title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam therapy, compared with other drug therapies, increases risk of death when used for intractable epilepsy in an analysis of 302 patients. The risk of death from nitrazepam therapy may be greater in younger patients (children below 3.4 years in the study) with intractable epilepsy. In older children (above 3.4 years), the tendency appears to be reversed in this study. Nitrazepam may cause sudden death in children. It can cause swallowing incoordination, high-peaked esophageal peristalsis, bronchospasm, delayed cricopharyngeal relaxation, and severe respiratory distress necessitating ventilatory support in children. Nitrazepam may promote the development of parasympathetic overactivity or vagotonia, leading to potentially fatal respiratory distress in children.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam has been associated with severe hepatic disorders, similar to other nitrobenzodiazepines. Nitrobenzodiazepines such as nitrazepam, nimetazepam, flunitrazepam, and clonazepam are more toxic to the liver than other benzodiazepines as they are metabolically activated by CYP3A4 which can result in cytotoxicity. This activation can lead to the generation of free radicals and oxidation of thiol, as well as covalent binding with endogenous macromolecules; this results, then, in oxidation of cellular components or inhibition of normal cellular function. Metabolism of a nontoxic drug to reactive metabolites has been causally connected with a variety of adverse reactions.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Long-term use of nitrazepam may carry mental and physical health risks, such as the development of cognitive deficits. These adverse effects show improvement after a period of abstinence.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Some other sources however seem to indicate that there is no relation between the use of benzodiazepine medication and dementia. Further research is needed in order to assert that this class of medication does really induce cognitive decline.


title: Nitrazepam

text: A monograph for the drug says: "Treatment with nitrazepam should usually not exceed seven to ten consecutive days. Use for more than two to three consecutive weeks requires complete re-evaluation of the patient. Prescriptions for nitrazepam should be written for short-term use (seven to ten days) and it should not be prescribed in quantities exceeding a one-month supply. Dependence can occur in as little as four weeks."


title: Nitrazepam

text: Tolerance to nitrazepam's effects often appears with regular use. Increased levels of GABA in cerebral tissue and alterations in the activity state of the serotoninergic system occur as a result of nitrazepam tolerance.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Tolerance to the sleep-inducing effects of nitrazepam can occur after about seven days; tolerance also frequently occurs to its anticonvulsant effects.


title: Nitrazepam

text: However, other sources indicate that continuous use does not necessarily lead to reduced effectiveness, which implies that tolerance is not automatic and that not all patients exhibit tolerance to the same extent.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam can cause dependence, addiction, and benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Withdrawal from nitrazepam may lead to withdrawal symptoms which are similar to those seen with alcohol and barbiturates. Common withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, concentration problems, and fatigue. Discontinuation of nitrazepam produced rebound insomnia after short-term single nightly dose therapy.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Benzodiazepines require special precautions if used in alcohol- or drug-dependent individuals and individuals with comorbid psychiatric disorders. Caution should be exercised in prescribing nitrazepam to anyone who is of working age due to the significant impairment of psychomotor skills; this impairment is greater when the higher dosages are prescribed.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam in doses of 5 mg or more causes significant deterioration in vigilance performance combined with increased feelings of sleepiness. Nitrazepam at doses of 5 mg or higher impairs driving skills and like other hypnotic drugs, it is associated with an increased risk of traffic accidents. In the elderly, nitrazepam is associated with an increased risk of falls and hip fractures due to impairments of body balance. The elimination half-life of nitrazepam is 40 hours in the elderly and 29 hours in younger adults. Nitrazepam is commonly taken in overdose by drug abusers or suicidal individuals, sometimes leading to death. Nitrazepam is teratogenic if taken in overdose during pregnancy with 30% of births showing congenital abnormalities. It is a popular drug of abuse in countries where it is available.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Doses as low as 5 mg can impair driving skills. Therefore, people driving or conducting activities which require vigilance should exercise caution in using nitrazepam or possibly avoid it altogether.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam, similar to other benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepines, causes impairments in body balance and standing steadiness in individuals who wake up at night or the next morning. Falls and hip fractures are frequently reported. Combination with alcohol increases these impairments. Partial but incomplete tolerance develops to these impairments. Nitrazepam has been found to be dangerous in elderly patients due to a significantly increased risk of falls. This increased risk is probably due to the drug effects of nitrazepam persisting well into the next day. Nitrazepam is a particularly unsuitable hypnotic for the elderly as it induces a disability characterised by general mental deterioration, inability to walk, incontinence, dysarthric, confusion, stumbling, falls, and disoriention which can occur from doses as low as 5 mg. The nitrazepam-induced symptomatology can lead to a misdiagnosis of brain disease in the elderly, for example dementia, and can also lead to the symptoms of postural hypotension which may also be misdiagnosed. A geriatric unit reportedly was seeing as many as seven patients a month with nitrazepam-induced disabilities and health problems. The drug was recommended to join the barbiturates in not being prescribed to the elderly. Only nitrazepam and lorazepam were found to increase the risk of falls and fractures in the elderly. CNS depression occurs much more frequently in the elderly and is especially common in doses above 5 mg of nitrazepam. Both young and old patients report sleeping better after three nights' use of nitrazepam, but they also reported feeling less awake and were slower on psychomotor testing up to 36 hours after intake of nitrazepam. The elderly showed cognitive deficits, making significantly more mistakes in psychomotor testing than younger patients despite similar plasma levels of the drug, suggesting the elderly are more sensitive to nitrazepam due to increased sensitivity of the aging brain to it. Confusion and disorientation can result from chronic nitrazepam administration to elderly subjects. Also, the effects of a single dose of nitrazepam may last up to 60 hours after administration.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam is not recommended for use in those under 18 years of age. Use in very young children may be especially dangerous. Children treated with nitrazepam for epilepsies may develop tolerance within months of continued use, with dose escalation often occurring with prolonged use. Sleepiness, deterioration in motor skills and ataxia were common side effects in children with tuberous sclerosis treated with nitrazepam. The side effects of nitrazepam may impair the development of motor and cognitive skills in children treated with nitrazepam. Withdrawal only occasionally resulted in a return of seizures and some children withdrawn from nitrazepam appeared to improve. Development, for example the ability to walk at five years of age, was impaired in many children taking nitrazepam, but was not impaired with several other nonbenzodiazepine antiepileptic agents. Children being treated with nitrazepam have been recommended to be reviewed and have their nitrazepam gradually discontinued whenever appropriate. Excess sedation, hypersalivation, swallowing difficulty, and high incidence of aspiration pneumonia, as well as several deaths, have been associated with nitrazepam therapy in children.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam is not recommended during pregnancy as it is associated with causing a neonatal withdrawal syndrome and is not generally recommended in alcohol- or drug-dependent individuals or people with comorbid psychiatric disorders. The Dutch, British and French system called the System of Objectified Judgement Analysis for assessing whether drugs should be included in drug formularies based on clinical efficacy, adverse effects, pharmacokinetic properties, toxicity, and drug interactions was used to assess nitrazepam. A Dutch analysis using the system found nitrazepam to be unsuitable in drug-prescribing formularies.


title: Nitrazepam

text: The use of nitrazepam during pregnancy can lead to intoxication of the newborn. A neonatal withdrawal syndrome can also occur if nitrazepam or other benzodiazepines are used during pregnancy with symptoms such as hyperexcitability, tremor, and gastrointestinal upset (diarrhea or vomiting) occurring. Breast feeding by mothers using nitrazepam is not recommended. Nitrazepam is a long-acting benzodiazepine with a risk of drug accumulation, though no active metabolites are formed during metabolism. Accumulation can occur in various body organs, including the heart; accumulation is even greater in babies. Nitrazepam rapidly crosses the placenta and is present in breast milk in high quantities. Therefore, benzodiazepines including nitrazepam should be avoided during pregnancy. In early pregnancy, nitrazepam levels are lower in the baby than in the mother, and in the later stages of pregnancy, nitrazepam is found in equal levels in both the mother and the unborn child. Internationally benzodiazepines are known to cause harm when used during pregnancy and nitrazepam is a category D drug during pregnancy.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Benzodiazepines are lipophilic and rapidly penetrate membranes, so rapidly penetrate the placenta with significant uptake of the drug. Use of benzodiazepines such as nitrazepam in late pregnancy in especially high doses may result in floppy infant syndrome. Use in the third trimester of pregnancy may result in the development of a severe benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome in the neonate. Withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepines in the neonate may include hypotonia, and reluctance to suckle, to apnoeic spells, cyanosis, and impaired metabolic responses to cold stress. These symptoms may persist for hours or months after birth.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Caution should be exercised by people who have hypothyroidism, as this condition may cause a long delay in the metabolism of nitrazepam leading to significant drug accumulation.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam should be avoided in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), especially during acute exacerbations of COPD, because serious respiratory depression may occur in patients receiving hypnotics.


