American Gangster on DVD

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe butt heads in the excellent crime drama, American Gangster. The film, based on a true crime story has, in addition to superb acting, excellent cinematography, interesting sets, and the hard-hitting direction by Ridley Scott.

This is an adult crime thriller with powerful dialogue and shocking images you won’t soon forget. The special features on the bonus disk are very entertaining and extremely beneficial for their historical value. The added 18 minutes include longer scenes and an extended ending.

Frank Lucas (born 1930 in Washington, DC), was a heroin dealer and organized crime boss in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in Southeast Asia. He organized the smuggle of heroin from Vietnam to the US by using the coffins of dead American servicemen ("cadaver connection"). Excerpt from the New York Magazine, 14 August 2000.

But the story of Frank Lucas (Washington) is much more than just a gangster who takes over the New York mob trade with some devious methods. It’s also about a relentless, righteous cop, Ritchie Roberts (Crowe), who will stop at nothing to bring him down. When their worlds collide, the two find themselves in a confrontation with no chance of backing out.

Crowe as the persistent cop, and Washington as the relentless drug king pin, are excellent together. Crowe brings his tough, unforgiving persona to the role of Roberts. While other cops think he’s a sucker for not taking mob money, it’s this ethic that keeps him going on his quest to bring down the mob. Nothing stands in the way of Roberts, and Crowe makes him believable. Washington does what he does best—shows the burning side of his character. Much like his past performances in films such as Training Day, Man On Fire and Déjà Vu, his Lucas controls the screen with a hot temperament and a strong will.

Keeping the action going, with not a stretch or a yawn in the lengthy film, director Ridley Scott is back in true form from his early days of Blade Runner, Thelma And Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. I like this side of Scott. I believe he makes better films when the subject matter is powerful and the pace is intense.

DVD Features:

Topping the special features are the Case Files. In them you will find three bonuses, “Setting up the take down", “Testing for heroin", and “Script meeting". Of the three I enjoyed the take down where they bust Lucas’s heroin den. It was interesting to see how it was filmed and Crowe kidding around on the set.

Of the other features, "Tru Blu" was outstanding. In it you will get to meet the still-living Richie Roberts and Frank Lucas, and hear what they have to say about the film’s authenticity and their role in collaboration.

There are two ways you can watch American Gangster, the R rated film version and the extended, Unrated film. Either way, the film plays well, but why not see it with the 18 additional minutes?

FINAL ANALYSIS:
American Gangster is a very good, all-encompassing crime film containing a lot of action, an interesting plot and awesome acting. The special features are definitely worth the watch.

Reviewed by John Delia

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Organized Crime Connection in the Drew Peterson Case?

A convicted cop killer reputed to have organized crime connections was subpoenaed to testify at the grand jury investigating the fate of Drew Peterson's last two wives.

State police served Anthony "Bindy" Rock, 68, with his papers Friday (the 15th), a source said. Contacted Friday night, Rock declined to comment.

Rock was a central figure in an unsanctioned undercover investigation Peterson undertook while he was on loan from the Bolingbrook Police Department to the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad in 1985. That investigation led to Peterson's indictment on charges of official misconduct and failure to report a bribe.

Peterson was fired following his indictment when the Bolingbrook Police and Fire Commission found him guilty of those charges, as well as disobedience and conducting a self-assigned investigation.

On different occasions, two appellate court judges ruled Peterson's firing was excessive. The criminal charges against him were dropped and he got his job back.

Peterson's trouble from two decades ago started when he revealed to his supervisors that he'd embarked on a solo narcotics investigation of Rock. A state police undercover officer was already working on Rock, according to court documents, but Peterson went ahead with his probe and failed to tell his superiors until it hit a dead end.

"You had better take your guns off. I have something to say that's real bad," Peterson allegedly told his supervisors at the time.

And Peterson's former supervisor with the narcotics squad, retired state police Lt. Col. Ronald Janota accused Peterson of leaking the state agent's identity to Rock.

Before he was investigated by Peterson, Rock was convicted of the April 1970 murder of Joliet police Det. William Loscheider. But it was actually a fellow officer who gunned down Loscheider during a burglary investigation at a North Broadway liquor warehouse, but courts blamed Rock because the death occurred while Rock was committing a crime. Rock, a reputed loan shark, was allegedly fleeing the scene with two accomplices when Loscheider was killed by friendly fire.

The spokesman for the state's attorney's office, Charles B. Pelkie, said he could not comment on why or even if Rock was subpoenaed. Peterson himself could not understand what prosecutors wanted with Rock, who he had arrested once before the unauthorized investigation in 1985.

"All he knows is, I tried to buy dope from him a couple times. I put him away for 20 years," Peterson said. "He got out on appeal."

Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, has been missing since Oct. 28.

Thanks to Joe Hosey

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Are the Clintons the New Corleones?

Interesting call from a woman to the Rush Limbaugh radio show in which Hillary Clinton is compared to mafia wives and Bill Clinton is portrayed as The Godfather.

RUSH: Peggy in Fort Pierce, Florida, great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Hello. Rush --

RUSH: Yes.

CALLER: -- just what you said before, it's a theory I've had for a long time. I think Hillary is a Mafia wife. If you saw the Married to the Mob movie, it was those gals that pretended they didn't know how their husbands gave them the money, or got the money for their perks. Now, I feel Hillary is the same thing. I think Tim Russert is way off saying, you know, she wasn't aware, everybody feels so badly for her --

RUSH: Wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa -- Russert said she wasn't aware of what?

CALLER: That she was not aware that he was that much of a cheese or that he was cheating on her, or as she said, he's never going to do it again. This gal doesn't care. This gal has a nuptial agreement, never mind a prenup. She is going to go for the perks just like, God forgive me, the Kennedy women did. It's you just turn a blind eye, you turn your head, your husband's cheating, but you're getting power, money, notoriety. It's like selling your soul.

RUSH: You know, I can't argue with that. That is a pretty good analogy.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: I'll tell you why I like it, too. I like it because it's coming from you, a woman.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: See, if I had said that, a lot of women who might be predisposed to agree with me would still have gotten angry because I was sounding like I was speaking disrespectfully, but you can say that, and it has power because it connects. I'm glad that you called. I had never consciously looked at it that way. Because you're absolutely right, there's no way she doesn't know what he's been doing --

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: -- for all of these years.

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: She's exacted a price for it.

CALLER: Yes, she has, and she's going to exact a bigger price if she gets in any position to. She's going to buy his silence. Omerta.

RUSH: Well, all right, now, let me ask you this. Continuing here with the Mafia analogy.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Don Clintonleone.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: It is now his wife who seeks to run the mob.
CALLER: Yes?

RUSH: What if she loses? What if she loses? Don Clintonleone is of no more value to her.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: He is only a liability. And, of course, Don Clintonleone will see her as a liability, because you can't get back where he wants, the White House, without her getting there. What, then, happens to this famous mob couple?

CALLER: I wonder if they would have the guts to shed themselves of each other, because I think they're just hanging on to each other for what they can get out of it.

RUSH: Well, this is --

CALLER: There's no love there. I don't know if there ever was. But even if there was, as I said, she sold out a long time. She sold out on women. That's why I can't understand why more women don't see that. Women are smart.

RUSH: A lot do. A lot do.

Thanks to Rush Limbaugh

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