title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: The producer David L. Wolper was a noted documentary filmmaker interested in getting into feature films. He purchased the film rights to Adleman and Walton's book in October 1965. (He had already bought the rights to the book "The Remagen Bridge".)


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: Wolper said he was attracted to the material because he did not want to be typed as a serious documentary filmmaker. "It's based on truth but it's a 'movie movie' a fun and games type thing," he said.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: United Artists agreed to finance. Wolper hired William Roberts to do a script. The producer later wrote in his memoirs that "this was my first feature but I was not in the slightest bit intimidated."


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: In October 1966 William Holden agreed to star. The following month Andrew McLaglen agreed to direct. David Niven and Dan Blocker were offered roles in the film. The U.S. Department of Defense and the Canadian Department of National Defence both agreed to assist the film production.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: Filming started 15 April 1967. The motion picture was filmed with the 19th Special Forces Group at Camp Williams, Utah, 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, with battle locations on Lone Peak near Draper, Utah, and on location in Sant'Elia Fiumerapido, Italy.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: David L. Wolper realized it would be as cheap to shoot in an Italian village as building an Italian set in America. However, the birthday scene which is set in Italy was filmed at the National Guard Armory in Salt Lake City, with Brigham Young University students as extras.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: The U.S. National Guard Bureau provided 300 members of the Utah National Guard to portray soldiers in the mass battle scenes filmed. Wolper had the Brigade wear attractive but fictional red berets that appeared as well as on the film's posters and on the tie-in paperback cover of Adelman and Walton's book.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: The cast of "The Devil's Brigade" included NFL running back Paul Hornung and World Middleweight Champion boxer Gene Fullmer in minor roles. They can be seen in the barroom brawl sequence, Hornung as a belligerent lumberjack and Fullmer as the bartender.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: Wolper later wrote that Holden was very cooperative during the shoot in Utah, only drinking wine, but in Italy his drinking got out of control. Wolper had to call on the assistance of a woman in Paris who had dealt with Holden before and helped him finish the film on schedule. Filming concluded on July 3, 1967, in London.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: But the producer had a big projection room in his house, and he showed the movie for a solid week to a hundred people, and I think a hundred people had ideas of what we should do with the movie... And without me having any input – I didn’t have the last say – they cut the movie and, in the end, it was not nearly as good as it could have been. I had a great ending, and a lot of good stuff in there, and he didn’t know what he was doing. I still worry about that.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: Alex North composed the score of the film, re-purposing the theme from his rejected score to the pilot episode of "The Rat Patrol". At the time of release only a cover version of the soundtrack album by Leroy Holmes was released by United Artists Records. The album was illustrated with the original Sandy Kossin artwork of the film and featured instrumental (with whistling) and a male chorus singing lyrics to North's title theme. The album also contained cover versions of other North themes from the film as well as 1940s popular music that appeared in the film.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: In 2007 Film Score Monthly and Intrada released a limited CD edition of North's original score with Kossin's artwork including alternate versions of the title theme, North's own arrangements of four 1940s jazz popular tunes, two traditional Christmas carols, and the pipe band version of "Scotland the Brave" featuring in the film.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: The film had its world premiere on May 14, 1968, at the Michigan Theater, Detroit and at the Vanity Theater in Windsor, Ontario in Canada. It opened at an additional 5 theaters in Detroit the following day.


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: The film was the fourth-most-popular movie in general release in Britain in 1968, after "The Jungle Book", "Barbarella" and "Carry on Doctor".


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: Wolper later wrote ""The Devil's Brigade" turned out to be a terrific film. It was a wonderful story, the acting was excellent, and the preview audiences and critics loved it. Unfortunately it came out just a few months after the release of "The Dirty Dozen", which was the same kind of story. It was a big hit and it killed us. We got lost in the wind."


title: The Devil's Brigade (film)

text: To the veterans of the Force, the film was historically inaccurate. In a TV documentary "Suicide Missions: The Black Devils", Force member Bill Story stated: ""The Devil's Brigade" was and is a very entertaining war movie. But as a piece of accurate history it's sheer nonsense. There was never an aspect of "The Dirty Dozen". This was absolutely not true."


title: FC St. Gallen

text: Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League.


title: FC St. Gallen

text: Founded on 19 April 1879, FC St. Gallen is the oldest club still in existence in Swiss football. However, the team has had relatively little success in comparison to other clubs. Despite the fact that St. Gallen won the Swiss championship twice in the 1903–04 and 1999–2000 seasons, the team has mostly been a mid-table side. During the last decade, the strength of the club continually declined and this eventually resulted in the transformation to a yo-yo club. St. Gallen were relegated to the second-tier Challenge League twice at the end of the 2007–08 and the 2010–11 seasons.


title: FC St. Gallen

text: In 2016 FC St. Gallen, became a member of the exclusive Club of Pioneers, as the oldest football club of Switzerland.


title: FC St. Gallen

text: FC St. Gallen play their home games at the Kybunpark. The stadium has a capacity of 19,694 and it is on the west side of town. The stadium replaced the former Espenmoos stadium in the east.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Giovanni Di Stefano (born 1 July 1955) is a British businessman and convicted fraudster. He has been involved in legal cases for high-profile notorious defendants worldwide. He has no legal qualifications, is barred from working in law in the UK, and is not registered to work as an advocate in the UK or Italy. He has been referred to as "The Devil's Advocate" for his advocacy on behalf of such notorious clients as Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević. He was also a business associate of the Serbian paramilitary leader and indicted war criminal Željko Ražnatović.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: He has been convicted four times in Ireland and the United Kingdom of fraud and related criminal offences, serving a total of eight and a half years for convictions between 1975 and the late 1980s. He was described by a judge as "one of life's great swindlers". His most recent conviction was in March 2013 when he was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment after being found guilty or pleading guilty to 27 charges including deception, fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 related to "tricking people into thinking he was a bona fide legal professional".


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano was born in Petrella Tifernina near Campobasso in southern Italy. When his father emigrated to the UK to work in a shoe factory, Giovanni and his mother later followed settling in Irchester, Northamptonshire when Giovanni was six years old. He then went on to study at Wollaston Secondary Modern School and later spent one year at Wellingborough Grammar School (which later became Wrenn School). In his 1986 fraud trial and in his entry in Marquis Who's Who he claimed that he had obtained a PhD in law from Cambridge University around this time, but this claim was later found to be without foundation. In his 20s he claimed to have 'earned a fortune importing videotapes' from Hong Kong. Despite living much of his early life in England, he considered himself an Italian. During this time at school he was often called John, the English equivalent of Giovanni.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano lived in Britain until 1989. He then moved to several locations: Los Angeles between 1989 and 1992. In 1992 his bid to buy the MGM movie studios failed, and he fled to Yugoslavia because that country's breakup had made it a war zone and nobody would look for him there. In Yugoslavia, he became a friend of its then-president Slobodan Milošević who granted him Yugoslav nationality with a Yugoslavian passport. Additionally, he became a spokesman, a business partner, and a personal legal representative of the Serbian warlord Arkan. He also served as general in the Serb Volunteer Guard (Arkan's Tigers), although he never fought. He stayed in Serbia until 1999; and later Italy from 1999 to 2011, while working in the UK as a lawyer. In 2011, he was arrested and extradited to the UK because he lacked the legal requisites necessary to work as a lawyer in the UK. In 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in a UK prison.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano had an office in Rome, the Studio Legale Internazionale. He is well documented, in the UK media, for defending "some of the country's most notorious villains". He once commented that he would "...defend Adolf Hitler or Satan." He says he "defends the indefensible", and his autobiography is called "Defending the Indefensible". When asked about his motivation, he replied, "No one's ever asked, 'Does Satan have a case? Does he have a good case?'"


