Celebrate Frank Sinatra's 100th Birthday with a New 5-Film Collection on Blu-ray!

Celebrate Frank Sinatra’s 100th Birthday with a new 5-Film Collection, Frank Sinatra Collection (BD) [Blu-ray].

Featuring five classic movies on Blu-ray, this collection includes newly re-mastered releases of Anchors Aweigh, On the Town and Robin and the 7 Hoods on Blu-ray and Digital HD along with favorites Ocean’s 11 and Guys and Dolls.

ANCHORS AWEIGH: Frank Sinatra stars along with Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly in this wartime tale of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Gene Kelly's history-making choreography and beloved musical numbers make this a milestone of movie fantasy. Sinatra's "I Fall in Love Too Easily", the exuberant Kelly/Sinatra "We Hate to Leave" and other musical highlights helped Anchors Aweigh weigh in with a 1945 Academy Award® for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, plus four more Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture and Actor (Kelly).

ON THE TOWN: New York, New York, it's a wonderful town – especially when sailors Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin have a 24-hour shore leave to see the sights…and when those sights include Ann Miller, Betty Garrett and Vera-Ellen. Based on the Broadway hit and set to an Academy Award®-winning* score, On the Town changed the landscape of movie musicals by blending brilliant location and studio production numbers to up-and-at-'em perfection. The Bronx is up and the Battery's down, but no one can be down after going On the Town.

GUYS AND DOLLS: Hollywood legends Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine (from the original Broadway cast) are dazzling in this Frank Loesser (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) masterpiece. Featuring hits like "Luck Be a Lady" and "A Woman in Love", this smash film version of one of Broadway's most popular musicals is guaranteed rip-roaring "four-star entertainment" (New York Daily News).

OCEAN'S 11: New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. When the lights go out on the Vegas strip, it's the perfect time to steal a kiss or a $25 chip. But for Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and 10 partners in crime, it's the ideal moment to steal millions. Also starring Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, and packed with location-lensed glamour, suspense, comedy and a stunning twist ending, Ocean's 11 is a sure bet.

ROBIN AND THE 7 HOODS: Robin and the 7 Hoods gives the Robin Hood legend a Depression-era, mobtown Chicago spin. North Side boss Robbo (Frank Sinatra) sets himself up as a latter-day Robin Hood with philanthropic fronts enabling him to scam the rich, take his cut and then give to the poor. Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Bing Crosby, Peter Falk and Barbara Rush join in the giddy, gangsterish fun. And the jazzy Sammy Cahn/James Van Heusen score (including Sinatra's classic "My Kind of Town") is the perfect match for this all-star cast.

Tweet

Ex-Mobster John Alite Alleges Cyber Bullying Attack by Gotti Family #GottisRules

He’s no Facebook friend of ours.

Instead of using brickbats or Berettas, relatives of notorious Mafia boss John Gotti are delivering a beatdown to a former Gambino enforcer the 21st-century way — on the Internet.

“U go to war with one of us u go to war Witt [sic] all of us simple as that,” declared John “Junior” Gotti’s son John Gotti Jr. on Twitter March 25.

The tweet is just one example of an escalating and bizarre online barrage — which includes phony Twitter accounts, altered Wikipedia pages and doctored YouTube videos — targeting John Alite, who says the Gottis have relentlessly bullied him online ever since he was featured in a book titled “Gotti's Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia,” which came out Jan. 27.

“They are blatantly attacking me on every front,” says reformed tough guy Alite, 52, who spent 14 years in prison on charges and convictions that included six murders and at least 37 shootings.

In the book and in subsequent interviews, Alite paints John “Junior” Gotti — who inherited the role of Gambino boss when his father, “Teflon Don” John Gotti, was sent to the slammer in 1992 — as an insecure leader reluctant to get his hands dirty and quick to blame others if things got messy.

Junior says he quit the mob in 1999, but Alite contends it’s the former Gambino boss who ordered the cyber-hit.

Dummy accounts such as “@JohnAliteLies” and “@JohnAlettoRatted” have sprung up on Twitter to mock him.

“SOME PPL FIGHT ISIS SOME PPL FIGHT RATS,” @JohnAliteLies tweeted March 28.

“Guy’s walking around like a celebrity and really believes it. Proudest rat Facebook’s ever seen,” the account sniped on April 9.

On YouTube, videos purporting to be from John Alite alter the title of “Gotti’s Rules” to read, “A Story About John Alite and his Lies.” Another video also shows a picture of Alite with red tape over his mouth, with a caption, “FBI Gave Him $55,000 to Fix his Teeth to Look Presentable to the Jury.”

Alite, a free man since 2012, is now a motivational speaker who tackles topics such as bullying and domestic violence.

He says he has received prank phone calls and insulting texts and says his Wikipedia page was altered after the book came out.

“As of 2015, John Alite came out as gay,” reads the alleged Wiki-tweak, which has been removed.

Alite fingered Gotti for the latest sniping.

“He’s been called a ‘baby bully’ since he was a kid,” said Alite. “This is his new tactic of being a cyberbully.” But Junior Gotti said it’s Alite who is the bully.

