Walker - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T09:17:51Z
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C.J. Walker Mafia-Organized Crime Column & Drug Trafficking-Gangster Stories
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/clarence-walker-overview
2014-09-30T07:05:39.000Z
2014-09-30T07:05:39.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><div style="text-align:center;"><span class="font-size-4"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9236987887,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236987887,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236987887?profile=original" width="600" /></a></strong></span></div>
<p>Clarence Walker has been, for 22 years, an Investigative crime journalist, Associate story producer of cable T.V. criminal justice shows and writer for newsmedia wire services. He has also written extensively for New York and Texas-based (daily & weekly) newspapers and legal journals.</p>
<div style="text-align:center;"><strong>Articles:</strong></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-dea-toppled-kingpin-el-chapo-guzman-who-s-mexico-s-drug-under">The DEA Toppled Kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman; Who's Mexico's Drug Underworld Next Boss of Bosses?</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/a-tale-of-espionage-the-cia-the-mafia-double-agents-cuban-exiles">A Tale of Espionage, the CIA, the Mafia, double agents, Cuban exiles, and President Kennedy: Plot to kill Fidel Castro</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-drug-game-getting-high-on-cocaine-and-money">The Drug Game: Getting high on cocaine and money</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/boss-of-evil-colombian-drug-kingpin-pablo-escobar-s-legacy-endure">Boss of Evil: Pablo Escobar's Legacy Endures</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mexican-drug-cartel-s-link-to-american-banks">Mexican Drug Cartel's Link To American Banks</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/dea-bust-world-renowned-music-labels-used-by-gangsters">DEA Bust: World Famous Music Labels Used By Gangsters</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-lord-claims-immunity-from-prosecution-did-dea-and-fbi-have-a">Drug Lord Claims Immunity From Prosecution: Secret Alliance Between FBI, DEA & Sinaloa Cartel?</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/us-war-on-afghan-narco-dollars">U.S. War On Afgan Narco Dollars</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/firepower-dope-and-bloodshed">Firepower, Dope, and Bloodshed: Mexico Drug Cartels Branch Out</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-history-did">Organized Crime History: Did the Mafia Turn the US Into A Better Country?</a></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/narco-players-wanted-fugitive">Narco Players: A Colombian Beauty Queenpin</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/facebook-nails-a-mafia">Facebook Nails a Mafia Assassin</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mexico-spring-break-will-drug">Mexico Spring Break: Will Drug War Violence Kill the Thrill?</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/a-live-shakedown-gangsters">Online Players: A Live Shakedown - Gangsters Target NFL Super Bowl in Multi-Billion Gambling Extortion</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-test-japans">Organized Crime Test: Japan's Mob Needs Gangsters With Brains!</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mexican-drug-cartels-number-1">U.S. Government Crisis: Mexico Drug Cartels: Number 1 Organized Crime Threat in America?</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/crime-does-pay-how-italian">Crime Does Pay. How? Italian Mafia Earned $167 Billion</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/special-homicide-report">Special Homicide Report: Hitman for hire</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/american-gangster-myth">American Gangster Myth</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/special-report-mobmurders">Special Report: Mob-murders Cools Off in Italy</a><br />
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<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/did-a-serial-killer-frame-mob">Sammy "Bull" Gravano --vs-- Prosecutor John Molinelli</a></div></div>
Organized Crime Test: Japan's Mob Needs Gangsters With Brains!
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-test-japans
2010-11-10T19:19:28.000Z
2010-11-10T19:19:28.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236984091,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<p><br /> By Clarence Walker, Investigative Crime Journalist<br /> <br /> Intelligent gangsters wanted: Any guys out there ready to work in the underworld?<br /> <br /> If so, Japan's organized crime syndicates need immediate assistance. They need extra muscle to run prostitution rings, drug trafficking, collect debts, assassinating rivals and shaking down bar owners. To join this outfit - a candidate might think a blood oath must be taken, as with the La Cosa Nostra mafia -or undergo an initiation and commit murder.<br /> <br /> Well...guess what? None of the above apply. The exquisite requirements are like returning to school and involve an academic challenge., so with pen and paper, a potential player must take a gangster test! Thats right. No violence required to prove your manhood.<br /> <br /> To qualify, it's all about mind power, and make a passing score on a written exam provided by a thoughful crime boss.<br /> <br /> Why should a wannabe thug take an academic test? Here's why: Japan's largest and most notorious organized crime group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, with an estimated 40,000 members, has devised legal protection by having current members and those seeking work in the underworld take a gangster test to show understanding of Japan's revised Anti-Organized Crime Law, and police say the gangster exam has been distributed to Japan's organized crime groups across the nation.<br /> <br /> Basically, if a crime is committed by subordinates from a given crime syndicate, and even if the boss had no direct involvement in said crime, the new revised law allows citizens to sue the syndicate for damages ranging up to millions of dollars. Lawsuits can be filed against syndicates regarding shoot outs, extortions, assaults, murder, public brawls, and shootings liable to harm or severely injure innocent parties and civil lawsuits have been filed by concerned citizens, politicians and government officials who are fed up with blatant organized crime in their districts.<br /> <br /> Now that lawmakers have strengthened the law, the crime bosses, already dealing with the decline of the economy which hinders efforts for the outfits pursuit of raking in astronomical dollars, has came under fire to school their gangsters about the law to stave off future multi-million dollar lawsuits.<br /> <br /> According to Wikipedia, "the Yamaguchi-gumi is one of the world's wealthiest gangs, commanding billions of dollars a year from extortion, gambling, the sex industry, guns, drugs, real estate and construction kickback schemes." They are also involved in stock market manipulation and internet pornography.<br /> <br /> "Civil action is growing across the country," said Yasushi Murakami, a lawyer who represented 160 residents of Tokoyo's Akasaska district. After several months of legal action against organized crime groups, the Akasaska residents finally scored a major victory this past April to banish the 'Inagawa Kai Syndicate' from their district.<br /> <br /> Murakami added, "people are refusing to tolerate gangsters."<br /> <br /> With recent injunctions leveled against various Japan-based crime syndicates, the Yazuka crime bosses have been edgy about the law, passed in 2008.<br /> <br /> Here's why: If a citizen sues a syndicate and wins the damages can result in millions of dollars against highly-ranked leaders who are legally responsible for the criminal actions of their street-level members.<br /> <br /> In September 2008, two top members of the Sumiyoshi-kai underworld group agreed to pay Y97.5 million (640,000) to the relatives of a man shot dead when three gunmen opened fire in a bar in 'Gunma Prefecture'. During the fracas, three citizens were killed when the gangsters tried to assassinate a rival gang boss who survived the attempt on his life.<br /> <br /> The gangster exam was discovered during police investigation of a Yazuka-related murder in Western Japan. The Mainichi Shimbun news media reported: Police found a 12-question exam paper, complete with model answers.<br /> <br /> Questions included, "what kind of activities are banned?"<br /> <br /> (A) industrial waste dumping.<br /> <br /> (B) bootlegging fuel.<br /> <br /> (C) theft of construction vehicles.<br /> <br /> (D) phone fraud scams.<br /> <br /> (E) all of the above.<br /> <br /> If a candidate answered "E" they answered correctly.<br /> <br /> Another question: "What are you required to do in all your activities?"<br /> <br /> If the person says, "consult with my bosses", he answered correctly.<br /> <br /> "Its all about money," said Jake Adelstein, an author who has written extensively about Japan's underworld groups.<br /> <br /> "When you think about it, this is an extremely sensible move. The Yamaguchi-gumi is essentially a gigantic corporation and if you are running a company of this scale, the first thing you want to do is reduce your liabilities."<br /> <br /> "Gang leaders don't want to pay hefty court fines because one of their men got into a bar fight and broke someone's jaw," Adelstein points out.<br /> <br /> A Battle Against Organized Crime<br /> <br /> Known as the Yakuza, Japanese gangsters have operated for decades from exclusive buildings adorned with blinking neon signs symbolizing their illegal trade throughout different districts.