title: Nitrazepam

text: As with other hypnotic drugs, nitrazepam is associated with an increased risk of traffic accidents. Nitrazepam is recommended to be avoided in patients who drive or operate machinery. A study assessing driving skills of sedative hypnotic users found the users of nitrazepam to be significantly impaired up to 17 hours after dosing, whereas users of temazepam did not show significant impairments of driving ability. These results reflect the long-acting nature of nitrazepam.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam interacts with the antibiotic erythromycin, a strong inhibitor of CYP3A4, which affects concentration peak time. Alone, this interaction is not believed to be clinically important. However, anxiety, tremor, and depression were documented in a case report involving a patient undergoing treatment for acute pneumonia and renal failure. Following administration of nitrazepam, triazolam, and subsequently erythromycin, the patient experienced repetitive hallucinations and abnormal bodily sensations. Coadministration of benzodiazepine drugs at therapeutic doses with erythromycin may cause serious psychotic symptoms, especially in persons with other, significant physical complications.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Oral contraceptive pills reduce the clearance of nitrazepam, which may lead to increased plasma levels of nitrazepam and accumulation.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Rifampin significantly increases the clearance of nitrazepam, while probenecid significantly decreases its clearance. Cimetidine slows down the elimination rate of nitrazepam, leading to more prolonged effects and increased risk of accumulation. Alcohol in combination with nitrazepam may cause a synergistic enhancement of the hypotensive properties of both benzodiazepines and alcohol. Benzodiazepines including nitrazepam may inhibit the glucuronidation of morphine, leading to increased levels and prolongation of the effects of morphine in rat experiments.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam is a nitrobenzodiazepine. It is a 1,4 benzodiazepine, with the chemical name "1,3-Dihydro-7-nitro-5-phenyl-2H-1,4- benzodiazepin-2-one".


title: Nitrazepam

text: It is long acting, lipophilic, and metabolised hepatically by oxidative pathways. It acts on benzodiazepine receptors in the brain which are associated with the GABA receptors, causing an enhanced binding of GABA to GABA receptors. GABA is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, involved in inducing sleepiness, muscular relaxation, and control of anxiety and seizures, and slows down the central nervous system. Nitrazepam is similar in action to the z-drug zopiclone prescribed for insomnia. The anticonvulsant properties of nitrazepam and other benzodiazepines may be in part or entirely due to binding to voltage-dependent sodium channels rather than benzodiazepine receptors. Sustained repetitive firing seems to be limited by benzodiazepines effect of slowing recovery of sodium channels from inactivation in mouse spinal cord cell cultures. The muscle relaxant properties of nitrazepam are produced via inhibition of polysynaptic pathways in the spinal cord of decerebrate cats. It is a full agonist of the benzodiazepine receptor. The endogenous opioid system may play a role in some of the pharmacological properties of nitrazepam in rats. Nitrazepam causes a decrease in the cerebral contents of the amino acids glycine and alanine in the mouse brain. The decrease may be due to activation of benzodiazepine receptors. At high doses decreases in histamine turnover occur as a result of nitrazepam's action at the benzodiazepine-GABA receptor complex in mouse brain. Nitrazepam has demonstrated cortisol-suppressing properties in humans.


title: Nitrazepam

text: It is an agonist for both central benzodiazepine receptors and to the peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptors found in rat neuroblastoma cells.


title: Nitrazepam

text: In sleep laboratory studies, nitrazepam decreased sleep onset latency. In psychogeriatric inpatients, it was found to be no more effective than placebo tablets in increasing total time spent asleep and to significantly impair trial subjects' abilities to move and carry out everyday activities the next day, and it should not be used as a sleep aid in psychogeriatric inpatients.


title: Nitrazepam

text: The drug causes a delay in the onset, and decrease in the duration of REM sleep. Following discontinuation of the drug, REM sleep rebound has been reported in some studies. Nitrazepam is reported to significantly affect stages of sleep - a decrease in stage 1, 3, and 4 sleep and an increase in stage 2. In young volunteers, the pharmacological properties of nitrazepam were found to produce sedation and impaired psychomotor performance and standing steadiness. EEG tests showed decreased alpha activity and increased the beta activity, according to blood plasma levels of nitrazepam. Performance was significantly impaired 13 hours after dosing with nitrazepam, as were decision-making skills. EEG tests show more drowsiness and light sleep 18 hours after nitrazepam intake, more so than amylobarbitone. Fast activity was recorded via EEG 18 hours after nitrazepam dosing. An animal study demonstrated that nitrazepam induces a drowsy pattern of spontaneous EEG including high-voltage slow waves and spindle bursts increase in the cortex and amygdala, while the hippocampal theta rhythm is desynchronized. Also low-voltage fast waves occur particularly in the cortical EEG. The EEG arousal response to auditory stimulation and to electric stimulation of the mesencephalic reticular formation, posterior hypothalamus and centromedian thalamus is significantly suppressed. The photic driving response elicited by a flash light in the visual cortex is also suppressed by nitrazepam. Estazolam was found to be more potent however. Nitrazepam increases the slow wave light sleep (SWLS) in a dose-dependent manner whilst suppressing deep sleep stages. Less time is spent in stages 3 and 4 which are the deep sleep stages, when benzodiazepines such as nitrazepam are used. The suppression of deep sleep stages by benzodiazepines may be especially problematic to the elderly as they naturally spend less time in the deep sleep stage.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam is largely bound to plasma proteins. Benzodiazepines such as nitrazepam are lipid-soluble and have a high cerebral uptake. The time for nitrazepam to reach peak plasma concentrations following oral administration is about 2 hours (0.5 to 5 hours). The half-life of nitrazepam is between 16.5 and 48.3 hours. In young people, nitrazepam has a half-life of about 29 hours and a much longer half-life of 40 hours in the elderly. Both low dose (5 mg) and high dose (10 mg) of nitrazepam significantly increases growth hormone levels in humans.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam's half-life in the cerebrospinal fluid, 68 hours, indicates that nitrazepam is eliminated extremely slowly from the cerebrospinal fluid. Concomitant food intake has no influence on the rate of absorption of nitrazepam nor on its bioavailability. Therefore, nitrazepam can be taken with or without food.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Nitrazepam overdose may result in stereotypical symptoms of benzodiazepine overdose including intoxication, impaired balance and slurred speech. In cases of severe overdose this may progress to a comatose state with the possibility of death. The risk of nitrazepam overdose is increased significantly if nitrazepam is abused in conjunction with opioids, as was highlighted in a review of deaths of users of the opioid buprenorphine. Nitrobenzodiazepines such as nitrazepam can result in a severe neurological effects. Nitrazepam taken in overdose is associated with a high level of congenital abnormalities (30 percent of births). Most of the congentital abnormalities were mild deformities.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Severe nitrazepam overdose resulting in coma causes the central somatosensory conduction time (CCT) after median nerve stimulation to be prolonged and the N20 to be dispersed. Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials demonstrate delayed interpeak latencies (IPLs) I-III, III-V and I-V. Toxic overdoses therefore of nitrazepam cause prolonged CCT and IPLs. An alpha pattern coma can be a feature of nitrazepam overdose with alpha patterns being most prominent in the frontal and central regions of the brain.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Benzodiazepines were implicated in 39% of suicides by drug poisoning in Sweden, with nitrazepam and flunitrazepam accounting for 90% of benzodiazepine implicated suicides, in the elderly over a period of 2 decades. In three quarters of cases death was due to drowning, typically in the bath. Benzodiazepines were the predominant drug class in suicides in this review of Swedish death certificates. In 72% of the cases benzodiazepines were the only drug consumed. Benzodiazepines and in particular nitrazepam and flunitrazepam should therefore be prescribed with caution in the elderly. In a brain sample of a fatal nitrazepam poisoning high concentrations of nitrazepam and its metabolite were found in the brain of the deceased person.


title: Nitrazepam

text: In a retrospective study of deaths in Sweden, when benzodiazepines were implicated in the deaths, the benzodiazepines nitrazepam and flunitrazepam were the most common benzodiazepines involved. Benzodiazepines were a factor in all deaths related to drug addiction in this study of causes of deaths. In Sweden, nitrazepam and flunitrazepam were significantly more commonly implicated in suicide related deaths than natural deaths. In four of the cases benzodiazepines alone were the only cause of death. In Australia, nitrazepam and temazepam were the benzodiazepines most commonly detected in overdose drug related deaths. In a third of cases benzodiazepines were the sole cause of death.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Individuals with chronic illnesses are much more vulnerable to lethal overdose with nitrazepam, as fatal overdoses can occur at relatively low doses in these individuals.


title: Nitrazepam

text: Reaction of 2-amino-5-nitrobenzophenone (1) with bromoacetyl bromide forms the amide 2. Ring closure in liquid ammonia affords nitrazepam (3). More simply, diazepinone (4) can be nitrated directly at the more reactive C position with potassium nitrate in sulfuric acid.


title: Dr. Ken

text: Dr. Ken is an American multi-camera sitcom that aired on ABC from October 2, 2015, to March 31, 2017. The series was created, written, and co-executive produced by its lead actor, Ken Jeong, who based the concept on his experience as a physician prior to becoming a stand-up comedian. This television show was an ABC Studios/Sony Pictures Television co-production.


title: Dr. Ken

text: On October 20, 2015, ABC ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the first season. On May 12, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 23, 2016. On May 11, 2017, ABC cancelled the series after two seasons.


title: Dr. Ken

text: "Dr. Ken" is about a Korean-American doctor (Ken Jeong), with a questionable bedside manner; his wife, a talented therapist (Suzy Nakamura); and his two children: son Dave (Albert Tsai) and daughter Molly (Krista Marie Yu).


title: Dr. Ken

text: Jeong previously starred alongside guests stars Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jim Rash and Jonathan Banks on the television comedy series "Community". In the episode "Ken's Big Audition", Ken auditions for a fictional version of the show, in which Brie, series creator Dan Harmon, and other "Community" cast members Erik Charles Nielsen, Danielle Kaplowitz, Richard Erdman and Luke Youngblood also appear.


title: Dr. Ken

text: "Dr. Ken" received highly negative reviews from television critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 7% approval rating, based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 2.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "Somebody please get "Dr. Ken" a doctor; seeking any signs of life. Or humor." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 26 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."