“At one time, I admit, I was the wolf. My father was the lion. We’re now the lambs. We’re being preyed on,” he told The Post.

Gotti said he has no doubt his family has lashed out at Alite.

“He accused my ex-brother Carmine of raping two girls. He accused my father of being a swinger. He said I was hanging out with a transvestite,” Gotti said. “So I’m sure my son reacted to it. I am sure my sister, who is fiercely protective of this family, she reacted to it.”

“They shared everything with me, and I’m beside myself with anger. This guy is a demented, sick character. He’s been going on a campaign, looking for a platform. I know his book has been tanking,” he said. But Gotti said he never orchestrated any attacks.

“I’m not computer literate,” he said.

Gotti said the family cut off Alite in 1991 as a Gambino flag bearer and wants nothing to do with him.

“Believe me, if you were an earner or a capable guy, organized crime doesn’t give you up too easy,” he said.

Thanks to Gary Buiso.

Tweet

Parole Board Chief Gives Legal Advice to Tony Madafferi, Reputed Head of Mafia

Victorian parole board chief Bill Gillard has broken his silence about giving legal advice to the alleged head of Melbourne's mafia.

Mr Gillard submitted his resignation last week after The Age revealed his role in advising alleged crime figure Tony Madafferi, who was fighting a police ban from Crown casino. But Mr Gillard says he didn't actually know of Mr Madafferi's background when they first met as the meeting was set up by an acquaintance.

"I met him, but I had no idea that allegations had been made against him until about two months later," he told ABC television on Sunday night.

Mr Gillard had previously not responded to The Age's questions about his dealings with Mr Madafferi.

He told the ABC his meeting with Mr Madafferi lasted 20 minutes and he only provided the most basic of legal advice. He received fruit as thanks for his efforts, he said.

"I hope you're a good person because now, when I talk to anybody, I've got to find out."

Mr Gillard stepped down after intense pressure from the government. But he pointed out how he had previously extended his stay in the parole board role while the search continued for a replacement.

"I found the job very demanding, very tiring, but I didn't resign because it's important to have a head of the board," he said.

His resignation takes effect at the end of the week.

Thanks to Steve Lillebuen.

Tweet

Official Movie Trailer for Black Mass, Whitey Bulger Mafia Drama #BlackMass

Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal

Tweet

Author & Ex-FBI Agent, Robert Fitzpatrick, Charged with Perjury During Whitey Bulger Trial

A former FBI agent lied to jurors during mobster James "Whitey" Bulger's trial and overstated his professional accomplishments, including falsely claiming to be the first officer who recovered the rifle used to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr., federal officials said Thursday in announcing a perjury case against him.

Robert Fitzpatrick, who was once second in command of the Boston FBI division, surrendered to U.S. marshals with his lawyer after learning there was a warrant for his arrest.

Fitzpatrick, the first witness called by Bulger's attorneys during his 2013 racketeering trial, said he tried to persuade the FBI to terminate Bulger as an informant because the mobster didn't appear to be helping its mission to gather information on the Mafia. Fitzpatrick said his bosses didn't agree with him.

Prosecutors suggested he exaggerated that claim to sell copies of a book Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down, he wrote about Bulger.

Fitzpatrick was due to appear in federal court Thursday afternoon on six counts of perjury and six counts of obstruction of justice. His lawyer, Robert Goldstein, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the accusations.

During Bulger's trial, prosecutor Brian Kelly started his cross-examination of Fitzpatrick by asking him if he was a man who likes to make up stories. Fitzpatrick denied that.

Kelly went on to press Fitzpatrick about a claim he had made previously that he was the first officer at the scene who recovered the weapon used to kill King.

"I was the first FBI agent at the scene, and I found a rifle coming down the stairs, having just missed James Earl Ray, the shooter," Fitzpatrick said. "The rifle was in the alcove, and there's a report to that."

Kelly pressed him further: "Isn't it true that three Memphis police officers found the rifle that was used to kill Martin Luther King, not Bob Fitzpatrick?" Kelly asked.

"I found the rifle along with them. They could have been there ... but I'm the one that took the rifle," Fitzpatrick said.

Kelly then told Fitzpatrick that a report says someone else took the rifle from police officers and turned the bundle over to the FBI three hours later. "I took the bundle from the scene," Fitzpatrick explained.

Fitzpatrick also told jurors that in 1981, about six years after Bulger began working an informant, he was given the task of assessing whether the mobster was providing the FBI with useful information. The ex-agent insisted that he repeatedly sought to end the FBI's relationship with Bulger, particularly after Bulger was considered a suspect in two 1982 killings.

During the trial, prosecutors suggested that Fitzpatrick also exaggerated that claim.

The 85-year-old Bulger is serving two life sentences after his 2013 racketeering conviction tying him to 11 murders and other gangland crimes in the 1970s and '80s.

The indictment alleges that since 1998, Fitzpatrick "has falsely held himself out as a whistleblower who tried to end the FBI's relationship with Bulger." He was accused of making false statements "designed to aid Bulger's defense."

Bulger's lawyers argued during his trial that he was not an informant, and Fitzpatrick testified that Bulger denied being an FBI informant to him.

