Free Republic

HUNDREDS of alleged mobsters from Italy's most powerful mafia group will face justice in the country's biggest organised crime trial in decades. The Uncle, The Wolf, Fatty, Big Nose and Blondie are among the 355 suspected mobsters and corrupt officials charged following a long inquiry into the influential 'Ndrangheta group. There are so many of the accused mafia members and their accomplices involved in the trial that it took more than three hours to read out their names and the 438 indictments in a recent pre-trial hearing, reported news agency AFP. But like the classic Godfather films, this trial revolves...

A horse carriage driver who worked near the Liberty Bell was charged today with phoning 28 bomb threats against Independence Hall. Michael Mancuso of Philadelphia was charged in federal court with calling the Philadelphia Police Department's 911 emergency line several times a month between Aug. 5 and Wednesday. In virtually every call, authorities said that Mancuso told the 911 operator, "There is a bomb at Independence Hall." In an affidavit, U.S. Park Ranger John W. Hopf said that police had traced the calls to pay phones near the park, including a phone near the corner of Sixth and Chestnut Streets....

ERAU continues celebration of 100 years of flight Staff report Last update: 09 November 2003 DAYTONA BEACH -- "Wings & Waves: Embry-Riddle Celebrates the Centennial of Flight," a free air and sea show, will be repeated today along the shoreline, with a worship service and a Veterans Day ceremony tacked on to the beginning for good measure. The show, presented by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, commemorates the 100th anniversary of flight. Orville Wright made the world's first successful powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine on the beach at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 17, 1903. The 120-foot flight lasted 12...