Wednesday November 9th 2011 commenced as a dank day. Yesterday it became dark by lunchtime indicating the arrival of winter but it is not cold enough for heating during the day and there is no snow compared to the onset of an Arctic period of a month which commenced at this time a year ago.
It is a crime day although I shall watch Prime Ministers Question Time and keep abreast with the build up to the appearance of Murdoch junior before the Commons Culture Committee together with the pressure on The Home Secretary Theresa May because of the decision taken within her Department to relax border controls over the summer beyond the trial which she initiated with the approval of the Security Services and other associated government Departments.
I begin Crime report with the series featuring Mafia life within past decade or so and the last two excellent productions of the third season of the Sopranos.
The main character Tony, the Mafia New England area boss is persuaded to take back Gloria Trillo as his mistress; the car dealership executive who he meet at the office of his psychoanalyst Dr Melfi where there was a double booking. Dr Melfi had suggested that Tony was attracted to women who possessed similar characteristics to his mother, and in this instance of her patient someone with self destructive tendencies, warning both that the affair would end badly, potentially for both of them.
By coincidence Carmel has a car leasing deal with the same dealership so when it is necessary to take the vehicle in for work and Gloria overhears the situation she offers to drive Carmel home and pumps her about her family and relationships on the journey. She then phones separately one evening to suggest a new model and when Carmela talks over the call with Tony he grasps that the woman has gone out of her way to get to know his wife so he breaks the relationship and warns Gloria what will happen if she makes any further contact with his family. When she phones him in distress later he visits and nearly strangles her. He arranges for an associate to frighten her about the consequences of attempting continuing contact and this appears to have the desired effect. Later in discussing with Dr Melfi, Tony goes as far as he is ever has before in admitting that she was right and that part of the attraction his need to prove himself and gain the love of his mother who had rejected and betrayed him and which he had failed to admit and accept. While not breaking her professional commitment she indicates Gloria’s self destructiveness which the woman continues to refuse to deal with.
The important aspect of this second similar relationship in the three seasons so far is that Dr Melfi suggests to Tony that he will never leave Carmela because she is the one good person in her life. When he returns home he looks upon Carmela in a more appreciative way.
Tony has business problems centred on Jackie Aprile Jnr in the first instance. He is pleased to learn from Carmela and that the relationship with their daughter Meadow has ended. Jackie Jnr and his partner in crime intervene when three other young punks disrespect the owner of a cafe they are in and they fight and kick them out as Christopher arrives and he gives them a talk’in to for the damage caused. Afterwards they comment on the fact that although young Christopher is a made man. Later they discuss with Ralphie Cifretto who has moved in with Jackie’s Jnr’s mother their wish to get ahead and he tells the story how Tony and his father got themselves fast tracked made by doing a major job involving an associate and although they had to pay back most of the money it singled them out as young ‘Turks’ to be reckoned with.
This inspires them to raid a poker game involving Christopher and others resulting in the organiser of the game being shot and a fire fight in which one of the trio is also shot and the second executed after being caught by Christopher and one of the others. Furio, the hard man Tony brought back from his visit to Italy is wounded in the leg and requires private medical care to take out the bullet and dress the wound. He subsequently walks with a stick.
Jackie Jnr goes on the run and into hiding with a black crack dealer living in a Housing project. Christopher demands satisfaction but Tony tells him to hold off and leave it to him to sort out. Christopher is angry and upset and while continuing to respect in the sense of accept Tony’s authority, he says he withdraws his love and Tony notes to himself that this means trouble.
