title: Croats

text: Besides the architecture encompassing the oldest artworks in Croatia, there is a long history of artists in Croatia reaching to the Middle Ages. In that period the stone portal of the Trogir Cathedral was made by Radovan, representing the most important monument of Romanesque sculpture in Croatia. The Renaissance had the greatest impact on the Adriatic Sea coast since the remainder of Croatia was embroiled in the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War. With the waning of the Ottoman Empire, art flourished during the Baroque and Rococo. The 19th and the 20th centuries brought about affirmation of numerous Croatian artisans, helped by several patrons of the arts such as bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer. Croatian artists of the period achieving worldwide renown were Vlaho Bukovac and Ivan Meštrović.


title: Croats

text: The Baška tablet, a stone inscribed with the Glagolitic alphabet found on the Krk island which is dated to 1100, is considered to be the oldest surviving prose in Croatian. The beginning of more vigorous development of Croatian literature is marked by the Renaissance and Marko Marulić. Besides Marulić, Renaissance playwright Marin Držić, Baroque poet Ivan Gundulić, Croatian national revival poet Ivan Mažuranić, novelist, playwright and poet August Šenoa, poet and writer Antun Gustav Matoš, poet Antun Branko Šimić, expressionist and realist writer Miroslav Krleža, poet Tin Ujević and novelist and short story writer Ivo Andrić are often cited as the greatest figures in Croatian literature.


title: Croats

text: The flag of Croatia consists of a red-white-blue tricolor with the Coat of Arms of Croatia in the middle. The red-white-blue tricolor was chosen as those were the colours of Pan-Slavism, popular in the 19th century.


title: Croats

text: The coat-of-arms consists of the traditional red and white squares or "grb", which simply means 'coat-of-arms'. It has been used to symbolise the Croats for centuries; some speculate that it was derived from Red and White Croatia, historic lands of the Croatian tribe but there is no generally accepted proof for this theory. The current design added the five crowning shields, which represent the historical regions from which Croatia originated. The red and white checkerboard has been a symbol of Croatian kings since at least the tenth century, ranging in number from 3×3 to 8×8, but most commonly 5×5, like the current coat. The oldest source confirming the coat-of-arms as an official symbol is a genealogy of the Habsburgs dating during 1512–18. In 1525 it was used on a votive medal. The oldest known example of the (chessboard in Croatian) in Croatia is to be found on the wings of four falcons on a baptismal font donated by king Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (1058–1074) to the Archbishop of Split.


title: Croats

text: Unlike in many countries, Croatian design more commonly uses symbolism from the coat of arms, rather than from the Croatian flag. This is partly due to the geometric design of the shield which makes it appropriate for use in many graphic contexts (e.g. the insignia of Croatia Airlines or the design of the shirt for the Croatia national football team), and partly because neighbouring countries like Slovenia and Serbia use the same Pan-Slavic colours on their flags as Croatia. The Croatian interlace ( or ) is also a commonly used symbol which originally comes from monasteries built between the 9th and 12th century. The interlace can be seen in various emblems and is also featured in modern Croatian military ranks and Croatian police ranks insignia.


title: Croats

text: In Croatia (the nation state), 3.9 million people identify themselves as Croats, and constitute about 90.4% of the population. Another 553,000 live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are one of the three constituent ethnic groups, predominantly living in Western Herzegovina, Central Bosnia and Bosnian Posavina. The minority in Serbia number about 70,000, mostly in Vojvodina, where also vast majority of the Šokci consider themselves Croats, as well as many Bunjevci (the latter, as well as other nationalities, settled the vast, abandoned area after the Ottoman retreat; this Croat subgroup originates from the south, mostly from the region of Bačka). Smaller Croat autochthonous minorities exist in Slovenia (mainly in Slovene Littoral, Prekmurje and in the Metlika area in Lower Carniola regions – 35,000 Croats), Montenegro (mostly in the Bay of Kotor – 6,800 Croats), and a regional community in Kosovo called Janjevci who nationally identify as Croats. In the 1991 census, Croats consisted 19.8% of the overall population of Yugoslavia; there were around 4.6 million Croats in the entire country.


title: Croats

text: The subgroups of Croats are commonly based on regional affiliation, like Dalmatians, Slavonians, Zagorci, Istrians etc., while outside Croatia there exist several ethnic groups: Šokci (Croatia, Serbia, Hungary), Bunjevci (Serbia, Hungary), Burgenland Croats (Austria), Molise Croats (Italy), Bokelji (Montenegro), Raci (Hungary), Krashovani (Romania), Janjevci (Kosovo).


title: Croats

text: There are currently 4–4.5 million Croats in diaspora throughout the world. The Croat diaspora was the consequence of either mostly economic or political (coercion or expulsions) reasons:


title: Croats

text: The count for diaspora is approximate because of incomplete statistical records and naturalization. Overseas, the United States contains the largest Croatian emigrant group (414,714 according to the 2010 census), mostly in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, with a sizable community in Alaska, followed by Australia (133,268 according to the 2016 census, with concentrations in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth) and Canada (133,965 according to the 2016 census, mainly in Southern Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta).


title: Croats

text: Various estimations put the total number of Americans and Canadians with at least some Croatian ancestry at 2 million, many of whom do not identify as such in the countries' censuses.


title: Croats

text: Croats have also emigrated in several waves to Latin America, mostly to South America: chiefly Chile, Argentina, and Brazil; estimates of their number vary wildly, from 150,000 up to 500,000.


title: Croats

text: There are also smaller groups of Croatian descendants in the Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Mexico, and South Korea. The most important organisations of the Croatian diaspora are the Croatian Fraternal Union, Croatian Heritage Foundation and the Croatian World Congress.


title: Charles Durning

text: Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. Durning's best-known films include "The Sting" (1973), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), "The Muppet Movie" (1979), "True Confessions" (1981), "Tootsie" (1982), "Dick Tracy" (1990), and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982) and "To Be or Not to Be" (1983). Prior to his acting career, Durning served in World War II and was decorated for valor in combat.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning was born in Highland Falls, New York. He was the son of Louise (née Leonard; 1894–1982), a laundress at West Point, and James E. Durning (1883 – c. 1935). His parents were of German, Irish and English descent Durning was raised Catholic. Durning was the ninth of ten children. His three brothers – James (known as Roger, 1915–2000), Clifford (1916–1994), and Gerald (1926–2000) – and his sister Frances (1918–2006) survived to adulthood, but five sisters died from scarlet fever and smallpox as children.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted at age 20. On June 6, 1944, Durning was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division and was in one of the first waves of American troops that landed on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. After being wounded by a German anti-personnel mine in the Bocage, he spent six months recovering. Durning was reassigned to the 398th Infantry Regiment with the 100th Infantry Division, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He was discharged with the rank of private first class on January 30, 1946.


title: Charles Durning

text: For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Additional awards included the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and two bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. His badges included the Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Badge with Rifle Bar, and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning received the French National Order of the Legion of Honor from the French Consul in Los Angeles in April 2008.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning participated in various functions to honor American veterans, including serving as Chairman of the U.S. National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans. He was an honored guest speaker for 17 years at the National Memorial Day Concert televised by PBS every year on the Sunday evening of Memorial Day weekend.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning was paid a special tribute at the May 26, 2013, National Memorial Day Concert when "Taps" was sounded in his honor.


title: Charles Durning

text: While pursuing an acting career, Durning, a professional ballroom dancer, taught at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in New York City.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning began his career in 1951. While working as an usher in a burlesque theatre, he was hired to replace a drunken actor on stage. Subsequently, he performed in roughly 50 stock company productions and in various off-Broadway plays, eventually attracting the attention of Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Beginning in 1961, he appeared in 35 plays as part of the Shakespeare Festival. "That time in my life was my best time," Durning told Pittsburgh's "Post Gazette" in 2001. "I had no money at all, and he [Joseph Papp] didn't pay much. You were getting a salary for performance plus a rehearsal salary. We would do three plays in Central Park for the summer. And then you'd do three to six plays every year down on Lafayette Street – new plays by new writers: Sam Shepard, David Mamet, David Rabe, John Ford Noonan, Jason Miller."


title: Charles Durning

text: During this period, he segued into television and movies. He made his film debut in 1965, appearing in "Harvey Middleman, Fireman". He appeared in John Frankenheimer's "I Walk the Line" (1970) starring Gregory Peck, and three Brian De Palma movies: "Hi, Mom!" (1970, as Charles Durnham), "Sisters" (1973), and "The Fury" (1978). He also appeared in "" (1972) with Barbara Hershey and John Lithgow.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning's performances in Broadway productions include "Drat! The Cat!" (1965), "Pousse-Café" (1966), "The Happy Time" (1968), "Indians" (1969), "That Championship Season" (1972), "In the Boom Boom Room" (1973), "The Au Pair Man" (1973), "Knock Knock" (1976), "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1990), "Inherit the Wind" (1996), "The Gin Game" (1997), and "The Best Man" (2000).


