The Offer he Couldn't Refuse: George Anastasia Covers The Federal Organized Crime Trial In Philadelphhia

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the federal organized crime trial in Philadelphia for www.bigtrial.net

He came dressed like a character out of Guys and Dolls but the story he told was classic Goodfellas.

Joseph Procaccini, a major video poker machine vendor in the Philadelphia area, told a federal jury Tuesday that mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and two of his top associates forced Procaccini and a business partner to give up their control of a highly lucrative poker machine distribution network back in 2001.

"If we didn't deal with them they were just going to take it and we'd be left with nothing," Procaccini said when asked how Ligambi and his associates took 34 video poker machines assigned to 20 different locations. "We would get hurt if we didn't play ball with them...They said if we did, they wouldn't bother the rest of our business."

Dressed in a gray, sharkskin suit, black shirt and gray tie, Procaccini, 53, spent two hours detailing what authorities have charged was the extortion of his buisness, M&P Vending, by Ligambi and co-defendants Joseph "Mousie" Massimino and Anthony Staino. In what may have been the most damaging testimony to date in the two-month-old trial, Procaccini said he and his business partner met with Ligambi and Massimino in May 2001 to dicsuss a business proposal.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2012/12/the-offer-he-couldnt-refuse.html

The Death And Legacy Of A Japanese Organized Crime Yakuza Boss Known As 'Mr. Gorilla'

 

Jake Adelstein at the Daily Beast reports on the life and death of a yakuza crime boss known as 'Mr. Gorilla.'

Yoshinori Watanabe, the previous boss of Japan’s largest yakuza group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, passed away this weekend according to the Hyogo prefectural police. He was the fifth-generation leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi and had rarely appeared in public since retiring or being forced out of power in 2005. He was 71.

... Watanabe was a charismatic leader and a good businessman. By keeping the association dues low and through aggressive gang wars and leveraged peace treaties with rival gangs, he expanded the organization to become Japan’s largest organized crime group; by 2004, the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters was collecting nearly $25 million per year in association dues alone, according to police files. In the book The Business Management Methods of the Yamaguchi-gumi (2005), by yakuza expert Atsushi Mizoguchi, Watanabe succinctly explains the secret of his organized crime management: “Absolute Unity. Retaliation. Silence. Appropriate rewards and punishments, and judicious use of violence.”

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

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/03/the-death-and-legacy-of-yakuza-boss-mr-gorilla.html

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Jake Adelstein and his book Tokyo Vice via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/03/tokyo-vice-american-reporter-on-police.html

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/03/tokyo-vice-american-reporter-on-police.html

Former Philadelphia Inquirer Crime Reporter George Anastasia On The Future of Philadelphia Newspapers And The Philly Mob

 

Victor Fiorillo at phillymag.com interviewed former Philadelphia Inquirer crime reporter George Anastasia about his current reporting job for bigtrial.net and the future of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra organized crime family.

If you’ve been searching for Pulitzer-nominated mob reporter George Anastasia’s expert coverage of the Joseph Ligambi trial in the Philadelphia Inquirer, you’re looking in the wrong place. The paper’s 38-year veteran took a buyout in October but has since been scooped up by prominent Philadelphia attorney Jim Beasley Jr. to write about the Philly mob’s courtroom drama for BigTrial.net, the brand new blog that Beasley set up to cover, well, big trials. I asked the 65-year-old Anastasia what all this means for the future of journalism and about the time he was nearly whacked.

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

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2012/12/04/george-anastasia-philly-mob-trial-joseph-ligambi-inquirer/

A New U.S. Spy To Root For In The Natanz Directive

Retired Air Force Lt. General Thomas McInerney offers a good review of Wayne Simmons and Mark Graham's new spy thriller The Natanz Directive in the Washington Times. 

Ian Fleming gave us James Bond. Robert Ludlum gave us Jason Bourne. Now authors Wayne Simmons and Mark Graham give us a novel with an unapologetically pro-American master of espionage, Jake Conlan. Not since Tom Clancy created Jack Ryan has a U.S. audience had such a compelling spy to root for.

Conlan, a veteran clandestine operative, is called back to duty to take on one of America’s most sensitive missions: penetrating the Iranian nuclear program. Well over the hill, he finds himself a bit creakier, perhaps a step slower, but not a whit less sharp. He bounces around Europe, reconnecting with lapsed contacts, always with a flair for the dramatic entrance — whether transiting the Atlantic aboard an SR-71 spy plane or entering Iran through a risky high-altitude low-opening (HALO) jump.

Besides an NSA-modified iPhone, Conlan doesn’t have fancy gadgets. What the plot lacks in gee-whiz contraptions, it makes up for in the accuracy of portraying how U.S. spies operate. Here the book relies on Mr. Simmons' three decades as a clandestine operative. The scenes depicting Conlan recruiting and meeting sources — some of whose motivations and allegiances are dubious at best — provide fascinating insights into CIA tradecraft.

... Mr. Obama would do well to read “The Natanz Directive,” not only because it would be welcome, entertaining reading on his next trip to Hawaii, but also because he’d learn a thing or two from Jake Conlan on how to handle this very dangerous enemy of the Free World. Jake got it right. The book is a spellbinder throughout.

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

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/30/sobering-truths-about-iran/  

LA Times Video Chat With Crime Writer Michael Connelly About Harry Bosch and 'The Black Box'

Carolyn Kellogg the Los Angeles Times offers a video interview with crime novelist Michael Connelly about his new crime thriller The Black Box and his LAPD character Harry Bosch.

Bestselling author Michael Connelly joined the Los Angeles Times for a video chat on the publication day of his new mystery, "The Black Box."

In the book, set in present day, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch investigates a cold case: a murder committed during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. That was the same year readers were introduced to Bosch in Connelly's first book, "The Black Echo."

In the interview, Connelly talks candidly about what it's been like writing Harry Bosch stories for 20 years. It's less about plot, he explains, than character. In recent books Bosch's daughter Maddie has become a part of his life, expanding his emotional range to include the responsibilities and worries of a parent.

You can read the rest of the piece and watch the interview via the below link:

http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-michael-connelly-video-chat-20121127,0,1071256.story

You can also read my interview with Michael Connelly froma few years ago via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/04/killers-cops-and-crime-reporters-q-with.html

Mark Twain On Writing: 'Kill Your Adjectives'

Kate Kiefer at Forbes.com wrote a piece on the advice Mark Twain gave to writers.

Words like “really” and “very” are rarely useful. Twain famously said to “substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” I think of him every time I type—and then delete—the word “very.”

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

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katelee/2012/11/30/mark-twain-on-writing-kill-your-adjectives/

Video Poker Machines And Expresso, A South Philadelphia Tradition

Veteran organized crime reporter and true crime author George Anastasia is covering the federal organized crime trial in Philadelphia for www.bigtrial.net.

A South Philadelphia video poker machine vendor reluctantly offered jurors a look at the finances of the illegal gambling business Friday when he put a dollar figure on his 10-year run as a distributor.

Curt Arbitman, testifying in the racketeering trial of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants, said when he agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors he was forced to forfeit $600,000.

The money, he said, was an estimate of his take from a distribution network that he controlled from about 2000 until his arrest in September 2009.

His income, he told the jury, was based on a profit-sharing arrangement he had with the owners of the stops -- bars, restaurants and social clubs -- where his machines were placed. He said he worked a 75/25 split, meaning the stop owner got 75 percent of the take and he got 25 percent.

In effect, the buisness generated $2.4 million over that 10-year period.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2012/11/video-poker-machines-and-espresso-south.html

You can read George Anastasia's earlier posts at www.bigtrial.net.