Dennis Rodman facing criminal charges in July hit-and-run, prosecutors say

by James Queally Contact Reporter

Former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman was charged with causing a hit-and-run crash, lying to police and driving without a valid license after police say he drove the wrong way down the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana earlier this year, prosecutors said.

Rodman, who rose to prominence for both his bad-boy image and his role on several of Michael Jordan’s championship Chicago Bulls teams in the 1990s, is due in court early next year.

He was charged with four misdemeanors: causing a hit-and-run accident with property damage, driving across a highway divider, giving false information to police and driving without a valid license, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Rodman, 55, could face up to two years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said. He will be arraigned in January.

Full Article – http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dennis-rodman-charged-20161121-story.html

THE BLACK AXE: Italy faces chilling new organised crime group MORE RUTHLESS than the mafia

ITALY is facing a terrifying new organised crime threat from gangsters who are even more merciless than the homegrown mafia.

The Black Axe – a Nigerian criminal network that rules by fear – is involved in drug dealing, prostitution and the fraudulent transfer of money between Europe and Nigeria.

And the ruthless organisation is now working alongside the Sicilian mafia – the notorious and powerful Cosa Nostra – after striking a deal with underworld bosses in the island’s capital Palermo and buying the rights to operate in designated areas.

Deputy prosecutor Leonardo Agueci said: “Cosa Nostra tolerates the Nigerian mafia in Palermo. Cosa Nostra allowed the Nigerians to organise a subordinate structure they were tolerated as long as they didn’t come outside their perimeter.”


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Full Article – http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/734772/Black-Axe-Mafia-Cosa-Nostra-Sicily-Palermo-Italy-Nigeria-Lagos

Caesars bankruptcy heads to showdown with U.S. watchdog

By Tracy Rucinski | CHICAGO

The U.S. government’s bankruptcy watchdog objected on Monday to a Caesars Entertainment Corp subsidiary’s proposal to exit Chapter 11, threatening to derail a largely consensual plan to slash $10 billion of debt.

The Caesars subsidiary, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc (CEOC), filed an $18 billion bankruptcy in January 2015 amid allegations by creditors that its private equity-backed parent had looted the unit of its best assets and stripped debt guarantees.

Feuding parties made a peace deal in September that included a $5 billion contribution by Caesars to the unit’s reorganization plan in exchange for releases from billions of dollars in potential legal claims.

In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, the U.S. Trustee objected to the releases and the exculpation of “a wide array of parties for acts far beyond the plan or the Chapter 11 cases.” The U.S. Trustee called the releases “blanket immunity.”

Full Article – http://www.reuters.com/article/caesars-bankruptcy-idUSL1N1DM200