Random Thoughts

joey con carne wrote:In Conor’s defense, he isn’t allowed to fight or hit anyone. He would do serious time and probably get kicked out of the league.

Frank Cali, the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family whose deep ties to the Sicilian Mafia made him a figure of influence and power in both New York and Italy, was fatally shot outside his home in Staten Island on Wednesday night, police told The Washington Post.

At around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, Cali, 53, was in front of his red-brick colonial style home in the Todt Hill neighborhood, when he was approached by a blue pickup truck. Known as “Franky Boy,” the Gambino boss was reportedly shot six times in the chest and run over by the truck, as first reported by the New York Daily News. Police said that a suspect sped off in the truck, WNBC reported.

In a statement to The Post, an official with the New York Police Department’s 122nd Precinct, which covers Staten Island, said authorities responded to a 911 call of an assault involving Cali at 9:17 p.m. The address given on Hilltop Terrace near Four Corners Road, located by the Richmond County Country Club, matched Cali’s address, according to public records.

“Upon arrival, officers found a 53-year-old male with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso,” police said to The Post. “EMS also responded to the scene and transported the victim to Staten Island University North, where he was pronounced deceased.”

Police told The Post that no arrests have been made and that the investigation is ongoing. An NYPD spokesman told The Post early Thursday that police are in the process of obtaining and reviewing any available video surveillance from the scene.

Reports of sobbing, panic and fear from witnesses late Wednesday provided a window into the chaotic, swift violence that unfolded in a quiet neighborhood long known for its mob history.

“There were like six shots, and then there were three more,” one witness told the Daily News. “The man was on the ground face-up. His head was by his SUV, and the truck was open.”

A neighbor told the New York Times that he heard a series of gunshots from what he believed to be a single gun.

“I just heard the pow-pow-pow-pow-pow,” he said to the Times.

Cali’s death marks the first time in about 34 years that a crime family boss was fatally shot in New York City. The previous instance was in 1985, when Paul Castellano, another Gambino crime boss, was assassinated under the orders of John Gotti outside Manhattan’s Sparks Steak House. As the Daily News reported, Cali lived only a half-mile away from Castellano’s home.

Once described as “the rising star of the American mafia,” Cali was an influential figure who surrounded himself with many Italian-born associates. He gained the trust of Jackie “The Nose” D’Amico, an acting boss who promoted him to capo before the age of 40.

Cali’s ascension within the Gambino crime family, once considered one of the most significant criminal organizations in the U.S., came years after federal prosecutors sent its top leaders to prison, crippling its national and global reach. One of those prosecutors, Rudolph W. Giuliani, currently the attorney for President Trump, used the 1986 indictment of the heads of the five crime families to help launch his successful campaign for mayor of New York years later.

As a leader, Cali was reportedly considerably less flashy than the ebullient Gotti, another Gambino boss, and was described by the New York Post as “a real quiet old-school boss.” Cali’s influence reportedly stemmed from his family connections with the Inzerillo crime family in Palermo, Sicily.

“Cali is seen as a man of influence and power by organized crime members in Italy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joey Lipton said during a bail hearing in 2008.
Lipton went on to quote an intercepted conversation from an Italian mobster, who described Cali as “a friend of ours.”

“He is everything over there,” the mobster allegedly said, referring to Cali’s stature in New York, according to the Daily News.

Federal authorities recognized Cali’s sense of stability and attempted to stop his meteoric rise. In what would be his only mob-related criminal conviction, Cali pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort money in 2008, stemming from a failed bid to build a NASCAR track on Staten Island years earlier. He was released after completing a 16-month prison sentence. Upon his release, the Justice Department ordered that Cali not come in contact with his uncle, John Gambino, if it was not approved ahead of time by his probation officer. (Gambino died at 77 of natural causes in 2017.)

In 2015, Cali was reportedly elevated to acting boss of the Gambino crime family, succeeding Domenico Cefalu, according to the Daily News. During his run with the family, Cali was looked at as a unifying leader, concentrating on enhancing the organization’s role in the OxyContin and heroin trade, the New York Post reported.

The death in Todt Hill came on the same day that Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Cammarano Jr., and his consigliere, John Zancocchio, were acquitted in federal court of charges of racketeering and conspiracy to commit extortion.

FBI special agent says 300 FBI, IRS agents participated in arrests in alleged college cheating scam, named "Operation Varsity Blues"; 38 individuals have been taken into custody so far.

joey con carne wrote:Dang, sucks to be him. Shot in front of his own home. That's how accurate Hollywood movies are. They keep it real.

The college cheating thing is pretty awesome. We all knew it happens but now people are actually getting in trouble for it. No big deal. It will be fine. Maybe the worst thing that will happen is those coaches or what not will lose their jobs. Maybe the kids get expelled. I highly doubt anyone, especially the celebrities, will ever see the inside of a jail cell.

joey con carne wrote:Yea, and they tried to play it cool and release a statement which said as soon as the daughter found out her mom was indicted she felt it was in her best interest to go home.

