1.
Al Pacino
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Alfredo James Al Pacino is an American actor of stage and screen, filmmaker, and screenwriter. DeMille Award, and the National Medal of Arts and he is also one of few performers to have won a competitive Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony Award for acting, dubbed the Triple Crown of Acting. He achieved international acclaim and recognition for his role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather. He received his first Oscar nomination and would reprise the role in the successful sequels The Godfather Part II. Pacinos performance as Corleone is now regarded as one of the greatest screen performances in film history, for his performances in The Godfather, Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross, Pacino was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. A lifelong fan of Shakespeare, Pacino directed and starred in Looking for Richard, a film about the play Richard III. He has also acted as Shylock in a 2004 feature film adaptation, since 1994, Pacino has been the joint president of the Actors Studio with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel. Pacino was born in New York City, to Sicilian-American parents Salvatore Pacino and Rose and his mother moved to The Bronx to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who, coincidentally, had come from a town in Sicily named Corleone. His father, who was from San Fratello in the Province of Messina, moved to Covina, California, in his teen years Sonny, as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, and was also nicknamed The Actor. Pacino went through Herman Ridder Junior High School, but in secondary school dropped out of many classes and he attended the High School of Performing Arts, but dropped out of school at age 17. His mother disagreed with his decision, they argued and he left home and he worked at low-paying jobs, messenger, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, to finance his acting studies. He once worked in the room for Commentary magazine. He began smoking and drinking at age nine, and took up casual cannabis use at age 13 and his two closest friends died from drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30. Growing up in The Bronx, he got into fights and was considered something of a troublemaker at school. He acted in basement plays in New Yorks theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while a teenager, Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio, where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend. In this period, he was unemployed and homeless, and sometimes slept on the street, in theaters. In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43, the following year, Pacinos grandfather James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died. After four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio, the Actors Studio is a membership organization of professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City
Al Pacino
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Pacino in September 2004.
Al Pacino
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Al Pacino in
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1971)
Al Pacino
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Al Pacino at the
1996 Cannes Film Festival.
Al Pacino
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Al Pacino at the
Rome Film Festival in 2008.
2.
The Godfather
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The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy, based on Mario Puzos best-selling novel of the same name. It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a fictional New York crime family, the story, spanning 1945 to 1955, chronicles the family under the patriarch Vito Corleone, focusing on the transformation of Michael Corleone from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss. Paramount Pictures obtained the rights to the novel for the price of $80,000, Studio executives had trouble finding a director, as their first few candidates turned down the position. They and Coppola disagreed over who would play characters, in particular Vito. Filming was done on location and completed earlier than scheduled, the musical score was composed primarily by Nino Rota with additional pieces by Carmine Coppola. The film was the film of 1972 and was for a time the highest-grossing film ever made. It won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay and its seven other Oscar nominations included Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall for Best Supporting Actor and Coppola for Best Director. It was followed by sequels The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III, the Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema and one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the U. S, in 1945, at his daughter Connies wedding, Vito Corleone hears requests in his role as the Godfather, the Don of a New York crime family. Vitos youngest son, Michael, who was a Marine during World War II, introduces his girlfriend, Kay Adams, Woltz refuses until he wakes up in bed with the severed head of his prized stallion. Wary of involvement in a new trade that risks alienating political insiders. Suspicious, Vito sends his enforcer, Luca Brasi, to spy on them, however, a Tattaglia button man garrotes Brasi during Brasis first meeting with Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozzo. Later Sollozzo has Vito gunned down in the street, then kidnaps Hagen, with Corleone first-born Sonny in command, Hagen is pressured to persuade Sonny to accept Sollozzos deal, then released. The family receives fish wrapped in Brasis bullet-proof vest, indicating that Luca sleeps with the fishes, Vito survives, and at the hospital Michael thwarts another attempt on his father, Michaels jaw is broken by NYPD Captain Marc McCluskey, Sollozzos bodyguard. Sonny retaliates with a hit on Tattaglias son, Michael plots to murder Sollozzo and McCluskey, on the pretext of settling the dispute, Michael agrees to meet them in a Bronx restaurant. There, retrieving a planted handgun, he kills both men, despite a clampdown by the authorities, the Five Families erupt in open warfare and Vitos sons fear for their safety. Michael takes refuge in Sicily, and his brother, Fredo, is sheltered by the Corleones Las Vegas casino partner, Sonny attacks his brother-in-law Carlo on the street for abusing his sister and threatens to kill him if it happens again. When it does, Sonny speeds to their home, but is ambushed at a toll booth
The Godfather
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Theatrical release poster
The Godfather
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Al Pacino (left) as
Michael Corleone,
Vito Corleone portrayed by
Marlon Brando.
The Godfather
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Paramount executive
Peter Bart wanted
Francis Ford Coppola (pictured) to direct the film because he would accept a low salary and work with a low budget.
The Godfather
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Al Pacino (pictured in 1971 during Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel) was chosen to play
Michael Corleone.
3.
The Godfather (novel)
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The Godfather is a crime novel written by Italian American author Mario Puzo. Originally published 1969 by G. P. Putnams Sons, the details the story of a fictional Mafia family based in New York City. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the story of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood. The book introduced Italian criminal terms like consigliere, caporegime, Cosa Nostra and it inspired a 1972 film of the same name. Two film sequels, including new contributions by Puzo himself, were made in 1974 and 1990, the first and second films are widely held in high esteem as examples of the cinematic arts. The Corleone family and the mob war they fight with the other four families in New York is the central issue. Michael then sells all the businesses in New York and moves the Corleones to Lake Tahoe. The Corleone family patriarch is Vito Corleone, whose surname recalls the town of Corleone and his birth name is Vito Andolini, but after emigrating to America, he refused to tell the immigration official his last name. The person in charge of the lines said the boy was from Corleone, Vito fathered four children, Santino Sonny Corleone, Frederico Fredo Corleone, Michael Mike Corleone, and Constanzia Connie Corleone. He also has an adopted son, Tom Hagen, who became the Corleone Familys consigliere. Vito Corleone is also godfather to the singer and movie star Johnny Fontane. The godfather referred to in the title is taken to be Vito. However, the central character is Michael Corleone. The novels central theme follows that Michaels destiny is to succeed his father as the head of the family empire, the Corleone family is a criminal organization with national influence, notably protection, gambling and union racketeering. Serving as the Dons underboss is his oldest son, Santino, the operational side of the organization is headed by two caporegimes, Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio. Other significant members of the organization include enforcers Luca Brasi and Albert Neri, the 1972 film adaptation of the novel was released with Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Mario Puzo assisted with writing of the screenplay and other production tasks. The film grossed approximately $269 million worldwide and won awards, including
The Godfather (novel)
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The Godfather
4.
Kay Adams-Corleone
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For similar names, see Kaye Adams Katherine Kay Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather. She was portrayed by Diane Keaton in Francis Ford Coppolas trilogy of films based on the novel, Kay is a native of Hanover, New Hampshire, and the only child of a Baptist minister and his wife. She is the girlfriend and eventual second wife of Michael Corleone, the youngest son of Don Vito Corleone. In 1945, while attending Dartmouth College, Kay met and fell in love with Michael, as a non-Italian, she is an outsider to the Corleones world, and symbolizes Michaels initial desire to live a more Americanized and honest life, separate from his familys. When she and Michael attend his sister, Connies wedding, they sit at an away from the family. In the book, the other guests notice how Kays manner is freer than expected from an unmarried woman, Kay is initially unaware that the Corleones are a powerful Mafia family. In the novel, Michael at first attempts to explain his father to her by depicting him as an unethical business man. After a failed attempt on his father, Michael murders Virgil Sollozzo. While hiding there, Michael falls in love with and marries a local woman. Kay has no knowledge of Michaels whereabouts or his marriage and eventually returns to her hometown to work as a teacher. She asks Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen to deliver a letter to Michael, during this time, Kay develops a close relationship with Michaels mother, Carmela. Apollonia is killed in a car bombing targeting Michael, after recovering from his injuries, he returns to the United States. More than a year following his return, Michael seeks out Kay, wanting them to reunite and they marry after he promises the Corleone family will be completely legitimate within five years. In the novel, Kay and Michael reunite after Kay phones Carmela Corleone, Carmela informs Kay that Michael has returned home and invites Kay to the Corleone house to see him. Michael wants to marry her, but explains that until the family becomes fully legitimate, at the time, it appears that Kay knows nothing about Michaels previous marriage. In the novel, he admits to being with one woman since their separation. Kay and Michael marry and have two children, Anthony and Mary and they are born within two years of each other, leading Michael to joke that Kay is more Italian than Yankee. Kay retorts that Michael is more Yankee than Italian because he takes his work home with him
Kay Adams-Corleone
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Diane Keaton as Kay Adams in
The Godfather
5.
Anthony Corleone
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Anthony Vito Tony Corleone is a fictional character in The Godfather trilogy of films directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He is portrayed by Anthony Gounaris in the first film, James Gounaris in the second, the character was given the name Anthony because it was thought that the three-year-old Gounaris of the first film would respond best if his own name was used. He is the son of Michael and Kay Corleone, and the brother of Mary Corleone. He was not mentioned by name in the novel, Anthony has a small role in the first film, his only scene of consequence is when he witnesses the death of his grandfather, Vito Corleone, who is playing with him in the garden. The second films plotline opens in 1958, with Anthonys first communion and it continues with an extravagant banquet held in his honor at the family estate near Lake Tahoe. During it, his fathers time is taken up with tending to the family business. Anthony receives many gifts, mostly from people he does not know, later in the film, he and his sister, Mary, overhear their parents arguing, Kay voices her concerns that Michaels soldati are Anthonys primary playmates. Michael refuses to believe he has influenced his son in any negative way, Michael and Kay are divorced by the end of the film, Anthony seems to resent his mothers role in his parents split, and as a result is sullen and not affectionate during her visit. At the end of the film, he has developed a relationship with his Uncle Fredo. When they are about to go fishing together, Michael calls Anthony away, Fredo is then assassinated by Al Neri at Michaels order. Sometime in the 1960s, Michael gave Kay custody of Anthony, Michael, infuriated, wants him to finish school. Michael finally relents at Kays urging and she privately tells Michael that Anthony knows that he had Fredo killed. Anthonys operatic debut is the lead in Cavalleria Rusticana in Palermo and his family join him for the premiere. As a gift, he performs the traditional Sicilian ballad Brucia La Terra, during this visit, he, like his parents, disapproves of Marys romance with their cousin, Vincent Corleone. The film concludes with Anthonys performance, Anthony appears in Mark Winegardners sequel novels The Godfather Returns and The Godfathers Revenge. In the former novel, he witnesses Fredos murder from his bedroom window, in these novels, Anthony has a difficult relationship with his father, he loves Michael, but does not want to become like him. Anthonys ambivalence hurts Michael, but he understands it, as he had felt the same way about his own father
Anthony Corleone
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Franc D'Ambrosio as Anthony Corleone in
The Godfather Part III.
6.
