Mafia

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Trial Revisits Infamous Heist Portrayed in Goodfellas

The Lufthansa robbery was one of the largest cash heists in US history

(Newser) - For decades, prosecutors say, Vincent Asaro managed to keep his role in an infamous mob heist immortalized in the hit movie Goodfellas hidden from the outside world while others of his generation were locked up or died gangland deaths. A frail-looking Asaro finally emerged from the shadows after his arrest...

Godfather Funeral Outrages Romans

Flower petals were thrown from a helicopter

(Newser) - Romans aghast at a spiraling Mafia probe found new reason for outrage yesterday over the Hollywood-style funeral of a purported local crime boss: It was replete with a gilded, horse-drawn carriage, flower petals tossed from a helicopter, and the theme music from The Godfather playing outside the church. Hundreds of...

Cops Crack Mafia's Bizarre Sheep Farming Code

Communication pointed to messages hidden at Sicily farm

(Newser) - Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has been on the run since 1993, but Italian police hope a series of raids early today will bring them closer to putting one of the most wanted criminals in Europe behind bars, per Deutsche Welle . Authorities say they arrested 11 alleged associates of...

Chemical Weapons Transfer to Take Place in Mafia Hub

Locals worried about effect on environment, health

(Newser) - The most lethal chemical weapons in Syria’s arsenal will be transferred onto the US Navy ship MV Cape Ray tomorrow, but contamination isn’t the only concern, reports the Daily Beast . The transfer of 1,300 tons of chemical weapons from the Danish vessel Ark Futura, including mustard gas...

Century-Old Mafia Murder Apparently Solved

Alleged Mafioso accidentally reveals that his father's uncle did it

(Newser) - After more than 100 years, Italian police believe they've solved the killing of a famed New York police detective, after an alleged modern Mafioso allegedly bragged about his relative's role in the killing. NYPD Lieutenant Joe Petrosino, who was something of a celebrity during his lifetime, was gunned...

Pope: Mafiosi Excommunicated

First time a pope has used word to address organized crime

(Newser) - Pope Francis issued a powerful condemnation of the Mafia today, saying the mafiosi and others who follow an evil path "are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated." Never before has a pope specifically referred to "excommunication" of the mafiosi, Reuters notes. The pope was speaking...

Ex-Mobster: I Have Secrets to Confess to the Pope

Vincenzo Calcara wants to meet with Pope Francis

(Newser) - In what could be one of history's more intriguing cases of a Catholic confessing his sins, a former mobster has asked for a meeting with Pope Francis so he can confess three "very important secrets." Vincenzo Calcara, described by the BBC as a "mafia turncoat" who...

Pope Blasts Mafia: Repent or Go to Hell

Francis says mobsters' 'blood-stained' money is worthless

(Newser) - Pope Francis attended a vigil for mafia victims in Rome yesterday, reports the BBC , but he made bigger headlines by unloading on the mobsters themselves in his remarks:
  • "This life that you live now won't give you pleasure," he said. "It won't give you joy
...

Japan's Crime Gangs Went Where, Exactly?

Police say yakuza membership is declining due to stricter laws

(Newser) - Japan's underworld crime syndicates, or yakuza, have apparently dwindled over the years, raising the question of where they've gone and why they dropped out of sight, the Daily Beast reports. Police say stricter laws have pressured yakuza members out of the business, by empowering financial institutions to punish...

FBI Files: Ali Win May Have Been Fixed

 FBI Files: 
 Ali Win May 
 Have Been 
 Fixed 
 
in case you missed it
Mar 1, 2014 7:01 PM CST

FBI Files: Ali Win May Have Been Fixed

Documents reveal man with mob ties suspected in iconic Ali-Liston battle

(Newser) - Could the fight that put Muhammad Ali on the map have been a sham? The FBI had reason to believe that 22-year-old Ali's first bout against heavyweight champ Sonny Liston was rigged, and that the mob may have been involved, according to decades-old documents obtained by the Washington Times...

