Michael Fassbender to Star in The Story of the #CutlerCrimeFamily in the upcoming movie #TrespassAgainstUs

The film is titled Trespass Against Us, and is the feature debut of director Adam Smith. The narrative will tell the story of three generations of the Cutler crime family. The protagonist, Chad Cutler (Michael Fassbender), seeks an escape from the criminal life his family has known for so long. Elements of action, crime and humor will be infused for what could prove to be an original take on the modern crime drama.

Alastair Siddons will pen the script, while British musical group The Chemical Brothers will compose and perform an original score for the film. Siddons, Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood will produce for the successful London-based company Potboiler Productions.

Even with a recent string of successes, Fassbender is showing no signs of slowing down. While he has two films currently in theaters (The Counselor, 12 Years a Slave), he is also in the process of filming Slow West. After production wraps up Fassbender will be working on more of his highly anticipated projects including X-Men: Days of Future Past, the film adaptation of the popular videogame Assasin’s Creed (he will star as well as produce) and an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

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The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, Tonight on #CrimeBeatRadio

On November 7th, Roger Stone and Mike Colapietro, co-authors of "The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ" appear on Crime Beat Radio.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

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Free Day Offered by @TheMobMuseum on November 15th

The Mob Museum has an offer you can’t refuse.

Friday, Nov. 15, the museum, officially known as The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, will offer free admission for Nevada residents and buy one, get one free admission for tourists to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Kefauver Committee hearings in Las Vegas.

The U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce began a series of hearings in 1950 to focus a spotlight on organized crime in America. The hearings were held in 14 cities across the United States.

On Nov. 15, 1950, U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver (Democrat-Tennessee) led the hearing in Las Vegas, which took place at the federal courthouse and U.S. Post Office (now The Mob Museum).

The hearings were instrumental in focusing the nation’s attention on the prevalence of organized crime in America.

“While these hearings shed light on the prevalence of organized crime throughout the United States, their outcome arguably shaped the evolution of Las Vegas as much as any other single event,” said Jonathan Ullman, executive director, The Mob Museum. “The crackdown on illegal gambling that followed the hearings drove operators to Las Vegas and Nevada — known as the ‘open city’ — and the only city/state in the country where gambling was then legal.”

Additionally, the hearings were televised. Estimates are that 20 to 30 million people watched the hearings — double the audience of the 1950 World Series. The hearings weren’t censored and the American public heard frank and, at times, risqué comments. The hearings were considered history in the making and school systems even dismissed students early so they could watch them with their parents.

Exhibits at The Mob Museum detail not only the history of organized crime in the United States but also of law enforcement and the views of popular culture like comic books and movies.

“November 15 is an especially important date to us at The Mob Museum because our building houses the restored Federal courtroom where, on that date in 1950, the Las Vegas Kefauver Committee hearing took place,” Ullman said.

The Mob Museum, located in Downtown Las Vegas, will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15.

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Paul Bergin, Attorney-Turned-Racketeer, in Stunning Betrayal of the Law

Earlier this year, a man was put on trial in a federal courtroom in Newark, New Jersey. From the list of charges—nearly two dozen in all—he sounded like a gang leader, drug lord, or organized crime boss. He was accused of running a criminal enterprise, conspiring to murder a federal witness, committing wire fraud, distributing cocaine, and facilitating prostitution, bribery, and other crimes. But the individual who was ultimately convicted on 23 criminal counts and sentenced to life in prison was actually a high-powered Newark lawyer, a former New Jersey state and federal prosecutor-turned defense attorney.

His name is Paul Bergrin, and in the end, he sacrificed the oath he had once taken to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States for the chance to line his own pockets. As New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said following the jury conviction, “Bergrin’s conduct was a stunning violation of his role as an officer of the court and a betrayal of his roots as a member of law enforcement.”

