Police Raids Net 90 People Across Europe Targeting Ndrangheta Criminal Organisation

The British newspaper the Independent offers a piece on a police crackdown on the Ndrangheta organized crime organization.

Police have arrest around 90 suspected mafia members in a series of coordinated raids in four European countries. 

Authorities in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands launched the raids on Wednesday against the Ndrangheta criminal group.

The suspected mafioso are believed to be involved in cocaine trafficking, money laundering, violence and bribery, said Eurojust, the EU agency that coordinates cross-border crime fighting. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mafia-sting-crackdown-europe-ndrangheta-police-arrests-germany-italy-belguim-netherlands-a8668971.html 

The Early Release Of Mafia Boss Salvatore "Toto" Riina, Known As The "Beast," To 'Die With Dignity,' Angers Families Of His Victims

Philip Pullella at the British newspaper the Independent offers a piece on the possible humanitarian release of an imprisoned Sicilian Cosa Nostra organized crime boss.

Italian politicians and relatives of victims of organized crime have voiced anger at a court ruling that opens the way for an ailing Mafia boss known as “the Beast” to be freed to “die with dignity”.

Salvatore “Toto” Riina, from the Sicilian hill town of Corleone made famous in The Godfather movies, was jailed in 1993. Known for his exceptional brutality, he was for years the Sicilian Mafia's “Boss of all Bosses”.

Riina declared a “war against the state” and ordered the killings of magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. Both were blown up by bombs in attacks that left nine others dead.

Responding to a request by Riina’s lawyers, Italy highest court ruled late on Monday he had a right to “die with dignity” under house arrest like any other terminally ill prisoner. He is believed to have cancer, heart problems and Parkinson's disease.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-mafia-boss-salvatore-toto-riina-early-release-die-with-dignity-family-victims-murders-a7775861.html

Biopic Of Former Spy And Spy Novelist John Le Carre Could Be Subject Of New Film

Nick Clark at the British newspaper the Independent reports that the film rights to Adam Sisman's biography of  John le Carre have been optioned by the spy novelist's sons.

Viewers settling in to enjoy the next episode of The Night Manager may soon get a chance to see the man behind the BBC1 espionage thriller. A biopic of the book’s author John le Carré, who worked for MI5 and MI6, could be headed for the screen. 

Adam Sisman, who wrote John le Carré: The Biography, told The Independent Bath Literature Festival last week that the film rights to his book had been snapped up. 

The Ink Factory, the production company behind the BBC’s adaptation of The Night Manager and several other Le Carré novels, has secured the rights, he revealed. 

Simon and Stephen Cornwell, the sons of Le Carré, whose real name is David Cornwell, founded the company in 2010. “David has quite a say in what the Ink Factory do,” Mr Sisman said. “I had to sell it to them, really. What was I selling? The rights to someone else’s life.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/john-le-carr-biopic-of-mi5-spy-could-be-subject-of-new-film-a6914541.html

You can also read my Washington Times review of Sisman's biography of John le Carre via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/12/my-washington-times-review-of-john-le.html

Italian Mafia Sees Huge Increase In Women Mobsters - And They're Often More Violent Than The Men

Michael Day at the British newspaper the Independent offers a piece on the increase of women involved with Italian organized crime.

As Nunzia D’Amico pushed her baby in a pram near her home in an eastern suburb of Naples, she probably looked much liked like any other mother. Laden with shopping, the 37-year-old was killed in a hail of bullets, yards from her front door. 

Her brothers, Salvatore, Giuseppe and Antonio, the three heads of the D’Amico clan, had been arrested. Their sister is believed to have been, when she was killed by a rival clan as part of the city’s brutal drugs war, in charge. 

An informant, Gaetano Lauria, who is accused of mob-linked murder in the same Ponticelli part of Naples, told police that D’Amico, who had a conviction for drug trafficking, had been leader of the family business. Her death in October underlined what prosecutors in Naples have long been saying: more and more women are taking over mafia groups as their husbands and brothers are jailed or murdered.