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: "The Scotsman" described Di Stefano as a "colourful and often controversial lawyer"; "The Guardian" has called him "surely the only man in the world to claim the personal friendship of Saddam Hussein and the personal enmity of Delia Smith", after a failed bid to buy Norwich City F.C.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano used the Italian title "" ("advocate", analogous to an English lawyer) on his business card, and misled clients and the courts into believing that he was a qualified lawyer. On 27 March 2013 he was convicted on 25 charges including deception, fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London. During the trial he had told the court of his links to Robert Mugabe, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein (whom he described as a "nice guy") and his "friendship" with the daughter of Slobodan Milošević.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: He took up the avvocato title after a 2002 High Court ruling which allowed him to represent Nicholas van Hoogstraten in his manslaughter appeal. In evidence he admitted that he was not a qualified lawyer but that he only realised this "in hindsight" .


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano attracted clients after a BBC documentary entitled "Notorious" (see below); these included Paul Bush, jailed for life in 2003 for kidnapping and murder, whose wife paid £20,000 for legal services and, with others, £100,000 to di Stefano to secure bail for her husband – the money was received before the killer was told there was never any possibility of bail. Much of this £100,000 bail security was never returned, even after the appeal failed. Cocaine smuggler Laurent Penchef's parents paid di Stefano €10,000 in June 2005 for legal services, specifically CCRC and advice regarding repatriation to France; however, he was never given clear advice about how his 18-year jail sentence would be implemented in France, and no work was done taking his case to the CCRC . The money was sent to a bank in Rome by Penchef's parents, but prosecutor David Aaronberg QC said: "Mr Di Stefano did little or nothing to assist." "He was no more a qualified lawyer than he was a surgeon qualified to perform surgery or pilot qualified to fly an aeroplane", said Mr Aaronberg.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 2002, he managed to overturn a manslaughter conviction against Hoogstraten, getting him released from prison.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In January 2004, Di Stefano again came to fame when he claimed in television interviews to be acting for serial killer Harold Shipman. However, Shipman's lawyer said that Shipman had rejected Di Stefano's offer in May 2003, and that neither he nor any member of Shipman's family believed that Di Stefano was acting for Shipman. This, and an incident in a 2004 trial of John Palmer, prompted an investigation into Di Stefano's qualifications as lawyer (see "personal legal history" section).


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: On 17 March 2007, Di Stefano wrote to Lord Goldsmith (at that time the Attorney General for England and Wales) asking for leave to prosecute Judge Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, who had sentenced Saddam Hussein, under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957. On 14 January 2008, Di Stefano was reported as saying "Hurried justice is no justice", after a claimed UK client, who had won £1million in the National Lottery, failed to attend court as a witness in an assault case. Judge Christopher Elwen jailed her for 14 days anyway.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In January 2007 Di Stefano asked the International Criminal Court to make a full investigation of the Al-Dujail trials of Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Iraq's judiciary head Awad Hamed al-Bandar. Di Stefano circulated a note handwritten by Barzan where he explains that he wasn't responsible for the killings at Dujail for which he was sentenced to death.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In October 2007 he complained that the investigation of Blackwater's civilian deaths on Iraq was unjust because they were forced to operate in a climate and conditions that forced them to shoot first and ask questions later when they came under attack.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Also in October 2007 he argued that Iraqi officials had to accept a pardon application for Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali) because the 30-day execution window set the trial had passed. The US military later refused to release Ali for his execution until the legal questions were answered. Ali was sentenced to death again in February 2008 for different charges. The execution was further delayed in December 2008 as a new trial was opened against him with further charges. Ali was executed on 25 January 2010, fulfilling eight death sentences.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In October 2007 Di Stefano asked the British Home Secretary for posthumous pardon of Hawley Harvey Crippen, who had been hanged for murder in 1910, on the basis of supposed new forensic evidence indicating that the body found was not that of his wife, and a letter from his wife that was sent after the date of the alleged murder and was never presented on the trial, and that he never murdered her. The request was filed on behalf of the doctor's last living relative.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: On 15 January 2008 Di Stefano said that he knew of a sixth victim of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley called Jennifer Tighe. He said he had a photo of her, and intended to speak to Brady to see if the killer would confess to this latest allegation. On 21 January 2008 Greater Manchester Police (GMP) issued a statement saying that Jennifer Tighe was in fact alive and that "Mr Di Stefano has previously made claims regarding the Moors murders in the media but has not provided any detail to Greater Manchester Police." Di Stefano invited GMP to interview his client and to provide proper evidence that Tighe was still alive.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Moors murderer Ian Brady had been force-fed at a top security hospital since he started a hunger strike in September 1999. In September 2007, Brady applied via Di Stefano to be moved to a conventional jail where he intended to starve himself to death. Later, in November 2008, when Brady was still being force-fed, Giovanni accused the state of legally starving Brady to death by not giving him enough food. In 2009–2010 Di Stefano made appeals to move him to a Scottish prison so he can die there, a move that the Scottish government strongly opposed.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In September 2009, acting in the name of Manuel Noriega, Di Stefano presented an appeal to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, saying the ruling against Noriega had been incorrectly made "in absentia".


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In May 2010, he made an appeal on behalf of Benguit Omar, saying that he was wrongly convicted for the murder of Jong-Ok Shin.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In January 2011, Di Stefano reported that he had asked for Charles Manson's permission to represent him, in an application to review his trial based upon a violation of the 6th Amendment and a legal argument that had not been raised during Manson's trial, although he had still to get his reply. Around 26 January 2011, Di Stefano claimed to have filed an application with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Manson claiming the same violations.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano was arrested in June 1984 and charged with fraud before being released on bail. He was again arrested in August of that year and refused bail. In 1986, Di Stefano was tried for conspiracy to obtain property by deception and fraudulent trading, and was convicted after a 78-day trial, jailed for five years, and prohibited from being a company director for 10 years; of a total of 11 fraud counts, he was convicted of three counts and acquitted of eight.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In the ruling, the judge called him "one of nature's fraudsters... a swindler without scruple or conscience." and said he was "motivated by personal greed and pretension." Court records show that Di Stefano's only attempt to appeal against the conviction was dismissed in 1987 and further records published in 2005 showed that he served the full sentence.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: The Lord Justice of Appeal Stephen Brown said "[the trial] revealed a very deep and wide measure of fraudulent behaviour. This was a man who was undoubtedly seeking to operate a financial fraud wherever he was able to induce people to succumb to representations skilfully made in the form of bogus financial documents." Di Stefano had publicly claimed that his 1987 appeal was successful, until a copy of the failed appeal was made public in 2004 by Rosie Cowan of "The Independent". Di Stefano claimed that he had taken legal action in Italian courts of law against Cowan and against Martin Hannan of "Scotland on Sunday", but the legal departments of their newspapers said that had no knowledge of any legal action started by Di Stefano against them.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: He also unsuccessfully appealed in 1989 to the European Commission of Human Rights alleging that his arrest violated the European Convention on Human Rights. Di Stefano claimed in a BBC article that the conviction was quashed on a second appeal in 1988 and that "a sense of injustice remains, making each victory against the system a sweet revenge."


