Mobster nabbed in massive bust was given big break when facing prison in 2012

One of the dozens of people rounded up today in a mob-related waste carting industry shakedown scheme is a mobster who last year was given a big break as he faced prison for threatening to maim a debtor.

Scott Fappiano, 51, a mob associate who has been linked to both the Gambino and Colombo crime families, allegedly broke his promise to go straight and went right back to his Mafia extortion tactics only days after a federal judge placed him on probation. He will be charged in Manhattan federal court later today for allegedly extorting "protection" payments from a trash hauler, an indictment says.

Gregory P. Mango

Scott Fappiano.

Before he was placed on probation in January 2012, Fappiano apologized to the victim of the earlier loansharking extortion and said he was sorry for his bad decisions.

His contrition and tragic personal saga played a major role in the judge's decision last year to place Fappiano on three years probation, ordering him to pay a $40,000 fine, and hand over $2,000 in forfeiture to the government.

At the time, Brooklyn federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said that Fappiano's previous experience -- as an innocent man wrongly convicted who had endured the horrors of prison -- played a "very significant" role in her decision to not send Fappiano back to prison.

Fappiano was just 23 years old when he was wrongly convicted of raping an NYPD officer’s wife and imprisoned after a trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court back in 1985. He spent two decades behind bars before he was exonerated through DNA evidence that cleared him of the sexual assault.

Last year at his sentencing on the mob loansharking extortion. Fappiano recounted some of the chilling ordeals he underwent during his years in jail.

While serving time in New York's state prison system, his face was crushed with a pipe, his was cut with a razor blade, and he was stabbed in the back with an icepick.

Once Fappiano saw a man burn to death in prison after being doused with gasoline and set afire.

To escape such dangers, Fappiano says he voluntarily spent eight years in solitary confinement.

Since being exonerated six years ago, Fappiano has grappled with problems of substance abuse directly linked to his wrongful conviction, his attorney said last year.

“In the years following his release, Mr. Fappiano struggled with alcohol and drugs in a misguided attempt at self-medicating for the severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress from which he was suffering,” his lawyer, Harlan J. Protass, wrote to the judge last year.

Following a DUI arrest in New Jersey in 2010, Fappiano has tried to confront these substance abuse problems and is wrestling to conquer them, his attorney insisted.

In 2011, the wiseguy checked himself into a long-term residential drug and alcohol treatment facility in Queens and spent six months as an in-patient there.

Since leaving re-hab, Fappiano has started a new regimen -- participating in weekly counseling sessions and attending Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meetings, his attorney said.

But last year federal prosecutors say that since his release from prison six years ago after being cleared of the sexual assault, Fappiano was quick to resume his association with mobsters.

"He schemed with members and associates of the Colombo family to assault the ex-husband of his current wife, to commit a violent armed robbery, and to distribute marijuana," Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Liz Geddes wrote in 2012.

Last year, Fappiano pleaded guilty to participating in the earlier mob loansharking extortion plot after the FBI captured the wiseguy discussing his debt collection methods with the help of a government informant wearing a hidden "wire" tape recorder.

"I want to be diplomatic," Fappiano said about pressuring the debtor to repay a loan.

If "it gets to the point where he may have to get his f--ing leg broken... I’ll make sure I’m in court somewhere or doing a deposition," Fappiano said, according to a transcript filed with court documents.

As he awaited sentencing last year, the feds voiced their skepticism about his vow to keep clean and said they were not convinced that the wiseguy will permanently leave his mob activities and forego a life of crime.

After Fappiano's arrest today - if the new waste hauling shakedown charges leveled against him are to be believed - it would seem to suggest that following his vow last year to go straight he waited only days before breaking his promise and resuming his alleged extortion activities, a mob expert told The Post.

mmaddux@nypost.com

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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums

A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.

While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.

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Wedgie-spree at Florida theater lands prankster in jail

Authorities say that Charles Ross is known to go around Manatee County and create situations in order to harass and annoy people while filming their reaction for You Tube.

Last weekend, Ross, 18, of Bradenton, ended up in jail after police say he went on a wedgie spree at a theater.

Deputies say Ross was at Royal Palm Theater Sunday night with a friend and began grabbing people by their pants and pulling them up hard, causing discomfort.

A victim told deputies that Ross pulled up his pants, wedgie-style, and then asked the victim if he wanted to hit him, all while his friend was filming, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

One victim decided to press charges but others were too embarrassed, deputies said.

The deputy took the camera as evidence and both Ross and his friend were removed from the theater and told they would be arrested if they come back, according to the report.