<br /> <br /> Yakuza: The word means 'good-for-nothing', but the group were once romanticized as noble outlaws with a code of honor. Such prestige is slowly fading. And the reason for the Yakuza's declining popularity derives from the conflicts with the Akasaka citizens. Akasaka, an upscale business and entertainment district, underscores a dramatic change in the way Japan regards the underworld.<br /> <br /> Of note, for years, criminal gangs in Japan were allowed to ply their illegal trade in exchange for payoffs to police and by cooperating with the law to keep turf wars in check and prevent their activities from spilling over into the law-abiding public section.<br /> <br /> What caused the public revolt against the organized crime group was the continuing gang violence culminating in the death of prominent innocent citizens. For example, Iccho Ito, 61, the mayor of Nagasaki, was shot to death in broad daylight in April 2007 as he campaigned for re-election.<br /> <br /> The killer, a member of the Yamaguchi clan, killed the mayor because he had a grievance against the city. The gangster has since been sentenced to die for the brazen crime.<br /> <br /> The death of Mayor Ito outraged the public, who viewed the senseless murder as an attack on Japanese democracy. Shortly after Ito's killing, a policeman died in a shootout in central Japan.<br /> <br /> "What we worry about most is our children," said Akasaka resident, Takako Takemura. "We just do not want gangsters in our neighborhood."<br /> <br /> As gang violence spiraled out of control, the government firmly enforced gun law restrictions and racketeering laws. Last year, police and government officials held anti-gang seminars and provided protection to citizens as part of their assistance in more than 50 lawsuits filed by citizens seeking to keep gangs out of their neighborhoods.<br /> <br /> Lawsuit Restrictions<br /> <br /> The Akasaka settlement effectively bans the Inagawa-kai, Japan's third largest crime syndicate, from owning and moving into a three-story building located a few blocks from the headquarters of the Inagawi's rival, identified as Sumiyoshi-kai. The Sumiyoshi are the second largest crime group in Japan.<br /> <br /> In the Minato ward area, the assembly group which oversees Akasaka has waged a fierce battle to prevent gang members from renting public housing. Another sign of frustration and ebbing tolerance for the gangs comes from the refusal by Japanese companies to pay organized crime protection money.<br /> <br /> Citizens now living in northern Japan near the city of Sendal are seeking a court injunction against an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi. In southern Japan a court agreed with 100 residents to ban the Yakuza from using an apartment building and an anger-incited mob in the city of Chikushino forced gang members from a two-story house later converted into a police station.<br /> <br /> "It was possible because we stood up together against gangsters," says Masanori Hoashi, a Chikushino official. "Many people feel more strongly about guarding their community against organized crime."<br /> <br /> Police have identified 22 groups nationwide as crime syndicates, with an estimated 80,000 members. Certainly the revamped anti-organized crime laws and the lawsuits filed by citizens are forcing gangs away from neighborhoods but apparently not enough damage has been done to take a serious bite out of the kind of crimes they commit. For instance, between 2007-2008, police arrested 27,169 organized crime members in 57, 524 cases.<br /> <br /> According to Hideaki Alhara, head of the nonprofit Japan Crime Prevention, said, "If gangsters move out of one building, its not the end of the story because they are still around making trouble somewhere else."<br /> <br /> Exploited Loopholes<br /> <br /> Based on the police's discovery of secretive information demanding candidates to take exams for membership into a crime organization, as required by crime bosses, it seems the crime syndicates have already found loopholes in the law to absolve them from legal responsibility. For one, police found written retroactive letters of expulsion to prove a suspect was no longer a gang member at the time the person committed a crime.<br /> <br /> The biblical wisdom reads, "Money is the root of all sorts of evil." Therefore ask yourself: If organized crime is about making money 'as it always has been', can die-hard gangsters play by the legal rules of law and still make illegal money without getting caught?<br /> <br /> Now here's the moral of the story, among Japan's crime syndicates, and the gangster test to avoid lawsuits:<br /> <br /> A written document found by police that was distributed by a Yazuka group said, "it is now illegal to give financial rewards or promote someone involved in a 'hit' against rival gang members. "But it is not illegal to give them a salary with a front company and promote them within that organization."<br /> <br /> Now that's how organized crime really works because its all about making money and lawsuits will never stop it.</p>
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Did a Serial Killer Frame Mob Turncoat Gravano For a Cop's Murder?
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/did-a-serial-killer-frame-mob
2010-11-10T19:09:46.000Z
2010-11-10T19:09:46.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p>Sammy "Bull" Gravano --vs-- Prosecutor John Molinelli<br /> <br /> Did a Serial Killer Frame a Crimeboss For a Cop's Murder?<br /> <br /> By Clarence Walker, Investigative Reporter & Documentary Producer of Cold-Case, Mafia-Murder stories (Houston, Texas)<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236981261,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />"I killed 19 people...yes I did". "But I did not kill Officer Calabro". Those are the poignant words of former Gambino underboss Sammy "the Bull" Gravano (picture on the left).<br /> <br /> Gravano, already serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiracy--distribution of Ecstasy drugs was charged in 2003 by New Jersey authorities for the March 14, 1980 brutal murder of NYPD Detective Peter Calabro.<br /> <br /> Calabro's murder was a cold case until a serial killer and self-proclaimed Mafia hitman identified as Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski fingered Gravano as the man who hired him to blow Calabro off the face of the earth.<br /> <br /> Gravano insists he is innocent and being systematically persecuted by a prosecutor's determination to earn a reputation off Gravano's fame. He further said that he was framed for a murder by a glory-seeking, serial killer, who, in fact, is also innocent!<br /> <br /> Underworld sources knowledgeable about Calabro's murder who prefer to remain anonymous have no love nor sympathy for Gravano's predicament.<br /> <br /> One email source told Americanmafia.com: "No matter if Gravano is innocent of the murder, he's getting what he deserves from the same law enforcement people he helped to convict John Gotti and other "Men of Honor" in the mob".<br /> <br /> Wiseguys who claimed they would never violate the Omerta code and 'rat' on others have said Gravano's crossroad fight with Prosecutor Molinelli in New Jersey is a case of Gotti "de ja vue".<br /> <br /> Another source relayed this email message: "Gotti is haunting that 'rat' Gravano from the grave!"<br /> <br /> Lawyers for the former underboss accused D.A. Molinelli of being so gung-ho to convict Gravano for the murder he is willing to trust the word of a killer described by law enforcement officials as a pathological criminal who falsely confessed to Calabro's murder to win notoriety as the most deadliest serial killer in U.S. history.<br /> <br /> Law enforcement officers involved with the Calabro's murder investigation who knew of his connection with organize crime during late 1970s-til-1980 while working as an auto theft detective supports Gravano's innocense.<br /> <br /> "I'm 100 per-cent sure Gravano had nothing to do with it...and 99 per-cent sure Kuklinski didn't do it", says one investigator who arrested several mob associates involved in a stolen car scheme connected with the slain officer.<br /> <br /> For years, state organize crime and FBI investigators developed information from valuable informants that professional auto thieves connected with the Gambino Mafia paid the murdered cop thousands of dollars each week for inside information on police investigations which targeted their operation.<br /> <br /> If Gravano's incredible story is true...that a pathological, lying criminal, falsely implicated him in a scheme to murder a police officer to win notoriety as a celebrity killer as famous as Hannibal Lecter , perhaps Gravano's lawyers can expose Kuklinski's depraved scheme and get the former underboss off the hook.<br /> <br /> Bergen county D.A. Molinelli is no doubt a man on a mission to convict Gravano. Questions as to why Gravano, a professional hitman himself, would hire Kuklinski to kill the officer elicited this response from Molinelli.<br /> <br /> "I need no motive. "I have a confession and guilty plea from the killer, Richard (Iceman) Kuklinski". Kuklinski pled guilty to Calabro's murder and received 30 years to run concurrent with the four life sentences he was already serving for multiple homicides.<br /> <br /> Another controversial issue surrounding the new charge against Gravano is the deal he made with government prosecutors to testify against Gotti in 1992. Under Gravano plea bargain the agreement required the underboss to confess every murder or major crime he committed.<br /> <br /> A violation of the agreement would occur if, later,any of Gravano's unconfessed crimes came to light. Such discovery of withheld information would allow the government to prosecute Gravano for each crime he originally confessed too, prior to becoming a government witness.<br /> <br /> Victoria Gotti, wife of deceased John Gotti, wrote recently in the New York Daily News that, "Gravano claimed he confessed to all his crimes yet he is now charged with the murder of a cop."