o2005 Forty years ago today, Paul "Big Paul" Castellano was shot and killed in front of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan. The date was December 16, 1985. For anyone who was part of that world, or even close to it, the shock waves were felt all over New York. Michael Francis remembers it distinctly. He was … Read more
On a cold Manhattan evening in December 1985, a luxury car pulled up outside Sparks Steak House. Paul Castellano, then head of the Gambino crime family, stepped out toward the pavement. Before he could reach the sidewalk, men in fur hats and trench coats approached with weapons drawn and opened fire. Castellano and his driver … Read more
Quando mia figlia è arrivata alla festa di fidanzamento che le avevo organizzato, si aspettava brindisi di champagne e un assegno da quattrocentocinquantamila dollari per il suo matrimogno da sogno. Invece, nella busta che le ho consegnato davanti a tutti, c’era un assegno certificato, ma non per l’importo che si aspettava. Erano passati quattordici mesi … Read more
Seděla jsem u jídelního stolu, když táta pronesl větu, která mi na dlouhé roky změnila život. “Prodáváme dům. ” Málem mi spadl hrnek s kávou. “Cože? ” zeptala jsem se a zadívala se na něj. “Prodáváme dům,” zopakoval a jeho tón byl nekompromisní. Máma seděla vedle něj a nervózně si pohrávala s ubrouskem. Šárka, moje … Read more
Somewhere in America, an 86-year-old man is living under a name that is not his. His neighbors have no idea who lives next door. His mailbox carries a name he invented, and he travels with multiple forms of identification, none of them real. He has armed security. He wears sunglasses in every public appearance. He … Read more
Non l’ho preso subito. Per diversi secondi mi sono limitato a fissarlo. Poi ho riso. Non perché fosse divertente, ma perché a volte la pura sfrontatezza di un’altra persona è così incredibile che la risata è l’unica risposta possibile. La carta sembrava ufficiale a prima vista. Non c’era alcuna autenticazione notarile, nessun documento di identità … Read more
Il telefono squillò alle ventuno e un minuto, mentre stavo ancora fissando le bozze del concordato preliminare. Il nome di mia madre sul display non era una sorpresa; lo era invece il tono con cui mi accolse, senza nemmeno un “ciao”. “Allora, hai deciso di farti vivo? Perché qui c’è una situazione da gestire, e … Read more
Mickey Burke appears in Goodfellas for a single scene. She is the hostess wife in the living room, the woman who throws the party and delivers the gossip, present at the moment Karen Hill first understands she is not married to a regular man. That is everything the most important mob film ever made decided … Read more
On October 22, 1983, at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, two correctional officers were killed in a single shift by members of one gang. The facility was the toughest in the federal system, the successor to Alcatraz. Inside the Control Unit, the most restrictive housing complex in America, a prisoner named Thomas Silverstein … Read more
On July 15, 1988, just after dawn, a convoy of Bolivian special forces moved along a dirt road toward a vast cattle ranch called El Sogal. Inside the main house, a 62-year-old man in a silk robe was drinking coffee and watching the sun rise over his 400,000 acres of forest and pasture. He heard … Read more