When Tony speaks with Ralphie and superficially appears to accept the man‘s reluctance to have the boy killed because he is living with his widow. Tony had tried to keep the boy away from crime as his father had wished. When there is a delay in the matter being resolved Tony reminds Ralphie that he has been made up to a captain and that indecision is a bad example and reluctantly Ralphie arranges for Jnr to be executed, shot in the head when he goes out of the hideaway,
The death is presented within the Family and to the media as drug related and when the family arrange the usual mafia style funeral with an open coffin with seating for everyone to pay their respects, mass, high display of flowers followed by wake it is daughter Meadow who sees the hypocrisy. She agrees accepts her father’s insistence it was drug related and nothing internal to the extended crime family. For use outside the Family. When Jnr’s sister speaks out about the situation to a friend it is Meadow who reprimands for speaking to a stranger and insists that the family is concerned with the waste disposal business but the business in such that they come into contact with gangsters but that does not mean they are the same. However later she gets drunk at the house of bereaved and then attends a separate gathering at the restaurant. Uncle Junior is celebrating because his lawyer has got him freed from house arrest and he is persuaded to sing the Italian song ‘Core nratgo’ which he sings remarkably well and brings most present to tears but not the drunk Meadow who says the whole thing is bullshit and throws bread rolls across the room. When Tony goes to remonstrate she runs out and dangerously across the road to get the bus home.
The couple are also having problems with AJ who with a friend steals the exam papers so they get high marks which alerts the school head to cheating. Both have urinated from nerves in the out office and the head says they have been able to match their DNA which as Meadow says would have taken six weeks and therefore they have admitted unnecessarily. He is expelled which angers Tony who decides to send him to military school which horrifies the young man when he learns the nature of the regime. When the boy is dressed in the uniform of the school and looks in the mirror he fells humiliated he pleads with his father not to be sent to the establishment and then has a passing out fit as he did when appointed the defensive football captain. Tony is able to admit that his own condition as that of his son is heredity.
This only worries Tony more about his wish for the two children to have a different life. He talks about this for the first time with Dr Melfi and his fear that his son will follow in his footsteps. He was given no choice but to follow his father. He wants A.J. to have the maximum choice and this is why he is pleased Meadow is away from the family at College in New York and away from his life.
His wishes are clearly genuine which endears him to Dr Melfi but when she had talked of Gloria attracted and needing to be with danger she could have been speaking of herself.
Carmela has also become ambivalent about her life as the wife of a crime boss. She goes to confession and then has a chat with the new priest who has come from Africa or is an African American. He does not share the previous advice that she should leave Tony having made her marriage vows but he advises she should take all steps not to profit from his illegal gains so she hides and then stops wearing the gaudy expensive ring which Tony had bought for her. She is seen studying a text book on the examination to become a registered Estate Agent. The priest also advises that she concentrates on the good side of her husband and his life. This has come about because when visiting an art gallery she becomes emotional on seeing a picture which a baby and child, The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Jusepe de Riberia. Later she bursts into tears watching TV and then realises it is a commercial for dog food. She worries about her health especially if she has ovarian cancer and this raises questions about her life with Tony.
There is an incident which Tony has to deal with that also suggests something of the way subsequent seasons may develop. Paulie Walnuts is upset because he provided information which enabled Ralphie and his associates to pull a job which yielded $100000. He thinks he should have half. He wants this because his mother needs residential care and he takes her to the established where Tony had placed his mother and which is the most expensive in the state and costs $8000 a months and $40000 up front. Paulie demands a sit down meeting with Tony as arbiter and after hearing the case Tony rules that Ralphie should pay a fee, an eighth at $12500.
This angers Paulie and when he meets one of the New York Underbosses who has a home in the area he has a beef about Tony and his admiration for the boss, Carmine Lupertazz, which the Underboss says is reciprocated. Paulie says meaningfully that if there is ever anything he can do for the boss they just have to ask.
There is also an indication Tony is likely to come under renewed pressure from the Feds who have been affected by the removal of the listening device in the lamp in the basement which Meadow took to college. With Uncle Junior in remission from his cancer they are able to proceed with RICCO trial hence the lifting of the house arrest. Now they decide to concentrate on Christopher and his fiancée. They propose to target Christopher by appointing female Agent Deborah Ciccerone on an undercover mission to befriend Chris' fiancée, Adriana La Cerva, and report back on whatever information she can find. She is required to have a new hair do and clothes in a similar style to Adriana and then befriend her when shopping at her favourite store. Shortly after this Christopher is arrested at the funeral of Jackie Junior together with Silvio for illegal gambling.
I now move back to the 1970’s in Rome and the attempt of young petty criminals to use drug distribution to create and city wide crime controlling gang Romanzio Criminale.
