Italian Mafia Drama, "Gomorra" Named Best Picture at European Film Awards

The Italian film "Gomorra", a harrowing drama about the Naples Mafia by Matteo Garrone, won five top prizes at the 21st European Film Awards in Copenhagen on Saturday.

"Gomorra" took the awards for best film, best director, best actor (Toni Servillo), best screenplay (Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni de Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso and Roberto Saviano) and the Carlo di Palma award for best photography (Marco Onorato).

Kristin Scott Thomas won the European award as best actress in the French film "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime" ("I've Loved You So Long") by Philippe Claudel.

The Berlin-based European Film Academy's board chairman Yves Marnion said "Gomorra" had "a very special aura that goes beyond its country" of origin.

"This is the year of Italy which has shown us with 'Il Divo' that European cinema is of very good quality, very close to the realities in this world," he told AFP.

Director Garrone said: "I share the price with the Neapolitan people who live in danger, and I want to thank everyone who has participated in this dangerous movie".

Academy chief Wim Wenders, the German film director, said he was "not at all surprised by the number of statuettes won by 'Gomorra', an excellent film, which is a sign of the vitality of the European cinema, which can travel and be successful elsewhere".

He told AFP: "It was a great selection this year. A lot of films are travelling in many European countries. I think it's a great year."

Thanks to AFP

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Jane Byrne and the Cabal of Evil Men

I first met Jane Byrne before Thanksgiving in 1978 at a meeting of the “Bogan Broads” — that was their name and they were proud of it — at a hotel in Burbank across the city’s Southwest Side border.

The former Commissioner of Consumer Sales and favored cabinet member of her mentor, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, Byrne wore a long, tattered overcoat and wig.

She spoke of “reform” and making Chicago schools “more accountable” to parents in addressing the all-white coalition of women who fought busing and were often castigated, unfairly, as being racist.

No one wanted to cover Byrne at the small community newspaper where I worked. I was the newspaper’s City Hall reporter — also a job no other reporter wanted because the mayor, at the time, Michael Bilandic, was considered “boring.”

I wasn’t bored. I wanted the assignment. I chased Byrne around the city from stop-to-stop.

No one believed Byrne could win. Ald. Ed Burke, accused of being a member of a “Cabal of Evil Men,” predicted before the Feb. 27, 1979 Democratic Primary that Byrne would lose because “no one wanted their aunt” to be the mayor.

Other members of the Cabal included Ed Vrdolyak, whose slippery days ended recently with his felony corruption confession. Vrdolyak is headed towards jail, where he will be forgotten. Another was Fred Roti, the kind and gentle alderman of the notorious 1st Ward, then under the grips of the Chicago Outfit.

I remember Byrne coming to City Hall and the reporters yawning. But I ran downstairs and wrote down her quotes and turned in a story.

I still have my reporter’s notebooks with notes and a collection of audio cassette tapes of her press conferences covering the first three years that she eventually served as mayor. Byrne shocked the world and defeated Bilandic and the Chicago Democratic Machine.

Although Bilandic should have won, Mother Nature had other plans, delivering a crippling snowstorm just before the primary that exposed how poorly the city was being run. I attended a precinct captains meeting at the Bismarck Hotel, where Bilandic compared himself to Jesus Christ and the precinct captains to the Disciples. He said he was being persecuted by the anti-Christ who was, back then, columnist Mike Royko.

I remember chasing County Board President and Party Chairman George Dunne through the Bismarck with a herd of 45 reporters and camera crews knocking down coat racks and tables, and bruising knees and ankles trying to get a quote from him.

Everyone expected Byrne to change the city. She started to change, but with a vindictive flare that was truly vindictive and not simply thrown her way because she was a woman.

Byrne was mad at Morgan Finley, who had planned to hire her former reporter and current husband, Jay McMullen, but was forced to renege on the deal under pressure from Bilandic and his chief aide, Tom Donovan. I wrote that story, and McMullen threatened to punch me in the nose. I see Donovan driving around these days in a big car with his wife shopping in Orland Park, where I now live.

By late 1979, Byrne abandoned reform for power, fearing her rival Richie Daley, the late mayor’s son. She joined the Cabal, which led her on the road to defeat four years later, opening the door to the city’s first African-American mayor, Harold Washington.

