- Italians
always have style, even when they’re wanted men hiding in an underground bunker in the countryside of southern
Calabria in order to literally stay below the radar of the law. Giuseppe Crea
and Giuseppe Ferraro shared not only a first name, but that aforementioned
bunker in which the convicted 'ndrangheta clan bosses had a dozen firearms,
including a Kalashnikov, and because you can't hide out underground without
some proper Italian food, a pasta pot hanging neatly on a wall. Expecting two
fugitive mobsters to go without their linguini is just cruel, so it should
surprise no one that tomatoes, salad and what looked like a plate of ricotta
were on the counter when police raided the bunker early in the morning. The
hideout lay beneath a mass of vines and bushes, but those efforts at camouflage
weren't enough to keep them free. Police are now working on taking down the
mobsters’ network of accomplices they suspect helped Crea to elude capture for
10 years and Ferraro for almost 20 years. Now that they are in custody, Crea
faces 22 years in prison for Mafia association, while Ferraro was sentenced to
life imprisonment, including for a murder conviction. They are part of the
cocaine-trafficking 'ndrangheta, which remains one of the world's most powerful
criminal organizations. It’s also an organization that clearly knows how to
hide out from police in style and at the same time, make sure that surrendering
one’s freedom to move about and live a normal life doesn’t have to mean
surrendering a quality plate of pasta……….
- British filmmaker Asif Kapadia seems to have a thing for
drug-addled, demon-plagued muses. Kapadia was the cinematic mind behind last
year's acclaimed Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy” and after telling the tragic tale of the troubled songstress in
powerful form, he plans to dribble his way into the chaotic, colorful life
of legendary Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona, who alongside Pelé was
named FIFA Player of the 20th century. Maradona’s playing career was amazing,
including him captaining his country to the 1986 World Cup title in Mexico
while winning the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. Of course, his
career was eventually derailed by a serious drug addiction and after he
finished playing, he struggled with overeating to the point that it too landed
him in the hospital. An attempt to coach Argentina to World Cup glory in 2010 fell
well short of the mark, but Kapadia will have no shortage of material with which
to work in his next project. "I was taken by his character, his genius,
honesty, passion, humor and vulnerability,” the director said. “I was
fascinated by his journey - wherever he went there were moments of incredible
brilliance and drama, he was a leader, taking his teams to the very top, but
[there were] also many lows in his career." Kapadia added that he views Maradona as “always the little guy
fighting against the system” and a man who used “all of his cunning and
intelligence to win.” After capturing a nomination for Best Documentary Feature
at the Academy Awards, Best Documentary and Outstanding British Film at the
BAFTAs and Best Music Film at the Grammys, it will be interesting to see how
this one ends up………
- Is
stopping a bank robbery easier than we all thought? Typically the answer is no,
but then you come across a story like that of a North Carolina PNC Bank branch manager and it gives you reason to pause
and reconsider. According to police in Zebulon, just east of Raleigh, the
manager was able to snuff out an attempted robbery by holding a door shut even
as the suspect banged on the door with a small handgun. Banks typically don’t have
bulletproof glass doors, yet authorities say the manager stood his ground when a
person wearing a mask approached the back door of the bank shortly after it opened. The manager spotted the suspect
approaching and held the door shut, continuing to do so even though the suspect
flashed a small, black handgun and used it to hit the door. Proving that he or
she was not exactly a seasoned, hardcore criminal with serious skills, the
would-be robber ran off without getting into the bank when the manager simply
help the door firmly closed and wouldn’t budge. A nearby middle school was
placed on lockdown after the would-be robber escaped, but this one definitely
flies in the face of the typical recommendation that bank employees not try to
be heroes in the event of a robbery and instead, simply comply with the robber’s
demands and allow the police to handle the business of stopping and apprehending
the criminal. Maybe this manager is in line for a raise and promotion if the
bank has any sense of fairness………..
- You
might be asking yourself what 11-time individual Olympic gold medalist Michael
Phelps is up to these days, with the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro looming
just a few months away. Has he put down the bong, picked up his swim cap and
locked in on what will almost certainly be his last run at Olympic glory? Possibly,
but that doesn’t mean there isn't still time for some shenanigans and
tomfoolery, the sort of hijinks he took part in late last week with his new
friends of Arizona State's "Curtain of Distraction" fan section at
the school’s men’s basketball games. The disruptive student section aims to
bedevil opposing free-throw shooters using a curtain it draws back to reveal
all manner of nonsense right as shooters step to the line and its organizers
landed themselves a real whale in the second half of the Sun Devils' 86-68 rout
of the Oregon State Beavers, getting Phelps to show up, sport a swimsuit and
six-pack abs with gold medals around his neck and a swim cap on his head while
standing between two shirtless male students wearing bow ties, which caused the
shooter to miss his first attempt. The curtain closed and when it reopened for
the second shot, Phelps and his portly pals were back, except this time the
Olympian was wearing only his swim cap, medals and a very small Speedo. Oregon
State's Stephen Thompson Jr. missed the second free throw as well and noted
drama queen/Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said Phelps "made a major
contribution to the game." For the record, Phelps is in Tempe because he’s
training for the 2016 Rio Games and has said he plans to work as an assistant
swim coach at ASU upon his retirement after the Olympics. It’s a safe bet that
if he needs to find himself a new bong - beer or otherwise - his new friends in
the student section can help him out with that………..
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