<br /> <br /> "If that charge is true, I think the question needs to be asked: "Did he really confess to all crimes as he and the government claimed?" Matriarch Gotti continued, "Did the government know about this additional killing but bypassed it knowing the public would never accept a suspected "cop killer" as a witness against John Gotti?"<br /> <br /> Debunking the grand theory that Gravano withheld information from authorities about the Calabro' murder that if he'd confessed the murder of a police officer that his deal to testify against Gotti for leniency would have been jeopardized, the Mafia-informant lawyer, Anthony Ricco said:<br /> <br /> "It's ludicrous to think Gravano would have held back on the Calabro murder because when he was initially indicted in 1991 for only three murders, he told the feds about 16 others that he was not originally charged with; nor had police identified him as a suspect in the 16 murders he confessed too."<br /> <br /> In 1996, a team of lawyers representing John Gotti on appeal after Gravano's testimony swayed the jury to convict the Gambino crimeboss; the appeal claimed that Gravano and prosecutors witheld evidence from the jury that Gravano committed two murders when he testified against Gotti: the 1972 shooting death of a car salesman and a 1976 beating death of a car dealer.<br /> <br /> James Fox, former FBI commander in New York, said, "those charges were motivated by revenge and hatred of Gravano to impeach his credibility".<br /> <br /> When Gravano helped authorities to send Gotti away for life in prison in one of the nation's most sensational organize crime trials. His snitch work against La Cosa Nostra inspired a federal judge to praise him as a hero----the number one witness against the Mafia in U.S. history.<br /> <br /> Judge I. Leo Glasser and scores of law enforcement authorities and prosecutors characterized Gravano as an honorable and redeemed gangster. Glasser denounced the media for calling Gravano a "rat" and a "snitch".<br /> <br /> Glasser stated, "I doubt if the media would have used "rat" or "snitch" to describe the criminals responsible for the World Trade Center if they had cooperated with the government".<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236981278,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Gravano has denied hiring Kuklinski to kill the officer.<br /> <br /> "I am not guility " Gravano have said during court hearings in Hackensack Superior Court in New Jersey.<br /> <br /> Kuklinski, cracking a broad smile, contradicts the veteran gangster.<br /> <br /> "I shot and killed the officer with a shotgun provided by Sammy Gravano".<br /> <br /> To kill Calabro, Kuklinski (picture on the right) confessed during the HBO special, he waited for the officer to drive from Queens, N.Y. to Saddle River, New Jersey.<br /> <br /> As Calabro cruised down a road leading to his two-story home, Kuklinski said when the officer attempted to drive around the van he was driving that was used to partially block the road, he stepped forward from the blindside and fired a shotgun blast into the head of the officer.<br /> <br /> "I never knew the man, what he looked like or what his job was", Kuklinski smiled. "I found out the next day he was a police officer".<br /> <br /> D.A. Molinelli said Gravano was nearby communicating by walkie-talkie with the Iceman when the officer was shot to death.<br /> <br /> To support denial of the crime, Gravano, earlier this year, challenged D.A. Molinelli to have Kuklinski, himself, and a jailhouse informant to take a polygraph test.<br /> <br /> When Superior Court Judge William Meehan said that New Jersey prohibit the use of polygraph tests on witnesses, Gravano replied, "Maybe they will find it interesting".<br /> <br /> Gravano has confessed to murder of 19 men, Kuklinski confessed proudly to killing over 100 people.<br /> <br /> Which of these serial killers are telling the truth? Can anyone find the truth beneath the tongue of these rats?<br /> <br /> Depending whether longevity favor Gravano(He will be 77 when eligible for parole on the drug charge in 2026). Trapped beneath the scales of justice the king of mob 'rats' is waging a battle to save whatever life he has left.<br /> <br /> Who killed Former NYPD Detective Peter Calabro<br /> <br /> Former NYPD (New York Police Department) Chief John Guido insists that ex-Gambino underboss, Sammy Gravano, in fact, murdered former NYPD detective Peter Calabro.<br /> <br /> Guido said Calabro's slaying was orchestrated by family members of his deceased wife, Carmella Calabro. The retired officer supervised the 1977 investigation into the death of the officer's wife.<br /> <br /> Guido suspects the in-laws hired Gravano to kill the officer because they believed he drowned Carmella.<br /> <br /> "Calabro was married to a beautiful girl from a close-knit Italian family who died under mysterious circumstances", Guido told New York reporters two years ago.<br /> <br /> "At one point, Guido recalled, a relative came to us and said, 'You guys done all you can do. Now I have to do it my way'.<br /> <br /> "There is no doubt in my mind the relative went to Sammy "the Bull". Although Guido refused to elaborate the nature of the evidence to confirmed his suspicoun he insinuated money exchanged hands. "God knows what he was paid. "Carmella's relatives wanted revenge".<br /> <br /> When reporters pressed for the relative name, Guido responded, "I do not recall his name".<br /> <br /> D.A. Mollinelli weighed in on the family theory the officer was murdered because he may have murdered his wife.<br /> <br /> "I am aware her family believes Calabro killed her", the D.A. said.<br /> <br /> "The allegations were made 23 years ago". "I have a death, a shooter and confession from the shooter. It is not legally necessary to prove a motive".<br /> <br /> Described as a soft-spoken, tender-hearted, attractive woman---Carmella Calabro was found dead in a river by U.S. coast guards on July 28 1977.<br /> <br /> Witnesses told police she was last seen walking on the Coney Island beach in Long Branch, New Jersey, with her husband Peter.<br /> <br /> Guido further said: "We put hundreds of hours into the case. Captain Jimmy Skennion also investigated the murder. He was passionate about it".<br /> <br /> "He came into my office and said, 'He(Peter Calabro) killed his wife. 'I am going to get him".<br /> <br /> A Brooklyn grand jury found insufficent evidence to file murder charges against the officer. Skennion's dedication to nail Calabro was so intense Guido recalled this emotional moment.<br /> <br /> "When it was all over, Skennion, a 32-year- veteran, was crying", the retired officer lamented.<br /> <br /> "He said one of Carmella's relatives kissed his hand and said, 'I know you did best you could, but we're going to take care of it. He will not get away with it".<br /> <br /> Skennion retired in 1978 and later died. Efforts by news media reporters including Americanmafia journalist, Clarence Walker, to contact the dead woman relatives to question their suspicioun about who killed Carmella Calabro has been unsuccessful.<br /> <br /> Meet Gravano's Twin Devil... Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski<br /> <br /> People who met Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski would have never suspected the intelligent, christianized, easygoing, generous and well-groomed man, was a psychopathic, Mafia hitman and serial killer.<br /> <br /> Iceman Kuklinski claimed to have murdered at least 100 people before police arrested him in 1986. He earned the distinctive name of Iceman from police because he kept the body of a man he murdered inside a freezer for two years.<br /> <br /> Convicted of four murders he is serving four life sentences in a New Jersey prison.<br /> <br /> Between 1992 and 2001, HBO's America undercover, visited Kuklinski at Trenton Maximum Security Prison to film a series titled: The Iceman: Confession of a Mafia Hitman.<br /> <br /> Kuklinski's confessed on the show he murdered 100 victims including the alleged fact he was hired by Sammy Gravano to kill NYPD detective Peter Calabro. The Calabro confession is what triggered the District attorney officials in New Jersey to charge Gravano and Kuklinski with the cold case murder.<br /> <br /> If Gravano, in fact, hired the Iceman to kill officer Calabro; the officer' murder was just another score for Kuklinski to make cash to support wife and children. Murder was "fun and games" for the Iceman, a power trip. Cyanide poisoning was a favorite method to take lives.He possessed an incredible urge to kill, kill, kill.<br /> <br /> "My freind, he once said, there's more than one way to do it...'There's more than one way to skin something".<br /> <br /> Kuklinski's murder techinques varied: Example:<br /> <br /> He used chainsaw to dismember the bodies of victims while they were alive.<br /> <br /> While committing a mob-related murder Kuklinski removed the tongue of a victim and rammed it into his anus to send a message for the mob.<br /> <br /> A business associate was killed because he visited Kuklinski's home without invitation.<br /> <br /> While stalking a male victim at a club, Kuklinski poured cyanide into a glass of beer; brushed against him, which caused the cyanide to spill onto the man that eventually killed him.<br /> <br /> Inside a crowded nightclub the hitman plunged a cyanide-laced needle into an unsuspecting victim. When HBO reporter asked what was in the needle, the Iceman soberly responded, "In his case? A heart attack".<br /> <br /> To see if a crossbow worked the Iceman shot a man in the forehead. "I just wanted to see if this thing worked", he told the reporter.<br /> <br /> Kuklinski committed a test murder while walking on the street among a crowd of people when he, covered his face with a handkerchief, and sprayed a man with cyanide. When the man collapsed and died people thought he'd had a heart attack. "The best effect, he described, is to get 'em in the nose, they inhale it.<br /> <br /> What was chilling about Kuklinski as he confessed the murders his relaxed confidence and serene demeanor made him appear more frightening than Charles Manson.