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: According to "The Guardian" and the "Irish Independent", he had already served a six-month sentence for fraud and false pretenses in 1975 in Ireland, and a three-year sentence for obtaining property by deception and other charges in 1976 in the UK. Di Stefano insists that these convictions were those of a different person, called "John" instead of "Giovanni", although they share the same surname, birthday and birthplace. According to "The New Zealand Herald", Di Stefano had already denied being the "John Di Stefano" who had been convicted in 1986, but, also according to the "New Zealand Herald", the New Zealand police managed to verify that they were the same person by comparing his fingerprints. Di Stefano denies that he was ever deported or that his fingerprints were ever taken.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1990 a Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that Di Stefano could not be employed by any solicitor in England or Wales without permission from the Law Society, because of his criminal record, although he could still contract a solicitor to act on his name.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1990, Giovanni Di Stefano travelled to New Zealand, where he made several multimillion-dollar bids on property on behalf of a Beverly Hills-based company. The authorities discovered that he had not disclosed a conviction in England in 1986, declared him a prohibited immigrant, and he was subsequently returned to his country of origin.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1991, he moved to Yugoslavia. In November 2002 he received the Yugoslavian citizenship and passport by personal authorisation of president Slobodan Milošević. According to "The Scotsman" and "Irish Independent", Di Stefano was moving to a country with no extradition treaty with the UK, to escape a warrant for fraud charges.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Around 1992, while trying to buy the MGM film studio, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service deported him from the United States because of a fraud conviction in the UK in 1986. Months later he applied for a non-immigrant visa for re-entry, and was told that he needed a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility to be eligible. The waiver application was denied by the federal agency, causing the visa to also be denied. In 1993, he appealed to a United States District Court, which ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of a waiver application. In 1995, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court, ruling that Di Stefano did not have standing to challenge the waiver denial under the Immigration and Nationality Act.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In November 1999 Di Stefano was arrested in Rome and extradited to Britain to be tried for fraud charges in the insolvency in 1991 of five hotels in the English Midlands and a company called Sandhurst Assets. British investigators recognised his name when newspapers reported his bids for Dundee football club and for Ellington Colliery, and acted on a 1991 warrant. In June 2001, after Di Stefano had spent 18 months in jail, a judge ruled that he couldn't be tried because too much time had passed since the alleged offences. During his stay in Rebibbia prison, his friend Arkan was assassinated and his other friend Milošević was jailed shortly before he was released; Di Stefano claims that it was all part of a conspiracy to isolate Milošević from his most trusted adviser.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 2002 the Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh barred Di Stefano's access to a client in prison, Nicholas van Hoogstraten. The restriction was appealed to the High Court of Justice in "R (Van Hoogstraten) v Governor of Belmarsh Prison" which ruled against the prison governor.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: The decision held that the governor's challenge to Di Stefano's credentials was not filed in a timely manner, and that some evidence suggested Di Stefano was an Italian lawyer and that Italian lawyers, as a rule, were permitted visitation in British prisons as European lawyers. The justice further ruled that since denying Di Stefano's visits to the prisoner would cause severe prejudice to the client's legal defence, he could not be denied that right until a timely and successful challenge was made. In spite of these problems, he managed gain the release Hoogstraten from prison in 2004 (see "notable people" section). In November the Higher court made a different ruling for a different prison, this time saying that Di Stefano had failed to provide adequate credentials, and preventing him from visiting John Palmer in prison.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In December 2003 Di Stefano was featured in a BBC documentary series called "Notorious", covering four entrepreneurs that had obtained their fortunes via controversial means; his chapter was called "Devil's Advocate". In the documentary he said that Hitler would have never been convicted for killing Jews, thus enraging the Jewish community. At that time Di Stefano was trying to become director of Dundee FC, and the fans of the club were also outraged because he was wearing a Dundee pullover while making those statements. He also boasted of his friendship with Saddam Hussein and with Serbian warlord Arkan.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In January 2004, "The Guardian" and the "Daily Record" reported that Di Stefano's legal qualifications were under investigation by the British police and the Law Society since the spring of 2003, to see if he had misrepresented himself as an accredited solicitor, in violation of Solicitors Act 1974.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: As a result of the investigation he was eventually arrested in 2011 in Spain (see paragraph below). The Law Society declared that he was "not a solicitor, or a registered foreign lawyer, or a registered European lawyer", and that they were unable to verify either his legal qualifications or his status as a foreign lawyer despite going to considerable lengths, and despite asking Di Stefano himself for the information. The Law Society of Scotland and the Ordine Degli Avvocati of Rome have also said that he is not a registered solicitor. His name does not appear in Italy's national lawyers' register. Di Stefano claims that he does not need to register with either the Law Society nor with any Italian bar association in order to practise in the UK, a claim that is rejected by the Law Society.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: As of 2004, Di Stefano could not represent his clients directly, and he had to represent them through Paul Martin & Co, a firm associated with his legal firm Studio Legale Internazionale that acts as his agent. Alastair Cook, co-director of the BBC series that made a documentary about Di Stefano said "(...) We witnessed him in court, but he never actually stands up and pretends to be a lawyer. He assembles a legal team and acts as a middle man, whispering in lawyers' ears as they act on behalf of clients. He knows a lot of criminals and introduces them to his legal teams who get them off on technicalities or help them retain their assets."


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In March 2006, Ireland Chief Justice Murray told Di Stefano that he would have to provide proof of his legal qualifications before he could act for Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland and be his legal representative, and he eventually ruled that Di Stefano had failed to provide any credential.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano sued Murray for the negative remarks made about him during the case, but he later dropped his complaint, saying that he did not want to harm a "great jurist" just to win a case.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: English libel law changed with the Defamation Act 2013, reducing the potential for abuse to exert a chilling effect.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Di Stefano was arrested in Palma, Majorca, in Spain on 14 February 2011 on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the British authorities. According to the City of London Police, the warrant had been issued in January 2011 "on matters relating to fraud, theft and money laundering". The arrest was the outcome of a lengthy investigation by the City of London Police's economic crime directorate. According to a statement by the Spanish Interior Ministry, quoting the arrest warrant, Di Stefano was accused of having earned large sums of money in the UK between 2004 and 2009 without being licensed to practise law in that country. The ministry said that he was facing 18 charges for which he could receive a maximum 75 years in prison. Di Stefano voluntarily accepted his extradition to the UK, and he was released without bail until the extradition date, with no passport and with the obligation of going to the judge every few days and communicating any residency change. Di Stefano claimed it was a political trial, prepared after he said that Tony Blair should be judged by his role in the Iraq war.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: On 25 August Westminster Magistrates' Court referred the case involving 18 charges of fraud to Southwark Crown Court for a hearing on 30 September. After the hearing, Di Stefano was released on bail, pending trial on 14 January 2013.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In July 2011, Di Stefano announced that he was launching "News of the World Online", a website with a masthead logo similar to that of the recently closed "News of the World" newspaper. On 23 March 2012, News International, the paper's former publisher, sued Di Stefano for violating its trademark.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Subsequently, in a Press Complaints Commission case relating to a "Sunday Mail" article about a YouTube video posted by Tricia Walsh-Smith stating "that he had taken £100,000 from the individual who had posted the online video". The "Sunday Mail" agreed to print a statement saying "Giovanni Di Stefano has denied ripping off Tricia Walsh-Smith ... Ms Walsh-Smith claimed that Mr Di Stefano duped her into investing in the News of the World online while she was contributing a weekly column, "Livin' an' Lovin' with Tricia Walsh-Smith". Four of the August 2012 charges against him related to Walsh-Smith; Di Stefano had falsely claimed to be a lawyer, claiming he could overturn the Walsh-Smith pre-nuptial agreement, and persuading Walsh-Smith to invest in News of the World online. This brought the charges against Di Stefano up to 28 counts of fraud and his trial began at Southwark Crown Court on 28 January 2013. On 6 March 2013 he told the court that he was a qualified advocate because Yugoslavian president Milošević had awarded him an honorary law doctorate from the University of Belgrade "simply because he had asked."


