Restitution Filing Doubles Value Requested for Mob Murder Victims

In a separate court filing, the lives of 14 mob murder victims have gone up in value.

Federal prosecutors originally filed court motions last fall citing the earnings potential of victims and the monetary loss to their relatives. At that time, restitution to be paid by top Chicago mobsters convicted in Operation Family Secrets was put at $3.9 million.

Updated figures filed in federal court on Friday put the restitution at $7,450,686.00. Prosecutors say the increased value is based on new information provided to experts who figured the restitution. Government lawyers are asking the court to force lead mob defendants to split that figure five ways and be made to pay survivors of those who were rubbed out by assassins.

The convicted hoodlums who are being asked to pay up are: Frank Calabrese Sr., James "Jimmy the Man" Marcello, Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, Paul "The Indian" Schiro and Anthony "Twan" Doyle.

All of the men are due to be sentenced by the end of February, at which time Judge James Zagel is expected to impose restitution and also $20 million in fines that the government has requested.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie

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Despite Winning Multiple European Film Prizes, The Academy Awards Appear to Snub "Gomorra" for Now

OVER THE years, your correspondent has always been puzzled by the huge success of the American TV drama series The Sopranos , a work which dealt, in an often humorous way, with the everyday vicissitudes of a New Jersey mobster and his family.

Sure the series was cleverly scripted, brilliantly acted and intelligently told but, in the end, its hero was a violent godfather and the underlying protagonist was organised crime.

How would Irish viewers react to a soap opera about the Murphys in mid-80s Belfast and the difficulties they faced in trying to resolve the conflicting requirements of home life and being effective Provo operatives?

One suspects that no matter how well written the series was and no matter how many intriguing philosophical, social or political themes it touched, many in this country would still be outraged.

Organised crime is neither funny nor entertaining.

The point was perhaps made this week when Matteo Garrone’s film Gomorra , based on a hard-hitting expose of the Neapolitan Mafia, the Camorra, was adjudged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts not good enough to make a shortlist of nine for the Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Language Film.

The academy boffins will no doubt tell us that, interesting as it is, Gomorra simply was not up to the mark.

Yet, how come the film picked up the Grand Prix award at Cannes last year, not to mention five prizes at the 2008 European Film Awards?

How come Gomorra , based on the two-million-plus bestseller by Roberto Saviano, has won widespread critical acclaim not only in Italy but also across Europe? No, clearly this is a good and important film but one for which Hollywood simply does not have the stomach.

The Mafia are just fine when it is a question of mobster Tony Soprano in a heart to heart chat with his therapist but a lot less appetising, it would seem, when we we are talking about the grizzly, bloody and violent everyday drug-reality of today’s Naples.

Naples-born Italian film director Gabriele Salvatores, himself a Foreign Film Oscar winner in 1992 with Mediterraneo, finds the exclusion of Gomorra “absurd”.

He believes Academy members tend to prefer films aimed at the widest possible public, telling Turin daily La Stampa this week: “Sure, Gomorra might seem difficult because there is no obvious storyline to follow, no central character with whom to identify and because it doesn’t have a happy ending, but we are in 2009.”

Maybe the Academy has a point. Cinema and show business, after all, are about entertainment and there is nothing entertaining about organised crime.

The grimy, grubby cinéma vérité style of Gomorra has been called “too realistic” by one British critic, who said he had difficulty working out whether he was watching “real people or professional actors”.

In truth, this was a fair observation since at least three members of the Gomorra cast have subsequently been arrested for Camorra-related offences. It seems that some small-time godfathers just could not resist the chance of acting in a film, acting out their own everyday lives.

Curiously, in the very week that Gomorra was being overlooked for the Oscars, life not so much imitated as outstripped art when wanted Camorra killer Giuseppe Setola was arrested near Caserta, close to Naples.

Setola, a member of the Casalesi family, which features in Saviano’s book, was arrested on Wednesday after a three-day flight that began with him escaping down a sewer and ended with a dramatic rooftop chase. Wanted by police for no less than 18 murders in the last nine months, (including the killing of six Africans at Castel Volturno last September), Setola allegedly has a great devotion to the Kalashnikov rifle.

