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"Leonard "Lenny" DiMaria (born 1941) also known as "Prateek" and "the Conductor", is a New York mobster and Caporegime in the Gambino crime family. He is considered by law enforcement to be a close associate of Nicholas Corozzo and has served as his right-hand-man for almost 30 years. Brooklyn gangster DiMaria was born to first-generation immigrants from Moliterno, province of Potenza, Italy. Before pursuing his life of crime, he worked as a railroad conductor for the Long Island Rail Road and employee of the New York and Atlantic Railway. These early jobs earned him the nickname "The Conductor". In the early 1980s, DiMaria became a soldier in the Gambino crime family, along with his driver Thomas "Spade" Muschio, age 24, who was incarcerated in 1983 to Raiford, Florida State Prison till his release in 1985, after the work release program he was then put on probation till 1988. Muschio now resides in North Carolina, and Toms River, New Jersey. Muschio was an upcoming member of the Gambino crime family at an early age. They both operated loansharking and extortion operations in both Queens and {Brooklyn} in the early days. They both soon became a close associate of Nicholas Corozzo. Muschio, was introduced into Organized Crime by Robert "Bobby Cabert" Bisaccia. In 1985, DiMaria, Corozzo, John Gotti, and other Gambino gangsters were indicted on racketeering charges in New York. During the trial, as each witness passed the defense table after testifying, DiMaria would stand, smile, extend his right hand, and say: "Gee, thanks for coming". In 1987, the defendants were acquitted. After Gotti was sent to prison in 1991, DiMaria was promoted to caporegime of a crew in Queens. In 1994, his fellow captain and associate Nick Corozzo became a member of the Gambino family Ruling Panel, which was meant to run the family with John Gotti in prison. DiMaria was then one of the main chiefs in the family, controlling everything from loansharking and illegal gambling, to racketeering and murder for hire. At age 53, DiMaria now had one of the best positions in the family, and soon began a lucrative partnership in Florida. South Florida and New York indictments In 1995, DiMaria, and Gambino capos Ralph Davino, Jr. and Anthony Ruggiano, Jr., together with Anthony "Tony Pep" Trentacosta, started operating in Florida on behalf of Corozzo. These three capos would be called the "South Florida Crew", operating from both New York and Florida. On December 18, 1996, DiMaria was arrested at his home in Flatlands, Brooklyn on loansharking and racketeering charges in Florida."Reputed new Gambino boss is arrested" New York Times December 19, 1996 While out on bail, DiMaria was indicted a month later on separate loansharking and racketeering charges in New York after a three-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The New York indictments were based partly on evidence gathered at the Portobello Soccer Club in Canarsie, Brooklyn. The club was a sting operation that purchased stolen designer clothing, computers, and other goods from Gambino mobsters."F.B.I. Agent Runs a Brooklyn Club to Snare a Mafia Outfit" New York Times January 24, 1997 DiMaria reportedly became friends with the FBI uncover agent who ran the sting and was seen hugging him on surveillance video. After six weeks in house arrest, DiMaria and Corozzo were sent to a federal lockup to await trials in New York and Florida. On November 3, 1997, DiMaria pleaded guilty to 15 New York charges, including racketeering, extortion and loansharking."Man Once Seen as Gotti's Chosen Successor Receives a 10-Year Prison Term" New York Times November 4, 1997 and received a 10-year prison sentence, to be served in Cumberland, Maryland. In January 1998, DiMaria pleaded guilty to the Florida charges."Loan Shark Gets 9 Years In Prison" Sun Sentinel.com January 15, 1998 Operation Old Bridge Released from prison in 2005, DiMaria returned to running racketeering and loansharking operations in Queens, Brooklyn, and South Florida for Corozzo and John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico. It was speculated that DiMaria might have become underboss. In February 2008, DiMaria was indicted in Operation Old Bridge, a massive federal investigation of the Gambino family. On June 4, 2008, DiMaria pleaded guilty to racketeering and extortion-related charges. DiMaria further admitted to conspiring to extort money from contractor/trucker Joseph Vollaro. Vollaro, a former Mafia associate, had become an informant to avoid prosecution and recorded conversations with other mobsters over a three-year period. DiMaria was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville. He was released from prison on August 31, 2012.Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator References Further reading *Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. *Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. *United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1988. External links *CNN.com FBI goes after Gotti's apparent successor Category:1941 births Category:American mobsters of Italian descent Category:American people of Lucanian descent Category:Incarcerated mobsters Category:Gambino crime family Category:Living people Category:American prisoners and detainees Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Category:People convicted of racketeering Category:American extortionists Category:People from Flatlands, Brooklyn Category:Conductor (rail) "