title: Charles Durning

text: In 2002, he performed in Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" with Al Pacino, produced by Tony Randall. He played the role of Jack Jameson in Wendy Wasserstein's final play, "Third" (2005), with Dianne Wiest at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his powerful performance in The Westwood Playhouse's 1977 production of David Rabe's "Streamers". In 1980, he won critical acclaim for his performance as Norman Thayer, Jr. in Los Angeles's Ahmanson Theater's production of "On Golden Pond" opposite Julie Harris.


title: Charles Durning

text: In 1972, director George Roy Hill, impressed by Durning's performance in the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play "That Championship Season", offered him a role in "The Sting" (1973). In the Best Picture-winner, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, Durning won distinction as a crooked cop, Lt. Wm. Snyder, who polices and hustles professional con artists. He doggedly pursues the young grifter, Johnny Hooker (Redford), only to become the griftee in the end. Other film credits include "Dog Day Afternoon" with Al Pacino; "When A Stranger Calls"; "The Final Countdown"; "The Hindenburg"; "Twilight's Last Gleaming" with Burt Lancaster; "True Confessions" with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall. Some television credits include "The Connection"; "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom", the made-for-television musical in which he played the mailman who reaches out to Maureen Stapleton's lonely widow on the dance floor; "Attica"; PBS's "Dancing Bear" with Tyne Daly; the PBS production "I Would Be Called John" as Pope John XXIII; "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Casey Stengel", in which Durning played the legendary baseball manager Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel; NBC's mini-series "Studs Lonigan" with Harry Hamlin and Colleen Dewhurst; "The Best Little Girl in the World" with Jennifer Jason Leigh. In 1976, he received both an Emmy and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the television mini-series "Captains and the Kings".


title: Charles Durning

text: In 1979, he played Doc Hopper, a man who owns a frog leg restaurant and the main antagonist in "The Muppet Movie". In "Tootsie", he played a suitor to Dustin Hoffman's cross-dressing lead character. The two actors worked together again in a 1985 TV production of "Death of a Salesman".


title: Charles Durning

text: In 1993, he guest-starred in the Sean Penn-directed music video "Dance with the One That Brought You" by Shania Twain.


title: Charles Durning

text: Other film roles include Henry Larson, the benevolent father of Holly Hunter's character in "Home for the Holidays" (1995) and Waring Hudsucker in "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994). He worked with the Coen Brothers again playing "Pappy" O'Daniel, a cynical governor of Mississippi (a character loosely based on the Texas politician and showman W. Lee O'Daniel) in the Coen Brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000).


title: Charles Durning

text: Prior to appearing in the Burt Reynolds's TV series, "Evening Shade", as the town doctor Harlan Eldridge (1990–1994), Durning appeared with Reynolds in five films, beginning with 1979's "Starting Over", followed by 1981's "Sharky's Machine", 1982's "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", 1985's "Stick" and 1999's "Hostage Hotel".


title: Charles Durning

text: On TV, Durning had a recurring role on "Everybody Loves Raymond" as the Barone family's long-suffering parish priest, Father Hubley. He also played the voice of recurring character Francis Griffin, the religious zealot father of Peter in the animated series "Family Guy". He appeared on the FX television series "Rescue Me", playing Mike Gavin, the retired firefighter father of Denis Leary's character.


title: Charles Durning

text: In 2005, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a Marine veteran in "Call of Silence," an episode in the television series "NCIS", first broadcast November 23, 2004. Durning's character turns himself in to authorities, insisting that he must be prosecuted for having murdered his buddy during ferocious combat on Iwo Jima six decades earlier. The real truth of the incident only becomes known for certain when the guilt-stricken veteran goes through a cathartic reliving of the battlefield events.


title: Charles Durning

text: For his numerous roles on television, he earned nine Emmy Award nominations. He also received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" in 1982 and "To Be or Not to Be" in 1983. He won a Golden Globe in 1990 for his supporting role in the television miniseries "The Kennedys of Massachusetts", having had three previous nominations. That same year, he won a Tony Award for his performance as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". He received two Drama Desk Awards for his performances in "That Championship Season" and "Third".


title: Charles Durning

text: In 1999, Durning was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame on Broadway. He was honored with the Life Achievement Award at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Ceremony on January 27, 2008. On July 31, 2008, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame adjacent to one of his idols, James Cagney.


title: Charles Durning

text: "There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we don't want anyone to know about," he told "Parade". "There's terror and repulsion in us, the terrible spot that we don't talk about. That place that no one knows about — horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting."


title: Charles Durning

text: The Charles Durning Collection is held at the Academy Film Archive. Along with films he appeared in, his collection consists mainly of films he admired as well as a small collection of family home movies.


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning died of natural causes at his home in Manhattan on Christmas Eve December 24, 2012, aged 89. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.


title: Charles Durning

text: On December 27, 2012, Broadway theaters dimmed their lights to honor him. "The New York Times", which commented on Durning's more than 200 credited roles, referred to him and actor Jack Klugman, who died the same day, as "extraordinary actors ennobling the ordinary". The "Huffington Post" compared the two men, calling them "character actor titans".


title: Charles Durning

text: Durning married his first wife, Carole Doughty, in 1959. They had three children together before divorcing in 1972. Durning married his second wife, Mary Ann Amelio, in 1974. In 2010, the two filed an official Declaration of Separation.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: John Bennett Ramsey (born December 7, 1943) is an American businessman, author, and father of JonBenét Ramsey, who was murdered in her Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Ramsey was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Mary Jane (née Bennett) (1919–1978) and James Dudley "Jay" Ramsey (1916–1992), a decorated World War II pilot. He attended Okemos High School in Michigan. In 1966, he graduated from Michigan State University (MSU) with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Ramsey earned a master's degree in business administration from MSU in 1971.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Ramsey joined the Navy in 1966, served as a Civil Engineer Corps officer in the Philippines for three years, and in an Atlanta reserve unit for an additional eight years.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: In 1989, Ramsey formed the Advanced Product Group, one of three companies that merged to become Access Graphics. He became president and chief executive officer of Access Graphics, a computer services company and a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: In 1996, Access Graphics grossed over $1 billion, and Ramsey was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. Immediately following the murder of his daughter he was "temporarily replaced so the company did not have to bother him about business matters as he grieved", according to Lockheed Martin spokesman Evan McCollum, but returned to his job within weeks.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Ramsey, along with his wife Patsy and young son Burke, moved back to Atlanta shortly thereafter. Access Graphics was later sold to General Electric in 1997.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: In 2015, Ramsey told Barbara Walters in an interview that the death of JonBenét and the ensuing investigation and cost of the case had drained his finances. He also claims that because of the notoriety of the case he now finds it very difficult to find work.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: The murder of Ramsey's six-year-old daughter, JonBenét, was the only murder in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: The Boulder police considered the possibility that an intruder had gotten into the house and committed the murder. The Ramseys appeared on national television to assert their innocence.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Linda Arndt, the detective first assigned to the case, stated in a deposition that she believed John Ramsey was responsible for the murder.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: On July 9, 2008, the Boulder County District Attorney's office announced that, as a result of newly developed DNA sampling and testing techniques known as Touch DNA analysis, the Ramsey family members were no longer considered suspects in the case. In light of the new DNA evidence, Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy gave a letter to John Ramsey that same day, officially apologizing to the Ramsey family:


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: However, Stan Garnett, the current Boulder County DA, regarding Lacy's exoneration letter, said, "This letter is not legally binding. It's a good-faith opinion and has no legal importance."


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Several defamation lawsuits have ensued since JonBenét's murder. L. Lin Wood was the attorney for the Ramsey family, filing defamation claims on their behalf against St. Martin's Press, Time, Inc., The Fox News Channel, American Media, Inc., "Star", "The Globe", Court TV, and "The New York Post".


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: John and Patsy Ramsey were sued in two separate defamation lawsuits arising from the publication of their book, "The Death of Innocence". These suits were brought by two persons named in the book as having been investigated by Boulder police as suspects in JonBenét's murder. The Ramseys were defended in those lawsuits by Lin Wood and three other Atlanta attorneys, James C. Rawls, Eric P. Schroeder, and S. Derek Bauer, who obtained dismissal of both lawsuits, including an in-depth decision by U.S. District Court Judge Julie Carnes that "abundant evidence" pointed to an intruder who committed the murder.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: In 2004, Ramsey campaigned for a seat in Michigan's House of Representatives for the 105th district. He received 24.3 percent of the vote in the Republican Party primary, finishing in second place to Kevin Elsenheimer.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Ramsey married Lucinda Pasch in 1966. They had three children. The couple divorced in 1978. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was killed in a car crash at age 22 in 1992.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Ramsey married his second wife, Patricia (Patsy) Paugh, in 1980, with whom he had two children, Burke and JonBenét. Patsy died of ovarian cancer in 2006 at age 49.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: After his wife's death, Ramsey met Beth Holloway, mother of missing Natalee Holloway. It was reported that the two began dating. However, Ramsey played down their relationship, stating that they "developed a friendship of respect and admiration" out of common interests related to their children.


title: John Bennett Ramsey

text: Ramsey relocated to Moab, Utah, and met his third wife, Jan Rousseaux, in 2011. They later married and relocated to Michigan.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: At 7:17 pm on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. This marked the beginning of a 14-year period of one-man rule that would effectively last until Marcos was exiled from the country on February 25, 1986. Even though the formal document proclaiming martial law – Proclamation No. 1081, which was dated September 21, 1972 – was formally lifted on January 17, 1981, Marcos retained essentially all of his powers as dictator until he was ousted.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: While the period of Philippine history in which Marcos was in power actually began seven years earlier, when he was first inaugurated president of the Philippines in late 1965, this article deals specifically with the period where he exercised dictatorial powers under martial law, and the period in which he continued to wield those powers despite technically lifting the proclamation of martial law in 1981.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: When he declared martial law in 1972, Marcos claimed that he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the sectarian "rebellion" of the Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM). Opposition figures of the time, such as Lorenzo Tañada, Jose W. Diokno, and Jovito Salonga, accused Marcos of exaggerating these threats, using them as a convenient excuse to consolidate power and extend his tenure beyond the two presidential terms allowed by the 1935 constitution.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: After Marcos was ousted, government investigators discovered that the declaration of martial law had also allowed the Marcoses to hide secret stashes of unexplained wealth that various courts later determined to be "of criminal origin".


