage Testing Institute. Kul, which retails for $10.95, was awarded a Gold Medal and Best Buy. "Kul got a higher rating than many $30 vodkas," said Brooks.
"The restaurant will always stay a part of our lives," said Brooks. "It's the base foundation for everything else, even though the liquor business can do in a month what the restaurant does in a year."
Friday, January 09, 2009
Will Mob Museum Get Funding from the Federal Stimulus Package?
The mob museum just can’t seem to get any love in this town.
Republican Sen. John Ensign on Wednesday became the latest Nevada lawmaker to say there’s no way Las Vegas’ proposed Mob Museum is going to get a dime from the federal economic stimulus package.
“It’s not going to happen — there’s no way it’s going to happen,” Ensign said. “If folks tried to put things like that in the bill, it could bring down the bill out of embarrassment.”
The mob museum could have become Nevada’s own “bridge to nowhere,” a toxic asset depicted by Republicans in Washington as a prime example of potentially wasteful government spending in the recovery package.
Except that the idea never gained much ground here. It arose only because Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, himself a former mob lawyer, suggested last month that if Washington wanted to boost the economy, it could kick in some bucks for the museum he is trying to develop.
Republicans saw Goodman’s comment as a chance for political fungo. They raised the idea in Washington so they could swat at it. Political Web sites picked it up and it became a sensation.
To be sure, cities all over the country have been putting together wish lists of projects that could create jobs and boost their economies. In Las Vegas, the hometown industry could benefit from the tourist traffic of a new museum — which is being developed, incidentally, with the FBI field office’s former special agent in charge.
Nevada’s lawmakers aren’t necessarily opposed to the museum — remodeling of an old post office where it is to be housed has been supported with federal funding in the past. But Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, has made it clear there will be no pet projects, often called earmarks, in the stimulus package.
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus said funding the mob museum would not be her top choice for stimulating the Southern Nevada economy.
On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley added her thoughts, saying in a statement: “While I am not opposed to the concept of a museum like this, I do not and will not support federal tax dollars being allocated in this stimulus package specifically for this project.”
No walk-around money for the wise guys, it seems, at least not this time around.
Thanks to Lisa Mascaro
Republican Sen. John Ensign on Wednesday became the latest Nevada lawmaker to say there’s no way Las Vegas’ proposed Mob Museum is going to get a dime from the federal economic stimulus package.
“It’s not going to happen — there’s no way it’s going to happen,” Ensign said. “If folks tried to put things like that in the bill, it could bring down the bill out of embarrassment.”
The mob museum could have become Nevada’s own “bridge to nowhere,” a toxic asset depicted by Republicans in Washington as a prime example of potentially wasteful government spending in the recovery package.
Except that the idea never gained much ground here. It arose only because Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, himself a former mob lawyer, suggested last month that if Washington wanted to boost the economy, it could kick in some bucks for the museum he is trying to develop.
Republicans saw Goodman’s comment as a chance for political fungo. They raised the idea in Washington so they could swat at it. Political Web sites picked it up and it became a sensation.
To be sure, cities all over the country have been putting together wish lists of projects that could create jobs and boost their economies. In Las Vegas, the hometown industry could benefit from the tourist traffic of a new museum — which is being developed, incidentally, with the FBI field office’s former special agent in charge.
Nevada’s lawmakers aren’t necessarily opposed to the museum — remodeling of an old post office where it is to be housed has been supported with federal funding in the past. But Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, has made it clear there will be no pet projects, often called earmarks, in the stimulus package.
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus said funding the mob museum would not be her top choice for stimulating the Southern Nevada economy.
On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley added her thoughts, saying in a statement: “While I am not opposed to the concept of a museum like this, I do not and will not support federal tax dollars being allocated in this stimulus package specifically for this project.”
No walk-around money for the wise guys, it seems, at least not this time around.
Thanks to Lisa Mascaro
Thursday, January 08, 2009
The Chicago Crime Commission is Fighting to Survive
There is turmoil at the top of the Chicago Crime Commission, the nation's oldest organization of citizen crime fighters.
After leading the fight against a Rosemont casino and a high-level role in the Operation Family Secrets mob trial, the Chicago Crime Commission last week closed its doors and moved out of its long time headquarters in the Loop. A spokesperson says they are waiting for new office space to open. But the recently departed president says the commission was out of money late last year and couldn't make payroll.
"We simply were out of money at the time that I decided I had to resign," said James Wagner, Former crime commission president.
