Best in all legal news.
The Mafia boss allegedly had strong connections with the Toronto area in Canada. Giuseppe Gregoraci, known as Pino, from Siderno, Italy was found dead in his prison cell last week, according to an Italian newspaper called il Quotidiano del Sud.
For almost a century, American filmmakers have glamorized the Mafia, depicting their ranks as so charismatic and quick-witted that you might want to invite them over for dinner.
Audiences saw this most recently in “The Irishman,” which reunites a star cast of the usual suspects – Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – but also in “The Sopranos” and “Boardwalk Empire.”
The Mafia’s glamorized sheen in America’s collective conscience might be due to the fact that the Mafia never attained much power in the U.S. Compared with Italy, fewer lives have been lost and fewer businesses destroyed by the organized crime syndicate. Today many see the Mafia as a relic of the past.
Not so in Italy, where mafias remain as powerful and dangerous as ever. Their menace has been reflected in Italian films and television series, which have long cast mobsters in a negative light.
But as someone who studies media depictions of the Mafia, I’ve noticed a shift: Italian films and TV shows have started to glorify criminality, crafting and portraying mafiosos as alluring antiheroes.
It’s long been common practice in Hollywood to cast conventionally attractive actors as sympathetic criminal antiheroes. Humphrey Bogart in “King of the Underworld,” Al Pacino in “The Godfather” trilogy and Denzel Washington in “American Gangster” are just a few examples.
INTERPOL has launched the Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta (I-CAN) project, a joint initiative with Italy to combat the increasingly insidious and global threat of mafia-type crime.
Funded by the Italian Department of Public Security, the project will focus on the ‘Ndrangheta which is the most extensive and powerful criminal organization in the world.
Present in 32 Countries, 17 of which are European, the ‘Ndrangheta is supported by its enormous financial power built mainly on drug trafficking, corruption and the diversion of public funds through fraud and rigged contracts.
“We need a global approach to counter a global threat. We have promoted a targeted project with INTERPOL for a global attack to eradicate it, involving the State Police, the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza,” said Prefect Vittorio Rizzi, Deputy Director General of Public Security.
Whilst the project will initially be focusing on specific countries, the ultimate goal of the I-CAN project is to enhance the ability of law enforcement worldwide to more effectively identify and combat mafia-type organizations.
For several years now, Wayans has been defending his on- and off-set behavior during the making of A Haunted House 2. He’s been in court with Pierre Daniel, who alleges that Wayans subjected him to repeated offensive language about his African American race and tweeted his picture alongside Family Guy character Cleveland Brown with the comment, “Tell me this nigga doesn’t look like…THIS NIGGA!!!”
Two years ago, a panel of judges at the Second Appellate Division affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of the case. Wayans was able to use California’s SLAPP statute, which is meant to deter frivolous lawsuits chilling First Amendment activity. Under the SLAPP law, judges first analyze whether a lawsuit arises from protected activity on a matter of public concern. If so, the suit is then screened for minimal merit before the legal action moves any further. The case generated a lengthy discussion of race and creativity, and Wayans came out ahead.
But then something quite unexpected happened.
