The 7-10 Split: The Growing Rebellion in Saudi Arabia

Saudis like people all over the world are protesting. They’ve been protesting for over a year. Their numbers are growing. And there’s no sign of them stopping. In this report we offer this post and video.

The 7-10 Split: The Growing Rebellion in Saudi Arabia.

Chicago Crime Now & Then Presents A Couple of 1980′s Mob Hits

This morning we present a pair of clips from our series “Chicago Crime Now & Then” that can be found on ChiTownView / YouTube.

Charles Carmen Inglesia or as he was more commonly known as Chuckie English was at one time a high ranking mobster and close personal friend of one time outfit boss Sam Giancana. They grew up as neighbors as kids and rose through the ranks of the Chicago underworld. He was at the height of his power in the 1960′s and early 70′s. His record distributing company Lormar controlled what records were put in jukeboxes in the Chicago area and beyond. He also made high interest juice loans and woe came upon those that did not pay up.

After Giancana was whacked in his home, right before he was slated to testify before Congress about the Kennedy assassination, Chuckie saw his career go into decline and it was suggested he leave town. He did for a few years but in the early 80′s he was allowed to return and run some low level action. This seems to have been a mistake.

On Valentines eve February 13, 1983 Chuck went up to Horwaths with an old friend and dined on roast pig. After they finished they went into the parking lot and as Chuckie reached his car two men in ski masks walked up and opened fire killing him. Following that they run off into the alley behind the restaurant and were never caught.

Horwaths was a favorite meeting spot for leaders of the Chicago mob as it was in the neighborhood where most of them lived. English, Giancan, Tony Accardo and Paul Ricca all lived within a mile. It began as a roadhouse / speakeasy in the 1930′s and was known as a place where good friends come to meet. Horwath’s also made an appearence in a 2003 episode of West Wing. Although it was a stand in for a Dayton Ohio eatery.

Horwaths is gone now replaced by another box store so another little slice of history, and a pretty cool neon sign, are gone. When Horwaths was there the position of the sign, parking lot and sign are reversed from the layout of Staples today.

The Chicago mafia unlike their counterparts in NY was open to non Italians who showed the right stuff. Ken Eto like his father before was a gambling racketeer for the mob. His specialty was operating a Latin version of the numbers game called the Bolita. Even though the state of IL. had introduced the lottery during the 70′s there were still enough players loyal to Eto’s racket that he was still employing nearly a hundred workers to operate it in the early 80′s. Then he got indited by the Feds for felony gambling and for the first time in his life was looking at serious jail time. Not a good thing.

On the evening of February 10, 1983 Ken received an early Valentine gift from some old friends. He was sitting in his car in the parking lot of the Mont Clare theater meeting with a couple of associates when they pulled out guns and pumped hot lead into him. They quickly exited the car and headed towards a waiting car.

A little too quickly though because they didn’t finish the job because despite having a bullet in his head he was able to get out of the car and stagger into a nearby drug store. He lived and ended up turning on the mob and “singing” for the government. In fact this hit along with the botched coverup of the Spilotro hits proved to be the undoing of the Chicago mob in the final years of the 20th century. For while the Chicago outfit is still around they are not the force they were.

The Montclare and the drug store are both gone now as this quite little stretch of Grand Ave. gets redeveloped. It is in an area of the “Mafia riviera” of near western suburbs where the Italian gangsters relocated as they became wealthy. They settled in towns like Oak Park, River Forest and Elmwood Park.

Death Corner In Chicago’s North Side Early 20th Century “Little Hell”

A new video uploaded by ChiTownView on Feb 18, 2012

Less than a mile from Chicago’s famed gold coast is one of the city’s more infamous areas. In an area roughly between La Salle & the river and Division & Chicago was the home of the notorious Cabrini Green housing project and before that it was an slum known as “little hell” populated by Italian & Irish immigrants. In the early part of the 20th century the area was so crime ridden the police didn’t even spend much time there.

It was an area firmly in control of the “black hand” a precursor to the Mafia. They were an organization that offered to provide protection to the immigrants from themselves basically. How it worked was you revived a warning note from them and if you didn’t pay well then bad things happened. And at the corner of Oak and what is now known as Cleveland was the favorite dumping ground for the bodies of victims that didn’t heed the warning. A 1931 report says as many as fifty bodies turned up at this corner.

There were a number of assassins that dumped there bodies there the most famous of them was known as the “shotgun man”. He is alleged to have killed 15 including four within a three day period.

To see the video click below

The 7-10 Split: Death Corner In Chicago’s North Side Early 20th Century “Little Hell”.

The 7-10 Split: Guatemalan leader Otto Pérez Molina: the only way to beat gangs is to legalise drugs

This report comes from one of the frontlines in the war on drugs. Guatemalan president Molina unveiled his proposal during meetings with president of El Salvador. Check this report that includes a video from Democracy Now giving us some further background on Otto Pérez Molina and his history as a human rights abuser.

 

The 7-10 Split: Guatemalan leader Otto Pérez Molina: the only way to beat gangs is to legalise drugs.

The 7-10 Split: US Transportation Secretaries Son 42 Others Face Prison In Egypt!