Sicilian Mafia Put a Hit on Giuliani

But the Gambino family said no way in the 1980's

(Newser) - The Sicilian mob hated Rudy Giuliani so much when he worked as a federal prosecutor in New York back in the 1980s that it sent a hit man to the US to get rid of him, reports the New York Post . Similar reports have surfaced before , but a mafia turncoat...

Another Mafia Gift: Toxic Waste, Cancer Clusters

Italy vows to crack down, but the damage is widespread

(Newser) - It seems that when the Italian mafia isn't killing 3-year-olds or threatening the pope , its henchmen are busy illegally burying toxic waste. A New York Times story today reports that the Camorra crime family has buried millions of tons of the stuff—from asbestos sheets to industrial-strength glue—since...

Mafia 'Hit' on 3-Year-Old Rattles Italy

'Coco' Campolongo was gunned down with his grandfather

(Newser) - Little Nicola "Coco" Campolongo has become the latest focal point in Italy for anger against the mafia. As the Daily Beast explains, the toddler was executed along with his grandfather and his grandfather's companion over an apparent drug debt. The killers shot all three in the head, and...

Italian Cops Decipher Mafia Code on Initiation Rite

You'll need 5 people to do it right

(Newser) - "For the baptism, five people are needed—no more and no less," reads the coded instructions. But this "baptism" isn't the usual sort: It's for new members of the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate in Italy, reports the Telegraph . Police discovered the instructions during a murder...

Mobster &#39;Fed Alive to Pigs&#39;
 Mobster 'Fed Alive to Pigs' 
Nov 29, 2013 1:12 AM CST

Mobster 'Fed Alive to Pigs'

Italian cops say killing was revenge for rival's murder

(Newser) - There are fates worse than sleeping with the fishes. Police in Italy believe a Mafia boss who disappeared last year was kidnapped by a rival clan who beat him with metal bars before feeding to a herd of pigs who devoured him as he screamed for mercy, the Telegraph reports....

Italian Mafia's New Target: Pope Francis?

Mobsters 'nervous and agitated' by pontiff's anti-corruption stance, prosecutor says

(Newser) - Pope Francis' anti-corruption stance could put him at risk from "the most dangerous, most unified, and most difficult to penetrate" mafia clan in Italy, an Italian prosecutor tells the Washington Post . As "Pope Francis is dismantling centers of economic power in the Vatican," mobsters are "nervous...

Bobby Riggs Accused of Throwing 'Battle of the Sexes'

To pay mafia debts, alleges new report

(Newser) - A new report by ESPN lobs some heavy accusations the late tennis legend Bobby Riggs—namely, that he threw the 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" game he lost to Billie Jean King in order to pay off gambling debts to the mafia. A little history refresher: Riggs, then 55,...

Ex-Mob Boss Massino Will Walk a Free Man

For his 'cooperation' ratting out other mobsters, judge rules

(Newser) - Ratting out the mafia has paid off for notorious former mob boss Joseph Massino. Facing life in prison for his role in eight murders, he'll soon be walking away a free man as a reward for helping convict dozens of mobsters, including Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, a...

Whitey Bulger Swears at Witness in Court

'F--- you,' yells Bulger after being called a 'rat'

(Newser) - Ah, now there's the Whitey Bulger his old acquaintances knew well. After remaining quiet for much of his trial , the former mob leader had this heated little exchange with old chum Kevin Weeks in court today, reports the Boston Globe :
  • Weeks: "We killed people who are rats, and
...

Source: Hoffa Disposed Of via Wood Chipper

Law enforcement source says there's no body to find

(Newser) - The latest search for Jimmy Hoffa's body turned up nothing , and that's exactly what any future searches will turn up, too, a law enforcement source tells DNAinfo ... because the Teamster boss's body was put through a Michigan wood chipper, and there's nothing left of it, the...

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