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: This 14-year period in Philippine history is remembered for the administration's record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on the documentation of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and similar human rights monitoring entities, historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 'disappeared', and 70,000 incarcerations.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Numerous explanations have been put forward as reasons for Marcos to declare martial law in September 1972, some of which were presented by the Marcos administration as official justifications, and some of which were dissenting perspectives put forward by either the mainstream political opposition or by analysts studying the political economy of the decision.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: In his 1987 treatise, "Dictatorship & Martial Law: Philippine Authoritarianism in 1972", University of the Philippines public administration professor Alex Brillantes Jr. identifies three reasons expressed by the Marcos administration, saying that martial law:


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The first two justifications were explicitly stated in Proclamation 1081, which cited two explicit justifications: "to save the republic" (from various plots); and "to reform society" (after the failure of American-style democracy). The third rationalization arose from the administration's propaganda, which portrayed Marcos as a hypermasculine or ultranationalist figure able to compel the obedience of supposedly "spoiled" Filipinos.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Opposition to Marcos' declaration of martial law ran the whole gamut of Philippine society – ranging from impoverished peasants whom the administration tried to chase out of their homes; to the Philippines' political old-guard, whom Marcos had tried to displace from power; to academics and economists who disagreed with the specifics of Marcos' martial law policies. All of these, regardless of their social position or policy beliefs, subscribed to the interpretation that Marcos declared martial law:


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: In addition, some critics who ascribe an economic component to Marcos' motivations, suggesting that martial law:


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Although Marcos initially claimed that he had declared martial law in response to violent acts that took place in 1971–72 – such as the Plaza Miranda bombing and the alleged assassination attempt on Defense Secretary Enrile – the groundwork for its implementation had been laid down much earlier. Marcos aide-turned whistleblower Primitivo Mijares noted that "The beginning infrastructure for martial law was actually laid down as early as the first day of his assumption of the Philippine presidency on December 30, 1965."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos began increasing his influence over the armed forces of the Philippines as soon as he became president in 1965 by following President Ramon Magsaysay's precedent of concurrently hold the portfolio of defense secretary in the first thirteen months of his presidency. American defense analyst Donald Berlin notes that this gave Marcos an opportunity for direct interaction with the AFP's leaders, and a hand in the military's day-to-day operationalization. Singaporean author and political science professor Terence Lee notes that this had the effect of "develop[ing] a patronage system within the defense establishment." Professor Albert Celoza, in his 1997 book on the political economy of authoritarianism in the Philippines, notes that: "It was alleged that a plan of action had existed as early as 1965...no one opposed the plan because no one was certain that the plan would be carried out."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos soon carried out the "largest reshuffle in the history of the armed forces" when he forcibly retired fourteen of the AFP's twenty-five flag officers, including the AFP Chief of Staff, the AFP Vice Chief of Staff, the commanding general of the Philippine Army, the Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, the commanders of all four Constabulary Zones, and one third of all Provincial Commanders of the PC.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: One prominent early example of an officer forced to resign his commission was Navy Commodore Ramon Alcaraz – a World War II hero who would eventually be dubbed the "father of the Philippine Marines", and have a Philippine Navy ship named after him. Alcaraz was forced to resign from the Armed Forces because his success in the Navy's anti-smuggling operations had come into conflict with Marcos accommodations with alleged "smuggler-king" Lino Bocalan.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: In their place, Marcos appointed officers from his home region, the Ilocos, the most significant of whom had familial connections to Marcos – ensuring their familial and regionalistic loyalties to him. The practice was so pervasive that it quickly earned a moniker: "Ilocanization". The most important of these appointments included Juan Ponce Enrile as Secretary of Defense, and Fidel Ramos as Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff, who were both related to Marcos; and Fabian Ver, Marcos' townmate from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, as Armed Forces Chief of Staff.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: In tandem with this "Ilocanization", generals loyal to Marcos were allowed to stay in their positions past their supposed retirement age, or were rewarded with civilian government posts. This led to a loss of morale among the middle-ranks of the AFP, because it meant a significant slowdown in promotions and caused many officers to retire with ranks much lower than they would otherwise have earned.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: As a result, Security Affairs Professor Douglas J. Macdonald noted that "near the end of the dictatorship, the Military and the Intelligence organizations were badly polarized along generational lines, as they are today."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: In June 1970, Marcos authorized the creation of civil militias called "Barangay Self Defense Units", which would be renamed the Civilian Home Defense Forces in 1977 through Presidential Decree 1016. At its inception, the CHDF numbered 73,000 men, and it earned a reputation as the perpetrators of the worst human rights violations during martial law.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: When Marcos was ready to declare martial law, copies of the plan for its implementation were distributed to key officials within the Armed Forces. As a way of assuring that any whistleblowers would be easily accounted for, the copies of the plan were distributed with codeword titles taken from the signs of the Zodiac. The copy marked "Sagittarius" was given to General Marcos "Mark" Soliman who commanded the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. Thus, when Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. exposed the existence of "Oplan Sagittarius" a week before martial law was declared, other generals were able to deny that they had heard of any operation under the said code title, and it was easy for Marcos to pinpoint Soliman as the whistleblower who gave the information to Aquino.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Not long after the declaration of martial law, the controlled press reported that Soliman had died of a heart attack, but his family believed that Marcos had ordered that he be killed. Marcos then dissolved the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and put a powerful super-agency, the National Intelligence and Security Authority (NISA) in its place, with steadfast Marcos follower General Fabian Ver in command.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: By 1971, Marcos had reached out to US Ambassador to the Philippines Henry Byroade, with the question of whether the United States, then under the administration of President Richard Nixon, would support him should he choose to proclaim Martial Law. Byroade brought the matter up with Nixon in a conversation in January 1971. According to the US National Archives' copy of the Memorandum of Conversation between Nixon and Byroade: "The president declared that we would "absolutely" back Marcos up, and "to the hilt" so long as what he was doing was to preserve the system against those who would destroy it in the name of liberty. The President indicated that... we would not support anyone who was trying to set himself up as military dictator, but we would do everything we can to back a man who was trying to make the system work and to preserve order. Of course, we understood that Marcos would not be entirely motivated by national interests, but this was something which we had come to expect from Asian leaders."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos informed the US Ambassador to the Philippines about his intent to declare Martial Law plan as early as September 17, 1972, just a few days before Martial Law was announced on September 23, 1972.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Of the various threats cited in the Proclamation 1081 document as rationalizations for declaration of Martial Law, the most extensively described was the threat supposedly posed by Communist insurgents – specifically the newly formed Communist Party of the Philippines, a Maoist organization which had only recently broken off from the Marxist–Leninist Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: When Marcos became president in 1965, Philippine policy and politics functioned under a Post-World War II geopolitical framework. After gaining independence from the US after the war, the Philippines had retained strong economic, political and military ties to the United States, manifested in a Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), Military Assistance Agreement (MAA), a US Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG), and the physical presence of several Military Bases where the US Military could conduct ""unhampered US military operations"" for 99 years (later reduced to 50).


