What a really nice piece of writing. https://t.co/CMwR5rQWVH
— Matt Bai (@mattbai) March 15, 2018
I respect families that carry these traditions down through the generations https://t.co/1zSHFl9L2M
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 15, 2018
‘Quaint Folk Customs Among Neighborhood Banditti’. Feel like I should’ve noticed this sooner. For all its global-paper-of-record pretensions, the NYTimes can be a very parochial rag:
With apologies to Tolstoy, happy families may all be alike, but the Gotti family has long been unhappy in its own particular fashion. For nearly half a century, that has involved the serial ordeal of men in the Mafia clan being sent to federal prison.
On Wednesday, John J. Gotti, the grandson of the infamous Gambino family don who shares his name, was sentenced to five years in prison, following in the footsteps of two of his uncles, two great-uncles and both grandfathers. For three generations, members of the gangland dynasty have been imprisoned for crimes that have included shaking down construction sites, murdering a mob boss at a steakhouse and trying to extort the action-movie hero Steven Seagal.
The crimes that led this latest Gotti scion to be sent away were, according to the government, also entangled in the business that has occupied the family almost since the start of the Civil Rights era. Last June, Mr. Gotti, now 24, pleaded guilty to torching the car of an unwitting motorist who made the mistake of cutting off an aging Bonnano family figure on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach, Queens. Mr. Gotti also admitted that two weeks after the road-rage episode, he and two associates — presenting a note that said they had a bomb — robbed $6,000 from a bank in Maspeth, Queens.
His sentencing, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, had the feeling of a familiar family dinner as several Gotti parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles converged on the eighth-floor courtroom, kissing each other’s cheeks and showing their support for the defendant. John A. Gotti, the son of the former boss (who was serving a life sentence for murder when he died in prison in 2002), embraced one of the court sketch artists with genuine affection, telling his younger relatives that the woman had not only covered his trials (plural), but had also covered “grandpa’s…
As long as the Gotti clan aren’t shaking down the NYTimes newsroom, shooting up hot new hipster-Brooklyn dining spots, trying to extort Lena Dunham, or torching the Uber carrying NYTimes employees from the newsroom to the latest chic outboro restaurant, it’s all fun mobster-movie escapades to the Timesmen assigning these stories.
And while Donald Trump was just another mobbed-up Queens arriviste, descending his golden escalator to brag about his vanity candidacy, the NYTimes simply could not take him seriously.
By the time Trump had broken out of his “amusing local gangster” role, either the people running the NYTimes were incapable of noticing the change… or cowed by the possibility that they’d been mistaken all along.
Of course, this puts them in the same position as the entire Republican party, so they’ve got that consolation. For what it’s worth.
scott (the other one)
FTFNYT
BlueDWarrior
I find the story of the families of infamous people morbidly interesting, myself.
piratedan
After the example set on Tuesday for PA-18, here’s another challenge for everyone….
This is for the open seat for Trent Franks (AZ-8) who took the message of Paul Anka’s Having my baby to a rather unfortunate extreme….
The Democratic primary winner is a political newcomer who also happens to be an ER physician, Hiral Tipirmeni who lives in Maricopa County and has the uphill task of turning this seat blue. I’ve included a link to her website below.
While we’re all about insidery political baseball here, she speaks to the American dream and health-care, which seems to be a less strident message than the entire GOP is fucking nuts. She also believes in science and education, which could cost her a few votes in this district as they tend to prefer their Proust Summarizations to be more inclined to small animal strangulation, but perhaps I do a disservice to the district and perhaps times have now changed and regular folks might be more inclined to vote for someone who isn’t busy trying to knock up their staff.
I’ll let the Phoenix contingent weigh in on her chances and candidacy, but while we’ve had an entire day to enjoy the afterglow that was PA-18, it’s now time to get back to work.
http://hiralforcongress.com/
patrick II
I have been gone most of the day, so maybe I missed it, but I haven’t seen anything written about Andrew McCabe’s possible firing. Trump may be ignorant on many issues but when it comes to revenge he knows what he is doing. After Trump encouraged an investigation of McCabe they have supposedly there is evidence that McCabe has committed a fireable offense and should be fired before this weekend.
