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11 Jan 2012 10:00

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World: “Italy’s biggest bank”: The Mafia’s massive profits amid Italian turmoil

  • €140 billion the amount of financial turnover the Mafia had in 2011, according to anti-crime group SOS Impresa
  • €100 billion the amount in profits the Italian crime group had; SOS Impresa says this makes them Italy’s biggest bank source
  • » Not your father’s Mafia: The anti-crime group says in an annual report that organized crime is becoming increasingly more organized, leading to as many as 200,000 business tied to extortionate lenders and leading to profits equivalent to 7 percent of the entire country’s national output. “The classic neighborhood or street loan shark is on the way out,” the group says in its report, “giving way to organized loan-sharking that is well connected with professional circles and operates with the connivance of high-level professionals.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Aug 2011 11:25

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World: Australian teen with bomb strapped to her neck freed (whew)

  • We don’t know what to make of a story this weird. After a 10-hour ordeal involving a bomb and an apparent extortion attempt, an 18-year-old Sydney girl has been freed (the clip reflects the situation before she was freed). “She’s good – she’s been kept in a very uncomfortable position,” New South Wales state Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch  said. “She has been and will be uncomfortable for a little while to come.” Murdoch says that the device was no joke — it was “very elaborate, very sophisticated.” Right now, officials are trying to learn the identity of the weirdo who did this to her. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2011 12:44

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Politics: FBI releases files on Tupac Shakur, Jewish Defense League

  • Rap and Jewish nationalism: The FBI released some files yesterday, ostensibly about the Tupac Shakur murder, that showed no illuminating “smoking gun.” However, the report surprisingly suggests Jewish Defense League (a Jewish nationalist group with terrorism cred; they once tried to bomb Rep. Darrel Issa’s office, to give a domestic example) ran an extortion scheme. The report says that the JDL would contact rappers and convince them their lives were in danger, then suggest they could offer paid protection services. The files show records of calls between Tupac and the JDL before his 1996 death, but the FBI was unable to coherently link the group to any involvement in the murder, though it seems like their primary suspicion. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2011 13:20

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U.S.: A bad day for the Baltimore Police Department

  • Baltimore cops busted for kickbacks: Reports have come out that the Baltimore Police Department is charging seventeen officers, as well as a pair of brother auto mechanics, with running an extortion scheme through a towing company. Basically, the cops took bribes from the mechanics, proprietors of Rosedale’s Majestic Auto Repair shop, to steer accident tows and repair to their business instead of a city-authorized one. This scheme lasted two years, and now stands to cost those involved a maximum of twenty years in prison. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Sep 2010 10:44

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World: Joran Van der Sloot to newspaper: Yeah, I extorted that girl’s family

  • I wanted to get back at Natalee’s family. Her parents have been making my life tough for five years.
  • Joran Van der Sloot • Admitting, via a Dutch newspaper, that he tried to extort Natalee Holloway’s parent’s in an attempt to get back at them. He has been charged with wire fraud in a case involving the Holloway family, $250,000 and a lot of BS. Also, a Peruvian court ruled that he is not being held unlawfully for his charges – he’s the prime suspect in a murder case in that country. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jun 2010 20:18

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U.S., World: Did the FBI give Joran van der Sloot his jetsetting money?

  • $250k the amount van der Sloot was reportedly trying to extort from Natalee Holloway’s family
  • $15k the amount the FBI reportedly wired to him to find out infomation on Holloway’s whereabouts
  • $10k the amount van der Sloot was reportedly given by hand and caught counting on video source
  • » What this all means: The FBI might have messed up the extortion case, giving the “Dutch playboy” (ABC’s words, not ours) the money to travel to Peru, where he ended up killing somebody else (per his confession). The FBI denies that they enabled him, but if they did, holy crap.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 May 2010 20:25

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Tech: iPhone-gate: Gizmodo declined Jobs’ offer for business reasons

  • Right now, we have nothing to lose. The thing is, Apple PR has been cold to us lately. It affected my ability to do my job right at iPad launch. So we had to go outside and find our stories like this one, aggressively.
  • Gizmodo Editorial Director Brian Lam • In a written response to Steve Jobs after Jobs called. Lam wanted Apple to give him a written note saying the phone was real. Jobs declined, and the rest is history. This is bad for Gizmodo (and Brian Hogan) because the letter makes it clear that they put personal interests above doing the right thing. It sounds like extortion, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be crazy if this was enough to take Gizmodo, a major site, down? This makes it seem entirely possible. (A good summary of the legal documents is here.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Apr 2010 20:23

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U.S.: Blago beat: The dude apparently liked kickbacks or something

  • The prosecution in his corruption trial says so. What’s their case? Well, according to a court document released today, they argue that Rod Blagojevich and his staff had been involved in extortion and kickbacks since Blago first got elected Illinois governor in 2002. The Obama seat thang (Roland Burris has sure been quiet lately, eh?) was just the most blatant example. Blago (of course) denies the claims, calling them “the same old false allegations and lies.” His lawyers had been fighting the document’s release. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2010 20:22

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Culture: That producer dude who tried extorting Letterman pleaded guilty

Robert Joel Halderman, who tried to extort David Letterman for having an affair with his girlfriend, will spend six months in jail. And he gave up his right to appeal. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Oct 2009 09:02

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Culture: Robert Joel Halderman: A news chaser being chased himself

  • Colleagues are shocked by his arrest in the Letterman case. Halderman, a producer of “48 Hours,” covered wars and school shootings with a high level of get-the-story passion. But now that he’s on the other end, colleagues are shocked. Marcy McGinnis, a former boss of his at CBS, described “Joe” as a newshound who would do anything to get the story. “I said to my mother that this was like her waking up to find out I’d been arrested for this,” she noted. Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel, said that co-workers of his posted his bond, and that he was trying to “level the playing field” for his client. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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