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Filipino presidents were very politically dependent on American support, and this did not change until the end of the Cold War in 1989, and the termination of the 1947 US Military Bases Treaty, in 1992.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: With its close ties to the US, the Philippines was ideologically caught up in the anticommunist scare perpetuated by the US during the Cold War. The government was not yet strongly-established, and it was "fearful of being swept away by <nowiki>[communism]'s</nowiki> rising tide", so in 1957, it passed Republic Act (RA) No. 1700, known as the ""Anti-Subversion Act of 1957"", which made mere membership in any communist party illegal. The Philippines would take three and a half decades to repeal it, through Republic Act 7636, in 1992.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: RA No. 1700 was originally meant to counter the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and its armed force, the Hukbalahap (also called the "Huks"). The campaign against the PKP and the Huks was bloody, but it had basically ended by 1954. Throughout the 60s, the remnants of the PKP pursued "a course of peaceful action" while working to rebuild their organisation, but, this was later challenged by a youth-based Maoist group within the organization created by University Professor Jose Maria Sison, who joined the PKP in 1962. Clashing with the PKP party leaders' view that armed struggle was an exercise in futility, Sison and his group were expelled from the PKP in 1967, and on December 26, 1968 founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) along Maoist lines. While the PKP sought to marginalize this new group, it soon became the leading communist party in the Philippines.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: When Marcos became president in 1965, the PKP was a weakened organization, and the Hukbalahap reduced to "what amounted to banditry." But Marcos immediately made noise about the supposed "communist threat" – drawing on images of the bloody Huk encounters of the 1950s, and courting the Johnson administration's political support in light of the U.S.' recent entry into the Vietnam war.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos continued using communism as bogeyman after 1968, as the PKP faded into obscurity and the nascent CPP became more prominent. The Armed Forces of the Philippines did likewise in 1969, when the CPP allied with Huk commander Bernabe Buscayno to create the nascent New People's Army. Although the CPP-NPA was only a small force at the time, the AFP hyped up its formation, partly because doing so was good for building up the AFP budget. As a result, notes security specialist Richard J. Kessler, "the AFP mythologized the group, investing it with a revolutionary aura that only attracted more supporters."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Even in the days immediately before Marcos' declaration of Martial Law on September 23, 1972, the Philippine National Security Council did not consider the two communist movements to represent a sizeable threat. At around that time, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations received notice that as of September 19, 1972, the Philippine Council had set their threat assessment at "<nowiki>between 'normal' and 'Internal Defense Condition 1'</nowiki>" on a scale where 3 was the highest Defense condition. In 1971, AFP Chief of Staff Manuel T. Yan had prominently told media that the grounds for Marcos to either impose of martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus did not exist. One of the generals serving under General Fabian Ver of the National Intelligence and Security Authority later recalled that "Even when Martial Law was declared, the communists were not a real threat. The military could handle them."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Despite historical consensus that the Marcos administration willfully exaggerated the capabilities and actions of the Communist Party of the Philippines, a few of the incidents cited by Marcos have been confirmed as genuine activities of the CPP. These included: the December 1970 raid on the Philippine Military Academy's armory by defecting army officer Victor Corpus; and the July 1972 MV Karagatan incident in which a secret arms shipment from China, meant for Communist Party forces, sank just off Digoyo Point in Palanan, Isabela.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Numerous other incidents cited by Marcos as rationalizations for his declaration of Martial Law have either been discredited or disputed, in light of Marcos' known tactic of undertaking false flag operations as a propaganda technique.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: This includes: the August 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing; the 1972 Manila bombings from March to September of that year; and the alleged September 1972 ambush of Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The social unrest of 1969 to 1970, and the violent dispersal of the resulting "First Quarter Storm" protests were among the early watershed events in which large numbers of Filipino students of the 1970s were radicalized against the Marcos administration. Due to these dispersals, many students who had previously held "moderate" positions (i.e., calling for legislative reforms) became convinced that they had no choice but to call for more radical social change.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Other watershed events that would later radicalize many otherwise "moderate" opposition members include the February 1971 Diliman Commune; the August 1971 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the wake of the Plaza Miranda bombing; the September 1972 declaration of Martial Law; the 1980 murder of Macli-ing Dulag; and the August 1983 assassination of Ninoy Aquino.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: This radicalization led to a significant growth of the Communist Party of the Philippines under the Marcos administration. Writer and peace advocate Gus Miclat cites the example of Mindanao: ""There was not one NPA cadre in Mindanao in 1972. Yes, there were activists, there were some firebrands... but there were no armed rebels then except for those that eventually formed the Moro National Liberation Front. When Marcos fled in 1986, the NPA was virtually in all Mindanao provinces, enjoying even a tacit alliance with the MNLF.""


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Several conflicting accounts about exist regarding the exact date on which Marcos signed the physical Proclamation No. 1081 document, which placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Whichever the case, the document was formally dated September 21 because of his superstitions and numerological beliefs concerning the number seven. The Official Gazette of the republic of the Philippines, in a retrospective article on Marcos' proclamation of martial law, comments on the differences in the accounts:


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: "Whether they conflict or not, all accounts indicate that Marcos’ obsession with numerology (particularly the number seven) necessitated that Proclamation No. 1081 be officially signed on a date that was divisible by seven. Thus, September 21, 1972 became the official date that martial law was established and the day that the Marcos dictatorship began. This also allowed Marcos to control history on his own terms."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: September 22, 1972, marked a brief period in which Proclamation No. 1081 was formally in place, but without the knowledge of the public. For most of the Philippines, therefore, martial law was thus properly implemented when it was announced on the evening of September 23, 1972.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The implementation of martial law began sometime before midnight on September 22, with the arrest of the two main opposition leaders, Ninoy Aquino, who on September 21 held a Congress speech to denounce impending martial law, and Jose W. Diokno, who held a rally with 50,000 people from the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL) at Plaza Miranda on the same day. By dawn of the following day, many of the 400 individuals listed on the military's priority arrest list—journalists, members of the political opposition, constitutional convention delegates, outspoken lawyers, teachers, and students—had been detained.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Media outlets were shuttered, although those linked with Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto were allowed to reopen within the day. Soon after, Congress was abolished, mass activities were prohibited, political parties were outlawed, a curfew was put in place, and civil and political rights were suspended.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The first wave of arrests under Marcos' declaration of martial law began with the arrest of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. late in the evening of September 22, during a late meeting of the Joint Congressional Committee on Tariff Reforms at the Manila Hilton Hotel. Aquino was one of Marcos' most prominent critics, and had exposed the plan to proclaim martial law in a speech in the Philippine Senate the week before.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Juan Ponce Enrile would later acknowledge that the first wave of arrests focused on political figures and journalists "in the initial stages, we must emasculate all the leaders in order to control the situation."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The arrest of others took place after midnight in the early morning hours of September 23. Martial law forces were sent out to arrest 400 individuals on their priority target list. By 1:00 am, Senator Jose W. Diokno had been arrested at his residence in Makati, as had poet-Senator Soc Rodrigo as of 2:00 a.m. that day. Vice President Fernando Lopez, who had resigned from his cabinet positions in the Marcos administration after accusing Marcos of corruption and power-grabbing, was on the priority list but was overseas at the time of the declaration. Sergio Osmeña Jr., who had run against Marcos in the contentious election of 1969, was also abroad at the time and was not caught. In their place, Lopez's nephew Eugenio Lopez Sr. and Osmeña's son Sergio Osmeña III were arrested in what international media described as an act of extortion designed to undermine their families' financial empires.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: By the dawn of September 23, 100 of the 400 individuals on the list were in detention centers, with detainees including Senator Ramon Mitra, JRU history teacher Etta Rosales, University of the Philippines College of Social Work professor Flora Lansang, human rights lawyer Haydee Yorac, "Manila Times" publisher Chino Roces, and a plethora of journalists. Student leaders were arrested regardless of whether their organizations were "radical" or "moderate".


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Newspaper editors arrested that night included Amando Doronila of the "Daily Mirror", Luis Mauricio of the "Philippine Graphic", Teodoro Locsin Sr. of the "Philippine Free Press", and Rolando Fadul of the vernacular broadsheet "Taliba". Also arrested were reporters Robert Ordoñez of the "Philippine Herald", Rosalinda Galang of the "Manila Times"; columnists Ernesto Granada of the "Manila Chronicle" and Maximo Soliven of the "Manila Times", and Luis Beltran and Ruben Cusipag of the "Evening News".


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: "Philippines Free Press" associate editor Napoleon Rama and ABS-CBN broadcaster Jose Mari Velez also happened to be delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, and were among the 11 outspoken convention delegates to be arrested. The others included Heherson Alvarez, Alejandro Lichuaco, Voltaire Garcia, and Teofisto Guingona Jr.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos reacted with fear of deposition and immediately finalized Proclamation No. 1081, which declared nationwide martial law at 8:00 p.m. later that evening. One day before the proclamation, on September 22, 1972 at 8:00 p.m., Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile was told to exit his white Mercedes-Benz sedan near Wack-Wack village. Another vehicle carrying gunmen arrived and stopped near an electrical post, right beside Enrile's vehicle. They then alighted from their vehicle and began to fire at the large sedan of Enrile to give an impression of a terrorist ambush, setting the stage for Marcos's theatrical television announcement.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: By the morning of September 23, 1972, martial law forces had successfully implemented a media lockdown, with only outlets associated with Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto allowed to operate. In the afternoon, Benedicto-owned television channel KBS-9 went back on air playing episodes of Hanna-Barbera's "Wacky Races" cartoon series, which was interrupted at 3:00 PM, when Press Secretary Francisco Tatad went on air to read Proclamation No. 1081, through which Marcos declared martial law. Ferdinand Marcos himself went on air at 7:17 that evening to formalize the announcement. On the following Morning, September 24, the headline of Benedicto's "Daily Express" announced "FM Declares Martial Law" – the only national newspaper to come out in the immediate aftermath of martial law. (The Mindanao Tribune, which had not received notification of the media lockdown, had been able to put out an edition by the evening of September 23.)


