Scorn On The Mob

February 15, 2022

The Good News

Swiss Approve Ban on Tobacco Ads (NYT, $)
Couple married for 91 years and still in love (BBC)

“When I sell liquor, it’s bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on a silver tray on Lakeshore Drive, it’s hospitality.” – Al Capone

Scorn On The Mob

The two halves of the Italian peninsula differ, with each region having its own unique cultures, food, and history. While there’s no bad vacation destination in Italy, the southern half of the country is one of the most breathtaking places on earth – rustic and relaxed, rich in perpetually sun-drenched coastlines, with some of the most important historical sites and towns. The southern province of Foggia, for example, is known for its pristine beaches and vast tomato fields. But what should be a place of idyllic existence is being shattered by a wave of violence marking the return of a ruthless local mafia, after a crackdown by Italian authorities in recent years led to the arrest of hundreds of local criminals.

The local mob is often referred to as the Fourth Mafia, because it’s smaller and less notorious than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the ’Ndrangheta from Calabria, or the Camorra from Naples. But it’s no less violent. Extortion has been the mob’s mainstay; some authorities believe 80% of Foggia’s businesses have been paying for “protection.” Few victims report demands for protection money to the police.

The Fourth Mafia suffered major setbacks beginning in August 2017, when two members of one clan were killed by members of a rival family. Two farmers who witnessed the murders tried running away, but were pursued and shot dead. The witnesses’ killings led to a crackdown by Italian authorities, including investigations by specialist anti-mafia prosecutors. In the years since, hundreds of suspected mobsters have been arrested on charges like extortion, drugs and arms trafficking, and membership in a mafia organization. The arrests gave more local entrepreneurs the confidence to report attempts at extortion last year, compared with previous years. But those that did report are having their lives and families threatened again, and their businesses bombed and burned.

Last November, Gianpaolo Romano found an unsigned letter under the glass entrance of his car showroom demanding he pay $286,000 to be safe. The letter said those demanding the protection money knew his habits and where his family lived. Romano and his two brothers, co-owners of the family business founded in 1964, decided not to pay, and reported the threat to the police. Early on January 4, a bomb mixing gunpowder with nails and bolts blew up Romano’s showroom and badly damaged three cars on display. In mid-January, the bombings and arson attacks multiplied. Law enforcement in Foggia is chronically understaffed for the number of crimes being committed, and the local prosecutor is worried. Italy’s Interior Minister held an emergency meeting with Foggia’s local police chiefs, prosecutors, and business owners, and promised to send them an additional 50 police officers. (WSJ)

Video Killed The Invade-io Star

Rapid build-up of Russian forces close to the Ukrainian border continues, with everything from submarines and amphibious landing ships in the Black Sea to short-range ballistic missiles, tanks, and howitzers around Ukraine’s northeastern edges. CNN has geolocated and authenticated social media videos of these movements. Some come from official sources; others are from TikTok or YouTube, and often complement satellite imagery.
One video shows a convoy moving near Belgorod in western Russia, just across the border from the major Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. A large collection of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles was filmed in the area around Voronezh. A lot of the hardware is traveling south from the Russian city of Kursk; particularly concerning is the movement of convoys of Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles.
The buildup is unprecedented, says Rob Lee of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. “This is not like previous war scares or the buildup in the spring [of 2021]. The amount of Russian aerial, ground, and naval military power near Ukraine now is quantifiably far greater.” (CNN)

Swept Under The Drug

15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, a favorite for the women’s individual gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics, has been cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) despite failing a pre-Games drug test. Valieva tested positive for the heart drug trimetazidine on December 25, but the result from a Swedish lab didn’t come to light until a week ago, after Valieva helped her Russian Olympic Committee team members win the team gold.
During that event, Valieva landed the first quadruple jump by a woman at the Olympics. The CAS panel cut Valieva some slack, in part because as a minor, she is subject to different rules than an adult. The teenager won’t be provisionally suspended ahead of a full investigation. But whatever happens on the ice, Valieva won’t get a medal ceremony moment, nor will any skater who finishes in the top three with her. The decision not to award medals also affects the second-place American team, who will leave Beijing unsure if they won silver or gold. (AP)

