Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

11 Jan 2012 10:00

tags

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.”

25 Jul 2010 11:19

tags

Tech: FYI: We hate this guy and everything he represents

Why? Because he’s Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, and he wants to turn his Farmville-spouting company into the Google of games. Really. source

13 Jul 2010 23:13

tags

World: Mafia Wars, lost: An Italian crime family gets overwhelmed by cops

  • 300+ number of members of the massive ‘Ndrangheta crime family were arrested today
  • 3,000+ number of police it took to nail most of them (not bad for a day’s work, boys; not bad at all) source

28 Jan 2010 21:12

tags

World: Silvio Berlusconi, fresh off Nosegate, wants to take on the Mafia

We almost don’t recognize him without the blood all over his face. Anyway, he’s trashing on portrayals of Italians as gangsters, which is hypocritical ’cause he looks like one. source

27 Aug 2009 10:37

tags

World: Abdullah won’t share “mafia-type” Afghan rule with Karzai

  • I don’t find a place for myself in this mafia-type system.
  • Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah • Regarding last week’s presidential election and the suggestion that he could share power with president Hamid Karzai. With 17 percent of votes counted, Karzai is leading 42 percent to 33 percent, and needs a simple to majority to avoid a runoff. • source

21 Jan 2009 10:28

tags

Offbeat: Facebook, married to the Mafia?

  • Italian authorities say maybe. Authorities in the boot-shaped country are taking special interest in pages and groups set up to honor jailed Mafiosi on Facebook. “These are people who are accused of serious crimes and are in prison,” noted Rita Borsellino, whose brother Paolo spent his life investigating the Cosa Nostra before getting killed in a hit. OK, OK, she’s right, it’s not fun like The Sopranos. But can we at least pretend? source