 

Even Sicily’s traditionalist Cosa Nostra crime organisation is embracing equal opportunities, with news this week that the treasurer of the group’s notorious Porta Nuova clan is a woman – 38-year-old mother of five, Teresa Marino. She was arrested along with 37 others in the island’s capital, Palermo.

Experts estimate there are 10 times as many female mobsters in Italy compared to 20 years ago – and they are often more violent and cynical than their male counterparts.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-mafia-sees-huge-increase-in-women-mobsters-and-theyre-often-more-violent-than-the-men-a6779061.html 

The Charm of Evil: Martin Scorsese On 'The Third Man': The Best Revelation In All Cinema

I'm a huge admirer of The Third Man, a great film directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles and other fine actors.

You can read what Martin Scorsese thinks of the film thanks to a piece in the British newspaper the Independent.  

I saw The Third Man for the first time on television in New York, with commercial interruptions. I think I was about 15 years old, maybe 16. I saw Citizen Kane around the same period. I remember that I wanted to see the film on its first release, but was unable to do so, which created a mystique about the film. The theme was a radio hit, but my first viewing was on TV, around '56 or '57. But even with commercial breaks on a 16-inch screen, the power of the picture, the surprise, the entertainment, the film-making itself… a revelation. Expressive style, virtuosity – I became fixated, obsessed.

I couldn't wait to see the film again, but I had to wait until it was shown on television, maybe four or five months later. It wasn't the optimum viewing condition, I still lived in a small apartment with my family, so it was difficult to find the concentration and quiet I needed to figure out why the picture affected me so much. I was becoming aware of film-making itself around this time, about storytelling, about extraordinary cinematic experiences.

Simultaneously, a young priest who was a mentor to me and some friends gave us Graham Greene's books to read. The Power and the Glory had quite an effect on me. There was a stage version of it off-Broadway, and a live TV play with Laurence Olivier and George C Scott, also. Graham Greene's Catholicism had a strong impact on me, his themes of sin and redemption. I was very much aware of Graham Greene's contribution to The Third Man before seeing it. And I had seen his name on the credits of The Fallen Idol, in particular, the combination of Graham Greene and Carol Reed. I also admired Odd Man Out, as both of these films were shown on TV constantly.

... Has it had an influence on my career? When I saw it, I was ripe for it – ready to understand what you can do with the camera. The themes of the picture made me feel comfortable about dealing with similar kinds of characters, characters you'd consider undesirable - the charm of evil. I did a paper on the film when I was 18 at NYU. The professor had different ideas. He wrote a note on the paper: "Remember, it's only a thriller." I disagreed. We know what happens in Psycho or Vertigo or The Red Shoes. So why do we keep watching? If some dismiss a work because it "fits" into a genre, then why does it sustain repeated viewings? It's more than the plot twists and surprises of the story. Certainly, it's the characters, the world they inhabit, the love stories, the trust and betrayals – the human heart. Each presented with intelligence, wit, and a very real joy of film-making, while still feeling fresh.  

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/martin-scorsese-on-the-third-man-the-best-revelation-in-all-cinema-10340553.html

Note: I named The Third Man's Harry Lime character as one of the top three villains in my Crime Beat column. I named Martin Scorsese' Jimmy the Gent and Tommy from Goodfellas and Ian Fleming's Auric Goldfinger from Goldfinger as the other top film villains.

You can read the column via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/03/my-crime-beat-column-american-film.html 

Footage From Secret Meeting Reveals Spread Of Calabrian ’Ndrangheta Mafia Into Switzerland And Germany

Tony Patterson at the British newspaper the Independent offers a piece on the Italian gangsters operating in Switzerland.

The scene could have been lifted straight from The Godfather. In a dimly lit restaurant back room, 14 thickset men sit huddled around a table listening attentively to their boss as he lectures them on the importance of dignity, honour, respect – and extortion.