Ross was booked into the Manatee County Jail on battery charges and was released Monday on a $750 bond.

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Cuban hospital carefully guards Hugo Chavez’s privacy

HAVANA (Reuters) – You would never guess that one of the world’s most famous heads of state, Venezuelan president and self-proclaimed revolutionary Hugo Chavez, is battling cancer at Havana’s Center for Medical-Surgical Research (CIMEQ).

At the weekend there was no visible increase in security at the hospital’s main entrance, where guards in olive green uniforms checked the comings and goings of visitors and waved on dallying reporters.

The sprawling, three story complex that is run by the Cuban Interior Ministry is located in leafy Siboney, one of the country’s most exclusive neighborhoods on the western edge of the Cuban capital, and just minutes from the home of Fidel Castro.

It has been a month since the once feisty and now cancer-stricken Chavez, leader of one of the world’s biggest oil producing nations, was operated on for a fourth time at the hospital. This time around, there have been no glowing reports of recovery.

CIMEQ’s best known patient, Fidel Castro, 86, has been treated there since 2006 when he was operated on for intestinal bleeding, forcing him to cede power to his brother Raul Castro.

Ironically Chavez, who often visited the man he refers to as his mentor during Castro’s ordeal, has now become CIMEQ’s second best known patient. In a dramatic reversal of fate, it is Fidel Castro who has been repeatedly at the 58-year-old Venezuelan president’s bedside, beginning with his first operation in 2011.

Hazy Venezuelan government communiques speak of unexpected bleeding during Chavez’s most recent surgery and a lung infection that has kept the 58-year-old Chavez in a “stable” but “delicate” state since mid-December.

There has not been a word, nor even a tweet from the usually vociferous Chavez. His Twitter account, with almost 4 million followers, went silent after November 1.

Meanwhile, Chavez’s family has been holding vigil in Havana, as other Venezuelan leaders and various Latin American heads of state come and go in a show of support. The presidents of Argentina and Peru visited over the weekend.

What the operation involved, and even the type of cancer attacking Chavez and its exact location, are considered state secrets.

VIP FACILITIES OFF LIMITS

CIMEQ, according to various Cuban doctors and nurses, is the Caribbean island’s finest medical facility, boasting up to date equipment and pharmaceuticals and with the authority to call in the country’s top specialists and support staff from other hospitals, as has been done in Chavez’s case.

“CIMEQ exists in the 21st century and is the equal to some of the best facilities in the world, while the rest of the country’s hospitals remain at 20th century levels,” said one local doctor who requested her name be withheld.

“There are no shortages of supplies and medicines and the food is great,” she added.

The hospital treats mainly interior ministry personnel, their families and area residents free of charge.

In a land where complaints are common, it is hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about the place, except that it is reserved exclusively for the elite.

“Unfortunately, I lost my father to cancer at CIMEQ less than a year ago,” said 47- year-old Agustín Daniel.

“He was treated for years at CIMEQ and the care was exquisite. He died because cancer kills and sometimes there is no solution,” the self-employed interior decorator said.

CIMEQ also boasts a wing for foreigners willing to pay for their care, as well as special VIP facilities for Cuba’s top leaders and important figures from other lands.

“Distinguished personalities from the arts, sciences and politics from all over the world have received attention in its modern and efficient installations,” the hospital‘s Web Page (www.cimeq.org)states.

Little is known about the hospital’s VIP accommodations, where Chavez is being treated, except that they are equipped with the latest technology and that those who work there are often sequestered for periods of time. Like all CIMEQ staff, they are sworn to secrecy at the risk of losing their licenses and criminal prosecution.

“The VIPs are treated on the third floor which is off limits to most staff even if they work for the Interior Ministry and wear uniforms under their white coats,” a doctor who has worked at CIMEQ said.

“The elevators to the third floor have guards and if the patient goes outside part of the grounds are closed off,” he said, adding, “no one knows what goes on up there.”

(Editing by David Adams and Andrew Hay)

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Megan Fox Esquire

Still Foxy

She had a baby in September?! After giving birth less than four months ago, Megan Fox is already landing sexy covers, including her latest lingerie-clad photo shoot with Esquire magazine. In a cover story titled "Megan Fox Saves Herself," the This Is 40 star
offers comparisons between Lindsay Lohan and Marilyn Monroe, as well as
reveals her new favorite, yet possibly fictional, celebrities. Click the pics for a series of sexy shots and bizarre quotes, courtesy of Mrs. Brian Austin Green.

