Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Tales of Trauma, Identity, and God: The Memoirs of Mafia Bosses

An Iowa man has been found guilty of rigging the lotto in an effort to pocket A$19 million. The lottery security official was found guilty on Monday in the US of rigging a computerised Hot Lotto game so he could win the jackpot, then trying to get acquaintances to cash the prize Insider Knowledge : Lottery worker and the jackpot

According to reports, police are still investigating the disappearance of cash from luggage on Cathay Pacific airline and are listing it as a theft. Read more at The New York Post.

A purported one million Australians were presumably nervous wrecks on Tuesday in the wake of the Ashley Madison data hack, there was another concentrated cluster of cheaters wringing their hands on the other side of the world.One in five Ottawa residents are allegedly subscribed to the cheating website, according to figures provided by the Toronto-based company, whose slogan is “Life Is Short. Have an Affair” Online cheating site ashley madison hacked
In this spring's issue of the literary quarterly the Sewanee Review, author Fred Chappell mentions an essay that he has "reread almost to the point of memorization." He's referring to a piece by the English author George Orwell (1903-1950) titled "Politics and the English Language." Although I have not read it as frequently as Chappell, since first reading it in 1951 as a Yale Law School student in a writing seminar, I have not found a published work on its subject more intelligent and useful. Orwell filled with intelligence and usefullness

Tales of Trauma, Identity, and God: The Memoirs of Mafia Boss Michele Greco and Leonardo Vitale
 Rossella Merlino (University of Exeter, UK)
In the last decade, the uncovering of a "mafia system of communication" based on written messages (pizzini) and other forms of writing has significantly challenged the long-held view that the Sicilian mafia was a criminal organisation largely based on an oral tradition. In particular, the discovery and emergence of memoirs and letters written by former mafiosi (who held different roles of responsibility within the organisation) raises new questions about the role of writing in the process of disengagement from mafia organisations. This article analyses the memoirs of mafia boss Michele Greco and mafia member Leonardo Vitale to investigate the dynamics at play when dealing with the trauma of leaving Cosa Nostra and the resulting loss of a powerful collective identity.  Tales of Trauma, Identity, and God: The Memoirs of Mafia Bosses

This article questions whether the offence of money laundering is an adequate tool to cope with issues, such as dirty money and illicit financial flows, which are embedded in the current deregulated financial system. In particular, it looks at the European AML lawmaking process and at its implementation at a national level.
Money Laundering: A New Perspective in Assessing the Effectiveness of the AML Regime