Sunday, March 22, 2015

Graduation pals Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Stephen Silva in happier days



- photos via evidence submitted in U.S. District Court, Boston

  • Silva said he borrowed an associate's P95 Ruger handgun


  • Remains of pressure cooker bombs shown in Boston trial





  • From AUSA William Weinreb’s opening statement:

    The defendant's goal that day was to my maim and kill as many people as possible, so he took his time figuring out where to plant his bomb …

    … He believed that he was a soldier in a holy war against Americans and that he had won an important victory in that war by killing Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, and Krystle Campbell. And he also believed that by winning that victory, he had taken a step toward reaching paradise. That was his motive for committing these crimes ...

    … The defendant's transformation into a terrorist took place over a year or two ...

    From defense attorney Judy Clarke’s opening statement:

    There's little that occurred the week of April the 15th -- the bombings, the murder of Officer Collier, the carjacking, the shootout in Watertown -- that we dispute. If the only question was whether or not that was Jahar Tsarnaev in the video that you will see walking down Boylston Street, or if that was Jahar Tsarnaev who dropped the backpack on the ground, or if that was Jahar Tsarnaev in the boat -- captured in the boat, it would be very easy for you: It was him …

    … Holding your assurances to us that you can hold your minds open to not only listening to the who, what, where, and when, but to the how and why, those assurances are going to be tested and going to be very difficult promises to keep. Holding the questions that you have that can't be answered in this phase, holding them open -- your hearts and minds open until the second phase will not be an easy task, but that's what you promised when you swore your oath as jurors. That's what the judge expects. That's what our system of justice expects. It's going to be a lot to ask of you to hold your minds and hearts open, but that is what we ask.

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  • Monday, March 16, 2015

    Louis The Coin Begins Series Of Appearances Upon The Publication Of His Provocative Memoir


    UPDATED, 3-24-15

    Louis w/ girlfriend Lauryn (left) and daughter Sue at La Dolce Vita #YouThoughtItWasMore 3-22-15




    Louis w/ Lauryn and Ann O'Neill






    The party / book signing was Sun., 3-22-15, 7:30 p.m. at La Dolce Vita, 221 Hanover St., Boston

  • LA DOLCE VITA


  • Appearance to follow at Gateway Community College, New Haven, CT

  • Signed copy





  • Stay Tuned For More Details ...

    My style was to take a couple hundred grand from each casino,” he said. “If I didn’t do your casino, it was an insult.”




    Reader comment:
    Kind of fascinating. I'll wait for the movie.



  • New London Day Gets The Lowdown From Louis



  • click on book jacket images
    for better viewing






    “You Thought It Was More,”
    By Louis Colavecchio
    with Franz Douskey
    and Andy Thibault





    WESTPORT, Conn., March 16, 2015 – “You Thought It Was More” is a profane and raucously funny memoir from the world’s greatest counterfeiter, Louis ‘The Coin’ Colavecchio.


    Colavecchio, who created mass quantities of undetectable slot machine tokens, writes with commanding vigor about his wild adventures throughout the US and Europe His talents as a jeweler, manufacturer and man of romance are part of the historical record – as seen on The History Channel and The BBC. It might be an understatement to say Colavecchio changed the face of casino gambling forever.

    Ride with Louis The Coin at 160 mph in his Lamborghini making score after score. From Providence to Atlantic City and Vegas to Rome, Milan, Florence and Geneva, he’s the genuine article. As one of the cops who arrested Louis notes in the introduction, “He was very creative, an artist.” Who knew metallurgy could be riveting? What? You thought it was more …

    The recently-published book from Westport-based Icebox Publishing is available on Amazon as well as in bookstores internationally.


    “We concentrate on unique, out-of-the-box content here at IceBox and Louis’s life story definitely fits that bill,” said L. Todd Wood, principal of IceBox Publishing.

    “It’s a great book to pick up and whisk yourself away to another world where most people would never be allowed entrance. I couldn't put the book down.”


    Louis The Coin began a life of entrepreneurial adventure as a youngster.

    Along the way he got to know many characters on all sides of the law, throughout the United States and Europe.


    His father had arrived in Providence from Italy in 1903. As an established businessman, Benedict Colavecchio and his wife Theorora encouraged young Louis to gain an education.


    While working fulltime, Louis Colavecchio earned a degree in business administration from Providence College.


    Colavecchio was such a great counterfeiter – The Providence Journal reported – that after he spent more than two years in federal prison for his handiwork, he was paid $18,000 by the feds as a consultant to explain why his manufacturing dies outlast those at the U.S. Mint.


    They say he was a hero in Providence as well because The Coin did not rat out any of his friends.

    Over the past eight years, The Coin worked with co-authors Franz Douskey and Andy Thibault to bring the manuscript to IceBox.


    Now, Louis applies all his talents and imagination in a new venue – storyteller.

  • Follow Louis on Twitter @LouisTheCoin


  • You Thought It Was More via Amazon print & Kindle


  • Signed copy


  • For more information, contact:
    Andy Thibault, 860-690-0211
    tntcomm82@cs.com


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  • Thursday, March 05, 2015

    #Tsarnaev case updates 3-6-15 #BostonMarathonBombings


    More Art Lien:

    The first full day of testimony at the trial of now admitted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was intensely moving. I’ve heard equally disturbing testimony before, at the McVeigh and Moussaoui trials, but by the end of the day it was a struggle to keep it together, especially when the father of Martin Richard testified


  • More Art Lien: Powerful Emotional Testimony


  • NEW, PM THURSDAY
  • Boston Bombing Trial: Survivor Recalls Brush With Alleged Attacker


  • Art Lien’s dramatic drawings of 1st day of testimony


  • This is it, I’m gonna die: Bombing Trial Begins


  • Boston Marathon Survivor: Seeing Suspect at Trial Is 'Step Forward'


  • Opening statements and the start of witness testimony in the Boston Marathon bombing trial leave some asking why is there a trial at all? Special correspondent Emily Rooney and legal writer Andy Thibault give their takes.

  • WGBH: Can We Stop Calling Tsarnaev The 'Accused' Boston Marathon Bomber?




  • PBS News Hour: Tsarnaev’s defense depends on why he did it, not if


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