<br /> <br /> To watch him confess to a life of an evil Mafia assassin was like watching a gentle human being discuss typical casual business. His cool reception masked the mental sickness of what appeared to be the image of a healthy, normal looking man.<br /> <br /> Another deranged example: He described how a victim desperately prayed to God and to grant the request Kuklinski gave the man thirty minutes to pray.<br /> <br /> "I told him if God changed the circumstances within that time frame, I would let him go".<br /> <br /> "What happen?" the reporter asked. "God did not change the circumstances so I killed him".<br /> <br /> Where did life begin for this diabolical killer, a personfication of evil?<br /> <br /> Born April 11, 1935, in New Jersey, Richard Kuklinski was raised in a low-income apartment project by abusive, strict-Catholic parents of Polish decent.<br /> <br /> His father was a brakeman for the railroad and his mother worked in a meat packing plant.<br /> <br /> Kuklinski attended Catholic grammar school and served as an altar boy in church. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade.<br /> <br /> Years later he attributed his violent background to a mean-spirited, rage-acholic father who abused him continously until he became a teenager. He grew up hating his father for the abuse and humiliation he suffered.<br /> <br /> A brutish, street-thug, as a teenager, Kuklinski experimented with death by killing cats and dogs in the area where he lived. At 14, he committed his first murder when he beat another kid to death.<br /> <br /> Kuklinski told HBO reporters, " I felt terrible...I felt fear the first time".<br /> <br /> During early 1960s, the Iceman met an attractive woman named Barbara. She felled in love with the future Mafia hitman who oftenly delivered flowers and gifts to her job. After a brief courtship the couple married and had three children.<br /> <br /> Unable to secure a well-paid job the Iceman worked for low wages at a film lab to support family. To make extra money he stole porno flicks from the lab to sell to members of the Gambino crime family.<br /> <br /> Money, in Kuklinski's violent-obsessed mind, brought prestige and respect. "Since I loved to kill, he once said, why not kill for money?" "Why not work as a contract killer for the Mafia?" he pondered.<br /> <br /> Kuklinski figured if he worked as contract murderer he could easily become wealthy and earn up to five figures or more per murder. Blood money was the Iceman goal to become wealthy, to eliminate poverty and provide his family with a comfortable lifestyle.<br /> <br /> Pursuing the goal to become a Mafia hitman Kuklinski joined forces with Gambino gangster Roy DeMeo. DeMeo operated a crew from the Gemini club in Brooklyn, New York.<br /> <br /> According to Jerry Capeci book titled :Murder Machine: DeMeo would kill whoever crossed him or anyone he suspected of being a police informant. The Gemini club was a grisly playground for murder. Victims were lured to the club at night where they would be shot, a towel wrapped around their blood-soaked head, then stabbed in the heart to stop the blood pumping.<br /> <br /> Informants told police the crew of killers would often eat pizza and drink beer while the corpse bled out in a bathtub. Using sharp tools, preferably a chainsaw, the gangsters would cut up the bodies for disposal into the incinerator, or they were buried in landfills.<br /> <br /> Some bodies were taken out to sea on a private yacht owned by one of the crew members and dumped overboard to feed the sharks. Members of the Gemini crew were Henry Borelli, Chris Rosenberg, Joseph "Dracula" Guglielmo, Joey Testa and Anthony Senter.<br /> <br /> Selected to work as an associate, Kuklinski, first known as the brutish Polock, started out committing robberies, extortions, collecting debts and beating up victims who refused to comply with the Mafia street rules.<br /> <br /> Motivated to murder for money Kuklinski urged DeMeo to give him a contract. Unsure if he wanted to trust the Pollack, DeMeo continued to give Kuklinski low-level assignments until finally he decided to test his skills in the murder business.<br /> <br /> After the 6'4, 250 pounds, muscled-built Kuklinski carried out a few Mafia 'whacks'. DeMeo was impressed with his prowess to kill without obvious detection. Although DeMeo was a big-money maker and heartless killer for the Gambino family, the Godfather, Paul Castellano disliked DeMeo because he allowed his crew to deal in drugs.<br /> <br /> Castellano disapproved of his men involved with drug-trafficking because the penalties were too severe that could tempt a member to become an informant. John Gotti incurred Castellano's wrath over the fact he allegedly allowed his crew to deal in drugs.<br /> <br /> During FBI investigation into the missing and murdered victims linked to DeMeo or last seen entering the Gemini club the mobster grew paranoid and increasingly on edge. In January 1983, DeMeo went off to meet a group of fellow Mafiosis.<br /> <br /> On January 18, DeMeo's bullet-riddled body was found in the trunk of his car.<br /> <br /> DeMeo's crew was finally indicted and imprisoned for life upon convictions for a total of 25 murders and numerous mob-related crimes.<br /> <br /> Paul Castellano was indicted for ordering the murder of DeMeo including other crimes but fate intervened. While out on bond awaiting trial Castellano and his bodyguard was gunned down outside Sparks steakhouse on December 16, 1985.<br /> <br /> According to FBI and Sammy Gravano, John Gotti hired assassins to kill Castellano to become the new boss of the Gambino family.<br /> <br /> During the mid-1970s, Kuklinski's dream to wear the crown of a wealthy hitman finally came true. He made up to $50,000,00 for each murder.<br /> <br /> Everyone who knew the large-frame, bearded assassin---Richard Kuklinski was "Americanized as apple pie".<br /> <br /> His newfound wealth brought an expensive, two-story home in a suburban neighborhood in Dumont, New Jersey, where he lived a low-key, lavish lifestyle with a lovely wife and three children who attended Catholic school.<br /> <br /> To camouflage a brutal occupation Kuklinski told wife Barbara and children, neighbors and close freinds he was a successful, self-employed businessman.<br /> <br /> In 1992, he told journalist Anthony Bruno, "I'm not the Iceman. I'm the nice man". Bruno wrote a bestselling book about Kuklinski titled: The Iceman. True Story Of A Cold-Blood Killer.<br /> <br /> Police zeroed in on Kuklinski, the masterful murderer, when he carelessly began leaving clues after committing these murders:<br /> <br /> On December 27, 1982, the decomposing body of Gary Smith was found in a hotel room. Autopsy showed Smith had been poisoned with cyanide.<br /> <br /> Police found the frozen body of Louis Masgay in a park on September 25, 1983. Discovery of Masgay's body earned the killer the dubious nickname---the "Iceman". Evidence later showed Kuklinski had murdered Masgay and kept his body for two years in a freezer inside of his freind's Ice cream truck to prevent estimated time of death. This scheme played into the hands of the police because the body had not been completely thawed out.<br /> <br /> Daniel Deppner, an associate of Kuklinski was found on May 14, 1985, on a secluded bicycle trail. Two more victims were found dead whose last known contact was no other than Richard Kuklinski.<br /> <br /> Finally in 1986, a task force of New York and New Jersey state investigators including federal authorities set up an elaborate sting to reel the Iceman in. Underworld informants provided information that Kuklinski, was in fact, a Mafia hitman, who enjoyed to kill, preferably using cyanide.<br /> <br /> An undercover ATF agent named Dominck Polifrone who shared the same polish roots as Kuklinski would go deep undercover to befreind the killer. Polifrone, himself, grew up with the Mafia guys in New Jersey. He knew the innerworkings of La Cosa Nostra culture and their networks.<br /> <br /> Sharp and brave, Polifrone's dialect and streetwise attitude bonded with the cagey Kuklinski. He told Iceman he was also a hitman working for New York wiseguys.<br /> <br /> As the pair grew closer, Polifrone wore a wire that recorded the Iceman discussing murders he committed and other violent acts. While sipping drinks the Iceman described to Polifrone how to kill with cyanide and use the car bomb invention called the "seat of death" .<br /> <br /> Polifrone broached the subject of paying the Iceman to do a hit and to find a jewish kid to run a drug-trafficking organization in the New Jersey area. The agent impressed the Iceman with the large amount of money he would pay him and front money to run the drug business.<br /> <br /> In a double-cross, Kuklinski would try to kill Polifrone but the trick was up. On December 17, 1986, the task force arrested Kuklinski and charged him with the murders.<br /> <br /> Confronted with the agent's evidence the Iceman unfrozed and confessed to each murder including several unconfirmed murders, referring to his evil deeds as "a matter of business".<br /> <br /> News of his arrest sent shock waves throughout the community where he lived among neighbors who described him as a well-liked, dedicated family man. His wife and children were horrified. How could a loving father and husband be a cold-blood murderer?<br /> <br /> Gravano Rejects D.A. Molinelli Plea-Bargain<br /> <br /> Following Kuklinski's confession on Nationwide T.V. that Gravano hired him to kill Officer Calabro, D.A. Molinelli offered Gravano a sweetheart deal---a deal a guility person might have accepted.<br /> <br /> Court records show, Bergen County D.A. investigator Rob Anzilotti, interviewed Gravano in 2003. The interview was held while Gravano was in Maricopa County Jail in Arizona---awaiting transfer to a federal prison to serve a 20-year stretch for drug trafficking.<br /> <br /> Molinelli's special deal was this: If Gravano pled guility to Calabro's murder he would get 20 years to run concurrent with the 20 years he was already serving for the drug trafficking conviction.