Byrne should be remembered. Despite much controversy, she did some good. (Visit RadioChicagoland.com to read online the 20-year profile I wrote about Byrne for the Chicago Reader.)

Thanks to Ray Hanania

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Rosemont Mayor to Return Campaign Contribution from Alleged Mob-Linked Company

The mayor of Rosemont, whose suburb is among three finalists vying to land a casino, is returning a campaign contribution from an alleged mob-linked company after an inquiry by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Better Government Association.

The company, D&P Construction, gave $400 in November 2007 to the Regular Republican Voters League of Leyden Township, which is headed by Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens. In 2001, the Illinois Gaming Board said the company was tied to "individuals who have been identified as known members of organized crime."

Stephens said the Leyden Republican group's treasurer mistakenly deposited D&P's check, which was among hundreds of checks to come in after a fundraiser. "She was almost in tears when I questioned her, 'How did this get through the cracks?' " Stephens said.

The contribution - along with others examined as part of a Sun-Times/BGA analysis - is prompting new questions about an old subject - whether Rosemont is a suitable home for the state's last-available casino license.

In 2004, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan documented ties between Bradley Stephens' father, then-Rosemont Mayor Donald Stephens, and persons connected to reputed mobsters.

D&P's owner, Josephine DiFronzo, did not respond to requests for comment. The company was a focus of a gaming board disciplinary case that stopped Emerald Casino from building a floating gambling barge in Rosemont in 2001. The board eventually revoked Emerald's gaming license, setting the stage for it to be re-bid this year.

Last week, the Chicago Crime Commission encouraged the state board to remove Rosemont from the casino race. "In our view, the inability of the Illinois Gaming Board to address the concerns about alleged mob ties is enough to disqualify their application," said J.R. Davis, the commission's president.

The gaming board's five members plan to award the license to one of three bidders by year's end. Trilliant Gaming, which wants to build in Rosemont, is widely seen as the leading contender. Its $435 million bid is more than double what others are offering to put the casino in Waukegan or Des Plaines.

Jim Wagner, formerly a top FBI mob investigator and gaming board investigations chief, said the $400 from D&P to the Stephens-run political group raises new concerns about Rosemont. "D&P is, to me, a company that has been so often in the news that there should be every attempt to disassociate themselves from that company," said Wagner, who recently stepped down as head of the Chicago Crime Commission. "The problems that are in Rosemont should be enough to disqualify putting the casino in that environment."

Stephens, who became mayor after his father's death last year, said any mob taint to his community is a thing of the past. And he scoffed at the idea he'd risk a lucrative casino project for a $400 political contribution.

He also said he has adopted his father's policy of rejecting campaign contributions from anyone whose integrity has been questioned by the gaming board.

"To keep throwing this stuff up is ridiculous," Stephens said.

The Sun-Times and the BGA examined campaign contributions from people and companies involved in the state board's disciplinary complaint against Emerald. In that March 2001 document, the gaming board said: "The owner of D&P, Josephine DiFronzo, is married to Peter DiFronzo and is the sister-in-law of John DiFronzo, individuals who have been identified as known members of organized crime. Emerald's failure to exercise appropriate supervision resulted in work being performed at the site by D&P."

D&P also had done waste-hauling work in Rosemont, but Donald Stephens severed ties with the company after the gaming board's case was made public. The late mayor also donated to charity thousands of dollars in campaign cash he'd received from the company.

Besides its 2007 contribution to to the Regular Republican Voters League of Leyden Township, D&P gave $1,350 to the Rosemont Voters League on Jan. 17, 2000 and another $1,150 on Jan. 19, 2001.

The Voters League has supported the campaigns of several Rosemont village trustees, including Bradley Stephens before he became mayor, park district commissioners and school board members. Rosemont officials said they believe the organization gave the D&P contributions to charity but don't have records to show that.

D&P's contribution troubles Jay Stewart, the BGA's executive director. "Maybe Mayor Stephens' pledge to not take money from D&P is as sincere as the day is long," Stewart said. "But if this got through the cracks, what else might?"

