[yydertt]

By the time Spanish detectives began to follow his movements in 2007, Reznik had bought Petrov’s first Mallorca home and set it up as a regular getaway, stocking it with fine wines and expensive art. Reznik and Petrov socialized together, did business together, and once entertained another visiting Russian politician on the gangster’s yacht, documents show. In Spain, Petrov, and Reznik used the same secretary, the same lawyer and the same financial adviser, documents say. They shared a private jet, leased by one of Petrov’s companies, to shuttle back and forth to Moscow in style. Court documents show Reznik as the most frequent flyer on the plane, which also stopped in Kiev, Frankfurt, Geneva, Zurich, Verona, and Naples. [links]

[AgentME]

Petrov’s faction of the gang also clashed with Kumarin around that time, but did not prevail. Petrov escaped with his wife and children to the safety of Marbella, using fraudulent Greek passports to gain European residency, court documents show. In 1998, Petrov moved with his family to the Mallorcan town of Calvià, and a handful of his Russian associates followed. here

[agp]

The story of the Russian mob in Spain—and the detectives who spent years trying to bring them down.

[joshuaissac]

Petrov’s highly placed friends did not come cheaply, documents from the Spanish investigation show. In return for services such as providing confidential law-enforcement information or relaying messages to the country’s special prosecutor, for example, documents show that he paid for a senior prosecution official’s home, car, office computers and even his dental bills. [links]

[marcelus23]

After nearly a decade of preparation, Spanish prosecutors are gearing up for a trial in the Petrov case next February. But the moment may be anticlimactic. Petrov, who is said to be ill, cannot be tried in absentia under Spanish law. The most prominent defendant might therefore be his friend Reznik, the legislator, who has said he will come to Madrid to clear his name. The other defendants will be mostly accused Spanish accomplices. Still, the investigators said they are gratified to have disrupted the mafias, even if the bosses remain beyond reach.

[chadwick7cohen]

In order to further strengthen themselves, Sicilian clans began conducting initiation ceremonies in which new members pledged secret oaths of loyalty. Of chief importance to the clans was omerta, an all-important code of conduct reflecting the ancient Sicilian belief that a person should never go to government authorities to seek justice for a crime and never cooperate with authorities investigating any wrongdoing. here

[The_Infinite]

In 1861, Sicily became a province of recently unified Italy. However, chaos and crime reigned across the island as the fledgling Italian government tried to establish itself. In the 1870s, Roman officials even asked Sicilian Mafia clans to help them by going after dangerous, independent criminal bands; in exchange, officials would look the other way as the Mafia continued its protection shakedowns of landowners. The government believed this arrangement would be temporary, lasting just long enough for Rome to gain control; instead, the Mafia clans expanded their criminal activities and further entrenched themselves in Sicilian politics and the economy. The Mafia became adept at political corruption and intimidated people to vote for certain candidates, who were in turn beholden to the Mafia. Even the Catholic Church was involved with Mafia clans during this period, according to Raab, who notes that the church relied on Mafiosi to monitor its massive property holdings in Sicily and keep tenant farmers in line.

[Tritonio]

The Mafia, a network of organized-crime groups based in Italy and America, evolved over centuries in Sicily, an island ruled until the mid-19th century by a long line of foreign invaders. Sicilians banded together in groups to protect themselves and carry out their own justice. In Sicily, the term “mafioso,” or Mafia member, initially had no criminal connotations and was used to refer to a person who was suspicious of central authority. By the 19th century, some of these groups emerged as private armies, or “mafie,” who extorted protection money from landowners and eventually became the violent criminal organization known today as the Sicilian Mafia. The American Mafia, which rose to power in the 1920s, is a separate entity from the Mafia in Italy, although they share such traditions as omerta, a code of conduct and loyalty. more

[EddBin]

The American Mafia, a separate entity from the Mafia in Sicily, came to power in the 1920s Prohibition era after the success of Italian-American neighborhood gangs in the booming bootleg liquor business. By the 1950s, the Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra, Italian for “Our Thing”) had become the preeminent organized-crime network in the United States and was involved in a range of underworld activities, from loan-sharking to prostitution, while also infiltrating labor unions and legitimate industries such as construction and New York’s garment industry. Like the Sicilian Mafia, American Mafia families were able to maintain their secrecy and success because of their code of omerta, as well as their ability to bribe and intimidate public officials, business leaders, witnesses and juries.

