A Retired Sergeant's Unofficial History Of The Philadelphia Police Department

Broad & Liberty ran my piece today on a book about the history of the Philadelphia Police Department. You can read the piece via the link below or the below text:

Paul Davis: A retired sergeant’s unauthorized history of the Philadelphia Police Department

In my more than 30 years of covering crime and the cops in Philadelphia, I’ve come to know a good number of police officers; from patrolmen to detectives, from narcotics officers to bomb squad officers, and from sergeants to chief inspectors, deputy commissioners, and commissioners.

One recently retired sergeant that I’ve come to know is Gary Capuano (seen in the above photo). A lifelong South Philadelphia resident and decorated police veteran, he has often offered his take on crime and police issues here in my Broad + Liberty pieces. 

Capuano has recently published a book called The Unofficial History of the PPD, which covers the pivotal moments of the Philadelphia Police Department. I reached out to him and asked him why he wrote the book.

“I began compiling stories that I felt may be of interest to the public early on in my career,” Capuano replied. “While out of work due to an injury in 2016, I decided to write a history of the Philadelphia Police Department and self-publish. I didn’t see any books out there that took a stab at trying to chronicle the department’s history other than one book written way back in 1887 by Howard O. Sprogle, called The Philadelphia Police: Past and Present. The police department put together a book in 2012 for the 215th Anniversary, which was published by Acclaim Press. 

“In my opinion, the book was more of a yearbook that had many photos with few facts. Being injured, I had a lot of time on my hands and wanted to put the time to good use. Even though compiling all of the information was a task in and of itself, it was a challenge that I gladly accepted because I wanted to learn more about the organization that I chose to join and be part of almost twenty years prior.” 

Capuano said he utilized some books as well as old newspapers articles to accomplish his goal. He chose items he believed were interesting and would pique the reader's interest. He also said he learned quite a few things himself. He noted that there were days he wanted to quit, and then there were days that he worked all night and into the morning.

“The book consists of twelve chapters and touches on what I believe is the history of policing, local riots and infamous murderers as well as a chapter specifically dedicated to honoring the fallen officers,” Capuano said. “The one thing that truly intrigued me was the department’s influence in voting during the late 19th Century and how politics and policing go hand in hand. The Dick Anderson Squad (an elite African American squad) was also intriguing. The most surprising find for me during the writing of the book was a man by the name of William “Squire” McMullen. He was involved with the Volunteer Fire Department, and he was a war hero who would go on to become a successful business owner as well as an alderman. He was very influential in politics. 

“The one thing that troubled me during the writing of this book was how former Mayor and Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo is viewed by many as a racist. He was the one who helped fund the African American Museum. During Rizzo’s term as police commissioner, he started what is known as Operation Thanksgiving, which is still in effect as of today. Many of its recipients are African Americans. Rizzo surrounded himself with African American bodyguards that he trusted with his life, such as police officers James Turner and Tony Fulwood. I’m not sure exactly when Mayor Rizzo’s statue and mural became a target for the ill-informed, but if they conducted their own investigation and thought for themselves, they would learn that he was not a racist. Rizzo had a dislike for criminals of any race, color or creed.” 

Capuano said he tried to keep his personal opinions out of the book, but he will offer them in his soon to be released memoir, Behind the Badge: Policing, Politics and Pandering in Philly-A Sergeant’s Memoir. 

“My memoir chronicles my childhood growing up in South Philadelphia, my career in the police department, and my untimely retirement.” 

Capuano became a police officer in December 1997 and was assigned to the 4th District. In October 2000, he was chosen to work in the District’s 5 Squad’s stolen auto detail, in which officers worked directly for the District’s captain and were believed to need little to no supervision. In June of 2003, he was assigned to plainclothes duty and worked a burglary detail until September 2005. He was then promoted to detective and was assigned to Southwest Detective Division. He worked there from December 2005 until December 2007. 

“I resigned from the PPD for a short time and went to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office as a county detective from July 2007 until September 2007,” Capuano said. “My position there in the Felony Unit wasn’t as it was described to me, and I returned to the PPD. I was then chosen to lead the Southwest Detectives’ Fugitive Task Force as its Officer in Charge. I worked at that unit from December 2007 until January 2014. The majority of the time, I was the ‘breacher.’” 

