title: Mark Meadows

text: A Tea Party Republican, Meadows was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus. During his time in Congress, he was one of the most conservative Republican lawmakers and played an important part of the United States federal government shutdown of 2013. He also sought to remove John Boehner as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows resigned from Congress on March 31, 2020, to become White House chief of staff. As chief of staff, he played an influential role in the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials; and admonished the White House's own infectious disease experts for not "staying on message" with Trump's rhetoric. In October 2020, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic", emphasizing instead a plan to contain it with vaccines and therapeutics. As the virus spread among White House staff in the fall of 2020, he reportedly sought to conceal the cases, including his own. After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Meadows participated in Trump's failed effort to overturn the election results and remain in power.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On December 14, 2021, Meadows was held in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 Select Committee. He is the first White House chief of staff since the Watergate scandal and first former member of Congress to have been held in contempt of Congress. The contempt charge was referred to the Justice Department, which declined to prosecute him.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On October 26, 2022, a South Carolina circuit judge ordered Meadows to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating Republican efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The grand jury was empaneled by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who said the inquiry is examining "the multistate, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere."


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows's mother was from Sevierville, Tennessee, and his father from Pineville, Arkansas. He was born at a United States Army hospital in Verdun, France, where his father was serving in the Army and his mother worked as a civilian nurse.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows grew up in Brandon, Florida, and described his upbringing as "poor". He has said he was a "fat nerd" who went on a diet after a classmate rejected him for a date. Meadows attended Florida State University for one year in 1977–78. It was reported that Meadows held a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida for many years in his official biography maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. In actuality, he graduated from the University of South Florida with an Associate of Arts.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In 1987, Meadows started "Aunt D's", a small restaurant in Highlands, North Carolina. He later sold it and used the proceeds to start a real estate development company in the Tampa, Florida, area.


title: Mark Meadows

text: While living in Highlands, Meadows served as chairman of the Republican Party in Macon County, and was a delegate to several state and national Republican conventions. Meadows was on North Carolina's Board for Economic Development in Western North Carolina.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In 2011, he moved to Glenville, North Carolina. In 2016, he sold his house and moved into an apartment in Biltmore Park, a mixed-use community in Asheville, North Carolina, while deciding where to buy next in either Henderson or Buncombe counties. He is the owner of Highlands Properties, which specializes in construction and land development. In 2014, Meadows sold of land in Dinosaur, Colorado, to a young earth creationist group. He appeared in the debunked film "Raising the Allosaur: The True Story of a Rare Dinosaur and the Home Schoolers Who Found It".


title: Mark Meadows

text: In Congress, Meadows had an ultraconservative voting record. He signed the Contract from America, a set of ten policies assembled by the Tea Party movement. Meadows was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows voted against disaster relief spending for October 2012's Hurricane Sandy, which struck the Northeastern United States and caused severe damage. He was one of several Republicans who claimed the funding bill contained pork-barrel spending that had nothing to do with hurricane relief, a claim the bill's supporters denied. Meadows's opposition to Sandy relief was recalled in 2017 news accounts after he and many Republicans who had opposed it voted in favor of disaster aid following Hurricane Harvey, which caused massive damage in Louisiana and Texas that August. Critics alleged that Republicans were hypocritically opposing spending in states with Democratic majorities while supporting it in Republican states. Republicans, including Meadows, claimed the situations were different because the Harvey spending bill contained no "pork". A Congressional Research Service review determined that the Sandy spending bill's funds were almost all devoted to recovery from Sandy.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows served as chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations up until June 20, 2015, when fellow Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz removed him from the position. A member of the House Republican leadership, Chaffetz removed Meadows due to Meadows's vote against a procedural motion the Republican leadership presented. Meadows was one of 34 Republicans who voted against the motion, which allowed for consideration of President Barack Obama's request for fast-track authority on trade agreements. Speaker John Boehner supported the measure, but many Republicans felt it gave too much power to Democrats and Obama specifically. Chaffetz's action was seen as controversial, with many prominent Republican politicians, including Texas senator Ted Cruz, speaking out against the punishment.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows served as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, until he assumed the office of White House Chief of Staff.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows has been described as playing an important part of the 2013 United States federal government shutdown. On August 21, 2013, he wrote an open letter to Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor encouraging them to "affirmatively de-fund the implementation and enforcement of Obamacare in any relevant appropriations bills brought to the House floor in the 113th Congress, including any continuing appropriations bill." The document was signed by 79 of Meadows's colleagues in the House. Heritage Action (which opened operations in North Carolina in January 2011), ran critical Internet advertisements in the districts of 100 Republican lawmakers who failed to sign the letter. The letter has been described as controversial within the Republican Party.


title: Mark Meadows

text: The "New York Daily News" said Meadows put the federal government on the road to shutdown, saying calls to defund Obamacare through spending bills languished until Meadows wrote his letter. Meadows downplayed his influence, saying "I'm one of 435 members and a very small part of this." CNN described Meadows as the "architect of the brink" for his letter suggesting that Obamacare be defunded in any continuing appropriations bill. Meadows said that sensationalized his role.


title: Mark Meadows

text: John Ostendorff of the "Asheville Citizen-Times" wrote that Meadows "said it's best to close the government in the short term to win a delay on 'Obamacare', despite the potential negative impact on the economy." Ostendorff wrote that Meadows said he was doing what Tea Party members in Western North Carolina wanted him to do. Meadows said his constituents wanted him to fight against Obamacare "regardless of consequences." Jane Bilello, head of the Asheville Tea Party, said Meadows "truly represents us" on the issue of Obamacare. Meadows reportedly held conference calls with members of the Asheville Tea Party, telling them what was going on in Congress and about challenges he faced promoting their agenda.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In public comments, Meadows said he was working on a compromise that involved passing appropriations bills that would fund only parts of the government, such as a bill to fund the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and a bill to fund the National Institutes of Health. But partial or "mini" funding bills were rejected by the Democratic majority in the United States Senate.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On July 28, 2015, Meadows filed a resolution to vote on removing John Boehner as speaker of the House. If the resolution passed, the House would then vote to elect a new speaker. Because he filed it as a nonprivileged resolution, it was sent to the House Committee on Rules for a vote first, rather than the House floor. The Committee on Rules was considered to have many members who were loyal to Boehner, so the resolution was seen as unlikely to move forward.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows said he filed the resolution because Boehner had "endeavored to consolidate power, bypassing the majority" of Congress; "through inaction, caused the power of Congress to atrophy," "uses the power of the office to punish Members who vote according to their conscience"; "has intentionally provided for voice votes on consequential and controversial legislation to be taken without notice and with few Members present"; "uses the legislative calendar to create crises for the American People"; allowed members less than three days to review legislation before voting; and limited meaningful debate on the House floor. The resolution received support from Congressman Walter B. Jones Jr.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Boehner responded, "Listen, you have a member here and a member there who are off the reservation. No big deal ... Listen, this is one member. All right. I've got broad support amongst my colleagues. And frankly, it isn't even deserving of a vote." On September 25, 2015, Boehner announced his intention to resign as speaker. He officially resigned on October 31, 2015.


title: Mark Meadows

text: A group of employees reported to Meadows's deputy chief of staff in October 2014 that they were uncomfortable with Meadows's then chief of staff, Kenny West, calling his behavior "inappropriate towards them". Meadows asked Representative Trey Gowdy's chief of staff to interview the employees, and Meadows eventually limited or prohibited West's presence in Meadows's offices.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Although West resigned after the employees accused him of inappropriate behavior, he remained on the House payroll in violation of House rules, according to an independent House Ethics Committee investigation. Meadows paid West $58,125 from April 2015 to August 2015 even though he was no longer working in Meadows's office. There is "substantial reason to believe that Representative Meadows retained an employee who did not perform duties commensurate with the compensation the employee received and certified that the compensation met applicable House standards, in violation of House rules and standards of conduct," the Office of Congressional Ethics report said.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In November 2018, the House Ethics Committee fined Meadows over $40,000 after concluding he "did not do enough to address" sexual harassment allegations against West. The committee concluded Meadows took "immediate and appropriate steps" by separating West from female staffers and requesting an investigation, but noted that West retained his title and "apparent authority over staff" during this period. "Representative Meadows could have and should have done more to ensure that his congressional office was free from discrimination or the perception of discrimination," the committee wrote. The committee fined Meadows $40,625 "for Mr. West's salary that was not commensurate with his work." "The Daily Beast" previously reported that a former aide told the committee Meadows and other top staff members in his office were aware of West's behavior before it was publicly reported.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In late 2011 Meadows announced he was running for Congress in North Carolina's 11th congressional district, for the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Heath Shuler. The district had been significantly altered in redistricting. New lines were drawn straight through the middle of Warren Wilson College. Notably, it lost most of Asheville to the 10th district, while picking up some heavily Republican territory in the foothills. The old 11th had a slight Republican lean, but the new 11th was on paper the most Republican district in the state. In 2011 the North Carolina state legislature redrew the congressional districts based on updated population information from the 2010 census. As a result, the district is now 91.2% White, 3.0% Black, 1.4% Native American and 1.0% Asian. The district was drawn in such a way that in some parts of Asheville, one side of the street shifted to the 10th while the other side of the street stayed in the 11th.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows won the July 2012 Republican primary runoff, and in the November general election faced Democratic nominee Hayden Rogers, who had been Shuler's chief of staff. On August 28, Meadows spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa. He won the general election with approximately 57% of the vote and took office in January 2013.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows appeared with candidate Donald Trump on the campaign trail in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in July 2016 just after the Republican National Convention, leading the crowd in a chant, "Lock her up", an anti-Hillary Clinton refrain.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows won reelection to his seat in the November 2018 election, receiving 59% of the vote to his Democratic opponent Phillip Price's 38%.