[andrew]

The Mafia’s influence in Sicily grew until the 1920s, when Prime Minister Benito Mussolini came to power and launched a brutal crackdown on mobsters, who he viewed as a threat to his Fascist regime. However, in the 1950s, the Mafia rose again when mob-backed construction companies dominated the post-World War II building boom in Sicily. Over the next few decades, the Sicilian Mafia flourished, expanding its criminal empire and becoming, by the 1970s, a major player in international narcotics trafficking. [links]

[jwalck]

Rhode Island is an old, historical city and any building that you walk into could have been the location of a heinous crime. In the case of this restaurant in Providence, that is certainly the case, but you would never know by looking at it now. Read more below to find out why you should visit this authentic Mediterranean restaurant when you visit Providence some time soon. here

[Goldstein]

How shocking! Would you ever have suspected such a thing? Continue reading to find out seven other things like about Rhode Island this that you won’t read in history books.

[L29Ah]

more

[matamotok]

[jiffy]

[links]

[endian]

The hollow concrete bones of what were supposed to become luxurious villas in the Greek islands stand on the coast looking like modern versions of the nation’s celebrated ancient ruins. These homes are just a handful among many that were planned before the economic meltdown and left unfinished when the money ran out. Some of the developers reportedly still plan to pick them back up when conditions are better. Says photographer Patrick Van Dam, “The architectural lines combined with the ash-grey concrete structures are an attractive contrast against the rough, red-coloured rocks, the warm yellow high grass and the olive green bushes and trees. This almost abstract scenery shows a unique synergy between architecture and nature. It creates a new and intriguing landscape in which failure, poverty and hopelessness are easily forgotten.”

[claw]

Stone ruins of a once-vibrant town bake in the sun at the base of the Taurus Mountains near Olu Deniz, Turkey. The haunting remains of Kayakoy stand as yet another symbol of the Greco-Turkish War. Established in the 1700s, Kayakoy was built on the site of the ancient city of Karmylassos and was home to Anatolian-speaking Greek residents. Nearly all of them fled during the official population exchange in 1923. About 300,000 Turks were forced out of Greece and into Turkey, and 200,000 Greeks sent back to their homeland. Kayakoy was heavily damaged by a 1957 earthquake and is now a preserved ghost town, run as a museum village and historical monument. [links]

[leonas7n3417]

Remains of everything from an island prison that once held mafia bosses to the shells of modern Greek villas that fell victim to economic strife bake under the hot sun in the nations situated around and within the Mediterranean Sea. Some of these modern additions to all of the ancient ruins, like the resort town of Varosha or the medieval village of Anavatos, fell victim to bloody wars, while others continue the same old sad storyline heard around the world of riches gained and lost. [links]

[i5Steve]

Once a playground for the rich and famous, where stars like Elizabeth Taylor lounged on hotel balconies overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, Varosha now stands silent and empty, its windows smashed, its beach chairs rusting. Unlike other resort towns around the world that have found themselves on the decline due to changing tourism patterns and the economy, Varosha didn’t fall slowly. Rather, everything ground to a sudden halt in the summer of 1974, when the ongoing war between the Greeks and the Turks entered within the city limits. Smack dab in the middle of high season when it was packed with visitors,Turkish forces stormed the city with air strikes and ground forces. Everyone fled, tourists and residents alike, and the town that was once home to 39,000 was totally empty. The Turkish army fenced it off and forbade entry, and it has remained that way to this day. more

[spafon]

It may now be a tranquil marine protected area where rare species like the muflone sheep can thrive, but the island of Asinara, Sardinia was once used for less peaceful purposes. The island is dotted with ancient Roman and Greek ruins and was home to pastoralists and fishermen in the 1800s, but it became a quarantine for people with diseases like smallpox at the turn of the 20th century and by World War I, it was used as a military concentration camp. In the 1970s, officials took advantage of its isolation to house terrorists, and later built a maximum security prison that’s got to have some of the best views in the world. The prison held mafia members like Totó Riina until it was closed in 1997, at which point the island became a national park. In addition to the remains of the abandoned prison, visitors can explore small cities built for and by the inhabitants of the quarantine camp. The prison can be seen in the video above at the 2:47 mark.