Decorated former FBI agent Jim Wagner left the crime commission last October without public explanation. Now, he tells the I-Team they were teetering on collapse. "I believed it was when I resigned, I was not at all confident that they would be able to continue," said Wagner.
It was thriving 90 years ago, along with the mob. The crime commission received its charter and was run by civic and business leaders. Prohibition triggered a gangland war, led by notorious hoodlum Al Capone. The crime commission began a decades-long fight against the outfit and the public corruption that fuels it.
"To come to its demise is very sad for me," said Robert Fuesel, former crime commissioner.
Former IRS investigator Bob Fuesel ran the commission 15 years ago. He says he accepted a $930,000 donation from the estate of a late board member. "That money is now all gone. People came in and started with high salaries and hired people that weren't needed," said Fuesel.
By last fall, the organization was in dire shape. "We didn't have what you would call a staff," said Wagner.
The latest public filings show the commission spends more than it brings in.
After Wagner, business magnate J.R. Davis took over what's left as chairman, board member and president. "He has no law enforcement experience and he is holding three positions, being a one man office...It's just a sham operation, there is nothing going on over there," said Wagner.
In an email, Davis cited the commission's "very formidable financial position" but said it's not "in the best interest of law enforcement to outline specific financial details of the commission."
"My concern is that all power is vested in one individual and I'm not sure that's a healthy situation for any independent not for profit to operate in that fashion," said Wagner.
State records reveal that a former crime commission employee is under investigation for alleged theft of funds.
The case was referred to the FBI and on Wednesday a bureau official says the matter is pending.
Despite the turmoil, a crime commission spokesperson contends they are not out of business and promises new innovative programs that address gang violence and public corruption as well as new members of their leadership team.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
After leading the fight against a Rosemont casino and a high-level role in the Operation Family Secrets mob trial, the Chicago Crime Commission last week closed its doors and moved out of its long time headquarters in the Loop. A spokesperson says they are waiting for new office space to open. But the recently departed president says the commission was out of money late last year and couldn't make payroll.
"We simply were out of money at the time that I decided I had to resign," said James Wagner, Former crime commission president.
Decorated former FBI agent Jim Wagner left the crime commission last October without public explanation. Now, he tells the I-Team they were teetering on collapse. "I believed it was when I resigned, I was not at all confident that they would be able to continue," said Wagner.
It was thriving 90 years ago, along with the mob. The crime commission received its charter and was run by civic and business leaders. Prohibition triggered a gangland war, led by notorious hoodlum Al Capone. The crime commission began a decades-long fight against the outfit and the public corruption that fuels it.
"To come to its demise is very sad for me," said Robert Fuesel, former crime commissioner.
Former IRS investigator Bob Fuesel ran the commission 15 years ago. He says he accepted a $930,000 donation from the estate of a late board member. "That money is now all gone. People came in and started with high salaries and hired people that weren't needed," said Fuesel.
By last fall, the organization was in dire shape. "We didn't have what you would call a staff," said Wagner.
The latest public filings show the commission spends more than it brings in.
After Wagner, business magnate J.R. Davis took over what's left as chairman, board member and president. "He has no law enforcement experience and he is holding three positions, being a one man office...It's just a sham operation, there is nothing going on over there," said Wagner.
In an email, Davis cited the commission's "very formidable financial position" but said it's not "in the best interest of law enforcement to outline specific financial details of the commission."
"My concern is that all power is vested in one individual and I'm not sure that's a healthy situation for any independent not for profit to operate in that fashion," said Wagner.
State records reveal that a former crime commission employee is under investigation for alleged theft of funds.
The case was referred to the FBI and on Wednesday a bureau official says the matter is pending.
Despite the turmoil, a crime commission spokesperson contends they are not out of business and promises new innovative programs that address gang violence and public corruption as well as new members of their leadership team.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
John Favara, Former Neighbor of John Gotti, Murdered and Dumped into Acid According to Federal Informant
The corpse of John Gotti's Howard Beach neighbor - murdered after he accidentally killed the gangster's 12-year-old son in a traffic accident - was dissolved in a barrel of acid, an informant says.
John Favara's grisly fate is disclosed in court papers filed Tuesday in the upcoming racketeering trial of reputed Gambino soldier Charles (Charlie Canig) Carneglia.
He has long been suspected of getting rid of Favara's body after the father of two was shot in March 1980 on orders of the late Gambino crime boss. Favara's body has never been found.