title: Mark Meadows

text: During the campaign Meadows supported President Trump's agenda, calling him a "conservative president" in 2017, and suggesting that Republicans who didn't support Trump should be removed from office. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner attended a private fundraiser for Meadows. In January 2018, Meadows traveled to Davos, Switzerland, with a congressional delegation for the World Economic Forum, along with a White House delegation including Trump and cabinet members including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In December 2018, Meadows was vocal about his desire to work in the White House as Chief of Staff upon the January 2019 departure of John F. Kelly. Until December 2018, Meadows claimed to have received a Bachelor of Arts degree. When questions about his credentials arose during media speculation that he was under consideration to serve as White House chief of staff, Meadows amended his official House biography and other sources to indicate that his degree was an associate, not a bachelor's.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On March 6, 2020, Trump named Meadows the next White House chief of staff, succeeding Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney. Meadows resigned from the House on March 30, 2020, and began his new role the next day.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows and his wife allegedly committed voter fraud in 2020 when they registered to vote at a mobile home in North Carolina where they did not live. They voted by absentee ballot from that address. Two years later, North Carolina removed Meadows from the voter rolls while it investigated.


title: Mark Meadows

text: After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of systemic and pervasive fraud, Meadows aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the election and to pressure election officials in Georgia to overturn the results of the election in that state (which Biden won) based on Trump's baseless claims of fraud. He urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the certification of Georgia's election results in a "spirit of cooperation and compromise". In a taped phone call during which Meadows was present, Trump attempted to pressure Raffensperger into recounting Georgia's votes, claiming he had won the state.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Alongside Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, Meadows conveyed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Trump administration would pursue all possible avenues in a bid to overturn the election results. Meadows also connected Trump to Mark Martin, a former North Carolina judge who advanced the radical claim that Trump's Vice President, Mike Pence, could refuse to count the electoral votes from states Biden won.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows also repeatedly pressed Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen to have the Justice Department investigate unfounded conspiracy theories claiming fraud, including one that posited that people in Italy used military technology and satellites to tamper with voting machine and turning Trump votes into Biden votes. The claim was one of several outlandish claims circulating online in the days before a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On September 24, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the 2021 United States Capitol attack subpoenaed Meadows for records and testimony relating to the insurrection, but he failed to show up for a deposition before the committee. Adam Schiff has said the committee is working on issuing a criminal referral for Meadows.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In early December 2021, Meadows provided to the January 6 Select Committee a PowerPoint presentation on how the election could be overturned that he had received by email the day before the storming of the capitol. The presentation recommended that the president declare a national emergency to retain power. A lawyer representing Meadows stated that he did not act upon the document.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On December 14, 2021, Meadows was held in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 Select Committee. He is the first former member of Congress to have been held in contempt of Congress. The contempt charge was referred to the Justice Department, which declined to prosecute him.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In April 2022, the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and CNN obtained texts Meadows had sent and received between the 2020 election and January 6 Capitol attack. In the messages, Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, Laura Ingraham, and Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows during the riot urging him to get Trump to condemn the violence on Capitol Hill. Other texts include plans to fight the election results and strategies to deflect blame for the attack.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Former Meadows top aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided extensive closed-door testimony to the January 6 committee, which signaled it considered her a key witness. As committee public hearings were beginning in June 2022, Hutchinson replaced her attorney, who has deep connections with Trump associates, with a former chief of staff to Trump's first attorney general Jeff Sessions, who had enraged Trump by recusing himself from oversight of the Mueller investigation.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In September 2022, Meadows turned over additional texts and emails to the National Archives following the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In late November 2022, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Meadows must testify in the Georgia election probe, in which President Trump tried to convince Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to find enough votes so that Trump could win the state in the 2020 presidential election.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows became a partner at the Conservative Partnership Institute in January 2021 as Biden took office. The group has aimed to elect conservatives, particularly using dark money, and change voting rules.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows is opposed to abortion and has called abortion a tragedy. He opposes federal funding for abortion and believes parents should be notified of underage abortion procedures. He also opposes requiring churches and other religious sites to provide birth control options.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In 2012, Meadows appeared to flirt with "birther" conspiracy theories; in June 2012, while running for office, he said at a Tea Party rally that "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is", implying that Obama was not born in the United States. He made a similar comment later that month. When asked about his comment, Meadows said it was "a non-issue" and "probably a poor choice of words on my part" and that "I believe he's an American citizen."


title: Mark Meadows

text: While in Congress, Meadows advocated for a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. He supports a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget has been balanced. Meadows opposes any cuts to military spending levels.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows opposed the federal stimulus spending during the Obama administration; as Trump's White House chief of staff, he supported Trump's fiscal stimulus proposals, and was Trump's lead negotiator on stimulus legislation, pushing for $1.8 trillion in federal stimulus spending, a number some Senate Republicans resisted. Meadows has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, and he opposes raising any taxes, including the income tax. He supports a flat-rate income tax for all earners and a repeal of the raise in the capital gains tax. He also supports eliminating the estate tax.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In 2016 Meadows wrote Trump a letter demanding the repeal of the federal "prevailing wage" requirement, which requires that laborers and mechanics on public works projects be paid the locally prevailing wages. The rule was initially made to protect traveling black workers in the South from being paid far less than local workers. It evolved into a protection for union workers, ensuring that non-unionized competitors would have to pay the same rate, making it difficult to underbid for work. The letter also demanded the repeal of the overtime rule from the Obama administration, which said people making less than $47,000 a year must be paid extra for overtime hours, compared to the previous requirement that those making over $23,000 a year could be denied overtime pay if the worker's duties could be considered "managerial". The letter also demanded the end of regulations requiring federal contractors to be paid for sick leave.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In February 2013 Meadows voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act. Meadows has said he casts his votes based not on his personal feelings but on what the majority of his constituents in "God's Country" tell him to do.


title: Mark Meadows

text: As chief of staff, Meadows played an influential role in the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials and admonished the White House's own infectious disease experts for not "staying on message" with Trump's rhetoric. In October 2020, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic", emphasizing instead a plan to contain it with vaccines and therapeutics. On November 4, 2020, Meadows tested positive for COVID-19, but only disclosed it to a small group of people who were asked to keep it quiet, thus preventing others who had interacted with Meadows to take proper precautions and hindering contact tracing. Within the administration, Meadows advised Trump not to openly embrace mask-wearing, saying, "The base will revolt." He admonished Anthony Fauci, one of the administration's leading experts in guiding the response, for not "staying on message". He impressed upon Fauci, Deborah Birx and other government public health experts not to comment on restrictive measures for dealing with the virus. While interacting with reporters, Meadows refused to wear a mask.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In October 2020, when asked about the lack of face mask usage at Trump rallies, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic" and that the focus would be on getting a vaccine. Public health experts, including those in the White House, have pointed to face masks as one of the most basic precautions that have been proven to halt the spread of COVID-19.


title: Mark Meadows

text: While chief of staff, Meadows pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials. He criticized FDA commissioner Stephen M. Hahn as too heavily influenced by the FDA's scientist staff. During coronavirus relief negotiations, Meadows argued against giving additional funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).


title: Mark Meadows

text: On November 6, 2020, it was reported that Meadows had tested positive for COVID-19; per the Trump administration, he tested positive on November 4. Meadows did not issue a statement after he tested positive and did not make it widely known to administration staff. A small group of people were informed and told to keep it quiet. This caused consternation among other administration staff, as it hindered contact tracing efforts and endangered staff.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In December 2016 Meadows gave Trump a wish list of regulations to be repealed. It included a demand to get rid of federal funding to study climate change. He also requested Trump repeal several environmental regulations, including the Renewable Fuel Standard, end the prohibition of drilling oil on federal lands, and pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows opposes same-sex marriage. In March 2013, he said that if the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage bans unconstitutional, it would be a "huge invasion into states' rights" and cause a constitutional crisis.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows opposes any restrictions on gun purchases and opposes a national gun registry that would list detailed information about firearm ownership.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows opposes regulations that require all internet providers provide internet at equal speeds to all parties. In 2016 he gave Trump a list of regulations to repeal that included net neutrality regulations by the Federal Communications Commission.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and has said that it should be replaced by private enterprise.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Less than a year after entering Congress, Meadows wrote the letter that initially urged House Speaker John Boehner to shut down the government unless the ACA was defunded. Some constituents have criticized him as responsible for the 2013 government shutdown; "The Washington Post" called him its "chief architect". His district lost up to $1 million per day during the shutdown because the national parks were closed.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In January 2017, Meadows voted for a budget resolution that initiated the process of repealing Obamacare. On May 4, 2017, Meadows voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would partially repeal and replace Obamacare.


title: Mark Meadows

text: After the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released numbers about the AHCA's effects on Americans in 2017, there were several reports that Meadows became emotional after reading about the AHCA's likely effects on those with preexisting conditions. Others reported he cried only after bringing up his family members who had dealt with preexisting conditions, including his sister who had died of breast cancer, and his father who had died of lung cancer. Meadows said he wouldn't "make a political decision today that affects somebody's sister or father because I wouldn't do it to myself." When asked about the CBO numbers, Meadows said Trump was "committed to making sure preexisting conditions are covered in principle and in practice, which means that funding has to be there to make it work."