I look at this as a two-fer for Trump. Revenge on McCable and besmirching his reputation before any testifying about the Comey firing and putting Sessions in the position, if he doesn’t fire McCabe, of not following FBI rules in which case Sessions gets fired.
Calouste
@patrick II: In organizations where there are a lot of lifers, like the FBI, firing people just before retirement rather upsets the staff. And they’re probably a little upset already.
Calouste
I’d be elated if I looked 20 years into the future and saw that Donald Trump III was in court for a $6000 bank robbery and recognized one of the sketch artists from his grandpa’s trial.
trollhattan
“Like his father Fred, Donald Trump continues the family tradition of embracing the Klan.”
How about it, NYT?
prostratedragon
In a time when many are discovering new depths of horror and horribleness it can be reassuring to see the old guard still capable of rising to the standards of the day:
(Accompanied by a winsome photo.)
Amir Khalid
@Calouste:
A six-thousand dollar robbery? That’s a pathetically small sum to go to jail for.
Adrift
I live in NY and none of this is surprising. I will add however that I abandoned the FYFNT quite a while ago. I can’t even bear to read anything they print (or publish on the web) I avoid any links to their content. I like the WP, to an extent, and have been trying to read LAT but their comment sections are crude, racist and unintelligible for the most part. There is literally nothing left for me but the Guardian, and I find them lacking at times. Sigh. I’m getting old and the world is moving on without me.
Arclite
It’s an interesting coincidence that this story dropped tonight. I just finished part two of the mafia podcast’s coverage of John Gotti, which also dropped today. It’s an excellent podcast, well researched with interviews of authors and FBI agents that worked the cases. So far they’ve covered Lucky Luciano, John Gotti, and Sam Giancana. Upcoming epis will cover Bugsy Seigel, Dutch Schultz, and under cover FBI agent Donnie Brasco.
patrick II
@Calouste:
Having an upset staff is ok with Trump as long as they fear him.
Adrift
Doesn’t anyone remember Growing Up Gotti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_Up_Gotti
Doesn’t anyone think of the children??
??? Martin
@patrick II: I posted in a thread below that federal employees cannot be denied their pension unless convicted of one of a handful of crimes. The GSA would simply allow McCabe to retroactively revise his retirement date to the date of firing. there’s nothing Trump or Sessions can do about it.
So, they’ll piss off a lot of people for no discernible impact on McCabe.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
For a bank robbery, that’s a darn good haul. Robbing banks doesn’t actually net all that much. And it’s automatically a federal crime.
Sm*t Cl*de
@NotMax:
Unless you’re the CEO.
NotMax
@Adrift
Regularly find the National Post* and The Globe and Mail (both Canadian) worthwhile. Also sometimes the Irish Independent.
*Excluding stories tainted by its sometimes evident anti-Islam bias.
opiejeanne
@??? Martin: Good. What they were trying to do is such a dick move.
patrick II
@??? Martin:
I am glad to hear that, because it was not written up that way in whatever paper I was reading this morning. Thanks.
So, the other part of the McCabe investigation still works — undercutting the reputation of someone who might testify against him.
But I think that Sessions may be the more important player here. He’s in a trap. If he fires McCabe he may lose the loyalty of the FBI. If he doesn’t he will get fired for dereliction of duty. Trump is looking for an excuse.
Brachiator
East Coast and Mid West newspapers typically cover the mob either matter of factly or fondly. A few years ago I picked up a Chicago magazine with a cover story about the 50 most powerful people in the city. Mob bosses were sprinkled in with local and state politicians like it was no big deal.
If the Trump organization, including Don Jr, et al, supposedly have mob connections, is anyone anywhere writing about it?
opiejeanne
If only the Trump family would follow the traditions of the Gotti family.