Carneglia told a Gambino family associate, who is a government witness, that he disposed of the body by putting it in a barrel of acid, Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roger Burlingame said.
The associate is not identified in the court papers, but sources told the Daily News it is Kevin McMahon, a mob wanna-be close to Carneglia.
Young Frankie Gotti was riding McMahon's minibike when the mob scion was fatally struck on 86th St. by Favara, who was briefly blinded by the setting sun as he drove home from work.
Prosecutors say Carneglia "protected" McMahon from retaliation by the Dapper Don for lending his son the minibike and - in a bizarre twist - McMahon is the one ratting him out.
No one could save Favara. He found the word Murderer scrawled on his auto and was attacked with a bat by Gotti's wife, Victoria, but failed to heed repeated warnings to move out of the area, sources said.
Several weeks after the tragic accident, Favara was abducted outside the Castro Convertible warehouse where he worked in New Hyde Park, L.I.. Cops identified his killers as Gambino members John Carneglia, Charles' brother, Gene Gotti, Wilfred (Willie Boy) Johnson, Anthony Rampino and Richard (Redbird) Gomes.
Favara was forced into a van, sources said, and shot in the legs. He was taken to another location in Brooklyn where he was killed and stuffed into a 55-gallon drum, sources said.
"In a later discussion concerning his expertise at disposing of bodies for the Gambino family, which included a discussion of a book (Charles Carneglia) was reading on dismemberment, (Carneglia) informed another Gambino family associate that acid was the best method to use to avoid detection," Burlingame wrote.
Carneglia, 62, who is charged with five murders, including the fatal shooting of a hero court officer scheduled to testify against him, asked McMahon to help him move barrels of acid stored in his basement.
Former Bonanno crime boss Joseph Massino told the feds he thought Favara's remains were buried in a mob graveyard on the Brooklyn-Queens border. The feds believe the barrel was tossed into the ocean, sources said.
Thanks to John Marzulli
John Favara's grisly fate is disclosed in court papers filed Tuesday in the upcoming racketeering trial of reputed Gambino soldier Charles (Charlie Canig) Carneglia.
He has long been suspected of getting rid of Favara's body after the father of two was shot in March 1980 on orders of the late Gambino crime boss. Favara's body has never been found.
Carneglia told a Gambino family associate, who is a government witness, that he disposed of the body by putting it in a barrel of acid, Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roger Burlingame said.
The associate is not identified in the court papers, but sources told the Daily News it is Kevin McMahon, a mob wanna-be close to Carneglia.
Young Frankie Gotti was riding McMahon's minibike when the mob scion was fatally struck on 86th St. by Favara, who was briefly blinded by the setting sun as he drove home from work.
Prosecutors say Carneglia "protected" McMahon from retaliation by the Dapper Don for lending his son the minibike and - in a bizarre twist - McMahon is the one ratting him out.
No one could save Favara. He found the word Murderer scrawled on his auto and was attacked with a bat by Gotti's wife, Victoria, but failed to heed repeated warnings to move out of the area, sources said.
Several weeks after the tragic accident, Favara was abducted outside the Castro Convertible warehouse where he worked in New Hyde Park, L.I.. Cops identified his killers as Gambino members John Carneglia, Charles' brother, Gene Gotti, Wilfred (Willie Boy) Johnson, Anthony Rampino and Richard (Redbird) Gomes.
Favara was forced into a van, sources said, and shot in the legs. He was taken to another location in Brooklyn where he was killed and stuffed into a 55-gallon drum, sources said.
"In a later discussion concerning his expertise at disposing of bodies for the Gambino family, which included a discussion of a book (Charles Carneglia) was reading on dismemberment, (Carneglia) informed another Gambino family associate that acid was the best method to use to avoid detection," Burlingame wrote.
Carneglia, 62, who is charged with five murders, including the fatal shooting of a hero court officer scheduled to testify against him, asked McMahon to help him move barrels of acid stored in his basement.
Former Bonanno crime boss Joseph Massino told the feds he thought Favara's remains were buried in a mob graveyard on the Brooklyn-Queens border. The feds believe the barrel was tossed into the ocean, sources said.
Thanks to John Marzulli
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Family Secrets Mob Trial Sentencing Dates Set
A federal judge has set sentencing dates for five men convicted in September 2007 at Chicago's Operation Family Secrets mob trial.
They were convicted of a decades-long conspiracy that allegedly included loan sharking, squeezing victims for "street taxes" and a series of mob murders.