For years, Bergrin and his law firm were highly successful. His busy client roster ran the gamut—from famous celebrities to gang leaders and drug traffickers. He was a man-about-town who wore expensive suits, drove luxury cars, and rarely lost a case. But after the 2004 murder of a federal informant who had damaging information about one of Bergrin’s criminal clients, the FBI began an investigation. They uncovered evidence that revealed Bergrin was using his law offices as a cover to conduct illegal activities to protect his criminal clients from prosecution and carry on their unlawful pursuits. He used his position as a criminal defense attorney to manipulate and disrupt court proceedings on behalf of his clients. And of course, he was paid handsomely for all of it.

Among Bergrin’s criminal actions:

• Counseling, intimidating, and sometimes bribing witnesses to offer perjured testimony in favor of his clients or to flee so they wouldn’t be available to testify;
• Coaching an eight-year-old murder witness to lie on the stand, resulting in the acquittal of one of his clients;
• Conspiring with clients to identify, locate, and murder witnesses who would testify against them;
• Using his law firm to launder money for clients, associates, and himself and to set up phony corporations or other legal entities to facilitate even more crimes;
• Running a drug trafficking operation and a prostitution business for two of his clients while they were in jail.
• Bergrin had so many crimes on his plate that he recruited others—including his girlfriend (who worked at the law firm), his law partner, and one of his criminal clients—to take part in his racketeering enterprise. All told, eight of the nine individuals charged in the 2009 indictment pled guilty.

The probe into Bergrin and his co-conspirators was complex and involved investigators from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. After a 2011 trial which ended with a hung jury, his 2013 trial (Bergrin represented himself at both trials) ended a bit differently—the jury quickly found him guilty on all counts.

The case was proof once again that those entrusted with the guardianship of our legal system are not above the law.

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"The Jews of Chicago From Shtetl to Suburb" The fascinating, fully illustrated story of Chicago's vibrant Jewish community

Vividly told and richly illustrated with more than 160 photographs, The Jews of Chicago is the fascinating story of the cultural, religious, fraternal, economic, and everyday life of Chicago's Jews. This edition of Irving Cutler's definitive historical volume also includes a new foreword written by the author.

The first comprehensive history of Chicago's Jewish population in eighty years, The Jews of Chicago brings to life the people, events, neighborhoods, and institutions that helped shape today's Jewish community. Cutler intertwines neighborhood histories with representative biographical vignettes of some of Chicago's best known figures, such as Edna Ferber, Saul Bellow, Benny Goodman, Mel Tormé, Studs Terkel, Paul Muni, Mandy Patinkin, Emil G. Hirsch, Julius Rosenwald, Dankmar Adler, Arthur Goldberg, Philip Klutznick, and many others. From their roots in the Old Country to their present-day communities, Cutler captures in extraordinary detail the remarkable saga of the Jews of Chicago.

"Deeply absorbing even for non-Jews, because of the astonishing history of this ethnic group, an unmatched rags-to-riches story. . . . with crisp prose."--Chicago Sun-Times 

"Deserves a space not only on every Chicagoan's shelf, but on anyone's who is interested in the rich ethnic heritage of the Windy City."--West Coast Jewish News 

"A splendid study. . . . Presents the story with marvelous visual evidence, photo documentation, and superb ethnographic mapping of Jewish institutions in Chicago."--American Jewish History 

"Concise and thoughtfully written, The Jews of Chicago extends Chicago Jewish history . . . beyond any comparable history. It is a testament not merely to the impressive work that Cutler himself has done, but also to the community he chronicles."--Chicago Jewish History 

"A thought provoking history of the Jewish community's development in Chicago and its contribution to our city."--Chicago Tribune 

“Cutler does a masterful job of tracing the history of Chicago’s Jews from the German Jews who came in the 1830s and 1840s to the East European Jews who arrived in large numbers from 1880 to 1925.”--Jerusalem Post

Irving Cutler is professor emeritus of geography at Chicago State University and a founding member of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. He has written extensively on Chicago and is well known for his tours by boat and bus and for his illustrated lectures on Chicago.

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