Capuano was later promoted to sergeant, and he was assigned to the 3rd District, where he led the District’s “Dropback Squad,” which consisted of approximately twenty officers who supplemented the District’s 5 Squad officers. 

“I hope The Unofficial History of the PPD” will help people better understand the origins of the police department along with the heroes who sacrificed and gave their all for their city.”

You can purchase Gary Capuano’s Unofficial History of the PPD at Amazon and elsewhere.

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the “On Crime” column for the Washington Times. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.   

My Crime Beat Column: A Look Back At The James Bond Film 'You Only Live Twice'

After watching the great Scot actor Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No and From Russia With Love as a pre-teen in the 1960s, I went on to read all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond thrillers and I became a life-long Ian Fleming aficionado. 

As an introductory offer, the Mystery Book Club in the 1960s sent me nine hardback Ian Fleming James Bond novels. These were the first nine books in my now considerable library. The first Ian Fleming novel I read was his 1964 thriller, You Only Live Twice.

I loved the novel. I loved the exotic Japanese background and the fascinating characters, Bond, of course, and Tiger Tanaka, Dikko Henderson and Kissy Suzuki, all based on real people Fleming met in Japan. 

I also loved the plot. Fleming offered a criminal madman with a Japanese castle surrounded by a garden full of deadly plants that enticed Japanese people to come and commit suicide. 

Above the castle floated a balloon with a scull’s face, which was officially meant to be a warning, but was in fact an advertisement. (Which was later featured on the paperback book cover).   

I was thrilled to later visit Japan when I was a young sailor on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War. Prior to embarking the ship in Sasebo, I reread Fleming’s You Only Live Twice, as well as Fleming’s journalism piece on Japan in Thrilling Cities.  

I recently re-watched the film based on Fleming’s You Only Live Twice for perhaps the twentieth time. 

The 1967 film remains watchable due to Sean Connery’s portrayal of James Bond, the exotic locale of Japan, and the wonderful musical soundtrack by John Barry, who combined traditional Japanese music with luscious Western orchestration. Barry’s romantic and suspenseful music was an integral part of the Bond films. 

Having said that, I have many complaints about the film. 

First off, the producers, the director and screenwriter Ronald Dahl failed to utilize the plot of the great Ian Fleming novel, opting only to use the James Bond character, the names of other characters in the novel, and the Japanese location.        

The film You Only Live Twice misuses the novel’s title in Fleming's novel. You Only Live Twice comes from an attempt by Bond to write a Japanese Haiku poem during a tea ceremony with the head of Japanese intelligence, Tiger Tanaka.    

You only live twice:

Once when you are born

And once when you look death in the face. 

Tanaka said the poem was a good effort, but it didn’t work in Japanese. 

The film has Bond faking his death to throw off his enemies, and later in the film when the villain says he heard Bond was dead, Bond replies, “I was. This is my second life.” The villain then said, “You only live twice, Mr. Bond.” 

The theme song, written by John Barry and sung by Nancy Sinatra, has another meaning:

You only live twice. One life for yourself and one for your dreams. 

I much prefer Fleming’s Haiku poem. 

In the film, after Bond fakes his death, he is buried at sea, with Bond actually in the canvas burial bag (Why?) The body bag is taken by frogmen to a submerged British submarine. The body bag is opened and Bond, in a naval uniform, quips, “Permission to come aboard, Sir.” 

That got a laugh in the theater when I first saw the film. 

Bond then heads to M’s office aboard the submarine. M’s secretary, Moneypenny, like M and Bond, is in a naval uniform. M informs Bond of the plot to hijack American spacecraft and instructs him to find out who is behind the plot. 

My objection to this scene is that although M is a retired admiral and Bond served as an R.N.V.R. commander in WWII, neither of them, including Moneypenny, were active-duty sailors and should not have been in uniform. (Although Connery, who was an enlisted sailor in the Royal Navy when he was a teenager, does look good in a Royal Navy officer's uniform).

Then Bond informs Moneypenny that he studied Asian languages at Oxford. 

No, he didn’t. 

In the novel, M believes Bond was killed in Japan and he wrote an obituary that appeared in the London Times. M writes that Bond attended Eton, although his time there was brief and undistinguished, as he was kicked out due to an issue with one of the maids. Like Ian Fleming, who also attended Eton, Bond went on to study at Fettes and learned French and German, not Asian languages. 

