Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong

Featuring an exclusive 20 page interview with The Sopranos' creator David Chase, Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong, sheds light on the often misunderstood gangster film by looking by looking at movies from Hollywood and Hong Kong over several decades.

From Little Caesar and The Godfather to The Sopranos, Martha Nochimson deftly illustrates the dark themes of dislocation and disorientation that define true gangster films.

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Former Business Manager Charged with Theft from @LIUNA

A former business manager of the Local 657 of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) was charged with stealing from the organization.

Anthony Wendel Frederick Sr., 49, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the former Business Manager of Local 657 of LIUNA based in Washington, D.C., was charged by criminal complaint with one count of theft from a labor organization.

LIUNA is a labor organization that represents laborers in the construction industry. LIUNA’s Local 657 represents construction laborers in Washington, D.C. and five adjacent counties.  For approximately 10 years, until June 2014, Frederick served as the business manager for Local 657.

The criminal complaint alleges that, from May 2013 to June 2014, Frederick directed more than $1.7 million in Local 657 funds to STS Contracting of Greenbelt, Maryland, without the knowledge or authorization of the Local 657 Executive Board or officials in LIUNA International. Specifically, according to the criminal complaint, a routine audit of the local union by LIUNA in June 2014 revealed that Frederick had paid nearly $1.1 million to STS Contracting for minimal renovations at the Local 657 administrative building. In addition, the complaint alleges that, without authorization, Frederick directed over $580,000 in Local 657 funds to STS Contracting for expediting permits for the construction of a new training center for Local 657, which project was being handled by another construction firm. According to the criminal complaint, the LIUNA auditor also discovered that Frederick grossly overpaid STS Contracting for expediting various permits, including $20,000 to expedite a $143 excavation permit, and over $20,000 to renew existing permits, which could have been accomplished online for approximately $250 apiece.

The criminal complaint further alleges that STS Contracting paid a down payment of $225,000 on a home purchased by Frederick, and directed more than $600,000 to a corporation owned in part by Frederick’s wife. In addition, STS Contracting principals allegedly depleted a company bank account, which contained only stolen Local 657 funds, by withdrawing more than $500,000 in cash and using the remainder for personal items, entertainment, shopping trips, hotel stays and overseas travel.

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Remembering 9/11

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Pablo Escobar was a rapper (More Narcos)

Pablo Escobar was a rapper. A member of the underclass with no upward mobility who decided to take matters into his own hands and not only triumphed, but had the whole world watching and his minions paying fealty.

If you remember, rap replaced hair bands. Not overnight, the initial hits were nearly a decade before. But when MTV saw the rap ratings, they switched videos, guys from the ghetto became millionaires. And the white people who thought they ran this country, controlled people's hearts and minds, found out they didn't.

Like Escobar, the newly-minted rap impresarios lived large. They weren't saving for retirement, they weren't even planning to get to retirement. Money can't buy you love, but it can buy you a boat, some sex and a big 'ol house and a Maybach. Which everybody can view. A college degree sits on the wall, but clothes and babes and parties and jets are for all to see.

Now eventually the rappers got co-opted by the money. That's what happens with anti-establishment figures, once they have something to protect, they want to. And the public...it's left out, withering on the vine, kind of like today.

We've got a great unwashed underclass with no opportunity. We've got a failing middle class that just can't believe the jobs are gone. And a horrified upper middle class, that believed its Ivy League degrees were a Get Out of Jail Free card, that they could survive on their education, when the truth is we live in the land of money, and unless you've got it, you're screwed.

Oh, you can be a techie. And what's most interesting about the techies is like Escobar and rappers they see no rules, and those that are in their way are broken. It's what happened with Napster, and if you think the music industry won there, you're probably still buying CDs. Because once the flower of justice blooms, life is never the same.

Fifteen dollar CDs with one overpriced track were too much. People poured through the hole Napster provided. To bitch about Spotify and Apple Music is to misunderstand history, they're just trying to put a wall around the chaos. The people want all the music for a very low price, and that ain't gonna change. And then there are the bankers. Who skim in ways not only the government can't understand, but neither can most of Wall Street's workers. As for the hedge funders, they've rigged the tax system to their advantage, the government can't get them, because they're paying elected officials off. If you think this is any different from how Pablo Escobar reigned, you think bankers don't snort cocaine. But they do. And the leader of the rap cartel was Jay Z. Who escaped the streets with the most money and the best babe and got cash from major corporations to boot. But then he made a mistake, he forgot his roots, he bought Tidal, not realizing that once you've left your audience's side, once you're no longer doing it for them, you're screwed.

So Jay Z has been replaced by Donald Trump. Who was born on third base, maybe second, and is far from home, he lies about his success, but he's a beacon to the underclass...that someone at the top is on their team, someone at the top is telling the truth.

Did you see Trump came down on Karl Rove?

"Why does @oreillyfactor and @FoxNews always have Karl Rove on. He spent $430 million and lost ALL races. A dope who said Romney won election"

Who says this stuff? Who speaks the truth?

Once upon a time Pablo Escobar did. And then the rappers. And now Trump.

Illustrating that he who ties in with the underprivileged ultimately wins. Not only do politicians no longer get it, that the public is fed-up with D.C., but it's musicians too. Musicians haven't been in bed with their audience for such a long time. They scalp their own tickets and rake in money from endorsements and keep bitching that's someone's screwing THEM without realizing that the system is screwing their audience every damn day, and unless you're humble and know which side your toast is buttered on, your piece of bread is going to be burned.