The funds acquired from combination of two gangs to kidnap a Baron had provided the basis for the take over attempt. The group then intimidated the majority of dealers to accept the new regime in return for a stipend of 10% of their previous income. One who used force was subsequently eliminated. However it was necessary to accommodate one group who supplied the drugs and another who had their own territory.
They had not escaped the attentions of the authorities although this has two conflicting consequences. A Police Commissioner was correctly convinced that it had been members of group behind the kidnap and this led to establishing that a beautiful upmarket prostitute Patrizia and become the paid girl friend of one of the group with the nickname of Dandi. He has used marked notes to buy time from the girl who had then spent the money. The Commissioner now attempted to persuade Patrizia to confirm his suspicions and give evidence, but this she refused and he became more and obsessed with by her beauty, sexuality and personality.
The Commissioner gets a breakthrough when he receives anonymous tip about the location of the body which proves correct and he persuades the presiding judge to agree to the arrest of the ‘Crew’ and to search their known premises in search of evidence to justify charges. The five or was it six leading members of the two crews involved return to one of the jails where they had previous experience as youngsters and some reflect on the incidents which led to their subsequent adult criminality.
Dandi for example was a young waiter no more than a boy who dreamed of sexy women who were well known personalities. One day a famous woman comes with her man, for a drink and he is allowed to present the bill and seek an autograph taking the opportunity to stare into her cleavage noted by the older male companion who gives him a large tip to save as he will need much money if he wants to have a woman like this in the future. The companion is called Dandi, a name which the young waiter adopts as his hero.
We also learn why The Cold hates his father. As a youngster he discovers that his father has a mistress who runs a local store and becomes defiant and gets and gun and robs the store.
He discloses to his brother that he is now with the girlfriend and understandably the brother is angry and wishes to have nothing more to do with him. Just when he finds the courage to tells the girl he is a criminal he is arrested when they are together.
The Libanese continued to live alone in the caravan in a field since being asked to leave by his mother. He has now rented an expensive modern apartment In the first report I left him feeling sorry for himself on a seaside beach with the rejected fur coat wrapped around him for comfort,
He returns to the caravan to find a note with the necklace he gave to his girlfriend before she was raped by the Terrible and his men. He finds her working at a beachside restaurant where the owner has died two years before. She appears to want to get together again saying she did not understand why he had not contacted her since the incident. He said he was ashamed to look her in the eyes. She returns to his flat where they make passionate love. In the morning he finds that she has gone, having emptied his safe, his wallet and taken his car. Returning to the restaurant he finds she has left saying she did not need the job anymore and went off with her boyfriend. He uses his men to track the couple down and kills the boyfriend. Later the girl kills herself in the posh flat. They weigh the body with rocks and push into a lake as I presume they also did with the boyfriend. The Libanese returns to get rid of the caravan setting it on fire and just after this the police arrive to arrest him.
The big event of the last report was the real life kidnapping of the former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Morro by the Red Brigade. As I understand what actually happened the authorities approached the Mafia and other crime heads in Rome to see if they could help in finding the Minister with the offer of concessions. The Mafia invite the new Kids on the block to a meeting with a shadowy figure who appears to have links with the Government and the police/security services who seeks their help which is agreed. However when after the first efforts fail they have a lead which they report they are told there is no longer interest because it is believed he has already been killed. The authorities are grateful for their efforts.
On remand in prison the group find that the prison is controlled my a mafia boss from the south and that one his protectors is the remaining brother of three who were supposed to look after the kidnapped Baron and who the group killed so they could not be identified after one the trio killed the Baron. Their lives are under threat after refusing the offer to work for the Mafia boss. With the help of a prison guard an attempt is made on the life of Libanese but it is foiled. He pays to bring in a knife but then the cell is raided and the knife is found and he is placed in solitary with the other inmates who takes the rap because he is inside for double life.
While in solitary one of the others works out a way to get a weapon, a cross from the chapel with one end fashioned into a sharp weapon. The Libanese works out that someone must have disclosed the whereabouts of the body and one of the groups admits that he got drunk one night with one of the men of the Terrible and boasted to him the location. Thus they know that it was Terrible who had acted against them.