In the film, Bond later meets “Our Man in Japan,” Dikko Henderson. Henderson offers Bond a vodka martini, “Stirred, not shaken.” 

Every Bond fan knows Bond likes his martini’s shaken and not stirred. Had Dahl ever read a Fleming novel or watched a Bond film? (Dahl was an intelligence officer in WWII and knew Fleming as well as Ernest Hemingway and other notables in the war). Why didn’t the producers, director or editor correct this?  

But I liked Henderson’s line after Bond complements him on the Russian vodka. 

“Yes. I get it from the doorman at the Russian embassy – among certain other things.” 

British actor Charles Gray portrayed Henderson in the film, and although I like Gray, who would later portray Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever, Dikko Henderson in Fleming’s novel was a big, booming Australian. Henderson was based on the late Richard Hughes, a foreign correspondent for the British Sunday Times.

“He is a giant Australian with a European mind and a quixotic view of the world,” the late Ian Fleming said of Hughes. 

In 1959, Fleming, then the foreign manager of the Sunday Times, was asked by the newspaper’s editor to travel to foreign cities and write about them, as Fleming notes, “through a thriller-writer’s eye.” The newspaper articles were compiled into a book called Thrilling Cities in 1963. While visiting Hong Kong and Tokyo, Fleming’s guide was Richard Hughes, whom Fleming called “Our Man in the Orient.”   

Ian Fleming later wrote You Only Live Twice, which featured a character named Richard Lovelace Henderson. Henderson was the British intelligence chief in Japan. He was a big, boisterous and profane Australian who understood the way of the Japanese. Fleming described him as looking like a middle-aged prize-fighter who retired and had taken to the bottle.

(John le Carre visited Hong Kong in the late 1970s while doing research for his novel The Honorable Schoolboy, the sequel to his novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. John le Carre met Hughes, and like Ian Fleming, he based a character on him. “Libel me to the hilt,” Hughes told le Carre.)                

The character “Tiger” Tanaka, the head of the Japanese secret service, was also based on a man Fleming met in Japan. The character was elderly, and he was a former Kamikaze pilot in WWII. How can one be a former Kamikaze pilot? Read the novel. 

I thought the actor who portrayed Tanaka, Tetsuro Tamba, was too young to be Tanaka. Teru Shima, who portrayed Mr. Osato, would have been a better Tanaka, in my view. 

The character of Aki did not appear in the novel, but I thought the Japanese actress Akiko Wakabayashi was a beautiful woman, and the character was endearing. Mie Hama, another beautiful Japanese actress, portrayed Kissy, who was the love interest in the novel. 

Donald Pleasence, a fine actor, portrayed Blofeld as a scarred and quite mad criminal mastermind. I was not fond of the portrayal. (Telly Savalas was a much better Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in my view. He was a more commanding presence and more of a madman).  

Why, I wondered, did Blofeld, who could build a rocket launching center in a volcano, not have surgery to repair his scarred face? 

I read the producers passed on Fleming’s idea of a Japanese castle with the poison garden, as they could not find a suitable castle in Japan. But they built a volcano rocket center, so I don’t see why they could not build a castle. (The poison garden was featured in No Time to Die, for no apparent reason). 

As I noted above, the film’s saving grace was Sean Connery as Bond, the exotic Japanese background, and John Barry’s wonderful soundtrack.

But I liked the book better.

Navy HELIOS Laser Aboard USS Preble Zaps Drone In Latest Test

The Warzone website offers a U.S. Navy released photo of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Preble successfully test-firing its High-Energy Laser with Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS). 

You can read the piece via the link below:     

Navy HELIOS Laser Aboard USS Preble Zaps Drone In Latest Test

  

A Look Back At The First James Bond Classic Film, 'Dr. No'

As fans eagerly await the next James Bond film and wonder what actor will assume the role of Bond, I thought I would cover the series' first film, Dr. No. 

As a pre-teen growing up in South Philadelphia in 1963, my crowd went to the Colonial movie theater every Saturday afternoon no matter what film was playing.

One afternoon, as I sat in the third row with my friends, a black and white image of the inside of a gun barrel came up on the screen and a man walked by, twirled and fired his gun. Red blood poured down on the barrel. I was hooked. 