title: Dr. Ken

text: "Indiewire" TV Critic Ben Travers and TV Editor Liz Shannon Miller, both negatively ranked the trailer released for "Dr. Ken". Marc Berman of "TV Media Insights" gave the new series very low odds of survival. During the 2015 Television Critics Association press tour, Ken Jeong defended against a comparison drawn between his series and the ill-fated "All American Girl" starring Margaret Cho, claiming that he would have more creative control as both a writer and producer of "Dr. Ken".


title: Alton Coleman

text: Alton Coleman (November 6, 1955 – April 26, 2002) was an American serial killer who, along with accomplice Debra Brown, committed a crime spree across six states in the Midwest between May and July 1984 that resulted in the deaths of eight people. Coleman, who received death sentences in three states, was executed by the state of Ohio in 2002. Brown was sentenced to death in Ohio and Indiana, but the sentences were later reduced to life without parole and 140 years, respectively.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Alton Coleman was born on November 6, 1955, in Waukegan, Illinois. Coleman's mother worked three jobs, and he lived with his 73-year-old grandmother. A middle-school dropout, Coleman was well known to Illinois law enforcement, having been charged with sex crimes six times between 1973 and 1983. Two of those cases were dismissed, with Coleman pleading guilty to lesser charges in two and twice being acquitted. Coleman was scheduled to go on trial in Illinois on charges stemming from the rape of a 14-year-old girl when he fled and began his killing spree.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Coleman was diagnosed with mixed personality disorder with antisocial, narcissistic and obsessive features, with additional diagnoses including epileptic spasms, psychosis and borderline personality disorder.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Debra Brown, one of eleven children, is borderline intellectually disabled, suffered head trauma as a child, and was diagnosed with dependent personality disorder by a psychiatrist. She was engaged to another man when she met Coleman in 1983, but left her family and moved in with him shortly afterwards. Although a willing participant in Coleman's assaults and murders, Brown had no history of violence or any criminal history prior to their relationship.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Coleman and Brown committed their first murder when they killed 9-year-old Vernita Wheat from Kenosha, Wisconsin. After Coleman had befriended her mother, Juanita Wheat, he abducted Vernita and took her to Waukegan on May 29, 1984. Vernita's badly decomposed corpse was discovered on June 19 in an abandoned building four blocks from Coleman's grandmother's apartment. It was determined she had been raped, and the cause of death was ligature strangulation.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On May 31, Coleman befriended Robert Carpenter in Waukegan and spent the night at his home. The next day he borrowed Carpenter's car to go to the store and never returned.


title: Alton Coleman

text: In June 1984, Coleman and Brown were in Gary, Indiana and encountered two young girls there: 9-year-old Annie and her niece 7-year-old Tamika Turks. The couple sexually assaulted the two children. Annie survived the violent attack, but Tamika did not; her partially decomposed body was discovered on June 19. The same day, Donna Williams, a 25-year-old woman from Gary, disappeared. On July 11, Williams' decomposed body was discovered in Detroit, Michigan, about half a mile from where her car was found. She had been raped and killed by ligature strangulation.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On June 28, Coleman and Brown entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. Palmer-Jones of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, whom they beat severely. Coleman ripped the telephone from their wall before stealing money and their car.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On July 5, Coleman and Brown arrived in Toledo, Ohio, where Coleman befriended Virginia Temple, the mother of several children. When Temple stopped communicating with her relatives, authorities entered her home and found her young children alone and frightened. Temple and her eldest child, 9-year-old Rachelle, had been strangled to death and left in a crawl space.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On the same morning as the Temple murders, Coleman and Brown entered the home of Frank and Dorothy Duvendack in Toledo, who were bound with electrical cords which had been cut. The couple stole the Duvendacks' money and car, and Mrs. Duvendack's stolen watch was later found under another victim. Later that day, Coleman and Brown visited the Dayton home of Reverend Millard Gay and his wife Kathryn. The two stayed with the Gays and accompanied them to a religious service on July 9, where the next day the Gays dropped off the couple in downtown Cincinnati.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On July 12, Tonnie Storey, a 15-year-old girl who lived in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, disappeared; her body was discovered eight days later. A bracelet that had been stolen from the Temples was found under Storey's body. On the day of Storey's disappearance, the FBI added Coleman to its Ten Most Wanted List as a "special addition" as the 11th most wanted. Coleman was just the tenth person since the initiation of the list in 1950 to merit inclusion in such a manner.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Coleman and Brown bicycled into Norwood on July 13 at about 9:30 a.m. Less than three hours later, they drove away in a car belonging to Harry Walters, who they left unconscious, and his wife Marlene, who was raped and beaten to death. Walters survived and later testified that they had met the couple to discuss their potential purchase of a camper, but that Coleman attacked him with a wooden candlestick. The coroner indicated Marlene had been bludgeoned approximately 20 to 25 times during her violent assault. Shards of a broken soda bottle which bore Coleman's fingerprints were found in the living room, and bloody footprints made by two different pairs of shoes were found in the basement. The Walters' red Plymouth Reliant, as well as money, jewelry, and shoes, were stolen. Two bicycles, clothes and shoes not belonging to the Walters had been left behind.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Two days later, the Plymouth was found abandoned in Kentucky, where Coleman and Brown had kidnapped Oline Carmical, Jr., a college professor from Williamsburg, and drove back to Ohio with Carmical locked in the trunk of his car. On July 17, they abandoned this stolen vehicle in Dayton, and Carmical, who was still locked in the trunk, was rescued by authorities. Coleman and Brown returned to the home of the Gays, accosting them with guns. Reverend Gay, who at this time recognized Coleman as a wanted fugitive, asked, "Why you want to do us like that, like this?" Coleman responded: "I'm not going to kill you, but we generally kill them where we go." Coleman and Brown took their car and headed back toward Evanston, Illinois. Along the way, they stole another car in Indianapolis and killed its owner, 75-year-old Eugene Scott.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Three days later, on July 20, Coleman and Brown were arrested in Evanston. As they walked westward across an intersection, they passed immediately in front of a motorist who was from Coleman's neighborhood in Waukegan. The motorist drove north to a gas station and notified the police from a pay phone. The couple were soon spotted sitting on portable bleachers in empty Mason Park. As two police sergeants approached Coleman, Brown was observed walking away toward the rear of the park. Two other officers stopped Brown as she tried to exit the park, searched her, and found a gun in her purse. The pair were taken into custody without incident and transported to the Evanston police station, where both were identified by their fingerprints.


title: Alton Coleman

text: As Coleman was strip-searched, a steak knife was found between two pairs of sweat socks he was wearing. A shopping bag full of varied T-shirts and caps was found in the couple's possession; officers learned that the pair stopped every three to four blocks as they walked and changed shirts and caps. A week after their arrest, more than 50 law enforcement officials from six jurisdictions met to plan their strategy for prosecuting Coleman and Brown. Seeking the death penalty for Coleman and Brown, Michigan was quickly ruled out because it did not employ capital punishment. It was decided to give Ohio the first attempt at sentencing, with U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb stating, "We are convinced that prosecution (in Ohio) can most quickly and most likely result in the swiftest imposition of the death penalty against Alton Coleman and Debra Brown".


title: Alton Coleman

text: The state of Ohio convicted Coleman and Brown, finding them guilty of the rape and murder of Tonnie Storey in Cincinnati and Marlene Walters in Norwood, but not for the murders of Virginia and Rachelle Temple in Toledo. Coleman and Brown were both sentenced to death. Coleman's case was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court several times between 1985 and 2002, but his numerous arguments that his conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional failed to sway the justices. However, Coleman's death sentence in relation to the Storey killing was overturned in a separate proceeding. Despite this, Coleman's death sentence in relation to the Walters murder remained upheld. In addition to the death sentences, Coleman and Brown were each sentenced to twenty years in prison for transporting their kidnapping victim Oline Carmical across a state line.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On April 25, 2002, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a claim by Coleman's attorneys that the state's plan to accommodate the large number of victims and survivors who wanted to view the execution would turn it into a "spectator sport". So many victims and survivors of Coleman's crimes were allowed to witness the execution that prison officials had to set up a closed-circuit viewing venue outside of the building. For his last meal, Coleman ordered a well-done filet mignon smothered with mushrooms, fried chicken breasts, a salad with French dressing, sweet potato pie topped with whipped cream, French fries, collard greens, onion rings, cornbread, broccoli with melted cheese, biscuits and gravy, and Cherry Coke. Before his execution, he released a letter apologizing for what he'd done.


title: Alton Coleman

text: On April 26, reciting Psalm 23, Alton Coleman was executed by lethal injection in the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Reginald Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Coleman had not directly expressed remorse for the killings, but that he had "admitted what he's done in his own convoluted way."


title: Alton Coleman

text: Coleman had received two death sentences from Ohio, and one each from Illinois and Indiana. At the time of his execution, he was the only condemned person in the United States to have death sentences in three states.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Brown, who was originally sentenced to be executed in Ohio for her complicity in the crimes, had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment by Governor Richard Celeste in 1991. In commuting Brown's sentence, Celeste cited her low IQ scores, ranging from 59 to 74, and her "master-slave" relationship with Coleman influencing her actions. Brown was one of eight Ohio death row inmates (including all four of Ohio's female death row inmates) to have her sentence commuted by Celeste, a staunch opponent of capital punishment, a week before he left office.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Despite her non-violent history before the spree, Brown was initially unrepentant for her acts. During the sentencing phase of her first Ohio trial, she sent a note to the judge which read in part: "I killed the bitch and I don't give a damn. I had fun out of it." She was also given a death sentence for the murder of Tamika Turks in Indiana; however that sentence was ultimately commuted to 140 years imprisonment in 2018.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Brown is currently serving her sentence without possibility of parole at the Dayton Correctional Institution in Dayton, Ohio. She finally expressed remorse for her crimes when she apologized to the victims' families in a video in 2005.