First on the agenda are the Don and his protectors. They elect the one who got drunk to do the killing of the main thug and who threatened Libanese and then strip the Don of his authority and then arrange for him to be shifted to another prison in the South.
The case against them falls for lack of evidence. They do not know that the tape recordings of their individual interviews when they refuse to answer questions and make fun of the interviewers had a double purpose. The tapes were then processed and checked against the one of phone call made to the Baron’s family requesting more money. The process takes time but as the end of the remand period approaches there is match with one of those on remand. However just before they present the proof to the judge the original tape is removed and another corrupted tape put in its place so the inquiry team think it is a technical malfunction, at least at first, and with no copies made, the case cannot continue. The Judge insists that the prostitute gives evidence but the Commissioner says this is not possible so the Judge works out he is having some kind of relationship with the woman.
The rest of the second episode covers their release from prison where they all picked up by loved one or other relatives with the exception of the Libanese. Even the Cold finds his brother waiting. He goes to see the girl who says that she may have accepted him had he told her beforehand.
Dandi goes to see Patrizia who is with a client who he beats up badly telling her that she is his woman and will obey him.
The member of the gang who used his teenage school girlfriend to hide the guns for the kidnapping was told never to come back by the father is now told that his daughter is pregnant so he visits to ask her what she wants to do.
The Libanese returns to his new flat and finds the original copy of the convicting tape at his bedside with a note that he owes a favour. The body of Aldo Morro has been found as directed by the Red Brigade. The Police Commissioner
Is upset by the news and the failure to get the gang and gets drunk.
On returning to the police station the following day he finds Communists have been rounded up for questioning including his sister who he gets out by vouching for her but not disclosing the relationship. She is not grateful saying she has an ideology and expects action to be taken by the authorities and that her brother must decide if he is for change or the status quo and cannot sit on the fence.
The final scene to be recorded is the conversation involving the mysterious old one who requested their help and then said it was needed and appears to confirm that some political and other interests decided it was better for Morro to die and they were behind getting the new Roman mob out of jail but to be used for some other purpose in the future.
Next I turn to Prohibition time and the Atlantic Boardwalk and then to New York’s finest and Blue Bloods and the perspective of modern day cops.
It is a crime day although I shall watch Prime Ministers Question Time and keep abreast with the build up to the appearance of Murdoch junior before the Commons Culture Committee together with the pressure on The Home Secretary Theresa May because of the decision taken within her Department to relax border controls over the summer beyond the trial which she initiated with the approval of the Security Services and other associated government Departments.
I begin Crime report with the series featuring Mafia life within past decade or so and the last two excellent productions of the third season of the Sopranos.
The main character Tony, the Mafia New England area boss is persuaded to take back Gloria Trillo as his mistress; the car dealership executive who he meet at the office of his psychoanalyst Dr Melfi where there was a double booking. Dr Melfi had suggested that Tony was attracted to women who possessed similar characteristics to his mother, and in this instance of her patient someone with self destructive tendencies, warning both that the affair would end badly, potentially for both of them.
By coincidence Carmel has a car leasing deal with the same dealership so when it is necessary to take the vehicle in for work and Gloria overhears the situation she offers to drive Carmel home and pumps her about her family and relationships on the journey. She then phones separately one evening to suggest a new model and when Carmela talks over the call with Tony he grasps that the woman has gone out of her way to get to know his wife so he breaks the relationship and warns Gloria what will happen if she makes any further contact with his family. When she phones him in distress later he visits and nearly strangles her. He arranges for an associate to frighten her about the consequences of attempting continuing contact and this appears to have the desired effect. Later in discussing with Dr Melfi, Tony goes as far as he is ever has before in admitting that she was right and that part of the attraction his need to prove himself and gain the love of his mother who had rejected and betrayed him and which he had failed to admit and accept. While not breaking her professional commitment she indicates Gloria’s self destructiveness which the woman continues to refuse to deal with.
The important aspect of this second similar relationship in the three seasons so far is that Dr Melfi suggests to Tony that he will never leave Carmela because she is the one good person in her life. When he returns home he looks upon Carmela in a more appreciative way.