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The declaration shut down 7 television stations, 16 national daily newspapers, 11 weekly magazines, 66 community newspapers, and 292 radio stations; as well as public utilities such as Meralco, PLDT, and the three then-existing Philippine Airlines.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos' September 1972 proclamation of martial law had major repercussions for the 1971 Constitutional Convention. Marcos arrested the leadership of the "opposition bloc" of the convention, who wanted to make sure that Marcos would not stay in power longer than the two terms allowed him under the 1935 constitution. Eventually, a group of Marcos-supporting delegates led by Gilberto Duavit came up with an entirely new draft of the constitution, which they submitted to Malacañang for ratification only two months after the proclamation of martial law.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The work of the convention was affected by the declaration of martial law in September 1972 by President Ferdinand Marcos; the military units assigned to implement martial law were given a list of 400 individuals to arrest, consisting mostly of outspoken critics of Ferdinand Marcos' administration. This included a number of members of the Constitutional Convention.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Some of the individuals on the list, such as Raul Manglapus, were not in the Philippines when martial law was declared, while some, such as Raul Roco, were in the country but managed to evade arrest.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: However, numerous members of the Constitutional Convention's opposition bloc were among those arrested in the early hours of September 22, 1972. Convention members arrested included Antonio Araneta, Jose Concepcion, Voltaire Garcia, Bren Guiao, Teofisto Guingona Jr., Alejandro Lichuaco, Jose Nolledo, "Philippines Free Press" associate editor Napoleon Rama and ABS-CBN broadcaster Jose Mari Velez.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: With nearly a dozen of its members in jail and some of its most prominent leaders overseas or in hiding, the "progressive faction" of the convention that spoke against Marcos was no longer able to contribute to the discussion.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Diokno and Aquino, whom the dictatorship considered their foremost opponents, were later handcuffed, blindfolded, and transferred to Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija in March 1973. They were placed in solitary confinement for 30 days after an article by Aquino published in the Bangkok Post further revealed abuses under martial law. Marcos accused Diokno and Aquino for this article as it was printed while both were in prison at Fort Bonifacio. Aquino and Diokno were kept in solitary in the enclosed and air-sealed "Alpha" and "Delta" rooms. Aquino spent his days counting through chalk on the wall, while Diokno counted using the knots of ropes from his mosquito net as well as the back of a soap packaging box and crossed out each day in the manner of a calendar.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: They both learned of each other's presence through singing. One of them would frequently sing the national anthem "Lupang Hinirang" or "Chosen Land", to which the other would reply by singing "Bayan Ko" or "My Country" to prove he was still alive. Their visiting family members were often strip-searched by soldiers. Diokno's wife Carmen would sneak in books in French and Spanish for him to read. Diokno and his wife talked in Spanish to keep the guards from eavesdropping on their conversation. Diokno would tell his family not to weep in front of the sadistic soldiers. Only his Aunt Paz Wilson, a woman in her 90s and a mother figure since his mother's passing, would frequently cry during every visit. She continued to visit despite also undergoing strip searches. The family would be in tears once they left the prison, where the Aquino family would see them. This helped the Aquinos prepare themselves emotionally since they never saw the Diokno family manifest much pain before. "Nena" Diokno, suspicious of Marcos, took most of her husband's books at the library along M.H. del Pilar and brought them home before the military burned down the library. Jose would thank her as he was very familiar with the library and memorized the location of each shelf and book he read. Aquino and Diokno could not keep glasses or pipes, and Diokno needed to request his rosary from time to time. After enduring 30 days they were transferred back to Fort Bonifacio. Diokno was released on September 11, 1974, Marcos's birthday, while Aquino would leave for the United States in 1980.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The convention moved quickly after Marcos had declared martial law. The opposition bloc had effectively been decimated and the threat of imprisonment hung over any delegates who might voice opposition in the convention. The regular rules of the convention were suspended and a 166-member group headed by Marcos-supporting Delegate Gilberto Duavit came up with a new draft of the constitution. By November 29, 1972 – a little over two months after the declaration of martial law – the convention approved the draft, which was presented to Marcos in Malacañang Palace on December 1, 1972.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Sparked by revelations about the 1968 Jabidah massacre, tensions had been rising between the Marcos administration and the Moro peoples of Mindanao. Soon after Jibin Arula told the story of the Massacre story to the press, and Senate investigations suggested the involvement of the president, Lanao del Sur congressman Rashid Lucman called for Marcos' Impeachment. When the bid failed, he eventually founded the Bangsamoro Liberation Organization (BMLO), which initially called for Moro Independence, although it eventually shifted its positions and called for regional autonomy. Former Cotabato governor Datu Udtog Matalam likewise formed of the Muslim Independence Movement (MIM), which also called for Moro Independence. Neither group, however, drew enough followers to form a viable opposition until Marcos declared Martial Law. The BMLO remained small, while the MIM was dissolved when Matalam accepted a government post under Marcos.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: With the declaration of Martial Law, on October 21, 1972, political parties, including the BMLO and the MIM, were dissolved. So when former MIM member Nur Misuari formed an armed secessionist group called the Moro National Liberation Front, he was quickly able to consolidate power. The MNLF became the single dominant voice calling for Moro independence, and was able to raise a significant armed force. The Philippines' decades-long Moro conflict had begun in earnest.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos' 14 years as dictator is historically remembered for its record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on the documentation of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and similar human rights monitoring entities, historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 forced disappearances, and 70,000 incarcerations.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Some 2,520 of the 3,257 murder victims were tortured and mutilated before their bodies were dumped in various places for the public to discover – a tactic meant to sow fear among the public, which came to be known as "salvaging." Some bodies were even cannibalized.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The international community eventually got word of these human rights violations and applied pressure to the Marcos administration to end them. In 1975, Marcos aide and chief propagandist Primitivo Mijares defected from the Marcos administration and revealed in front of US lawmakers that torture was routinely practiced within the Marcos regime. Mijares' admission attracted international criticism, particularly from Amnesty International and Washington. Amnesty International's first report about the Philippines in December 1975 revealed the "systematic and severe torture" handled by the Fifth Constabulary Security Unit (5CSU). Amnesty International found convincing evidence of widespread torture among prisoners, enabled by Marcos's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the absence of judicial oversight. Evidence reveals that not only was he aware of tortures and murders enacted by his military and police force, but that he condoned and at times arranged for it. This caused tensions between the United States and the Philippines, pressuring Marcos to admit human rights violations during his regime.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Marcos initially denied knowledge of human rights violations. In 1974, he proclaimed in a televised address that "No one, but no one was tortured". But he eventually confessed at the 1977 World Peace through law Conference in Manila that "there have been, to our lasting regret, a number of violations of the rights of detainees".


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Philippine economic history from Marcos' declaration of Martial Law to his ouster through the 1986 People Power Revolution was a period of significant economic highs and lows.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The September 1972 declaration of Martial Law coincided with an increased global demand for raw materials, including coconut and sugar, and the increase in global market prices for these commodities. This “commodities boom” allowed GDP growth to peak at nearly 9 percent in the years immediately after the declaration – in 1973 and 1976. The Philippine's Gross Domestic Product quadrupled from $8 billion in 1972 to $32.45 billion in 1980, for an inflation-adjusted average growth rate of 6% per year.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The commodities boom continued throughout most of the 70s, only slowing down towards the early 1980s when it left the Philippine economy vulnerable to the instability of the international capital market. As a result, the economy grew amidst the two severe global oil shocks following the 1973 oil crisis and 1979 energy crisis – oil price was $3 / barrel in 1973 and $39.5 in 1979, or a growth of 1200% which drove inflation.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The Heritage Foundation pointed that when the economy began to weaken in 1979, the government did not adopt anti-recessionist policies and instead launched risky and costly industrial projects. The overall economy experienced a slower growth GDP per capita, lower wage conditions and higher unemployment especially towards the end of Marcos' term after the 1983–1984 recession. The Philippine peso devalued sharply from 3.9 to 20.53. The recession was triggered largely by political instability following Ninoy's assassination, high global interest rates, severe global economic recession, and significant increase in global oil price, the latter three of which affected all indebted countries in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The Philippines was among these countries and was not exempted from the negative economic consequences.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Despite the 1984–1985 recession, GDP on a per capita basis more than tripled from $175.9 in 1965 to $565.8 in 1985 at the end of Marcos' term, though this averages less than 1.2% a year when adjusted for inflation.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The period is sometimes erroneously described as a golden age for the country's economy. However, by the period's end, the country was experiencing a debt crisis, extreme poverty, and severe underemployment. On the island of Negros, one-fifth of the children under six were seriously malnourished.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Poverty incidence grew from 41% in the 1960s at the time Marcos took the presidency to 59% when he was removed from power.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The Philippines had a cautious borrowing policy as late as the early 1970s, but the Marcos administration borrowed a massive amount of foreign debt in the early 1980s amid high oil prices, high interest rates, capital flight, and falling export prices of sugar and coconut. The country's total external debt rose from US$2.3 billion in 1970 to US$26.2 billion in 1985. Along with corruption and plunder of public funds by Marcos and his cronies, this held the country under a debt-servicing crisis which is expected to be fixed by only 2025.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The shutdown of media and the mass arrests of publishers and journalists on the eve of the 1972 Martial Law declaration effectively silenced the Philippines culture of press freedom for several years. It also had a chilling effect on news coverage all the way until Marcos was deposed and exiled in 1986, despite the Marcos administration loosening press restrictions in light of international pressure, and despite the technical lifting of Martial Law in 1981.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The few publications who dared to criticize Marcos, such as the WE Forum and Ang Pahayagang Malaya, came to collectively be referred to "the mosquito press," since they became a minor but persistent irritation to the dictatorship.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Key turning points in the history of Philippine journalism during this time included: the establishment of WE Forum in 1977 and of Ang Pahayagang Malaya in 1981; the landmark coverage murder of Macli-ing Dulag, a leader of indigenous opposition to the Chico River Dam Project; the 1982 expose of Ferdinand Marcos' fake military medals which led to the closure of WE Forum and the jailing of its prominent columnists; and the 1984 murder of leading Mindanao journalist Alex Orcullo in Davao City.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: On January 17, 1981, Marcos issued Proclamation No. 2045, which formally lifted the proclamation of martial law, but retained many of his powers. The lifting was timed to coincide with Pope John Paul II's visit to the Philippines and with the inauguration of new U.S. president and Marcos ally Ronald Reagan. Reacting to the announcement, former president Diosdado Macapagal, who at the time was the leading member of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization, said that the lifting of martial law after eight years was "in name only, but not in fact". Marcos reacted to criticism by telling the national assembly, "The opposition members want only to save their individual skins against national interests."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Amendment No. 6 to the new 1973 constitution allowed him to continue making laws, and the decrees issued during martial law were carried forward after the lifting of Proclamation No. 1081. He also retained the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus for "crimes related to subversion, insurrection, rebellion, and also conspiracy to commit such crimes."