Mary Corleone
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Mary Corleone is a fictional character in The Godfather Part III, portrayed by Sofia Coppola. She is the daughter of Michael Corleone and Kay Adams and sister of Anthony Vito Corleone, Mary first appears in The Godfather Part II as the youngest child of Michael and Kay. She is a child in the late 1950s. Like Anthony, she not have a significant role or story arc in the film. Mary is one of the characters of Godfather Part III. Her fathers favorite, she is sheltered from the violent world of the Corleone crime family and she falls in love with her cousin, Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleones illegitimate son and Michaels protégé. While the family is traveling in Sicily, Michael tells Mary he disapproves of the romance and he fears that Mary could suffer the same fate as his first wife, Apollonia, who was killed by a car bomb intended for him 30 years earlier. Toward the end of the film, Michael names Vincent as his successor, after her brothers debut concert, the assassin Mosca tries to kill Michael. One bullet grazes Michaels shoulder, but the other accidentally hits Mary in the torso, Michael is devastated by Marys death, which happens as he is beginning to finally put his criminal life behind him and rekindle his estranged relationship with Kay. A broken man, he retires to Sicily, where he dies of old age. Sofia Coppola, the daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, was cast in the role after the choice, Winona Ryder. Rebecca Schaeffer was set to read for this role, as well, Coppolas performance was panned by most movie critics and earned her two Razzies for Worst Supporting Actress and Worst New Star of 1990. In his review of the film in his Movie and Video Guide, Marys aunt, Connie Corleone, is played by Talia Shire — Sofia Coppolas real-life aunt. Mary appears as a character in Mark Winegardners sequel novels The Godfather Returns and The Godfathers Revenge, although in the original novel. — Cousin, son of Sonny Corleone
Mary Corleone
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Sofia Coppola portraying Mary Corleone
7.
Vincent Corleone
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Vincent Santino Corleone is a fictional character in the 1990 feature film The Godfather Part III, in which he is portrayed by Andy García, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Vincent is the son of Sonny Corleone and his mistress Lucy Mancini. He eventually succeeds his uncle Michael as head of the Corleone family, retroactive continuity was employed to create the characters existence for The Godfather Part III, as it is evident from Mario Puzos original novel that Lucy did not conceive a child with Sonny. In The Godfather, Sonny Corleone and Lucy Mancini were having an illicit affair, being illegitimate, as a youth he was not included in the Corleone family. Vincent is eventually embroiled in a feud with Zasa when he senses that Zasa is trying to usurp Michaels power, Michael tries to make peace between the two, but this fails, Zasa calls Vincent a bastard, and Vincent bites his ear. That night, Zasa sends two hitmen to kill Vincent, but Vincent kills them instead after forcing them to reveal who hired them. Vincent attempts to ingratiate himself with his uncle by protecting him from rival Mafia families, who are in league with Zasa, encouraged by his sister Connie, Michael takes Vincent under his wing and starts mentoring him. Michael admires Vincents loyalty and intelligence, but also notes that the man has his fathers recklessness. Vincent saves Michael from an assassination orchestrated by Zasa at a Mafia summit in Atlantic City. That same night, Michael is hospitalized following a diabetic stroke, believing Zasa will make another attempt on Michaels life, Vincent murders Zasa. Michael is angry that Vincent used violence to deal with Zasa, when Michael learns that his old friend Don Altobello is the traitor within the family, Michael has Vincent spy on him. Michael tacitly agrees, then retires as Don and names Vincent his successor. Michaels influence has made Vincent into a new man, wiser, more patient and his first act is to order the murders of Lucchesi, Keinszig, and Gilday. Connie kills Altobello by poisoning him, in return for being made Don, Vincent agrees to end his relationship with Mary. That same night, Altobellos assassin Mosca accidentally kills Mary during an attempt on Michaels life, enraged, Vincent kills Mosca with a single gunshot. What follows in Vincents story, according to author Mario Puzo, however, on The Godfather Part IIIs DVD commentary, Coppola explains that both he and Puzo had envisioned a storyline depicting Vincents reign heading the Corleone family. Vincent, deviating from his predecessors morals, would have entered the family into the trade, driving the Corleone clan back into corruption. Vincents story ends with him being killed similarly to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and this proposed film would have been titled either The Godfather Part IV or The Godfather, The Final Part
Vincent Corleone
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Andy Garcia portraying Vincent Corleone
8.
Sandra Corleone
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Sandra Corleone is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather, the Godfather film trilogy, and the Godfather video game. She was portrayed by Julie Gregg in the first film, born in 1917, she married Sonny Corleone, with whom she had four children, Francesca Corleone, Kathryn Corleone, Frank Corleone and Santino Corleone. She and Sonny live in a house in the Corleone Mall, after Sonnys death, she takes her children to live with her parents in Florida. She is depicted as a woman who immigrated from Italy as a child who does not enjoy sex with Sonny. She is aware, and thankful, that he is unfaithful, Sonny has a mistress, Lucy Mancini and they have a son, Vincent. Sandra appears in a scene in The Godfather Part II. Michael approves but suggests that her fiance changes his college studies, in a deleted subplot, Sandra becomes Tom Hagens mistress, a fact that Michael uses to blackmail Hagen into remaining loyal to the family, despite Sandra urging Hagen to abandon the Corleone family. In the final film, Hagen is depicted as having died years earlier, Sandra is a minor character in The Godfather Returns and The Godfathers Revenge, Mark Winegardners sequels to Puzos novel. In The Family Corleone, she appears as a teenager, the granddaughter of Signora Colombo, a minor character in the original novel
Sandra Corleone
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Julie Gregg portraying Sandra Corleone
9.
Deanna Dunn
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Fredo Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather. Fredo is portrayed by American actor John Cazale in the Francis Ford Coppola film adaptation and in the sequel and he is the second son of the mafia don Vito Corleone. Fredo is the brother of Sonny and the elder brother to Michael and sister. In both Puzos novel and the adaptations, Fredo is characterized as weaker and less intelligent than his brothers. In the novel, Fredos primary weakness is his womanizing, a habit he develops after moving to Las Vegas, in the films, Fredos feelings of personal inadequacy and his inability to act effectively on his own behalf are character flaws leading to greater consequences. In a pivotal scene in the novel and film, Fredo is with his father when assassins working for drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo gun down Don Corleone in the street, Fredo, terrified, drops his gun, failing to return fire. He sits on the next to his severely wounded father. In the novel, Fredo is sickened after witnessing his father being shot, to aid Fredos recovery and protect him from possible reprisals, Sonny sends his younger brother to Las Vegas under the protection of Don Anthony Molinari of San Francisco. While in Las Vegas, Fredo learns the trade and becomes acquainted with former hitman Moe Greene. When Fredos womanizing starts affecting business, Greene slaps him in public, after Sonny is assassinated, Vito chooses Michael as his successor of the Corleone Family. This creates a rift between the two surviving brothers. When Michael learns that Greene slapped Fredo, he is angered and confronts Greene, Michael berates Fredo for openly taking sides against the family during a meeting with Greene, warning him never to do so again. By the beginning of The Godfather Part II, Fredo has become Michaels underboss, during a large family gathering, Fredo is unable to control his intoxicated wife, Deanna Dunn. When she dances and flirts with another man, he drags her off the dance floor and threatens to hit her. Hagen is ordered to bring Senator Pat Geary under the Corleone Familys control to gain his assistance in obtaining gambling licenses. After the senator refuses to help, he is implicated in a prostitutes murder, Hagen offers the Corleone familys help in eliminating the problem in exchange for the senators friendship. Hagen tells Geary that Fredo operates the brothel, and it will be as if she never existed, Fredo later betrays Michael after being approached by Johnny Ola, an associate of rival gangster Hyman Roth. Ola and Roth tell Fredo that Michael is being difficult in business negotiations between Roths organization and the Corleone family
Deanna Dunn
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John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in
The Godfather: Part II
Deanna Dunn
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Confronted by Michael for his part in the assassination attempt on his life, Fredo unleashes his anger over being bypassed as head of the Corleone Family.
10.
Roman Catholic
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
Roman Catholic
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Saint Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholic
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St. Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholic
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Pope Francis, elected in the
papal conclave, 2013
Roman Catholic
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Traditional graphic representation of the Trinity: The earliest attested version of the diagram, from a manuscript of
Peter of Poitiers ' writings, c. 1210
11.
Vito Corleone
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He is an orphaned Sicilian immigrant who builds a mafia empire. Upon his death, Michael, his youngest son, succeeds him as the don of the Corleone crime family. He has two sons, Santino and Frederico and one daughter Constanzia. He informally adopts Sonnys friend, Tom Hagen, a lawyer, Vito oversees a business founded on gambling, bootlegging, and union corruption, but he is known as a generous man who lives by a strict moral code of loyalty to friends and, above all, family. He is also known as a traditionalist who demands respect commensurate with his status, Vito Andolini was born in Corleone, Sicily on December 7,1891. The nine-year-old Vito is sent to the United States by his mother for his safety after Antonio, his father, is murdered in retaliation for insulting the local Mafia boss, paolo, his older brother, swears revenge but he too is killed. Vitos mother goes to Ciccio and begs him to spare Vito, Ciccio refuses, reasoning that the boy will seek revenge as a grown man. Upon Ciccios refusal, Vitos mother holds a knife to his throat, Family friends smuggle Vito out of Sicily, putting him on a ship with immigrants travelling to America. In the film, Ellis Island immigration officials rename him Vito Corleone and this was often the case on Ellis Island during the time period in which the scene takes place. He later adopts Andolini as his name to acknowledge his family heritage. Vito is taken in by the Abbandando family, who are distant relations of his, Vito grows very close to the Abbadandos, particularly their son, Genco, who is like a brother to him. In 1920, Vito is befriended by Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio and is taught how to survive and prosper through petty crime and performing favors in return for loyalty. Vito plans his first murder, Fanucci threatened to report him, Clemenza, during an Italian street festival, Vito trails Fanucci from the rooftops as Fanucci walks home. Vito shoots and kills Fanucci before he enters his apartment, Vito takes over the district and behaves with far greater respect than Fanucci. Vito and Genco start an oil importing business, Genco Pura. It eventually becomes the legal front for Vitos growing organized crime syndicate. Despite--or because of--its status as a front company, Genco Pura becomes the nations largest olive oil importing company, between Genco Pura and his illegal operations, Vito becomes a wealthy man. In 1923, he returns to Sicily for the first time since fleeing as a child and he and his partner Don Tommasino systematically eliminate Don Ciccios men who were involved in murdering Vitos family and arrange a meeting with Ciccio himself
Vito Corleone
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Vito Corleone, as portrayed by
Marlon Brando in
The Godfather.
Vito Corleone
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A young Vito (played by
Robert De Niro) kills Don Fanucci
12.
Carmela Corleone
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Carmela Corleone, a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather, is the wife of Don Vito Corleone. Carmela is portrayed by Italian-American Morgana King in Francis Ford Coppolas film adaptation of the novel, King is better known as a singer and is given a brief chance to display her vocal skills in the wedding reception scene of The Godfather when she sings the song Luna MezzO Mare. Although King was born Maria Grazia Morgana Messina in Pleasantville, New York, her parents were from Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Province of Catania, Carmela was born in Sicily in 1897, and emigrated to the United States shortly after the turn of the century. She married Vito Corleone in 1914, they were married for just over 40 years until Vitos death in 1955 and they had four children – Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie. They also took care of a friend of Sonny, Tom Hagen, in the novel, Carmela Corleone is portrayed as a traditional Italian immigrant woman who speaks in very broken English. In the movies, however, she speaks fluent English as an adult, in the novel, she develops a close relationship with Michaels girlfriend and future wife, Kay. Carmela Corleone dies toward the end of the sequel, Carmela was disturbed by Vitos change from a kind, quiet young man to a pragmatic and ruthless criminal. However Carmela seems to forgive Vito for his crimes, because he remains essentially a good man who is devoted to his family. Devoutly Catholic, Carmela attends Mass every day to pray for her husbands soul to him from going down there. In The Godfather Part IIs flashback scenes, the young Carmela is portrayed by Francesca De Sapio, Carmela is a major character in the 2012 prequel novel The Family Corleone, which portrays their early years together, raising a family as Vito becomes a crime boss
Carmela Corleone
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Morgana King as Carmela Corleone
13.