Tony has business problems centred on Jackie Aprile Jnr in the first instance. He is pleased to learn from Carmela and that the relationship with their daughter Meadow has ended. Jackie Jnr and his partner in crime intervene when three other young punks disrespect the owner of a cafe they are in and they fight and kick them out as Christopher arrives and he gives them a talk’in to for the damage caused. Afterwards they comment on the fact that although young Christopher is a made man. Later they discuss with Ralphie Cifretto who has moved in with Jackie’s Jnr’s mother their wish to get ahead and he tells the story how Tony and his father got themselves fast tracked made by doing a major job involving an associate and although they had to pay back most of the money it singled them out as young ‘Turks’ to be reckoned with.
This inspires them to raid a poker game involving Christopher and others resulting in the organiser of the game being shot and a fire fight in which one of the trio is also shot and the second executed after being caught by Christopher and one of the others. Furio, the hard man Tony brought back from his visit to Italy is wounded in the leg and requires private medical care to take out the bullet and dress the wound. He subsequently walks with a stick.
Jackie Jnr goes on the run and into hiding with a black crack dealer living in a Housing project. Christopher demands satisfaction but Tony tells him to hold off and leave it to him to sort out. Christopher is angry and upset and while continuing to respect in the sense of accept Tony’s authority, he says he withdraws his love and Tony notes to himself that this means trouble.
When Tony speaks with Ralphie and superficially appears to accept the man‘s reluctance to have the boy killed because he is living with his widow. Tony had tried to keep the boy away from crime as his father had wished. When there is a delay in the matter being resolved Tony reminds Ralphie that he has been made up to a captain and that indecision is a bad example and reluctantly Ralphie arranges for Jnr to be executed, shot in the head when he goes out of the hideaway,
The death is presented within the Family and to the media as drug related and when the family arrange the usual mafia style funeral with an open coffin with seating for everyone to pay their respects, mass, high display of flowers followed by wake it is daughter Meadow who sees the hypocrisy. She agrees accepts her father’s insistence it was drug related and nothing internal to the extended crime family. For use outside the Family. When Jnr’s sister speaks out about the situation to a friend it is Meadow who reprimands for speaking to a stranger and insists that the family is concerned with the waste disposal business but the business in such that they come into contact with gangsters but that does not mean they are the same. However later she gets drunk at the house of bereaved and then attends a separate gathering at the restaurant. Uncle Junior is celebrating because his lawyer has got him freed from house arrest and he is persuaded to sing the Italian song ‘Core nratgo’ which he sings remarkably well and brings most present to tears but not the drunk Meadow who says the whole thing is bullshit and throws bread rolls across the room. When Tony goes to remonstrate she runs out and dangerously across the road to get the bus home.
The couple are also having problems with AJ who with a friend steals the exam papers so they get high marks which alerts the school head to cheating. Both have urinated from nerves in the out office and the head says they have been able to match their DNA which as Meadow says would have taken six weeks and therefore they have admitted unnecessarily. He is expelled which angers Tony who decides to send him to military school which horrifies the young man when he learns the nature of the regime. When the boy is dressed in the uniform of the school and looks in the mirror he fells humiliated he pleads with his father not to be sent to the establishment and then has a passing out fit as he did when appointed the defensive football captain. Tony is able to admit that his own condition as that of his son is heredity.
This only worries Tony more about his wish for the two children to have a different life. He talks about this for the first time with Dr Melfi and his fear that his son will follow in his footsteps. He was given no choice but to follow his father. He wants A.J. to have the maximum choice and this is why he is pleased Meadow is away from the family at College in New York and away from his life.
His wishes are clearly genuine which endears him to Dr Melfi but when she had talked of Gloria attracted and needing to be with danger she could have been speaking of herself.
Carmela has also become ambivalent about her life as the wife of a crime boss. She goes to confession and then has a chat with the new priest who has come from Africa or is an African American. He does not share the previous advice that she should leave Tony having made her marriage vows but he advises she should take all steps not to profit from his illegal gains so she hides and then stops wearing the gaudy expensive ring which Tony had bought for her. She is seen studying a text book on the examination to become a registered Estate Agent. The priest also advises that she concentrates on the good side of her husband and his life. This has come about because when visiting an art gallery she becomes emotional on seeing a picture which a baby and child, The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Jusepe de Riberia. Later she bursts into tears watching TV and then realises it is a commercial for dog food. She worries about her health especially if she has ovarian cancer and this raises questions about her life with Tony.