Yet the sinister meeting is not from Hollywood. It is real life – a gathering of the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta gun and drugs Mafia held recently in the small Swiss town of Frauenfeld, north of Zurich. The event was clandestinely filmed by Swiss and Italian police during a two-year investigation.

“You can work in everything – extortion, cocaine, heroin,” insists the Mafia boss as he welcomes what are believed to be new recruits to his criminal organisation. “There is everything, 10 kilos, 20 kilos a day. I will bring it to you personally but then I don’t want to know anything more about it.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/footage-from-secret-meeting-reveals-spread-of-calabrian-ndrangheta-mafia-into-switzerland-and-germany-9695295.html

'My Life In The Bull Ring With Donald Ogden Stwart': Ernest Hemingway's Last Word From Beyond The Grave

Paul Bigneil at the British newspaper the Independant offers a piece on a Hemingway short story that Vanity Fair rejected when the late great writer was a young man.

For many aspiring writers, having a story published in a prestigious magazine could make or break a career. For most, their manuscript will be destined for an editor's wastepaper basket. Ernest Hemingway fell into this category after the US glossy magazine Vanity Fair rejected a short story he wrote as a 25-year-old.

But the American author who went on to write novels such as The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea appears to have had the last laugh from beyond the grave.

Almost 90 years after the story, entitled "My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart", was rejected by the trend-setting magazine, a request from Vanity Fair's editor-in-chief Graydon Carter to publish the story has been turned down by Hemingway's estate. The five-page story, written in 1924 and set in a Spanish bullring, is said to be faintly comical but perhaps not his best work, written as he was attempting to put the finishing touches to The Sun Also Rises and The Torrents of Spring.

Michael Katakis of the Hemingway Estate, told The Independent on Sunday: "We're very careful with unpublished material. The question is: 'If Hemingway were alive, would he want it published in a magazine like Vanity Fair, or would he want it relegated to a scholarly examination of how a writer was developing?  

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/ernest-hemingways-last-word-from-beyond-the-grave-8669795.html 

Early Draft Of 'Casino Royale' Reveals Cover Name For Ian Fleming's James Bond Character

Although Ian Fleming had James Bond use operational cover names in some of the novels - Mark Hazard in The Man With the Golden Gun, for example - Liam O'Brien at the British newspaper the Independent reports that in an early draft of Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, Bond had a cover name.

James Bond creator Ian Fleming originally wanted to call his hero James Secretan when on secret missions, an early draft of Casino Royale has revealed.

Perhaps sensing that “Secretan… James Secretan” didn’t have quite the same ring as the iconic introduction, “Bond… James Bond”, he disposed of the idea before the first Bond novel’s publication in 1953.

An extract from the 1952 draft version is to be made public to coincide with the book’s 60th anniversary this weekend.

In the manuscript, a CIA man introduces himself to 007 at the Hotel Splendide casino by saying: “My name’s Felix Leiter. Glad to meet you.” Bond replies: “Mine’s Secretan. James Secretan.” The word “Secretan” is scrawled out in blue ink, with “Bond” written in its place.

The author’s niece, Kate Grimond, told The Sunday Times of Fleming’s potential reasons for dropping the idea.

“Ian must have realised it would cause confusion if he had Bond known as Bond to his friends and the security services in London, but as Secretan for his cover name to strangers or people he didn’t want to know he was a spy.”   

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-names-secretan-james-secretan-early-draft-of-casino-royale-reveals-what-ian-fleming-wanted-to-call-his-super-spy-8572375.html 

Goodfellas Don't Sue Goodfellas, But 'Gomorrah' Author Is Suing The Gangsters Who Ordered His Death

Veteran organized crime reporter and author George Anastasia offered a gem of a statement in his  book The Goodfella Tapes: The True Story of How the FBI Recorded A Mob War and Brought Down a Mafia Don.

In the book Anastasia reported the FBI recording of a Cosa Nostra member telling a possible litigant in a mob dispute that "Goodfellas don't sue goodfellas... goodfellas kill goodfellas."