A couple of reports from the ongoing story of what is happening in Egypt. Since last years Arab Spring protests the country is undergoing it’s first political transformation in forty years.A power struggle is taking place between the military rulers who now are “guiding the country towards democracy”, the Islamists who make up the Muslim Brotherhood and the great mass of Egyptian society who just want to have more control over their lives.

A large group of foreign non-govermental organizations have become pawns in this power struggle. Over forty members have have charged with violating Egyptian laws and face serious jail time. Among those arrested is the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. For more we offer this post which includes a couple of videos.

 

The 7-10 Split: US Transportation Secretaries Son 42 Others Face Prison In Egypt!.

Exotica Dancer Kalantan “Exotic Buddah Dance” – YouTube

Uploaded by SilkSpot on Jan 28, 2012

The exotic dancer “Kalantan” (i.e., Mary Ellen Tillotson) introduces her number as “This is my interpretation of the Exotic Buddah Dance,” & to a jungle beat performs quite well.
To read more follow this link.
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-burlesque4.html

 

Exotica Dancer Kalantan “Exotic Buddah Dance” – YouTube.

“Bathhouse” John Coughlin; Chicago Alderman / Poet / Barkeep

Uploaded by ChiTownView on Jan 26, 2012

Chicago’s 1st ward encompasses the wealth of downtown and the large population of transients that used to populate the near south side. A combination that made it a powerfull aldermanic post. John “Bathouse” Coughlin was a flamboyant character who was alderman for more than forty years. For a good portion of those decades he along with his partner Mike “Hinky Dink” Kenna were the center of power in Chicago. Mike McDonald may have been the first vice baron in Chicago but The Bath and The Hink were the first to really organize vice and gambling and turn it into political power in the Windy City. Big Jim Colissimo was a bagman for them before inheriting their vice racket.

In this clip we see a pair of establishments The Bath operated on Madison st. In downtown Chicago. Where St. Peters church now stands used to be the spot where the Brevoort Hotek once stood, In the basement of this luxury hotel (the first in Chicago with an elevator) was John’s bathhouse. Just a few doors west is where he operated the Silver Dollar Saloon.
And if three careers were not enough Mr. Coughlin was also a poet and a bon vivant who wanted to lead a revolution in man’s dress.

So out hats off to you Bathhouse John you might have been a corrupt grafter but you were an honest one. If you’d like to read more about John and his partner try and track down a copy of “Lords of the Levee” by Wendt & Kogan at your library.

This clip is part of a series produced by MindsiMedia and presented on ChiTownView ‘s YouTube station. We are getting some Chicago crime history in HBO’s series “Boardwalk Empire” and more will be on display when the film version of Eric Larsen’s “Devil In The White City”. Our series shows some of the famous places in Chicago crime history as they exist today. While telling some of that history with each clip.

Antonio Lombardo Unione Siciliana President Gunned Down In Chicago’s Loop 1928

Uploaded by ChiTownView on Jan 25, 2012

Unione Siciliana, a community and political organization of native Sicilians was a powerful notional social and political organization. It was not a part of the Mafia but a powerful organization that the mob was beholden to in many ways. In Chicago the president of this organization had control over the immigrant cookers that made the alcohol base that bootleg gin was made of. It was a profitable, powerful but very dangerous position. During the roaring 20′s a half dozen Union president were killed as the north and south side mobs fought over control of this strategic position.

Antonio Lombardo was a Capone / Torrio ally who had managed to hold his position for almost three years. Before being gunned down in the heart of the Loop at 4 in the afternoon in front of hundreds of witnesses. This short clip traces his last steps. We see him exit his offices in the, long gone, Hartford building at 8 S. Dearborn and head north towards Madison. A plane is being hoisted up the side of the Boston building and the street is filled with people.

Lombardo his partner Joe Ferrara and bodyguard Joe Lolardo turned on Madison and started walking west. They got about fifty feet before they turned to look at the plane once again. Two men came out of a restaurant doorway snuck up and emptied their revolvers into the three men. Lombardo and Ferrara were killed and bodyguard Lolardo miraculously survives.

But it’s a Chicago miracle as nobody gets convicted and the next president turns out to be Joe Lolardo’s brother. Fancy that?

Adbusters Issues New Call to Action: Occupy Chicago for G8/NATO Summit

The Occupy Wall Street movement traces its origin to a call to action in the Vancouver-based magazine Adbusters.
Now, Adbusters has issued a Call to Action to Occupy Chicago for the G8/NATO summit this coming May:

Hey you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there,

Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there.

And so will we.

On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen.

To read more and see Thom Hartman’s report click here. The 7-10 Split: Adbusters Issues New Call to Action: Occupy Chicago for G8/NATO Summit.

The 7-10 Split: Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States, Past, Present & Future(?)

Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States, Past, Present & Future(?)

 

It’s Sunday the 45th anniversary of the great Chicago snow ‘of 67 ans as I sit here in the western suburbs it’s snowing. Anyhow to day we take a look a corporations. First we visit ReclaimDemocracy and get a quick sketch on the history of corporations in the US. Then we check in with Thom Hartman, Move To Amend’s David Cobb and  Bernie Sanders, America’s Senator. They brief us on where we stand today and what thay are doing and what WE can do to stand up for our rights and change the current trend.

 

The 7-10 Split: Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States, Past, Present & Future(?).