title: Alton Coleman

text: Some authorities believe that Coleman and Brown (who are both Afro-American) usually selected black victims because they knew they would blend in better in the black community, noting that their crimes lacked a racial motive. However, on page 184 in "The Anatomy of Motive", John E. Douglas, a retired FBI profiler, states that Coleman, in the middle of a vicious sexual assault, "went into a practically incoherent tirade about how blacks were forcing him to rape and murder other blacks, as if that could somehow explain and justify his actions." Coleman and Brown left a racist slogan – all information is alleged – written in lipstick at the scene of the rape and murder of Tonnie Storey, one of their victims who was not Afro-American.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: The Washington Navy Yard shooting occurred on September 16, 2013, when 34-year-old Aaron Alexis fatally shot 12 people and injured three others in a mass shooting at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) inside the Washington Navy Yard in southeast Washington, D.C. The attack took place in the Navy Yard's Building 197; it began around 8:16 a.m. EDT and ended when police killed Alexis around 9:25 a.m. It was the second-deadliest mass murder on a U.S. military base, behind the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Alexis left a Residence Inn Hotel he was booked into on Monday, September 16 and arrived at the Navy Yard in a rented Toyota Prius at around 7:53 a.m., using a valid pass to enter the Yard. As shown on surveillance footage, he entered Building 197 at 8:08 a.m. through the main entrance, carrying a disassembled shotgun (its barrel and stock had been sawed off) in a shoulder bag. He went to the fourth floor, where he had conducted work during the prior week. There, he assembled the shotgun inside a bathroom, then emerged and crossed a hallway into the Building's 4 West area, a cubicle area near the atrium. He began shooting at 8:16 a.m. Six people were hit, five of whom died; the sixth survived wounds to the head and hand. At 8:17 a.m., the first 9-1-1 calls were made.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: By 8:20 a.m., Alexis had shot and killed eight people on the fourth floor, and he made his way to the third floor, where he fatally shot two more people within the next two minutes. He also fired at several people on at least five separate occasions, wounding one woman in the shoulder as she ran up a stairwell. A NAVSEA employee described encountering a gunman wearing all-blue clothing in a third-floor hallway and said that "he just turned and started firing." After firing several shots on the third floor, Alexis went to the first floor.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Officers began arriving at 8:23 a.m. from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and several other law enforcement agencies. There are many buildings on the base, however, and officers were unable to discern Building 197's location, so they asked bystanders where it was. They eventually found Building 197 after moving towards the direction from which people were fleeing. There was confusion regarding the shooting also taking place in a nearby building; in reality, a wounded victim had been evacuated from Building 197 and moved to an area near the second building for medical attention. The United States Capitol Police became embroiled in a controversy when the police union accused the agency of ordering its personnel to stand down and not respond to the shooting.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: While on the first floor, the shooter moved around randomly before turning around and heading towards the front entrance. He shot and killed Richard Ridgell, the security officer stationed there, and took his 9mm Beretta M9 pistol. Two police officers had asked Ridgell to remain at his post and try to stop the gunman if he attempted to leave the building. The shooter then fired his shotgun at a second security guard and a Navy military police officer at the first-floor atrium, missing both; the security guard fired back and the shooter fled down a hallway. Shortly afterwards, the shooter fired at two police officers and a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent in another hallway before fleeing again.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: At 8:34 a.m., the shooter went towards the west side of the building, where he encountered two men standing at a corner of the building in an alleyway. He tried to fire at them with his shotgun but realized that he was out of ammunition; he switched to the Beretta, killing one of the men, and the other man escaped without injury. Reports indicated that the victim in the alleyway was hit by a "stray bullet". The shooter's use of the pistol in the alleyway led police to initially believe that a second gunman was involved.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: After killing his final victim, Alexis moved to a cubicle area where he discarded the shotgun. At the same time, a team of officers entered Building 197, but they became confused after gunshots echoed through the atrium, leading them to believe that he was on an upper floor. They headed up to the second floor while Alexis remained on the first floor. At approximately 8:55 a.m., he went to the third floor and concealed himself inside a bank of cubicles. At 9:12 a.m., two officers and two NCIS agents entered the cubicle area and Alexis opened fire on them, hitting officer Scott Williams in both legs. Officer Emmanuel Smith and NCIS agents Brian Kelley and Ed Martin dragged Williams out of the area and alerted other officers to the shooter's presence. Williams was later taken down to the first floor for medical attention, recovering from his wounds.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: At 9:15 a.m., D.C. Police Emergency Response Team officer Dorian DeSantis and U.S. Park Police officers Andrew Wong and Carl Hiott entered the cubicle area and searched the individual banks. Eventually, Alexis jumped out from one of the desks and fired at DeSantis from approximately away, hitting him twice in his tactical vest, and the three officers returned fire. DeSantis was uninjured by the gunshot. At 9:25 a.m., DeSantis shot Alexis in the head, and his death was confirmed at 11:50 a.m.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: There were 13 fatalities, including Alexis. He and 11 of the victims were killed at the scene, while Vishnu Pandit, a program manager in the US Navy, later died at George Washington University Hospital. All the victims were civilian employees or contractors, none of them in the military. Eight others were injured, three of them from gunfire. Police officer Scott Williams and two female civilians were wounded by gunfire and were in critical condition at Washington Hospital Center.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Alexis was born May 9, 1979, in the New York City borough of Queens. He grew up in Brooklyn and was a resident of Fort Worth, Texas. He joined the Navy in May 2007 and served in Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 46 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. His rating was aviation electrician's mate, and he had attained the rank of petty officer third class when he was honorably discharged from the Navy on January 31, 2011, although the Navy originally intended for him to receive a general discharge.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: According to a Navy official, Alexis was cited on at least eight occasions for misconduct. In 2010, he was arrested in Fort Worth for discharging a weapon within city limits. He was also arrested in 2004 in Seattle, Washington, for malicious mischief after shooting out the tires of another man's vehicle in what he described as an anger-fueled "blackout", and for disorderly conduct in 2008 in DeKalb County, Georgia. None of his arrests led to prosecution, so there was no penalty for his actions.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Alexis received a secret-level security clearance in March 2008 that was valid for ten years. Following the Navy Yard shooting, it was found that the federal personnel report, which led to the clearance's approval, did not mention that his 2004 arrest had involved a firearm. Alexis said on his clearance application that he had never been charged with a felony and that he had not been arrested in the last seven years; the personnel report said that he had given these answers because the 2004 charge had been dismissed. This security clearance investigation was conducted by USIS, the same contractor that had vetted Edward Snowden. The Department of Justice has filed fraud charges against USIS in a whistleblower case filed as "United States of America ex rel. Blake Percival vs USIS".


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Alexis worked in Japan from September 2012 to January 2013 on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet network for an HP Enterprise Services sub-contracting company called The Experts. After returning from Japan, he expressed frustration to a former roommate that he had not been paid properly for the work that he performed. Another roommate said that he would frequently complain about being the victim of discrimination. In July 2013, he resumed working for The Experts in the United States.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Alexis was working on a bachelor's degree in aeronautics from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide. He was Buddhist.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: After the Navy Yard shooting, the media speculated that Alexis had appeared to be suffering from mental illness. The media reported that Alexis had filed a police report in Rhode Island on August 2, 2013. He claimed to be the victim of harassment and that he was hearing voices in his head. According to an FBI official after the shooting, Alexis was under the "belief that he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low-frequency electromagnetic waves". A message later obtained by federal authorities from Alexis's personal computing devices said, "Ultra low frequency attack is what I've been subject to for the last 3 months. And to be perfectly honest, that is what has driven me to this."


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On August 4, 2013, naval police were called to Alexis's hotel at Naval Station Newport and found that he had "taken apart his bed, believing someone was hiding under it, and observed that Alexis had taped a microphone to the ceiling to record the voices of people that were following him". At the time of the incident, he was working for the contractor at the base.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On August 23, Alexis showed up at a Providence, Rhode Island, emergency room complaining of insomnia. He was prescribed 50 milligrams of trazodone, a serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor antidepressant. Five days later, he sought treatment for insomnia in the emergency room of a VA medical center in Washington, D.C., where he told doctors he was not depressed and was not thinking of harming others. He was given ten more tablets of trazodone.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: At the time of the shooting, Alexis had been working for a subcontractor on a Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services contract supporting a Navy-Marine Corps (NMCI) computer network. Alexis arrived in the Washington, D.C., area on or around August 25, 2013, and stayed at various hotels to escape the voices. At the time of the massacre, he had been staying with five other civilian contractors at the Residence Inn hotel he booked into in southwest Washington, D.C., since September 7.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On Saturday, September 14, two days before the massacre, Alexis visited the Sharpshooters Small Arms Range in Lorton, Virginia, south of Washington. He tested an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle but did not seek to buy it, a lawyer for the store said. After testing the rifle, Alexis inquired about buying a handgun at the store, but was told federal law does not allow dealers to sell such guns directly to out-of-state customers. Alexis instead purchased a Remington Model 870 Express Tactical 12-gauge shotgun and two boxes of shells, after passing a state and federal background check. Before the shooting, Alexis sawed off the shotgun and scratched the phrases "Better off this way!", "My ELF weapon!", "Not what yall say!", and "End to the torment!" onto the gun's receiver.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On the day of the shooting, Washington Chief of Police Cathy L. Lanier initially said that police were searching for a white male wearing khaki military fatigues and a beret, who had allegedly been seen with a handgun, and a black male wearing olive military fatigues and carrying a long gun. The white male was later identified and deemed not to be a suspect. The black male was not identified. At 7:00 p.m., officials ruled out the possibility of other shooters, but were still seeking one other person for possible involvement.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On September 16, many roadways and bridges were temporarily closed, and flights out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were temporarily suspended. Eight schools were locked down, with the closest, Brent Elementary School, being locked down until 1 PM. Shortly after 3:00 p.m., United States Senate buildings went on lock-down for about an hour "out of an abundance of caution", according to the Senate Sergeant at Arms. The Washington Nationals baseball team postponed their scheduled evening game, owing to the proximity of Nationals Park to the Navy Yard area (the facilities are close enough to share a Metro station).


