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☆ Fact Check- Alleged reference to ‘got your nose’ joke in Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ is not authentic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Some social media users, however, have been duped into thinking it’s an authentic segment of the memoir. “Good grief this is such an old tradition that sooo many parents and grandparents used to do and still do. No such phrase is found in Prince Harry’s “Spare” (here)The fabricated extract appears to have been first shared by Facebook page “Belfast Mafia” (here). The page, listed under category “Just for Fun” has posted other purported extracts alongside pictures of Prince Harry. This is not a real extract from Prince Harry’s “Spare”.

☆ Trump poses for photograph with convicted mob boss, in a flashback to controversial dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump was pictured with a man who is a convicted mob boss, per The Philadelphia Inquirer. The ex mob boss, Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, said Trump wasn't aware of who he was. Trump, Merlino, and a third unidentified man are pictured in the photograph giving thumbs-ups while at the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in Florida. The photo was widely shared online on Monday, prompting questions as to whether Merlino and Trump knew each other. "President Trump takes countless photos with people," a campaign spokesperson told The Inquirer.

☆ Nearly $40 billion of startup value later, here's what the members of the Square mafia have been up to since leaving the fintech giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Square staffers have gone on to launch startups worth nearly $40 billion cumulatively. Insider tracked 15 members of the "Square mafia" to see what they're up to these days. The "PayPal mafia" was perhaps the most infamous company that spawned the founders of tech giants like YouTube, Yelp, Tesla, and LinkedIn. Facebook and Oracle also have their own mafias of former employees that have produced iconic tech companies like Salesforce, Asana, and GoodRx. Insider tracked 15 ex-Square employees in their current ventures, ranging from launching multibillion-dollar public companies to running high-profile VC firms.

☆ Sicilian Mafia’s Bloodiest Era Draws to a Close With Arrest of Old-School Boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Margherita Stancati | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ROME—The arrest of Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro marks the end of an era for Cosa Nostra, a once-dominant player in global crime that has largely been forced to retreat to its native island. Captured this week after 30 years on the run, Mr. Messina Denaro was the last leading mobster who represented Cosa Nostra, as the Sicilian mafia is known in Italy, in its heyday and still lived at large. He played a major role in the crime syndicate in the 1980s and 1990s, when it controlled the trans-Atlantic heroin trade and waged a ruthless campaign against anything that stood in the way, from rival factions to the Italian state.

☆ Watch: California Floods Leave Behind Washed Away Houses, Submerged Cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Watch: Italy Arrests Most-Wanted Mafia Boss Italy’s Carabinieri military police arrested the country’s most notorious mafia boss in Sicily after a 30-year manhunt. Matteo Messina Denaro was at a clinic in the outskirts of Palermo when police swarmed the area and captured him on Monday. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

☆ Factbox: How top Mafia boss Messina Denaro escaped justice for 30 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Alvise Armellini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

ROME, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Matteo Messina Denaro, a brutal Sicilian Mafia boss who was Italy's most wanted criminal before his capture on Monday, had been on the run for 30 years. Messina Denaro, 60, was the last runaway member of a generation of mobsters who masterminded a string of bombings and murders that terrorised Italy in the early 1990s. Nobody knows for sure, but there have long been suspicions that Messina Denaro had his back covered by politicians and other establishment connections. Crime writer Roberto Saviano has pointed out that a former junior justice minister, Antonio D'Ali, has been convicted for collusion with the Messina Denaro family. Messina Denaro was eventually caught outside a clinic in Palermo after police discovered he was sick with cancer.

☆ Mafia boss Messina Denaro held in top security Italian prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A general view shows the prison where Italy's most wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro is detained, in L'Aquila, Italy, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Gabriele PileriL'AQUILA, Italy, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was being held on Wednesday in a high-security jail in central Italy, subject to special restrictions applied to the country's most dangerous prisoners. "I've no criminal record," Messina Denaro, who was caught on Monday after 30 years on the run, told prison guards when he was admitted to the Costarelle prison close to the city of L'Aquila, Italian media reported. Police on Tuesday found the apartment where they believe Messina Denaro had been living for the past few months under the assumed name of Andrea Bonafede. Prosecutors say Messina Denaro was one of the leading figures in Cosa Nostra but preferred to remain in his own region and was not the "boss of bosses" like the late Salvatore "Toto" Riina.

