Intl. Notebook | Dec 31 2013 |
Here is a really nice shot of American actress Marti Stevens we found several years ago inside a copy of the Dutch language Belgian magazine Piccolo. It’s curiously posed—she could be holding anything behind her back from a cream pie to a Glock 17. Hopefully not the latter, though. Stevens was mainly a television actress, appearing on shows such as Mannix, Kojak, Hart to Hart, and many others. But here she embodies New Year’s Eve and the merriment involved. Following her example, we’re also headed out into the fireworks and craziness tonight, and if we return within the next two days, we’ve failed.
Musiquarium | Mar 13 2009 |
Here we have a lovely soundtrack sleeve from the 1971 film Bubù di Montparnasse, which is a drama starring Antonio Falsi as a man who forces his girlfriend Ottavia Piccolo into prostitution. Singer Giorgio Gaber is listed alone on the front cover, but there are actually three vocalists on the vinyl, performing what you might call lounge music, with that special Italian flair. As for the film, Bubù discovers it’s a boo-boo to pimp out his girl. Ché sorpresa! The art here is by Mario de Berardinis.
The Naked City | Dec 16 2008 |
Italian police carried out a large raid today against organized crime figures suspected of having links to gangster Matteo Messina Denaro. Denaro, along with other aspirants, is vying to be the first to rebuild the Sicily-based Cosa Nostra, which collapsed after the 2006 arrest of then-boss Bernardo Provenzano, and the 2007 arrest of heir apparent Salvatore Lo Piccolo.
Altogether, police made around 100 arrests in the Sicilian capitol of Palermo, and on the Italian mainland in the Tuscany region. The operation, nicknamed Perseus after the mythical Greek hero who killed Medusa, was carried out with the backing of helicopters and police dogs, and was the culmination of a nine-month investigation. Those jailed will be charged with variety of offences, including extortion of arms and drug trafficking.
Anti-Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso said at a press conference that, “While the 2006 operation had brought Cosa Nostra to its knees, Perseus prevented it from rearing its head again.” Meanwhile Denaro, who is sometimes described as a playboy and is famous enough to have earned a L’Espresso cover and an infamous Warhol-style tribute from an anonymous Italian graffiti artist, remains at large.