Sonny Corleone
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Santino Sonny Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzos 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. The character also appears in flashback sequences in the films 1974 sequel. In the novel and film, he is the oldest son of the mafia don Vito Corleone and he has two brothers, Fredo and Michael, a sister, Connie, and an adopted brother, Tom Hagen. In the film, Sonny was portrayed by James Caan, who reprised his role for a scene in Part II. Director Francis Ford Coppolas son Roman Coppola played Sonny as a boy in the 1920s scene of that film, in both the novel and the movie, Sonny is the eldest of Vito Corleones four children, and depicted as the most volatile and confrontational. He is heavily involved in his fathers crime family, at age 16, Sonny committed a robbery. When Sonnys godfather, Peter Clemenza informed Vito about it, Vito demanded his son explain himself, Sonny said he had witnessed Vito murder the feared Black Hand gangster Don Fanucci. He now wants to sell olive oil like his father, Vito, understanding that Sonny wanted to join the Corleone crime family, sent him to Clemenza for training. Sonny made his bones when he was 19, by his mid-20s, he was promoted to a caporegime in the Corleone family. By the end of World War II, he is his fathers underboss and heir apparent, Sonny also possesses a more patient side, at age 11, he brought home a homeless boy, Tom Hagen, demanding he be allowed to live with the family. Hagen eventually rises through the ranks to become Vitos consigliere, as the eldest child, Sonny acts as protector to his younger siblings and has a close relationship with his youngest brother, Michael and only sister, Connie. The novel shows he is unable to harm women, children and this trait probably saved Connies abusive husband, Carlo Rizzi, from being fatally beaten by Sonny when Carlo refuses to fight back. Sonny is married to Sandra with whom he has four children, but he has several mistresses, including Lucy Mancini, in the novel, Sandra ignores his infidelities because she is unable to tolerate his enormous penis. Sonny’s life is upturned in 1945, when Virgil The Turk Sollozzo, backed by the Tattaglia family, during the meeting, Sonny spontaneously speaks out-of-turn, expressing an interest in the deal that Vito had declined. Vito later reprimands Sonny for revealing his thoughts to an outsider, Sollozzo later attempts to have Vito assassinated, believing Sonny, as his fathers successor, will bring the Corleone family into the drug trade. The failed assassination attempt leaves Vito near death, making Sonny acting boss of the Corleone family, Sonny orders Clemenza to execute Vitos traitorous bodyguard Paulie Gatto. Sollozzo mounts a second attempt on Vito at the hospital that Sonnys youngest brother Michael thwarts. Sonny then orders Bruno Tattaglia, son and underboss of Sollozzos ally Philip Tattaglia, Sollozzo proposes that Michael to be sent to hear a truce proposition
Sonny Corleone
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James Caan as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather
Sonny Corleone
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Sonny's death.
14.
Fredo Corleone
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Fredo Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather. Fredo is portrayed by American actor John Cazale in the Francis Ford Coppola film adaptation and in the sequel and he is the second son of the mafia don Vito Corleone. Fredo is the brother of Sonny and the elder brother to Michael and sister. In both Puzos novel and the adaptations, Fredo is characterized as weaker and less intelligent than his brothers. In the novel, Fredos primary weakness is his womanizing, a habit he develops after moving to Las Vegas, in the films, Fredos feelings of personal inadequacy and his inability to act effectively on his own behalf are character flaws leading to greater consequences. In a pivotal scene in the novel and film, Fredo is with his father when assassins working for drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo gun down Don Corleone in the street, Fredo, terrified, drops his gun, failing to return fire. He sits on the next to his severely wounded father. In the novel, Fredo is sickened after witnessing his father being shot, to aid Fredos recovery and protect him from possible reprisals, Sonny sends his younger brother to Las Vegas under the protection of Don Anthony Molinari of San Francisco. While in Las Vegas, Fredo learns the trade and becomes acquainted with former hitman Moe Greene. When Fredos womanizing starts affecting business, Greene slaps him in public, after Sonny is assassinated, Vito chooses Michael as his successor of the Corleone Family. This creates a rift between the two surviving brothers. When Michael learns that Greene slapped Fredo, he is angered and confronts Greene, Michael berates Fredo for openly taking sides against the family during a meeting with Greene, warning him never to do so again. By the beginning of The Godfather Part II, Fredo has become Michaels underboss, during a large family gathering, Fredo is unable to control his intoxicated wife, Deanna Dunn. When she dances and flirts with another man, he drags her off the dance floor and threatens to hit her. Hagen is ordered to bring Senator Pat Geary under the Corleone Familys control to gain his assistance in obtaining gambling licenses. After the senator refuses to help, he is implicated in a prostitutes murder, Hagen offers the Corleone familys help in eliminating the problem in exchange for the senators friendship. Hagen tells Geary that Fredo operates the brothel, and it will be as if she never existed, Fredo later betrays Michael after being approached by Johnny Ola, an associate of rival gangster Hyman Roth. Ola and Roth tell Fredo that Michael is being difficult in business negotiations between Roths organization and the Corleone family
Fredo Corleone
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John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in
The Godfather: Part II
Fredo Corleone
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Confronted by Michael for his part in the assassination attempt on his life, Fredo unleashes his anger over being bypassed as head of the Corleone Family.
15.
Tom Hagen
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Tom Hagen is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novel Godfather and Francis Ford Coppolas films The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. He was portrayed by Robert Duvall in the films, Hagen is the informally adopted son of the mafia don Vito Corleone. He is a lawyer and the consigliere to the Corleone mafia family. Mild-mannered and soft-spoken, he serves as the voice of reason within the family, the novel and first film establish that he is of German-Irish ancestry. Sonny Corleone befriends 11-year-old Tom, who was living on the street after running away from an orphanage, when Sonny brings Tom home and demands he be taken in, the Corleone family allowed him to stay. Hagen considers Vito his true father, though Vito never formally adopts Tom, after law school, Hagen wanted to work in the Corleone business. His non-Italian ancestry precludes his formal membership into the family but when consigliere Genco Abbandando dies. This results in the other New York families derisively calling the Corleones, though Hagen immerses himself in the Sicilian-American lifestyle, and speaks Sicilian, he has a non-Italian physical appearance. His Northern European appearance being advantageous to his work, allowing him to travel, while Hagen loves all the Corleones, he idolizes Sonny, and blames himself for Sonnys murder. Hagen is thus restricted to handling the familys legitimate business, Michael claims Hagen is not a war-time consigliere. In the novel, Hagen later tells Michael that he figured out the reason that he was demoted. The novel and first film portray Hagen aiding Vito and Michael Corleone in warring against the other ruling New York Mafia families, in The Godfather Part II, set in the late 1950s, Hagen serves as Michaels right-hand man during his power struggle with Hyman Roth. In The Godfather Part III, set in 1979-1980, he is said to have died years before in an unspecified manner. His role in the story between the second and third films, including his death, is portrayed in Mark Winegardners sequel novels, The Godfather Returns, in both the novel and film, Hagen is introduced as an important member of the Corleone family. As a child he grew up in a family, the son of an abusive alcoholic. Sonny Corleone finds the orphaned Hagen living on the street and suffering from a bad eye infection, Sonny takes him home and demands he live with the Corleone family. Vito Corleone becomes a father to Hagen, but never officially adopts him out of respect for the boys father. In the novel, Hagen asks to work for Vito after graduating law school
Tom Hagen
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Robert Duvall portraying Tom Hagen
16.
Connie Corleone
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Constanzia Connie Corleone is a fictional character in The Godfather, a novel by Mario Puzo and the 1972 film The Godfather. In the film, Connie is portrayed by Talia Shire, the sister of director Francis Ford Coppola, Shire was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Connie Corleone in The Godfather Part II. Born in 1925, Connie is the youngest child and only daughter of mafia don Vito Corleone and she is the sister of Sonny, Fredo and Michael Corleone. She marries Sonnys friend Carlo Rizzi and her father was very displeased that Connie married a man who was not only half northern Italian, but also had a criminal history. He only agreed to the marriage on condition that they hold an old-style Sicilian wedding, Carlo, who Puzo characterizes as a punk sore at the world, periodically abuses and cheats on Connie in frustration at being shunted aside by the Corleone family. The night of their wedding turned out to be a harbinger of things to come, after one particularly bad beating, Connie complains to her father, who refuses to help. The book reveals that in truth, Vito was outraged at how Carlo treated Connie, connies family grow to resent Carlo and his mistreatment of Connie, especially her oldest brother Sonny. One day, when Sonny visits Connie, he finds her in tears, Sonny chases and beats up Carlo in the street, threatening to kill Carlo if he hurts Connie again. Corleone rivals Emilio Barzini and Philip Tattaglia recruit Carlo to bring Sonny into the open, Carlo has a mistress call the house and a fight with Connie ensues that ends with Carlo again beating Connie. Connie calls the Corleone compound asking Sonny for help, an enraged Sonny drives off alone to help Connie, leaving his bodyguards following in a separate car. At a toll booth Sonny is shot and killed by Barzinis Tommy gun-wielding men, Michael returns from Sicily and takes Sonnys place as Vitos heir apparent. When Vito dies, Michael becomes the new Don and avenges Sonnys murder by having the heads of the Five Families killed, Connie flies into a rage when she finds out Carlo is dead and blames Michael, denouncing him in front of his wife Kay. In The Godfather Part II, Connie has remarried, divorced and she remains bitter toward Michael and announces that she intends to marry Merle Johnson, which Michael disapproves of. At the end of the film, Connie returns for her mothers funeral and she intercedes on Fredos behalf after Michael disowns him for conspiring with Corleone rival Hyman Roth, pleading with Michael to forgive him. Michael publicly appears to forgive Fredo, Connie later says that Fredo had drowned, unaware that Michael had him killed. After Michael and Kay divorce, Connie helps care for Michaels two children, Anthony and Mary, in a flashback at the end of the film, it is revealed that Sonny introduced her to Carlo in 1941 during Vitos birthday party. In The Godfather Part III, Connie is very close to her nephew Vincent Mancini, Connie encourages Michael to bring Vincent into the Corleone family and support him in his feud with Joey Zasa. When Michael suffers a stroke and recuperates in the hospital Connie
Connie Corleone
–
The Godfather
17.
Mario Puzo
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Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author, screenwriter and journalist of Italian descent. He is known for his novels about the Mafia, most notably The Godfather. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972, Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 Superman film. His last novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001, Puzo was born in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, into a poor family from Pietradefusi, Province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage, after graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to his eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties. In 1950, his first short story, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard, after the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955. At periods in the 1950s and early 1960s, Puzo worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodmans Magazine Management Company. Puzo, along other writers like Bruce Jay Friedman, worked for the company line of mens magazines, pulp titles like Male, True Action. Under the pseudonym Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote World War II adventure features for True Action. Puzos most famous work, The Godfather, was encouraged by a suggestion of the publisher of his The Fortunate Pilgrim who thought that if there was more mafia that it would have more successful. A story outline was prepared and presented to the publisher, who rejected it, after several publishers were approached, Putnam editors met with him without having read the outline. He told them a few stories and the project was approved, with the advance, he got on with the project. He had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism and he was looking to write something that would appeal to the masses. He found his audience with the novel, a bestseller for months on the New York Times Best Seller List. The book was developed into the film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie received 3 awards of the 11 Academy Award category nominations, Coppola and Puzo then collaborated on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for Richard Donners Superman which, at the time, also included the plot for Superman II, as they were originally written as one film
Mario Puzo
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Puzo in 1996
18.