☆ Watch: Italy Arrests Most-Wanted Mafia Boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Plane Crashes in Nepal With 72 People On Board, Killing at Least 69 An aircraft carrying 72 people crashed in Nepal, killing dozens, according to authorities. Photos and TV footage showed black plumes of smoke and fire at the site, with rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage. Photo: Reuters

☆ Perfumes and fancy clothes found in mafia boss Messina Denaro's hideout
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Wladimir Pantaleone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Carabinieri police stand guard near the hideout of Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy's most wanted mafia boss, after he was arrested, in the Sicilian town of Campobello di Mazara, Italy, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio ParrinelloPALERMO, Italy, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Perfumes and designer label clothes were found on Tuesday in an apartment which investigators believe was the last hideout of Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, judicial sources said, a day after the arrest of the 60-year-old fugitive. Messina Denaro was known for his taste for luxury goods, including sun glasses and clothes. Investigators believe Messina Denaro was driven on Monday to Palermo's La Maddalena hospital from Campobello di Mazara to be treated for cancer. Despite his illness, prosecutors said Messina Denaro was fit enough to serve time in prison where he will carry on with his cancer treatment.

☆ Italian Police Arrest Most-Wanted Sicilian Mafia Boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Margherita Stancati | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of the Carabinieri police stand outside the force’s San Lorenzo headquarters in Palermo. ROME—Italy’s Carabinieri military police have detained the country’s most notorious fugitive mafia boss, who had been on the run for 30 years, dealing a blow to one of the world’s most storied crime syndicates. Matteo Messina Denaro was in a private hospital on the outskirts of the Sicilian city of Palermo when Carabinieri swarmed the area and captured him on Monday morning, the Carabinieri said.

Italy's most-wanted man, Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested Monday after three decades on the run. Messina Denaro, a convicted murderer who has eluded authorities 30 years, is thought to be the leader of the notorious Cosa Nostra organized crime group. A picture released by police early Monday showed Messina Denaro in a police car — visibly older than in his 1990s mugshots — alongside two officers. Matteo Messina Denaro after his arrest on Monday. In 2006, police arrested Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano, who police named as the "Capo di Capi," or chief of chiefs, after a 43-year manhunt.

☆ Italy arrests Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

1 fugitive, convicted Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested on Monday at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, after 30 years on the run, Italian paramilitary police said. Messina Denaro was captured at the clinic where he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed medical condition, said Carabinieri Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, who heads the police force's special operations squad. Messina Denaro was taken to a secret location by police immediately after the arrest, Italian state television reported. Messina Denaro, who had a power base in the port city of Trapani, in western Sicily, was considered Sicily's Cosa Nostra top boss even while a fugitive. Messina Denaro, who tried in absentia and convicted of dozens of murders, faces multiple life sentences.

☆ Italian police arrest most wanted mafia boss Messina Denaro in Sicily
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Vladimiro Pantaleone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PALERMO, Italy, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Italian police said on Monday they had arrested Matteo Messina Denaro, the country's most wanted mafia boss who had been on the run for three decades, swooping on a private hospital in the Sicilian capital Palermo where he had gone for treatment. Prosecutors say Messina Denaro is a boss of Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed the arrest as "a great victory for the state that shows it never gives up in the face of the mafia". Messina Denaro, who comes from the small town of Castelvetrano near Trapani, is accused by prosecutors of being solely or jointly responsible for numerous other murders in the 1990s. In 1993 he helped organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, Giuseppe Di Matteo, in an attempt to dissuade his father from giving evidence against the mafia, prosecutors say.

☆ Sicilian mafia boss arrested after 30 years on the run — the last of Italy's most-wanted crime lords
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Matteo Messina Denaro, the boss of Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia group, was arrested on Monday. He became a fugitive on Italy's most-wanted list in 1993, tied to a series of murders and bombings. His capture followed the arrests of other crime kingpins who had been on the run for decades. He is the last of Italy's three most-wanted mafia bosses who eluded capture for decades, per Sky News. Mafia "boss of bosses" Salvatore Riina, who spent 23 years as a fugitive, was captured in 1993.

☆ Illness is what ultimately snared Italy's top Mafia fugitive
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Alvise Armellini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Messina Denaro, 60, was caught just outside a private clinic in Palermo together with an accomplice. Illness "is one of the events in the life of a (fugitive) individual that forces them to come out into the open," Palermo Prosecutor Paolo Guido told a press conference. Officers found a man who looked well-groomed, in apparent good health, with a luxury watch worth 35,000 euros ($37,840). In police pictures, Messina Denaro was seen wearing a brown fur-lined jacket, glasses and a brown and white woolly hat. Meanwhile, Messina Denaro seems set for a life behind bars.

☆ Years of cat-and-mouse end as top mafioso cornered in Italian clinic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

He liked wearing designer clothes, expensive sun glasses and Rolex watches, he loved video games and had a taste for luxury foods. Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962, the son of a mafioso. A mass of these notes was found in 2006 when police caught Bernardo Provenzano, who had led Cosa Nostra after Riina's arrest. In a letter to a contact, Messina Denaro said he couldn't believe how careless Provenzano had been. Nonetheless, the fact he managed to escape arrest for so many years showed he had a fierce, loyal following.

