Free Republic

A celebrity chef who once ruled the peaks of New York City's restaurant scene has admitted to being an active member of the Gambino crime family and committing shocking crimes at the height of his powers in the 1980s and 90s. David Ruggerio, 59, who once ran the kitchens of top Manhattan restaurants La Caravelle, Maxim's and Le Chantilly, came clean with the shocking admission in an interview with Vanity Fair published on Thursday. Ruggerio -- a former Food Network star who largely dropped out of sight after a 1998 arrest on credit card fraud charges -- admitted in the...

Pope Francis’s characteristic tactic of running out the clock with his silence and evasion of critical issues of importance such as the Dubia have seemed to serve him well up to this point in his papacy. With support among the clergy increasing daily for the Vigano testimony and the latest news regarding legal investigations and the withholding of financial support for the Church, this strategy of evasion and silence will be more difficult to maintain and most likely start to crack in the days ahead. The Associated Press reported Thursday, “New York and New Jersey launched new investigations into the...

New Jersey's wealthiest man may be making a common Northeast move: a relocation to the tax-friendly state of Florida, a report says. According to Bloomberg, David Tepper has shifted the base of his Appaloosa Management to the Sunshine State as of Jan. 1 after registering to vote and declaring citizenship in Miami at the end of 2015. Taxes were reportedly an important part of the 58-year-old's decision, but also, quality-of-life played big part in his choice to move, according to the article. Tepper has been a resident of the Garden State for more than two decades and has continually appeared...

It is a sad sight to watch a man grapple with a world that fails to meet his expectations. Unless that man is Eric Holder. Then it is simply infuriating. The attorney general, warped by his own prejudice, is confused because his fellow citizens are better people than he imagines. Holder sees white bigots around every corner, and can’t handle the truth that very few Americans actually hate Muslims. So, like Elmer Fudd hunting “wascally wabbits,” Holder’s shots usually backfire. His Monday speech to the Anti-Defamation League was a classic case of twisted thinking. With his FBI fumbling a chance...

Michael Vick, victim. That's how Selena Roberts' article in today's New York Times largely portrays the NFL QB accused of involvement with dogfighting. The article's headline sets the tone: Vick Is Trapped in His Circle of Friends. Excerpts: The crooked circle Michael Vick drew around himself has tripped and squeezed him. The first to fail Vick was Davon Boddie, a cousin and personal chef. His marijuana possession charge in April led police to a white house with black buildings behind it on Moonlight Road in Surry County, Va. [Darn that Davon. If only he hadn't been busted on the pot...

Italian investigators say it's not clear who might emerge as the Sicilian Mafia's new top boss, but they will be closing watching aides to the just captured Bernardo "The Tractor" Provenzano. Among them: _ Matteo Messina Denaro . . . _ Salvatore Lo Piccolo . . .

NEW YORK (AP) - Jailed Mafia boss Joseph Massino secretly recorded his successor plotting the assassination of a federal prosecutor, becoming the first head of a New York Mafia family known to have turned government informant, sources familiar with the case said Thursday. A federal indictment unsealed Thursday alleges that acting Bonanno family head Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano planned the killing of a top mob prosecutor in meetings with someone described as a "high-ranking member" of his crime family. The FBI recorded the conversations with the help of the high-ranking member, the indictment says. Several sources familiar with the investigation...

The King County Elections staff are starting to break "omerta" and talk about some of the monkey business that's going on in their deparment. In the extended entry is an anonymous e-mail from someone claiming to be a King County elections worker that was sent to the Rossi campaign on the morning of Nov. 17 [it was later that day when the first count was completed]. Some of the hints in here have been confirmed by later events. Notice in particular the questions about the sending of military ballots and the tie-in to today's Seattle Times article and the mysterious...