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: On 27 March 2013 he was found guilty of all charges; nine counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception, eight counts of fraud, three counts of acquiring criminal property, two counts of using a false instrument, one count of attempting to obtain a money transfer by deception, one count of obtaining property by deception and one count of using criminal property. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two additional counts: defrauding a couple out of £160,000, including a woman's life savings of £75,000, and stealing £150,000 from a man who had been in a car accident and lost a limb.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: He was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. Judge Alistair McCreath said that Di Stefano had caused misery and frustration to many people and called him a predator for his treatment of "desperate and vulnerable" clients: "You had no regard for them nor for their anguish. Your only concern was to line your own pockets." He described Di Stefano's crimes as "planned and persistent," his defence in court as "breathtakingly cynical," and his overall conduct as showing "greed, dishonesty and utter disregard for the sensibilities of others."


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Hilary Ryan, from the Crown Prosecution Service's organised crime division, said: "For many years, Giovanni Di Stefano described himself to potential clients as a lawyer and usually as an Italian 'avvocato'. He was nothing of the sort. When the law caught up with him, he falsely claimed to have obtained various formal legal qualifications. He then went on to claim that having taught himself the law, he was entitled to describe himself as a lawyer. This was fraud by anyone's standards and a charade that he kept up for over eight years in order to line his own pockets. (...) Giovanni Di Stefano routinely tricked his clients and abused their trust. (...)"


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: On 4 April 2014, eight and a half years were added to Di Stefano's 14-year sentence, unless he compensated his victims immediately. The judge who jailed him in March 2013 at Southwark Crown Court, Alistair McCreath, told him to "pay back £1.4 million forthwith or serve the extra time." He said Di Stefano had no intention of paying and had "stuck up two fingers to the court".


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: When he went back to Italy to the region of his birth, he bought the local team Campobasso Calcio, the club had to close a year later due to financial problems. In association with Arkan he purchased control of the Serbian second division football club FK Obilić; within two seasons the club was promoted from the Serbian second division to a place in the UEFA Champions League, amidst accusations of threats, intimidations and match-fixing, which Di Stefano has always denied. Di Stefano announced in 1999 he had purchased 34% of Dundee F.C., but Dundee's board denied that any deal had been closed. The board finally rejected the bid when it was made public that he was a friend of Serbian warlord Arkan, and that Suffolk police had issued an extradition warrant for fraud charges dating back to 1991. In January 2001, Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase a 6% stake in Norwich City from its former vice-chairman Jimmy Jones. These shares would not give Di Stefano a seat of the board of directors, but he said that they allowed him to sue the majority shareholders to get a seat or to buy more shares. The club officials claim that the share transfer was never confirmed.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 2002, Di Stefano entered into talks to purchase a 60% stake in Northampton Town FC, however Di Stefano's valuation of the club changed following an EGM, and the deal fell through. Di Stefano approached the Dundee board again in 2003, and was appointed as a director on 7 August 2003. Initially the club attracted big-name players such as Craig Burley and Fabrizio Ravanelli but it quickly ran into financial difficulties; 15 senior players were released from their contracts, the Scottish Football Association refused to confirm his appointment as director because his fraud convictions didn't qualify him as a "fit and proper person" as required by article 10 of its rules. The Dundee board asked Di Stefano's to resign, which he did on 22 January 2004. In April 2005, he proclaimed an interest in investing approximately €1m in Irish football club Shelbourne, but the club rejected his interest, citing his decision to let his intentions be known to the media first as the reason. In April 2006, there were rumours about Di Stefano trying to buy Drogheda United F.C. and Waterford United F.C., but both clubs issued statements denying any contact. In October 2007, Di Stefano announced through his website his renewed interest in taking control of Norwich City. In February 2011 the French magazine "So Foot" published an interview stating that Di Stefano was considering a bid with others to acquire a stake in AS Monaco FC and multi branding the football club with his record companies.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: A 2019 book relates in context his involvement with Norwith City and Dundee, what happened exactly with the signings of football stars Fabrizio Ravanelli and Claudio Caniggia, and what could have happened if Giovanni had managed to take over the clubs.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 2007, he produced and launched "Seriously Single", an album by Italian singer JustCarmen that put a relatively unknown singer into the studio with recordings of big stars from the past. The album was a minor hit, selling 40,000 copies, but some of the duet tracks got 650,000 downloads. In 2009, he produced and launched a second album by JustCarmen, "I wish u love", which had two new duets with The Bachelors.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: His interest on music comes from his youth, when he played guitar themes and organised music events for his house at school. He has also released in 2009 a CD with his own songs "The Next Time".


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In April 2004, Di Stefano founded a political party, the Radical Party of Great Britain, by registering it at the Electoral Commission with himself as its leader, but the party fielded no candidates in the 2005 general election, the 2008 London Assembly election, or the 2008 local elections. It reported no income, expenditure, assets or liabilities in 2006–2008.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In a November 2007 interview with Dublin's "Hot Press" magazine's senior editor Jason O'Toole, Di Stefano expressed an interest in running in the Republic of Ireland in the European Union elections with an anti-immigration manifesto.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: Around 1999–2002 he had been the secretary general of the "right wing but not fanatical" Partito Nazionale Italiano. In 1999, he was also the foreign speaker of the Party of the Serbian Unit of his friend Arkan.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In the eighties, Di Stefano says that he imported videotapes from Hong Kong into the UK, making a £200 million fortune when he was still in his 20s.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1992–1999, when he was in Yugoslavia, Di Stefano says that he invested in the country's national airline, which had been grounded because of the war.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1990 Di Stefano and some partners tried to buy the MGM movie studios. One of the MGM executives said in "Variety" that Di Stefano's bid was the stuff of "Alice in Wonderland". The bid was not successful. His partners Florio Fiorini and Giancarlo Parretti bribed officials of Credit Lyonnais bank, so they could obtain a credit to bid for MGM, and they were eventually jailed. Di Stefano says that the only consequence for him is that he was deported from the US. After being deported, Di Stefano migrated to Yugoslavia in fear of what the bank could make to him after causing such a loss of money. He says that he actually earned $249 million from the deal, at a time when he was still in his 30s. According to Di Stefano, in 1989 he bought Cinema Five UK, a chain of 50 cinemas, from MGM for only £8 million, and he resold them for $249 million (£160 million) to Credit Lyonnais, and this is partly the basis of his personal fortune (In 2003 Di Stefano claimed to have a fortune of £450 million.) "The Scotsman" says that MGM sued Di Stefano and won damages from him.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1993, on behalf of Sandhurst Assets, Di Stefano offered to buy Viajes Meliá, a Spanish travel agency owned by hotel chain Sol Meliá, just as another company had retracted its bid. The company was heavily in debt, and Di Stefano offered only $100 million, promising to put forward $350 million (4,000 million pesetas at that time) to pay the debts once he was the owner, and further $50 million (around 575 million pesetas) in investments. Di Stefano was later arrested for fraud over dealings related to Sandhurst.