One ex-Camorrista, now turned state’s witness, told investigators that when he was deciding to pull off a “job”, Setola would tell his “soldiers”: “I’ve already got a life sentence and I’ve nothing to lose, so we’ll do this my way – we go in shooting, we’re not here to make jewellery.”

In today’s world, much has been (correctly) made of the fact that organised crime has long since moved into a whole series of legitimate businesses, including high finance, as a way to recycle its drug-created money. Setola, however, was not one such “financier”.

Describing him this week, senior Neapolitan mafia investigator Franco Roberto said: “Setola is no psychopath. He is neither mad nor a fanatic. He does not kill in the name of Allah, he kills only for business.”

Living in grime and filth, and literally like a sewer rat, hardly makes for your average Hollywood hero. The problem about Gomorra is that it features many such unappetising characters.

Perhaps, this is just one case where the Hollywood boffins simply cannot stand too much reality. That is, of course, unless the Academy intends to give the Best Picture Award to Gomorra and prove us all wrong.

Thanks to Paddy Agnew

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Josepth Quartieri, Fugitive Who Attends Mobster Funerals, Leads to AMW Tips that Take US Marshals on Strange Ride

Joseph Quartieri: It looked as if AMW tips had heated up the cold case of a mobster accused of almost killing a cop in a botched robbery in 1979. But when the leads started to unfold, U.S. Marshals were in for a strange twist.

Esnel Jean: North Miami detectives will never forget the gruesome sight of a woman and two children killed and buried in a homemade crypt. They say the man behind the horrific murders is Esnel Jean, a Haitian voodoo priest. Jean remains the focus of an international manhunt and they need your help to help capture him.

Bradley and Luann Chase: Bradley Chase is back in Indiana after eight years on the run. Chase and his wife Luann were captured in October after appearing on Fifteen Seconds of Shame. It only took AMW viewers 12 hours to capture the duo after they got the publicity they never wanted.

Yaser Said: They say he killed his daughters. In a crime that shocked the nation, two young women were found shot to death in the back of a taxi, and their father is one of the nation's most-wanted men.

Lance Atkins: On Sept. 10, 2008, while attending a birthday party, cops say Lance Atkins got into a heated argument with his sister's boyfriend, Corey Bowman. Cops say Lance got angry, pulled a gun and shot Corey before fleeing the scene.

Anthony Thomas: The U.S. Marshals are hunting a man who they say has a terrible obsession: child pornography. Cops say Anthony Thomas, of Lafayette, La., looked at child pornography websites on his work computer, and a grand jury handed down an indictment against him, but now he's nowhere to be found.

Ricardo Rivera-Torres: Police are looking for Ricardo Juan Rivera-Torres, who they say killed a man in a botched Harrisburg, Pa. robbery. Police say they've rounded up Rivera-Torres' co-conspirators, and now they need your help to take down the last man standing.

Ronald Jackson: Cops in Henrico County, Va. say a brazen daytime break-in left one man seriously injured and another man on the run from law enforcement. Cops say Ronald Jackson is wanted for breaking into a neighbor's home and stabbing his victim seven times with a screwdriver.

Unknown Tim Edwards Killer: After just one visit to Montana Del Oso Ranch in New Mexico, Tim Edwards knew he had found a place to retire. Captivated by the scenery and sunsets, Tim and his wife Lynn moved to the ranch from Arizona, but the land was hiding a deadly secret.

Ramon Gaspar: Police say a 29-year-old woman was resting at a Los Angeles hospital after a surgery when a male nursing assistant, Ramon Eduardo Gaspar, entered her room and molested her.

Unknown Silver Nugget Shooter: On June 25, 2006, someone opened fire inside the Silver Nugget Casino in North Las Vegas, Nev. Cops need you to look at the surveillance video, and they need your tips to bring the shooter to justice.

Adji Desir: Adji Desir, a 6-year-old developmentally disabled Florida boy, has been missing since Saturday, Jan. 11, 2009. Police need your help to bring him home to his family.

Unknown “Cheerleader Letters” Author: Dozens of mysterious letters containing a powdery substance are popping up all over the country and federal agents, including the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspector, are on the manhunt for the sender -- who has been deemed a domestic terrorist.

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