Word: racketeer
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Playing in the United States Squash and Racket Team Tournament last weekend in Chicago, Harvard's five-man "A" team downed the Mexican national team in the finals to capture first place and avenge last year's second-place finish...
...racket apparently grew with astonishing speed. Saccoccia started as a decent enough kid, collecting coins while in high school in Cranston until he dropped out in 1973 to open his coin shop. By 1980, with the price of gold soaring, the boy wonder enjoyed a statewide reputation. "He was fencing ((buying and reselling)) all the stolen gold in the area," recalls a local federal agent. "Kids were busting into houses left and right, stealing precious metals and lining up outside his store." By the time he pleaded guilty in 1985 to tax evasion, Saccoccia was reputedly a key moneymaking "associate...
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...