The US isn't just a "land of opportunity", but of second chances. And now some of the most notorious criminals in US history are enjoying a spectacular and profitable comeback via the quintessentially American manoeuvre of public redemption.
It has been like this from the beginning. Many of the English settlers, who established the colonies that became the United States, were consciously and openly seeking to reinvent themselves.
The Puritans of New England and Quakers of the Delaware Valley were seeking to become ruling religious factions rather than persecuted minorities. Countless immigrants, noteworthy and obscure, still relocate from the old worlds of Europe, Asia and Africa looking for an opportunity to literally reinvent themselves.
It is a proud tradition to take on new names, change identities, and “assimilate” into the American melting pot, often wiping away a sordid past. Even without immigration, similar transformations are a central and celebrated theme of American popular culture.
One of the most important American novels, The Great Gatsby, is precisely about a wealthy, celebrated man who is widely and correctly suspected of having gained riches through organised crime, specifically bootlegging.
It is the country that elected Donald Trump as its president and could conceivably do it again. Charisma and a good story overcome most other obstacles in US culture.
Ageing Mafiosi are providing the latest redemption tales.
The process began as soon as figures of “Cosa Nostra” ("Our Thing" in Italian), began testifying against their former friends. The memoirs of the first major Mafia turncoat, a mid-level hoodlum called Joseph Valachi, written with the journalist Peter Maas, became a bestseller in 1968. The Valachi Papers was even made into a Charles Bronson movie in 1972.
That same year Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece The Godfather, and the best-selling novel it was based on, spurred a Mafia-oriented revolution in American popular culture. The Godfather provided the template to replace the stale old western genre with a new kind of gangster movie that reflected key US cultural figures: dangerous mavericks outside the law who can nonetheless supply justice where state authority breaks down, rugged individual anti-heroes who make their own laws and use violence to defend their honour.
Americans love a redemption story. They sell very well.
Maas’s book and The Godfather, book and movie, defined a market. But gangland memoirs rarely make anyone rich and are a one-off.
Social media now provides podcast and video forums allowing ex-hoodlums to market themselves as celebrities and entertainers embodying the venerable American tradition of public redemption.
Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family – an Italian-American organised gang that is one of the Cosa Nostra "Five Families" in New York City – illustrates how this sordid process plays out. After Gravano broke ranks and testified against his former boss and partner John Gotti, he collaborated with none other than Mass in the 1997 book Underboss.
Despite laws intended to prevent killers from profiting from their crimes, courts allowed Gravano to ultimately keep the $250,000 Maas paid him. Predictably enough, he then formed a drug ring with his children in Arizona, which eventually resulted in a 20-year sentence. He was released in 2017.
Yet Gravano is enjoying a resurgence in status and income online. He and other former mobsters of varying ranks have fashioned a new mass media genre through podcast reminiscences and commentaries.
Gravano, who is reportedly battling Covid-19, poses as an unrepentant mobster. Despite breaking the single most important organisational rule and testifying, he preposterously claims to be a living embodiment of Cosa Nostra.
That puts him at odds with many other practitioners of the former-Mafioso genre who present a more traditional American narrative of redemption through religious conversion.
His biggest competitor, and frequent supposed antagonist, is Michael Franzese, a former captain in the Colombo crime family. Franzese primarily markets himself as a born-again Christian.
The two have had obviously staged shouting matches about whether or not the Mafia is inherently evil and destructive.
Similar new brand names include John A Gotti, son of the infamous Gambino leader; and his former associate John Alite, who, naturally, testified against him. Noteworthy lesser lights include the former Bath Avenue Crew member Jimmy Calandra, who also claims, a bit more convincingly than Franzese, to have found God. So do Anthony Ruggiano Jr and many others who promote themselves as born-again "motivational speakers".
It is striking that all these former mobsters seem to adopt a blue-collar conservative and pro-Trump political orientation. Predictably, their podcasts also promote highly dubious narratives.
Gravano may or may not peddle total fabrications, yet his accounts are transparently and crudely self-serving, casting himself as an admirable antihero. And he hasn't added much substantial to the narrative in Underboss.
Most disturbing is the media collusion in repackaging and marketing ageing killers as inspiring or entertaining public figures.
Last week, ABC broadcast a shoddy cut-and-pasted two hour "special" on Gravano, largely based on an old interview from the 1990s. ABC acknowledged his heinous record by examining his role in the mob killings of his former best friend Louie Milito and also his own brother-in-law Nicholas Scibetta.
Both men were working with the mafia, and can be cast as fair game in the kill-or-be-killed ruthlessness of "that life". Gravano often peddles the transparent fiction that "we only kill each other".
ABC didn't mention that in his 1994 plea deal, in exchange for his testimony he was granted a stunningly lenient five-year sentence for the 19 murders he admitted to. It included time already served, and he walked away after a few months.
In that plea, he formally confessed to the 1977 murder of 16-year-old Alan Kaiser, an innocent bystander who witnessed Gravano and Milito commit a murder. To ensure his silence, the teenager was immediately gunned down. No one knew why or by whom he was killed until the plea agreement.