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: The Navy Yard reopened and resumed usual operations on September 19, 2013. Building 197 reopened on February 2, 2015. In October 2013, the Navy announced a repair-and-restoration contract for the building; the contract indicated that "the repairs shall be done in a manner that changes the feel, finish, appearance and layout of the space, creating a different sense of place and mitigating the psychological and emotional impacts that the facility itself could have on returning occupants". The building, renamed after Joshua Humphreys, reopened in 2015. The renovations, costing approximately $44 million, include a reflection area and new visitors' entrance, new flooring, furnishings, and an updated cafeteria.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: Shortly after news of the shooting broke, United States President Barack Obama pledged to ensure the perpetrators would be held responsible. Obama ordered flags at the White House, all public buildings and all military and naval posts, stations and vessels to be flown at half-staff until sunset on September 20. On September 17, Department of Defense officials laid a wreath at the Navy Memorial plaza in honor of the victims. In the wake of the shooting, President Obama called on Congress to revisit gun control legislation. On September 22, he attended a memorial service for the victims.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: The shooting sparked a discussion on the adequacy of security at U.S. military facilities. On September 18, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered a review of security procedures at military facilities around the world. "Foreign Policy" magazine reported that virtually anyone with a Common Access Card (C.A.C.), provided to government contractors, civilian Defense Department employees, and soldiers, can enter many military facilities "without being patted down or made to go through a metal detector". The shooter had a Secret-level security clearance and a C.A.C. allowing him to enter the Navy Yard. Conservative commentators including Alex Jones, Ted Nugent, and others suggested that "gun-free zones" on military bases were to blame for the massacre. On NBC's "Meet the Press", National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre said, "when the good guys with guns got there, it stopped." In the libertarian "Reason" magazine, J.D. Tuccille said that on domestic U.S. military bases, most soldiers are prohibited from carrying guns, and that this made the base more vulnerable to an attack.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On September 17, gun control activists and relatives of victims of shootings that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School; Aurora, Colorado; and the Oak Creek, Wisconsin Sikh temple, came to Washington to protest for stricter gun control. The activists said they hoped that the Navy Yard attack's proximity to Capitol Hill would motivate lawmakers to act to impose stricter background checks and close the gun show loophole.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On September 25, 2013, Hewlett Packard fired the computer firm The Experts, which employed the shooter, over "its failure to respond appropriately" to the Washington Navy Yard shooter's mental health issues.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On October 31 and December 17, 2013, the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held hearings examining government clearances, background checks, and physical security for federal facilities in the wake of the shootings.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On February 20, 2014, a ceremony was held to honor the over 170 law enforcement officers, including 57 D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, who responded and entered the building to search for the shooter. Specifically, MPD Officers Scott Williams and Dorian DeSantis were given the Medal of Valor, U.S. Park Police Medal of Honor, and the Blue Badge Medal for their roles during the gun battle.


title: Washington Navy Yard shooting

text: On December 19, 2014, President Obama signed a bill authorizing the establishment of a memorial to the shooting. A remembrance wall was dedicated the following February.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The Fra Mauro map is a map of the world made around 1450 by the Venetian cartographer Fra Mauro, which is “considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography." It is a circular planisphere drawn on parchment and set in a wooden frame that measures over two by two meters. It includes Asia, the Indian Ocean, Africa, Europe, and the Atlantic. It is oriented with south at the top.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The Fra Mauro world map is a major cartographical work. It took several years to complete and was very expensive to produce. The map contains hundreds of detailed illustrations and more than 3000 descriptive texts. It was the most detailed and accurate representation of the world that had been produced up until that time. As such, the Fra Mauro map is considered one of the most important works in the history of cartography. According to Jerry Brotton, it marked "the beginning of the end of early medieval mappae mundi that reflected biblical geographical teaching." It placed accuracy ahead of religious or traditional beliefs, breaking with tradition, for example, by not placing Jerusalem at the center of the world and not showing a physical location for the biblical Paradise.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The maker of the map, Fra Mauro, was a Camaldolese monk from the island of Murano near Venice. He was employed as an accountant and professional cartographer. The map was made for the rulers of Venice and Portugal, two of the main seafaring nations of the time.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The map is very large – the full frame measures 2.4 by 2.4 meters. This makes Fra Mauro's "mappa mundi" the world's largest extant map from early modern Europe. The map is drawn on high-quality vellum and is set in a gilded wooden frame. The large drawings are highly detailed and use a range of expensive colors; blue, red, turquoise, brown, green, and black are among the pigments used.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: About 3000 inscriptions and detailed texts describe the various geographical features on the map, as well as related information about them. The depiction of inhabited places and mountains, the map's chorography, is also an important feature. Castles and cities are identified by pictorial glyphs representing turreted castles or walled towns, distinguished in order of their importance.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The making of the map was a major undertaking and the map took several years to complete. The map was not created by Fra Mauro alone, but by a team of cartographers, artists, and copyists led by him and using some of the most expensive techniques available at the time. The price of the map would have been about an average copyist's annual salary.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The studio of Fra Mauro produced two original editions of the map. In addition, at least one high-quality physical reproduction is made on the same material.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: In 1804, the British cartographer William Frazer made a full reproduction of the map on vellum. Although the reproduction is exact, minor differences are seen between the Venetian original and the British copy. The Frazer reproduction is currently on display in the British Library in London. In this article, some images are from the Venetian edition and some are from the Frazer reproduction.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: A number of historians of cartography, starting with Giacinto Placido Zurla (1806), have studied Fra Mauro's map. A critical edition of the map was edited by Piero Falchetta in 2006.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The Fra Mauro world map is unusual, but typical of Fra Mauro's portolan charts, in that its orientation is with the south at the top. One explanation for why the map places south at the top is that 15th-century compasses were south-pointing. In addition, south at the top was used in Arab maps of the time. In contrast, most European "mappae mundi" from the era placed east at the top, since east was the direction of the biblical Garden of Eden. Other well-known world maps of the time such as the Ptolemy map places the north at the top. Fra Mauro was aware of the religious importance of the east, as well as of the Ptolemy map, and felt the need to defend why he changed the orientation in his new world map:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "I do not think it derogatory to Ptolemy if I do not follow his "Cosmographia", because, to have observed his meridians or parallels or degrees, it would be necessary in respect to the setting out of the known parts of this circumference, to leave out many provinces not mentioned by Ptolemy. But principally in latitude, that is from south to north, he has much "terra incognita", because in his time it was unknown". (Text from Fra Mauro map)


title: Fra Mauro map

text: In another break from tradition, Jerusalem is not shown as the center of world. Fra Mauro justifies the change in this way:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "Jerusalem is indeed the center of the inhabited world latitudinally, though longitudinally it is somewhat to the west, but since the western portion is more thickly populated by reason of Europe, therefore Jerusalem is also the center longitudinally if we regard not empty space but the density of population". (Text from Fra Mauro map)


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The European part of the map, closest to Fra Mauro's home in Venice, is the most accurate. The map depicts the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea and extends as far as Iceland. The coasts of the Mediterranean are very accurate and every major island and land mass is depicted. Many cities and rivers, and mountain ranges of Europe are included.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Two legends on the map describe England and Scotland. They talk about giants, the Saxons, Saints Gregory and Augustine:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "Note that in ancient times Anglia [England] was inhabited by giants, but some Trojans who had survived the slaughter of Troy came to this island, fought its inhabitants and defeated them; after their prince, Brutus, it was named Britannia. But later the Saxons and the Germans conquered it, and after one of their queens, Angela, called it Anglia. And these peoples were converted to the Faith by means of St. Gregory the pope, who sent them a bishop called Augustine."This account is likely based on the Historia Regum Britanniae, a famous book created in the 1100s that writes about the early kings of England, famous for being one of the first texts to include King Arthur. It outlines the same story stating that Brutus, the descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, flees Rome to conquer Britain from its native inhabitants, the Giants."As it is shown, Scotia [Scotland] appears contiguous to Anglia, but in its southern part it is divided from it by water and mountains. The people are of easy morals and are fierce and cruel against their enemies; and they prefer death to servitude. The island is very fertile in pastures, rivers, springs and animals and all other things; and it is like Anglia."


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Scandinavia is the least accurate part of the European section. A legend describing Norway and Sweden describes tall, strong and fierce people, polar bears and St. Bridget of Sweden:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "Norvegia [Norway] is a very vast province surrounded by the sea and joined to Svetia [Sweden]. Here they produce no wine or oil, and the people are strong, robust and of great stature. Similarly, in Svetia the men are very fierce; and according to some, Julius Caesar was not eager to face them in battle. Similarly, these peoples were a great affliction to Europe; and at the time of Alexander, the Greeks did not have the courage to subjugate them. But now they are much diminished and do not have the reputation they formerly had. Here is said to be the body of St. Bridgit, who some say was from Svetia. And it is also said there are many new kinds of animals, especially huge white bears and other savage animals."


