mafia

Italy's godfathers might well be holding emergency meetings this weekend, after one of their remarkably obedient godsons was snared due to an especially pernicious habit. Yes, chatting on Facebook.

Pasquale Manfredi is reputed not to be the most affable of our human brethren. According to CNN, he is wanted for, among other acts of charmlessness, availing himself of a rocket launcher to send a rival Mafia family member to another life.

While in some Mafia movies, like "Goodfellas," Mafiosi wouldn't even use a phone, now, with the advent, perhaps, of pre-paid, they have come to embrace … Read more

This week on preGAME, hosts Jeff Bakalar and Mark Licea take a sneak peek at the action-thriller Metro 2033! Join us as we play it live on the show and talk to the game's executive producer, Luis Gigliotti live in the studio. We chat with Luis about how the title made the jump from novel to video game and how the PC version was built in 3D from the ground up. Make sure to watch the entire episode to find out how you can score a copy of the game for Xbox 360!

But before our live demo, Digital City's … Read more

There is no shortage of games that follow the stylistic lead of the classic Grand Theft Auto series, taking an urban crime action/adventure and setting it in a free-roaming sandbox city. One of the variations on this theme we've been most excited about is the 1940s-1950s-set Mafia II -- itself a sequel to an earlier cult favorite. After seeing the game demoed a few times over the past year, we finally got a chance to sit down and play it ourselves.

All the hallmarks of the genre are there, from stealing cars to period music playing on a … Read more

The original rundown for today's episode of The 404 Podcast started with a bunch of stories about tech-related violence, but we decided to scrap all that for a more positive show. And we're also putting Wilson on a temporary story time-out for the next few days so this doesn't happen again.

Jeff is particularly excited about this first story, because it involves two of his close loves: video games and Playboy bunnies. This fall, Take Two Interactive is partnering with Playboy on Mafia II, a mature video game that lets you play as a gangster in the 1940s and '50s. The game is replete with vintage Playboy magazines and, of course, the centerfolds. Before you start writing your local government reps, keep in mind that the images are tastefully integrated into the game's nostalgia, which also includes vintage cars and firearms to invoke the 1940s zeitgeist. Additionally, the scenes in question are fairly tame compared with another Take Two game series, "Grand Theft Auto." Remember the Hot Coffee mod in GTA: San Andreas?

The 404 prides itself on keeping up to date on pop culture trends, but the newest fad among teenage girls is churning our stomachs. Across the country, the newest thing is to get intoxicated by an alternative form of ingestion. We'll spare you the details in this blog, because my physical demonstration in the video makes it so much easier to digest. This is why we're absolutely terrified of having kids.

Now that spring has finally decided to visit New York, it's time for backyard BBQs, rooftop parties, and bikes rides! New York certainly isn't the easiest city to navigate on a bicycle, but Google Maps is now offering a cycling navigation feature to guide you along your way.

The directions route you through to your destination by cross-referencing the least busiest streets with the ones that have clearly defined bike lanes, getting you there faster and, most importantly, in one piece. Once you get to your destination, however, be sure to do everything you can to minimize the chance of theft.

In perhaps its first practical application, local New York bike messenger Austin Horse successfully recovered his stolen bike using Twitter. After someone snatched his bike, Horse immediately notified his followers to keep a lookout (not too difficult a task, as the frame is bright orange) and posted the same to a local message board. In less than 24 hours, someone recovered his vehicle in the Lower East Side and it's now back with its rightful owner--great news!

Keep sending us voice mails to 1-866-404-CNET because you know we love to hear how you're doing, and don't forget to send in your 404 sticker pictures to the404(at)cnet[dot]com. High quality shots have a good chance of making it to a blog post, like the one you see up there from our buddy Derrick Chen. Natali Del Conte on the show tomorrow, so be sure to catch us live at 11 a.m. EST/8 a.m. PST on CNET TV.

Gregory McKenna, of Florissant, Mo., is suing Apple because he says two of the company's iPods contained illegal receivers that allowed the Mafia to send him threatening messages, according to court documents obtained by CNET.

Filed Wednesday in a St. Louis district court, the suit names as defendants the St. Louis Police Department, unknown agents of the FBI, Apple, a private investigator, and an auto mechanic.

The alleged motive for the threats was that the Mafia wanted McKenna to work as a fashion model for them at a New York modeling agency. McKenna said he called local police and … Read more

Not so long ago, the faces of gaming on social networks were those of zombies, vampires, and cuddly virtual pets. Now it's more along the lines of Michael Corleone or Tony Soprano.

You've probably seen it in your news feed: From Facebook to MySpace and now Twitter, Mafia-themed games have more or less taken over. Mobsters, a game created by development company Playdom, is the most popular application on MySpace's platform. Mafia Wars, owned by Zynga, is a huge hit on Facebook. The Social Gaming Network has an iPhone app called Mafia: Respect and Retaliation. And earlier … Read more

Hitting the very definition of a cult hit square on the head, few gamers have heard of the 2002 game Mafia, developed by a small group of Czech programmers and originally released on the Xbox and for PC -- but those that do recall it regularly sing its praises as a superior open-world action/adventure.

Built on essentially the same model as Grand Theft Auto, the game transported its crime family story back to the 1930s, and evoked the Maio Puzo Godfather vibe much better than the stodgy, by the numbers, officially licensed Godfather games did later.

For this long-in-the-making … Read more

It's always funny when middle-class suburbanites rap. Always. And that's what makes Casual Mafia's video, In My Prius, work. Well, that and all the lyrics about the positive attributes of the Toyota Prius. Favorite line: "mad room for my knees."

Facebook has sprouted pages that pay tribute to notorious mafia bosses, and relatives of mafia victims are none too happy about that fact, according to the U.K. publication Times Online.

The groups idolizing Cosa Nostra godfathers have generated thousands of supporters in Italy, according to the report. But opponents say the fan pages reflect a lack of public and state support for the victims of mafia crimes and glamorize the perpetrators.

Pages on the social-networking site laud mafia players including Salvatore (Toto) Riina, jailed in 1993 and currently serving 12 life sentences for murder, and Bernardo Provenzano, his successor, … Read more