☆ Arrest of 'last godfather' deals new blow to ailing Sicilian mafia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Messina Denaro, 60, was Italy's most wanted mafia boss and had been on the run for three decades. Experts describe Cosa Nostra, its fame amplified by movies such as "The Godfather", as an ailing crime group facing several difficulties, including competition in the highly lucrative drugs market. "Messina Denaro was the last godfather, he represented all the secrets of Cosa Nostra. Sergi said it was not clear who would step in to replace Messina Denaro in what is now a more factionalised mafia. Any revelation from Messina Denaro on the group's activities - including 1993 bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan which killed 10 people - could be a further major development.

☆ I performed magic tricks for Elon Musk at a PayPal reunion party. Here's what went down.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Chan performed tricks for PayPal's 20th IPO anniversary last year, with Elon Musk also attending. Two decades later, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to perform magic tricks for my old company at PayPal's 20th IPO anniversary party in August. The invitation said it would be a "tricked-out PayPal reunion party" and I was very excited in the build-up. Daniel ChanMost of the PayPal founders, known as the "PayPal Mafia," were there, including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and Max Levchin. I fooled Elon Musk.

☆ Black rappers call out double standard of using hip-hop lyrics as evidence in rapper Young Thug’s criminal trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Safia Samee Ali | Safia Samee Ali Is A Reporter For Nbc News Digital | Based In Chicago. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Authorities had no physical evidence or weapon that linked Phipps to the shooting, and the then 22-year-old had no criminal record. Through her research Kubrin has found bias against rap music and artists, she said, adding that much of that bias is racialized. That means using lyrics from rap music, a historically Black genre, can infect jurors with anti-Black racism regardless of whether the defendant himself is Black, she said. Defending the practiceFulton County prosecutor Fani Willis, whose office is trying the case against Young Thug and other YSL members, has defended using music lyrics in trials. Gavin Newsom signed the Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act, which made it the first state to restrict the use of rap lyrics as evidence in state court.

From start to finish, Tuesday's 80th annual Golden Globe Awards was a very queer affair. Here are some of the evening's queerest (and gay Twitter meme-worthy) moments. Jerrod Carmichael apologizes to Jennifer Coolidge 'on behalf of all the gays'Jerrod Carmichael hosted the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards on Tuesday. The 26-year-old actor, who already has two Emmy awards for the same role, was not present to accept her Golden Globe. The Burnett award was started in 2019, with its namesake, comedian Carol Burnett, being its first honoree.

☆ Fans donate to Damar Hamlin's charity toy drive after Bills player's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Leila Sackur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

An online toy drive fundraiser created by Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been flooded with donations after he collapsed during a game Monday night. 3 Panthers jersey, and added: “Damar Hamlin is the best of us. Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during a game against the Cleveland Browns, on Nov. 20, 2022, in Detroit. NFL players joined in rallying around Hamlin as emotional fans gathered outside the hospital with candles, video from NBC affiliate WLWT showed. The Buffalo Bills tweeted “Bills Mafia is with you, @HamlinIsland,” referring to the player and a name for Bills fans.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ Elon Musk says Twitter is no longer 'in the fast lane to bankruptcy' – but still isn't 'secure'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk said on Saturday that bankruptcy was no longer an imminent fear for Twitter. After sealing the $44 billion deal, Musk had planted the idea that bankruptcy could be on the cards. "We've got the [Twitter] expenses reasonably under control," Musk then said. "So the company's not, like, in the fast lane to bankruptcy anymore." In a follow-up tweet responding to a user who quoted the billionaire, Musk doubled down: "Twitter isn't secure yet, just not in the fast lane to bankruptcy.

☆ Venezuelan arrested for involvement in murder of Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A Venezuelan man has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the May murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor in Colombia, Venezuela's interior minister said on Thursday. Gabriel Salinas was arrested on Tuesday at a routine checkpoint east of Venezuela's capital Caracas when he was found to have an outstanding arrest warrant, Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos said. Salinas is accused of participating in the murder of Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, 45, who was shot dead while on his honeymoon on an island near the Caribbean city of Cartagena. Four others have been sentenced in Colombia to 23 years and six months in jail earlier this year for their involvement in Pecci's murder. Reporting by Vivian Sequera; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ I Knew Oswald, and He Acted Alone
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Paul Roderick Gregory | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Less than a year after John F. Kennedy ’s assassination, the Warren Commission released its findings to the public: JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald , who acted alone. The new tranche of files the National Archives released last week contains nothing that calls that conclusion into question. When the Warren report came out in September 1964, some 80% agreed with its finding that Oswald acted alone. Today more than 60% don’t believe Oswald acted alone. One of the most amusing, in an effort to shift the blame from the leftist Oswald, lists my father and me as part of a White Russian conspiracy.

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