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Increasing unrest springing from the economic collapse of the Philippines in the years after the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino in 1983 came to a head in February 1986, when the EDSA People Power Revolution succeeded in unseating the Marcoses from Malacañang Palace.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: Fearful of a scenario in which Marcos' presence in the Philippines would lead to a civil war, the Reagan administration flew Marcos and a party of about 80 individuals – the extended Marcos family and a number of close associates – from the Philippines to Hawaii despite Marcos' objections.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: The exiles stayed at Hickam Air Force Base at the expense of the U.S. government. A month later, they moved into a pair of residences in Makiki Heights, Honolulu, which were registered to Marcos cronies Antonio Floirendo and Bienvenido and Gliceria Tantoco.


title: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

text: President Corazon Aquino eventually allowed the remaining members of the Marcos family to return to the Philippines to face various charges. News reports from the period record that Marcos supporters organized crowd from Manila's slums to welcome the Marcoses on their return.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: Urban Dictionary is a crowdsourced English-language online dictionary for slang words and phrases, operating under the motto "Define Your World". The website was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham. Originally, "Urban Dictionary" was intended as a dictionary of slang or cultural words and phrases, not typically found in standard English dictionaries, but it is now used to define any word, event, or phrase (including sexually explicit content). Words or phrases on "Urban Dictionary" may have multiple definitions, usage examples, and tags. As of 2014, the dictionary contains over seven million definitions, while around 2,000 new entries were being added daily.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: The site was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham while he was a freshman computer science major at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He launched the site to compare urban slang used by university students in different parts of California. He had previously created a spoof version of the Ask Jeeves web search engine while studying at Cal Poly but closed the website after he received an infringement letter. He created "Urban Dictionary" initially as a parody of actual dictionaries, which he thought tended to be "stuffy" and "take themselves too seriously".


title: Urban Dictionary

text: For the first five years, the site generated revenue but did not make a profit. In 2003, the website gained wider attention after a news article revealed that a judge of the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom had used "Urban Dictionary" to assist interpreting slang lyrics in a case involving two rappers.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: By 2009, the site had listed around 4 million entries and received about 2,000 new submissions per day. In April 2009, the site registered 15 million unique visitors, while 80 percent of its monthly users were younger than 25. In July 2009, Peckham explained to "The New York Times" that "Urban Dictionary" is not Wikipedia, because it doesn't attempt neutrality: "Every single word on here ["Urban Dictionary"] is written by someone with a point of view, with a personal experience of the word in the entry."


title: Urban Dictionary

text: The website was later referenced in a 2011 District Court complaint by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents to document the meaning of the vulgarism "murk", as used in a criminal threat.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: Over a 30-day period in March and April 2011, 67,000 people wrote 76,000 new definitions for "Urban Dictionary", while 3,500 volunteer editors were registered. In an April 2011 article in "The Guardian" titled "In praise of urban dictionaries", Peckham revealed an overview of 10 rules that he had devised for the site's content: "Publish celebrity names, but reject 'real life' names. Reject nonsense, inside jokes or anything submitted in capital letters. Racial and sexual slurs are allowed, racist and sexist entries are not."


title: Urban Dictionary

text: At the start of 2014, 32-year-old Peckham resided in San Francisco, U.S, and, while he did not reveal exact figures, he informed the media that the site was "stable and growing", and generated enough profit for both him and the site's maintenance. Peckham continued as the site's sole employee and maintained that he was not interested in venture funding or an initial public offering (IPO) : "It is weird to be in Silicon Valley and want to be independent and not be on track to IPO or want an acquisition ... But I think something special would be sacrificed if that were to happen."


title: Urban Dictionary

text: As of January 5, 2014, 50% of the site's traffic was mobile and the iPhone app had been downloaded nearly three million times. Although English entries were by far the most common prior to the multilingual transition, some words from languages that have been incorporated or assimilated into English-speaking societies were published, including those from Swahili, Arabic, and the Fula languages.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: In the context of "Urban Dictionary", "definitions" include not only literal definitions, but also descriptions. As such, "to define" a word or phrase on "Urban Dictionary" does not necessarily entail providing a strict definition; merely a description of some aspect of the word or phrase could suffice for inclusion in the dictionary.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: Originally, "Urban Dictionary" was intended as a dictionary of slang, or cultural words or phrases, not typically found in standard dictionaries, but it is now used to define any word or phrase. Words or phrases on "Urban Dictionary" may have multiple definitions, usage examples, and tags.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: Visitors to "Urban Dictionary" may submit definitions without registering, but they must provide a valid email address.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: By default, each definition is accepted or rejected based on the number of "Publish" or "Don't Publish" votes it receives from volunteer editors. The editors are not bound by any criteria for the approval or rejection of definitions. Editors previously needed a valid email address, but it is no longer required, as three options are provided for new words: "Add It!," "Keep Out!," and "I Can't Decide." However, a Facebook or Gmail account is required to post a new definition. Editors are not allowed to edit entries for spelling, wording or punctuation.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: "Urban Dictionary" has been criticized for hosting and failing to remove offensive submissions, including ones containing racist and sexist content. For example, the abundance of racist definitions of "aboriginal" prompted a petition calling for their removal on Change.org which received over 7,000 signatures.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: "Urban Dictionary"s guidelines list "hate speech, bullying, or any other statements meant to discriminate or incite violence against others" as a reportable offense.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: At the start of 2014, the dictionary had over seven million definitions, while 2,000 new entries were being added daily.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: In November 2014, the Advertise page of the website stated that, on a monthly basis, "Urban Dictionary" averages 72 million impressions and 18 million unique readers. According to Peckham in January 2014, just under 40% of the site's traffic is international, while the site's audience was predominantly male and aged between 15 and 24.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: As of 2013, "Urban Dictionary" has been used in several court cases to define slang terms not found in standard dictionaries. For example, the slang term "jack" was used to define the name the defendant used for his team, "the jack boys." "Urban Dictionary" was also used in a District Court complaint where a man posted a threat on a gun exchange Facebook page to "murk that cocksucker". The crowd-sourced dictionary was also used in a sexual harassment court case in Tennessee to define the phrase "to nut" as "to ejaculate".


title: Urban Dictionary

text: In the United States, some state Departments of Motor Vehicles refer to "Urban Dictionary" in determining if certain license plates are appropriate or not. For example, a man in Las Vegas was allowed to keep "HOE" as his license plate after managing to convince the state, with the use of "Urban Dictionary", that it meant "TAHOE", as in the vehicle made by Chevrolet, since that was already taken.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: IBM had programmed Watson to use "Urban Dictionary". After having all the words and definitions incorporated into Watson, it began responding to researchers' questions with profanity, leading the programmers to remove it from its memory and adding an additional filter to prevent it from swearing in the future.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: In August 2019, the Malacañang Palace reacted to definitions of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's last name on the site; defining 'duterte' as "deceptive, sly, fake" and, "that leftover shit that you wipe off your anus after pooping." Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the definitions of Duterte are "exact opposites" of the traits of President Duterte, and that Duterte to them means "honest, incorruptible, politically-willed person, courageous, selfless, honest, transparent and all good things... and other synonymous terms." The spokesperson also admitted he had never heard of the site before, and believed that anti-Duterte groups were behind the definitions.