There is an incident which Tony has to deal with that also suggests something of the way subsequent seasons may develop. Paulie Walnuts is upset because he provided information which enabled Ralphie and his associates to pull a job which yielded $100000. He thinks he should have half. He wants this because his mother needs residential care and he takes her to the established where Tony had placed his mother and which is the most expensive in the state and costs $8000 a months and $40000 up front. Paulie demands a sit down meeting with Tony as arbiter and after hearing the case Tony rules that Ralphie should pay a fee, an eighth at $12500.
This angers Paulie and when he meets one of the New York Underbosses who has a home in the area he has a beef about Tony and his admiration for the boss, Carmine Lupertazz, which the Underboss says is reciprocated. Paulie says meaningfully that if there is ever anything he can do for the boss they just have to ask.
There is also an indication Tony is likely to come under renewed pressure from the Feds who have been affected by the removal of the listening device in the lamp in the basement which Meadow took to college. With Uncle Junior in remission from his cancer they are able to proceed with RICCO trial hence the lifting of the house arrest. Now they decide to concentrate on Christopher and his fiancée. They propose to target Christopher by appointing female Agent Deborah Ciccerone on an undercover mission to befriend Chris' fiancée, Adriana La Cerva, and report back on whatever information she can find. She is required to have a new hair do and clothes in a similar style to Adriana and then befriend her when shopping at her favourite store. Shortly after this Christopher is arrested at the funeral of Jackie Junior together with Silvio for illegal gambling.
I now move back to the 1970’s in Rome and the attempt of young petty criminals to use drug distribution to create and city wide crime controlling gang Romanzio Criminale.
The funds acquired from combination of two gangs to kidnap a Baron had provided the basis for the take over attempt. The group then intimidated the majority of dealers to accept the new regime in return for a stipend of 10% of their previous income. One who used force was subsequently eliminated. However it was necessary to accommodate one group who supplied the drugs and another who had their own territory.
They had not escaped the attentions of the authorities although this has two conflicting consequences. A Police Commissioner was correctly convinced that it had been members of group behind the kidnap and this led to establishing that a beautiful upmarket prostitute Patrizia and become the paid girl friend of one of the group with the nickname of Dandi. He has used marked notes to buy time from the girl who had then spent the money. The Commissioner now attempted to persuade Patrizia to confirm his suspicions and give evidence, but this she refused and he became more and obsessed with by her beauty, sexuality and personality.
The Commissioner gets a breakthrough when he receives anonymous tip about the location of the body which proves correct and he persuades the presiding judge to agree to the arrest of the ‘Crew’ and to search their known premises in search of evidence to justify charges. The five or was it six leading members of the two crews involved return to one of the jails where they had previous experience as youngsters and some reflect on the incidents which led to their subsequent adult criminality.
Dandi for example was a young waiter no more than a boy who dreamed of sexy women who were well known personalities. One day a famous woman comes with her man, for a drink and he is allowed to present the bill and seek an autograph taking the opportunity to stare into her cleavage noted by the older male companion who gives him a large tip to save as he will need much money if he wants to have a woman like this in the future. The companion is called Dandi, a name which the young waiter adopts as his hero.
We also learn why The Cold hates his father. As a youngster he discovers that his father has a mistress who runs a local store and becomes defiant and gets and gun and robs the store.
He discloses to his brother that he is now with the girlfriend and understandably the brother is angry and wishes to have nothing more to do with him. Just when he finds the courage to tells the girl he is a criminal he is arrested when they are together.
