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Frank Ragano
Frank Ragano (January 25, 1923 – May 13, 1998) was a self-styled "mob lawyer" from Florida, who made his name representing organized crime figures such as Santo Trafficante, Jr. and Carlos Marcello, and also served as lawyer for Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. In his 1994 autobiography ''Mob Lawyer'', Ragano recounted his career in defending members of organized crime, and made the controversial allegation that Florida mob boss Santo Trafficante, Jr. confessed to him shortly before he died in 1987 that he and Carlos Marcello had arranged for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Early life Born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida to Sicilian parents, Ragano attended Stetson Law School and clerked for the Florida Supreme Court before admission to the Florida Bar in 1952 and beginning his trial practice in Tampa, Florida. In 1954 he was recruited by another attorney to represent several defendants arrested in Tampa for involvement in Santo Trafficante, Jr.'s illegal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ybor City, Florida
Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually. Ybor City was unique in the American South as a successful town almost entirely populated and owned by immigrants. The neighborhood had features unusual among contemporary communities in the south, most notably its multiethnic and multiracial population and their many mutual aid societies. The cigar industry employed thousands of well-paid workers, helping Tampa grow from an economically depressed village to a bustling city in about 20 years and giving it the nickname "Cigar City". Ybor City grew and flourished from the 1890s until the Great Depression of the 1930s, when a drop in demand for fine ciga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States. Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, then appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The attorney general is supported by the Office of the Attorney General, which includes executive staff and several deputies. Merrick Garland has been the United States attorney general since March 11, 2021. History Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which, among other things, established the Office of the Attorney General. The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all sui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Hill
Henry Hill Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was an American mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from 1955 until 1980, when he was arrested on narcotics charges and became an FBI informant. Hill testified against his former Mafia associates, resulting in 50 convictions, including those of ''caporegime'' (captain) Paul Vario and fellow associate James Burke on multiple charges. He subsequently entered the Witness Protection Program, but was removed from the program in the early 1990s. Hill's life story was documented in the true crime book '' Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family'' by Nicholas Pileggi, which was subsequently adapted by Martin Scorsese into the critically acclaimed 1990 film ''Goodfellas'', in which Hill was portrayed by Ray Liotta. Early life Henry Hill Jr. was born on June 11, 1943, in the Manhattan borough of New York City to Henry Hill Sr., an Irish-American electrician and the son of a coal miner, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Burke (gangster)
James Burke (July 5, 1931 – April 13, 1996), also known as "Jimmy the Gent," was an American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who is believed to have organized the 1978 Lufthansa heist, the largest cash robbery in American history at the time. He was believed to be responsible for the deaths of those involved in the months after the robbery. Following the testimony of Henry Hill, Burke was convicted in 1982, of conspiracy charges related to his involvement in the 1978–79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. While in prison, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to another 20 years. He died of cancer at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, eight years before he would have been eligible for parole. Burke inspired the character Jimmy "The Gent" Conway, one of the main characters of the 1990 film ''Goodfellas'', played by Robert De Niro. Early life At the age of two, Burke was placed in a f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goodfellas
''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' Wiseguy'' by Pileggi. Starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, the film narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends and family from 1955 to 1980. Scorsese initially titled the film ''Wise Guy'' and postponed making it; he and Pileggi later changed the title to ''Goodfellas''. To prepare for their roles in the film, De Niro, Pesci and Liotta often spoke with Pileggi, who shared research material left over from writing the book. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals wherein Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted. The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines he liked most and put them into a revised script ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many major accolades, including an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, two Directors Guild of America Awards, an AFI Life Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2007. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Scorsese received an Master of Arts, MA from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development in 1968. His directorial debut, ''Who's That Knocking at My Door'' (1967), was accepted into the Chicago Film Festival. In the 1970s and 1980s decades, Martin Scorsese filmography, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 for truancy, during which time he was assessed by a psychiatrist as "emotionally disturbed", due to a lack of normal family life. After attending 12 schools in his youth, he quit repeatedly, and finally when he was 17, joined the Marines. Oswald was court-martialed twice while in the Marines, and jailed. He was honorably released from active duty in the Marine Corps into the Marine Corps Reserve, then flew to Europe and defected to the Soviet Union in October 1959. He lived in Minsk, Byelorussia, married a Russian woman named Marina, and had a daughter. In June 1962, he returned to the United States with his wife, and eventually settled in Dallas, where their second daughter was born. Oswald shot and killed Kennedy on November 22, 1963, fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Ruby
Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leon Rubenstein; April 25, 1911January 3, 1967) was an American nightclub owner and alleged associate of the Chicago Outfit who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A Dallas jury found Ruby guilty of murdering Oswald and sentenced him to death. Ruby's conviction was later appealed, and he was to be granted a new trial; however, he became ill in prison and died of a pulmonary embolism from lung cancer on January 3, 1967. In September 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald, shooting him on impulse, and out of grief over Kennedy's assassination. These findings were challenged by various critics who suggest that Ruby was involved with major figures in organized crime and that he was acting as part of an overall plot surrounding the assassination of Kennedy. Early life and career Ruby was born Jacob Leon Rubenstein on o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Belli
Melvin Mouron Belli (July 29, 1907 – July 9, 1996) was a prominent United States lawyer, writer, and actor known as "The King of Torts" and by insurance companies as "Melvin Bellicose". He had many celebrity clients, including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Errol Flynn, Chuck Berry, Muhammad Ali, The Rolling Stones, Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker, Martha Mitchell, Maureen Connolly, Lana Turner, Tony Curtis, and Mae West. During his legal career, he won over $600 million in damages for his clients. He was also the attorney for Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Early life Belli was born in the California Gold Rush town of Sonora, California in the Sierra Nevada foothills. His parents were of Italian ancestry from Switzerland. His grandmother, Anna Mouron, was the first female pharmacist in California. By the 1920s, the family had moved to the Central Valley city of Stockton, California, where Belli attended the now-defun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily and dating to at least the 19th century. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organisational structure and code of conduct and honor and present themselves to the public under a common brand. The basic group is known as a "family", "clan", or ''cosca''. Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town or village or a neighbourhood (''borgata'') of a larger city, in which it operates its rackets. Its members call themselves " men of honour", although the public often refers to them as ''mafiosi''. By the 20th century, following wide-scale emigration from Sicily, mafiosi established gangs in North and South America which replicate the traditions and methods of their Sicilian ancestors. The Mafia's co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time (magazine)
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published Weekly newspaper, weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on March 3, 1923, and for many years it was run by its influential co-founder, Henry Luce. A European edition (''Time Europe'', formerly known as ''Time Atlantic'') is published in London and also covers the Middle East, Africa, and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition (''Time Asia'') is based in Hong Kong. The South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney. Since 2018, ''Time'' has been published by Time USA, LLC, owned by Marc Benioff, who acquired it from Meredith Corporation. History ''Time'' has been based in New York City since its first issue published on March 3, 1923, by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce. It was the first weekly news magazine in the United St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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