At this point in my life, I had not heard of Ian Fleming, James Bond or Dr. No. I loved the film, loved the actor who portrayed Bond, Sean Connery, and I loved the character of James Bond. I’ve been a James Bond fan and an Ian Fleming aficionado ever since. 

The introduction of Connery’s Bond, clad in a tuxedo at a gambling casino, stating his name as “Bond,” - cue the Bond theme as he lit a cigarette - “James Bond,” was just terrific. 

For this young movie fan, I had never seen a movie character as cool. And it only got better as the film continued.

There are so many other iconic scenes in the film, such as the three Jamaican blind beggars (Three Blind Mice) turning on the British intelligence chief and shooting him with handguns equipped with suppressors, the tarantula crawling up Bond as he lay in bed, Bond shooting Professor Dent in cold blood, Honey coming out of the ocean, sexy in her white bikini complete with a knife on a belt,  Dr No sneaking up behind Bond and stating “One million dollars” in answer to his question of how much his criminal haunt cost, and Dr No describing his backstory and evil plot during dinner. 

I returned to the Colonial many more times and watched Dr.No again and again. 

The first Bond film was atmospheric, thrilling, action-packed, suspenseful, clever and sexy. It is not a perfect film, but it had all of the ingredients I would discover when I later saw the second Bond film, From Russia With Love, and soon after began to read Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.

When I read Dr. No, I was sorry that the film makers did not use the deadly obstacle course Dr. No designed to test a man’s pain limit but I was glad they passed on filming Bond’s fight with a giant squid, which was a bit much. I’m also sorry that they didn’t show how Honey’s pain test of being tied down while crabs crawled over her. In the novel, I liked the irony that a simple island girl knew more about Jamaican crabs than the brilliant scientist Dr No, as she knew they wouldn’t harm her. 

The film only showed Bond crawling through the vent system over heated plates and then hit with a current of water (which cooled the plates, thank you), and only showed Honey tied down with crabs around her.

Dr No’s director, Terence Young, a former WWII tank commander, was a stylish and sophisticated man. He took Sean Connery under his wing and dressed him and taught how to act as James Bond. (Young later directed From Russia With Love and Thunderball). 

In addition to Sean Connery (the first and best Bond, in my view), the film has a fine cast with the beautiful Ursula Andress as Honey, Joseph Wiseman as Dr No, John Kitzmiller as Quarrel, Anthony Dawson as Professor Dent, and of course, Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny. 

I’d like to edit the film and remove the cringe-worthy line in which Bond orders Quarrel to “fetch my shoes,” (the line did not appear in the novel as Bond respected Quarrel, who also appeared in Fleming’s earlier novel, Live and Let Die) and edit out some of the film’s mistakes. 

The film’s editor, Peter Hunt, who later directed one of the best films in the series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, said that in the 1960s, directors and editors had no idea that viewers would one day own personal copies of the film and would watch it time and time again, picking up on the mistakes. He said they glossed over mistakes, thinking that the one-time viewer would not catch them.

Ian Fleming reportedly described the film as “Dreadful. Simply dreadful."

He initially disapproved of Connery, a working-class Scotsman, as Bond. But he later warmed to him, writing in a letter to a friend that Connery had the right physique for Bond and that the actor was a fine man. 

Much has been made of the fact that when Fleming wrote Bond’s premature obituary in You Only Live Twice, he noted that the character was half Scot and half Swiss. Many people believe this was due to Connery’s performance, and perhaps this was partly true, but Fleming was also Scottish, and he gave Bond many of his personal attributes.    

Although he knew Bond was made for the movies, he could not have realized just how successful the film series would be, and that the films would ensure that future generations of readers, millions of them, would go on to read his novels. 

I was one.    

Note: In the above photo Sean Connery talks to Ian Fleming on the set of Dr. No. 

Former Senior Adviser For The Federal Reserve Indicted On Charges of Economic Espionage

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

John Harold Rogers, 63, of Vienna, Virginia, a former Senior Adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB), was arrested today on charges that he conspired to steal Federal Reserve trade secrets for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

In furtherance of the conspiracy, allegedly made false statements to the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-OIG), and those false statements had a material impact on its investigation.

