‘Goodfellas’ figure faces drug charge
North Platte, Neb. Former mobster-turned-chef Henry Hill, whose gangland experiences inspired the movie “Goodfellas,” has been charged with felony drug possession.
Police said Hill’s luggage was searched on Aug. 15 at the North Platte Regional Airport and methamphetamine and cocaine were found. On Friday, Lincoln County Judge Kent Florum sent him to district court on a felony charge of drug possession.
Hill, portrayed by Ray Liotta in “Goodfellas,” had sought refuge in the witness protection program after agreeing to testify against his former mob bosses from New York.
However, he left the witness protection program and now lives in North Platte with his wife, who is from the area. He has been working as a chef and helping establish an Italian restaurant. Hill also wrote “The Wiseguy Cookbook,” released in 2002.
In a recent interview, Hill said he had been addicted to the mobster lifestyle. “But you overcome it I think. I mean, you succeed,” he said.
Manslaughter charges stand against driver, 88
Los Angeles A judge Friday refused to dismiss manslaughter charges against an 88-year-old man whose car barreled through a farmers’ market in Santa Monica, killing 10 people and injuring 63.
Lawyers for George Russell Weller had argued that he was not grossly negligent, but simply panicked when he stepped on the gas instead of the brake, traveling nearly 1,000 feet through the market at up to 60 mph.
He “could do nothing to stop that car,” attorney Jim Bianco argued.
Superior Court Judge Robert O’Neill denied the defense motion.
“Hitting the accelerator instead of the brake seems to me to be a clearly negligent act,” he said.
Federal safety investigators ruled out mechanical failure, weather, alcohol, drugs and fatigue as factors in the July 16, 2003, accident.
Cheerleaders’ ‘gyrations’ targeted by lawmaker
Austin, Texas The Friday night lights in Texas could soon be without bumpin’ and grindin’ cheerleaders.
Legislation filed by state Rep. Al Edwards of Houston would put an end to “sexually suggestive” performances at high school athletic events and other extracurricular competitions.
“It’s just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they’re shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down,” said Edwards, a 26-year veteran of the Texas House.
“And then we say to them, ‘Don’t get involved in sex unless it’s marriage or love, it’s dangerous out there’ and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations.”
Under the bill, if a district knowingly permits such a performance, state funds would be reduced in an amount to be determined by the education commissioner.
First cousins’ request to marry denied
Hollidaysburg, Pa. A county judge refused to make an exception for two first cousins who want to marry, even though the couple assured the judge they don’t want to have children.
Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva on Thursday denied the marriage license application for first cousins Eleanor Amrhein, 46, and Donald W. Andrews Sr., 39, of Logan Township.
The couple say they have been together for several years, but Kopriva said state law bars first cousins from marrying because of an increased likelihood their children will have birth defects.
The couple petitioned for an exception after a court clerk rejected their license application earlier in the week. The couple told Kopriva their mothers are sisters.
Kopriva told the couple her ruling would not prevent them from being married in another state that permits it.
About half of the states allow first cousins to marry, according to stateline.org, a research site on state laws.