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows is a strong supporter of Israel. He said that the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai and Gaza did not bring peace, but rather "In many ways, ... made [the situation] more difficult." Meadows has opposed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows was among 60 Republicans to oppose condemning Trump's action of withdrawing forces from Syria. Along with Matt Gaetz and a handful of Republicans, Meadows broke with his party and voted to end Saudi assistance to the War in Yemen.


title: Mark Meadows

text: On December 8, 2019, Meadows claimed that Trump never asked a foreign leader to investigate a political rival, despite a transcript of the July 25, 2019, phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky where Trump asks Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and in spite of Trump's October 3, 2019, public calling upon China to investigate Hunter Biden's business activities there while his father was vice president. Meadows said he would be "OK" with a Democratic president doing what Trump did: “We have Democrat Senators who have done just that.”


title: Mark Meadows

text: Meadows, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been a harsh critic of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. During Trump's presidency, Meadows regularly conferred with Trump about Mueller's probe. Meadows has been described as a "Trump ally". In May 2018, Meadows called for a financial audit of the Mueller investigation.


title: Mark Meadows

text: In July 2018, along with Jim Jordan, Meadows called on the Department of Justice to "review allegations that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to subpoena phone records and documents from a House Intelligence Committee staffer". An aide termed the deputy AG's threats "downright chilling". In their written request, they wrote that in his use of investigative powers, Rosenstein retaliated "against rank-and-file staff members", therefore abusing his authority. Furthermore, during a "Fox News" interview by Laura Ingraham that same month, he "threatened to force a vote on the GOP resolution" that would impeach the deputy AG. Arguing he could force the resolution to the floor as a "privileged motion", he elaborated: "we hope it doesn't have to come to that". He filed articles of impeachment against Rosenstein on July 25, although the measure cannot be "brought straight to the House floor". Meadows's Democratic opponent in the 2018 election, Phillip Price, condemned the impeachment resolution as an attempt to shut down the Justice Department's investigation of Russian meddling into the 2016 election through "obstruction of justice."


title: Original Film

text: Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the "Fast & Furious" franchise.


title: Original Film

text: Original Film was started out in the early 1990s by Neal H. Moritz and Bruce Mellon as a film producer and a commercial company.


title: Original Film

text: In 1991, David Heyman joined in as employee of the motion picture department. He later resigned to join Heyday Films. In 1993, Stokley Chaffin joined the company. He stayed on with the company for eight years until 2001.


title: Original Film

text: In 1997, the studio struck a long-time partnership deal with Sony Pictures, and it remained until 2019. At the same time, Brad Luff joined the company. He left in 2003 to run Morgan Creek Productions. In 1998, the studio struck a deal with Newmarket Capital Group to produce lower-budget feature films.


title: Original Film

text: In 1999, the studio made its first foray on television with the debut of "Shasta McNasty". At the same time, Mark Rossen joined the company.


title: Original Film

text: In 2002, Moritz launched a partnership with fellow talent agency Marty Adelstein to head a film and television managing company Original, that comprises the assets of the company. Later that year, Dawn Parouse joined the company, and later the studio struck a deal with 20th Century Fox Television to produce television shows.


title: Original Film

text: In 2004, the film and managing business has been split up. At the same time, Ori Marmur, formerly of Mandalay Pictures (in which the studio developed the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" films for Mandalay) joined the company. Two years later, Moritz struck a deal with Sony Pictures Television to produce television shows.


title: Original Film

text: In 2017, the studio signed a feature film production deal with Paramount Pictures to produce feature films, starting in 2019. Its deal was recently extended until 2023.


title: Zoë Bell

text: Zoë E. Bell (born November 17, 1978) is a New Zealand stuntwoman and actress. Some of her most notable stunt-work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless in "" and for Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill".


title: Zoë Bell

text: As an actress, Bell has appeared on television and in feature-films; she has starred in the web series "Angel of Death". She is probably most recognized for playing herself in the Quentin Tarantino film "Death Proof". In 2015, she appeared in an acting role in Tarantino's film "The Hateful Eight", and during 2019 appeared in an acting role in Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" in addition to her role as stunt coordinator and stuntwoman.


title: Zoë Bell

text: Bell was born on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, to Tish, a nurse, and Andrew Bell, a doctor. She has a younger brother named Jake and a foster brother named Leonhard, who is living in his old hometown in Germany. She grew up on Waiheke Island in Auckland.


title: Zoë Bell

text: At an early age, Bell participated in competitive gymnastics and at 15 began studying taekwon-do. She also participated in dance, high diving, scuba, and track and field activities. Bell attended Auckland Girls' Grammar School and Selwyn College.


title: Zoë Bell

text: Bell began her career in 1992 when her father treated a stuntman for a head injury and came home with a phone number for her to call. Her first stunt job was jumping out of a car in "Shortland Street", a New Zealand soap opera.


title: Zoë Bell

text: She performed stunts for "" and "", both of which were filmed in New Zealand; by the fourth season of "Xena", she was the stunt double for Lucy Lawless. She fractured vertebrae in her back doing wire work stunts on the show, but continued working for a week until another stunt, in which a breakaway chair was smashed on her back, incapacitated her.


title: Zoë Bell

text: After "Xena", she performed in small films and on TV, including stunt co-ordinating and playing a small role in a short film, "Reflections", with Adrienne Wilkinson (with whom she had previously worked on "Xena"). She went on to double for Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill".


title: Zoë Bell

text: Though she was initially hired as Thurman's "crash and smash" double, the stunt team realized Bell would also make an ideal double for fight-scenes and she was trained accordingly. Bell had to learn to fight in the wushu style. Near the end of filming for "", she injured her ribs and the ligaments in her wrist while simulating being thrown backwards by a shotgun blast. Bell required surgery and spent several months recuperating. After production finished on "Kill Bill", she received "The Bells" sign which hung outside the home of the Vernita Green character. She later gave it to her parents. After both "Kill Bill" movies, she did stunt work for the movie "Catwoman", in which she performed high falls and acted as a double for Sharon Stone.


title: Zoë Bell

text: In 2004, the documentary "Double Dare" was released. It focused primarily on Bell and veteran stuntwoman Jeannie Epper, following them during their travels in Hollywood. The film presented a view of opposing ends of the stuntwoman spectrum, with the aging Epper continuing her search for work in an industry where age is not necessarily considered an asset and Bell, then a Hollywood newcomer, trying to break into the industry. The filming of "Double Dare" covered Bell's career from the end of "Xena" to the beginning of her work on "Kill Bill: Volume 1".


title: Zoë Bell

text: In 2004, Bell and Angela Meryl (Vivica A. Fox's stunt double) were nominated at the Taurus World Stunt Awards in the categories "Best Overall Stunt by a Woman" and "Best Fight" for their doubling of the knife fight between the characters Beatrix Kiddo and Vernita Green in "Kill Bill: Volume 1". In 2005, Bell was nominated for a Taurus in the categories "Best Overall Stunt by a Woman", "Best Fight" and "Best High Work". She and Monica Staggs (Daryl Hannah's double) won Best Overall Stunt and Best Fight for their fight in Budd's trailer in "Kill Bill: Volume 2". Her Best High Work nomination was for a fall of over 200 feet in the film "Catwoman".


title: Zoë Bell

text: After "Catwoman", Bell performed stunts in the action thriller "The Kingdom" and another Tarantino film, "Inglourious Basterds".


title: Zoë Bell

text: Tarantino cast her in a leading role in his next film, "Death Proof" (2007), in which she played herself and performed her own stunts, the most notable of which occurred when she clung to the hood of a speeding 1970 Dodge Challenger.


title: Zoë Bell

text: In August 2007, Bell said she had signed to play the lead role in a film about an American soldier who, upon returning to the U.S. from a tour of duty in Iraq, helps a young girl in trouble. She said she would do her own stunts in the film, and that the American accent was "a big challenge".


title: Zoë Bell

text: Bell appeared in episode seven of the fourth season of "Lost", playing the role of the freighter team's radio contact, Regina. She said that the role required a little acting and some stunt work.


title: Zoë Bell

text: In 2008, Bell starred alongside her former "Xena" colleague Lucy Lawless in Sony (Crackle)'s web series "Angel of Death" which debuted online in early 2009.


title: Zoë Bell

text: Bell also played a medical technician who moonlights as "Bloody Holly", a roller derby star, in Drew Barrymore's 2009 directorial debut, "Whip It".


title: Zoë Bell

text: She appeared alongside Wesley Snipes in the Italian director Giorgio Serafini's 2010 thriller, "Game of Death". She can also be seen in the music video of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' 2012 single "Dream On".


title: Sex magic

text: Sex magic (sometimes spelled sex magick) is any type of sexual activity used in magical, ritualistic or otherwise religious and spiritual pursuits. One practice of sex magic is using sexual arousal or orgasm with visualization of a desired result. A premise posited by sex magicians is the concept that sexual energy is a potent force that can be harnessed to transcend one's normally perceived reality.


title: Sex magic

text: The earliest known practical teachings of sex magic in the Western world comes from 19th-century American occultist, Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875). Son of a wealthy Virginian father and a slave mother, he was a well-known spiritualist who was greatly influenced by the work of English Rosicrucian and scholar of phallicism, Hargrave Jennings.