The Libanese continued to live alone in the caravan in a field since being asked to leave by his mother. He has now rented an expensive modern apartment In the first report I left him feeling sorry for himself on a seaside beach with the rejected fur coat wrapped around him for comfort,
He returns to the caravan to find a note with the necklace he gave to his girlfriend before she was raped by the Terrible and his men. He finds her working at a beachside restaurant where the owner has died two years before. She appears to want to get together again saying she did not understand why he had not contacted her since the incident. He said he was ashamed to look her in the eyes. She returns to his flat where they make passionate love. In the morning he finds that she has gone, having emptied his safe, his wallet and taken his car. Returning to the restaurant he finds she has left saying she did not need the job anymore and went off with her boyfriend. He uses his men to track the couple down and kills the boyfriend. Later the girl kills herself in the posh flat. They weigh the body with rocks and push into a lake as I presume they also did with the boyfriend. The Libanese returns to get rid of the caravan setting it on fire and just after this the police arrive to arrest him.
The big event of the last report was the real life kidnapping of the former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Morro by the Red Brigade. As I understand what actually happened the authorities approached the Mafia and other crime heads in Rome to see if they could help in finding the Minister with the offer of concessions. The Mafia invite the new Kids on the block to a meeting with a shadowy figure who appears to have links with the Government and the police/security services who seeks their help which is agreed. However when after the first efforts fail they have a lead which they report they are told there is no longer interest because it is believed he has already been killed. The authorities are grateful for their efforts.
On remand in prison the group find that the prison is controlled my a mafia boss from the south and that one his protectors is the remaining brother of three who were supposed to look after the kidnapped Baron and who the group killed so they could not be identified after one the trio killed the Baron. Their lives are under threat after refusing the offer to work for the Mafia boss. With the help of a prison guard an attempt is made on the life of Libanese but it is foiled. He pays to bring in a knife but then the cell is raided and the knife is found and he is placed in solitary with the other inmates who takes the rap because he is inside for double life.
While in solitary one of the others works out a way to get a weapon, a cross from the chapel with one end fashioned into a sharp weapon. The Libanese works out that someone must have disclosed the whereabouts of the body and one of the groups admits that he got drunk one night with one of the men of the Terrible and boasted to him the location. Thus they know that it was Terrible who had acted against them.
First on the agenda are the Don and his protectors. They elect the one who got drunk to do the killing of the main thug and who threatened Libanese and then strip the Don of his authority and then arrange for him to be shifted to another prison in the South.
The case against them falls for lack of evidence. They do not know that the tape recordings of their individual interviews when they refuse to answer questions and make fun of the interviewers had a double purpose. The tapes were then processed and checked against the one of phone call made to the Baron’s family requesting more money. The process takes time but as the end of the remand period approaches there is match with one of those on remand. However just before they present the proof to the judge the original tape is removed and another corrupted tape put in its place so the inquiry team think it is a technical malfunction, at least at first, and with no copies made, the case cannot continue. The Judge insists that the prostitute gives evidence but the Commissioner says this is not possible so the Judge works out he is having some kind of relationship with the woman.
The rest of the second episode covers their release from prison where they all picked up by loved one or other relatives with the exception of the Libanese. Even the Cold finds his brother waiting. He goes to see the girl who says that she may have accepted him had he told her beforehand.
Dandi goes to see Patrizia who is with a client who he beats up badly telling her that she is his woman and will obey him.
The member of the gang who used his teenage school girlfriend to hide the guns for the kidnapping was told never to come back by the father is now told that his daughter is pregnant so he visits to ask her what she wants to do.
The Libanese returns to his new flat and finds the original copy of the convicting tape at his bedside with a note that he owes a favour. The body of Aldo Morro has been found as directed by the Red Brigade. The Police Commissioner
Is upset by the news and the failure to get the gang and gets drunk.
On returning to the police station the following day he finds Communists have been rounded up for questioning including his sister who he gets out by vouching for her but not disclosing the relationship. She is not grateful saying she has an ideology and expects action to be taken by the authorities and that her brother must decide if he is for change or the status quo and cannot sit on the fence.
The final scene to be recorded is the conversation involving the mysterious old one who requested their help and then said it was needed and appears to confirm that some political and other interests decided it was better for Morro to die and they were behind getting the new Roman mob out of jail but to be used for some other purpose in the future.
Next I turn to Prohibition time and the Atlantic Boardwalk and then to New York’s finest and Blue Bloods and the perspective of modern day cops.
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