Out of fear our whole nation has been running for safety, in a game of musical chairs where most are left out. Not realizing there will be a price to pay.

We're looking for leaders.

Don't like today's music? Just wait a while, the slate's gonna be wiped clean. Just like the gays killed corporate rock with disco and the rappers killed hair bands, something is gonna come along and knock vapid pop off its perch. Could take years, but it's coming.

As for politicians and the rich... Let this be the great awakening, you can't leave the rest of us this far behind for this long. Rules, schmules. Laws, schlaws. Did laws stop the internet? Where the revolutionaries spread their gospel? Hell, even Muslim terrorists employ the internet for propaganda today. There's less control than ever before. And what side you're on counts. In Colombia, they shot the rich, those who got in their way. Because the truth is nobody is protected. How it goes down in America..? We'll see. But one thing we know is what's happening today ain't gonna last.

Never does.

The oligarchs and their sycophants, everybody worshipping cash and believing they're immune, they've got another thing coming. Because human nature trumps money. And those who help their brother ultimately succeed.

Fight abortion and unions and taxes and then find out...

The public isn't with you. Isn't that the essence of Trump? Read Paul Krugman's piece for insight ("Trump Is Right On Economics": http://nyti.ms/1NkPeik). Everything you thought you knew was wrong. And the control the media thinks it has is nonexistent.

This is when people fight for their rights. When their backs are up against the wall and they see no options.

That's how we got Pablo Escobar. And that's how we got rap.

What's next?

Thanks to Bob Lefsetz.

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100 Things Bears Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

Revealing the most critical moments and important facts about past and present players, coaches, and teams that are part of the storied history that is Bears football, 100 Things Bears Fans Should Know & Do Before They Diehas pep talks, records, and Bears lore scattered throughout the pages. The Bears’ longtime rivalry with the Green Bay Packers, little-known facts about many of the Bears’ record 27 Hall of Famers, and profiles of unforgettable Bears personalities such as Ditka, Payton, Jim McMahon, Brian Urlacher, Jay Cutler, and others are all included.

Die-hard fans who know all the words to the “Super Bowl Shuffle” and new supporters alike will find everything Bears boosters should know, see, and do in their lifetime.

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Gang Members Transformed into Domestic Terrorists

Paul Paudert, a retired chief of police from West Memphis, Ark., told a group of assembled North Carolina law enforcement officers that he considers gang members to be domestic terrorists.

“They represent organized crime, basically," Paudert said. "They are in all of our communities, and they threaten people. People are intimidated by them, and that's basically what the definition of a domestic terrorist is."

Paudert, a featured speaker at the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association conference in Pinehurst, lost his son, a Memphis police officer, to gang violence. “When my son arrived on the scene, within two minutes, this 16-year-old kid gets out with an AK-47 and guns down both officers, shoots my son 14 times and his partner 11 times and kills them,” Paudert said.

Since his retirement, Paudert spends his time at events like the one in Pinehurst, trying to keep other officers safe.

The 500 lawmen in attendance at the three-day conference also heard from experts on how gangs are using social media to recruit new members and how they are turning to human trafficking or prostitution as a means of getting cash.

“They’ll take a young lady, and they’ll sell her via prostitution, human trafficking, and they make on average about $160,000 off of one female in a year,” said Mark Bridgeman, president of the gang investigators association.

Bridgeman said gangs are overwhelming small North Carolina cities with small police forces that are not well-equipped to deal with violent gang members.

The information shared in Pinehurst helps not only those North Carolina communities but also cities and gang investigators elsewhere. "Gang members are in our prison system, they're in our school system, they're in our community, and people need to know about gangs to be safe," Bridgeman said.

Bridgeman, a Fayetteville police officer, said there are even gang members in the military learning military tactics they use on the streets when they get out of the service.

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3 Convicted Felons from Chicago Area Indicted on Federal Firearm Offenses

Three Chicago-area men with prior felony convictions have been indicted on federal gun charges for illegally possessing semiautomatic weapons. THADDEUS JIMENEZ, 36, of Des Plaines, was arrested in Chicago while in possession of a loaded Kimber, Sapphire-model, .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol. He was charged with one count of being a felon-in-possession of a firearm, according to the indictment. Jimenez was previously convicted of a felony.

JOSE ROMAN, 22, of Chicago, was also arrested in Chicago while in possession of a firearm. The indictment charges Roman with being a felon-in-possession of a firearm for possessing a loaded Mossberg International, 715T-model, .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle. Roman was previously convicted of a felony. The indictment against Jimenez and Roman was returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

A third defendant, DANTRELL WILLIAMS, 19, was charged in a separate indictment with being a felon-in-possession of a firearm. Williams, of Chicago, was arrested while in possession of a loaded Romarm, GP WASR-series, semiautomatic rifle, according to the indictment. He was previously convicted of a felony.

The charge of being a felon-in-possession of a firearm carries a maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to aggressively using federal gun laws to fight violent crime,” said Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “We will prosecute violent offenders with vigor, using whatever federal tools are appropriate, as part of our ongoing partnership with the city and state to protect Chicago’s neighborhoods against violence.”

Mr. Fardon announced the indictments along with Jeffrey A. Magee, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; John A. Brown, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

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