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Newtown shooting survivors record song for charity

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Ingrid Michaelson accompanied by children from Newtown, Conn. and Sandy Hook Elementary school perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on ABC's "Good Morning America" today.

Children who survived last month's shooting rampage at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School have recorded a version of "Over the Rainbow" to raise money for charity.

Twenty-one children from Newtown, Conn., performed the song Tuesday with singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson on ABC's "Good Morning America." Most of them are current and former students of the school, where 20 first-graders and six staff members were killed.

David McGlynn

Musician Ingrid Michaelson talking to children from Sandy Hook Elementary today.

They recorded "Over the Rainbow" on Monday at the Fairfield, Conn., home of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, two former members of the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club rock bands. Copies went on sale Tuesday on Amazon and iTunes, with proceeds benefiting the United Way of Western Connecticut and the Newtown Youth Academy.

Kayla Verga, 10, said she was singing for a friend, 6-year-old Jessica Rekos, who was killed in the massacre.

"Singing the song makes me feel like she's with me and she's beside me, singing along with me," Kayla told "GMA."

Another girl, 10-year-old Sandy Hook student Jane Shearin, added, "I really want to be kind to the people who have lost their loved ones and help them to recover from their sorrow."

Gunman Adam Lanza went on a shooting spree with a semiautomatic rifle in the school on Dec. 14 after having killed his mother at their home in Newtown. He fatally shot himself as police arrived at the school. It's still unclear what motivated the attack.

The Sandy Hook children have returned to classes in a neighboring town at a building renamed for their old school. Newtown officials and residents have begun discussing what to do with the school where the shootings occurred.

Some parents of children killed in the massacre spoke out on Monday, calling for a national dialogue to help prevent similar tragedies.

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Global entrepreneurship nonprofit Endeavor coming to Miami

Flawless execution helped propel Argentine Marcos Galperin’s e-auction site, Mercado Libre, above the competition to become a $3.8 billion company. Some 50,000 small businesses now use it to market their wares.

Leila Velez and Heloísa Helena Assis, cousins who grew up in the slums of Rio, started with one product and one salon. Today their company, Beleza Natural, operates 24 salons that bring in $75 million in revenues, employs 1,500 people and has an eye on U.S expansion.

Both were powered, in part, by Endeavor, a global nonprofit that selects, mentors, supports and accelerates high-impact entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas of 16 countries — and, soon, in Miami.

Endeavor and its local supporter, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced Tuesday that Knight is providing Endeavor with $2 million in grant funding over five years for Endeavor’s first U.S. expansion. Endeavor’s Miami office could ultimately service dozens of local entrepreneurs, but first a local board needs to be assembled, a managing director hired and offices set up.

Beginning late this year, South Florida’s innovators will be able to apply to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, connecting them to a global network of mentors and advisors who can help grow their ventures. “We think this is a cornerstone of making Miami more of a place where ideas are built,” said Matt Haggman, Miami program director for the Knight Foundation, which has made entrepreneurship a key focus of its Miami program.

The announcement is an important milestone in Miami’s efforts to accelerate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has been gaining momentum, said Haggman, who led the effort for Knight, its largest investment in entrepreneurship to date. Accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces have been opening up, including Launch Pad Tech, which is receiving $1.5 million in public funding and opens for its first class next week. Last month, the first ever Innovate MIA week attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors and other supporters to a packed schedule of daily events, which included the Americas Venture Capital Conference and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

“Miami is almost the perfect seeding ground for Endeavor,” said Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor and now an Endeavor board member, an investor and South Florida resident who began discussing the project with Haggman in the spring. “There are commitments from large institutions like Knight, FIU, UM, there is capital, there are people that are interested in making things happen, there are already clusters of activity like accelerators and incubators. That’s where Endeavor thrives.”

Endeavor selects and works primarily with companies from a wide range of industries that are already earning $500,000 to $15 million in annual revenue and ready for the next stage: explosive growth.

“While the vast majority of small businesses employ two or three people, Endeavor businesses employ an average of 237,” said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg.

Launched in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, Endeavor now operates throughout Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia and supports more than 750 entrepreneurs who are chosen in a rigorous selection process.

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Crime Watch: Now is a good time to protect your credit cards

Well, the holidays are over, we have over-eaten and shopped until we dropped. With that said, let’s turn to a subject that we need to be very careful about: credit cards.

With all the shopping we did during the holidays, we need to make sure that our cards were not compromised. So when the bills start coming in, pay close attention to the charges, and I hope you kept all the receipts so you can match those charges!