title: Sex magic

text: Randolph developed one of the most influential system of sex magic. As per him, the moment when one reaches orgasm is the most intense and the most powerful experience a human can have in life, for in that moment the soul suddenly opens to the divine realm and the breath of God is infused. He said, "True sex-power is God-power". As such, the power of orgasm can be used by a man and woman for various gains, both worldly and spiritual. He wrote thus in "The Mysteries of Eulis":


title: Sex magic

text: Success in any case requires the adjuvancy of a superior woman. THIS IS THE LAW! A harlot or low woman is useless for all such lofty and holy purposes ... The woman shall not be one who accepts rewards for compliance; nor a virgin; or under eighteen years of age; or another's wife; yet must be one who hath known man and who has been and still is capable of intense mental, volitional and affectionate energy, combined with perfect sexive and orgasmal ability; for it requires a double crisis to succeed... The entire mystery can be given in very few words, and they are: An upper room; absolute personal, mental, and moral cleanliness both of the man and wife. An observance of the law just cited during the entire term of the experiment -- 49 days. Formulate the desire and keep it in mind during the whole period and especially when making the nuptive prayer, during which no word may be spoken, but the thing desired be strongly thought...


title: Sex magic

text: Randolph insisted that for the magic to be effective and prayers be fulfilled, both the partners involved in should achieve orgasm at the same moment. His teachings were later passed on to numerous secret societies in Europe, the most notable being Ordo Templi Orientis or O.T.O founded by Carl Kellner


title: Sex magic

text: Carl Kellner (1851-1905), the founder of Ordo Templi Orientis, (O.T.O.), claimed to have learned the techniques of sex magic from three adepts in this art. Beginning in 1904, references to these secrets, Kellner, and the O.T.O. began appearing in "an obscure German masonic periodical called Oriflamme." In 1912, the editors of "Oriflamme" announced:


title: Sex magic

text: In the latter part of the 19th century, sexual reformer Ida Craddock (1857-1902) published several works dealing with sacred sexuality, most notably "Heavenly Bridegrooms" and "Psychic Wedlock". Aleister Crowley reviewed "Heavenly Bridegrooms" in the pages of his journal "The Equinox", stating that it was:


title: Sex magic

text: ...one of the most remarkable human documents ever produced, and it should certainly find a regular publisher in book form. The authoress of the MS. claims that she was the wife of an angel. She expounds at the greatest length the philosophy connected with this thesis. Her learning is enormous.


title: Sex magic

text: ...This book is of incalculable value to every student of occult matters. No Magick library is complete without it.


title: Sex magic

text: Sexual techniques from Craddock's "Psychic Wedlock" were later reproduced in "Sex Magick" by O.T.O. initiate Louis T. Culling, a disciple of C.F. Russell.


title: Sex magic

text: Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) became involved with Theodor Reuss and Ordo Templi Orientis following the publication of "The Book of Lies" between 1912 and 1913. According to Crowley's account, Reuss approached him and accused him of having revealed the innermost (sexual) secret of O.T.O. in one of the cryptic chapters of this book. When it became clear to Reuss that Crowley had done so unintentionally, he initiated Crowley into the IX° (ninth degree) of O.T.O. and appointed him "Sovereign Grand Master General of Ireland, Iona and all the Britains."


title: Sex magic

text: While the O.T.O. included, from its inception, the teaching of sex magick in the highest degrees of the Order, when Crowley became head of the Order, he expanded on these teachings and associated them with different degrees as follows:


title: Sex magic

text: Hugh Urban, professor of Comparative Religion at Ohio State University, noted Crowley's emphasis on sex as "the supreme magical power." According to Crowley:


title: Sex magic

text: Crowley wrote extensively on the topic of sex magick. Some of these works were published and made available to the general public, others were secret and could only be obtained by initiates of "Ordo Templi Orientis".


title: Sex magic

text: Maria de Naglowska (1883–1936) was a Russian occultist, mystic, author and journalist who wrote and taught about sexual magical ritual practices while also being linked with the Parisian surrealist movement. She established and led an occult society known as the Confrérie de la Flèche d'or (Brotherhood of the Golden Arrow) in Paris from 1932 to 1935. In 1931, she compiled, translated and published in French a collection of published and unpublished writings by American occultist Paschal Beverly Randolph on the subject of sexual magic and magic mirrors. Her translation and publication of Randolph's previously little known ideas and teachings was the source of Randolph's subsequent influence in European magic. She augmented the text with some of his oral teachings. The following year, she published a semi-autobiographical novella, "Le Rite sacré de l'amour magique" (The Sacred Ritual of Magical Love.)


title: Sex magic

text: Later that year, she also published "La Lumière du sexe" (The Light of Sex), a mystic treatise and guide to sexual ritual that was required reading for those seeking to be initiated into the Brotherhood of the Golden Arrow. Her later book on advanced sexual magic practices, "Le Mystère de la pendaison" (The Hanging Mystery) details her advanced teachings on the Third Term of the Trinity and the spiritually transformation power of sex, and the practice of erotic ritual hanging and other sensory deprivation practices. Beyond occult subjects, Naglowska also influenced the surrealist art movement. The "Lexique succinct de l'érotisme" in the catalog of the 1959 International Surrealist Exhibition in Paris noted her important influence. Surrealist Sarane Alexandrian wrote a detailed account of her life.


title: Sex magic

text: The crux of Samael Aun Weor's (1917-1977) teachings is what he calls "white sexual magic", the paramount tenet of which is to conclude the act without orgasm or ejaculation from either the man or woman. Thus, instead of the sexual energy being released in a spasm, this energy undergoes sexual transmutation via willpower and the sacrifice of desire. According to Aun Weor, the magnetic induction produced by crossing the active (phallus) and passive (uterus) creative organs causes lunar, solar and akashic currents to flow through the Brahmanic cord (the ida, pingala and sushumna nadis respectively) of the couple. He says that this current then provides an active connection between the magnetic center at the root of the nose (the pineal gland, Ajna chakra) and the solar and lunar principles located within the seminal system at the muladhara chakra. The transmuted energy, through willpower, is populated by what Aun Weor says are "billions of christic atoms" that when rising meet the pure akasa of the triune Brahmanic cord, igniting it, and through many years of work this causes the ascent of the kundalini through the thirty-three chambers or degrees of the spinal medulla.


title: Sex magic

text: Aun Weor says that along with the ascent of the kundalini, the crystallization of the "Solar Bodies" are formed due to the transmutation which occurs through white sexual magic. He says that the solar bodies are the four aspects of the sacred merkabah of Arcanum Seven. In sum, Aun Weor describes the solar bodies as the christic vehicles of emotion, mind and will.


title: Sex magic

text: Aun Weor says that because sexuality is both a creator and destroyer, à la Shiva-Shakti, through sexual magic he indicates that one can eliminate any previously comprehended psychological defect. In other words, he says that through sexual magic the radical removal of the egocentric vehicles can be achieved - which he says are the animalistic or inferior vehicles of emotion, mind, and will related to one's evolutive animal transmigrations prior to reaching the humanoid state. Thus, through the death of the ego and the birth of the solar bodies, Aun Weor states that one can be elevated to the angelic state and beyond.


title: Sex magic

text: Aun Weor also states that when the orgasm is reached the christic atoms are expelled and replaced, via genital orgasmic contraction, with what he believed were impure "atoms" of fornication. When, through willpower the akashic current meets the "atoms of fornication", he said, that instead of rising the energy is rejected by the divine triad (atman-buddhi-manas) and is forced downward into the atomic infernos of the human being, forming the "tail of satan", (the kundabuffer, or negatively polarized kundalini). He says that the repetition of orgasm over time divorces the divine triad from the inferior "quaternary" (physical, vital, astral and mental bodies) through the severing of the antakarana. This brings about, according to Aun Weor, "the fallen Bodhisattva", "the Fall of Lucifer" as described by the author Dante, or what amounts to the same thing: the Fall of Man. He refers to any type of sexual magic that uses the orgasm for spiritual or magical purposes as "black sexual magic", and he believed that those who perform it are black magicians who acquire negative powers.


title: British Airways fleet

text: British Airways operates a fleet of Airbus single aisle aircraft. It also operates a twin-aisle aircraft fleet of the Airbus A350-1000, Airbus A380, Boeing 777 and 787 wide-body aircraft, with most of it powered by Rolls-Royce Trent engines.


title: British Airways fleet

text: IAG's cargo division, IAG Cargo, handles cargo operations using capacity on British Airways' passenger aircraft. IAG reached an agreement with Qatar Airways in 2014 to operate flights for IAG Cargo using Boeing 777F of Qatar Airways Cargo.


title: British Airways fleet

text: British Airways World Cargo was the airline's freight division prior to its merger with Iberia Cargo to form IAG Cargo. Aircraft types used by the division between 1974 and 1983 were Vickers 953C, Boeing 707-300C and Boeing 747-200F while the Boeing 747-400F was operated from the 1990s to 2001 through Atlas Air and 2002 to early 2012 by Global Supply Systems, of these only one of Atlas Air's aircraft wore BA livery, the others flew in Atlas and Global Supply's own colours. From 2012 until the termination of Global Supply System's contract in 2014, three Boeing 747-8F aircraft were flown for British Airways World Cargo.


title: British Airways fleet

text: Except the Boeing 707 and early Boeing 747 variants from BOAC, British Airways inherited a mainly UK-built fleet of aircraft when it was formed in 1974. The airline introduced the Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 into the fleet in the 1980s, followed by the Boeing 747-400, Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 in the 1990s. BA was the largest operator of Boeing 747-400s, with 57 in its fleet. Prior to the introduction of the 787, when Boeing built an aircraft for British Airways, it was allocated the customer code "36", which appeared in their aircraft designation as a suffix, such as 777-236.