Judge James Zagel on Tuesday set the sentencings of Paul Schiro and Anthony Doyle for Jan. 26, Frank Calabrese on Jan. 28, Joseph Lombardo for Feb. 2 and James Marcello on Feb. 5.
Zagel set Feb. 23 for sentencing Calabrese's brother, Nicholas, an admitted hit man who became the government's star witness.
They were convicted of a decades-long conspiracy that allegedly included loan sharking, squeezing victims for "street taxes" and a series of mob murders.
Judge James Zagel on Tuesday set the sentencings of Paul Schiro and Anthony Doyle for Jan. 26, Frank Calabrese on Jan. 28, Joseph Lombardo for Feb. 2 and James Marcello on Feb. 5.
Zagel set Feb. 23 for sentencing Calabrese's brother, Nicholas, an admitted hit man who became the government's star witness.
Junior Gotti Requests to be Freed on Bail
Mob heir John A. "Junior" Gotti should be freed on bail while he awaits trial on racketeering charges, his lawyers argued Monday.
Gotti's lawyers said in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that their client should be freed because he has always complied with bail conditions, there is strong evidence he is no longer connected to organized crime and he is not a risk to flee.
The lawyers said he also should benefit from the fact prosecutors made inaccurate claims regarding his possible danger to the community before three other Manhattan racketeering trials, which ended in hung juries.
"In this case, as in the previous three trials, the government will undoubtedly struggle to cobble together some attenuated theory with which it will attempt to defeat Gotti's defense that he withdrew from the charged conspiracy and renounced his former life of crime," the lawyers said.
Gotti's lawyers said new evidence gathered by prosecutors through cooperating witnesses in the last two years has shown members of organized crime no longer consider Gotti among their ranks.
The court papers also noted that the government in February 2008 did not include Gotti when it indicted 62 people accused of being members and associates of the Gambino family, which was headed by his father, John Gotti, before he was convicted of racketeering. The elder Gotti died in prison while serving a life sentence.
The younger Gotti was arrested last year on an indictment brought against him in Tampa, Fla. A judge there found the charges in the case similar to those he had faced in the three New York racketeering trials and transferred the case to Manhattan. Gotti has not yet been moved to New York.
Gotti's lawyers described as "nonsensical" the government's argument that he should not get bail because a conviction could result in a life sentence. "He has a proven record of standing to face whatever fight is before him," they said.
Prosecutors declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the defense submission.
Thanks to Larry Neumeister
Gotti's lawyers said in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that their client should be freed because he has always complied with bail conditions, there is strong evidence he is no longer connected to organized crime and he is not a risk to flee.
The lawyers said he also should benefit from the fact prosecutors made inaccurate claims regarding his possible danger to the community before three other Manhattan racketeering trials, which ended in hung juries.
"In this case, as in the previous three trials, the government will undoubtedly struggle to cobble together some attenuated theory with which it will attempt to defeat Gotti's defense that he withdrew from the charged conspiracy and renounced his former life of crime," the lawyers said.
Gotti's lawyers said new evidence gathered by prosecutors through cooperating witnesses in the last two years has shown members of organized crime no longer consider Gotti among their ranks.
The court papers also noted that the government in February 2008 did not include Gotti when it indicted 62 people accused of being members and associates of the Gambino family, which was headed by his father, John Gotti, before he was convicted of racketeering. The elder Gotti died in prison while serving a life sentence.
The younger Gotti was arrested last year on an indictment brought against him in Tampa, Fla. A judge there found the charges in the case similar to those he had faced in the three New York racketeering trials and transferred the case to Manhattan. Gotti has not yet been moved to New York.
Gotti's lawyers described as "nonsensical" the government's argument that he should not get bail because a conviction could result in a life sentence. "He has a proven record of standing to face whatever fight is before him," they said.
Prosecutors declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the defense submission.
Thanks to Larry Neumeister
Did America's First - A Fictitious Book about the Mob in Chicago, Helping Put a President into the White House, Predict the Election of Barack Obama?
The author of "America's First" has contacted us and provided a comparison between his book and the recent election of Barack Obama as President. He points out several similarities between the work of fiction and real life events. Since there is a Chicago Mob element in the comparisons, take a look and judge for yourself.
Back in the year 2000, a very interesting book was published and introduced at the American Book Expo in Chicago (at the McCormack Place convention center), at a time when 99 percent of the country had never heard of Barack Obama.