"Two boxes with hopjes Hopjes (; also referred to as Haagsche Hopjes, hopjes from The Hague) are a type of Dutch sweets with a slight coffee and caramel flavour that originated in the 18th century. The hopje is named after Baron Hendrik Hop who was recalled as an envoy in Brussels when the French invaded Belgium in 1792. He moved into rooms above the confectioners Van Haaren & Nieuwerkerk. He was addicted to coffee and the story goes that one night he left his coffee with sugar and cream on the heater, where it evaporated. On tasting the resulting substance, he loved it. His doctor advised him not to drink coffee so he asked the confectioner Theodorus van Haaren to make him some "lumps of coffee". After some experimenting, Van Haaren created a sweet made of coffee, caramel, cream and butter. The enthusiastic Baron Hop was keen to let his guests try his 'Hopjes', which quickly gained popularity. Van Haaren's successor eventually even got orders from abroad. A typical characteristic of the hopje is that it does not stick and that it does not go soft over time. The Hague had a museum called Museum voor het Haagsche Hopje, which was dedicated to the hopje and its history. The museum has now closed down. J.P. Rademaker copied the hopjes and marketed them as "the only real Haagsche Hopjes". He was the first to wrap the individual sweets in printed paper, which was not usual at the time. Rademaker and Nieuwerkerk litigated for many years. When the Rotterdam company Rademaker took Nieuwerkerk over in 1949 the dispute continued between the two Rademaker companies for 40 years, until a 1989 ruling from the Dutch Advertising Code Committee ordered Rademaker to desist from using the term "the only real Haagsche Hopjes". Currently Rademaker Hopjes wrappers display the phrase "Alleen Echt Met Dit Merk" (Dutch: "Only Real With This Brand") instead. Rademaker has been owned by RBV Leaf, part of the CSM group, since 1999. References Category:Dutch confectionery Category:Dutch words and phrases "
"Glass is a progressive rock trio from the Pacific Northwest who play complex original instrumental symphonic jazz-rock. The group consists of Greg Sherman (born 1954) on keyboards, vibes & Mellotron, his brother Jeff Sherman (b. 1952) on bass guitar, guitar, bass pedals and keyboards, and their childhood friend Jerry Cook (b. 1953) on drums and percussion. History Glass at the Court C Coffeehouse, 1972 Glass began in the 1960s as a Port Townsend-based rock band called The Vaguest Notion, playing covers and the occasional original piece. On September 6, 1968 they attended a Jimi Hendrix concert at the Seattle Center Coliseum where the opening act was the British band The Soft Machine. They were transfixed by The Soft Machine, a guitar-less power trio. Shortly thereafter The Vaguest Notion changed their name to Glass and began playing originals exclusively. In 1970 Jeff and Greg attended the Famous Arrangers Clinic in Las Vegas, further refining their song-writing skills. Moving to Olympia, Washington in 1971 to attend The Evergreen State College, they quickly became favorites on-campus for their spirited performances. Numerous live performances in and around Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Port Townsend and other Pacific Northwest venues (including the first-ever live broadcast concert on KAOS-FM) gave them considerable local attention and accolades. They received their best reception at the first Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concert in Seattle (January 22, 1971 at the Eagles Auditorium BuildingDescription of the Hendrix Memorial fundraiser from HistoryLink) where they were the only band to play totally original material. Professional studio recordings were made in 1975, which they then shopped around to various record labels in an attempt to land a record contract. =Dissolution= Unfortunately the mid-1970s was not a good time for rehearsal-intensive progressive rock. The music industry was being taken over by punk rock and disco to the point where even well-established rock acts were being dropped from their labels. Despite their well-honed local reputation, Glass was not offered a contract by any of the dozens of labels they approached on the West Coast and in New York City. Two members even undertook a trip to London in the summer of 1975 to speak with industry representatives in the birthplace of progressive rock, but if anything the economic and musical depression was even worse in England. In 1977 additional recordings were made at Seattle's premiere Kaye-Smith Studios, but despite very positive comments from everyone who heard them, no recording contract was forthcoming. Not for lack of trying. Disappointed and disillusioned, the band officially went into remission rather than compromise. The band members went their separate ways, to pursue solo careers (see Jeff Sherman (musician)), start families and generally pretend to be normal people. =Re-emergence= Twenty years passed. By the mid-1990s a full-scale progressive