title: Urban Dictionary

text: Linguists continue to use "Urban Dictionary" for charting the development of slang terms, particularly those from the early 2000s before the advent of many social media platforms.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Albanian mafia or Albanian organized crime () are the general terms used for criminal organizations based in Albania or composed of ethnic Albanians. Albanian organized crime is active in Europe, North America, South America, and various other parts of the world including the Middle East and Asia. The Albanian Mafia participates in a diverse range of criminal enterprises including trafficking in drugs, arms, and humans. They are said to control a large part of the billion dollar wholesale cocaine market in Europe and appear to be the primary distributors of cocaine in various European drug hubs including London. Albanian organized crime is characterized by diversified criminal enterprises which, in their complexity, demonstrate a very high criminal capacity. In Albania, there are over 15 mafia families that control organized crime.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia has monopolized various international affiliations from as far east as Israel, to as far west as South America. These reports primarily indicate a strong connection between politicians and various Albanian mafia families. According to the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS), Albanian mafia groups are hybrid organizations (i.e. composed of people from various sectors of society), and are often involved in both criminal and political activities.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian Mafia constitutes one of the highest crime generating elements in the world, combining the "traditional" characteristics of organized crime – its rigid internal discipline, its clan structure, its "endogamic closure" (marrying within the organization) which increases the organization's impermeability, and its internal cohesion – with modern and innovative characteristics, such as trans-nationality, . The massive logistic capacity and the diverse nature of Albanian organized crime has facilitated its establishment outside the mother country and its integration with local criminal elements.


title: Albanian mafia

text: In the United States, the term "Albanian Mafia" may include or refer specifically to various Albanian-American organized crime groups, such as the Rudaj Organization and the Albanian Boys, both based in New York City. Albanian-American crime groups vary in the extent of their connections to Albanian mafia groups in Albania or Europe, ranging from loosely connected to or mostly independent of Albanian mafias in Europe to being essentially American extensions of European Albanian mafia groups.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The typical structure of the Albanian mafia is hierarchical. A family clan is referred to as a "fis" or a "fare." Families contain an executive committee known as a "Bajrak" and select a high-ranking member for each unit. A unit is led by a "Krye" or "Boss" who selects "Kryetar" or "Underbosses" to serve under them. The Kryetar will then choose a "Mik" or "Friend" who acts as a liaison to members and is responsible for coordinating unit activities.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Deeply reliant on loyalty, honour, and family—with blood relations and marriage being very important—most of the Albanian networks appear to be "old-fashioned". Albanian mafia families or clans are usually made up of groups that have thousands of members all over the world, constituting an extended family, residing all along the Balkan route from Eastern Turkey, to Western Europe, and North America.


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to Ioannis Michaletos, the family structure is characterised by a strong inner discipline, which is achieved by means of punitive action for every deviation from internal rules. Punishment ensures fear, and fear guarantees unconditional loyalty to the family. Provisions within the family structure allow official laws to be considered secondary, unimportant, and non-binding. Since mafia families are based on blood relations, the number of clan members are limited, and bonds between them tend to be very strong. As a result, infiltrating into the mafia is almost impossible. Members of other ethnic groups can be accepted only to execute one time or secondary jobs. The Albanian mafia families are organised in 4–6 or more levels; such a structure enables them to preserve the organisational action capability even in case some of its members or groups are captured.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia has clans throughout the world. In Albania, there are clans that operate in certain towns or cities. Each region is controlled by different mafia families that oversee international operations. In Shijak, the Xhakja clan is powerful and has an extensive history of criminal family members. Other prominent Albanian mafia families operating in and around Albania include; The Bregus or "Bregu" crime family, run by Armir Bregu, who is serving time in United Kingdom, the Osmani family, Kerkiku, Caushi, Shehu, Kakami and Hasani and the "Banda e Lushnjës" whose boss "Aldo Bare" has since been arrested and prosecuted.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia uses the term "besa", meaning "trust", as a name for their "code of honour". During the recruitment process a member inducted into the Albanian mafia is required to take an oath. The oath is then considered sacred because it is defined as a Besë. Besa is extremely important in Albanian culture, and is considered a verbal contract of trust. Especially in North Albania, when somebody gives someone their Besë, they have given someone their life and are going to protect someone with their life.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Organized crime became widespread in Albania during the early 90s, after the fall of communism. Blackmail, intimidation and racketeering became commonplace. A 2003 report by the Office of the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe remarks that "Albania is the paradise for the illegal trade. Neither state nor police present problem for the drug chiefs: you can buy politicians and it is not rare when a leader of the criminal gang works in some state institution". Albanian mafia groups are often involved in both criminal and political activities in order to influence political developments. Albanian Prime Ministers Sali Berisha and Edi Rama have both been linked to organized crime groups in Albania.


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to the US State Department, "Albania is the mainstay of organised crime worldwide and the main points of drug trafficking, weapons and immigrants in counterfeit goods". In addition, "the cartels 'national' are distinguished by the absence of vertical hierarchy, and controlled by family groups. Four major clans control 20 families that also govern human trafficking, prostitution, blackmail, car robberies and money laundering," writes Sputnik.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Up until the 1990s, Kosovo Albanians served as couriers for Turkish gangs. However, a rapid increase in Albanian migration to Western Europe created widespread organised crime networks, leading to an Albanian takeover of the entire illegal trade coming to Western Europe via the Balkans. Albania experienced a rise in gangs and the drug trade following the economic collapse during the 1990s, caused by the pyramid schemes in 1997. The economy's reliance on drug trade and smuggling has led the country to be declared as Europe's only narco-state.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Turkish and Italian Mafia organisations are the main partners of the Albanian mafia in drug trafficking. The latter, according to Sputnik, maintain links with officials, police, customs, intelligence and even military in their countries.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia has extended its activities into China. This after Chinese authorities have uncovered Albanian mafia activity including drug trafficking and prostitution networks. Reports state that the mafia is involved in drug transporting to various Chinese cities. Further, after smuggling the drugs, they are involved in human smuggling of Chinese nationals to Europe.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Israeli government has confirmed its concern that the Albanian mafia has spread its influence in the country's banking system. The Israeli intelligence agency has called for a close cooperation between Israel and Albania to combat money laundering. Justice Ministry General Manager, Dr. Guy Rotkopf noted; "this is an important step in international cooperation between our countries to combat money laundering with the force of law and to deepen relations between Israel and other countries."


title: Albanian mafia

text: A lengthy News Corp Australia investigation has found that an Albanian Mafia group—led by some of Australia's most wanted men—have established "entrenched infiltration" of almost every level of Australian society and according to Australian Federal Police:


title: Albanian mafia

text: European Organised Crime, primarily the Albanian Mafia is now one of the largest organised crime threats to Australia, so entrenched and disciplined and influential in local communities it has made this a serious challenge to crack.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The mostly Australian run group, led by former Kings Cross identity Vaso Ulić, a Montenegrin immigrant who left Australia in 2005 never to return, was now networked to become one of the biggest transnational crime groups in the world importing six tonnes a year into Australia alone but many more to and from other destinations from South Africa to Europe, China, Nigeria and the Americas with law enforcers from notably the United Kingdom, United States and Italy involved in their pursuance.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Vaso Ulic is a 55-year-old ethnic Montenegrin who migrated to Australia in 1979 and within a few years was working as a small-time foot soldier running drugs and cash along the infamous Golden Mile of Kings Cross but who is now seen as a kingpin of an organisation so big, very few drug consignments enter Australia without his knowledge or permission.


title: Albanian mafia

text: It has been confirmed the prosecutions office in Montenegro, where Ulic is residing, has an extensive file on Ulic and other figures in the country as part of an international arrest warrant to break the cartel up.


title: Albanian mafia

text: An internal police assessment relayed to the Federal Government claims their criminality now extends worldwide with direct Australian-Albanian Organised Crime links to notorious Mexican and Colombian clans and cartels and Asian triads including the 14K group, South African crime lords and Italian and Dutch criminal groups, with predominantly Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, South Australia & Tasmania using motorcycle gangs as part of the national distribution & enforcement network for the Albanians.


title: Albanian mafia

text: In 1989, Belgian Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants was kidnapped in a plot organised by Basri Bajrami. Bajrami was acknowledged by authorities as a member of the Albanian mafia at that time. The Albanian mafia has deep roots in Belgium, which was recently a topic of a special programme on Belgian RTBF Channel One. Reporters tried to investigate the roots of Albanian organised crime but have complained that it is too hard to penetrate the structure and organisation of the Albanian mafia, but they agreed that the Albanian mafia acts on the model of the Italian one, whose crime is part of the "activities of entire families" and which has a clearly defined


title: Albanian mafia

text: hierarchy. The Albanian mafia in Brussels has monopoly over activities such as "narcotics and arms deals", according to Belgian sources.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia in France is described as having a monopoly over many criminal transactions including arms and drug trafficking. The Albanian mafia has a strong foothold in France, which is a key strategy as other primary transactions are overseen in neighbouring countries by different mafia families and clans. French media has stated that "In many cities of France, there is a network of the Albanian mafia who are involved in narcotics trafficking and prostitution. It is a highly organized network and is very difficult to find their roots and penetrate it".