America's First is a fictional story of a U.S. Senator from the state of Illinois, who is sworn in as America's first black president on December 7, 2005, after the stability of the United States government is rocked to its very foundation.
This book is heavy reading that will shock today's readers on how similar this political thriller of fiction has so many similarities to today's current events.
TAKE A LOOK AT THESE FACTS vs. FICTION and their similarities between the author's work and the current events of today….
FACT vs. FICTION
FACT: America's First debuts in 2000, at the American Book Expo conference, held in Chicago, Illinois at the McCormack Place convention center.
FACT: George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States on January 20, 2001.
FICTION: Senator Calvin Smart is an African-American senator, representing the state of Illinois before being sworn in as president in America's First, which was first published in the year 2000.
FACT: In November 2004, Barack Obama wins the office of U.S. Senator, and becomes the only African-American senator in the nation. He is also a U.S. Senator representing the state of Illinois.
FICTION: Both of Calvin Smart's parents are deceased in America's First, and Smart was raised by his grandfather.
FACT: Both of Barack Obama's parents are deceased. Barack Obama was raised by his maternal grandparents, unbeknown to the author at the time of writing his novel.
FICTION: Calvin Smart is a loyal husband to his wife, Audrey Smart, who also bares a similar physical description to Michelle Obama, the real life wife of Barack Obama.
FACT: Barack Obama is a very articulate speaker and his physical description is almost identical to that of Calvin Smart's character. In addition, Obama holds an obscure public office in the year 2000. Therefore, the author has no reason to use him as a model for his book. It is a pure coincidence. Who would have thought back in 1996 when Obama was first elected as a state senator that he would run for Congress in 2000 and lose to Congressman Bobby Rush, let alone, one day run for President of the United States?
FICTION: Calvin Smart's opponent accuses him in a press conference of receiving money to finance his campaign from the Chicago mob. (pgs. 24-25 – America's First).
FACT: Barak Obama is linked to receiving campaign funds from Tony Resko, who has a long history of being a purported front for the Chicago mob. A modern day Sidney Korshak, as one reporter once described Resko.
America's First's also has interesting similar fiction concerning presidential issues that resemble George W. Bush's administration well before: a) Bush was sworn into office; and b) before 9/11 occurred.
FICTION: President Calvin Smart's first trip abroad since being sworn into office is to the central region of the Dominican Republic (pg. 98) to meet secretly with a Colombian cartel boss and members of the Commission of Families in a remote mountain called Pico Duarte (pg. 107). The purpose of the meeting? To discuss thwarting possible legislation over the legalization of drugs in the United States.
FACT: On January 30, 2001 (less than two weeks after President Bush is sworn into office) Mexican foreign minister, Jorge G. Castaneda was in Washington to prepare President Bush for his visit to Mexico in February 2001 (his first international trip abroad as president). Castaneda said in an interview in Washington that Mexico is very "sensitive" to the worries about the spread of the Colombian conflict into Mexico and that the United States should be too. The Bush administration inherits a multi-billion dollar "anti-drug offensive" plan from the Clinton administration that was suppose to help Colombia's government fight rebels from producing drugs.
FICTION: The United States is accused of assassinating Saddam Hussein's two sons in the fiction thriller America's First that was published well before they were killed by U.S. Troops in 2003. Saddam Hussein threatens retaliation later in the book.
FACT: Saddam Hussein's two sons were actually killed by U.S. Troops in the northern city of Mosul in the year 2003. Saddam Hussein later threatens retaliation against the U.S. after his two sons' dead bodies are plastered on the front pages of just about every major newspaper across the country.
FICTION: For nearly a quarter-of-a-century, Don Vincent (crime boss of the Giovinci family) sat as chairman of the Commission of Families (a board made up of crime bosses representing the twelve most powerful mafia families in America). Their survival and evasion of public scrutiny is based on the commission's motto: "Our destiny d epends upon our ability for our actions not to exist." (pg. 1)
FACT: It was revealed publicly for the first time and reported on February 9, 2001 in the Chicago Sun-Times that mobster John Gotti was queried by the feds about a "mob commission" that reportedly met in Florida. The commission reportedly attracted cartels from Cuba and Colombia, along with mobsters from Italy. (see Sneed's column on 2/9/01, printed in the Chicago Sun-Times).