<br /> <br /> A 20-year concurrent sentence boils down to this: once Gravano become eligible for parole on the drug case he would simutaneously be eligible for parole for Calabro's murder.<br /> <br /> But Molinelli's deal included a stipulation: Gravano must confess truthfully to everyone's involvement with Calabro's death.<br /> <br /> Anzilotti's interview with Gravano was cordial and a bit humorous. When the officer read to Gravano the affidavit of Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski who identified him as the culprit who hired him to kill Calabro, the former Gambino underboss snapped, "If I wanted to kill Calabro, I would have 'whacked' him myself".<br /> <br /> Referring to Kuklinski, he added sarcastically, "What do I need that Polock for?" "I hate to say it, but we were good at it".<br /> <br /> "I will not cooperate nor accept the deal", Gravano told Anzilotti.<br /> <br /> D.A. Molinelli struck back with a vengeance. A week later after Gravano rebuffed his sweetheart deal he filed murder and murder-conspiracy charges against the Mafia inormant.<br /> <br /> DID GRAVANO CONFESS TO CALABRO' MURDER? OR IS IT THE 'DIRTY' WORK OF A JAILHOUSE SNITCH?<br /> <br /> Guilt-or-innocense will always be debatable in criminal cases but if Sammy Gravano is actually innocent of Peter Calabro' murder this confessed hitman should qualify to win the nomination as the most wrongfully accused criminals to ever walk the planet.<br /> <br /> Consider the following scenarios:<br /> <br /> (1) law enforcement officers familiar with the murder investigation of Peter Calabro disputed Kuklinski's story that Gravano hired him to kill the officer. They know the names of the real suspects. Read published book titled: Murder Machine written by Jerry Capeci.<br /> <br /> (2) Molinelli's predecessor, D.A. William Schmidt and a team of detectives had previously investigated Kuklinski's story that Gravano hired him to kill the officer and found no solid evidence to corroborate his confession.<br /> <br /> (3) Kuklinski solicited Gravano's lawyer, Anthony Ricco, for $200.000.00, to recant the statement he made to police that Gravano hired him to commit the murder.<br /> <br /> (4) When Detectives from other agencies questioned Kuklinski about murders he committed and boasted about on the HBO documentary he switched horses and rode down a trail of half-denials and in some cases he suffered from amnesia---unable to recall exact details about murders committed.<br /> <br /> Now here's another cross for Gravano: His name is Felipe Garcia, 51. Garcia is a notorious jailhouse snitch. He once served time with the infamous subway gunman Bernard Goetz. They remain freinds.<br /> <br /> A review of Bergen county criminal court records by Gravano's lawyer and Ganglandnews.com -----Garcia told authorities while held in confinement at a federal government witness correctional facility with the former underboss he overheard Gravano ridicule the Italian Province(Calabria); a place wwhere another inmate was from.<br /> <br /> What does the word really mean? Garcia and New Jersey prosecutor Molinelli somehow believes the former underboss was referring to Officer Calabro. Garcia's story goes deep.<br /> <br /> During an interview with Bergen county prosecutors and D.A. investigators , Garcia said the famous mob hitman-informant confessed to Calabro's murder and other murders in Syracuse, Florida and Fort lauderdale.<br /> <br /> Information concerning Calabro's murder came up unexpectedly, Garcia explained to authorities, when Gravano used the derogative word, "Cabron", to coin a new slur word---"Calabron"--- to tease a young inmate from the Italian province of Calabria.<br /> <br /> Garcia recalled these memorable words from Gravano, "Look Felipe, never say that name around me". Puzzled, Garcia asked, "why?". Gravano allegedly said, "that name is the name of a cop... I helped to get killed".<br /> <br /> Gravano's lawyer, Anthony Ricco, accused the officer who tape-recorded Garcia's statement of manipulating the convict to modify his memory of words such as substituting the word 'whacked' for the word "killed".<br /> <br /> Another occasion, Garcia recalled, Gravano confessed the murder took place in New Jersey and that Gravano said he was there when the 'hit' went down.<br /> <br /> Furthermore Garcia added the alleged fact Gravano said the assailant used a shotgun to kill Calabro because the officer had provided sensitive information about police investigations targeted at the Gambino family in exchange for weekly payments.<br /> <br /> Garcia claimed the reason he did not come forward earlier to expose Gravano as a cop killer because he thought the story wasn't true.<br /> <br /> A news media stories indicated Garcia's interview with investigators took place on March 10, 2003, shortly after he read a newspaper article about Gravano's extradition from Arizona to face murder charges in Calabro's slaying.<br /> <br /> Did the news article jog Garcia's memory of details he actually heard from Gravano about the officer's death or did he simply exploit and expanded a tale from another serial killer?<br /> <br /> Even more incredible of Garcia's claims that Gravano confessed to Calabro's murder is the fact when Garcia was arrested for murder in 2001---he ratted on fellow criminals to get a reduced sentence on charges against him.<br /> <br /> Despite the baggage attached to informants prosecutors have used Garcia to win murder convictions in federal and state trials.<br /> <br /> Attorneys familiar with Garcia's informant status have said, "Gravano better be scared if Garcia have anything on him"<br /> <br /> He's like a super snitch," a lawyer told news media reporters. Garcia is currently serving a prison sentence iof 12-to-25 years in New, York state for his role in the murder of a grocery clerk shot to death on August 4, 2001. He also was convicted of conspiracy to murder Kevin Medina for $2400.<br /> <br /> Therefore someone needs to answer this question: Why Felipe Garcia failed to tell authorities, in 2001, as part of his reduced sentence for murder, that Gravano confessed to the murder of a police officer?<br /> <br /> Here's another tale from Garcia's snitch work: He told Det. Robert Anzilotti while himself and Gravano were confined together when Gravano confessed to Calabro's murder and was scheduled to testify in the upcoming trial of John Gotti----Garcia said he would steam press the suits Gravano wore daily to Gotti's trial.<br /> <br /> What is interesting about this grand tale, according to defense investigators, Gravano's negotiations with prosecutors to testify against Gotti wasn't until November 1991---and records show the underboss did not arrive to where Garcia was confined until a month later after testifying against Gotti in early 1992.<br /> <br /> Where is the real truth in this convoluted saga of murder and mayhem?<br /> <br /> Maybe Gravano is guility of confessing the murder of Peter Calabro to Garcia. Maybe not.<br /> <br /> Overall, common sense should question why a clever 'rat' like Gravano confess the murder of a police officer to another 'rat' inside a facility designated for informants who thrives on 'snitching' on others to win favors and prison sentence reduction.<br /> <br /> A Money Play... Iceman Extorts the Bull<br /> <br /> Earlier this year, March 22, Sammy Gravano's attorneys, Anthony Ricco and Ed wilford visited the imprisoned 'Iceman' Kuklinski to discuss the murder rap pinned on Gravano by the wanna-be celebrity killer.<br /> <br /> What happen during the meeting, according to Ricco, was an attempt by Kuklinski to extort money to recant the story Gravano hired him to kill NYPD officer Peter Calabro. As Ricco questioned the Iceman about the truthfulness of his cold-case tale, suddenly, he scribbled on a sheet of paper, indicating he would "make the case go away" for a cool $200.000.00!"<br /> <br /> Both attorneys, a puzzled look on their faces, watched in disbelief as Kuklinski ripped the paper apart, stuffed the paper in his mouth and swallowed the shredded pieces.<br /> <br /> Unknown to Iceman he left an impression of his extortion demand written on the pad he left on the counter where he was sitting.<br /> <br /> Realizing technology could recreate the writing of Iceman's extortion, Ricco alerted authorities and had the notepad confisicated for evidence. FBI retrieved the pad and started an investigation.<br /> <br /> Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky told Ganglandnews.com: "With current technology, its simple for authorities to determine the written message as long as you have the page beneath the page the person wrote on".<br /> <br /> "There is standard equipment available to enhance the indented writing", said Koblinsky.<br /> <br /> Judge William Meehan realized both attorneys would testify against Kuklinski if extortion charges were filed against him and subsequently he granted their request to recuse themselves from the case.<br /> <br /> Gravano hired gunslinger Donna Newman, one of the nation's top-notch lawyers to beat the rap. Newman's practise is based in New York and New Jersey.<br /> <br /> Newman's impeccable legal skills earned the 2003-2004(National Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers) and she won the 2002 'Lawyer of the Year Award' sponsored by Lawyer Weekly, USA.<br /> <br /> A dedicated constitutional rights advocate, Newman sued President George W. Bush and the U.S. government to have her client, Jose Padilla, released from custody.<br /> <br /> Federal government accused Padilla of planning to detonate a 'dirty' bomb on U.S. soil under orders by al-Qaeda terrorist network.<br /> <br /> It is a sure bet when D.A. Molinelli try Gravano for the murder of NYPD officer Peter Calabro---he will step into a dogfight with attorney Donna Newman to convict him.<br /> <br /> A False Confession?<br /> <br /> Who can deny the fact that Richard Iceman Kuklinski is, in fact, a cold-blood murderer? Although he confessed to the murder of 100 victims law enforcement authorities from various jurisdictions have not confirmed many homicides he confessed.