The sad thing is, none of this shit matters. She has millions. Oh no, expelled from school. She doesn’t have a college degree now. Whatever will she do to make a living? Oh, right, she has millions in the bank and will just statt modelling or acting to make more. No biggie.

And, of course, retarded Americans lile the ones who think El Chapo being convicted is a “huge win against the war on drugs” will think justice was served.

Forty nine people have been murdered at two mosques in New Zealand as part of an “extremist, right-wing” terrorist attack.

The attacks took place at 1:40pm local time in Christchurch, NZ. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called it one of New Zealand’s “darkest days.”

The news has taken over international media with broadcasters including CNN, BBC and CNBC going live to New Zealand – the worst shooting attack to ever take place in the country.

Twenty others have been wounded in the shootings, which saw armed gunmen open fire in the mosques, while bombs were found attached to the attackers’ cars. Police said four people have been taken into custody – three men and one woman – although authorities have established that one of these was not involved.

The attacks appeared to have been livestreamed on Facebook from head-mounted cameras but the social media site said that it has removed the attackers’ Facebook and Instagram accounts and was taking down any copies of the footage.

New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said, “Police are responding with its full capability to manage the situation, but the risk environment remains extremely high. Police recommend that residents across Christchurch remain off the streets and indoors until further notice.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern added, “It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack.”

President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences, as did former President Barack Obama:

My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2019

Michelle and I send our condolences to the people of New Zealand. We grieve with you and the Muslim community. All of us must stand against hatred in all its forms.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 15, 2019

joey con carne wrote:Out of that whole article, I only have one question: which god is Donald Trump referring to?

joey con carne wrote:I cannot tell if you are insulting me...

I guess I kind if deserve it for my comment. It was merely an ironic observation that God did not seem to bless about 50 people today.

NYPD identifies suspect in slaying of Gambino crime boss Frank Cali

The Mafia didn’t kill Gambino boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali — but a Staten Island knucklehead with a personal beef over a woman did, police and other sources said Saturday.

Anthony Comello, 24, who lives with his parents and works odd construction jobs, was in custody in New Jersey and expected to face murder charges in connection to the Wednesday shooting of Cali, 53, police said.

The don was blasted at least 10 times outside his mansion in Staten Island’s Todt Hill neighborhood, prompting initial speculation of a Gambino power struggle.

The real motive? Sources now believe Cali didn’t like Comello hanging around a particular woman in the mob boss’ family — and the younger man, who is not a mobster, was so outraged by this slight that he slaughtered one of the most dangerous Mafiosi in the country to get revenge.

Cali’s niece was at the don’s mansion at the time of the hit, the sources told The Post — and may have been the subject of the dispute.

Comello was safely in handcuffs before the ire of the entire Gambino organization could thunder his way, but only thanks to his own alleged ineptitude.

In a fleeting gesture that Comello may now have a lifetime in prison to regret, he had picked up and handed to Cali a fallen license plate right before allegedly opening fire.

In that moment, he may have handed the murder’s most incriminating evidence to his own alleged victim, who tossed it into his car.

Crime-scene investigators dusted the license plate, ran the prints recovered from it and got a hit for Comello, whose prints are on file from his application for a rifle permit, the sources said.

Realizing it no longer had a potential well-orchestrated mob assassination on its hands, the FBI has scaled back its role in the case, leaving the NYPD in control, the sources said.

“This went from the perfect crime to amateur hour,” one law-enforcement source quipped.

Another source noted the idiocy of Comello allegedly handing Cali the number one clue to the murder.

“Anthony Comello will go down in the record books as being one of the dumbest killers in New York City history, if not in the US and the world,” that source said.

“Not to mention that the victim was the head of the Gambino crime family.”

Comello confessed to the slaying under early questioning by cops, then lawyered up and shut his mouth, the sources said.

At a Saturday-afternoon press conference, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea confirmed that Comello had been arrested in the Jersey Shore town of Brick in Ocean County.

He was being held in the county jail pending extradition to New York.

“I think it bears repeating — we are not yet three days into this incident,” Shea said.

“While we believe we have the shooter in custody for this incident, the investigation at this point is far from over.”

Shea also confirmed that prints were recovered as evidence from Cali’s Cadillac Escalade SUV.

“So what I will say is the victim’s car that was present at the murder scene that night — we believe we have fingerprints recovered from that car,” he said.

Cali’s murder was the first assassination of a New York City Mafia don since an upstart John Gotti had Gambino boss Paul Castellano whacked outside Sparks Steak House in Midtown in 1985.

After initially fearing a mob war, investigators are now focusing on the Cali-Comello connection.

The two men lived in large, well-landscaped brick homes just a 20-minute drive apart: Cali in Todt Hill and Comello in Eltingville.

But the nature of the dispute, and how the two knew each other in the first place, was unclear.

