Free Republic

Jack Ruby made comments on the morning of President John F Kennedy's assassination to an FBI informant that suggested he knew what was about to take place, according to new records released Friday. Ruby, who was eventually charged with killing Lee Harvey Oswald, asked an FBI informant if he would like to 'watch the fireworks' with him as Kennedy's motorcade drove through downtown Dallas just hours before the assassination took place.

In his Republic, Cicero produced one of history's staunchest defenses for a career in politics. Composed in the late 50s B.C. while the Roman republic enjoyed a period of precarious stability under the triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, and styled after the famous work of Plato, the Republic first addressed the claims of those who want nothing to do with governing the state, and would prefer a quiet life unsullied by politics. Politicians, after all, tend to be "worthless," according to these critics. Moreover, who would want to try to rule a capricious citizenry, or subject themselves to "foul...

Obama will speak shortly at GM in Detroit about labor. Jimmy Hoffa Jr. in his introductions said about Republicans and/Tea Party; Let's take those sons-a-bitches out" That's all for now......

The FBI obtained evidence against the teen prostitution ring allegedly operated by the Gambino crime family through a snitch who had developed a conscience as reported by Alison Gendar for the Daily News: The informant made more than 40 recordings, capturing up to 200 hours of conversations - some of the ammo behind this week's indictment of 14 wiseguys. He went to the feds and betrayed his associates because he didn't want to get in any deeper with trafficking underage girls through craigslist, a source said. The tapes include one of the Gambino crew members telling a 15-year-old prostitute how...

The wisecracks are as ingrained in New Jersey lore as Bruce Springsteen's songs about fast cars. Former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa has attended every event at Giants Stadium since 1976, the story goes, buried in a final resting place somewhere under the west end zone. As former New York Giants punter Sean Landeta once joked, "It gives a whole new meaning to kicking into the coffin corner." More than 20 years after a self-described mob hit man set the rumor mill in motion with an interview in Playboy magazine, the question lingers: Is the answer to one of the enduring...

Protecting the US president has presented the secret service with the greatest challenge in its history. But who wants to kill him? And how likely are they to succeed?The Southern Poverty Law Center began life in 1971 as a tiny law firm specialising in civil rights cases. It took on the might of the Ku Klux Klan, and was duly rewarded by having its offices razed and its senior lawyers targeted for assassination. But it kept on going and grew to be one of the most respected monitoring groups of rightwing extremism in America today. Recently it brought out a...

it’s Jan. 14, almost halfway through the month that usually serves as bookends to presidential years. Usually around this time, members of Congress return groggily from the holiday recess and then settle into their seats for the president’s State of the Union address at the end of the month. But almost halfway through January, the White House says it still has no date for the prime-time speech on the Hill. In principle, setting the timing is the job of congressional leaders, who technically have to invite the president to come speak (they've never not invited him, and he’s never declined...

There is a feeling that permeates throughout the law enforcement community that organized crime gangs are getting a free ride during the Obama Administration. While most of the focus of federal law enforcement is on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber crime, federal police agencies must still contend with more traditional anti-crime operations including emerging organized crime gangs. "I may sound cynical, but I believe because [President Barack Obama] is from Chicago -- a city noted for it's history of organized crime -- he may be used to what's known as 'the Chicago way' and the casual relationship between organized crime and...

Usually the guy who’s ahead finds it within himself to be gracious to his competitors whereas the desperate runner-up goes negative and reaches for any stick. So it was peculiar to watch John McCain sneering and slicing his way through the debate with Mitt Romney at the Reagan library. When McCain was given up for dead last summer, he was witty and fun on the stump. Now that he is the frontrunner he is snarky and obnoxious. Dr. Freud, call your office. They say that John McCain harbors a particular dislike for Romney. And why would that be? Well, Romney...

Hot on the Hoffa trail Taylor cop thinks he has the answer to 1975 vanishing of union leader July 1, 2007 BY JOEL THURTELL FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER Jimmy Hoffa's last car ride took less than two minutes. On July 30, 1975, he rode one long block south from a two-story house at 17841 Beaverland in Detroit's tough Brightmoor neighborhood and turned right -- west -- on Grand River Ave. He passed the greens of William Rogell Golf Course and a scenic footbridge, crossed the woodsy Rouge River, cruised past the brown brick Redford Granite Co. building and the Mt....

WASHINGTON, (AP) - The FBI's top counterterrorism official harbors lots of concerns: weapons of mass destruction, undetected homegrown terrorists and the possibility that old-fashioned mobsters will team up with al-Qaeda for the right price. Though there is no direct evidence yet of organized crime collaborating with terrorists, the first hints of a connection surfaced in a recent undercover FBI operation. Agents stopped a man with alleged mob ties from selling missiles to an informant posing as a terrorist middleman. That case and other factors are heightening concerns about a real-life episode of the Sopranos teaming with Osama bin Laden's followers....

Upon further review, SportsNation finds insufficient reason to get excited about the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Sunday. By beating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, the Steelers gave Jerome Bettis the perfect parting gift as the burly running back heads into retirement. The Steelers also became just the third franchise to win a fifth Super Bowl, although SportsNation voters still rank them behind the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys for dominance during the Super Bowl era. But while Pittsburgh fans can revel in the moment of Antwaan Randle El's strike to Hines Ward and savor the...

A few years ago an individual I later learned was a major figure in the mafia offered me a well-paying job. At the time, I didn't know the full identity of the well-heeled man who made the employment offer. What I learned through this and subsequent conversations with mob-linked players though, opened my eyes to a world I had never seen before: a world where the mafia "makes" journalists. It means the mob feeds journalists inside "corruption" scoops they know will hurt the mob's enemies. The targets may be rival mob enterprises or investments. Before you know it, that reporter's...

Joseph Massino's reign as "The Last Don" came to a dramatic end yesterday, as jurors convicted him on every charge — including seven brutal mob murders — in the sensational racketeering case. Massino calmly turned to his wife and shrugged after the federal jury delivered its verdict, which will likely lock him up for life.

NEW YORK - A former business partner of Steven Seagal's admitted Wednesday that he plotted to have the mob shake down the action-film star. Julius Nasso, a producer of early Seagal films that grossed millions of dollars, pleaded guilty in federal court to extortion conspiracy. Under a plea deal, he will serve one year in prison and pay a $75,000 fine; no sentencing date was set. Nasso, 50, told a federal magistrate that he had an "understanding" that a reputed capo in the Gambino crime family, Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, would confront Seagal about a debt in a way "that would...

<p>The mood inside Sen. Mary Landrieu's re-election campaign headquarters was glum by midafternoon Saturday. Checks of key precincts showed turnout among African-American voters wasn't nearly what the Democratic incumbent needed.</p> <p>The monthlong national Republican blitz for challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell appeared to be working.</p>