<br /> <br /> Investigators preferring to remain anonymous insists the Iceman enjoy the publicity of being characterized by the media as one of the most diabolical killers in American history.<br /> <br /> Investigators believes the Iceman enjoy taking credit for murders he never committed.<br /> <br /> Journalist Anthony Bruno who wrote the book about Kuklinski can prove he lied about his involvement in a high-profile case.<br /> <br /> In a letter he wrote to Bruno from jail the Iceman confessed involvement with the disapperance of Teamster official Jimmy Hoffa.<br /> <br /> Bruno wrote, "After checking Kuklinski's version of events against the facts in Hoffa's case its clear he fabricated the whole thing".<br /> <br /> Journalist Bruno further said, "I suspected Kuklinski tried to peddle this story because it would raise his stock astronomically if I put it in my book".<br /> <br /> Kuklinski has even confessed to being the chaffeur for former Gambino boss Carlos Gambino. Underworld sources and organize crime investigators calls this story a total fabrication.<br /> <br /> Bruno is a highly respected, experienced journalist, whose testimony can be used against Kuklinski's false confession of involvement in the Hoffa's case can only support Gravano's defense that Kuklinski, in fact, fabricated the story that Gravano hired him to kill Officer Calabro.<br /> <br /> Journalist Commentary<br /> <br /> During a long Mafia 'hitman' career as the Gambino crime family underboss, Sammy Gravano was called---"The Bull". Once Gravano became a mob turncoat, he was called, "King Rat".<br /> <br /> After a Federal judge sentenced the gangster to 20 years in prison in 2002, the news media called him---"The Chicken".<br /> <br /> No matter which name describe Gravano the best he is in jail where he belongs for a long time. It may never be known whether or not Gravano withheld information from authorities over a decade ago that he hired Kuklinski to murder NYPD officer Peter Calabro.<br /> <br /> Only the feds and Gravano knows this secret.<br /> <br /> But if evidence proves him guility the law should prosecute Gravano to maximum penalty. Don't we know the story. Sammy "the Bull" Gravano was a close freind and confidant of Gambino mob boss John Gotti. when they were charged with federal Rico crimes in 1991.<br /> <br /> For Gravano, facing the same severe penalty as Gotti, life in prison, the nightmarish thought of spending the last days on earth in a cage was indeed real. Unlike the brave, human-killing machine he once was in the free world the gangster's instinct was survival.<br /> <br /> Although Gravano's crimes merited a life sentence the "bull" knew if he betrayed Gotti his life would be spared.<br /> <br /> In a plea-bargain with die-hard prosecutors whose aim to gun down "Teflon" Gotti---Gravano betrayed Teflon like Peter betrayed Jesus---agreeing to testify against Gotti to serve only five years in prison for participating in 19 murders.<br /> <br /> While in prison, knowledgeable sources said Gravano was the same braggart who strolled the streets of New,York, city. He regaled them with stories of murder and mayhem in the Mafia, boasting about the 19 murders he committed in calculated fashion.<br /> <br /> He confided to anyone willing to listen it was his powerful testimony to bring down Gotti---the most feared and popular crimebosses in U.S. Mafia history. Gravano furhter boasted to fellow inmates the feds allowed him to keep illegal assets worth over $8 million he earned while working in the Mafia world.<br /> <br /> This Mob informant even bragged the undeniable fact after he helped the government to convict Gotti the five-year prison sentence he was serving amounted to three months 'per body' for 19 murders.<br /> <br /> Their names are:<br /> <br /> (1) Eddie Garofalo<br /> (2) Paul "Big" Pauly" Castellano<br /> (3) Robert "DiB" Dibernardo<br /> (4) Alan Kaiser<br /> (5) Francesco Oliveri.<br /> (6) Louis DiBono<br /> (7)Louie Milito<br /> (8)Joseph Calucci<br /> (9)Jackie Calabro<br /> (10)John Simone<br /> (11)Frank Stillitano<br /> (12)Nick Scibetta<br /> (13)Frank Fiala<br /> (14)Michael DeBatt<br /> (15)Nick Mormando<br /> (16)Wilfred Johnson<br /> (17)John Santiago<br /> (18)Thomas Spinelli<br /> (19)Thomas Bilotti<br /> <br /> It doesn't matter if these men were wiseguys or mob rivals whose transgressions may have been an act of violating street rule or done shady business deals, they were denied the 'right' to justice.<br /> <br /> Why? Because the feds wanted to bring John Gotti down---once and for all. So they made a deal with Sammy Gravano, the devil, who acted as judge, jury and executioner of 19 lives.<br /> <br /> And the prosecutors gave him a "get out of jail card" for snitching on Gotti whose crime history never added up to Gravano's trail of slaughter.<br /> <br /> Think about this: Gravano is a murderous thug, a career criminal, who deserved life in prison years ago.<br /> <br /> But he's back on a murder rap, a murder he may not be guility of or he chosed not to reveal the murder to the feds to get the deal to help nail Gotti . Or if he revealed the information and the feds ignored the crime well its ironic that, Iceman, if truthful, has exposed a conspiratorial murder among the players who would have had a sinister reason to hide the fact Gravano was involved in the murder of a police officer.<br /> <br /> Sammy Gravano was coddled by a justice system that placed a greater value on nailing Gotti for racketeering and conspiracy than someone like Gravano who stole many lives thats been documented on record but insiders say there are more victims never revealed in court.<br /> <br /> Yes its true, the unbalanced scales of justice we live under, the feds chosed to send Gotti away for the rest of his life behind bars where he died a brave, honorable, La Cosa Nostra soldier.<br /> <br /> But Gravano was eventually released from prison, wrote a best-selling book about life in the Mafia and the lives he stole.<br /> <br /> Wiseguys and Mafia Associates Convicted on the Word of Sammy "Bull" Gravano<br /> <br /> Abbreviations:<br /> <br /> FB--Stands for Family Boss<br /> FAC--Family Acting Boss<br /> GFC--Gambino Family Captain<br /> GFS--Gambino Family Soldier<br /> TUO-Teamsters Union Official<br /> CFC--Colombo Family Consigliere<br /> GFB--Genovese Family Boss<br /> CFAB--Colombo Acting Boss<br /> DFB--DeCavalcante Family Boss<br /> GFAC--Gambino Family Acting Consigliere<br /> GFB--Gambino Family Boss<br /> CFAB--Colombo Family Acting Boss<br /> <br /> John Gotti(Gambino Family Boss)<br /> Vincent "Chin" Gigante(Genovese Family Boss)<br /> Victor Orena(Colombo Family Acting Boss)<br /> John Riggi(DFB)<br /> Venero Mangano(GFB)<br /> Benedetto Aloi(CFC)<br /> Robert Bisacci(GFC)<br /> .Thomas Gambino(GFC)<br /> .Pasquale Conte(GFC)<br /> .Joseph Corrao(GFC)<br /> .James Failla(GFC)<br /> .Daniel Marino(GFC)<br /> John Gambino(GFC)<br /> .Ralph Mosca(GFC)<br /> .Paul Graziano(GFS)<br /> .Anthony Vinciullo(GFS)<br /> .Dominick Cefalu(GFS)<br /> .Francesco Versaglio(GFS)<br /> .Orazio Stantini(GFS)<br /> .Phillip Mazzara(GFS)<br /> .Louis Astuto(GFS)<br /> .Dominic Borghese(GFS)<br /> .Joseph Gambino(GFS)<br /> .Peter Mosca(GFS)<br /> .Virgil Alessi(GFS)<br /> .Lorenzo Mannino(GFA)<br /> .George Papa(Juror in 1986-87 Gotti trial)<br /> .Joseph Passanante(GFA)<br /> .George Helbig(GFA)<br /> .Peter Mavis(GFA)<br /> .William Peist(NYPD Detective)<br /> .Barry Nichilo(GFA)<br /> .Robert Sasso(TUO)<br /> .Michael Carbone(TUO)<br /> .Michael Bourgal(TUO)<br /> .John Probeyhan(TUO)<br /> .Joseph Matarazzo(TUO)<br /> <br /> P.S. Isn't it hypocrisy when Sammy Gravano castigated the informants who betrayed him in the Arizona drug-trafficking case, saying, "They all flipped on me to use me as a meal ticket to get out prison early".<br /> <br /> Apparently Sammy Gravano forgot how he betrayed and testified against Gotti and many other wiseguys to win himself an early meal ticket to get out of prison.<br /> <br /> As history shows, when monetary gain or valuable incentives are offered to a criminal snitch by the justice system---or if the authorities who control the system accepts an offer from an informant to rat on others the entire system produces a cycle of betrayal ---where one snitch can find himself confronted by another.<br /> <br /> Example: Charles Cane ratted on two men who went to their death in 1755. Within a year, an informant did unto Cane as he had done unto others. Death was Cane's penalty!<br /> <br /> When Cane was hung in the gallows, the clergyman who prayed over him explained later the condemned man expected----"Nothing less than a hanging, but not of the evil days to come so soon".<br /> <br /> Gravano, himself, earned the reputation as the most famous 'snitch' in Mafia history who testimony convicted many wiseguys. And if the "Bull" is convicted of murder on the snitch work of Felipe Garcia and "Iceman" Kuklinski and sentenced to life in prison the final drama will close the curtain on poetic justice.</p>
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American Gangster Myth
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2010-11-10T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-10T19:00:00.000Z
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<div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">American Gangster Myth:</span><br style="font-weight:bold;" /><br style="font-weight:bold;" /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What's the Real Story Behind Hollywood's Portrayal of Harlem Drug Kingpin Frank Lucas?</span><br /> <br />