The Godfather (film series)
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The Godfather film series consists of three American crime drama films directed by Francis Ford Coppola inspired by the novel of the same name by Italian American author Mario Puzo. The series follows the trials of the Corleone family, Italian Americans whose patriarch, Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael Corleone, becomes his successor. All three films were distributed by Paramount Pictures and released in 1972,1974 and 1990, the series achieved success at the box office, with the films earning over $550 million worldwide. The first two films have received wide acclaim since release, the former, The Godfather, is seen by many as one of the greatest films of all time and its sequel, The Godfather Part II, is viewed by many as the best sequel in cinematic history. The series is awarded, winning 9 out of 29 total Academy Award nominations. The Godfather, the first film in the franchise, was released on March 15,1972, the feature-length film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based upon Mario Puzos novel of the same name. The plot begins with Don Vito Corleone declining an offer to join in the business with notorious drug lord Virgil Sollozzo. While in Sicily, Michael travels around the country and meets a woman whom he marries. Michael returns to America after the news of his brother Sonnys murder, after returning, Vito turns over the reins of the family to Michael. Michael plans to move the business to Las Vegas, but before the move. Other subplots include Vitos daughters abusive marriage, Johnny Fontaines success in Hollywood, the Godfather Part II, the second film in the franchise, was released on December 20,1974. The feature-length film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based upon Mario Puzos novel of the same name. The film is in both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, presenting two parallel dramas. The Godfather Part III, the film in the franchise, was released on December 25,1990. Francis Ford Coppola returned as director for the film, while also writing the screenplay with the help of the author Mario Puzo. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire, the fourth film was supposed to be a prequel. Many famous actors were announced to star in the film, robert De Niro, Andy García and Talia Shire were slated to reprise their roles as Vito Corleone, Vincent Corleone and Connie Corleone respectively. Ray Liotta was rumored to have a role in the film, on June 21,1999, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a fourth film with García in the lead role was in the works
The Godfather (film series)
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The Godfather
19.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Francis Ford Coppola, also credited as Francis Coppola, is a semi-retired American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered to have been a figure of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. After directing The Rain People, he co-wrote the 1970 film Patton and he followed with The Godfather Part II in 1974, which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Conversation, which he directed, produced and wrote, was released same year. He next directed 1979s Apocalypse Now, while notorious for its lengthy and strenuous production, the film was widely acclaimed for its vivid and stark depiction of the Vietnam War, winning the Palme dOr at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Coppola is one of only eight filmmakers to win two Palme dOr awards, while a number of Coppolas ventures in the 1980s and 1990s were critically lauded, he has never quite achieved the same commercial success with films as in the 1970s. His most well-known films released since the start of the 1980s are the dramas The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, the crime-drama The Cotton Club, and his movies The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now are often ranked among the greatest films of all time. Coppola was born in Detroit, Michigan, to father Carmine Coppola, a flautist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Coppola is the second of three children, his older brother was August Coppola, his younger sister is actress Talia Shire. Born into a family of Italian immigrant ancestry, his grandparents came to the United States from Bernalda. His maternal grandfather, popular Italian composer Francesco Pennino, immigrated from Naples, Coppola received his middle name in honor of Henry Ford, not only because he was born in the Henry Ford Hospital but also because of his musician-fathers association with the automobile manufacturer. Contracting polio as a boy, Coppola was bedridden for periods of his childhood. Reading A Streetcar Named Desire at age 15 was instrumental in developing his interest in theater, eager to be involved in film-craft, he created 8mm features edited from home movies with such titles as The Rich Millionaire and The Lost Wallet. As a child, Coppola was a student, but he was so interested in technology. Trained initially for a career in music, he became proficient on the tuba, overall, Coppola attended 23 other schools before he eventually graduated from the Great Neck North High School. He entered Hofstra College in 1955 with a major in theater arts, there he was awarded a scholarship in playwriting. This furthered his interest in directing theater despite the disapproval of his father, Coppola was profoundly impressed after seeing Sergei Eisensteins October, Ten Days That Shook the World, especially with the movies quality of editing. It was at this time Coppola decided he would go into cinema rather than theater, Coppola also gives credit to the work of Elia Kazan and for its influence on him as a director. Amongst Coppolas classmates at Hofstra were James Caan, Lainie Kazan and he later cast Lainie Kazan in One from the Heart and Caan in The Rain People and The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola
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Francis Ford Coppola at the 2011
San Diego Comic-Con International
Francis Ford Coppola
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Francis Ford Coppola at the
1996 Cannes Film Festival
Francis Ford Coppola
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Francis Ford Coppola at the
2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Palazzo Margherita in
Bernalda, owned by Coppola
20.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
Academy Awards
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Academy Awards
Academy Awards
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31st Academy Awards Presentations,
Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, 1959
Academy Awards
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81st Academy Awards Presentations,
Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, 2009
Academy Awards
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Pantages Theatre, 2008
21.
American Film Institute
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The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
American Film Institute
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American Film Institute
22.
Consigliere
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Consigliere is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian, Calabrian and American Mafia. The word was popularized by the novel The Godfather, and its film adaptation. The consigliere is a close, trusted friend and confidant, the version of an elder statesman. In some depictions, he is devoid of ambition and dispenses disinterested advice and this passive image of the consigliere does not correspond with what little is known of real-life consiglieri, however. A real-life Mafia consigliere is generally the number-three person in a crime family, the boss, underboss, and consigliere constitute a three-man ruling panel, or administration. In Italian, consigliere means adviser or counselor and is still a title for example for members of city councils in Italy. It is derived from Latin consiliarius and consilium, Mafia is taken from that of the Sicilian Mafia and suggests that an analogy is intended to imitate the court of a medieval Italian principality. For example, Venice was led by a doge and a consigliere ducale, an underboss will normally move up to boss when the position becomes vacant, so his position is equivalent to that of heir to the throne. Consigliere, meanwhile, is analogous to chief minister or chancellor, Joe Valachi mentions a mysterious Sandino arbitrating disputes as the Genovese family consigliere in the 1940s. But in more recent times, consiglieri have tended to take an active role in family affairs. In 1971, Colombo family Consigliere Joseph Yacovelli directed a campaign against renegade Colombo family soldier Joseph Crazy Joe Gallo. Two decades later, another Colombo consigliere, Carmine Sessa, led a hit team that attempted to assassinate the acting boss, electronic surveillance in 1979 recorded New England Mafia Boss Raymond L. S. Patriarca talking about appointing his consigliere, so the position need not be chosen as a result of a consensus-seeking process. When New Jersey Consigliere Stefano Steve the Truck Driver Vitabile found out in 1992 that his familys underboss, John Johnny Boy DAmato, was bisexual, he ordered him killed. In 1993, Paul Gulino, a dealer and associate of the Bonanno crime family, was murdered after he allegedly put hands on his familys consigliere. James Ida, the current Genovese consigliere, has been serving a sentence since 1996. Dominick Cirillo is the familys acting consigliere, Joseph Corozzo is the current Gambino consigliere, while Anthony Rabito is consigliere for the Bonanno crime family. As these examples illustrate, modern consiglieri are generally former soldiers and capos, in The Sopranos, Silvio Dante, who possesses a generally cool head and an encyclopedic knowledge of mafia rules and norms, serves as consigliere to Tony Soprano
Consigliere
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Structure of a Mafia crime family
23.
United States Marine Corps
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The U. S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U. S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military officer in the U. S. Armed Forces, is a Marine Corps general, the Marine Corps has been a component of the U. S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working closely with naval forces for training, transportation, and logistics. The USMC operates posts on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world, two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting for independence both at sea and on shore. The role of the Corps has since grown and evolved, expanding to aerial warfare and earning popular titles such as, Americas third air force, and, second land army. By the mid-20th century, the U. S. Marine Corps had become a major theorist of and its ability to rapidly respond on short notice to expeditionary crises gives it a strong role in the implementation and execution of American foreign policy. As of 2016, the USMC has around 182,000 active duty members and it is the smallest of the U. S. The USMC serves as an expeditionary force-in-readiness and this last clause, while seemingly redundant given the Presidents position as Commander-in-chief, is a codification of the expeditionary responsibilities of the Marine Corps. It derives from similar language in the Congressional acts For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps of 1834, in 1951, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee called the clause one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps. In addition to its duties, the Marine Corps conducts Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations, as well as missions in direct support of the White House. The Marine Band, dubbed the Presidents Own by Thomas Jefferson, Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. The Executive Flight Detachment also provides transport to Cabinet members. The relationship between the Department of State and the U. S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the corps itself, for over 200 years, Marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies, consulates, in 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of War furnish Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on December 15,1948, during the first year of the MSG program,36 detachments were deployed worldwide. Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at sea and ashore, the Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of Marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns. Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers, battleships, Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ships landing force, manning the ships weapons and providing shipboard security. Marines would develop tactics and techniques of amphibious assault on defended coastlines in time for use in World War II, during World War II, Marines continued to serve on capital ships
United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
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United States Marine Corps portal
United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
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A Marine
Corporal and
Lance Corporal of
3rd Battalion, 6th Marines engaging the enemy during
Operation Moshtarak in Afghanistan's
Helmand Province.
24.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
25.
Pacific War
–
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China. The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In Allied countries during the war, The Pacific War was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan. Japan used the name Greater East Asia War, as chosen by a decision on 10 December 1941. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident into the Greater East Asia War, in Japan, the Fifteen Years War is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945. The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, also involved were the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. The official policy of the U. S. Government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Formosa. To a small extent, some Vichy French, Indian National Army, Germany and Italy both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian, the Italians had access to concession territory naval bases in China, while the Germans did not. After Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war, mexico, Free France and many other countries also took part, especially forces from other British colonies. Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War, China, the Central Pacific, South East Asia, U. S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War, the Pacific theater and the China Burma India Theater. However these were not operational commands, in the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as Pacific Ocean Areas and Southwest Pacific Area. In 1945, for a period just before the Japanese surrender. By 1937, Japan controlled Manchuria and was ready to move deeper into China, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 provoked full-scale war between China and Japan. In August 1937, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to fight about 300,000 Japanese troops in Shanghai, the Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937 and committed which was known as Nanking Massacre. In March 1938, Nationalist forces won their first victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May. In June 1938, Japan deployed about 350,000 troops to invade Wuhan, the Japanese achieved major military victories, but world opinion—in particular in the United States—condemned Japan, especially after the Panay incident
Pacific War
–
Map showing the main areas of the conflict and Allied landings in the Pacific, 1942–45.
Pacific War
–
Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek, Allied Commander-in-Chief in the China theatre from 1942 to 1945.
Pacific War
–
Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek and
Joseph Stilwell, Allied Commander-in-Chief in the China theatre from 1942–1945.
Pacific War
–
The Pacific War Council as photographed on 12 October 1942. Pictured are representatives from the United States (seated)
China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, and the
Philippine Commonwealth.
26.
Life Magazine
–
Life was an American magazine that ran weekly from 1883 to 1936 as a humor magazine with limited circulation. Time owner Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936, solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name, Life was published weekly until 1972, as an intermittent special until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. After 2000 Time Inc. continued to use the Life brand for special, Life returned to regularly scheduled issues when it became a weekly newspaper supplement from 2004 to 2007. The website life. com, originally one of the channels on Time Inc. s Pathfinder service, was for a time in the late 2000s managed as a joint venture with Getty Images under the name See Your World, LLC. On January 30,2012 the LIFE. com URL became a channel on Time. com. When Life was founded in 1883, it was developed as similar to the British magazine and it was published for 53 years as a general-interest light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes and social commentary. The Luce Life was the first all-photographic American news magazine, the magazines role in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. Life was wildly successful for two generations before its prestige was diminished by economics and changing tastes, Life was founded January 4,1883, in a New York City artists studio at 1155 Broadway, as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. Mitchell held a 75 per cent interest in the magazine with the remainder by Miller, both men retained their holdings until their deaths. Miller served as secretary-treasurer of the magazine and was very successful managing the side of the operation. Mitchell, a 37-year-old illustrator who used a $10,000 inheritance to invest in the weekly magazine, Mitchell created the first Life name-plate with cupids as mascots, he later drew its masthead of a knight leveling his lance at the posterior of a fleeing devil. Mitchell took advantage of a new printing process using zinc-coated plates. This edge helped because Life faced stiff competition from the humor magazines Judge and Puck. Edward Sandford Martin was brought on as Lifes first literary editor, the motto of the first issue of Life was, While theres Life, theres hope. The new magazine set forth its principles and policies to its readers and we shall try to domesticate as much as possible of the casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world. The magazine was a success and soon attracted the leading contributors. Among the most important was Charles Dana Gibson, three years after the magazine was founded, the Massachusetts native first sold Life a drawing for $4, a dog outside his kennel howling at the moon. Encouraged by a publisher who was also an artist, Gibson was joined in Life early days by such illustrators as Palmer Cox
Life Magazine
–
Cover art for Life, 27 January 1910 issue, illustration by
Coles Phillips.