Cali’s family is being less than forthcoming, and Comello’s family simply doesn’t know, the sources said.

But investigators do believe that Cali — who helmed a family notorious for gambling, loan-sharking and a deadly trade in heroin and oxycodone — had come to think that Comello was no good.

Despite his own reputation and Comello’s clean rap sheet, Cali didn’t think the kid was worthy of associating with his family, the sources said.

“[Comello] is always nice when I see him, says ‘Hi’ to me,” said Staten Island neighbor Victor Ujuck.

“One time he helped fix my car. He plows the snow out for us, too. I know he likes fireworks. Sometimes at around midnight, he shoots off fireworks, and I have to tell him my kid is sleeping. That’s really it.”

Comello’s Facebook page says he attended Tottenville HS in Staten Island.

He is listed as single on his account bio.

A 2016 photo shows him carrying a little boy at an apple orchard as a little girl looks on. He has also posted several pictures of his dog, a blue-nose pit bull named Smokey.

According to the sources, Comello was arrested at around 2 a.m. Saturday by the US Marshals’ New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. Comello was sleeping at the time in his family’s shore home.

He was unarmed and did not resist arrest, the sources said.

In the driveway was Comello’s gray GMC Sierra — with a small dent on the left side of the rear bumper.

An NYPD tow truck hauled the pickup from the house Saturday evening.

Probers believe Comello used the truck to lure Cali from his mansion, by ramming it into the mob boss’ Escalade, parked outside, just before 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.

After the loud crash knocked the license plate off the Escalade, Cali rushed outside; surveillance footage shows the two men spoke and shook hands, the sources said.

At some point, Comello picked up the fallen license plate from the street and handed it to Cali, who tossed it in the back of his SUV, the sources said.

Also Saturday, John Gotti Jr. took a whack at law enforcement for originally believing his recently sprung uncle, Gene Gotti, may have been involved in the rubout.

“I wonder if these tremendously insightful law-enforcement individuals are going to issue an apology,” Junior, 55, told The Post.

Told of Junior’s remarks, one law enforcement source said, “Tell Junior we will apologize once his family apologizes to the Castellano, Lino and Johnson families, and all the other families whose relatives they killed and got away with.”

WyldeMan wrote:According to various news sites, Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson slit her wrists yesterday after watching the "Leaving Neverland" documentary. I was just reading the other day about how she hadn't watched it yet but was still firmly standing in support of Michael and then she tried to off herself again as soon as she did watch it.

However, Paris survived and has since been released from the hospital after one day of a 5150 psych hold because she's perfectly fine now according to very expensive mental health experts.

UltimateMarvel wrote:She's done this before? That's very sad. Hope she gets better.

I haven't watched it but there is no new evidence from what I've heard. Just more accusations to add to his long standing accusations.

WyldeMan wrote:Paris has a history of it so this won't be the last attempt.

I haven't watched Neverland either but I don't need to, that story hasn't changed in 25 years. The men who are making the accusations now waited 10 years until after his death to recant their statements after years of lying so they have no credibility with me.

WyldeMan wrote:Do I think the bleached grown man who talked like a five year old and loved touching himself on stage and also constructed a massive circus in his backyard named after the story of a boy who abducts children from their beds and also liked to have private sleepovers with young unattended children was probably a predator? Absolutely, yes but my opinion has never changed on this fact because the story hasn't changed in nearly three decades.

UltimateMarvel wrote:LOL When you put it that way.....I always thought that he did all that because of his own bad childhood experience.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Until there is a video like R Kelly's, he is innocent until proven guilty.

Did they really find a new video of R Kelly with a minor?

Tyger wrote:With Michael Jackson there’s still some doubt. Dude was creepy as fuck for sure, but doesn’t mean he was actually a creeper. R. Kelly on the other hand, is like an unabashed piece of shit.

Who knows what Aaliyah would be saying now if she were alive

joey con carne wrote:I don't see a video. Did you post the Nikki Cross video you mentioned in your post in the wrasslin' thread? I don't see it there, either, if you did.

joey con carne wrote:Thanks to Trump’s tax reform, I was screwed this year to the tune of about $3,500. I owe about $1,800 to federal and I am getting a whopping $38 in state refunds. If this was the same as last year I would have gotten about $1,700 in refunds. Ugh. Gonna have to review all of this again... for the fifth time. I guess I am filing my returns as close to April 15 as possible.

A lot of New Yorkers are getting screwed in the anus really bad this year. One of my buddies in New Jersey wound up having to pay about $7,000. Had this been the same as last year, he would have received a refund of a few thousand.

Tyger wrote:Fuck a post-Glenn Walking Dead

joey con carne wrote:One of my colleagues resigned this week. This sucks. She was one of the few younger peeps in my office I could actually have a fun conversation with about anything.

Her bosses suck and abused her. Very unprofessional. It was so bad she resigned without even having a job lined up with rent to pay. Sad times ahead, friends.