Way OT: I’m wide awake now at half past midnight, and I’m hearing the snow plow rumble past our cabin every now and then. It’s the only noise tonight, about every half hour. I finally got up to see if the promised snow had started and I couldn’t see anything at first but I could hear it, like tiny shards of glass tinkling. It’s that pelletized snow, like tiny bits of hail and it was hitting the window. That seems to be the way the snow starts here. We are promised 3-5 inches tonight but they’ve been teasing us for more than two weeks now.
NotMax
Whoops, someone was sound asleep at the wheel. Scene in the program on in background is taking place during the WW2 Tehran conference with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. Miniature flags of all three nations on the table. American flag has 50 stars.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Ah. It hadn’t occurred to me that the typical haul might be so small; I’ve never robbed a bank myself. (Well, not so far.) But it makes sense since banks don’t like to have big amounts of cash at a teller’s station, and there’s less call for it these days anyway since people pay by debit/credit card.
Sm*t Cl*de
@patrick II:
The gutless nithing is such a chickenshit he only fires people when they’re safely a few continents away.
Chet Murthy
@Amir Khalid: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Way-Rob-Bank-Own/dp/0292754183
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black#Savings_and_loan_scandal
Joyce H
@??? Martin:
But perhaps a discernible impact on Trump. Since he’s been tweeting out loud about how he wants McCabe booted before he can draw a pension, that could wind up in articles of impeachment as yet another abuse of power.
BTW, I hope GOP candidates are taking away a couple scary lessons from PA-18. One is – yes, you might get a lot of help from outside groups who will pour money into your race. But the help will come in the form of cartoonishly bad advertisements that couldn’t convince a kid to buy a candy bar. And two – if you run in this horrific blue-wave year and you lose, be advised that your president and your leaders in Congress are going to blame YOU. YOU were the bad candidate, it will be all your fault.
You know what, GOP candidate? Just give up now.
Steeplejack (phone)
@NotMax:
LOL. I snorted during an episode of The Doctor Blake Mysteries when a close-up of someone’s wristwatch clearly revealed it to have a quartz movement: “ticking” vs. sweep second hand. This in Australia in the 1950s. Seems like an easy anachronism to avoid, but, hey, you never know about people’s blind spots.
One thing I always notice is chessboards. I look to see whether they are set up correctly, i.e., with a white square in the right-hand corner of the white pieces. Each queen should sit on a square of her own color.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack (phone):
I remember seeing, in a listicle abour movie bloopers, a photo of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, wearing a knitted cap with the adidas three-stripe logo.
danielx
Alas, insomnia….
I remembered that Larry Kudlow had a rep for being spectacularly wrong, but I didn’t realize it was a record as bad as Bloody Bill Kristol’s.
OzarkHillbilly
@opiejeanne:
Otherwise known as sleet. ;-)
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: My wife swears I could get a job in Hollywood making sure such mistakes are caught before they end up on film. I tell her they actually do have people paid to do that exact job but, from the results I see they must not be paid very well.
Dan B
Dr. Blake had a bottle of wine with a screw cap. Also, long before most Australians drank wine. Then again why get picky when period drama actors have perfect white teeth and flawless complexions.
Balconesfault
@Calouste: They should be upset at their NY brethren who did all they could to defeat Hillary.
Patricia Kayden
@patrick II: The irony is that McCabe provided derogatory info about Secretary Clinton to the NYT in regard to an investigation into the Clinton Foundation according to what I saw on Nichole Wallace’s show.
It’s interesting that Trump has gone after Comey and McCabe, two men who arguably took actions which damaged Secretary Clinton’s chances of winning the election.
Aimai
@piratedan: shouldnt that be “small animal impalement with pins?”
Bobbette
@OzarkHillbilly: @opiejeanne:
aka graupel
Saw this once & it’s freaky. Tiny little round pieces of hail that hit the ground & bounced, then immediately melted on the second landing
Washburn
You may remember that the Clinton campaign was delighted that Trump was the nominee rather than a “serious” candidate.
Also, my conservative estimate is that there were about 50,000 posts here ridiculing the Republican clown show during the primaries