title: Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

text: In 1999 Di Stefano, conducting his business affairs from jail, started negotiations to buy for £10 million the Ellington Colliery, a deep coal mine that was about to close, but he couldn't get the necessary permission from the Coal Authority. He eventually lost interest in the deal by 2000, when his associate Arkan was murdered.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon is a fictional character in the computer-animated television series "Ninjago" (previously known as "Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu") which is produced by The Lego Group. He was created by the original "Ninjago" screenwriters, Dan and Kevin Hageman, and first appeared in the first season of "Ninjago", titled "Rise of the Snakes", released in December 2011. A different incarnation of Lloyd also serves as the main protagonist of "The Lego Ninjago Movie", released in September 2017. Jillian Michaels voiced Lloyd in the first seven seasons of the television series before being replaced by Sam Vincent from the eighth season onward. Dave Franco voices the character in the film.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the series, Lloyd develops from a young boy aspiring to become a powerful villain like his father, Lord Garmadon, to his main role as the legendary Green Ninja, a prophesied hero within the lore of the series who is destined to protect the land of Ninjago from the forces of evil. He is also the Elemental Master of Energy, which gives him a range of elemental powers, such as shooting green energy beams at enemies and passively shielding his body.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd is portrayed as the strongest member and eventual leader of a team of six teenage ninja, which is formed in the pilot season of "Ninjago". The original team consists of just four members, and Lloyd joins their team in the first season. In both the series and film, the storyline repeatedly places him in opposition to Lord Garmadon, his father and prophesied enemy. Although many other villains appear in the series, this complicated relationship between father and son is an overarching storyline in the show's portrayal of the battle between good and evil.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: From its launch, the "Ninjago" series achieved continued popularity amongst its target audience, with Lloyd being a consistently popular character. He is depicted in numerous short films, children's books, graphic novels and other media, and has also been repeatedly released in Lego minifigure form as part of the Lego Ninjago sets that coincide with each "Ninjago" season.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In 2009, The Lego Group proposed to make a series about ninja, deciding that there would be four ninja with elemental powers. The Lego Ninjago theme concept originated in the Lego Ninja theme, which was released by Lego in 1998. In 2011, "Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu" was launched and included some of the concepts from the Lego Ninja theme, such as dragons and fortresses, but also combined this with a modern setting. The series was created by Michael Hegner and Tommy Andreasen, two Danish film producers. The character of Lloyd Garmadon was conceived by two screenwriters, Dan and Kevin Hageman following the pilot season. The first sketch depicting Lloyd Garmadon was created in 2010 by co-creator Tommy Andreasen. The Hageman Brothers have stated that "Lloyd" Garmadon was created as a pun on "Lord" Garmadon.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: The "Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu" series was animated in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Wil Film ApS for its ten season run. The production was relocated to WildBrain Studios in Canada with the release of the eleventh season titled "Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu" and renamed "Ninjago". This marked the use of new animation styles, including anime-style 2D animation, as a way to experiment with the storyline and add new creativity to the show. The run-time for the show was also revised from 22 minutes to 11 minutes.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: The eighth season titled "Sons of Garmadon" implemented a new phase for the ninjas' designs, which were now based on the designs of their movie counterparts in "The Lego Ninjago Movie". Not only were the character appearances updated, but Lloyd was presented as noticeably older in appearance, which was further illustrated by the introduction of a new voice actor. The design changes aimed to help new fans of the movie transition to the television series.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: For seasons one to seven of the "Ninjago" series, Lloyd was voiced by Jillian Michaels. However, after the release of "The Lego Ninjago Movie" and the subsequent changes in character designs in season 8, Lloyd was voiced by Sam Vincent. In the 2017 film, titled "The Lego Ninjago Movie", Lloyd was voiced by Dave Franco.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd is recognisable by his green gi, the ninja outfit that he typically wears in the "Ninjago" series and across the Lego Ninjago franchise. The design of his gi changes multiple times in the series, but he is usually depicted wearing a hood and mask when in combat. He is typically portrayed using a katana as his signature weapon. When he is introduced in the first season of "Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu," he appears as a young boy, with blonde hair in a bowl-cut style, wearing a black, hooded outfit. However, over the course of the series he is rapidly aged up to a young teenager with long, blonde, tousled hair.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In his first appearance, Lloyd is portrayed as a minor antagonist who makes childish attempts to perform evil deeds, such as robbing villagers of candy and pulling pranks. He is also depicted attempting to conquer Ninjago, but failing due to his immaturity. As the story develops, he is taken into the care of his uncle, Sensei Wu, and turned from the path of evil. Throughout subsequent seasons, Lloyd's character is developed from a mischievous child into a wise and skilled ninja. By the seventh season, titled "Hands of Time", he is portrayed as a fully developed character, ready to take the role of master and eventual leader of the team. At the beginning of the eighth season, titled "", Lloyd is further developed into a late teen and appears visibly older, having longer hair and a lower voice. His eyes are green, reflecting his green elemental power, and typically glow in combat scenes. His character is also presented as more mature, and within the dialogue, he is often shown displaying wisdom beyond his years. From the eleventh season, Lloyd's character is consistently portrayed as a calm and confident team leader, able to make quick decisions when facing adversity.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Chronologically, Lloyd is the youngest member of the ninja team (although his age is not clearly defined) while the other ninja are described as "grown-up teenagers". In "The Lego Ninjago Movie", Lloyd's age is stated to be 16.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the "Ninjago" series, Lloyd is described as an "Elemental Master", one of several characters who can manipulate an "element". In Lloyd's case, he is the Elemental Master of Energy, which gives him the ability to manipulate energy in various ways, such as shooting green energy blasts at his enemies, creating explosions of energy and creating an energy shield to protect his body from attack. These powers first begin to develop in the second season, "Legacy of the Green Ninja". Lloyd's powers are shown to become progressively stronger, as he develops the ability to form balls of energy and shoot energy blasts. Towards the end of the second season, Lloyd’s powers are depicted at their greatest strength when he reaches his true potential, becoming the Golden Ninja. He uses this "Golden Power" to destroy the Overlord, the main antagonist of the season, in an explosion of light. However, in the third season, titled "Rebooted", Lloyd voluntarily gives up his Golden Power, leaving just his elemental energy powers remaining.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In early seasons, Lloyd's powers are shown to be connected to the elemental powers of the original four ninja. He is consistently portrayed as the strongest Elemental Master, which is explained by the fact that he can harness all of other ninja's elemental powers. Over the course of the series, Lloyd’s elemental power is sometimes temporarily lost as a result of both internal and external forces to serve the storyline. This is particularly evident in the eighth season "Sons of Garmadon" and ninth season "Hunted", in which Lloyd is shown to completely lose his elemental powers after losing a brutal fight with his father, Lord Garmadon. Like the other ninja, Lloyd also has the ability to use his elemental powers to summon an elemental vehicle or energy dragon at will.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the first season, Lloyd is shown to have no experience in combat, but is subsequently trained by the ninja in the second season. As part of this combat training, Lloyd is shown to develop his skills in the art of "Spinjitzu", a fictional martial arts technique, in which the characters rotate rapidly to create a tornado of their elemental power and hit enemies in the process. When Lloyd is developed into a young teenager, he is shown to have acquired the physical skill and focus to become a confident and skilled warrior. In addition to these skills, the writers also depict Lloyd and the ninja repeatedly using Spinjitzu to form a "Tornado of Creation" to defeat enemies, which involves the characters combining their individual Spinjitzu tornadoes. In the fifth season titled "Possession", a new skill called "Airjitzu" is introduced, which is similar to Spinjitzu, but allows the characters to levitate off the ground.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: From his first appearance in the television series in 2011, Lloyd's fictional family history is placed at the center of both the main storyline and the lore of the show. Significantly, he is positioned as the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, who is described as the legendary inventor of the show's fictional martial art of "Spinjitzu" and the creator of Ninjago. He is also the son of Lord Garmadon, the elder son of the First Spinjitzu Master, and Misako, an archaeologist. The series incorporates a fictional backstory relating how Lloyd's father was consumed by darkness and cast into another realm called the Underworld by Lloyd’s uncle, Wu. These events are shown to have a major impact on Lloyd's character, who is presented growing up without knowing his father, but desiring to follow in his footsteps. In the first season, the prophecy of the Green Ninja is revealed, who, according to the lore of the show, is destined to rise above the other ninja and save Ninjago from a dark lord.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd makes his debut in the first season, "Rise of the Snakes", as a mischievous child desiring to be an evil warlord like his father. The story portrays him attempting to prove himself by conquering Ninjago, but failing. This then leads to him being taken into the care of Master Wu. It is later revealed that Lloyd is destined to become the prophesied Green Ninja, which consequently results in an inevitable confrontation with his father. In the second season, titled "Legacy of the Green Ninja", the story centers on the ninja training Lloyd to develop his fighting skills and learn the fictional martial art of Spinjitzu. Meanwhile, his father is shown plotting to conquer Ninjago through various devious plans. In the episode "Child's Play", Lloyd is magically aged up to an adolescent. The show illustrates his powers developing in strength until the season finale, which culminates in Lloyd unlocking his "Golden Power" and defeating the Overlord, an entity of pure evil.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the third season, "Rebooted", the Overlord returns as a digital entity without physical form. The story depicts him capturing Lloyd and draining him of most of his Golden Power. In the season finale, the Digital Overlord is ultimately defeated by a member of the ninja team named Zane, who is seemingly destroyed. In the final episode, the story shows how this loss results in the dissolution of the ninja team. However, in the following season, Lloyd is shown attempting to rebuild it. The fourth season, titled "Tournament of Elements", involves the ninja travelling to an island in search of Zane, whom they believe is alive on the island, and competing in season antagonist Master Chen's Tournament of Elements. After discovering Chen's true plan to conquer Ninjago, Lloyd and the ninja are shown making an alliance with several other Elemental Masters to fight against Chen and his army. The plot is resolved with Garmadon making the decision to sacrifice himself in order to save Ninjago, which is shown to leave Lloyd with feelings of loss for his father.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the fifth season, titled "Possession", events in the story show Lloyd being possessed by the spirit of an Elemental Master named Morro, with his body taking an evil form for the majority of the season. In subsequent seasons, the ninja are pitted against other villains, including an evil genie named Nadakhan in the sixth season, "", and Krux and Acronix, the Elemental Masters of time, in the seventh season, "Hands of Time". Although the writers show him initially struggling to gain the respect of the ninja, Lloyd eventually develops the confidence and maturity to become the permanent leader of the team.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the eighth season, "Sons of Garmadon", Lloyd is portrayed developing romantic feelings for a character named Princess Harumi, who is eventually revealed to be "The Quiet One", the leader of a criminal biker gang called the Sons of Garmadon. She resurrects Lord Garmadon in a ritual that only brings back his evil characteristics. This event is shown to have enormous impact on Lloyd, who decides to confront his father alone, but is nearly killed and loses his elemental powers. In the ninth season titled "Hunted", Garmadon conquers Ninjago with a giant stone monster, forcing Lloyd to go into hiding. However, Lloyd finds his voice and broadcasts a message of hope to the people of Ninjago. The story culminates in Lloyd facing Garmadon once more and finally defeating him after learning to resist his attacks rather than fight back.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: In the following seasons, Lloyd is portrayed leading the ninja to successfully defeat several other villains and their armies, including a demonic race called the Oni in the tenth season, "March of the Oni", a snake queen named Aspheera in the eleventh season, "", a sentient video game named Unagami in the twelfth season, "Prime Empire", an evil Skull Sorcerer in the thirteenth season, "Master of the Mountain", and an underwater tyrant named Prince Kalmaar in the fourteenth season, "Seabound".


