Pope Francis, the cool pope who still has some uncool policies, is in Cassano all'Ionio this Saturday to speak on the endemic problem of mafia violence in Italy. After the pope announced his reform agenda last year, an anti-mob prosecutor said Pope Francis might be under threat of attack by the mafia.
The latest terrible fake food scandal from China resulted in more than 900 arrests after criminal meat processors sold the chemical-soaked flesh of rats and foxes as "lamb meat." As more Chinese demand a daily supply of dead farm animals as food, crafty criminals are butchering and processing anything that moves.
Would you like to live inside a hidden bunker in an Italian mansion? A vacancy may open up in one soon! Police in the Italian state of Calbrian had to drag alleged crime-syndicate boss Francesco Maisano out of his during an international bust of 31 suspected mafia goons (or gooni in Italian).
Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel, and Gary Coleman are all having relationship issues. Megan Fox: macking on Zac Efron and smack-talking Michael Bay. Liza's mob problems, Twilight's freak fanbase, and celebrity cocaine usage! Presenting your pre-Holiday Friday Gossip Roundup:
Now that gangster heir John "Junior" Gotti has been arrested by the feds once again, how will his three nephews-stars of the reality show Growing Up Gotti-support themselves? CollegeOTR reports that middle son John is in college somewhere, and young diet book author Frank has had some troubles with drugs. That means the family's big hope is 22-year-old Carmine Gotti, who's trying for a career in hip hop. He's signed on the Ruff Ryders label despite the fact that he sounds like he was just taught how to rap last week by somebody who, themselves, did not know how to rap. You can listen to two of his blazin' hot tracks here, both of which concern how much he would enjoy getting to know you, girl. Would you like to see a few of C. Gotti's publicity photos that are prime candidates for inclusion in the Guide To Young Italian-American Male Stereotypes? Click through, then!
After carefully calibrating the likely interests of its readers, the Post decided to run one of the most servicey stories since it was started by Alexander Hamilton: "HOW MOBSTER NICKNAMES GET 'MADE'.'" It's a nice feature for all those Post readers trying to coin their own mob names, but sadly it tries to find the "funniest" names in an organization not known for its sense of humor, and ends up with examples like "Tommy Sneakers," who likes sneakers, "Bobby the Jew," who looks like a Jew or "Lenny," whose name is Leonard. Those mafia guys: Such crack ups! After the jump, a short video on a mafia name that's at least slightly funny: Big Pussy from the Sopranos.
Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno, media hound eldest son of late mob boss Joe "Bananas" Bonanno, died early this morning of a heart attack. Bonanno joined his father's business early, spent years as Joe's adviser, ended up as a subject of a Gay Talese book, then wrote his own cash-in mob memoir, and even "co-produced a 1999 miniseries based on the autobiography of his father." He was 75 and spent a good decade longer in prison than his murderous father, so let's not begrudge him the crappy books too much. [AP]
"Dozens of alleged members of the Lucchese Crime Family were arrested Tuesday morning in raids in New Jersey and New York that authorities say broke up a major sports betting ring." A little drug trafficking here, a little weapons-smuggling there. Aww, guys, did no one tell you that David Chase brought you to an ambiguously anticlimactic end like, a year ago? It's so hard to be the last to know. [ABC]
Village Voice reporter Tom Robbins was subpoenaed yesterday over 10-year-old reporting that he brought to light that impacts the prosecution of former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio—in his story, mob mistress Linda Schiro contradicted her already-given testimony. With their star witness in a shambles, now the entire case has gone south—after reviewing the tapes, the Brooklyn D.A. decided they'd rather spend their time pursuing perjury charges. Schiro was the lover of Greg "the Grim Reaper" Scarpa; she has given conflicting information about Scarpa's involvement in three mob murders.
