Courtroom Drama Spotlights The Right To Stand Your Ground - A Cry For Justice #GeorgiaJustice

Stand Your Ground: A Cry for Justice depicts the real-life drama that GA resident Jackie Carpenter and her family were thrust into after her son was arrested for an accidental shooting. Based on Jackie’s two books, Stand Your Ground runs the gamut of emotions from tragedy to triumph and has all the makings of a blockbuster hit!



No mother should have to endure the ordeal that Jackie Carpenter and her family were put through as a result of her son’s arrest after he accidentally shot a man stealing from his worksite. And never in her wildest dreams could this Georgia mom have known that she would become an author as a result of this terrifying experience, that her two books would be made into an award-winning movie, or that her son’s case would be considered “textbook” in the annals of legal cases and be taught to future first year law students!

Taking first place in the Alaska International Film Festival, Stand Your Ground: A Cry For Justice by Triple Horse Studios is the award-winning movie that tells the gripping story of Jackie Carpenter’s quest to save her family. Jackie’s idyllic life was frozen in time the day she heard her son was arrested for felony murder when all he did was defend his worksite from constant theft. Unfortunately, as he held the men at bay while waiting for the police to arrive, his gun accidentally fired and one of the men died. This is a movie that everyone needs to see because it shows how something that happens in a split second can change a life forever. While it has all the terror and tragedy of a blockbuster movie hit, this one is real life!

Stand Your Ground, tells the explosive story of the ten-month trial and how Jackie Carpenter’s faith was tested to the max. The trailer for the movie won Award of Excellence in the Best Short Competition and Award of Merit in The Accolade Competition, and has been nominated as Best Picture in the ICVM Crown Awards and entered in the Gideon Film Festival! Please watch: http://acryforjusticemovie.com to see the exciting trailer.

Feeling physically, mentally and emotionally ill through the first six months of this ordeal resulted in Jackie questioning her faith. All this loving mom knew was that she needed God on her side throughout the trial and she prayed relentlessly, asking for strength and renewed faith. Once she stopped doubting, courage replaced fear and she knew that God heard her plea.

Jackie’s first book, The Bridge: Between Cell Block A and a Miracle is Psalm 91, tells the traumatic events after her son’s arrest and how she used the prayer of protection, Psalm 91, to help face the turmoil of emotions raging through her and help her find the strength to hold her family together. Her second book, Georgia Justice, is a story of building faith. Jackie was able to overcome the grips of doubt and depression and her book acts as a guide for anyone wanting to renew and strengthen faith and hope on the road to ultimate victory.

Jackie Carpenter has been a featured guest on television, radio, and in newspaper articles. For information on Jackie and her books, or the extraordinary movie that will have audiences white-knuckled and hanging on to the edge of their seats, please visit: www.bridgetoamiracle.com.

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Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels - Chronicles Epic Struggle Between Pablo Escobar & Cali Cartel in History’s Biggest #GangWar

Escobar VS Cali: The War of the Cartels (Gangland Mysteries), chronicles the fascinating story of history’s biggest gang war. The setting: Colombia, South America; the time: the 1980s and early 1990s. The participants were known as cartels, and they were responsible for flooding the world with billions of dollars worth of cocaine. The epic death struggle pitted Pablo Escobar, the so called “World’s Greatest Outlaw” and leader of the Medellin cartel, against the brothers Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Chess Player,” and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Boss”. the leaders of the powerful Cali cartel. The war left thousands of Colombians dead, spawned the term “narcoterrorism” and almost turned Colombia into a narcodemocracy. The gang war, moreover, had major implications for the U.S.’s War on Drug.

When the momentous battle ended, Escobar was dead and the Cali Cartel stood tall as the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organization. So who were the major players in the gangland war? How did it play out? Who took out Pablo Escobar? What role did the U.S. play? Author Ron Chepesiuk takes the reader behind the scenes of the war to the death and investigates a gangland mystery. Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels is must read for anyone who enjoys true crime and a good story. D4 Entertainment has optioned the film rights to the book.

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Trailer for @ChiraqtheMovie focuses on Violence in Chicago with Satire #MurderCapitalUSA #Chiraq

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Revisiting the Mob Career of Tony Spilotro

Tony Spilotro, who would eventually be portrayed by Joe Pesci in the Martin Scorcese film "Casino," was born and raised in “The Patch,” a near west side Chicago neighborhood that was a haven for Italian immigrants in the 1940s and 50s. Spilotro entered high school at Steinmetz, but when his father had a stroke and died the next year, he dropped out and started a full-time life of crime. All but one of his five brothers, along with a number of neighbors, became members of the Chicago mob, and a few played starring roles.

During the 1970s, Tony Spilotro was fronted in Las Vegas by childhood friend Frank Rosenthal (portrayed by Robert DeNiro in "Casino"), who ran numerous mob-backed gambling operations, to become the enforcer for Chicago. Spilotro was already known for his brutality and quickly established an embezzling scheme that took a cut for mob families in Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Los Angeles.