title: British Airways fleet

text: In 1991, British Airways placed its first order for 777-200 aircraft, ordering another four for fleet expansion in 2007 at a cost of around US$800 million. BA's first 777s were fitted with General Electric GE90 engines, but BA switched to Rolls-Royce Trent 800s for subsequent aircraft.


title: British Airways fleet

text: Later in 2007, BA announced their order of thirty-six new long-haul aircraft, including twelve Airbus A380s and twenty-four Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Rolls-Royce Trent engines were again selected for both orders with Trent 900s powering the A380s and Trent 1000s powering the 787s. The Boeing 787s will replace 14 of British Airways' Boeing 767 fleet, while the Airbus A380s will replace 20 of BA's Boeing 747-400s and will most likely be used to increase capacity on key routes from Heathrow Airport.


title: British Airways fleet

text: On 1 August 2008, BA announced orders for six Boeing 777-300ERs and options for four more as an interim measure to cover for delays over the deliveries of their 787-8/9s. Of the six that have been ordered, four will be leased and two will be fully acquired by British Airways.


title: British Airways fleet

text: On 22 April 2013, IAG confirmed that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to order 18 A350-1000 XWB aircraft for British Airways, with an option for a further 18. The aircraft would replace some of the airline's fleet of Boeing 747-400s. Options for 18 Boeing 787 aircraft, part of the original contract signed in 2007, have been converted into firm orders for delivery between 2017 and 2021.


title: British Airways fleet

text: On 26 June 2013, British Airways took delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft began operations to Toronto on 1 September 2013, and began service to Newark on 1 October 2013. BA's first A380 was delivered on 4 July 2013. It began regular services to Los Angeles on 24 September 2013, followed by Hong Kong on 22 October 2013.


title: British Airways fleet

text: At the 2019 Paris Air Show, British Airways owner, IAG, signed a letter of intent to purchase 200 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, despite the type still being grounded worldwide.


title: British Airways fleet

text: In July 2019, the British carrier took delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000 XWB aircraft, fitted without First, but with more of the new Club World suites.


title: British Airways fleet

text: On 16 July 2020, British Airways announced it was immediately retiring the remaining Boeing 747-400 aircraft, the last having flown the previous month. British Airways had originally intended to phase out the last 747s by 2024, but brought the plans forward in part due to the downturn in air-travel following COVID-19 pandemic and to focus on replacing the 747 with the more fuel-efficient Airbus A350, Airbus A380, and Boeing 787.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011), simply known as Sócrates, was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder. His medical degree and his political awareness, combined with style and quality of his play, earned him the nickname "Doctor Socrates".


title: Sócrates

text: Easily recognizable for his beard and headband, Sócrates became the "symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters". He is considered to be one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. In 1983, he was named South American Footballer of the Year. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.


title: Sócrates

text: Socrates played for Brazil for seven years, scoring 22 goals and representing the nation in two World Cups. He captained the team in the 1982 FIFA World Cup; playing in midfield alongside Zico, Falcão, Toninho Cerezo and Éder, considered one of the greatest Brazilian national teams ever. He also appeared in the 1979 and 1983 Copa América. At club level, Sócrates played for Botafogo-SP before joining Corinthians in 1978. He moved to Italy to play for Fiorentina, returning to Brazil in 1985 to end his career.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates was born in Belém do Pará. He began playing football professionally in 1974 for Botafogo-SP in Ribeirão Preto, but spent the majority of his career (1978 to 1984) with Corinthians, scoring 41 goals in 59 Brazilian Série A games, and 172 goals in 297 matches in total.


title: Sócrates

text: In 1984–85, aged 30, Sócrates had his first experience abroad, playing in Italian Serie A with Fiorentina. He returned to his country after that sole season, representing Flamengo, Santos and former club Botafogo-SP, and retiring in 1989. During his period in Flamengo, he played 20 games, scoring 5 goals and won Campeonato Carioca: 1986.


title: Sócrates

text: In 2004, more than a decade after retiring, 50-year-old Sócrates agreed to a one-month player-coaching deal with Garforth Town of the Northern Counties East Football League in England. He made his only appearance for the club on 20 November, against Tadcaster Albion, coming on as a substitute twelve minutes from time.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates was capped 60 times for Brazil between May 1979 and June 1986, scoring 22 goals. He captained the national team at the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and also appeared in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. In the latter edition, he scored twice, starting with the game's only goal against Spain in the group stage. he added another in the round-of-16 4–0 win over Poland, shooting his penalty kick without running; in the following game, against France, he tried to convert it in the same fashion, but had his shootout attempt saved by goalkeeper Joël Bats; France ultimately progressed to the semi-finals.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates also represented his country at the 1979 and 1983 Copa América tournaments. In the latter he appeared in only one game, the second leg of the final against Uruguay (1–1 home draw, 1–3 aggregate loss).


title: Sócrates

text: A former centre-forward, who later made a name for himself as a midfielder, playing in either an attacking or central midfield role, Sócrates was an elegant, talented, and technical playmaker, known for his great through passes, precise long balls, link-up play, and his vision on the field, as well as his physical strength; he was also a two-footed player. While he was mainly known for his ability to orchestrate attacking plays, he was a prolific goal scorer himself, courtesy of his powerful and accurate shot with his right foot, and his ability to make attacking runs into the area from behind. He was also an accurate penalty taker, while his height, heading ability, and elevation allowed him to excel in the air. He was also known, however, for often not taking part in his teammates' celebrations whenever he scored a goal. Although he was not the quickest of players, and preferred to play the game at a slower tempo, he possessed good acceleration. His intelligence and ability to read the game were also highly valued, and his signature move was the blind or "no-look" back-heel pass.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates was a key member of the Brazilian national team of the early to mid-1980s; Jonathan Wilson said that "Socrates was the brain of Brazil. He might not quite have had the flair of Zico, but he was the central intelligence". Former coach at Fiorentina, Giancarlo De Sisti, said: "Socrates was a very intelligent man, he had great class." In addition to his playing ability and intelligence, he was known for his correct behaviour and charismatic presence on the pitch, as well as his leadership in the dressing room, which made him a respected figure among his teammates, while his height, headband, hairstyle, and beard made him a highly recognisable figure on the pitch. He also often stood out for his outspokenness, humour, eccentric personality, his strong, rebellious character, and his left-wing political views, often speaking out against political issues in his home-country. However, he was equally notorious for not being particularly hard-working or disciplined in his personal life, as he smoked and drank large quantities of beer, once commenting: "I am an anti-athlete. I cannot deny myself certain lapses from the strict regime of a sportsman. You have to take me as I am."


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates was the firstborn child of Raimundo and Guiomar Vieira. He was born in Belém, Pará, and relocated with his family to Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, in January 1960 after his father Raimundo earned an important position as revenue supervisor. This job earned Sócrates' father the status of a small-town hero in Igarapé-Açu, where the family lived at the time. His father's new salary allowed Sócrates to attend the best school in Ribeirão Preto, Colégio Marista. In a biography written by the journalist Tom Cardoso, it is revealed that the small library Sócrates' father had built in his home, containing philosophy books and other works, came under threat as of the coup d'état on 31 March 1964. Sócrates watched his father rid himself of books that he so loved; "In 1964, I saw my father tear many books, because of the coup d'état. I thought that was absurd, because the library was the thing he liked best. That was when I felt that something was not right. But I only understood much later, in college." At age 10, Sócrates was exposed to the repercussions of the military dictatorship's censorship. His childhood was marked by this event which he came to comprehend as an adult later in life.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates married four times. He divorced three times and died in his fourth marriage. He had six children. He was a columnist for a number of newspapers and magazines, writing not only about sports, but also politics and economics. He frequently appeared on Brazilian TV programmes as a football pundit. At the time of his death, Sócrates was writing a fictional book about the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates was a physician, a rare achievement for a professional footballer (he held a bachelor's degree in medicine from the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, the medical school of the University of São Paulo). Even rarer is the fact that he earned the degree while concurrently playing professional football. After retiring as a player he practised medicine in Ribeirão Preto.


title: Sócrates

text: He was also noted for being an intellectual, a heavy drinker and a smoker. His younger brother Raí was also a footballer and an attacking midfielder, being a member of the Brazilian team that won the World Cup in 1994, notably playing for São Paulo and for Paris Saint-Germain.


title: Sócrates

text: During his time at Corinthians, Sócrates co-founded the Corinthians Democracy movement, in opposition to the then-ruling military government. Sócrates and his teammates protested against the regime's treatment of footballers, and showed support to the wider movement for democratisation, by wearing shirts with "Democracia" written on them during games.


title: Sócrates

text: On 16 April 1984 he spoke out in support of Diretas Já (Free Elections Now), a popular movement that called for direct presidential elections. In "Socrates and the Corinthians' Democracy" Juca Kfouri, a Brazilian journalist, recalls how, "Socrates took the risk of saying, in front of two million people gathered on the cathedral square, that if direct presidential elections weren’t accepted by the regime, he’d go play in Italy." By hinging his transfer abroad on the outcome of a constitutional amendment, Socrates' political legacy began to form. His denunciation of the military dictatorship and fight to redemocratize Brazil extended his legacy beyond the football field.


title: Sócrates

text: Sócrates stated that three of his childhood heroes were Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and John Lennon. He was also a member of the Brazil Workers' Party, and said that "Lula was good" but that he had "earned a mere seven or so out of ten" for his way of governing Brazil.