FICTION: It was written in America's First back in the year 2000: "The Flamingo Country Club (located just off20the Florida straits, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean) was built on a small island. This tiny island was expropriated by the Commission of Families from the Fidel Castro regime right before Castro came into power over Cuba. The country club is the only place in the world where commission members feel comfortable talking when meeting their mutual associates from around the world or their contacts inside the CIA." (pg. 178 – America's First)
FICTION: President Calvin Smart gives a speech in which he states: "….because of my profound belief that our nation is faced with a challenging task to win this war against drugs…and because innocent children and honest Americans demand that we win this war…I feel deep down in my heart that legalizing drugs is the only way at this time to win this dreadful war. A war that has robbed honest Americans the right to achieve the American dream." (entire speech pgs. 273-274)
FACT: Syndicated columnist George Will writes in the Chicago Sun-Times on January 18, 2001: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield may be seeing the light about our losing fight in Colombia's drug war. Asked about the $1.6 billion spent so far undertaking to help fight the drug war in Colombia, Rumsfield said he had not formulated an opinion."
Back in the year 2000, a very interesting book was published and introduced at the American Book Expo in Chicago (at the McCormack Place convention center), at a time when 99 percent of the country had never heard of Barack Obama.
America's First is a fictional story of a U.S. Senator from the state of Illinois, who is sworn in as America's first black president on December 7, 2005, after the stability of the United States government is rocked to its very foundation.
This book is heavy reading that will shock today's readers on how similar this political thriller of fiction has so many similarities to today's current events.
TAKE A LOOK AT THESE FACTS vs. FICTION and their similarities between the author's work and the current events of today….
FACT vs. FICTION
FACT: America's First debuts in 2000, at the American Book Expo conference, held in Chicago, Illinois at the McCormack Place convention center.
FACT: George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States on January 20, 2001.
FICTION: Senator Calvin Smart is an African-American senator, representing the state of Illinois before being sworn in as president in America's First, which was first published in the year 2000.
FACT: In November 2004, Barack Obama wins the office of U.S. Senator, and becomes the only African-American senator in the nation. He is also a U.S. Senator representing the state of Illinois.
FICTION: Both of Calvin Smart's parents are deceased in America's First, and Smart was raised by his grandfather.
FACT: Both of Barack Obama's parents are deceased. Barack Obama was raised by his maternal grandparents, unbeknown to the author at the time of writing his novel.
FICTION: Calvin Smart is a loyal husband to his wife, Audrey Smart, who also bares a similar physical description to Michelle Obama, the real life wife of Barack Obama.
FACT: Barack Obama is a very articulate speaker and his physical description is almost identical to that of Calvin Smart's character. In addition, Obama holds an obscure public office in the year 2000. Therefore, the author has no reason to use him as a model for his book. It is a pure coincidence. Who would have thought back in 1996 when Obama was first elected as a state senator that he would run for Congress in 2000 and lose to Congressman Bobby Rush, let alone, one day run for President of the United States?
FICTION: Calvin Smart's opponent accuses him in a press conference of receiving money to finance his campaign from the Chicago mob. (pgs. 24-25 – America's First).
FACT: Barak Obama is linked to receiving campaign funds from Tony Resko, who has a long history of being a purported front for the Chicago mob. A modern day Sidney Korshak, as one reporter once described Resko.
America's First's also has interesting similar fiction concerning presidential issues that resemble George W. Bush's administration well before: a) Bush was sworn into office; and b) before 9/11 occurred.
FICTION: President Calvin Smart's first trip abroad since being sworn into office is to the central region of the Dominican Republic (pg. 98) to meet secretly with a Colombian cartel boss and members of the Commission of Families in a remote mountain called Pico Duarte (pg. 107). The purpose of the meeting? To discuss thwarting possible legislation over the legalization of drugs in the United States.
FACT: On January 30, 2001 (less than two weeks after President Bush is sworn into office) Mexican foreign minister, Jorge G. Castaneda was in Washington to prepare President Bush for his visit to Mexico in February 2001 (his first international trip abroad as president). Castaneda said in an interview in Washington that Mexico is very "sensitive" to the worries about the spread of the Colombian conflict into Mexico and that the United States should be too. The Bush administration inherits a multi-billion dollar "anti-drug offensive" plan from the Clinton administration that was suppose to help Colombia's government fight rebels from producing drugs.
FICTION: The United States is accused of assassinating Saddam Hussein's two sons in the fiction thriller America's First that was published well before they were killed by U.S. Troops in 2003. Saddam Hussein threatens retaliation later in the book.