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<p><br /> By Clarence Walker, Investigative Reporter and New Criminologist Journalist, Houston Texas<br /> First published on: 11/5/2007<br /> <br /> American Gangster, considered one of the hottest, blockbuster movies of the year, opened in theaters worldwide on November 2. It is no doubt currently the most talked about gangster movie in America.<br /> <br /> Highly anticipated, American Gangster chronicles the true story of 1970s Harlem drug kingpin Frank "Superfly" Lucas (played by Oscar academy winner Denzel Washington) - who built a multi-million dollar enterprise trafficking drugs in the coffins of Vietnam soldiers - and a police detective, Richie Roberts (played by Russell Crowe) whose bulldog tenacity is to bring down the fearless drug lord.<br /> <br /> <br /> Now that millions of viewers have watched the true-life movie based on "Superfly" Lucas, and the numerous interviews he has given to National newsmedia to promote the movie, controversy is on the horizon.<br /> <br /> Critics have uncovered evidence that Lucas' alleged true-life story, as portrayed on the silver screen, is based on falsehoods and blatant lies.<br /> <br /> Matter of fact, Lucas' true-life criminal history as adapted for the movie is filled with so many falsehoods it's a herculean task determining where they began and end.<br /> <br /> "Frank Lucas, the dope-dealer, portrayed by Denzel Washington in the upcoming movie is a low-down good for nothing liar," says Mayme Johnson, wife of Bumpy Johnson, a former Harlem gangster who Lucas calls his mentor and confidant.<br /> <br /> According to law enforcement authorities, crime historians, former drug barons and gangsters, including a new book written by Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez Superfly: The True, Untold Story Of Frank Lucas, American Gangster <a href="http://www.franklucasamericangangster.com">www.franklucasamericangangster.com</a><br /> <br /> The movie is based on countless misleading and deceptive stories cooked up by Lucas to claim the fame he really doesn't deserve.<br /> <br /> Author Ron Chepesiuk, who has just released the first true account of Lucas life in "The Untold story of Frank Lucas" tells TNC Journalist Clarence Walker that "Hollywood gets away with a lot when it comes to gangster flicks because it uses the disclaimer "based on a true story".<br /> <br /> "But the fact is many aspects of Lucas' story are suspect; the movie complicates the distortions and falsehoods by fictionalizing many of Lucas' claims to fame. Then you have a mega star like Denzel Washington playing Lucas and it becomes quite a challenge for a true crime writer to set history right."<br /> <br /> A research of Lucas' stories, related by him to various reporters over the years, particularly descriptions of events featured in the New York Magazine in 2000 (American Gangster was based on this article) and the events he recalls about his life as a drug lord and murderer that captivated Hollywood, and now proves untrue, are the following:</p>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Front) a true Harlem Godfather.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Frank "SuperFly" Lucas.</span></div>
<p><br /> (1) He only ratted on DEA agents and police officers. Sometimes he denies testifying against anyone. Contrary to Lucas', story he only gave up police officers. There are numerous newspaper articles indicating he "rolled over" on at least a hundred drug dealers (no mention of any cops charged or convicted).<br /> <br /> Chepesiuk responds, "What cops did Lucas turn in?" Contrary to what's in the movie, no DEA agent was ever turned in by Lucas. In fact, it was the DEA, not Richie Roberts, who played the biggest role in bringing down Lucas."<br /> <br /> "Roberts," he further explains, "was a minor figure in the Lucas investigation; the idea that Roberts was the the key official in bringing Lucas down is Hollywood's imagination." Chepesiuk should know because he interviewed former DEA agents who nabbed the drug lord.<br /> <br /> "Further to say," Chepesiuk added, "Lucas turned in only corrupt cops is an effort by Tinsel Town to soften Lucas's image as a snitch. Deep down, nobody really likes or respect a snitch; he was not a snitch out of any altrustic motive."<br /> <br /> "He did it to save his skin, facing 70 years in prison".<br /> <br /> (2) Lucas' claim that his cousin was hung and shot to death by KKK for looking at a white woman has not been verified by this author or other sources who researched the event.<br /> <br /> An exhaustive research by author Chepesiuk also failed to turn up evidence that the alleged event happened when Lucas was six, in 1936, and living in North Carolina.<br /> <br /> (3) Gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson died in Lucas' arms. In the American Gangster movie a scene shows Denzel Washington affectionately holding actor Clarence Williams (portrayed as Bumpy) as he is dying from a heart attack.<br /> <br /> Chepesiuk responds, "As stated in my book, there was no record of Lucas being present when Bumpy died in Wells restaurant. Press reports of Bumpy's death in July 1968 do not mention Lucas' name. I talked to some old DEA agents who knew Bumpy well. They could not recall Frank Lucas, let alone him ever being at Bumpy's side when he died or acted as his right hand man."<br /> <br /> Chepesiuk posed this question: "Why has Lucas made a big deal of his relationship with Bumpy? It establishes lineage. If Lucas can claim Bumpy died in his arms and get the the public to believe he was Bumpy's right hand man, then he can make a claim he inherited Bumpy's mantel of being the Godfather of Harlem, which is something to boast about."<br /> <br /> Bumpy's wife backs up Chepesiuk's investigation.<br /> <br /> When Mayme Johnson, the 93-year-old wife of Bumpy Johnson, read the New York Magazine story of Lucas' claim he was Bumpy's right-hand man and that Bumpy died in his arms, the widow became infuriated.<br /> <br /> "Lucas lied!"<br /> <br /> "Now I understand," she said "there's a movie coming out starring Denzel Washington called "American Gangster" which tells the life of Frank Lucas and the movie will perpetrate that lie."<br /> <br /> Johnson characterized Lucas' relationship with her husband this way: "Frank Lucas was little more than a flunky to Bumpy; a flunky he never fully trusted. Frank, Bumpy said, was a liar, and it's easier to trust a thief than a liar."<br /> <br /> "Now why would Frank tell such a lie about being with Bumpy when he died?"<br /> <br /> Mayme answered her own question.<br /> <br /> "Because he figured since Junie Byrd, Nat Pettigre, Finkley Hoskins and Sonny Chance - all of whom were there when Bumpy died are also dead; there's no one alive to reveal the fact that he's lying."<br /> <br /> To set the record straight and expose the lies about her husband, shown in American Gangster, by Lucas, and other falsehoods, Mrs. Johnson has co-authored a book scheduled for publication with Karen E. Quinones titled Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson.<br /> <br /> Johnson is on record with the media, saying she "thinks it's a shame Lucas was able to fool Hollywood into believing that he's a bigger shot than he really is."<br /> <br /> She points out that if Lucas lied about his relationship with Bumpy "there's no telling what else he lied about thats portrayed in the movie."<br /> <br /> "Everything in the movie is now suspect."<br /> <br /> Informant Role: Why Lucas denied being a 'snitch'?<br /> <br /> Lucas' legendary story about only ratting on cops reeks of hypocrisy and is in truth, a blatant lie. Apparently the aging gangster expects people to believe if he only gave up cops this makes him less of a snitch. Doesn't Lucas realize that even if his story were true, and he gave up nothing but cops, a rat is still in fact, a rat?<br /> <br /> In effect, Frank Lucas is one of the biggest drug dealing turncoats to play the game in the black underworld of organized crime.<br /> <br /> <br /> Who was Lucas really giving up, and why?<br /> <br /> Federal court records archives, aan interview with Ron Chepesiuk, who penned the newly released book about Lucas' life, and extensive research of New York broadsheets, reveal irrefutable evidence that Lucas turned on a veritable conrnucopia of multi-echelon drug dealers.<br /> <br /> U.S. Attorney John Martin Jr. made this glowing statement, "By his cooperation, he placed his life in jeopardy."<br /> <br /> "The cooperation of individuals such as Lucas is vital to the government's effort to combat narcotics traffic."<br /> <br /> In a recent interview (October 25th 2007) with New York Magazine reporter Mark Jacobson, a 77-year-old wheelchair bound Lucas responds to Jacobson after being asked "Frank, I'm saying you can do all kinds of crimes, but a lot of people feel if you snitch, that's worse. What you think about that?"<br /> <br /> Lucas snaps, "I never in my life, not to this day, testified on nobody. Ain't no sonofabitch in the world ever got put in on account of me."<br /> <br /> To justify his helping of authorities to nab police officers, he explains "Bad cops, yes. But rat shit - no, no, no."<br /> <br /> During the interview with Lucas and former heroin dealer Nicky "Mr. Untouchable" Barnes, Barnes admitted to reporter Jacobson that he himself had informed against other gangsters.<br /> <br /> When Jacobson asked lucas, "Do you think there's a time when it's good to cooperate?" Lucas responds, voice rising, "I told you before. I never testified on nobody!"<br /> <br /> Jacobson tried another angle. "Some cases were made Frank."<br /> <br /> "Look," Lucas yelled, "I have remorse about what I did."<br /> <br /> The exchange, with Lucas' denials and then acknowledgement of his cooperation, makes the former gangster into a clear embroiderer of the truth, who apparently thinks a sensible person cannot see through his none too subtle charade of smoke and mirrors.<br /> <br /> In a New York Times article dated August 25th 1984, the headline reads: U.S. Jury Convicts Heroin Informant.<br /> <br /> The brief Times article mentions the fact that when Lucas was sentenced to a total of 70 years in prison, in 1976, on federal and state drug trafficking charges, he began cooperating with authorities and this led the following year to convictions of more than 100 narcotics dealers.<br /> <br /> In reference to Lucas' role as an informant, the Times article further reads that in 1981 Lucas 40 year federal term and 30 year state term were reduced to time served, plus lifetime parole.