Additional World News

Vietnam to end COVID curbs on international flights from Feb 15 (Reuters)
Israel studies aid options for Ukrainian Jews if war comes (WaPo, $)
The Quiet Flight of Muslims From France (NYT, $)
Re-elected German president vows to fight for democracy (ABC)
Former Nicaragua guerrilla who helped free Daniel Ortega dies in jail (Guardian)
Hong Kong leader says fifth COVID wave has ‘overwhelmed’ city’s capacity (Reuters)
Ukraine’s President Tries to Avert Panic as Pressure Mounts (NYT, $)

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Bank You And Good Night

Former President Donald Trump’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars, informed the Trump Organization last week that a decade’s worth of Trump’s financial statements “should no longer be relied upon” and suggested that any recipient of the documents be alerted. In a copy of the letter filed among New York court filings, Mazars executive William J. Kelly voiced new concerns about the statements, which the firm helped Trump prepare and which have come under scrutiny by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
James alleges in civil filings that Trump used the statements to inflate the value of his properties and misstated his personal worth in representations to lenders. “We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources,” Kelly wrote. Mazars now joins other banks, law firms, and consulting firms that have severed their relationships with the Trump Organization. (WaPo, $)

Times To Put This Behind Us

With the jury still deliberating in Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against the New York Times, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff announced Monday that he’ll dismiss the case for her failure to reach the evidentiary bar required in libel lawsuits involving public figures. The judge said the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential contender had failed to prove that Times editorial page editor James Bennet had knowingly acted with malice.
Bennet suggested in a piece on gun control that Palin’s campaign rhetoric contributed to an atmosphere of gun violence, indirectly linking it with the shooting of a Democratic politician. Rakoff said he would wait until the jury concludes its deliberations and the trial ends before formally entering his judgment, in case his decision is reversed on appeal. Despite his position, Rakoff said he wasn’t surprised Palin had sued because of the “very unfortunate editorializing on the part of the Times.” The jury will resume its deliberations on Tuesday. (AP News)

Additional USA News

Knowing Flight From Wrong

When flight attendants come around with their beverage carts, they usually ask passengers if they’d like a soda or coffee. But one American Airlines flight attendant used his coffee pot to hit a passenger in the head — twice. It happened Sunday afternoon on a flight from L.A. to D.C. According to an affidavit and a press release describing the incident, a 50-year-old, 6’3″, 240-pound passenger said he’d been followed onto the plane at LAX by people who wanted to hurt him. The man told flight attendants “he heard the individuals harming his family over the telephone.” When asked what the individuals looked like, the passenger told flight attendants one was sitting next to him on the plane and another had a knife.
One flight attendant took the man’s phone and saw he’d tried to call 911, but couldn’t get through. Minutes later, the passenger asked for a cup of water. Then he got up and walked to the plane’s cockpit area, “and told the flight attendants that they were not flying and that the flight attendants were lying to him.” One of the attendants grabbed a beverage cart to put between herself and the passenger, but the man grabbed some plastic silverware, peeled off the napkin around it, and stuck the silverware in his shirt sleeve “holding it like a shank.” He wasn’t done. He grabbed a small champagne bottle by the neck and tried breaking it on the counter, while simultaneously kicking and shoving the service cart into a flight attendant and also trying to pull open the plane’s exit door.
Then it really got out of hand. A flight attendant grabbed a coffee pot and hit the man twice in the head as several other passengers were coming forward to assist. One was a police officer, who pulled the man away from the exit door. Another passenger punched the guy in the jaw and a third grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to the floor. All this was happening as the plane was being diverted to Kansas City International Airport in Missouri. Upon landing, the FBI was there to take the “unruly passenger” into federal custody, where he’ll remain until a detention hearing is scheduled. The rest of the passengers, now with a really good story to tell, were rescheduled on another flight to D.C. (CNN)

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