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The Asian part of the map shows the Arabian peninsula, Persia, the Indian subcontinent including the island of Sri Lanka, and the islands of Java and Sumatra, as well as Burma, China, and the Korean peninsula. The Caspian Sea, which is bordering Europe, has an accurate shape, but the outline of Southern Asia is distorted. India has been split in two halves. Major rivers such as the Tigris, the Indus, the Ganges, the Yellow, and the Yangtze are depicted. Cities include Baghdad, Beijing, Bokhara, and Ayutthaya.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The Fra Mauro map is one of the first Western maps to represent the islands of Japan (possibly after the De Virga world map). A part of Japan, probably Kyūshū, appears below the island of Java, with the legend "Isola de Cimpagu" (a misspelling of Cipangu).


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Some of the islands named in the area of the southern tip of Africa bear Arabian and Indian names: "Nebila" ("celebration" or "beautiful" in Arabic), and "Mangla" ("fortunate" in Sanskrit). These are normally identified as the "Islands of Men and Women" mentioned under . According to an old Arabian legend as retold by Marco Polo, one of these islands was populated exclusively by men and the other was populated exclusively by women, and the two would only meet for conjugal relations once a year. Their location was not certain and the location proposed by Fra Mauro is but one of multiple possibilities: Marco Polo himself located them in the neighborhood of Socotra, and other medieval cartographers offered locations in Southeast Asia, near Singapore or in the Philippines. The islands are generally thought to be mythical.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The Indian Ocean is accurately depicted as connected to the Pacific. Several groups of smaller islands such as the Andamans and the Maldives are shown. Fra Mauro puts the following inscription by the southern tip of Africa, which he names the "Cape of Diab", describing the exploration by a ship from the east around 1420:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "Around 1420 a ship, or junk, from India crossed the Sea of India towards the Island of Men and the Island of Women, off Cape Diab, between the Green Islands and the shadows. It sailed for 40 days in a south-westerly direction without ever finding anything other than wind and water. According to these people themselves, the ship went some 2,000 miles ahead until — once favourable conditions came to an end — it turned round and sailed back to Cape Diab in 70 days".


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "The ships called junks (lit. "Zonchi") that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass, because they have an astrologer, who stands on the side and, with an astrolabe in hand, gives orders to the navigator". (Text from the Fra Mauro map, 09-P25.)


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Fra Mauro explained that he obtained the information from "a trustworthy source", who traveled with the expedition, possibly the Venetian explorer Niccolò de' Conti, who happened to be in Calicut, India, at the time the expedition left:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "What is more, I have spoken with a person worthy of trust, who says that he sailed in an Indian ship caught in the fury of a tempest for 40 days out in the Sea of India, beyond the Cape of Soffala and the Green Islands towards west-southwest; and according to the astrologers who act as their guides, they had advanced almost 2,000 miles. Thus one can believe and confirm what is said by both these and those, and that they had therefore sailed 4,000 miles".


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Fra Mauro also comments that the account of the expedition, together with the relation by Strabo of the travels of Eudoxus of Cyzicus from Arabia to Gibraltar through the southern ocean in antiquity, led him to believe that the Indian Ocean was not a closed sea and that Africa could be circumnavigated by her southern end (Text from Fra Mauro map, 11, G2). This knowledge, together with the map depiction of the African continent, probably encouraged the Portuguese to intensify their ultimately successful effort to round the tip of Africa.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Other than Greenland, the Americas were unknown to Europeans in 1450. Greenland is included in the map as a reference to "Grolanda".


title: Fra Mauro map

text: As was generally the case among medieval scholars, Fra Mauro regarded the world as a sphere. However, he used the convention of describing the continents surrounded by water within the shape of a disc. In one of the texts, the map includes an estimate of the circumference of the earth:


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "Likewise I have found various opinions regarding this circumference, but it is not possible to verify them. It is said to be 22,500 or 24,000 "miglia" or more, or less according to various considerations and opinions, but they are not of much authenticity, since they have not been tested."


title: Fra Mauro map

text: "Miglia" is Italian for miles, a unit that was invented by the Romans but which had not yet been standardized in 1450. If "miglia" is taken as the Roman mile, this means the circumference would be about 34,468 km. If "miglia" is taken as the Italian mile, the stated circumference would be about 43,059 km. The actual meridional circumference of the Earth is close to both these values at about 40,008 km or approximately 24,860 English miles. So the stated range taken in Roman miles is 86-92% of modern measurements, whereas taken in Italian miles is 108-115% of the current measurement.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: The sources for the map were existing maps, charts, and manuscripts, which were combined with written and oral accounts of travelers. The text on the map mentions many of these travel accounts.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: Some of the main sources were accounts of the journeys of Italian merchant and traveller Niccolò de' Conti. Setting out in 1419, De Conti traveled throughout Asia as far as China and present-day Indonesia during a period of 20 years. In the map, many new location names and several verbatim descriptions were taken directly from de Conti's account. The "trustworthy source" whom Fra Mauro quotes is thought to have been de' Conti himself. The book of travels of Marco Polo is also believed to be one of the most important sources of information, in particular about East Asia. For Africa, Fra Mauro relied on recent accounts of Portuguese exploration along the west coast. The detailed information on the southeastern coast of Africa, was likely brought by an Ethiopian embassy to Rome in the 1430s. Fra Mauro also probably relied on Arab sources. Arab influence is suggested by the north-south inversion of the map, an Arab tradition exemplified by the 12th-century maps of Muhammad al-Idrisi.


title: Fra Mauro map

text: As Piero Falchetta notes, many geographical facts are reflected in Fra Mauro map for which what Fra Mauro's source was is not clear, as no similar information is found in other preserved Western maps or manuscripts of the period. This situation can be at least partially explained by the fact that, besides the existing maps and manuscripts, important sources of information for his map were oral accounts from travelers - Venetians or foreigners - coming to Venice from all parts of the then-known world. The importance of such accounts is indicated by Fra Mauro himself in a number of inscriptions. An even earlier map, the De Virga world map (1411–1415) also depicts the Old World in a way broadly similar to the Fra Mauro map, and may have contributed to it.


title: Leo McGarry

text: Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by American actor John Spencer on the television serial drama "The West Wing". This role earned Spencer the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002. The character of McGarry, a former Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White House Chief of Staff. He is President Josiah Bartlet's best friend and a father figure to the senior staff, particularly White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman.


title: Leo McGarry

text: In crafting the character of Leo McGarry, series creator Aaron Sorkin said he envisioned John Spencer in the part but did not think he would be available. Although Spencer had recently decided he did not want to do another TV drama series due to the long hours, he was so impressed by the pilot script that he took the part. Like the character, Spencer was a recovering alcoholic, and said he found he could relate to McGarry because "Leo's in recovery, too."


title: Leo McGarry

text: In an earlier draft of the pilot script, dated February 6, 1998, McGarry is called "Leo Jacobi" and is described as being aged 55 and "professorial".


title: Leo McGarry

text: Leo McGarry is from Chicago, Illinois, although Josh Lyman refers to a family connection of Leo's to Boston, Massachusetts to discuss Leo's alcoholism with him. He is of Irish and Scottish ancestry, and has at least two sisters, Elizabeth and Josephine, the latter serving as a school district superintendent in Atlanta. He divorces from his wife of several decades, Jenny, in the first season as his workaholic attitude is shown to take a toll on his personal life, with McGarry admitting that he considers his job in the White House more important than his marriage. He and his ex-wife have one daughter, Mallory O'Brien, who teaches fourth grade. McGarry is a recovering alcoholic and Valium addict. Both his father and grandfather were also alcoholics, the former of whom committed suicide.


title: Leo McGarry

text: McGarry is an U.S. Air Force veteran who achieved the rank of colonel and served in the Vietnam War. During the war, he flew F-105 Thunderchief, was shot down and wounded. His friend and fellow pilot Ken O'Neill carried him on his back in the jungle for three days. Prior to working in the White House, McGarry had been Secretary of Labor during a presidency prior to the beginning of the show. He also speaks fluent Spanish. McGarry amassed significant wealth during his time in the private sector as a member of the board of directors of a defense contractor with his friend Ken O'Neil, Mueller-Wright Aeronautics, for ten or twelve years. He also worked for Cultico, a chemical-agribusiness firm that was blamed for a disaster in Haryana, India, in the 1980s. On more than one occasion, it is made known that he is the wealthiest member of the staff - worth even more than the President himself. It is implied in the episode "And It's Surely to Their Credit" that McGarry is an attorney. He went to the University of Michigan.


title: Leo McGarry

text: In 1997, Leo travels to New Hampshire in an attempt to persuade his old friend Governor Josiah Bartlet to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Having persuaded Bartlet, McGarry becomes his campaign manager and general chairman of the "Bartlet For America" campaign, hiring Josh Lyman, Toby Ziegler, C.J. Cregg, and Sam Seaborn as advisors. Eventually, Governor Bartlet, who was considered to be an insurgent candidate by the media, defeats Senator John Hoynes of Texas for the nomination, and goes on to win the presidency, appointing McGarry as his Chief of Staff.


title: Leo McGarry

text: As President Bartlet's top advisor, McGarry has an office adjacent to the Oval Office and sits in with the President in the Situation Room. McGarry is very involved in the formation of policy and the day-to-day operations of the White House and its staff. Some of his inspirations include "Big Block of Cheese Day," where groups that would normally not be considered for White House attention get to have meetings with senior staffers, and a plan to make the staffers submit two-page reports on policy issues or get ignored. On more than one occasion, McGarry is said to be the man who "runs the country" and is treated with great respect by people on both sides of the aisle. When President Bartlet is giving instructions to the Cabinet member who is appointed the designated survivor during the State of the Union address, he asks the man if he has a best friend, if that friend is smarter than he is, and if he could trust that friend with his life. The Cabinet member says yes on all counts. Bartlet then says, "That's your Chief of Staff," not aware McGarry has heard him in the next room and broken into a smile, visibly moved.