Once again, I want to provide you with information in case you feel that you have become a victim of identity theft, so here is what you need to do immediately:

• Immediately close accounts you know or believe have been tampered with.

• File a police report and submit it to your creditors and others who may require proof of the crime.

• Contact the fraud department of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file.

• File your complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. You can also call the FTC hotline: 877-IDTHEFT.

• Order your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to get one free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year. You can get their names at www.annualcreditreport.com/ or by calling 877-322-8228.

• Correct all mistakes on your credit report in writing. Send a letter to the credit reporting agency identifying the problems item by item. Include a copy of the credit report and send the letter with a return receipt requested.

• Make a copy of all your credit card account numbers and bank account numbers and keep it in a safe place.

This past year was truly challenging for many of us, but by working together, staying informed and being involved we can continue to meet the challenges before us in 2013. Foreclosed and abandoned houses continue to be one of the biggest problems in our neighborhoods. All you have to do is ask any police officer that works those areas or the crime watch groups that have dozens of foreclosures in their community. Therefore, I hope to continue providing you with the necessary information to help resolve those issues.

To those that have chosen to implement Neighborhood Watch, I congratulate you, because you are making a difference working together with your police officers. Little by little, a block at a time, you are helping to keep crime in check in your area.

In closing I want to say “thank you” to all the readers who have helped in making this column so popular. It is hard to believe that next month I will be starting my eighth year writing this column. You the readers have contributed so much with your suggestions, your personal incidents and emails. Many of you have stated in more than one occasion this column has helped you not become a victim.

We may not always agree on some issues, but I try very hard to give you the tools necessary so you may get involved in strengthening our community. Once again, thank you for your support. Have a safe week!

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Come for a Tour of China’s Unlicensed ‘World of Warcraft’ Theme Park

World of Warcraft Theme Park

Image credit Francesca Timbers

Click here to view this gallery.

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Changzhou, China is home to a bizzarre world of rides, food and fun: A World of Warcraft-style theme park that’s completely unlicensed by Blizzard, maker of the Warcraft series.

The park opened in the summer of last year. It reportedly cost $ 48 million to build and is “pretty huge,” according to Reddit user Francesca Timbers who originally posted these pictures republished here with permission.

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“I thought it was great,” posted Timbers. “A lot of the rides used 4-D and special effects, which I hand’t experienced much of before. There was a good roller coaster with loops, where you are lying horizontally, face forward, like you are flying. That was my favourite ride. The water log ride (‘splash of monster blood’) was pretty good too.”

Another weird tidbit: Some rides have a “happiness index,” showing, we believe, the intensity of the ride.

While most of the park is Warcraft-flavored, one section is dedicated to another Blizzard favorite: Starcraft.

For the rest of Timbers’ pictures and more details about her trip to the utterly weird theme park, visit her Reddit thread. Would you book a trip to China to get out to this theme park?

Images courtesy Francesca Timbers

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Katniss Mothers Name Paula Malcomson Interview Catching Fire

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding The Hunger Games franchise has nothing to do Katniss' sponsors, Peeta's brainwashing or Mockingjay's inexplicably short ending. From day one, fans have wondered why author Suzanne Collins never chose to give Mama Everdeen a first name.

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Well, following the Ray Donovan presentation at Showtime's Television Critics Association Tour day, I caught up with Paula Malcomson, who plays Abby Donovan in the thrilling new drama in addition to starring as Katniss' mother in The Hunger Games films, to see if she had any insider information on the subject.

"There's not a lot on the page," Malcomson told me about the role, but adds, "When I read those books, I was excited about the possibilities and felt like this could be a really fun role." Although Malcomson quickly realized she had become a little too invested in creating weight to her performance.

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"In the first movie, I was doing it for real. I didn't want to show up and be all pretty. I wanted to go in there and be hungry, be oppressed. I quickly realized I was acting like I was in a different film from the rest of the cast [laughs]. I just think there's a heaviness that I was bringing that I don't know if it was the story they were trying to tell in this. But there's such a great character progression with her. She has this rebirth throughout the series, so I play it out in my head a lot."

In creating an elaborate backstory for her character, Malcomson also created a first name for her character. "I named her Clara," she tells ETonline. "I don't know why, but that just came to me."

The actress recently wrapped filming on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. An experience she says was better than the first. "I was so excited about working with [new director] Francis Lawrence," she said. "It was also nice to go back now that we all know each other. It's like a beautiful reunion this summer and had a great time."

Ray Donovan premieres June 30 on Showtime, while The Hunger Games: Catching Fire hits theaters on November 22, 2013.

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