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd is the protagonist of "The Lego Ninjago Movie", released in 2017. Although the plot is not directly related to the "Ninjago" television series, Lloyd retains his role as the Green Ninja and leader of the secret ninja force. The film focuses on Lloyd defending Ninjago City from his evil father, Lord Garmadon, who makes regular attempts to conquer Ninjago City with the help of his Shark Army. Lloyd is universally despised for being the son of an evil warlord, but the citizens of Ninjago City are unaware that he is the Green Ninja. Lloyd and the ninja fight Garmadon and his minions using their mechs, until Lloyd uses the "Ultimate Weapon" (a laser pointer) on Garmadon, which attracts a live-action cat named Meowthra, who starts to destroy the city. To put an end to the destruction, Lloyd and the ninja must go on a perilous journey to find the "Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon" with Garmadon in tow. On the journey, Lloyd spends time with his father and bonds with him in the process. At the end of the film, Lloyd reveals that he is the Green Ninja, having saved Ninjago City from Meowthra, and is reconciled with his father. He also learns that his green energy power means life and connects all living things in the way that he is connected to his family and the ninja.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd and the ninja have been released numerous times in Lego minifigure form, as part of the Lego Ninjago playsets developed alongside the series. Since 2011, the Lego Ninjago themed sets have been released in waves each year to correspond with the "Ninjago" seasons. The playsets in each wave feature some of the main locations, vehicles, mechs, weapons and characters from the corresponding season, including Lloyd and the ninja dressed in their current gi designs.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd appears alongside the other ninja characters in magazines, short films, video games, coloring books, graphic novels, children's books, and a theme park ride. In 2014, he also makes a cameo appearance in "The Lego Movie". A 4D short animated film titled "", was released in Legoland on January 12, 2018, featuring Lloyd and the ninja. The plot focuses on Master Wu teaching the ninja a lesson about the Scroll of the 4th Dimension, which affects gravity and organized matter. Lloyd and the ninja also appear in an interactive theme park ride called "Lego Ninjago: The Ride" at Legoland.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Various accompanying books to the "Ninjago" series have been produced featuring Lloyd and the ninja. A total of 12 graphic novels have been published, written by Greg Farshtey. Since the beginning of 2012, a Lego Ninjago magazine has been released in the UK and the Netherlands every month, containing a comic strip, facts, puzzles, posters, competitions and other activities.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Several mini-movies have been produced alongside the "Ninjago" television series, which include appearances from Lloyd and the ninja:


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text:
"Pilot Episode Mini-movies" - six short films that take place immediately after the pilot season, released in 2011
"Chen Mini-movies" - five mini-movies that focus on Master Chen and his chair from "Tournament of Elements", released in 2015
"Tall Tales" - six mini-movies that focus on the Sky Pirates of "Skybound", released in 2016
"Wu's Teas" - a collection of 20 "Ninjago" shorts that focus on Master Wu's tea shop, released in 2017
"Happy Birthday To You!" - a one minute short, released on Netflix on September 14, 2017
"Ninjago: Decoded" - a mini-series of ten episodes which takes place between "Hands of Time" and "Sons of Garmadon", released on November 27, 2017
"Tales from the Monastery of Spinjitzu" - six "Ninjago: Legacy" films from the Lego website, released December 19, 2018
"Prime Empire Original Shorts" - six "Ninjago" shorts that provide additional background information about "Prime Empire", released in 2020
"Ninjago: Reimagined" - five shorts in different animations styles released in 2021 to celebrate the series' 10th anniversary
"The Virtues of Spinjitzu" - six "Ninjago" shorts in which Master Wu teaches the six virtues of Spinjitzu, released in 2022


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd appears as a playable character in a variety of video games and mobile games, including "Lego Ninjago: Nindroids" (2014), The Lego Movie Video Game, "Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin" (2015), "Lego Dimensions" (2015), "Lego Worlds" (2017), "The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game" (2017), "Lego Brawls" (2019) and "" (2020).


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Mascots of the character appeared at various events and at shopping centers across the UK in 2016 and 2017.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd's turbulent relationship with his father, Lord Garmadon, received some positive comments among film critics following his appearance in "The Lego Ninjago Movie". "Movieguide" noted that the movie has a "strong pro-family worldview", and that "the reconciliation between Lloyd and his father leads to the father’s redemption" and that "the movie promotes family reconciliation". Julian Roman of "Movieweb" also commented that ""The Lego Ninjago Movie" is essentially about a father and son reconnecting". On August 13, 2021, Graeme Virtue of "The Guardian" included Lloyd Garmadon on a list of "ten of the best ninjas in pop culture".


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd has become a widely recognizable character among the show's target audience, who are mainly primary-aged children and teenagers. His appearance as the protagonist in "The Lego Ninjago Movie" in 2017 introduced the character to a wider mainstream audience. Lloyd's popularity as a character has been maintained for over a decade, since his first appearance in 2011. This resulted in many primary-aged children growing up watching the character and taking their appreciation into adulthood.


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: The popularity of the character has been partly attributed to his relatability as a typical teenager with everyday problems. Christopher Stamp, Senior Designer at Lego, stated, "None of the characters are perfect, they are all flawed and I think that is something everyone can relate to". This relatability was also demonstrated in "The Lego Ninjago Movie". Dave Franco, voice actor of Lloyd in the movie, commented "It’s particularly hard for Lloyd because, during the day, he's a tortured high school kid and everyone hates him because of the fact his dad is so awful. But then, at night, he becomes the Green Ninja and he protects everyone from Garmadon, yet he doesn't get any of the glory because no one knows he's the Green Ninja".


title: Lloyd Garmadon

text: Lloyd's role as the protagonist has been influential in terms of the messaging that has come out of the show and the movie. "Plugged In" noted that Lloyd's story is an exploration of familial bonds and focuses on the character's longing for a deeper father-son connection. "As the story unfolds, we witness the transforming power of a loving relationship as well as the difference forgiveness and communication can make in a broken one". The "Ninjago" series intentionally tried to teach children messages about the importance of inclusivity, friendship, confidence, and staying true to oneself, in which Lloyd embodies a positive role model to children. Michael Svane Knap remarked that "Some have grown up with Lego Ninjago and are now expressing their gratitude and telling us how they have learned lifelong skills".


title: Ulka Gupta

text: Ulka Gupta (born 12 April 1997) is an Indian film and television actress. She is popularly known as Manu, as she played the role of Manu (the young Rani Lakshmibai) in the Zee TV soap "Jhansi Ki Rani" until the leap; later she made a re-entry in the same show as Kaali. Her debut film was the Tollywood movie "Andhra Pori", in which she plays the lead character, Prashanti. Gupta also appeared in the 2015 Telugu film "Rudhramadevi".


title: Ulka Gupta

text: Ulka Gupta was born on 12 April 1997 in Saharsa, Bihar. Her family is native to the area. She was brought up in Mumbai. Her father Gagan and her younger sister Goya are also actors. She studied at Rustomjee International School, Dahisar, Mumbai.


title: Ulka Gupta

text: Gupta first faced the camera in "Resham Dankh", and then appeared in "Saat Phere", as Savri, Saloni's daughter. She is best known for her versatile performance as Manu in "Jhansi Ki Rani". For making the serial very lively, she worked hard and took horse riding and sword fighting training for two months. She also learned Sanskrit to deliver shlokas. She played Ami in "Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi" on Zee TV. She worked in the Telugu film "Andhra Pori", produced by Ramesh Prasad, opposite Akash Puri, the son of Puri Jagannadh. It was released in June 2015. She played the lead role in the Tollywood movie "Rudhramadevi".


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), formally angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT) antagonists, also known as angiotensin receptor blockers, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, or AT receptor antagonists, are a group of pharmaceuticals that bind to and inhibit the angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT) and thereby block the arteriolar contraction and sodium retention effects of renin–angiotensin system.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Their main uses are in the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetic nephropathy (kidney damage due to diabetes) and congestive heart failure. They "selectively" block the activation of the AT receptor, preventing the binding of angiotensin II compared to ACE inhibitors.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: ARBs and the similar-attributed ACE inhibitors are both indicated as the first-line antihypertensives in patients developing hypertension along with left-sided heart failure. However, ARBs appear to produce less adverse effects compared to ACE inhibitors.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Angiotensin II receptor blockers are used primarily for the treatment of hypertension where the patient is intolerant of ACE inhibitor therapy primarily because of persistent and/or dry cough. They do not inhibit the breakdown of bradykinin or other kinins, and are thus only rarely associated with the persistent dry cough and/or angioedema that limit ACE inhibitor therapy. More recently, they have been used for the treatment of heart failure in patients intolerant of ACE inhibitor therapy, in particular candesartan. Irbesartan and losartan have trial data showing benefit in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes, and may delay the progression of diabetic nephropathy. A 1998 double-blind study found "that lisinopril improved insulin sensitivity whereas losartan did not affect it." Candesartan is used experimentally in preventive treatment of migraine. Lisinopril has been found less often effective than candesartan at preventing migraine.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: The angiotensin II receptor blockers have differing potencies in relation to blood pressure control, with statistically differing effects at the maximal doses. When used in clinical practice, the particular agent used may vary based on the degree of response required.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In one study after 10 weeks of treatment with an ARB called losartan (Cozaar), 88% of hypertensive males with sexual dysfunction reported improvement in at least one area of sexuality, and overall sexual satisfaction improved from 7.3 to 58.5%. In a study comparing beta-blocker carvedilol with valsartan, the angiotensin II receptor blocker not only had no deleterious effect on sexual function, but actually improved it. Other ARBs include candesartan (Atacand), telmisartan (Micardis), and Valsartan (Diovan), fimasartan (Kanarb).