rock revival was brewing, thanks to the internet and the new economics of CD releases. Glass began contemplating a comeback and started testing the waters, contacting old fans, making new business connections. In 1999 rehearsals began, and the old spark was still there. Their old tapes were dusted off and digitized. Glass started their own small- run record label, the appropriately-named Relentless Pursuit Records, to release Glass music and solo recordings by the band members. After considerable digital cleanup and editing, a 2-CD boxed set of all of their professional (and some amateur) recordings from 1973–1977 was released, entitled No Stranger To The Skies.NSTTS review at Progressor Following the resounding success of that release a third volume was released the following year. NSTTS-III review at Geocities Several concerts were arranged and performed, not only in the Pacific Northwest but also in Mexico (BajaProg Festival in 2002 and 2004), ProgWest Festival (Claremont CA, 2001), and Progman Cometh Festival (Seattle 2002 and 2003). =Contract At Last= The acclaim garnered by their live performances attracted the attention of French independent progressive rock label Musea Records, who in 2004 offered to re- release No Stranger To The Skies and give it worldwide distribution. This release finally brought Glass global recognition. Simultaneously the Sherman brothers were brimming with ideas for new music, and began writing and rehearsing new material for their "first all-original album in 27 years." That album, Illuminations, was produced by keyboardist Greg Sherman and featured a cover photo by Glass's long-time engineer and sound man Erik Poulsen. It was released by Musea in 2005 to uniformly great reviews.Illuminations review at Aural Innovations Illuminations review at GeocitiesIlluminations review at ProgArchives Bringing the music full circle, Illuminations features guest appearances by some of the Canterbury scene's best musicians—the same movement that had originally sparked the formation of Glass some 37 years earlier—including Hugh Hopper (ex-Soft Machine), Richard Sinclair and Phil Miller. Glass live at Progman Cometh In October 2007 Glass embarked on their first-ever European tour to support their newly released live recording on Musea, Glass Live at Progman Cometh. Glass returned to the recording studio in 2008 and 2009 to record their 4th album for Musea, entitled Spectrum Principle. It was released worldwide on October 15, 2010. Produced by drummer Jerry Cook, it is a departure from their previous studio album Illuminations, featuring a wilder, more experimental sound.Spectrum Principle review at ProgNautSpectrum Principle review at Aural InnovationsSpectrum Principle review at ProgressoR In April 2011 Glass came back to their hometown of Port Townsend, Washington to record a "live in-the-studio" album. They booked the old Arcadia Barn, where they had recorded thirty-eight years earlier, now renovated and called "The Palindrome." Produced by bassist Jeff Sherman, the album was recorded in Zen style; the band did not undergo the usual months of pre-recording preparations but instead came together in the studio and played whatever ideas came to mind. These recordings were made largely on period instruments, in the old-fashioned way, directly to a two-track analog tape recorder, just as they had in 1973. They were also given permission to record inside The First Presbyterian Church of Port Townsend on their magnificent 1849 Whalley-Genung pipe organ. The album, titled Palindrome, was mastered by Michael King (engineer and author of "Wrong Movements: A Robert Wyatt Biography") and released in 2014 on Musea Records.Palindrome review at ProgArchivesYouTube video off Palindrome During March and April 2015 Glass laid down basic tracks for a new album, entitled Emergence. Produced by Greg Sherman, the album went through a long two-year gestation of being honed and edited, eventually adding some sax and vocals by three guest musicians. The album was released January 5, 2018. Glass has a short cameo in the 2015 film about the Canterbury scene, Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales, and appears more extensively (over 26 minutes of performance footage, plus two interviews) in the companion disc Romantic Warriors III: Special Features DVD, both from Zeitgeist Media. Discography * 2001: No Stranger To The Skies, Vol.s I & II (Relentless Pursuit Records RD4128) * 2002: No Stranger To The Skies, Vol. III (Relentless Pursuit Records RD4128-III) * 2004: No Stranger To The Skies (Musea records FGBG 4516.AR) * 2005: Illuminations (Musea Records FGBG 4594.AR) * 2007: Glass Live At Progman Cometh (Musea Records FGBG 4736.AR) * 2010: Spectrum Principle (Musea Records FGBG 4854) * 2014: Palindrome (Musea Records FGBG 4935) * 2018: Emergence (Musea Records FGBG 4994) Filmography * 2015: Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales (DVD) * 2016: Got Canterbury? Romantic Warriors III: Special Features DVD (DVD) References External links *Glass official website *Relentless Pursuit official website *Musea Records official website Category:Canterbury scene Category:Jazz-rock groups Category:American progressive rock groups Category:American experimental musical groups "