FACT: Saddam Hussein's two sons were actually killed by U.S. Troops in the northern city of Mosul in the year 2003. Saddam Hussein later threatens retaliation against the U.S. after his two sons' dead bodies are plastered on the front pages of just about every major newspaper across the country.
FICTION: For nearly a quarter-of-a-century, Don Vincent (crime boss of the Giovinci family) sat as chairman of the Commission of Families (a board made up of crime bosses representing the twelve most powerful mafia families in America). Their survival and evasion of public scrutiny is based on the commission's motto: "Our destiny d epends upon our ability for our actions not to exist." (pg. 1)
FACT: It was revealed publicly for the first time and reported on February 9, 2001 in the Chicago Sun-Times that mobster John Gotti was queried by the feds about a "mob commission" that reportedly met in Florida. The commission reportedly attracted cartels from Cuba and Colombia, along with mobsters from Italy. (see Sneed's column on 2/9/01, printed in the Chicago Sun-Times).
FICTION: It was written in America's First back in the year 2000: "The Flamingo Country Club (located just off20the Florida straits, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean) was built on a small island. This tiny island was expropriated by the Commission of Families from the Fidel Castro regime right before Castro came into power over Cuba. The country club is the only place in the world where commission members feel comfortable talking when meeting their mutual associates from around the world or their contacts inside the CIA." (pg. 178 – America's First)
FICTION: President Calvin Smart gives a speech in which he states: "….because of my profound belief that our nation is faced with a challenging task to win this war against drugs…and because innocent children and honest Americans demand that we win this war…I feel deep down in my heart that legalizing drugs is the only way at this time to win this dreadful war. A war that has robbed honest Americans the right to achieve the American dream." (entire speech pgs. 273-274)
FACT: Syndicated columnist George Will writes in the Chicago Sun-Times on January 18, 2001: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield may be seeing the light about our losing fight in Colombia's drug war. Asked about the $1.6 billion spent so far undertaking to help fight the drug war in Colombia, Rumsfield said he had not formulated an opinion."
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Martin Scorsese to Present "Gomorrah" in the U.S.
When IFC Films releases the Italian crime drama “Gomorrah” in the United States on Feb. 13, it will come with a new endorsement in the credits: “Martin Scorsese Presents,” the distributor has announced. The film, directed by Matteo Garrone, takes an inside look at the Camorra, a crime organization in the Naples area, and is based on the book of the same title by Roberto Saviano, an Italian journalist. “Gomorrah” won the grand prix at Cannes last year and went on to become Italy’s highest grossing film of last year. It is also the official Italian entry for the Academy Awards. “I admire the bluntness of this picture, and the devotion of Garrone and his actors in their pursuit of a terrible truth,” Mr. Scorsese said in a statement. “ ‘Gomorrah’ is despairing, but it’s also enlightening and, because of its frankness, strangely heartening.”
Sunday, January 04, 2009
An Interview with Roberto Saviano, Author of "Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System"
Roberto Saviano's life mirrors that of the mobsters who have vowed to kill him: He has gone into hiding, even from his neighbors.
Saviano, 29, is the author who fingered the Camorra Mafia in a bestseller. Last year, Italian police learned of what they call a credible plan to murder him.
The reason: His book "Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System," drew attention to the crime bosses of the Campania region and its capital, Naples. "Gomorrah" has sold almost 2 million copies in 33 countries; the U.S. edition, translated by Virginia Jewiss, has just been published in paperback (Picador, $15). A movie based on the book captured the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for a Golden Globe.
Sitting in a brown-leather armchair in his publisher's office in Rome, Saviano discusses his plans for a new book and his life in isolation under armed guard. His crown is bald; black stubble covers his jaw. He wears three silver rings, a local custom symbolizing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. His security detail waits in two dark sedans outside.
Can you describe your life on a typical day?
I've lived with five bodyguards and two armored cars for two years. I don't have a home, and that's the hardest part. People won't rent a house to me because they're afraid.
There's a horribly negative opinion of me in Campania and in southern Italy. Many think I defamed their territory and drove away tourists. When a landlord rented me one place, the neighbors forced me to leave. Now I live in a house where I have to hide. I return home in the evenings after setting out early in the morning. I'm living as if I were a fugitive - as if I committed some crime.
I've read in court documents how Mafia fugitives cope with this life. When things are really bad, I pile all the furniture in the center of the room and run laps. I learned that from them.
Are friends able to visit you?