title: Leo McGarry

text: In season six, during a Middle East peace negotiation at Camp David, McGarry finds it impossible to support Bartlet's position about sending thousands of American soldiers to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as part of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, and Bartlet and McGarry come to an agreement that McGarry will resign at the first available opportunity. Minutes after the conversation, McGarry suffers a near-fatal heart attack and collapses while walking alone in the grounds. He is resuscitated, survives, and later returns to work after Bartlet's last State of the Union address in a new role as Senior Counselor to the President. McGarry is succeeded as Chief of Staff by his personal recommendation, C. J. Cregg, who previously served as the White House Press Secretary.


title: Leo McGarry

text: As Senior Counselor, Leo encourages staffers to present new ideas and resurrect old policy initiatives that have been abandoned out of political necessity, insisting that they could "accomplish more in one day in the White House than in a lifetime" once they leave. He maintains a board in his office that shows how many days remain for the Administration and the initiatives which have been proposed. Among these initiatives are a serious attempt at health care reform, new foreign policy approaches in Latin America, and trying to convince Congress to enact an earned income tax credit (called by Charlie Young and Annabeth Schott a 'poor tax' to make it easier to defend). Leo also leads an attempt to open negotiations between the US and Cuba to lift the blockade and reestablish diplomatic relations, an issue which faces significant opposition from Republicans, Democrats, and the intelligence community. The initiative is eventually endorsed by President Bartlet in a televised address to the nation, vindicating Leo's efforts and allowing him to accomplish what he had failed to do as Labor Secretary at a summit in 1995.


title: Leo McGarry

text: In the aftermath of Josh's departure to run Matt Santos's presidential campaign, Leo begins taking on some of the assignments from Josh's portfolio at C.J.'s request. However, he points out to her that Josh's departure has left a significant workload that requires a new Deputy White House Chief of Staff on a permanent basis. Seeing similarities with Josh, Leo champions lobbyist Cliff Calley to take over strategic planning and legislative affairs. Although C.J. is at first reluctant to hire the Republican to fill Josh's position, Leo convinces her that Cliff is a good man who once saved him and the Bartlet administration from being humiliated. C.J. later sees the similarities herself between Cliff and Josh and convinces him to take over as his replacement.


title: Leo McGarry

text: Bartlet asks Leo to run the Democratic National Convention when it seems likely to deadlock. The Democratic Party's eventual presidential nominee, Congressman Matt Santos, selects McGarry as his vice-presidential nominee, a move that both Josh and Bartlet strongly endorse. This is particularly ironic, because McGarry had earlier insisted that Santos drop out of the race for the sake of party unity to allow a less impressive candidate (Vice President Robert Russell) to take on the nod. But McGarry allows Santos to make a closing speech that was so impressive that it helped put him over the top and become the party's presidential nominee. McGarry is not overly impressive on the campaign trail, because he is not familiar with playing the role of a candidate versus an advisor. However, he rebounds and becomes integral to the campaign, unofficially taking on the role of statesman.


title: Leo McGarry

text: In the episode "Running Mates", McGarry is being prepared for the only vice-presidential debate against West Virginia Governor Ray Sullivan. The debate prep is a disaster, and the Santos campaign worries that Leo will be defeated by Sullivan. The situation worsens when the news is leaked to the press. Despite renewed efforts by Josh and Lou, they are unable to make Leo any better at debating. However, on the night of the debate, Leo proves not only his debating skills but easily wins the debate against Sullivan. Afterwards, he reveals to Annabeth that he had been the one to leak his failed debate prep news to lower expectations.


title: Leo McGarry

text: McGarry's last screen appearance occurs in the episode "The Cold". Following a private meeting between McGarry and Bartlet in the Oval Office to discuss troop deployment in Kazakhstan, a scene which exhibits the closeness of their relationship, Josh Lyman asks him: "Everything okay?". McGarry answers with the character's last words on screen, "Yeah."


title: Leo McGarry

text: On Election Night, it is said that McGarry has gone up to his hotel room in Houston to take a nap before the results come in. He is later found unconscious by Annabeth Schott who alerts McGarry's Secret Service detail. He is rushed to the hospital, where he is pronounced dead. McGarry's death comes ninety minutes before the polls close in California and other Western states, thus giving some voters this information prior to casting their vote. A hard-line Republican strategist wants to bring up McGarry's death to benefit the Republican presidential nominee, Senator Arnold Vinick, but the visibly disgusted senator tells her that he has been friends with McGarry for decades and will do no such thing, win or lose. Despite McGarry's death, the Santos-McGarry ticket narrowly wins the election over the Vinick-Sullivan ticket by a 30,000-vote margin in Nevada and McGarry posthumously becomes the Vice President-elect after Santos' victory.


title: Leo McGarry

text: McGarry's funeral is held at the Washington National Cathedral, though the funeral was actually filmed at The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, Maryland. President Bartlet, President-elect Matt Santos, Josh Lyman, Charlie Young, former DNC head Barry Goodwin, and McGarry's unnamed son-in-law serve as pallbearers. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.


title: Leo McGarry

text: Spencer described his character's relationship with Lyman as a mentoring one, with McGarry seeing Lyman as a younger version of himself: "a workaholic, a person devoted to government service." He considered the world of "The West Wing" a boys' club at times, and felt McGarry could be harder on C. J. Cregg than he was on the male senior staffers.


title: Leo McGarry

text: Though he is not seen again onscreen, apart from the opening credits, after his death, McGarry's presence is felt in the series finale when his daughter presents a gift to President Bartlet that she found in his possessions. In the show's final scene, Bartlet opens the gift to find the napkin with the words "Bartlet For America", which McGarry had written to introduce to Bartlet the idea of running for president. Also, when Josh Lyman goes to see C.J. Cregg just before the Santos inauguration during the final episode, Lyman asks if she ever stopped thinking the office of the White House Chief of Staff as McGarry's office. Cregg replies "No." She then hands Lyman (the incoming White House Chief of Staff) a note with "WWLD?" on it, meaning "What would Leo do?"


title: Leo McGarry

text: McGarry appears in two of the five episodes which had been filmed, but not yet aired, at the time of Spencer's death on December 16, 2005. The show's producers decided to let those episodes air in his memory. The character's death was written in response to the death of the actor, and McGarry is discovered dead offscreen in his hotel room. According to executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell, the writers originally intended for Vinick to win the election. However, the death of Spencer forced him and his colleagues to consider the emotional strain that would result from having Santos lose both his running mate and the election. It was eventually decided that the last episodes would be rescripted by John Wells. Other statements from Wells, however, have contradicted O'Donnell's claims about a previously planned Vinick victory. The script showing Santos winning was written long before the death of John Spencer. In 2008 O'Donnell stated that "We actually planned at the outset for Jimmy Smits to win, that was our plan of how this was all going to work, but the Vinick character came on so strong in the show, and was so effective, it became a real contest and it became a real contest in the "West Wing" writers' room." Governor Eric Baker (D-Pennsylvania), played by Ed O'Neill, was written in as Leo's vice presidential replacement, as chosen by President Santos.


title: Leo McGarry

text: In 2020, the surviving members of the cast reunited to film a special encore of 'Hartsfield's Landing' in celebration of the election and to encourage voting participation. The role of Leo McGarry was recast with Sterling K. Brown.


title: Leo McGarry

text: Leon Panetta, a former White House Chief of Staff under Bill Clinton, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Secretary of Defense under Barack Obama, was impressed by the character, telling actor John Spencer that "Any administration that would have Leo McGarry as a White House Chief of Staff would be very, very fortunate." John Podesta, another former White House Chief of Staff, also praised Spencer's performance, saying, "John plays this role in a calm, thoughtful, kindhearted, and loyal manner" although he has commented that Leo is not mean enough.


title: Leo McGarry

text: On the subject of the McGarry character's portrayal of alcoholism, journalist Aiden Mason has said: The West Wing’s Leo McGarry explains addiction better than anything on TV ... I’d like to take you back to a scene from the very first season of West Wing in which Leo invites a young girl into his office to discuss an issue that many of us face: addiction. This particular scene revolves around substance abuse. If you watch closely, you’ll find it’s one of the most captivating scenes that gives one of the most accurate interpretations of the true nature of addicts and addiction itself.


title: Leo McGarry

text: Shelby Arnold said that in promoting public understanding, the Leo McGarry portrayal of alcoholism and addiction helped to weigh against some of the stigma caused by the "old Reagan-era" Just Say No campaign. The character showed alcoholism as a disease which was difficult to deal with, as opposed to a sin of temptation.


