Word: racket
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Britain is afraid of Germany. London remembers the Blitz. Last year Cabinet minister Nicholas Ridley was voicing a general British suspicion when he called the unification process "a German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe." He was fired, but only because it was considered impolitic for a member of the British government to make such a statement in public...
...crime group. Experts believe Vincent (Chin) Gigante is still the boss, even though last March a court found him mentally unfit to stand trial. Gigante suffered a blow in October when his talented underboss, Venero (Benny Eggs) Mangano, was convicted of extortion in the window-replacement industry. And federal racket busters have weakened the family's hold on such labor unions as the Teamsters and Longshoremen. But the Genovese gang remains a sturdy symbol of the Mafia's grip on society. As investigator Coffey puts it, "The Mob will never be finished as long as there's a dollar...
That tolerant attitude needs to change -- and fast. Increasingly, the racket that surrounds us is being recognized not only as an environmental nuisance but also as a severe health hazard. About 28 million Americans, or 11%, suffer serious hearing loss, and more than a third of the cases result from too much exposure to loud noise. Last week specialists testifying before a House committee documented an alarming new trend: more and more of the victims of noise-induced deafness are adolescents and even younger children. "We need to get people thinking the same way about protecting their ears as they...
Although the Crimson's fate in the Ivy League may be decided off the court, Harvard is still doing everything it can with the racket to control its own destiny. Harvard's two impressive wins over the Big Green and Big Red have enabled it to share the Ivy title, should the Crimson win its appeal...
...Church of Scientology, started by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard to "clear" people of unhappiness, portrays itself as a religion. In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner. At times during the past decade, prosecutions against Scientology seemed to be curbing its menace. Eleven top Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, were sent to prison in the early 1980s for infiltrating, burglarizing and wiretapping more than 100 private and government agencies in attempts to block their investigations. In recent years hundreds of longtime Scientology adherents - many...