Sometimes. When I'm in Naples, I often stay in the military-police barracks. It's hard to have people over when I stay there. In Rome, people visit me, but it's difficult. I'm trying to reconstruct my life. I dream of starting a family.
Is there a greater danger of Mafia infiltration of the economy now, during the financial crisis?
During a crisis, people lower their guard. Studies show that two markets never suffer during a crisis: the criminal market and the art market. I'm convinced that this crisis is bringing huge advantages to criminal syndicates.
Organized crime is a capitalist force that is restructuring the free market. European authorities will notice what criminal capital is doing only when it's too late. Not just capital coming from Italy, but also from Serbia, Russia, Albania and Nigeria. Several investigations demonstrate that criminal cartels are investing in Romania, in Poland. They're buying sovereign bonds. Half of Europe is already in their hands.
Will the whole world start looking like the bleak Naples suburb seen in the movie?
My intention wasn't to tell the story of Naples to the world, but to tell the story of the world through Naples. The screenwriters were careful not to create just a slice of Naples. If you didn't know the film was set in Italy, you might think it shot in Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, the suburbs of Istanbul or parts of Spain and Greece.
The movie and the book are very different.
The big difference between the movie and the book is that I'm obsessed with money and with telling the story of the economic network, while the director is obsessed with the faces, the environment. But the stench of money is missing. The movie didn't betray the book; it simply took a different path.
Will your next book be about organized crime?
I think so, though not about Italy's or not only about Italy's, definitely not about the Camorra. I'm studying the Mexican and African crime syndicates.
Thanks to Steve Scherer
Saviano, 29, is the author who fingered the Camorra Mafia in a bestseller. Last year, Italian police learned of what they call a credible plan to murder him.
The reason: His book "Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System," drew attention to the crime bosses of the Campania region and its capital, Naples. "Gomorrah" has sold almost 2 million copies in 33 countries; the U.S. edition, translated by Virginia Jewiss, has just been published in paperback (Picador, $15). A movie based on the book captured the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for a Golden Globe.
Sitting in a brown-leather armchair in his publisher's office in Rome, Saviano discusses his plans for a new book and his life in isolation under armed guard. His crown is bald; black stubble covers his jaw. He wears three silver rings, a local custom symbolizing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. His security detail waits in two dark sedans outside.
Can you describe your life on a typical day?
I've lived with five bodyguards and two armored cars for two years. I don't have a home, and that's the hardest part. People won't rent a house to me because they're afraid.
There's a horribly negative opinion of me in Campania and in southern Italy. Many think I defamed their territory and drove away tourists. When a landlord rented me one place, the neighbors forced me to leave. Now I live in a house where I have to hide. I return home in the evenings after setting out early in the morning. I'm living as if I were a fugitive - as if I committed some crime.
I've read in court documents how Mafia fugitives cope with this life. When things are really bad, I pile all the furniture in the center of the room and run laps. I learned that from them.
Are friends able to visit you?
Sometimes. When I'm in Naples, I often stay in the military-police barracks. It's hard to have people over when I stay there. In Rome, people visit me, but it's difficult. I'm trying to reconstruct my life. I dream of starting a family.
Is there a greater danger of Mafia infiltration of the economy now, during the financial crisis?
During a crisis, people lower their guard. Studies show that two markets never suffer during a crisis: the criminal market and the art market. I'm convinced that this crisis is bringing huge advantages to criminal syndicates.
Organized crime is a capitalist force that is restructuring the free market. European authorities will notice what criminal capital is doing only when it's too late. Not just capital coming from Italy, but also from Serbia, Russia, Albania and Nigeria. Several investigations demonstrate that criminal cartels are investing in Romania, in Poland. They're buying sovereign bonds. Half of Europe is already in their hands.
Will the whole world start looking like the bleak Naples suburb seen in the movie?
My intention wasn't to tell the story of Naples to the world, but to tell the story of the world through Naples. The screenwriters were careful not to create just a slice of Naples. If you didn't know the film was set in Italy, you might think it shot in Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, the suburbs of Istanbul or parts of Spain and Greece.
The movie and the book are very different.
The big difference between the movie and the book is that I'm obsessed with money and with telling the story of the economic network, while the director is obsessed with the faces, the environment. But the stench of money is missing. The movie didn't betray the book; it simply took a different path.
Will your next book be about organized crime?
I think so, though not about Italy's or not only about Italy's, definitely not about the Camorra. I'm studying the Mexican and African crime syndicates.
Thanks to Steve Scherer
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