The indictment says Bulger never made that denial.

Fitzpatrick, 75, of Charlestown, Rhode Island, worked for the FBI from 1965 to 1986. In 1980, he was assigned as an assistant special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Boston division. In that position, he supervised the division's organized crime squad.

Prosecutors say Bulger was an informant for the squad from approximately 1975 through 1990.

The indictment says that in May 1986, Fitzpatrick was demoted and reassigned to the Providence, Rhode Island, field office. He left the FBI shortly after that, in December 1986.

Tweet

Walter Blackman, High Ranking Leader of the Black Disciples, Sentenced for Narcotics Distribution

A high-ranking leader of the Black Disciples street gang was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after being convicted of narcotics distribution. The defendant, WALTER BLACKMAN, 52, of Gary, Indiana, pleaded guilty in August 2014 to distribution of illegal narcotics. Today’s sentence was imposed by United States District Court Judge Edmond E. Chang. Blackman has been in federal custody since his arrest in April 2013. He must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

Blackman was a high-ranking leader of the Black Disciples street gang in Chicago. He distributed drugs—including crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin—and controlled the Black Disciples gang members’ drug trafficking in the city of Chicago’s far south side, including the violence-plagued Roseland and Altgeld Gardens communities. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Blackman admitted that he had approximately 500 subordinate gang members underneath his control in his territory in “the hundreds,” being part of the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago named for the three-digit streets.

Blackman’s charges in this case, namely sixteen counts of drug distribution, are a small sample of his larger drug trafficking operation in and outside the Black Disciples street gang—an operation that encompassed multiple drug types, multiple years, and multiple states. The defendant was a repeat and large scale supplier of controlled substances, selling and distributing crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin in the Chicago area and elsewhere, including Wisconsin, to numerous wholesale customers.

The Court held Blackman responsible for distributing approximately 4,000 grams of crack cocaine, 1,000 grams of powder cocaine, and approximately 390 grams of heroin. Blackman also possessed firearms during his drug trafficking activities.

“This sentence holds the defendant accountable for the narcotics enterprise he controlled, and for his role in the accompanying gang and gun violence that harms our communities,” said Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “I want to thank our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners for their brave and outstanding work which has resulted in a major impact on this street gang’s narcotics operation and illegal activities,” Mr. Fardon added.

Tweet

Gang of Joloperro Kidnapping Crews Targeted Drug Dealers, Bookmakers and Money Launderers

The Dominican street gang in Lawrence, Massachusetts must have thought they had the perfect illegal enterprise: kidnap drug dealers, bookmakers, and money launderers, steal their cash and drugs, and then hold them for ransom—knowing that since the victims were themselves criminals, they and their families would likely never report the abductions.

The gang members—known as joloperros, or stick-up guys—were organized, armed, and violent: They often tortured their victims, sometimes with hot irons.

“They targeted anyone they thought they could make large sums of money from,” said Special Agent Jeff Wood, coordinator of the North Shore Gang Task Force, one of the FBI’s three Safe Streets Task Forces in Massachusetts.

The kidnappings began around 2010 in and around Lawrence, a largely Hispanic city and gang stronghold located about 20 miles north of Boston. The North Shore Gang Task Force—made up of the FBI, the Massachusetts State Police, the Lawrence Police Department, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and other local law enforcement agencies—worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency to build a case against the crew.

“The victims and their families would not report the crimes,” Wood said, “because they didn’t want to admit that, yes, they were selling drugs or laundering money. And some of the victims were in the country illegally.”

The joloperros mainly targeted drug dealers, and their methods were sophisticated. They used GPS devices to track individuals, conducted surveillance to learn targets’ routes and movements, and also tried to identify dealers’ stash houses.

“They weren’t targeting street-level dealers, but rather suppliers,” Wood said. Some of the victims were selling multiple kilos of heroin and cocaine on a monthly basis.

When the actual abductions took place, the crew would grab the victim, duct tape his hands, and put a cover over his head. Victims were taken to safe houses, where they were often tortured, and large ransoms were demanded from their families.

“When we got word of a kidnapping, we would go to the family and they wouldn’t cooperate,” Wood said. But over time, using a variety of investigative techniques such as confidential sources, controlled drug buys, and other means, most of the crew was dismantled.

Last month, after previously pleading guilty to a violent 2012 kidnapping in which a $100,000 ransom was demanded, Edgar Acevedo was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Since the task force investigation began more than two years ago, approximately 20 individuals have been charged in federal court—including some of the gang’s leaders—with kidnapping-related offenses or for crimes associated with the Lawrence-based kidnapping crews. To date, nine people have pled guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and four others have pled guilty to firearm-related offenses. Several joloperros are awaiting trial.

“At one point, these kidnapping crews had a very large presence in Lawrence,” Wood said, “but their presence has decreased dramatically thanks to law enforcement intervention.” He noted that many people associate violent gangs with Los Angeles or the Southwest Border, “but gangs are just as violent and just as dangerous in upstate Maine as they are in Los Angeles. They lower the quality of life in the community they are operating in, no matter where that community is.”

Tweet