Life Magazine
–
Logo of Life magazine
Life Magazine
–
A cover of the earlier Life magazine from 1911
Life Magazine
–
1922 cover, "The
Flapper " by F. X. Leyendecker
27.
Caporegime
–
Caporegime is an Italian word, which is used to signify the head of a family in Sicily, but has now come to mean a ranking member, similar to captain or senior sergeant in a military unit. In general, the indicates the head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate who commands a crew of soldiers. The Mafia, particularly the American Mafia, is divided into distinct. Individual crew members report to the capo, the crew collects protection and other money for the capo, who at regular intervals gives a share of the collected money to the underboss and/or the boss. Estimates of average income of a capo varies and is difficult to quantify, income is dependent on the success and size of a capos crew and the state of the economy at the time. Mafia crews are usually independent from other, with members typically operating strictly within their own crew. Asking Mafia members how many crews and how individuals are in a family is prohibited because of the Mafias oath of secrecy. Sometimes a crew might specialize in areas like gambling, while other crews might be more involved in legitimate interests like construction. A crew might also operate in certain geographical areas, the number of caporegimes/crews depends on the size of a family. The Gambino crime family has had more than 20 capos whereas the St. Louis crime family has had fewer, in the Mafia, when a boss makes a decision, he passes instructions down through the chain of command. Whenever he issues orders, in most cases he gives them to the capo, in some cases, he gives orders to the consigliere, who in turn passes them to the capo. In either case, it is the capo who passes them to the soldiers in his crew, for years, this made it extremely difficult to indict a boss for illegal acts, since the soldiers almost never receive orders directly from him. A caporegime acts as a buffer between the soldiers and the boss, effectively, a caporegime operates his own small family within the framework of a larger family. Each capo is in charge of a mini-gang or a crew of soldiers and these men may or may not be based in close proximity. For example, Bonanno crime family capo Joey Gambino had crew members spread throughout New Yorks five boroughs, capos have varying degrees of power. Some are relatives or close friends of the boss, which gives them more influence, a capo with an active crew that generates a lot of profits is always respected. For example, when he was a capo, John Gotti was widely respected and tolerated due to the profits his crew generated for the Gambino crime family, despite their various blunders and mistakes, they successfully avoided getting killed by their superiors and were tolerated due to this fact. On the other hand, capo Joe Sferra of the DeCavalcante crime family was demoted to soldier, in 1984, a more severe loss of power occurred to Salvatore Salvie Testa, a once rising Philadelphia crime family capo
Caporegime
–
Structure of Mafia crime family
28.
Peter Clemenza
–
Peter Clemenza is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather and two of the three films based on it. He is played by Academy Award-nominee Richard Castellano in Francis Ford Coppolas film adaptation of the novel, born near Trapani, Sicily, Peter Clemenza is one of Don Vito Corleones caporegimes and oldest friends, as well as the godfather of his eldest son, Sonny. He has a reputation as a judge of talent, his regime produced no fewer than five future capos—Sonny, Frank Pentangeli, Rocco Lampone, Al Neri. He is a character in the story, but several of his actions are key to the plot. Vitos wife, Mrs. Corleone, is the girls god-mother, Clemenza assigns the job to his button man Paulie Gatto, who recruits two former professional boxers turned Corleone Family loan enforcers to assist. A deleted scene from the film depicts Gatto delivering the beating, when the family discovers that Gatto helped Virgil Sollozzo and the Tattaglia Family set up Vito to be assassinated, Sonny orders Clemenza to execute him. Clemenza considers Gattos actions a personal insult, having recruited and personally groomed him, according to the novel, Sonny Corleone initially suspects Clemenza was involved in the conspiracy, but Clemenza is eventually cleared. Clemenza chooses Rocco Lampone, then an associate, to do the hit on Gatto so Lampone can make his bones. Clemenza has Gatto drive him and Lampone around for hours on the pretext of locating housing for Corleone soldiers in the event war breaks out with the other crime families. After Lampone shoots Gatto, Clemenza—upon returning to the car after relieving himself—utters his most famous line in the film, the plan succeeds, and while Michael hides in Sicily, Clemenza prepares for an all-out war against the remaining four families. The war ultimately claims Sonnys life, and Vito resumes his leadership role, upon returning to New York, Michael succeeds his father as the familys operating head. Michael agrees, but insists they wait a short while longer, when Michael is targeted for assassination by Don Emilio Barzini, who was behind Sonnys murder, Clemenza is initially suspected of being the Corleone family traitor. Tessio is the traitor, and he is killed, Clemenza, on Michaels orders, personally murders both Don Victor Stracci and Carlo Rizzi, Michaels brother-in-law, who conspired with Barzini to murder Sonny. In the book, Clemenza is last seen greeting Michael as Don Corleone, Clemenza appears briefly in Puzos second Godfather installment, The Sicilian. He meets with Michael during his exile in Sicily, at his brother Domenico Clemenzas home in Trapani and they discuss what the fate of Turi Giuliano is to be, following the orders of a recovering Vito Corleone. Clemenza tells Michael that he should report to him after a week, with or without Giuliano, Clemenza then leaves on a boat to Tunis, telling Michael that he would be back the following day to bring him back to date with the Dons orders. Clemenzas gradual takeover of the Corleone empire in New York is briefly covered in The Godfather Returns and it also tells of Clemenzas involvement during Michaels return from exile and eventual, official initiation into the Corleone crime family. Most noteworthy, the novel depicts Clemenzas fatal heart attack, the Pentangeli character was created to play the role intended for Clemenza
Peter Clemenza
–
Richard S. Castellano portraying Peter Clemenza in
The Godfather
29.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
Sicily
–
Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
Sicily
–
Sicily Sicilia
Sicily
–
Sicilian landscape
Sicily
–
Location of the
Salso
30.
Syracuse, Sicily
–
Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture and this 2, 700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, the city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, described by Cicero as the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all, it equaled Athens in size during the fifth century BC. It later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire, after this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860, in the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people, the inhabitants are known as Siracusans. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28,12 as Paul stayed there, the patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy, she was born in Syracuse and her feast day, Saint Lucys Day, is celebrated on 13 December. Syracuse was founded in 734 or 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea, there are many attested variants of the name of the city including Συράκουσαι Syrakousai, Συράκοσαι Syrakosai and Συρακώ Syrako. The nucleus of the ancient city was the island of Ortygia. The settlers found the fertile and the native tribes to be reasonably well-disposed to their presence. The city grew and prospered, and for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean, colonies were founded at Akrai, Kasmenai, Akrillai, Helorus and Kamarina. The descendants of the first colonists, called Gamoroi, held power until they were expelled by the Killichiroi, the former, however, returned to power in 485 BC, thanks to the help of Gelo, ruler of Gela. Gelo himself became the despot of the city, and moved many inhabitants of Gela, Kamarina and Megera to Syracuse, building the new quarters of Tyche, the enlarged power of Syracuse made unavoidable the clash against the Carthaginians, who ruled western Sicily. In the Battle of Himera, Gelo, who had allied with Theron of Agrigento, a temple dedicated to Athena, was erected in the city to commemorate the event. Syracuse grew considerably during this time and its walls encircled 120 hectares in the fifth century, but as early as the 470s BC the inhabitants started building outside the walls. The complete population of its territory approximately numbered 250,000 in 415 BC, Gelo was succeeded by his brother Hiero, who fought against the Etruscans at Cumae in 474 BC. His rule was eulogized by poets like Simonides of Ceos, Bacchylides and Pindar, a democratic regime was introduced by Thrasybulos
Syracuse, Sicily
–
Ortygia island, where Syracuse was founded in
ancient Greek times.
Mount Etna is visible in the distance.
Syracuse, Sicily
–
A Syracusan
tetradrachm (c. 415–405 BC), sporting
Arethusa and a
quadriga.
Syracuse, Sicily
–
Decadrachme from Sicile struck at Syracuse and sign d'Évainète
Syracuse, Sicily
–
The siege of Syracuse in a 17th-century engraving.
31.
Las Vegas, Nevada
–
The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and it is the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World and it is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the worlds most visited tourist destinations. The citys tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century, population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85. 2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to a 2013 estimate, perhaps the earliest visitors to the Las Vegas area were nomadic Paleo-Indians, who traveled there 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Anasazi and Paiute tribes followed at least 2,000 years ago, a young Mexican scout named Rafael Rivera is credited as the first non-Native American to encounter the valley, in 1829. Trader Antonio Armijo led a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, the area was named Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows, as it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as desert spring waters for westward travelers. The year 1844 marked the arrival of John C, frémont, whose writings helped lure pioneers to the area. Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Street is named after him, eleven years later members of the LDS Church chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward, the remainder of this Old Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres of adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city,1931 was a pivotal year for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks and this year also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935, in 1941, the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School was established. Currently known as Nellis Air Force Base, it is home to the team called the Thunderbirds
Las Vegas, Nevada
–
In order from top left, clockwise: 1.
World Market Center Las Vegas; 2.
Fremont East; 3.
Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health; 4.
Smith Center for the Performing Arts; 5.
Downtown Las Vegas with the
Las Vegas Valley in the background; 6.
Grand Central Parkway Interchange; 7.
Symphony Park; 8.
Downtown Arts District; 9.
Las Vegas industrial district looking North away from the
Las Vegas Strip during
First Friday
Las Vegas, Nevada
–
Southern
Paiutes at
Moapa wearing traditional Paiute basket hats with Paiute cradleboard and rabbit robe
Las Vegas, Nevada
–
Golden Nugget and
Pioneer Club along
Fremont Street in 1952.
Las Vegas, Nevada
–
Astronaut photograph of Las Vegas at night
32.
Nevada
–
Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
Nevada
–
The quartzite of the Prospect Mountain Formation on top of Jeff Davis Peak in
Great Basin National Park
Nevada
–
Flag
Nevada
–
Mountains west of Las Vegas in the
Mojave Desert
Nevada
–
Vegetation at Timber Creek in the
Schell Creek Range
33.
