Free Republic

The brute who beat a Manhattan pizzeria manager unconscious in a senseless attack nearly derailed his own plea deal Thursday — when he brazenly started blaming the victim, infuriating the judge. Tyshaun Watson, who had pleaded guilty in exchange for a promised 17-year prison sentence, launched into a wild rant during the Manhattan Supreme Court hearing, claiming he’d been “provoked” before he pummeled pizza-maker Zakaira El Sherief. “I was being provoked… if you watch the video,” he railed — until Judge Laura Ward interrupted and shot back at him that “Maybe we should go to trial on this and let...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Iraqi Kurdish imam and a Bangladeshi-American pizzeria owner on Wednesday lost an appeal of their convictions for plotting to kill a Pakistani diplomat in what turned out to be an FBI sting operation. The U.S Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of Yassin Aref, 37, and Mohammed Hossain, 53, who were sentenced last year to 15 years each in prison for their roles in a fake plot to attack the Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations in New York with a missile. Both appealed their convictions of money-laundering and conspiring to provide material...

[mugshot] Palermo, 3 April (AKI) - The deportation of former Mafia boss Rosario Gambino from the United States to Italy has been delayed, sources told Adnkronos. The 65-year-old Gambino,(photo) cousin of Carlo Gambino, boss of the Gambino crime family, has been sought by Italian authorities since 2001, when a request for extradition was originally denied by US judges. Eleven attempts for his extradition were rejected by US authorities on the grounds that a law known as '41-bis' could be result in Gambino being tortured in Italy. The '41-bis' article of the Italian penitentiary act gives power to the minister...

Imagine that, another phony hate crime. A Utah man who alleged assailants carved homophobic slurs into his arms, robbed his pizza restaurant and firebombed his house has admitted faking the attacks, authorities said. Now the question is whether Rick Jones, 22, of Delta will be prosecuted for reporting false crimes, Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker told CNN affiliate KSL. “The investigation has come to an end today with the admission of Richard (Rick) L. Jones Jr. to having staged all of the incidents,” the Sheriff’s Office and County Attorney’s office said in a Tuesday statement. Dekker said he didn’t know...

The government never accused Muslim Tatar, a 55-year-old pizza shop owner, of doing anything illegal. But Tatar says his life fell apart after his son was among six men charged last May in connection with a plot to attack Fort Dix. He sees his son, who he says is innocent, only through the glass wall at a federal detention center. He has been called a terrorist - and worse. He has health problems. He lost his pizza shop and struggled to find another job as a part-time cook. "My mortgage is behind," he said. "Everything's a big problem. My family...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2007 – A U.S. veteran who lost both legs in 2004 when a roadside bomb exploded in Iraq will begin a new career because his indomitable spirit moved a total stranger to give back to those who have served their country. Army Staff Sgt. Robbie Doughty and Michael Ilitch, the founder of Little Caesars Pizza, one of nation’s largest pizza chains, proudly stood side by side for the grand opening of the veteran’s new pizza store in Paducah, Ky., yesterday. Doughty, 31, was honorably discharged from the Army in July 2004 and began a long road...

A Danish pizzeria owner has gone to jail for refusing to pay a fine imposed after he barred German and French customers from his restaurant. Aage Bjerre acted in protest against the French and German governments' opposition to the US-led war in Iraq. He will now serve an eight-day sentence at a minimum security prison, the Associated Press reports. "I'm doing it to show my sympathy with the United States," he said. He refused to pay a 5,000-kroner (£461;$800) fine. In June 2003 a Danish court convicted of him of racial discrimination. The 46-year-old was forced to sell his pizzeria...