title: Sócrates

text: In 2011, Sócrates' health started to deteriorate. His use of alcohol has been linked to this. On 19 August 2011, he was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo with gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to portal hypertension and was discharged nine days later. The following month he spent 17 days in hospital with a liver ailment. On 1 December 2011, he was hospitalised with food poisoning which developed into septic shock and he was put on life support. He died on 4 December 2011 at the age of 57. He was survived by his wife and six children.


title: Sócrates

text: President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, paid tribute, saying Brazil had lost "one of its most cherished sons". "On the field, with his talent and sophisticated touches, he was a genius. Off the field... he was active politically, concerned with his people and his country."


title: Sócrates

text: Corinthians fans held up signs in tribute and there was a moment of silence before the team's match against Palmeiras (a 0–0 draw which secured Corinthians their first Brazilian title for six years). The result matched a professed desire of Sócrates, who had once stated his wish "to die on a Sunday when Corinthians won a trophy". Fiorentina held a minute's silence before their league match against Roma, and the players wore black armbands in tribute.


title: Sócrates

text: Former Brazil striker Ronaldo tweeted: "Sad start to the day. Rest in peace Dr. Socrates." Zico called him "unique". Italy's Paolo Rossi described the death as "a piece of our history that's broken off and gone away". Garforth chairman Simon Clifford paid tribute to the "great grace" of Sócrates.


title: Sócrates

text: Pelé named Sócrates in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in March 2004 and World Soccer named him one of 100 best footballers in history. In October 2008, he was inducted into the Pacaembu Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame.


title: Ray Rice

text: Raymell Mourice Rice (born January 22, 1987) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He played college football at Rutgers, where he received first-team All-American honors, and was selected by the Ravens in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. During his career, Rice was named to three Pro Bowls and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XLVII. He is second in franchise rushing yards, rushing attempts, and rushing touchdowns, and third in franchise combined touchdowns.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice became embroiled in controversy during the 2014 offseason when a video surfaced of him physically attacking his then-fiancée. After being indicted for aggravated assault, Rice was released by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL. Although Rice successfully appealed the indefinite suspension, the incident effectively ended his professional career as no teams signed him in free agency.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice was born to parents Janet Rice and Calvin Reed in New Rochelle, New York, on January 22, 1987. His father was killed in a drive-by shooting when Ray was a year old. Rice's cousin, Myshaun Rice-Nichols, was killed by a drunk driver when Rice was ten.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice attended New Rochelle High School, where he played football for longtime coach Lou DiRienzo. He was the Huguenots' primary running back. The last Iona–New Rochelle Turkey Bowl football game, which had been waged every year since 1949, was played in Rice's sophomore season of 2002, when New Rochelle defeated the Gaels 53–6. Rice led his team to a state title as a junior in 2003 when NRHS defeated Webster Schroeder 32–6 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. In Rice's senior year of 2004, New Rochelle fell to Christian Brothers Academy, who had Greg Paulus, 41–35 in the championship game. New Rochelle High School lost only one game in each of three seasons of varsity football. Rice holds the state record for yards in a single game: he gained 462 yards on 42 carries on October 24, 2004.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice attended Rutgers University–New Brunswick, where he played football for coach Greg Schiano's Scarlet Knights from 2005 to 2007. In Rice's freshman year, Rutgers had its first winning season in 13 years and played in only the second bowl in the football program's then 136-year history. In 2006, the Scarlet Knights won a school record-tying 11 games and registered the school's highest-ever season-ending national poll ranking, finishing at #12 in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls.


title: Ray Rice

text: As a true freshman, Rice finished the season as the starting tailback for Rutgers. Rice rushed for 1,120 yards and five touchdowns during his freshman campaign, including a 217-yard performance against the Connecticut Huskies and a 195-yard performance against the Cincinnati Bearcats.


title: Ray Rice

text: As a sophomore, Rice gained 1,794 rushing yards with 20 touchdowns. His rushing totals set Rutgers' single-season rushing yardage record, shattering J. J. Jennings' mark of 1,353 set in 1973. Rice's backfield partner during his freshman and sophomore seasons was fullback Brian Leonard. Leonard considered entering the NFL Draft in 2006 but stayed for his senior year and took on a less prominent role in the offense which aided Rice's rise to stardom. Rice was a finalist for the Maxwell Award and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting. Rice was named Big East offensive player of the week a school-record three times in 2007. All three times, Rice rushed for over 200 yards, 201 yards against North Carolina, 202 yards against South Florida, and a career-high 225-yard game against the Pittsburgh Panthers. Rice ended his sophomore season with 170 yards on 24 carries with one touchdown during the inaugural Texas Bowl to give Rutgers its first bowl victory ever in a 37–10 win over Kansas State. He was named MVP of the game.


title: Ray Rice

text: On October 6, 2007, against the Cincinnati Bearcats, Rice scored his 35th career rushing touchdown, which set the all-time program record. On November 9, 2007, against the Army Black Knights, Rice ran for 243 yards and scored twice in the 41–6 victory, setting a new school record previously set by Terrell Willis in 1994, and his new single-game record. On January 5, 2008, at the second annual International Bowl in Toronto, Rice ran for a new school record of 280 yards, along with four touchdowns as Rutgers defeated Ball State 52–30. One of the touchdown runs (90 yards) was the longest of his career. Rice won the MVP award for his performance.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the second round (55th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft and signed a four-year deal with the Ravens worth $2.805 million plus a $1.1 million signing bonus. He played for coach John Harbaugh, who coincidentally was in his first year as coach of the Ravens. Rice wore number No. 39 during the preseason then switched to No. 27 (his number at Rutgers), after the Ravens cut cornerback Ronnie Prude.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice made his first career start in his first NFL game, which was Week 1 of the 2008 season against the Cincinnati Bengals. Rice had a team-high 22 carries for 64 yards, fumbling once. Rice also had three receptions for 19 yards, in the Ravens 17–10 win. Rice had his best game of the season in Week 9 against the Cleveland Browns filling in for the injured Willis McGahee where he ran for 154 yards on 21 carries. Rice finished out the season with 546 rushing yards on 107 carries and had 273 receiving yards on 33 receptions.


title: Ray Rice

text: It was announced during training camp that Rice won the starting running back job over Willis McGahee for the 2009 NFL season, and that Le'Ron McClain would be switching back to full-time fullback duties. McClain and McGahee had been the primary running backs the previous year.


title: Ray Rice

text: In the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, Rice rushed for 108 yards on 19 carries, which was his second career 100-yard rushing game. In Week 3, Rice rushed for his first professional touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. On October 11, he caught his first touchdown reception against the Cincinnati Bengals. On October 18, 2009, in Week 6, Rice led his team in both rushing and receiving yards against the Minnesota Vikings. He rushed for 77-yards off 10 carries, scoring two touchdowns. He also caught 10 passes for 117-yards in the 33-31 loss. In Week 14, against the Detroit Lions, Rice had career-bests 166 rushing yards and 216 total yards, scoring one touchdown. In Week 16, on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rice had a career-high 30 carries and tallied 141 rushing yards, which broke a Steelers' streak of 32 consecutive games without allowing a 100-yard rusher. He finished the season with 254 carries for 1,339 yards and 7 touchdowns, averaging 5.3 yards per carry.


title: Ray Rice

text: In the Wild Card Round against the New England Patriots on January 10, 2010, Rice scored an 83-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play for the Ravens, which was the longest play for the Ravens that season, the longest rush of his NFL career and the second longest rush in NFL postseason history. The run was part of a 159-yard, two-touchdown performance in the 33–14 victory. In the Divisional Round loss to the Indianapolis Colts, he had 13 carries for 67 rushing yards and a lost fumble as well as nine receptions for 60 yards.


title: Ray Rice

text: On December 20, 2010, against the New Orleans Saints, Rice amassed a career-best 233 yards from scrimmage (153 rushing and 80 receiving) to go along with two touchdowns. The 233 yards are also the third most in Ravens franchise history. For his efforts, Rice was awarded his first AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. On January 9, 2010, in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Kansas City Chiefs, Rice became the first Ravens running back to have a receiving touchdown in a playoff game. He had 99 scrimmage yards and a receiving touchdown in the 30–7 victory. In the Divisional Round loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had 64 scrimmage yards and rushing touchdown.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice finished the 2010 season with 1,220 total rushing yards, and 556 total receiving yards. He was ranked 56th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2011.


title: Ray Rice

text: In the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rice gained 107 yards rushing and a rushing touchdown, while recording four receptions for 42 yards and a receiving touchdown in the 35–7 victory. This performance was only the second time a running back had gained more than 100 rushing yards against the Steelers defense since the 2009 season, both belonging to Rice. In Week 10, he threw his first career passing touchdown on a one-yard completion to tight end Ed Dickson in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks. In Week 13, Rice ran for 204 yards against the Cleveland Browns, including a 68-yard touchdown, giving him his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season as well as his third consecutive year with 1,000 rushing yards. In the following game, Rice ran for 103 yards on 26 carries, averaging almost four yards per carry and scoring a touchdown (despite a lost fumble) in a win against the Indianapolis Colts. In a Week 17 win against the Cincinnati Bengals, Rice rushed for 191 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown run in the first two minutes of the game and a 51-yard touchdown with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter; this performance not only earned Rice AFC Offensive Player of the Week but also helped the Ravens seal their first division title under John Harbaugh. Rice finished the season with 1,364 yards off 291 attempts averaging 4.7 yards a carry. He also had 12 touchdowns. He was second in the league in total rush yards and finished first in total yards from scrimmage. Rice had 704 receiving yards off 76 catches averaging 9.3 yards a reception. Rice was selected to his second Pro-Bowl in 2011 and voted to the NFL All-Pro Team.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice was for the most part held in check during the 2012 playoffs, having just 47 touches for 158 yards and being kept out of the endzone in two games against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round victory and the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship loss. He was ranked 22nd on the NFL's Top 100 Players of 2012.