Salvatore Tessio
–
Salvatore Sal Tessio is a fictional character in Mario Puzos 1969 novel The Godfather, as well as two of the films based on it, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. His given name was created for the films, in the novel he is referred to only as Tessio, in the film The Godfather, Tessio was portrayed by Abe Vigoda. In The Godfather Part II, John Aprea portrayed the younger Tessio, while Vigoda reprised the role in a flashback, set in late 1941, Tessio has also appeared in the 2004 novel The Godfather Returns and the 2006 video game The Godfather. Tessio and friends Peter Clemenza and Vito Corleone begin their careers as low-level hoodlums in the New York City neighborhood of Little Italy in Manhattan. As Corleone rises to power and prominence in the Mafia underworld, Tessio, Tessio, well-connected throughout the borough, owns the Embassy Club in Brooklyn, his base of operations for his Mafia soldiers. Most federal investigators consider Tessio the smarter, savvier and more ruthless of the Corleone capos, however, according to the book, he mellows considerably over the decade of peace between New Yorks Mafia families. He is the Corleone Familys most trusted capo during the war with the Five Families and is issued the task of assassinating Bruno Tattaglia, in the novel, Tessio is depicted as thinking more highly of Michael Corleone than do Clemenza and Tom Hagen. However, he never completely trusts Michael, and is frustrated when Michael prevents him from retaliating against Emilio Barzini as the Barzini family chips away at his bailiwick in Brooklyn, ultimately, Tessio betrays Michael by helping arrange his assassination at a peace summit with Barzini and Philip Tattaglia. The summit will be held on Tessios fiefdom in Brooklyn, where Michael will presumably be safe, in return, Tessio was to inherit the Corleone family upon Michaels death. In the novel, Tessio helps broker the summit shortly after Vitos death, in the film, Tessio approaches Michael about setting up the peace summit at Vitos funeral. Michael already anticipated the plot via his fathers warning, whoever approached Michael about the summit would be the family traitor. Tessios betrayal surprised Hagen, who thought Clemenza would betray Michael, Michael tells him, Its the smart move, Tessio was always smarter. A few days later, Tessio is ready to escort Michael, a frustrated Tessio says it interferes with his arrangements. Hagen says he cannot go either, and several button men surround Tessio, immediately understanding his situation, Tessio wants Hagen to tell Michael that his betrayal was not personal, but simply business. Tessio also asks Hagen to get him off the hook, and he is taken away to be killed. In this novel, Geraci is chosen and intended to succeed him as capo, in the video game adaptation, Tessio is the main hit contractor for the first half of the games story. Later, after he is confronted by Tom Hagen and Cicci, Tessio is escorted to the place where he was to betray Michael by the games protagonist and he subsequently flees, but is hunted down and shot by Trapani. In the game, Tessios death takes place before the baptism executions, unlike in the film
Salvatore Tessio
–
Abe Vigoda portraying Salvatore Tessio
34.
American Mafia
–
The American Mafia, also referred to as the Italian Mafia or the Italian-American Mafia, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society. The organization is referred to by members as Cosa Nostra or La Cosa Nostra. The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished Italian immigrant neighborhoods in New Yorks East Harlem, Lower East Side and it has its roots in the Sicilian Mafia but is a separate organization in the United States. Today, the American Mafia cooperates in various activities with Italian organized crime groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia, Camorra in Naples. The most important unit of the American Mafia is that of a family, despite the name of family to describe the various units, they are not familial groupings. The Mafia is currently most active in the Northeastern U. S. especially in New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New England while also being active in Chicago and Florida. At the Mafias peak, there were at least 26 cities around the United States with Cosa Nostra families, with many more offshoots and associates in other cities. There are five main New York City Mafia families, known as the Five Families, the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno, at its peak, the Mafia dominated organized crime in the U. S. Each crime family has its own territory and operates independently, while nationwide coordination is overseen by the Commission, the term Mafia was originally used in Italy by the media and law enforcement to describe criminal groups in Sicily. The origins of the term are debatable though most agree the term is derived from the word Maafir a term rooted in Arabic, like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia did not use the term Mafia to describe itself. Neither group has a name and instead used the term cosa nostra when referring to themselves. Mafia properly refers to either the Sicilian or Italian-American Mafia, kennedys political team, referred to as the Irish Mafia. The press also coined the name National Crime Syndicate to refer to the network of U. S. organized crime, which includes the Jewish Mafia elements. The first published account of what became the Mafia in the United States dates to the spring of 1869, emigration from southern Italy to the Americas was primarily to Brazil and Argentina, and New Orleans had a heavy volume of port traffic to and from both locales. The Black Hand was a given to an extortion method used in Italian neighborhoods at the turn of the 20th century. It has been mistaken for the Mafia itself, which it is not. The Black Hand was a society, but there were many small Black Hand gangs. Black Hand extortion was often viewed as the activity of a single organization because Black Hand criminals in Italian communities throughout the United States used the methods of extortion
American Mafia
–
Al Capone 's violent rise to power in
Chicago and the media attention it brought made him a lasting figure of the prohibition era and organized crime in general.
American Mafia
–
FBI chart of American Mafia bosses across the country in 1963.
American Mafia
–
Charles "Lucky" Luciano in 1948
American Mafia
–
Sammy Gravano
35.
Hand-kissing
–
Hand-kissing is a gesture indicating courtesy, politeness, respect, admiration or even devotion by one person toward another. The person kissing bows towards the offered hand and touches the knuckles with their lips, however, the lips do not actually touch the hand in modern tradition, especially in a formal environment where any intimate or romantic undertones could be vastly inappropriate. The gesture is short, lasting less than a second, hand-kissing has become rare and is mostly restricted to the conservative upper class or diplomats. In Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, hand-kissing is a way to greet elder people of both genders, primarily the closest relatives and teachers. Occasionally, after kissing the hand, the greeter will draw the hand to his own forehead, the hand-kiss is used quite prominently in The Godfather series, as a way to indicate the person who is the Don. It also features in epoch films, such as Dangerous Liaisons, a hand-kiss was considered a respectful way for gentleman to greet a lady. The practice originated in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Spanish courts of the 17th and 18th centuries, the gesture is still at times observed in Central and Eastern Europe, namely, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Russia. Traditionally, the hand-kiss was initiated by a woman, who offered her hand to a man to kiss, the lady offering her hand was expected to be of the same or higher social status than the man. It was a gesture of courtesy and extreme politeness, and it was considered impolite, today, the practice is very uncommon in Northern European countries, and has been largely replaced by a kiss on the cheek or a handshake. Today, the hand-kiss is sometimes used as a gesture, usually in parting. It could be used to convey a feeling of a traditional and emotional attraction. The gesture could be misconstrued as a parody or mockery of the gesture, and indeed at times it may be used as such. It was also a gesture of submission or pledge of allegiance of man to man or as a diplomatic gesture. The gesture would indicate submission by kissing the ring, the persons symbol of authority. The gesture was common in the European upper class throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and it started to disappear in the 20th century, to be replaced by the egalitarian hand shake. However, former French president Jacques Chirac made hand-kissing his trademark, in the Roman Catholic Church, a Catholic meeting the Pope or a Cardinal, or even a lower-ranking prelate, will kiss the ring on his hand. This has become uncommon in circles not used to formal protocol, sometimes, the devout Catholic combines the hand kissing with kneeling on the left knee as an even stronger expression of filial respect for the clerically high-ranking father. The cleric may then in a way lay his other hand on the kissers head or even bless him/her by a manual cross sign
Hand-kissing
–
Denis Thatcher greets U.S.
First Lady Nancy Reagan by kissing her hand, 1988.
Hand-kissing
–
A nobleman kissing a lady's hand, by
Pietro Longhi, 1746
Hand-kissing
–
In the theatre, 19th/20th century
Hand-kissing
–
President of Brazil (2011–2019)
Dilma Rousseff and then-
Prince of Asturias during
her inaugural ceremony on 1 January 2011
36.
The Godfather Part II
–
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The Godfather Part II opened to mixed reviews critics, many of whom praised its cinematography while finding its nonlinear narrative disorganized. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, however, and became the first sequel to win for Best Picture and its six Oscar wins included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, both The Godfather Part II and its predecessor remain highly influential films in the gangster genre, and the former has been reevaluated. In 1997, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history, some have deemed it superior to the 1972 original. It was selected for preservation in the U. S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993, being deemed culturally, historically, the Godfather Part III, a later sequel, was released in 1990. In 1901, the family of nine-year-old Vito Andolini is killed in Corleone, Sicily, Vito escapes to New York City and is registered as Vito Corleone on Ellis Island. In 1958, during his sons First Communion party at Lake Tahoe, Corleone caporegime Frank Pentangeli is dismayed that Michael will not help him defend his Brooklyn territory against the Rosato brothers, who work for Michaels business partner Hyman Roth. That night, Michael leaves Nevada after surviving an assassination attempt at his home, in 1917, Vito Corleone lives in New York with his wife Carmela and son Sonny. He loses his job due to the nepotism of local extortionist Don Fanucci, Michael suspects Roth of planning the assassination, but meets with him in Miami and feigns ignorance. In New York, Pentangeli attempts to maintain Michaels façade by making peace with the Rosato family, on New Years Eve, he tries to have Roth and Roths right-hand man Johnny Ola killed, but Roth survives when Michaels bodyguard is discovered and shot by police. Michael accuses his brother Fredo of betrayal after Fredo inadvertently reveals that hed met with Ola previously, batista abruptly abdicates due to rebel advances, during the ensuing chaos, Michael, Fredo, and Roth separately escape to the United States. Back home, Michael learns that his wife Kay has miscarried, three years later, Vito and Carmela have had two more sons, Fredo and Michael. Vitos criminal conduct attracts the attention of Fanucci, who extorts him and his partners, Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio, wish to avoid trouble by paying in full, but Vito insists that he can convince Fanucci to accept a smaller payment by making him an offer he wont refuse. During a neighborhood festa, he stalks Fanucci to his apartment, in Washington, D. C. a Senate committee on organized crime is investigating the Corleone family. Having survived the attempt on his life, Pentangeli agrees to testify against Michael, who he believes had double-crossed him. Now a respected figure in his community, Vito is approached for help by a widow who is being evicted. After an unsuccessful negotiation with Vito, the landlord asks around, learns of Vitos reputation
The Godfather Part II
–
Theatrical release poster
The Godfather Part II
–
Original screenplay in the National Museum of the Cinema in
Turin
37.
Frank Pentangeli
–
Frank Frankie Five Angels Pentangeli is a fictional character from the film The Godfather Part II. In the film, he was portrayed by Michael V. Gazzo, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance and he gets his nickname from his last name, which is Greco-Italian for five angels. Born as Francesco Pentangeli in Partinico, Sicily, Pentangeli has a brother named Vincenzo who remains in the country. He was a top soldier in the regime of Peter Clemenza and he also moved into Vitos former estate in Long Beach, Long Island. His bodyguard is longtime soldier Willi Cicci, in The Godfather, Part II, Frank Pentangeli is portrayed as a very old associate and family friend who has been with the family since the early days of the Corleone olive oil business. Pentangelis character was conceived in The Godfather, Part II by Coppola, the Pentangeli character took the part in the plot which was originally intended for Clemenza. Michael refuses, however, and orders Pentangeli to do nothing, as he not want a war to interfere with an upcoming deal with Hyman Roth. Pentangeli takes this as an insult and leaves in anger, later that night, Michael narrowly escapes an assassination attempt at his home. Michael concludes on his own that Roth was behind the assassination attempt, after visiting Florida to seal the deal with Roth, Michael pays an unannounced visit to Pentangeli on Long Island and asks him to help take his revenge. As part of his plan, he insists that Pentangeli capitulate to the Rosato brothers so that Roth will not suspect that Michael is on to him. Pentangeli, preferring open warfare against Roth and the Rosatos, is again very aggravated by Michaels demand that Pentangeli give in to them, however, he reluctantly obeys Michaels order. Following Michaels orders, Pentangeli arranges a meeting with the Rosato brothers, arriving at the meeting place, Pentangeli leaves his bodyguard outside and enters the bar alone. Once inside, Tony Rosato ambushes Pentangeli with a garotte, telling him, a policeman, curious that the bar is occupied during the daytime, steps inside and the attack degenerates into a shootout in the street. Pentangeli disappears and is believed to be dead, both Pentangeli and Cicci have been in the protective custody of the FBI since the apparent attempt upon his life. Cicci has also disclosed this to the FBI, however, he is unable to directly implicate Michael in any criminal activities, due to buffers in the Corleone organization he never received orders directly from Michael. In contrast, since Pentangeli was a capo, there is no insulation between Michael and himself, the Senate subcommittee and the FBI thus consider Pentangeli very credible, and are certain that he can corroborate Ciccis testimony and charge Michael with perjury. While the Committee is in recess, Michael and others look for a way to avoid the perjury charges, Michael knows that Pentangelis protective custody is too secure to make an attempt on his life before he testifies. Instead, Michael flies Pentangelis brother, Vincenzo, in from Sicily, Vincenzo and Frank exchange a silent glance before the hearing
Frank Pentangeli
–
Michael V. Gazzo portraying Frank Pentangeli
38.