title: Albanian mafia

text: A 2013 report by the Greek security services and Greek police on Albanian organized crime in the Hellenic Republic concluded that the Albanian mafia controls approximately fifty percent of human trafficking, eighty percent of the retail distribution of heroin, and ninety percent of the importation of illegal small arms in Greece, and that about fifty percent of armed robberies of homes and businesses in the country were committed by Albanians. The analysis also drew links between Albanian nationalism and organized crime.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The geographic vicinity, the accessibility to the E.U. through Italy, and the ties with the Calabrian and Apulia criminality have all contributed to the expansion of the Albanian criminality on the Italian scenario.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Further factors relative to the economy have rendered the Albanian criminality even more competitive. In fact, some organisations which reached Italy in the early 1990s, infiltrated the Lombardy narco-traffic network run by the 'ndrangheta. Albanian mafia leaders have reached stable agreements with the Italian criminal organisations, also with the mafia, so have gained legitimacy in many illegal circuits, diversifying their activities to avoid reasons of conflict with similar host structures. So, Albanian drug trafficking has emerged in Apulia, Sicily, Calabria and Campania.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia reportedly uses specific trading routes to transport narcotics and illegal immigrants to Italy. Their southern route is via Montenegro and Albania. Access is then gained to Italy by boat.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Since the beginning of the 1990s, Italy has been clamping down hard on the Sicilian Mafia. According to the deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), at the end of the 1990s the mafia sought to survive this crackdown by forming a "symbiotic" relationship with the Albanian crime families known as "fares", who provided the struggling Sicilians a hand in a number of services in their operations across Italy. Today, both Sicilian mafia groups and the 'Ndrangheta are believed to have franchised out prostitution, gambling, and drug dealing in territories along the Adriatic coast to the Albanians. One CSIS report even claimed that this partnership had proved so successful that the Sicilian mafia established a 'headquarters' in Vlorë, a coastal town in southern Albania at the close of the 1990s.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Albanian clandestine immigrants started arriving at Italian ports in 1991. By 1997, the immigration had come under the control of the Albanian and Italian criminal groups, tightening relationships between them. Southern Albanian groups also have good relationships with Sicily's Cosa Nostra.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia seems to have established good working relationships with the Italian Mafia, On 27 July 1999 police in Durrës (Albania), with Italian assistance arrested one of the godfathers of the "Sacra Corona Unita", Puglia's Italian mafia. This Albanian link seems to confirm that the Sacra Corona Unita and the Albanian mafia are "partners" in Puglia/Italy and delegate several criminal activities. Thus, in many areas of Italy, the market for cannabis, prostitution, and smuggling is run mainly by Albanians.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Roberto Saviano, the Italian writer, an expert on the Napolitan Camorra in particular and the Italian mafia in general, spoke of the Albanian mafia as a "no longer foreign mafia" to Italy and stressed that the Albanians and Italians have a "brotherly" relationship between each other. Saviano notes that the Camorra from Naples cannot understand the Russian mafia clans, which aren't based on family ties, and feels greater affinity with the Albanian crime families.


title: Albanian mafia

text: In an Albanian television station Top Channel TV, Saviano went on to say that the Albanian and Italian factions are "one of the same", and that they don't consider each other as foreigners. Links to Calabria's mafia, the Ndrangheta, exist in Northern Italy. Several key figures of the Albanian mafia seem to reside frequently in the Calabrian towns of Africo, Platì, and Bovalino (Italy), fiefs of the Ndrangheta.


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to the German Federal Intelligence Service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), in a leaked report to a Berlin newspaper, states that the 'Ndrangheta "act in close co-operation with Albanian mafia families in moving weapons and narcotics across Europe's porous borders".


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to numerous reports, the brutal criminal organisation from Foggia, known as the Società foggiana has several contacts with the Albanian mafia, particularly regarding to the drug trafficking business, also creating drugs routes from Albania to Foggia. In 2020 the Italian police noticed that there is a scheme in the city of San Severo, in the Province of Foggia, between the Albanians and the Società foggiana.


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to Dutch police, Albanian crime groups lead the importation of cocaine from South America, the transshipment via the port of Rotterdam, and the further distribution to other European countries from Amsterdam. In addition to cocaine trafficking, the Albanian mafia in the Netherlands is also engaged in human trafficking and property fraud. In June 2019, the government of the Netherlands requested the suspension of visa-free travel for Albanians, citing claims the Albanian mafia is free to move across the Europe because of the visa-free European Union regime.


title: Albanian mafia

text: "The ethnic Albanian mafia is very powerful and extremely violent," said Kim Kliver, chief investigator for organised crime with the Danish National Police. Law enforcement authorities estimate that different Albanian mafia families may smuggle as much as 440 pounds of heroin a year into Scandinavia at any given time.


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to Spanish Authorities, the Albanian mafia is composed of powerful organised factions. In a report by Spanish Authorities, the factions have infiltrated banks and industrial estates. They are very active in Madrid and Costa Del Sol.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Geneva Deputy Public Prosecutors state that the Albanian mafia is one of the most powerful ones among eight identified mafias in the world. The other mafia organizations around the world are the Russian mafia, Chinese (Triad), Japanese (Yakuza), Italian Mafia, Colombian (drug cartels) organizations, and Mexican (drug cartels) organizations. The Albanian mafia controls the entire network of heroin trafficking in Geneva, Switzerland. The Geneva deputy public prosecutors also added that the Albanian mafia "is laundering a part of income in Geneva economy, restaurants, bars, real estate and cabarets".


title: Albanian mafia

text: Albanian mafia gangs are believed to be largely behind sex trafficking, migrant smuggling, as well as working with Turkish gangs in Southend-on-Sea, who control the heroin trade in the United Kingdom. Although specifically known for sex trafficking, particularly in the UK, it's been said that the Albanian mafia's primary illegal business in Europe and the UK in terms of profit margins is now cocaine trafficking.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Vice squad officers estimate that "Albanians now control more than 75 per cent of the country's brothels and their operations in London's Soho alone are worth more than £15 million a year." They are said to be present in every big city in Britain as well as in many smaller ones including Telford and Lancaster, after having fought off rival criminals in turf wars. Associate groups within the organizations will also hide their criminal activities within restaurants, bars, and clubs in an attempt to remain undercover.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Albanian gangsters were also involved in the largest cash robbery in British crime history, the £53 million Securitas heist in 2006.


title: Albanian mafia

text: According to the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), Albanian mafia groups have muscled in on the drug and vice trades within the Scottish underworld. The SCDEA notes that Albanian mafia groups have established a foothold in arms and drugs trafficking in Scotland.


title: Albanian mafia

text: Albanian mafia in the UK is heavily involved in prostitution and together with Turkish mafia control more than 70% of prostitution market in London.


title: Albanian mafia

text: In the last few years Albanian mafia was involved more in drug trafficking (Hellbanianz) than in prostitution and they sold more than 500,000 kilograms of drugs in London alone. Due to their expansive and deep involvement in drug trading, the Albanian Mafia has climbed its way to the top of a five billion euro market (US$5.5 billion). The group uses its connections in South America to ship high quality, low price cocaine, heroin, and marijuana to European counties, specifically the United Kingdom. An article in The Guardian noted that "the latest UK criminal threat assessment says that the Albanians are unusually skilled at developing relationships and 'forging links with other OCGs [organized crime gangs].'" The cooperation between Albanians and other existing groups has aided in the rapid growth of drug trafficking throughout the United Kingdom's residential regions.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia is firmly established in Canadian cities, such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Albanians are involved in various white collar activities, such as real estate and health care fraud. Furthermore, they are engaged in cross-border activity between the United States and Canada, which includes drug smuggling and money laundering.


title: Albanian mafia

text: A Canadian Security Intelligence Service report noted that although organised crime in Canada has shifted to more multi-ethnic and loosely based structures, the term "mafia" is used only to identify the "big three," which have hierarchical structures that are ethnically, racially, and culturally homogeneous: the Italian, Albanian, and Russian mafias.


title: Albanian mafia

text: The Albanian mafia in the United States has been thought to greatly increase their dominant power and is one of the most violent criminal organisations in operation, particularly with their strong connections in the European Union.


title: Albanian mafia

text: In the United States, Albanian gangs started to be active in the mid-80s, mostly participating in low-level crimes, such as burglaries and robberies. Later, they would become affiliated with Cosa Nostra crime families before eventually growing strong enough to operate their own organisations AM0B or A•M013 Detroit Albanian Mafia last name Camaj.


title: Albanian mafia

text: During investigations conducted by FBI experts in the city of New York and surrounding areas against the Albanian mafia, it was noted that the Albanian mafia was too widespread and too secretive to penetrate. Furthermore, although there have been a number of operations performed by the FBI to destroy organised crime such as Italian and Russian factions, the Albanian mafia continues to be widespread in New York in a relatively high number.


title: Albanian mafia

text: In 2011, a New York-based Albanian-American mob was successfully convicted by the New York US attorney's office. It was coordinated by the International Narcotics Strike Force (made up of the DEA, NYPD, ICE/HSI, New York State Police, IRS, and U.S. Marshals). The American-Albanian mob was described as having "hundreds of associated members, workers, and customers spanning three continents" and with trafficking drugs from Detroit, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. They were also in close cooperation with other mafia families based in the European Union.