<br /> <br /> Lucas' role as an informant was valuable enough to earn him a nice haven in the Federal Witness Protection Program.<br /> <br /> His Puerto Rican wife Julie, daughter Francine and a son were also placed in the witness protection program in 1977 after Lucas helped the law to convict other drug dealers.<br /> <br /> *<br /> <br /> While conducting research about Lucas' crime career, the author of this story watched American Gangster from start to finish to see if the movie script rehashed the same details now in dispute - given by Lucas to the New York Magazine reporter.<br /> <br /> In the movie, one memorable scene has actor Denzel Washington singlehandely negotiating a large heroin deal, worth millions, with a major asian drug dealer who questions Washington about who he worked for in the U.S. Washington responds, "I work for nobody but myself."<br /> <br /> News media stories, including the New York magazine profile of Lucas, credited the former gangster with eliminating the middleman (the Italian Mafia) from the heroin distribution in Harlem.<br /> <br /> Steven Zaillian, the chief scriptwriter, told the New York Times: "It wasn't the idea of doing a dope story so much as: What happens when a black businessman takes over an industry? Frank became bigger than the Mafia and took over their business in a way that made it difficult for him to stay in business."<br /> <br /> Somehow, Zaillian ommits major drug players like Nicky Barnes, Frank Matthews, Rob Stepheny, Leon Aiken, Leroy Butler and the superior Harlem Godfather Bumpy Johnson. Bumpy is the man who gave Lucas the dope game; the gangster who Lucas idolized to such an extent that he has lied for years in his attempts to convince people Bumpy died in his arms.<br /> <br /> Furthermore, apparently Zaillian either hadn't heard about, or chose to ignore, the history regarding the Mob's control of the heroin trade throughout Harlem and other parts of New York, beginning in the 1920s.<br /> <br /> If truth be told, Lucas alone could not have dominated the heroin trade in New York. Besides, the Mob and other key players were very deep in the game.<br /> <br /> Evidence of blacks' involvement within organized crime shows that Bumpy Johnson was the first of few original black gangsters. During the 1940s to 1960s which covered some of Lucas' era in the drug trade, Bumpy was the middleman between the black underworld and the Italian mob.<br /> <br /> The mob respected and trusted Bumpy. If a player wanted to do business in Harlem, sell drugs, run rackets, bootleg liquor, front stolen goods, whatever illicit hustle one wanted to operate, you paid Bumpy or you died.<br /> <br /> Everyone paid except Mom and Pop stores. Therefore, "Superfly" Lucas was no exception.<br /> <br /> The U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics issued a report in the 1950s indicating that La Cosa Nostra had been smuggling heroin into the U.S. for several years through a network called the French Connection.<br /> <br /> <br /> And who really dominated the heroin trade in the U.S.?<br /> <br /> A 1986 federal organized crime report stated, "During the French Connection era from the 1950s-1970s the La Cosa Nostra controlled approximately 95 percent of heroin entering the U.S."<br /> <br /> Assuming the government is correct, how could Lucas dominate the majority of heroin in the Big Apple?<br /> <br /> Also, Lucas has often repeated a self-serving mistruth that he broke the Mafia's grip on the importation of heroin into Harlem.<br /> <br /> The only drug player credited for attempting to make this happen was Frank Matthews. In 1972 Matthews held the biggest drug dealing summit, in Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss innovative ways to break mob control on heroin so that blacks could cut the mob services from the middle to earn more profit.<br /> <br /> Who Mastered the Asian Heroin Connection?<br /> <br /> Here is a million dollar question: Which American player among players in the drug trade created the Asian heroin connection into the U.S.?<br /> <br /> In Chepesiuk's book, Frank Lucas' claim that he alone discovered the Asian connection (a from the movie) Chepesiuk's investigation, utilising credible documented sources, identifies drug lord Leslie Ike Atkinson, nicknamed "Sergeant Smack" by the DEA as the first known dealer from America to establish the Asian-U.S. heroin connection.<br /> <br /> Lucas' story, featured in the New York magazine in 2000 attests to the fact that Atkinson was the guy who turned him on to the Asian drug trade.<br /> <br /> He told reporter Mark Jacobson: "Ike knew everyone over there, every black guy in the army, from the cooks on up."<br /> <br /> After Lucas partnered up with Ike to transport heroin into the U.S., Jacobson's story characterized Lucas' drug ring as "this 'army inside an army' that served the Country Boys international distribution of heroin shipments on U.S. military planes."<br /> <br /> Drugs and Dead Men<br /> <br /> Another claim by Lucas, that his associates used the false bottoms of coffins containing the bodies of U.S. soldiers to transport heroin into the U.S., has been contradicted not only by Ike Atkinson but also the Federal government, who nailed Lucas and his drug workers.<br /> <br /> New York newpapers recounted at the time when the feds busted Lucas' drug ring in 1975, that federal prosecutors said the operation had used an Asian connection to move the heroin from the Golden Triangle of Burma, Laos and Thailand to Bangkok, and then smuggled the drugs to military bases in North Carolina where the heroin was distributed to markets throughout the U.S.<br /> <br /> Lucas' lurid stories of hauling drugs on the plane of then U.S. secretary Henry Kissinger, and concealing drugs among the dead might be true but there are no news articles or government investigation reports that any of his shipments of heroin were found in the coffin of deceased U.S. soldiers.<br /> <br /> DEA investigators had heard the rumor about the Atkinson-Lucas coffin connection to transport heroin into the U.S., but no officials confirmed the rumor, even after DEA investigators once searched the coffins on a plane containing dead soldiers bound for the U.S.<br /> <br /> During this highly sensitive search no drugs were found.<br /> <br /> Today, Ike Atkinson denies that drugs were ever shipped in coffins, and where this story came from, we may never know.<br /> <br /> Why Do Gangsters, Outlaws, and Drug Lords Fascinate Us?<br /> <br /> Former heroin dealer and self-proclaimed murderer, Frank Lucas, the prime character in the movie American Gangster might someday join a cast of glorified outlaws hailed as anti-heroes, who Americans, for decades, have embraced in their hearts.<br /> <br /> The film has already wowed many observers and critics, stirring up the atomsphere of an Oscar to crown the best talent on the screen and behind the scene.<br /> <br /> Unlike the Western-style outlaws who focus on the "good guy" whose mission it is to destroy the roots of evil, a gangster movie spotlights the "bad guy", the anti-hero whose passion yearns for power and position.<br /> <br /> Against the backdrop of the 1960s civil rights era, American Gangster takes its place among the pantheon of classic gangster movies - the black Scarface or the Harlem Godfather - the kind of exciting movie destined to become a part of American culture.<br /> <br /> "Gangsterism is capitalism run rampart," says Jon McCarty, author of the gangster movie history Bullets over Hollywood (published by Da Capo Press).<br /> <br /> "It's that old entrepreneurial spirit."<br /> <br /> In American Gangster, director Ridley Scott points out that gangsters "are the guys who dare to do the things we'd love to do, but don't. There's this vicarious fascination that gangsters lead an exciting and threatening existence."<br /> <br /> "Criminal lives are larger than normal lives because they are acting out life on this grand scale, as celebrities do," says director Marc Levin, who made the Nicky Barnes documentary Mr. Touchable<br /> <br /> Levin adds a cultural philosophy: "Every group, it seems, has criminals who enjoy a flashy lifestyle, while others present a sober, businesslike face. For every fashionably tailored Frank Lucas, there's a flamboyant Superfly. For every limelight-loving John Gotti, there's a suburban Tony Soprano."<br /> <br /> Irrespective of the ongoing controversy threatening to reveal a trail of falsehoods about the criminal exploits of Frank Lucas, we must not forget America's love affair with gangster movies, which seems to always seduce our desires with an offer we can't refuse.<br /> <br /> It doesn't really matter if Hollywood blends fiction with fact, as long as the drama captivates and entertains.<br /> <br /> American Gangster works because we admire the wonderful role Washinton plays as drug lord Lucas, a family man with millions made from the drug trade, and we respect and admire cop Richie Roberts, played superbly by Russell Crowe - an honest crime fighter who finally brings the gangster down.<br /> <br /> Its unlikely that the outlaw career of "Superfly" Lucas will earn the superior status of Al Capone, Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, and John "The Teflon Don" Gotti, but one thing is for sure; if Hollywood has the ability to make people into real-life heroes then Frank Lucas is indeed, an American Gangster legend.<br /> <br /> Sources (1) New York Magazine (2) New York Times (3) Federal District Court Records(4)Book:The Untold story of Superfly By Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez (5) African American Organized Crime Report.<br /> <br /> Gangster movie history: Google the following information, Top 20 best gangster movies of all times. site: http:listverse.com/entertainment<br /> <br /> Any comments: Give us your thoughts. Contact Journalist Clarence Walker at mafia101@myway.com or cwalker261@excite.com</p>
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