Hyman Roth
–
Hyman Roth is a fictional character and the main antagonist in The Godfather Part II and a minor character in the novel The Godfather Returns. He is a Jewish investor and a partner of Vito Corleone. He is based on Florida mobster Meyer Lansky and was played by Lee Strasberg in the movie, Roths background is supplied in a deleted scene in The Godfather Part II. In this scene, set in Little Italy, New York in the early 1920s and he is noticed by Peter Clemenza, who has been calling him Johnny Lips. Clemenza introduces him to Vito Corleone, who suggests that he change his name, when Vito asks him whom he admires, Suchowsky says Arnold Rothstein for fixing the 1919 World Series, accordingly, he changes his last name to Roth. Expository dialogue later in the film explains that Roth worked diligently with the Corleone family during Prohibition, and was a friend and ally of Moe Greene. Roth, as well as Don Corleone, started out running molasses out of Havana and it is suggested that Vito never fully trusted Roth, nor did many of his associates, including Frank Pentangeli. By the timeline of this film, Roth is based in Miami, Roth secretly plans to assassinate Michael, partly to avenge Moe Greenes murder. Roth instructs Ola to befriend Michaels brother Fredo, who inadvertently provides Ola information about Michael that enables them to mount an attack at his Nevada compound, Michael quickly realizes that Roth perpetrated the murder plot. Remembering his fathers advice to keep close, he maintains a good business relationship with Roth. Michael also suspects a mole within the Corleone family aided Roth, during New Years Eve 1958/9, the last night of Batistas rule, Michael orders Roth killed, confiding to Fredo that Roth will not see the New Year. Just as Michaels bodyguard Busetta attempts to smother Roth in the hospital, Batistas soldiers storm the facility, moments later, Fidel Castros army enters the city, overthrowing the Batista regime, ruining Roth and Michaels plans. Shortly before the Cuban fiasco, the U. S. Senate begins hearings on organized crime and he survives and, believing Michael ordered the attack, agrees to testify against the Corleone Family at a Senate hearing. The hearing is really a set piece arranged by Roth in hopes of removing Michael from the scene, as a counter-move, Michael has Pentangelis brother, Vincenzo, flown in from Italy to coerce Petangelis silence, thus destroying the governments case against Michael. Roth is last seen at the Miami airport, where he states that he wishes to retire. His request is rejected by the Israeli High Court, reportedly due to his criminal ties, Michael arranges to have Roth killed at the airport where he is about to be taken into U. S. Federal custody. Minutes after disembarking the plane, he is shot by Michaels caporegime Rocco Lampone. Rocco is killed by agents as he is escaping
Hyman Roth
–
Lee Strasberg portraying Hyman Roth
39.
Cuba
–
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
Cuba
–
Hatuey, an early
Taíno chief of Cuba.
Cuba
–
Flag
Cuba
–
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar,
conquistador of Cuba.
Cuba
–
Slaves in Cuba unloading ice from Maine, c. 1832.
40.
First Communion
–
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, as well as in parts of the Lutheran Church. In churches that celebrate First Communion, it occurs between the ages of seven and thirteen, often acting as a rite of passage. Catholics believe this event to be important, as the Eucharist occupies a central role in Catholic theology. First Communion is not celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches, or the Assyrian Church of the East, some Anglicans allow infant communion, while others require the previous reception of confirmation, usually during the teenage years. Celebration of this ceremony is typically less elaborate in many Protestant churches. Roman Catholics and some Protestants believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, other denominations have varying understandings, ranging from the Eucharist being a symbolic meal to a meal of remembering Christs last supper. The sacrament of First Communion is an important tradition for Catholic families, for Catholics, Holy Communion is the third of seven sacraments received. It occurs only after receiving Baptism, and once the person has reached the age of reason first confession must precede the first reception of the Eucharist, traditions of celebration surrounding First Communion usually include large family gatherings and parties to celebrate the event. The first communicant wears special clothing, the clothing is often white to symbolize purity, but not in all cultures. Girls often wear fancy dresses and an attached to a wreath of flowers or hair ornament. In other communities, girls commonly wear dresses passed down to them from sisters or mothers, boys may wear a suit, or tuxedo, or their Sunday best, or national dress. In many Latin American countries, boys wear military-style dress uniforms with gold braid aiguillettes, in Switzerland both boys and girls wear plain white robes with brown wooden crosses around their necks. In Spain, Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, girls are dressed up as, so to speak, in Scotland, boys traditionally wear kilts and other traditional Scottish dress which accompany the kilt. Gifts of a nature are usually given, such as rosaries and prayer books, in addition to religious statues, icons. Many families have formal professional photographs taken in addition to candid snapshots in order to commemorate the event, some churches arrange for a professional photographer after the ceremony. During the communist era, dominant societies initiation into the movement in communist countries that had large Catholic populations was an overt attempt to supplant the Catholic ritual. In all cases, a child at the age of seven to ten is initiated as a member of a group within which the individuals share certain values and culture
First Communion
–
A young boy receiving his First Communion in Florida
First Communion
–
A group photo of children from Holyrood School at their First Communion,
Swindon,
Wiltshire,
England, in 1949.
First Communion
–
A little girl photographed for First Communion in
Italy, c. 1919.
First Communion
–
An Indian girl receiving her First Communion
41.
Fulgencio Batista
–
Fulgencio Batista Zaldívar was the elected President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and U. S. -backed dictator from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown during the Cuban Revolution. Fulgencio Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants that overthrew the rule of Gerardo Machado. He then appointed chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel. He maintained this control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940 and he then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba, considered progressive for its time, and served until 1944. After finishing his term he lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952, facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually it reached the point where most of the industry was in U. S. hands. During the Cuban Revolution, Batistas forces were responsible for the deaths of anywhere from hundreds to four thousand people, Batista immediately fled the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power. Batista eventually found political asylum in Oliveira Salazars Portugal, where he lived until his death on August 6,1973, near Marbella and he was of Spanish, African and Chinese descent. His mother named him Rubén and gave him her last name and his father did not want to register him as a Batista. Both Batistas parents are believed to have been of mixed race, Batista was initially educated at a public school in Banes, and later attended night classes at an American Quaker school. He left home at age 14, after the death of his mother, coming from a humble background, he earned a living as a laborer in the cane fields, docks, and railroads. He was a tailor, mechanic, charcoal vendor and fruit peddler, in 1921, he traveled to Havana and joined the army as a private in April that year. After learning shorthand and typing, Batista left the army in 1923 and he transferred back to the army as a corporal, becoming secretary to a regimental colonel. In 1933, Batista led an uprising called the Revolt of the Sergeants, Machado was succeeded by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, who lacked a political coalition that could sustain him and was soon replaced. A short-lived five-member presidency, known as the Pentarchy of 1933, was established and it included a representative from each anti-Machado faction. Batista was not a member, but controlled Cubas armed forces, the majority of the commissioned officer corps were forced to retire or, some speculate, were killed. Grau remained president for just over 100 days before Batista, conspiring with the U. S. envoy Sumner Welles, Grau was replaced by Carlos Mendieta, and within five days the U. S. recognized Cubas new government, which lasted eleven months
Fulgencio Batista
–
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
–
A young Batista
Fulgencio Batista
–
The
Pentarchy of 1933 was a five-man Presidency of Cuba, including José M. Irisari, Porfirio Franca, Guillermo Portela,
Ramón Grau, and Sergio Carbó. Fulgencio Batista, who controlled the armed forces, appears at far right.
Fulgencio Batista
–
Batista (left) with his first wife
Elisa Godinez-Gómez on a 1938 visit to Washington, D.C., greeting the
Cuban ambassador, Dr. Pedro Fraga
42.
Cuban Revolution
–
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castros 26th of July Movement and its allies against the right-wing authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953, and continued sporadically until the rebels finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, the 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October 1965. Castro’s organized attack set up on the end of Santiago de Cuba against the military barracks ended in despair. The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions, in particular, it transformed Cubas relationship with the United States. Efforts to improve diplomatic relations have gained momentum in recent years, in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castros government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed Cubas economy and civil society. The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban intervention in military conflicts, including the Angolan Civil War. Although Batista had been relatively progressive during his first term, in the 1950s he proved far more dictatorial, Batista developed a powerful security infrastructure to silence political opponents. In the months following the March 1952 coup, Fidel Castro, then a lawyer and activist, petitioned for the overthrow of Batista. However, Castros constitutional arguments were rejected by the Cuban courts, after deciding that the Cuban regime could not be replaced through legal means, Castro resolved to launch an armed revolution. Striking their first blow against the Batista government, Fidel and Raúl Castro gathered 123 Movement fighters, on 26 July 1953, the rebels attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago and the barracks in Bayamo, only to be decisively defeated by government soldiers. The staged attack was in hope to spark a revolt against Batista’s government. He had around 150 factory and farm workers, after an hour of fighting the rebel leader fled to the mountains. Due to the large number of men, Hunt revised the number to be around 60 members taking at the opportunity to flee to the mountains along with Castro. Among the dead was Abel Santamaría, Castros second-in-command, who was imprisoned, tortured, numerous key Movement revolutionaries, including the Castro brothers, were captured shortly afterwards. In a highly political trial, Fidel spoke for four hours in his defense, ending with the words Condemn me. Through Castro’s defense he used nationalism, the representation and beneficial programs for the non-elite Cubans, Fidel was sentenced to 15 years in the Presidio Modelo prison, located on Isla de Pinos, while Raúl was sentenced to 13 years. However, in 1955, under political pressure, the Batista government freed all political prisoners in Cuba. Fidels Jesuit childhood teachers succeeded in persuading Batista to include Fidel, soon, the Castro brothers joined with other exiles in Mexico to prepare for the overthrow of Batista, receiving training from Alberto Bayo, a leader of Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War
Cuban Revolution
–
Revolutionary leaders
Che Guevara (left) and
Fidel Castro (right) in 1961.
Cuban Revolution
–
Raúl Castro (left), with his arm around his second-in-command,
Ernesto "Che" Guevara, in their Sierra de Cristal mountain stronghold in
Oriente Province, Cuba, in 1958.
Cuban Revolution
–
Map of Cuba showing the location of the arrival of the rebels on the
Granma in late 1956, the rebels' stronghold in the
Sierra Maestra, and Guevara and Cienfuegos's route towards
Havana via
Las Villas Province in December 1958.
Cuban Revolution
–
Fidel Castro (far left) and
Che Guevara (centre) lead a memorial march in Havana on 5 May 1960, for the victims of the
La Coubre freight ship explosion.
43.
Miami
–
Miami is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Miamis metro area is the eighth-most populous, Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Groups inventory, in 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities, in 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami Americas Cleanest City, for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, Miami is nicknamed the Capital of Latin America and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U. S. with over 300 high-rises, Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies. The Civic Center is a center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the Cruise Capital of the World, has been the number one cruise port in the world. It accommodates some of the worlds largest cruise ships and operations, Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U. S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach. The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes, the Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B. C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River, in 1566 the explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567, Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress, the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. Miami is noted as the major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower. The Miami area was known as Biscayne Bay Country in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness, the area was also characterized as one of the finest building sites in Florida. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miamis growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region
Miami
–
From top, left to right: Skyline of
Downtown,
Freedom Tower,
Villa Vizcaya,
Miami Tower,
Virginia Key Beach,
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts,
AmericanAirlines Arena,
PortMiami, the Moon over Miami
Miami
–
The
Freedom Tower of 1925 is Miami's historical
landmark.
Miami
–
Approximately 400 men voted for Miami's incorporation in 1896 in the building to the left.
Miami
–
The mouth of the
Miami River at
Brickell Key
44.