title: Leo McGarry

text: The "Guardian" takes a slightly different angle on it: [In season 3, episode 9] Leo is pushed through the wringer ... His alcoholism is explored in excruciating detail, in the present and in flashbacks where he meets Bartlet for the first time. An episode about a man with an addictive personality unravelling due to the pressures of work, released eight months after Aaron Sorkin was arrested for felony drug possession, this one feels as if it's coming straight from the gut.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (born Hubert Gerold Brown; October 4, 1943), formerly known as H. Rap Brown, is a civil rights activist, black separatist, and convicted murderer who was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s. During a short-lived (six months) alliance between SNCC and the Black Panther Party, he served as their minister of justice.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: He is perhaps known for his proclamations during that period, such as that "violence is as American as cherry pie", and that "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down." He is also known for his autobiography, "Die Nigger Die!" He is currently serving a life sentence for murder following the shooting of two Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff's deputies in 2000.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: He became known as H. Rap Brown during the early 1960s. His activism in the Civil Rights Movement included involvement with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Brown was introduced into SNCC by his older brother Ed. He first visited Cambridge, Maryland with Cleveland Sellers in the summer of 1963, during the period of Gloria Richardson's leadership in the local movement. He witnessed the first riot between whites and blacks in the city over civil rights issues, and was impressed by the local civil rights movement's willingness to use armed self-defense against racial attacks.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Brown later organized for SNCC during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, while transferring to Howard University for his studies. Representing Howard's SNCC chapter, Brown attended a contentious civil rights meeting at the White House with President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Selma crisis of 1965 as Alabama activists attempted to march for voting rights.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Major federal civil rights legislation was passed in 1964 and 1965, including the Voting Rights Act, to establish federal oversight and enforcement of rights. In 1966, Brown organized in Greene County, Alabama to achieve black voter registration and implementation of the recently passed Voting Rights Act.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Elected SNCC chairman in 1967, Brown continued Stokely Carmichael's fiery support for "Black Power" and urban rebellions in the Northern ghettos.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: During the summer of 1967, Brown toured the nation, calling for violent resistance to the government, which he called "The Fourth Reich". "Negroes should organize themselves", he told a rally in Washington, D.C., and "carry on guerilla warfare in all the cities." They should, "make the Viet Cong look like Sunday school teachers." He declared, "I say to America, "Fuck it! Freedom or death!""


title: H. Rap Brown

text: In this period, Cambridge, Maryland had an active civil rights movement, led by Gloria Richardson. In July 1967 Brown spoke in the city, saying "It's time for Cambridge to explode, baby. Black folks built America, and if America don't come around, we're going to burn America down." Gunfire reportedly broke out later, and both Brown and a police officer were wounded. A fire started that night and by the next day, 17 buildings were destroyed by an expanding fire "in a two-block area of Pine Street, the center of African-American commerce, culture and community." Brown was charged with inciting a riot, due to his speech.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Brown was also charged with carrying a gun across state lines. A secret 1967 FBI memo had called for "neutralizing" Brown. He became a target of the agency's COINTELPRO program, which was intended to disrupt and disqualify civil rights leaders. The federal charges against him were never proven.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: He was defended in the gun violation case by civil rights advocates Murphy Bell of Baton Rouge, the self-described "radical lawyer" William Kunstler, and Howard Moore Jr., general counsel for SNCC. Feminist attorney Flo Kennedy also assisted Brown and led his defense committee, winning support for him from some chapters of the National Organization for Women.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: The Cambridge fire was among incidents investigated by the 1967 Kerner Commission. But their investigative documents were not published with their 1968 report. Historian Dr. Peter Levy studied these papers in researching his book "Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland" (2003). He argues there was no riot in Cambridge. Brown was documented as completing his speech in Cambridge at 10 pm July 24, then walking a woman home. He was shot by a deputy sheriff allegedly without provocation. Brown was hastily treated for his injuries and secretly taken by supporters out of Cambridge.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Later that night a small fire broke out, but the police chief and fire company did not respond for two hours. In discussing his book, Levy has said that the fire's spread and ultimate destructive cost appeared to be due not to a riot, but to the deliberate inaction of the Cambridge police and fire departments, which had hostile relations with the black community. In a later book, Levy notes that Brice Kinnamon, head of the Cambridge police department, said that the city had no racial problems, and that Brown was the "sole" cause of the disorder, and it was "a well-planned Communist attempt to overthrow the government."


title: H. Rap Brown

text: While being held for trial, Brown continued his high-profile activism. He accepted a request from the Student Afro-American Society of Columbia University to help represent and co-organize the April 1968 Columbia protests against university expansion into Harlem park land in order to build a gymnasium.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: He also contributed writing from jail to the radical magazine "Black Mask", which was edited and published by the New York activist group Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. In his 1968 article titled "H. Rap Brown From Prison: Lasima Tushinde Mbilashika", Brown writes of going on a hunger strike and his willingness to give up his life in order to achieve change.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Brown's trial was originally to take place in Cambridge, but there was a change of venue and the trial was moved to Bel Air, Maryland, to start in March 1970. On March 9, 1970, two SNCC officials, Ralph Featherstone and William ("Che") Payne, died on U.S. Route 1 south of Bel Air, when a bomb on the front floorboard of their car exploded, killing both occupants. The bomb's origin is disputed: some say the bomb was planted in an assassination attempt, and others say Payne was carrying it to the courthouse where Brown was to be tried. The next night, the Cambridge courthouse was bombed.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Brown disappeared for 18 months. He was posted on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted List. He was arrested after a reported shootout with officers in New York City following an alleged attempted robbery of a bar there. He was convicted of robbery and served five years (1971–76) in Attica Prison in western New York state. While in prison, Brown converted to Islam. He formally changed his name from Hubert Gerold Brown to Jamil Abdullah al-Amin.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: After his release, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he opened a grocery store. He became an imam, a Muslim spiritual leader, in the National Ummah, one of the nation's largest black Muslim groups. He also was a community activist in Atlanta's West End neighborhood. He preached against drugs and gambling. It has since been suggested that al-Amin changed his life again when he became affiliated with the "Dar ul-Islam Movement".


title: H. Rap Brown

text: On May 31, 1999, al-Amin was pulled over while driving in Marietta, Georgia by police officer Johnny Mack for a suspected stolen vehicle. During a search, al-Amin was found to have in his pocket a police badge. He also had a bill of sale in his pocket, explaining his possession of the stolen car, and he claimed that he had been issued an honorary police badge by Mayor John Jackson, a statement which Jackson verified. Despite this, al-Amin was charged with speeding, auto theft and impersonating a police officer.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: On March 16, 2000, in Fulton County, Georgia, Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to al-Amin's home to execute an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court over the charges. After determining that the home was unoccupied, the deputies drove away and were shortly passed by a black Mercedes headed for the house. Kinchen (the more senior deputy) noted the suspect vehicle, turned the patrol car around, and drove up to the Mercedes, stopping nose to nose. English approached the Mercedes and told the single occupant to show his hands. The occupant opened fire with a .223 rifle. English ran between the two cars while returning fire from his handgun, and was hit four times. Kinchen was shot with the rifle and a 9 mm handgun.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: The next day, Kinchen died of his wounds at Grady Memorial Hospital. English survived his wounds. He identified al-Amin as the shooter from six photos he was shown while recovering in the hospital Another source said English identified him shortly before going into surgery for his wounds. Both of the Sheriff's deputies were black.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: After the shootout, al-Amin fled Atlanta, going to White Hall, Alabama. He was tracked down by U.S. Marshals who started with a blood trail at the shooting site, and arrested by law enforcement officers after a four-day manhunt. Al-Amin was wearing body armor at the time of his arrest. He showed no wounds. Officers found a 9 mm handgun near his arrest site. Firearms identification testing showed that this was used to shoot Kinchen and English, but al-Amin's fingerprints were not found on the weapon. Later, al-Amin's black Mercedes was found with bullet holes in it.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: His lawyers argued he was innocent of the shooting. Defense attorneys noted that al-Amin's fingerprints were not found on the murder weapon, and he was not wounded in the shooting, as one of the deputies said the shooter was. A trail of blood found at the scene was tested and did not belong to al-Amin or either of the deputies. A test by the state concluded that it was animal blood. Deputy English had said that the killer's eyes were gray, but al-Amin's are brown.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: At al-Amin's trial, prosecutors noted that he had never provided an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the shootout, nor any explanation for fleeing the state afterward. He also did not explain why the weapons used in the shootout were found near him during his arrest.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: On March 9, 2002, nearly two years after the shootings, al-Amin was convicted of 13 criminal charges, including Kinchen's murder and aggravated assault in shooting English. Four days later, he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole (LWOP). He was sent to Georgia State Prison, the state's maximum-security facility near Reidsville, Georgia.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Otis Jackson, a man incarcerated for unrelated charges, claimed that he committed the Fulton County shootings, and confessed this two years before al-Amin was convicted of the same crime. The court did not consider Jackson's statement as evidence. Jackson's statements corroborated details from 911 calls following the shooting, including a bleeding man seen limping from the scene: Jackson said he knocked on doors to solicit a ride while suffering from wounds sustained in the firefight with deputies Kinchen and English. Jackson recanted his statement two days after making it, but later confessed again in a sworn affidavit. Prosecutors refuted Jackson's testimony, claiming he couldn't have shot the deputies as he was wearing an ankle tag for house confinement that would have showed his location. Al-Amin's lawyers allege that the tag was faulty.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Al-Amin appealed his conviction on the basis of a racial conspiracy against him; both Fulton County deputies were African American. In May 2004, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously ruled to uphold al-Amin's conviction.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: In August 2007, al-Amin was transferred to federal custody, as Georgia officials decided he was too high-profile for the Georgia prison system to handle. He was first held in a holdover facility in the USP Atlanta; two weeks later he was moved to a federal transfer facility in Oklahoma, pending assignment to a federal penitentiary.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: On October 21, 2007, al-Amin was transferred to ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. He has been under an unofficial gag order, prevented from having any interviews with writers, journalists or biographers.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: On July 18, 2014, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, al-Amin was transferred to Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina. , he is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: Al-Amin sought retrial through the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Investigative journalist, Hamzah Raza, has written more about Otis Jackson's confession to the deputy shootings in 2000, and said that this evidence should have been considered by the court. It had the potential of exonerating al-Amin. However, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal on July 31, 2019.


title: H. Rap Brown

text: In April 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from al-Amin. His family and supporters continue to petition for a new trial.


title: Transforming growth factor beta

text: Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a multifunctional cytokine belonging to the transforming growth factor superfamily that includes three different mammalian isoforms (TGF-β 1 to 3, HGNC symbols TGFB1, TGFB2, TGFB3) and many other signaling proteins. TGFB proteins are produced by all white blood cell lineages.