“As alleged, the defendant violated the trust placed in him by the Federal Reserve Bank by putting U.S. trade secrets in the hands of his PRC co-conspirators, knowing full well that such information would benefit the PRC Government and PRC instrumentalities,” said Devin DeBacker, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to disrupt economic espionage and protect our national security.”

“President Trump tasks us with protecting our fellow Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As alleged in the indictment, this defendant leveraged his position within the Federal Reserve to pass sensitive financial information to the Chinese government, a designated adversary,” said U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia. “Let this indictment serve as a warning to all who seek to betray or exploit the United States: law enforcement will find you and hold you accountable.”

“As alleged in the indictment, Rogers betrayed his country while employed at the Federal Reserve by providing restricted U.S. financial and economic information to Chinese government intelligence officers,” said Assistant Director Kevin Vorndran of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. “This information could allow adversaries to illegally gain a strategic economic advantage at the expense of the U.S. This indictment sends a clear message that the FBI and our partners will hold accountable those who threaten our national security.”

“The Chinese Communist Party has expanded its economic espionage campaign to target U.S. government financial policies and trade secrets in an effort to undermine the United States and become the sole superpower,” said Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office. “Today's indictment represents the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protect U.S. national security interests and U.S. jobs and bring to justice those who are willing to betray their country for personal gain.”

“This indictment sends a clear message that those who deliberately misuse sensitive Federal Reserve information for their own personal gain and lie about it to investigators will be held accountable for their actions,” said Special Agent in Charge John T. Perez of the FRB-OIG, Headquarters Operations.

According to the indictment, Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. in economics, worked as a Senior Adviser in FRB’s Division of International Finance of the FRB from 2010 until 2021, where he was entrusted with confidential FRB information. The confidential information that Rogers allegedly shared with his Chinese co-conspirators, who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and who posed as graduate students at a PRC university, is economically valuable when secret.

China holds a large amount of U.S. foreign debt (approximately $816 billion as of October 2024). The data Rogers shared with his co-conspirators could allow China to manipulate the U.S. market, in a manner similar to insider trading. Gaining advance knowledge of U.S. economic policy, including advance knowledge of changes to the federal funds rate, could provide China with an advantage when selling or buying U.S. bonds or securities.

The indictment alleges that, from at least 2018, Rogers allegedly exploited his employment with the FRB by soliciting trade-secret information regarding proprietary economic data sets, deliberations about tariffs targeting China, briefing books for designated governors, and sensitive information about Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) deliberations and forthcoming announcements. He passed that information electronically to his personal email account, in violation of FRB policy, or printed it prior to traveling to China, in preparation for meetings with his co-conspirators.

Under the guise of teaching “classes,” Rogers met with his co-conspirators in hotel rooms in China where he conveyed sensitive, trade-secret information that belonged to the FRB and the FOMC. In 2023, Rogers was paid approximately $450,000 as a part-time professor at a Chinese university.

On Feb. 4, 2020, in response to questioning by the FRB-OIG, Rogers lied about his accessing and passage of sensitive information and his associations with his co-conspirators.

Rogers is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.

The FBI Washington Field Office and FRB-OIG are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Nicholas Hunter and Steve Marzen of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Section are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Lucchese Crime Family Soldier And Four Associates Plead Guilty To Crimes Including Racketeering, Money Laundering And Illegal Gambling

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, released the below information:

Throughout the past few weeks, in federal court in Brooklyn, five members and associates of the Lucchese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra pleaded guilty to multiple crimes, including racketeering, money laundering and illegal gambling related to criminal activities throughout New York City. The proceedings were held before United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto.  Today, Luchese crime family soldier Anthony Villani pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering and illegal gambling.  As part of Villani’s plea agreement, he will pay $4 million in forfeiture.  His co-defendants have agreed to pay an additional approximately $1 million in forfeiture.  Villani and his co-defendants operated a large-scale, illegal online gambling business (the Gambling Business) that operated under the protection of the Luchese crime family across the New York metropolitan area.  The gambling business, known as “Rhino Sports,” operated since the early 2000s and brought millions in illicit profits annually.   

John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty pleas.