title: Ray Rice

text: On July 16, 2012, Rice agreed to a five-year, $35 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens after being franchise tagged earlier in the offseason.


title: Ray Rice

text: On November 25, 2012, the Ravens were down three with under two minutes left in a road game against the San Diego Chargers. The Ravens had the ball at their own 37 on a fourth and extremely long 29. Quarterback Joe Flacco passed short middle to Rice, who followed up by avoiding defenders for 29 yards and getting the first down in what Ravens' coach John Harbaugh dubbed as the play that will "go down in history." The Ravens went on to tie the game at the conclusion of the drive with a field goal, and won the game in overtime. For his performance, he received the AFC offensive Player of the Week award and the "GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Week Award." The play itself also received the nickname, "Hey Diddle-Diddle". He finished the 2012 season with 1,143 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns to go along with 61 receptions for 478 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the third time.


title: Ray Rice

text: On February 3, 2013, the Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, earning Rice his first and only Super Bowl ring. In the Super Bowl, Rice had 20 carries for 59 yards and four receptions for 19 yards. Rice was ranked 13th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.


title: Ray Rice

text: In 2013, Rice got off to a slow start due to injury. In Week 11, Rice had his best game of the season, rushing for 131 yards on 25 carries in the Ravens 23–20 overtime loss to the Chicago Bears. He rushed for 660 yards on 214 carries for four touchdowns in the 2013 season.


title: Ray Rice

text: While on suspension for his domestic violence case, Rice was released by the Ravens on September 8, 2014. After the public release of the video of the incident from TMZ, the NFL announced he was suspended indefinitely; moreover, the Ravens recalled all Rice items from their pro shop as well as other known stores nationwide, and announced an exchange program the day after. Shortly after, it was announced that Rice would appeal the suspension on the grounds that he was suspended twice for the same offense, which is a violation of league rules. On November 28, 2014, it was announced that he won his appeal to be reinstated in the NFL.


title: Ray Rice

text: On January 15, 2015, Rice and the Ravens reportedly agreed to settle his lawsuit against the team. He had sued for $3.529 million in back pay that he would have earned for the final 15 weeks after serving the NFL's two-game suspension. The settlement came immediately before the hearing was to begin in Baltimore, effectively ending the litigation between Rice and the Ravens. In 2016, he vowed to donate all of that season's salary to domestic violence charities if he were signed by a team, but he remained unsigned. In 2018, Rice announced that his football career was over.


title: Ray Rice

text: On February 15, 2014, Rice and his fiancée (now wife), Janay Palmer, were arrested and charged with assault after a physical altercation at the then Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After a night of heavy drinking, Palmer and Rice got into an argument and Rice then followed Palmer into an elevator after he left the table where they had been seated. They then shouted obscenities at each other and Palmer appeared to spit in Rice's face before he struck her. On February 19, celebrity news website TMZ posted a video of Rice and Palmer hitting each other in an elevator, with Rice punching her in the face, causing her to fall and hit her head on the elevator handrail, and dragging her out of the elevator. The Ravens issued a statement following TMZ's release of the video, calling Rice's domestic violence arrest a "serious matter". The matter was handled by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. On September 8, 2014, a law enforcement official showed the Associated Press a video of the incident with audio of the elevator incident and that was longer than the video released by TMZ Sports.


title: Ray Rice

text: On March 27, 2014, a grand jury indicted Rice on third-degree aggravated assault, with a possible jail sentence of three to five years and a fine of up to $15,000. Six weeks after the incident, Rice married Palmer on March 28, 2014. For the incident, Rice was suspended for the first two games of the 2014 NFL season on July 25, 2014. The criminal charges were later dropped after Rice agreed to undergo court-supervised counseling. In a news conference announcing longer suspension lengths for future domestic violence incidents, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that he "didn't get it right" in deciding Rice's punishment.


title: Ray Rice

text: In January 2015, the Baltimore Ravens settled the claim after Rice filed a formal grievance against the NFL for wrongful termination. Rice demanded $3.5 million based on the claim that the Ravens imposed a second punishment upon him by terminating his employment weeks after the NFL levied a two-game suspension. Although the details of the settlement were not disclosed, it was estimated that he received most of his claim.


title: Ray Rice

text: Rice is known for his community service. In 2012, he was voted the city of Baltimore's most charitable person. Causes that Rice was involved in include the Make-A-Wish Foundation, cyberbullying prevention, and homeless aid. In 2016, Rice and a friend gave Christmas presents to children from low-income families.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: John Joseph Connolly Jr. (born August 1, 1940) is an American former FBI agent who was convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and murder charges stemming from his relationship with James "Whitey" Bulger, Steve Flemmi, and the Winter Hill Gang.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: State and federal officers had been trying to imprison Bulger for years, but he evaded capture until 2011. As the FBI handler for Bulger and Flemmi, Connolly (who had grown up in the Old Harbor Housing Project with Bulger) had been protecting them from prosecution by supplying Bulger with information about possible attempts to catch them. Connolly was indicted on December 22, 1999, on charges of alerting Bulger and Flemmi to investigations, falsifying FBI reports to cover their crimes, and accepting bribes.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: In 2000, Connolly was charged with additional racketeering-related offenses. He was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to ten years in federal prison. In 2008, Connolly was convicted on state charges of second-degree murder in Florida and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was released from federal prison on June 28, 2011, and transferred to the Florida State Prison to serve the remainder of his sentence for his 2008 conviction.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: In April 2020, Connolly asked to be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence on home confinement due to fears of contracting COVID-19, citing a 2018 federal law allowing for compassionate release under "extraordinary" circumstances, such as age, health and other critical factors. A Miami-Dade judge initially declined to order his release, but Connolly was later granted a medical release on February 17, 2021.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: John Joseph Connolly Jr. is the namesake and son of an Irish immigrant, John Connolly Sr. of Maigh Cuilinn in County Galway, a Gillette employee for 50 years. Connolly's mother, Bridget T. Connolly (née Kelly), was a housewife. They lived in the Old Harbor Housing Project in Boston, the first public housing project in New England, on O'Callaghan Way until John Jr. was 12 years old. The Bulger family, residing a few doors down, had lived there since its New Deal creation in 1938; other residents were future US Representative Joseph Moakley, and Francis "Buddy" Leonard, who would later be allegedly murdered by Bulger in 1975 during his battle for power over the rackets.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly admired the studious William Bulger, six years his senior; he did not meet his older brother, Jimmy, nicknamed "Whitey" because of his white-blond hair, until he was eight years old. The 19-year-old Bulger, who was already notorious as the leader of the Mercer Street gang, bought the other neighborhood boys ice cream cones and convinced an awestruck Connolly to accept the treat. Later that same year, Connolly found himself outnumbered in a skirmish over a ball with some older boys. According to Connolly, Bulger came along and chased the bullies away.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: In 1952, Connolly's family moved to the City Point neighborhood of South Boston. John Jr. was able to attend Columbus High School, a Catholic high school in the Italian North End neighborhood. His younger brother, James, who later sought a career in law enforcement, joined the DEA New England Division based in Boston.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly was encouraged to attend Boston College by Billy Bulger, and after graduation, took classes at Suffolk University Law School. He later earned a graduate degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: After completing his studies, Connolly worked as a teacher at South Boston High School and at Dorchester High School. After seeking advice from Billy Bulger, now a State Representative, about career opportunities in law enforcement, in 1968, he met with H. Paul Rico's FBI partner, Special Agent Dennis Condon, and Boston Police Department Detective Edward Walsh, an old friend of the Connolly family's. Both Condon and Walsh would later brag that they had "recruited" Connolly. Ironically, Dennis Condon, who was Connelly's FBI supervisor, had approached Whitey Bulger in the early 1970's, with little result. Because of their neighborhood ties, Connolly would prove to have the inside track with Bulger that Condon did not.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: On August 1, 1968, U.S. House Speaker John W. McCormack wrote a personal note to J. Edgar Hoover on behalf of a constituent. The letter began, ""Dear Edgar, It has come to my attention that the son of a lifelong personal friend has applied to become a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ..."" Connolly was appointed to the FBI in October 1968. FBI Supervisor John M. Morris, who would also later face charges of corruption, was Connolly's supervisor during much of Connolly's time working for the FBI.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly began his FBI career in the Baltimore and San Francisco field offices before being transferred to New York City. He wanted to return to Boston to be closer to his ailing father. A year after he arrested Mafioso Frank Salemme, the FBI transferred Connolly to its Boston field office in the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in 1973.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: In 1980, he moved to 48 Thomas Park in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood, across the street from South Boston High School. During his career in the FBI, Connolly investigated organized crime. He was one of the primary agents involved in developing the Top Echelon Criminal Informants Program in New England. Over the span of his career he received eight commendations from every Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from J. Edgar Hoover through L. Patrick Gray, William Ruckelshaus, Clarence M. Kelley, James B. Adams, William H. Webster, John Otto, and William S. Sessions. Through his second marriage, he was the brother-in-law of Arthur Gianelli, a racketeer who was later indicted with Joe "Joey Y" Yerardi, who oversaw Johnny Martorano's criminal operations when Martorano was a federal fugitive in Florida between 1978 and 1995.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: In 1989, the DEA was probing the Winter Hill Gang for suspected drug trafficking. The DEA was aware that a former roommate and John's brother James both worked for the DEA. As an FBI supervisor later noted in a memo, the head of the DEA's Boston office "quietly changed the duties of both these DEA special agents so they would not become aware of this matter."