U.S. Senate
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The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
U.S. Senate
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United States Senate
U.S. Senate
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Seal of the U.S. Senate
U.S. Senate
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The Senate side of the
United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Senate
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A typical Senate desk
45.
Organized crime
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Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for so-called protection, gangs may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization or gang can also be referred to as a mafia, mob, or crime syndicate, European sociologists define the mafia as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi law enforcement. There is a tendency to distinguish organized crime from other forms of crime, such as crime, financial crimes, political crimes, war crime, state crimes. This distinction is not always apparent and academics continue to debate the matter, for example, in failed states that can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance, organised crime, governance and war sometimes complement each other. The term Oligarchy has been used to describe democratic countries whose political, social and economic institutions come under the control of a few families, in the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act defines organized crime as he unlawful activities of a highly organized, disciplined association. Criminal activity as a process is referred to as racketeering. In the UK, police estimate that organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups, bureaucratic/corporate organized crime groups are defined by the general rigidity of their internal structures. An estimate on youth street gangs nationwide provided by Hannigan, et al. marked an increase of 35% between 2002 and 2010, the term “street gang” is commonly used interchangeably with “youth gang, ” referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet “gang” criteria. Some reasons youth join gangs include to feel accepted, attain status, a sense of unity brings together many of the youth gangs that lack the family aspect at home. Zones of transition are deteriorating neighborhoods with shifting populations, in such areas, conflict between groups, fighting, turf wars, and theft promote solidarity and cohesion. Participation in gang-related events during adolescence perpetuate a pattern of maltreatment on their own children years later, klein like Spergel studied the effects on members of social workers’ interventions. More interventions actually lead to greater participation and solidarity and bonds between members. Downes and Rock on Parker’s analysis, strain theory applies, labeling theory, control theory and these may also be defined by age or peer group influences, and the permanence or consistency of their criminal activity. These groups also form their own identity or public representation which are recognizable by the community at large. Some studied street gangs involved in drug dealing - finding that their structure, members saw themselves as organized criminals, gangs were formal-rational organizations, Strong organizational structures, well defined roles and rules that guided members’ behavior. Also a specified and regular means of income, padilla agreed with the two above. However some have found these to be rather than well-defined and lacking persistent focus, there was relatively low cohesion, few shared goals
Organized crime
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Criminology and
penology
Organized crime
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Jamaican gang leader
Christopher Coke
Organized crime
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Mexican drug cartels and their areas of influence.
Organized crime
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Tattooed
Yakuza gangsters
46.
Johnny Ola
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The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The Godfather Part II opened to mixed reviews critics, many of whom praised its cinematography while finding its nonlinear narrative disorganized. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, however, and became the first sequel to win for Best Picture and its six Oscar wins included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, both The Godfather Part II and its predecessor remain highly influential films in the gangster genre, and the former has been reevaluated. In 1997, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history, some have deemed it superior to the 1972 original. It was selected for preservation in the U. S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993, being deemed culturally, historically, the Godfather Part III, a later sequel, was released in 1990. In 1901, the family of nine-year-old Vito Andolini is killed in Corleone, Sicily, Vito escapes to New York City and is registered as Vito Corleone on Ellis Island. In 1958, during his sons First Communion party at Lake Tahoe, Corleone caporegime Frank Pentangeli is dismayed that Michael will not help him defend his Brooklyn territory against the Rosato brothers, who work for Michaels business partner Hyman Roth. That night, Michael leaves Nevada after surviving an assassination attempt at his home, in 1917, Vito Corleone lives in New York with his wife Carmela and son Sonny. He loses his job due to the nepotism of local extortionist Don Fanucci, Michael suspects Roth of planning the assassination, but meets with him in Miami and feigns ignorance. In New York, Pentangeli attempts to maintain Michaels façade by making peace with the Rosato family, on New Years Eve, he tries to have Roth and Roths right-hand man Johnny Ola killed, but Roth survives when Michaels bodyguard is discovered and shot by police. Michael accuses his brother Fredo of betrayal after Fredo inadvertently reveals that hed met with Ola previously, batista abruptly abdicates due to rebel advances, during the ensuing chaos, Michael, Fredo, and Roth separately escape to the United States. Back home, Michael learns that his wife Kay has miscarried, three years later, Vito and Carmela have had two more sons, Fredo and Michael. Vitos criminal conduct attracts the attention of Fanucci, who extorts him and his partners, Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio, wish to avoid trouble by paying in full, but Vito insists that he can convince Fanucci to accept a smaller payment by making him an offer he wont refuse. During a neighborhood festa, he stalks Fanucci to his apartment, in Washington, D. C. a Senate committee on organized crime is investigating the Corleone family. Having survived the attempt on his life, Pentangeli agrees to testify against Michael, who he believes had double-crossed him. Now a respected figure in his community, Vito is approached for help by a widow who is being evicted. After an unsuccessful negotiation with Vito, the landlord asks around, learns of Vitos reputation
Johnny Ola
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Dominic Chianese portraying Johnny Ola
47.
Al Neri
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Albert Al Neri is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather and Francis Ford Coppolas trilogy of films based on it. In all three motion pictures, he is portrayed by actor Richard Bright and he functions as Michael Corleones personal enforcer and assassin. In the novel The Godfather, Neri begins his career as a New York City police officer, where he earns a reputation for a temper, quick reflexes. He frequently patrols with a flashlight, which he uses to assault Italian youths who run with gangs or shattering the windshields of diplomats who disregard traffic or parking laws. After his wife leaves him, Neri kills a drug dealer, tom Hagen and Peter Clemenza see Neri as a potential replacement for Luca Brasi, Vito Corleones feared enforcer, and arrange his release from prison. Normally, policemen are barred from becoming made men, but they were impressed enough with Neri to recommend that Michael intercede, Michael, appealing to Neris sense of loyalty and Sicilian-American roots, recruits him into Clemenzas regime. Clemenza is initially impressed by the ferocity that Neri displays in their first meeting, Neri later makes his bones and becomes Michaels chief lieutenant by personally murdering Moe Greene and Emilio Barzini on Michaels behalf. Neri carries out the murder while disguised in his old police uniform. When Michael and his move to Nevada, Neri becomes head of security for all hotels controlled by the Corleones. In the film version of The Godfather, Neris backstory is not mentioned and he does not say a word in the first film and following Michaels return from exile in Sicily, Neri becomes his bodyguard, accompanying him everywhere. In the famous sequence, Neri, disguised in a police uniform, guns down Barzini and his bodyguards on the steps of a courthouse. However, the murder of Greene, which occurs simultaneously, is handled by another, in The Godfather Part II, Neri is portrayed as Michaels unofficial second-in-command in his operations in Nevada, and is one of Michaels capos along with Rocco Lampone and Frank Pentangeli. In a deleted scene, Neri is shown convincing Meyer Klingman, when Klingman protests, Neri slaps him in the face and pursues him through the casinos showroom, while casino security guards do nothing. During a Senate investigation of Michaels criminal syndicate, Neri is identified as a capo for the Corleone family on an organization chart. Neri also carries out the execution of Michaels brother Fredo, under Michaels orders, while out fishing together on Lake Tahoe, Neri shoots Fredo in the back of the head. When Michael retires and transfers control of the family to Vincent, Neri is the second to pledge his loyalty, after Calò, in Mark Winegardners novel The Godfathers Revenge, Neri and his nephew take part in an attempt to obtain information from antagonist Nick Geracis father. He is seriously wounded in a shootout at the end of the novel, in The Godfather, The Game, Neri is voiced by Gary Chalk. Al Neri at the Internet Movie Database
Al Neri
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Al Neri, as portrayed by
Richard Bright in
The Godfather Part II.
48.
Carmella Corleone
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Carmela Corleone, a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather, is the wife of Don Vito Corleone. Carmela is portrayed by Italian-American Morgana King in Francis Ford Coppolas film adaptation of the novel, King is better known as a singer and is given a brief chance to display her vocal skills in the wedding reception scene of The Godfather when she sings the song Luna MezzO Mare. Although King was born Maria Grazia Morgana Messina in Pleasantville, New York, her parents were from Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Province of Catania, Carmela was born in Sicily in 1897, and emigrated to the United States shortly after the turn of the century. She married Vito Corleone in 1914, they were married for just over 40 years until Vitos death in 1955 and they had four children – Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie. They also took care of a friend of Sonny, Tom Hagen, in the novel, Carmela Corleone is portrayed as a traditional Italian immigrant woman who speaks in very broken English. In the movies, however, she speaks fluent English as an adult, in the novel, she develops a close relationship with Michaels girlfriend and future wife, Kay. Carmela Corleone dies toward the end of the sequel, Carmela was disturbed by Vitos change from a kind, quiet young man to a pragmatic and ruthless criminal. However Carmela seems to forgive Vito for his crimes, because he remains essentially a good man who is devoted to his family. Devoutly Catholic, Carmela attends Mass every day to pray for her husbands soul to him from going down there. In The Godfather Part IIs flashback scenes, the young Carmela is portrayed by Francesca De Sapio, Carmela is a major character in the 2012 prequel novel The Family Corleone, which portrays their early years together, raising a family as Vito becomes a crime boss
Carmella Corleone
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Morgana King as Carmela Corleone
49.
John F. Kennedy International Airport
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John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport located near South Ozone Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States,12 miles southeast of Lower Manhattan. Over ninety airlines operate out of the airport, with non-stop or direct flights to destinations in all six inhabited continents, the airport features six passenger terminals and four runways. It serves as a hub for American Airlines and Delta Air Lines and is the operating base for JetBlue Airways. In the past, JFK served as a hub for Eastern, National, Pan Am, John F. Kennedy International Airport was originally Idlewild Airport after the Idlewild Beach Golf Course that it displaced. It was built to relieve LaGuardia Airport, which was overcrowded soon after opening in 1939. Construction began in 1943, and about $60 million was spent of governmental funding. In March 1948 the New York City Council changed the name to New York International Airport, Anderson Field, the Port Authority leased the JFK property from the City of New York in 1947 and maintains this lease today. The first airline flight from JFK was on July 1,1948, the Port Authority cancelled foreign airlines permits to use LaGuardia, forcing them to move to JFK during the next couple of years. JFK opened with six runways and a seventh under construction, runways 1L and 7L were held in reserve and never came into use as runways. Runway 31R is still in use, runway 31L opened soon after the rest of the airport and is still in use, runway 1R closed in 1957, runway 4 opened June 1949 and runway 4R was added ten years later. A smaller runway 14/32 was built after runway 7R closed and was used through 1990 by general aviation, STOL and smaller commuter flights. The Avro Jetliner was the first jetliner to land at JFK on April 18,1950, later in 1957 the USSR sought approval for two Tupolev Tu-104 flights carrying diplomats to JFK, the Port Authority did not allow them, saying noise tests had to be done first. The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24,1963, then-mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. proposed the renaming. The Port of New York Authority originally planned a single 55-gate terminal, architect Wallace Harrison then designed a master plan under which each major airline at the airport would be given its own space to develop its own terminal design. This scheme made construction more practical, made terminals more navigable, the revised plan met airline approval in 1955, with seven terminals initially planned—five for individual airlines, one developed for 3 airlines and an international arrivals building. The International Arrivals Building, or IAB, was the first new terminal at the airport, designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and opening in December 1957. Stretching nearly 700 meters parallel to runway 7R where Terminal 4 is now, it had finger piers at right-angles to the building allowing more aircraft to park. United Airlines opened Terminal 7, a Skidmore design similar to the IAB, Eastern Airlines opened its Chester L. Churchill-designed Terminal 1 a month later, it was demolished in 1995
John F. Kennedy International Airport
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John F. Kennedy International Airport - KJFK
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
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FAA airport diagram as of September 2014.
John F. Kennedy International Airport