Leo Foreman was the first brutal murder that Spilotro was accused of, supposedly in retribution because the loan shark (Foreman) had disrespected Chicago mob boss Sam DeStefano. Spilotro also is thought to have murdered Tamara Rand, a California real estate broker, in 1975, because she was suing over an unpaid $2 million loan to Spilotro’s Las Vegas associate Allen Glick.

When Tony was blacklisted by the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1979, which barred him from being physically present in a casino, Spilotro’s role of enforcer was curtailed. By that time, he had branched out into other activities like fencing stolen property and conducting a burglary operation with his brother Michael. The first Chicago mob informants flipped by the FBI named Spilotro in the murder of Leo Foreman, and a half dozen other close associates who accused Spilotro of ordering or carrying out mob murders.

By the early 1980s, Spilotro had already broke with Rosenthal after he had an affair with Rosenthal’s wife. When Frank Cullotta, a childhood friend who had remained an insider, began to fear that Spilotro was going to kill him, Cullotta began talking to the FBI.

Spilotro was acquitted in Chicago on a murder charge stemming in part from Cullotta’s testimony, but by 1986 the mobster had been implicated in about 22 murders and had lots of enemies in and out of jail.  Among other high-profile killings, Spilotro was suspected of being involved in the murder of his mentor Sam DeStefano and mob kingpin Sam Giancana.

There are several theories about how Tony and his brother Michael were lured to a summit meeting likely in Bensenville or North Riverside, Ill., and subsequently beaten and killed on June, 14, 1986.

About 10 days after the murders, the partially decomposed bodies of Tony and Michael Spilotro were found buried in a cornfield within the 12,000-acre Willow Slough preserve, in Newton County, Indiana. The farmer who spotted the site of the burial investigated at first because he thought a poacher had buried a deer killed out of season. The coroner noted that the bodies appeared to have been beaten to death by several people, and numerous people were eventually convicted. Of the 7-8 suspects in the Spilotro killings, several were convicted, others flipped and received lighter sentences in later cases, but everyone who was known to be at the meeting where the brothers were murdered, went to jail or died.

Thanks to Pat Collander.

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Monster Sized Mobster Trial to Begin #MafiaCapital

The biggest mob trial in modern-day Rome opens on Thursday, with a one-eyed former neo-fascist gangster and 45 other defendants in the dock accused of operating a mafia network that plundered city coffers.

The trial is the result of the "Mafia Capital" investigation, which laid bare allegations of mobsters, bureaucrats and politicians working hand-in-fist to siphon off millions of euros from services covering everything from refugee centres to trash collection.

At the heart of the scandal sits Massimo Carminati, a one-time member of Rome's notorious far-right Magliana Gang, and his sidekick Salvatore Buzzi, a convicted murderer.

Italian police allege Carminati and Buzzi infiltrated Rome's city hall and got their hands on lucrative public contracts. Police have released an array of wiretaps that they say show the defendants openly discussing their various schemes.

"Do you have any idea how much you can make from immigrants? The drugs trade brings you less money," Buzzi said in one call.

Both Buzzi and Carminati have denied the mafia charges.

As recently as 2013, the main government representative in the Rome region downplayed the existence of the mafia in the city, but the police probe, which was made public last December, suggested that much of local administration was rotten.

"Rome is unfortunately fundamentally corrupt," said Alfonso Sabella, a renowned Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor who was drafted into the city after the Mafia Capital scandal detonated late last year.

"This is not your traditional mafia involved in drug dealing or extortion rackets. This is something original," he told Reuters, saying mobsters found accomplices in officials and politicians of all colours.

Police say the group was organised like a mob clan and have classified it as a mafia case. However, they say it was independent of the traditional southern Italian mafias.

Amongst those standing trial are Luca Gramazio, the former head of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party on the regional council, and Mirko Coratti, former head of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party on the Rome city council.

Both have denied wrongdoing.

The case will open in Rome's main courthouse but will then switch to the court bunker in the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, where it is easier to secure large groups of defendants. It is expected to run until at least next July.

Carminati, who lost an eye in a police shoot-out in the early 1980s, is being held in a maximum security jail and will only be allowed to follow proceedings via a video link.

An initial, fastracked trial tied to the scandal ended on Tuesday, with all four defendants, including a senior city official, found guilty and handed prison terms of between four and five years.

Prosecutors allege that mobsters flourished in Rome following the 2008 election of right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno, who is under investigation for graft, but does not face any mafia-related charges and is not involved in this trial.

Alemanno's successor, the centre-left Ignazio Marino, is not implicated in the case, but was forced to resign last week following in an unrelated expenses scandal.

Sabella says city hall has been purged over the past year.

"I would put my hand in the fire and say there is now no mafia in city hall. But I can't say the same about corruption. Even as we speak, someone is probably paying someone a bribe somewhere in the Rome city council," he said.

"That is what makes one so bitter."

Thanks to Crispian Balmer.

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