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly's dapper, even flashy, appearance meant he stood out as an FBI agent. Bulger poked fun at his foppishness; referring to Connolly as "Elvis" because of his perfectly combed hair.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Before he was brought up on criminal charges, Connolly was mentioned in Gerard O'Neill and Dick Lehr's crime fiction book, "The Underboss: The Rise & Fall of a Mafia Family" (1989), which followed the FBI's campaign against Gennaro Angiulo with Connolly, John Morris, and a team of fellow FBI agents.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly's first wife, Marianne Lockary, was his childhood sweetheart whom he married as he neared graduation from Suffolk University Law School. In January 1982, he and Lockary, who cited an "irretrievable breakdown" of their marriage after a four-year separation, divorced. In 1988, Connolly married Elizabeth L. Moore, a court stenographer who worked at the FBI headquarters at Government Center, Boston.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly had no children with his first wife but fathered three sons with his second wife, Elizabeth. His sister-in-law Mary Ann Moore is married to Arthur Gianelli. Gianelli and Connolly purchased adjoining properties in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, from Rocco Botta, a reputed Mafia extortionist. Their adjacent homes were built by Thomas F. Tuffo, the real estate partner of Kevin P. O'Neil, who the FBI claimed was a long-time money launderer and enforcer for Bulger and Flemmi.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly first met with FBI informants Stephen Flemmi and Whitey Bulger at a coffee shop in Newton, Massachusetts. Louis Litif, one of the top bookmakers and a Winter Hill Gang mob associate, was one of Connolly's handball partners at the Boston Athletic Club. Bulger nicknamed Connolly "Zip" because the lawman shared the same South Boston ZIP Code as the Bulger clan.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: He occasionally lectured FBI agents at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia on informant development tactics and techniques and was a member of the Boston FBI's Organized Crime Squad. Retired FBI Special Agent Joseph D. Pistone wrote in the book, "The Ceremony", "The reign of the Patriarca Family is virtually ended. A substantial amount of the credit for the demise of that mob Family must be given to one man, Special Agent John Connolly." Connolly retired from the FBI honorably in 1990 and accepted the position of Director of Security/Public affairs for Boston Edison, from former Boston FBI Special Agent John Kehoe.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: In 2005, Connolly was indicted on murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges in the 1982 slaying of John B. Callahan and the 1981 murder of Roger Wheeler, owner of the World Jai Alai sporting corporation. Connolly stood trial in 2008 in Miami, Florida. Callahan was murdered by John Martorano, who left the corpse in the trunk of a Cadillac in a Miami International Airport parking lot.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Prosecutors alleged that Callahan was killed on the orders of Whitey Bulger and Stephen Flemmi, after Connolly told them that the FBI was investigating Callahan's ties to the Winter Hill Gang in their ongoing investigation into Wheeler's death. Martorano had killed Wheeler in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in May 1981.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: During the trial, Bulger associates Flemmi, Martorano, and Kevin Weeks testified for the prosecution detailing Connolly's ties to Bulger and Flemmi. Flemmi testified that he and Bulger paid Connolly $235,000 over the years, but started cutting his payments in the late 1980s after he started attracting attention through too many luxury purchases, including a boat. IRS special agent Sandra Lemansky testified that during the 1980s Connolly bought a 27-foot Sea Ray for $46,567; a South Boston condo for $63,000, with a $12,000 down payment; a Brewster condo for $80,000, with a $15,000 down payment; land in Chatham for $98,000; and then built a house on the Chatham property for $132,000.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: During the 1980s, Connolly's annual FBI salary started at $45,000 and gradually increased to $65,000, she said. Denise Taiste, an FBI employee who worked as an assistant to Connolly in 1988 testified that on one occasion when he was not in the office, Connolly instructed her


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: to leave his paycheck in his desk. Taiste admitted that she looked at the check, which was for $2,078.61, then opened the middle drawer of his desk and saw about 10 more uncashed checks inside.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Bulger's former girlfriend, Theresa Stanley, testified for the defense about her travels with Bulger. Flemmi testified that Connolly warned them that the FBI wanted to question Callahan in the death of Wheeler, and that Callahan "wouldn't hold up" and would probably implicate them. Also testifying against Connolly was his former FBI superior, John Morris, who admitted that he had accepted $7,000 in bribes from Bulger and Flemmi. Morris stated that he began leaking information to them after Connolly delivered a case of wine and an envelope stuffed with $1,000 cash from the pair.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Former U.S. Attorney and current U.S. District Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington testified for the defense, stating that Connolly was a star agent who was credited with using informants to help weaken the New England Mafia.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: On November 6, 2008, a jury convicted Connolly of second-degree murder. According to the prosecutors, Connolly faced a possible sentence of 30 years to life in prison. Sentencing was postponed until January 2009, while Circuit Judge Stanford Blake considered a motion by the defense to dismiss the case. The defense argued that in Florida, when Connolly was convicted, the statute of limitations had expired for second-degree murder.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: On January 15, 2009, Judge Blake sentenced Connolly to 40 years in prison, saying that Connolly "crossed over to the dark side." The judge agreed with the defense's argument involving the statute of limitations but noted that their motion was past the deadline for such motions. The judge accepted the prosecutors' argument that Connolly abused his badge and deserved more than the 30-year minimum. The 40-year state sentence runs consecutively with the 10-year federal sentence.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: Connolly served his time in FCI Butner Low facility at the Federal Correctional Complex, Butner, North Carolina. He was released from federal custody on June 28, 2011 and was transferred to a Florida state prison to serve his 40-year state sentence. Connolly has stated that he had nothing to do with the Callahan murder. With Bulger's capture on June 24, 2011, Connolly's attorney said his client would appeal if Bulger corroborated Connolly's claim of innocence.


title: John Connolly (FBI)

text: On May 28, 2014, Connolly's murder conviction was overturned by a panel of Florida's Third District Court of Appeal by a vote of 2–1. The panel held that since Connolly did not "carry or discharge the gun that was used to kill John Callahan in South Florida", it was not appropriate to convict him of murder. On July 29, 2015, the full court en banc reinstated Connolly's murder conviction by a vote of 6–4, finding that the conviction was legally proper, even though he was on Cape Cod when Martorano killed Callahan. Judge Leslie B. Rothenberg, who had been the lone vote for conviction in the earlier hearing, wrote, "It now no longer matters whether the defendant hired (procured) a hit man, turned to his mob friends to murder Callahan, served as a lookout, provided the gun, or pulled the trigger himself, he is a principal in the first degree." Under Florida sentencing guidelines, Connolly was required to serve at least one-third of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. John Connolly was paroled from prison in Florida in 2021, and is currently in Massachusetts.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Anita Ekberg was born on 29 September 1931, in Malmö, Skåne (Sweden), the sixth of eight children. In her teens, Anita worked as a fashion model. Ekberg entered the Miss Malmö competition in 1950 at her mother's urging. This led to the Miss Sweden contest which she won. Despite speaking very little English, she went to the United States to compete for the 1951 Miss Universe title (an unofficial pageant at that time, the pageant became official in 1952).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Although Ekberg did not win the Miss Universe pageant, as one of six finalists, she did earn a starlet's contract with Universal Studios.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: As a starlet at Universal, she received lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horseback riding, and fencing. She appeared briefly in "The Mississippi Gambler" (1953), "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" (1953) (playing a woman on Venus), "Take Me to Town" (1953), and "The Golden Blade" (1953).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg skipped many of her drama lessons, restricting herself to riding horses in the Hollywood Hills. Ekberg later admitted she was spoiled by the studio system and played instead of pursuing bigger film roles. Universal dropped her after six months.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: The combination of Ekberg's voluptuous physique and colourful private life (such as her well-publicized romances with Hollywood's leading men like Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, Yul Brynner, Rod Taylor, and Errol Flynn) appealed to the gossip magazines, like "Confidential" and she soon became a major 1950s pin-up, appearing in men's magazines like "Playboy". Additionally, Ekberg participated in publicity stunts. She once admitted that an incident in which her dress burst open in the lobby of London's Berkeley Hotel was prearranged with a photographer.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg toured Greenland with Bob Hope, entertaining American servicemen. Hope spoke of her beauty and John Wayne signed her to a contract with his Batjac Productions at $75 a week.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: By the mid-1950s, after several modelling jobs, Ekberg finally broke into the film industry. She guest-starred in the short-lived TV series "Casablanca" (1955) and "Private Secretary".


title: Anita Ekberg

text: She had a small part in the film "Blood Alley" (1955) starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall, made for Wayne's Batjac Productions. It was her first real speaking role in a feature.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: She appeared alongside the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy act in "Artists and Models" (1955), directed by Frank Tashlin for Paramount, playing "Anita".


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg's greatest opportunity was when Paramount cast her in "War and Peace" (1956) which was shot in Rome, alongside Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn, directed by King Vidor. For a time, she was even publicised as "Paramount's Marilyn Monroe".


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg was third billed in a thriller for Batjac, "Man in the Vault" (1956). It was distributed by RKO Pictures who had given Ekberg an excellent part in "Back from Eternity" (1956), directed by John Farrow.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg signed a deal with Warwick Pictures, the company of producers Albert Broccoli and Irwin Allen, who made films in England. She did "Zarak" (1956) with Victor Mature.