But Michael Day at the British newspaper the Independent reports that in Italy Gomorrah author Roberto Saviano is suing the organized crime figures who ordered his death for writing the book that exposed their criminal enterprises.
 
Italy's most prominent anti-mafia campaigner has appeared in court to sue the mobsters who ordered his death.

In a high security Naples courtroom Roberto Saviano, the writer whose print expose ‘Gomorrah’ and the eponymous hit film it spawned made him a household name, finally looked his enemies in eyes - six years after he was forced into hiding.

Mr Saviano confronted Camorra bosses Francesco Bidognetti and Antonio Iovine via video link as he began the process of suing them - and two of their lawyers, Michele Santonastaso and Carmine D'Aniello - for threats and defamation, which he says came in an 2008 appeal hearing.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/antimafia-campaigner-roberto-saviano-sues-gangsters-who-ordered-his-death-8406282.html

You can also read my Crime Beat column on The Goodfella Tapes via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html    

Charles Dickens: A Tale Of Two Centuries

Susan Elkins at the British newspaper the Independent looks at the best books on Charles Dickens during his bicentennial year.

If Charles Dickens were as immortal as his writing, he would be celebrating his 200th birthday on 7 February. He may be – like Jacob Marley – as dead as a doornail, but culturally he's never been more alive, thanks to all of those timeless themes in his work. We are still wrestling with Orlick-style crime; punishment for men such as Sykes; daunting lawyers such as Jaggers; greedy industrialists such as Merdle and terrible poverty for Oliver Twist-like children. And family anxieties, tensions, miseries and joys – think Micawber, Pocket, Cratchit, Wemmick and Gradgrind – have changed remarkably little.

...in acknowledgement of his bicentenary, the Dickens commentators, critics, editors and creative responders have been busy producing new books.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/charles-dickens-a-tale-of-two-centuries-6292734.html

You can also read an earlier post on the preparation of the Dickens bicentennial via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/01/britain-prepares-for-charles-dickens.html

Mr. Ritchie, May I Have My Sherlock Holmes Back, Please?

Andrew Martin at the British newspaper the Independant asks film director Guy Ritchie if he can have his beloved Sherlock Holmes character back.

When people berated Steven Spielberg for dumbing down Tintin, I looked on with bemusement, but then I didn't spend half my childhood reading Tintin stories. I did spend half of my childhood reading Sherlock Holmes stories, which is why I have a bone to pick with Guy Ritchie, director of the Christmas blockbuster and nominal Holmes film, A Game Of Shadows.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/andrew-martin-can-i-have-my-sherlock-back-please-6281534.html

The photo above is of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.

Elmore Leonard On Westerns, Movies, Drinking, And Hanging Out With Detroit Cops

The British newspaper The Independent offers an interesting interview with the great crime writer Elmore Leonard.

You can read the interview via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/elmore-leonard-to-have-a-clear-head-in-the-morning-was-a-new-feeling-for-me-2282491.html

Can Journalists Ever Be Heroes?

I've wanted to be a journalist and a crime novelist since I was 12-years-old, so over the years I've read a good number of novels and saw a good number of films about journalists.

Evelyn Waugh's satiric novel Scoop is a particular favorite. I've read the novel several times.

John Walsh wrote an interesting piece for the British newspaper The Independent that argues journalist "hacks" make for great literary heroes.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/can-journalists-ever-be-heroes-2262372.html# 

Rescued From the Stasi Shredder, Carlos the Terrorist's Missing Years

Documentation from the Stasi, the former East German security service, reveals the missing years from Illich Ramierez Sanchez, or Carlos the terrorist.

The British newspaper The Independent reports that 15, 500 bags of shredded or torn documents have been pieced together to reveal the level of support the Stasi afforded Carlos when they sheltered him in East Germany.

You can read the newspaper story via the below link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rescued-from-the-shredder-carlos-the-jackals-missing-years-2120492.html

Carlos is the subject of a recent film bio. You can read about the film and link to an interview with the film's director via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/10/carlos-jackass-notorious-imprisoned.html