Thanks to Chris Fusco

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John Gotti's Brother, Vincent, Gets 8 Years in Prison After Failing to Carry Out a Hit

The late John Gotti's brother was hit with an eight-year prison term yesterday for trying to whack a man whom he had accused of fooling around with his wife.

Reputed Gambino soldier Vincent Gotti, 56, previously 'fessed up to putting a contract out on bagel store owner Angelo Mugnolo in May 2003 after telling mob cohorts about the supposed affair.

"I am extremely remorseful for my actions," Vincent told Brooklyn federal Judge Jack Weinstein as his wife sat beside him. "I am very sorry to my wife and my children for the pain I have caused them."

His nephew, Richard Gotti, 41, also was sentenced to eight years behind bars yesterday for orchestrating the botched rubout.

A hit team shot Mugnolo three times outside his house in Howard Beach, but he survived.

Thanks to Kati Cornell

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"Chicago Jane Doe" ID'd as Marlaina Reed and Her Case is to be Featured on America's Most Wanted

Chicago Jane Doe: When AMW first told the story of "Chicago Jane Doe" we knew nothing about her. She was a victim without a name but police in the Windy City were determined as ever to solve her case. With the help of a local dentist, Chicago Police identified Jane Doe as teenager Marlaina Reed. You might remember that Jane Doe had distinctive braces on her teeth and it looked like she had tried to pull them off herself. A Chicago dentist and his receptionist saw sketches in a local professional journal and recognized the young girl and the dental work. They contacted police and a positive identification was made. Windy City detectives are now one step closer to solving Marlaina's case, but they still need your help to find her killer.

Noe Torres: On the night of Sept. 15, 2005, 10-year-old Carlos Perez went to bed knowing that he had a big day ahead of him: it was to be his 11th birthday. That night, in his sleep, Carlos was killed in a hail of gunfire in his bed. The accused shooter, Noe Torres, is still at large, and an accomplice who has already been convicted of the crime -- Edward Salas -- has escaped from a New Mexico jail.

George Perez: Cops in Baltimore, Md. say a bookkeeper there was not only cooking his employer's books, he was placing bets with his employer's money. Police say 32-year-old George Michael Perez embezzled more than $1 million from the company he worked for in order to fund his luxury lifestyle, but when his plan to beat the charges went up in smoke, he hit the road.

Curi Tapia-Martinez: A few short years ago, authorities in North Dakota and Minnesota thought they'd all but solved their methamphetamine crisis, shutting down most of the region's clandestine labs. What no one realized was that Mexican drug cartels were prepared to bring their laboratory-grade product to the market.

Courtenay Savage: On nights when the moon was full, a Florida family was awakened by the sound of gunshots blasting their home and their cars, the shooter sometimes firing into bedrooms where children were sleeping. Now, police say an AMW tipster helped take the woman responsible down.

Ask John Walsh Feature: The AMW Safety Center gets flooded with questions from viewers like you. This week AMW viewer Jennifer Harris from Richmond, VA asks AMW Host John Walsh about how to stay protected at home without overreacting.

Adam Klutz: Deputy Klutz is survived by his parents. Deputy Adam Klutz was shot to death when he responded to a 9-1-1 hang-up call. The suspect, an ex-cop and Iraq War veteran, fled, launching a statewide manhunt, but later killed himself.

Nadia Kersh: Nadia Kersh was last seen leaving her job at the Tria Market in Homeland, Ala. for lunch. Family and friends became alarmed when she didn't return to work, and she failed to pick up her young son from daycare.

Omar Nunes: Police say that when accused father-and-son drug dealing team Calvin and Omar Nunes went to buy crack from their supplier, things didn't go as smoothly as planned. Cops tell us the trio began arguing over money, and all three pulled guns -- but only two of them left the room alive.

Tobechi Onwuhara: The FBI says Nigerian Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara worked to defraud banks and individuals, including Sen. Strom Thurmond's former chief of staff, and the consummate con man with a seemingly-bottomless bag of tricks managed to steal tens of millions. Now, the feds need your help to catch him.

Michael Wilson: Police in South Carolina are looking for a sex offender who they say is likely to strike again. He's been convicted of sexually assaulting one woman, and cops now want him for the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

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