“These guilty pleas represent a victory for the rule of law over the pernicious activities of organized crime that undermine the safety of our communities,” stated United States Attorney Durham.  “Illegal gambling businesses require enforcement and protection from mob rivals that carry the persistent threat of violence.  However, the defendants’ luck ran out and, thanks to the hard work of the team of prosecutors and investigators, they will be held accountable for their crimes and pay their debt to society.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy stated: “Our investigations involving members of the Five Families don't make the same headlines as they have historically. However, the men pleading guilty in this case illustrate how entrenched the traditional mafia are in their noxious and familiar criminality. They are less flashy these days - and a lot of that is due to the incredible cunning and tenacity agents and investigators on our FBI New York Westchester Organized Crime Task Force use to pursue members of these organizations.”

As detailed in the indictment and court filings, for over 25 years, Villani has been involved in significant gambling operations, principally based in the Bronx and Westchester, New York, that were affiliated with multiple organized crime families.  Villani owned and operated the Gambling Business since at least 2004.  The Gambling Business was hosted using servers in Costa Rica and employed local bookmakers to pay and collect winnings.  Villani’s bookmakers included members and associates of the Luchese crime family and other La Cosa Nostra families.  As part of the scheme, Villani employed trusted individuals, including defendants Louis Tucci, Jr. and Dennis Filizzola, to assist in operating the business and collecting at least $1 million annually.  Records obtained of the Gambling Business’s website indicated that Villani’s illegal gambling operation regularly took bets from between 400 and 1,300 bettors each week, most of whom were based in New York City and the metropolitan area. At Villani’s direction, Filizzola took proceeds from the Gambling Business and used them to purchase U.S. Postal Service money orders in false names, which were then made payable to one of Villani’s property companies to appear as legitimate rental payments.   

When sentenced, Villani faces up to 20 years in prison.  Louis Tucci, Jr., pleaded guilty on January 27, 2025 to illegal sports betting and faces up to five years in prison.  Filizzola pleaded guilty on January 21, 2025 to illegal sports betting and money laundering and faces up to five years in prison and up to 20 years in prison on those counts respectively.  James Coumoutsos pleaded guilty on January 21, 2025 to illegal sports betting and faces up to five years in prison.  Michael Praino pleaded guilty on January 10, 2025 to illegal sports gambling and faces up to five years in prison.  A sixth defendant remains at large.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section.  Assistant United States Attorney Antoinette N. Rangel is in charge of the prosecution.  Assistant United States Attorney Claire S. Kedeshian of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.

The Defendants:

ANTHONY VILLANI
Age:  60
Elmsford, NY

JAMES COUMOUTSOS (also known as “Quick”)
Age:  62
Bronx, NY

DENNIS FILIZZOLA
Age:  61
Cortlandt Manor, NY

MICHAEL PRAINO (also known as “Platinum”)
Age:  47
Lake Worth, Florida

LOUIS TUCCI, JR. (also known as “Tooch”)
Age:  61
Tuckahoe, NY

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-405 (KAM)

Note: I believe the U.S. Attorney's Office misspelled the Lucchese name, and the Italian organized crime organization is Cosa Nostra, meaning 'Our Thing," not La Cosa Nostra, which translates to "The Our Thing."        

Why ‘The Raven,’ Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative Poem About A Distraught Lover And A Talking Bird, Remains An American Classic

Laura Kiniry at the Smithsonian magazine offers a piece on why Poe’s poem The Raven is an American classic.

When the New York Evening Mirror published Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” on January 29, 1845, it catapulted both the work and its author to instant fame.

Poe, known for his macabre and Gothic style, was no stranger to audiences. He’d already penned and published short stories like “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) and “The Black Cat” (1843). Still, it was this stylized and rhythmic ballad of 18 six-line stanzas that most resonated with readers, making Poe a household name.

“The Raven” tells the tale of a grieving narrator mourning the death of his lover, Lenore. On a particularly dreary December night, he hears a raven tapping at his window. When the narrator opens the window, in steps the raven, perching itself on his bust of Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. There it stands, constantly repeating the word “Nevermore,” while driving the narrator into madness.

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

 Discover Why 'The Raven,' Edgar Allan Poe's Narrative Poem About a Distraught Lover and a Talking Bird, Remains an American Classic | Smithsonian

You can also read The Raven via the link below:

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - Poems | Academy of American Poets

And you can read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Poe in Philadelphia via the link below:    

Paul Davis On Crime: A Look Back At Poe In Philadelphia: My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column On Edgar Allan Poe's Creative Peak In Philly