ABC never mentions Kaiser. Neither did Maas. Gravano has offered an implausible excuse at odds with his sworn plea statement.
Americans love a redemption story. They sell very well.
The ambiguous image being carefully constructed around “Sammy The Bull” is menacing enough to provide a patina of authenticity and aura of "toughness,” but with Godfather-like antihero elements deeply-rooted in American culture and the westerns.
But the murderer of Alan Kaiser cannot be repackaged as the latest Jay Gatsby. It doesn't leave any crucial grey areas. Like the 16-year-old witness, it had to go.
But it is not just “Sammy The Bull” wiping him out now. That work is being done for and with him by some journalists and American news organisations that have no excuse.
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Barbie
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Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
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Price, base / as tested From Dh173,775 (base model)
Engine 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo, AWD
Power 249hp at 5,500rpm
Torque 365Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Gearbox Nine-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined 7.9L/100km
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
If you go
Flight connections to Ulaanbaatar are available through a variety of hubs, including Seoul and Beijing, with airlines including Mongolian Airlines and Korean Air. While some nationalities, such as Americans, don’t need a tourist visa for Mongolia, others, including UAE citizens, can obtain a visa on arrival, while others including UK citizens, need to obtain a visa in advance. Contact the Mongolian Embassy in the UAE for more information.
Nomadic Road offers expedition-style trips to Mongolia in January and August, and other destinations during most other months. Its nine-day August 2020 Mongolia trip will cost from $5,250 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, two nights’ hotel accommodation in Ulaanbaatar, vehicle rental, fuel, third party vehicle liability insurance, the services of a guide and support team, accommodation, food and entrance fees; nomadicroad.com
A fully guided three-day, two-night itinerary at Three Camel Lodge costs from $2,420 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, accommodation, meals and excursions including the Yol Valley and Flaming Cliffs. A return internal flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad costs $300 per person and the flight takes 90 minutes each way; threecamellodge.com
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
More coverage from the Future Forum
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Who are the Soroptimists?
The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
Since then the group has grown exponentially around the world and is officially affiliated with the United Nations. The organisation also counts Queen Mathilde of Belgium among its ranks.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
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THREE POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS
Khalfan Mubarak
The Al Jazira playmaker has for some time been tipped for stardom within UAE football, with Quique Sanchez Flores, his former manager at Al Ahli, once labelling him a “genius”. He was only 17. Now 23, Mubarak has developed into a crafty supplier of chances, evidenced by his seven assists in six league matches this season. Still to display his class at international level, though.
Rayan Yaslam
The Al Ain attacking midfielder has become a regular starter for his club in the past 15 months. Yaslam, 23, is a tidy and intelligent player, technically proficient with an eye for opening up defences. Developed while alongside Abdulrahman in the Al Ain first-team and has progressed well since manager Zoran Mamic’s arrival. However, made his UAE debut only last December.
Ismail Matar
The Al Wahda forward is revered by teammates and a key contributor to the squad. At 35, his best days are behind him, but Matar is incredibly experienced and an example to his colleagues. His ability to cope with tournament football is a concern, though, despite Matar beginning the season well. Not a like-for-like replacement, although the system could be adjusted to suit.
Wallabies
Updated team: 15-Israel Folau, 14-Dane Haylett-Petty, 13-Reece Hodge, 12-Matt Toomua, 11-Marika Koroibete, 10-Kurtley Beale, 9-Will Genia, 8-Pete Samu, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-Lukhan Tui, 5-Adam Coleman, 4-Rory Arnold, 3-Allan Alaalatoa, 2-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1-Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16-Folau Faingaa, 17-Tom Robertson, 18-Taniela Tupou, 19-Izack Rodda, 20-Ned Hanigan, 21-Joe Powell, 22-Bernard Foley, 23-Jack Maddocks.
Stage result
1. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:29.09
2. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto-Soudal
3. Rudy Barbier (FRA) Israel Start-Up Nation
4. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma
5. Luka Mezgec (SLO) Mitchelton-Scott
6. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Sunweb
7. Jakub Mareczko (ITA) CCC
8. Max Walscheid (GER) NTT
9. José Rojas (ESP) Movistar
10. Andrea Vendrame (ITA) Ag2r La Mondiale, all at same time
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Griselda
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%C2%A0Andr%C3%A9s%20Baiz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3ESof%C3%ADa%20Vergara%2C%20Alberto%20Guerra%2C%20Juliana%20Aiden%20Martinez%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last-16, second leg:
Real Madrid 1 (Asensio 70'), Ajax 4 (Ziyech 7', Neres 18', Tadic 62', Schone 72')
Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate
KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
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Results
5pm: Wadi Nagab – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Al Falaq, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Wadi Sidr – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Majalis, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Fakhama, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
6.30pm: Wadi Shees – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mutaqadim, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 – Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Wadi Tayyibah – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Poster Paint, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
UAE%20ILT20
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