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Angiotensin II, through AT receptor stimulation, is a major stress hormone and, because (ARBs) block these receptors, in addition to their eliciting anti-hypertensive effects, may be considered for the treatment of stress-related disorders.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In 2008, they were reported to have a remarkable negative association with Alzheimer's disease (AD). A retrospective analysis of five million patient records with the US Department of Veterans Affairs system found different types of commonly used antihypertensive medications had very different AD outcomes. Those patients taking angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) were 35 to 40% less likely to develop AD than those using other antihypertensives.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: This class of drugs is usually well tolerated. Common adverse drug reactions (ADRs) include: dizziness, headache, and/or hyperkalemia. Infrequent ADRs associated with therapy include: first dose orthostatic hypotension, rash, diarrhea, dyspepsia, abnormal liver function, muscle cramp, myalgia, back pain, insomnia, decreased hemoglobin levels, renal impairment, pharyngitis, and/or nasal congestion. A 2014 Cochrane systematic review based on randomized controlled trials reported that when comparing patients taking ACE inhibitors to patients taking ARBs, fewer ARB patients withdrew from the study due to adverse events compared to ACE inhibitor patients.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: While one of the main rationales for the use of this class is the avoidance of a persistent dry cough and/or angioedema associated with ACE inhibitor therapy, rarely they may still occur. In addition, there is also a small risk of cross-reactivity in patients having experienced angioedema with ACE inhibitor therapy.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: The issue of whether angiotensin II receptor antagonists slightly increase the risk of myocardial infarction (MI or heart attack) is currently being investigated. Some studies suggest ARBs can increase the risk of MI. However, other studies have found ARBs do not increase the risk of MI. To date, with no consensus on whether ARBs have a tendency to increase the risk of myocardial infarction, further investigations are underway.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Indeed, as a consequence of AT blockade, ARBs increase angiotensin II levels several-fold above baseline by uncoupling a negative-feedback loop. Increased levels of circulating angiotensin II result in unopposed stimulation of the AT receptors, which are, in addition, upregulated. However, recent data suggest AT receptor stimulation may be less beneficial than previously proposed, and may even be harmful under certain circumstances through mediation of growth promotion, fibrosis, and hypertrophy, as well as eliciting proatherogenic and proinflammatory effects.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: A study published in 2010 determined that "...meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials suggests that ARBs are associated with a modestly increased risk of new cancer diagnosis. Given the limited data, it is not possible to draw conclusions about the exact risk of cancer associated with each particular drug. These findings warrant further investigation." A later meta-analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of 31 randomized controlled trials comparing ARBs to other treatment found no evidence of an increased risk of incident (new) cancer, cancer-related death, breast cancer, lung cancer, or prostate cancer in patients receiving ARBs. In 2013, comparative effectiveness research from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on the experience of more than a million Veterans found no increased risks for either lung cancer (original article in Journal of Hypertension) or prostate cancer. The researchers concluded: "In this large nationwide cohort of United States Veterans, we found no evidence to support any concern of increased risk of lung cancer among new users of ARBs compared with nonusers. Our findings were consistent with a protective effect of ARBs."


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In May 2013, a senior regulator at the Food & Drug Administration, Medical Team Leader Thomas A. Marciniak, revealed publicly that contrary to the FDA's official conclusion that there was no increased cancer risk, after a patient-by-patient examination of the available FDA data he had concluded that there was a lung-cancer risk increase of about 24% in ARB patients, compared with patients taking a placebo or other drugs. One of the criticisms Marciniak made was that the earlier FDA meta-analysis did not count lung carcinomas as cancers. In ten of the eleven studies he examined, Marciniak said that there were more lung cancer cases in the ARB group than the control group. Ellis Unger, chief of the drug-evaluation division that includes Marciniak, was quoted as calling the complaints a "diversion," and saying in an interview, "We have no reason to tell the public anything new." In an article about the dispute, the Wall Street Journal interviewed three other doctors to get their views; one had "no doubt" ARBs increased cancer risk, one was concerned and wanted to see more data, and the third thought there was either no relationship or a hard to detect, low-frequency relationship.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: A 2016 meta-analysis including 148,334 patients found no significant differences in cancer incidence associated with ARB use.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Although ARBs have protective effects against developing kidney diseases for patients with diabetes and previous hypertension without administration of ARBs, ARBs may worsen kidney functions such as reducing glomerular filtration rate associated with a rise of serum creatinine in patients with pre-existing proteinuria, renal artery stenosis, hypertensive nephrosclerosis, heart failure, polycystic kidney disease, chronic kidney disease, interstitial fibrosis, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or any conditions such as ARBs-treated but still clinically present hypertension that lead to abnormal narrowing of blood vessels to the kidney that interrupts oxygen and nutrient supply to the organ.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Losartan, irbesartan, olmesartan, candesartan, valsartan, fimasartan and azilsartan include the tetrazole group (a ring with four nitrogen and one carbon). Losartan, irbesartan, olmesartan, candesartan, and telmisartan include one or two imidazole groups.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: These substances are AT-receptor antagonists; that is, they block the activation of angiotensin II AT receptors. AT receptors are found in smooth muscle cells of vessels, cortical cells of the adrenal gland, and adrenergic nerve synapses. Blockage of AT receptors directly causes vasodilation, reduces secretion of vasopressin, and reduces production and secretion of aldosterone, among other actions. The combined effect reduces blood pressure.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: The specific efficacy of each ARB within this class depends upon a combination of three pharmacodynamic (PD) and pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters. Efficacy requires three key PD/PK areas at an effective level; the parameters of the three characteristics will need to be compiled into a table similar to one below, eliminating duplications and arriving at consensus values; the latter are at variance now.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Pressor inhibition at trough level - this relates to the degree of blockade or inhibition of the blood pressure-raising ("pressor") effect of angiotensin II. However, pressor inhibition is not a measure of blood pressure-lowering (BP) efficacy "per se". The rates as listed in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Package Inserts (PIs) for inhibition of this effect at the 24th hour for the ARBs are as follows: (all doses listed in PI are included)


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: The ratios of AT to AT in binding affinities of the specific ARBs are shown as follows. However, AT affinity vs AT is not a meaningful indicator of blood pressure response.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: The third area needed to complete the overall efficacy picture of an ARB is its biological half-life. The half-lives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) package inserts (PIs) are as follows:


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Knockout of the Agtr1a gene that encodes AT results in marked prolongation of the life-span of mice by 26% compared to controls. The likely mechanism is reduction of oxidative damage (especially to mitochondria) and overexpression of renal prosurvival genes. The ARBs seem to have the same effect.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: ARBs, such as losartan, have been shown to curb or reduce muscular, liver, cardiac, and kidney fibrosis.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: A 2003 study using candesartan and valsartan demonstrated an ability to regress dilated aortic root size.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In 2018 and in 2019, the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found traces of NDMA and NDEA impurities in the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) drug products valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan. The FDA stated "In June 2018, FDA was informed of the presence of an impurity, identified as N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), from one valsartan API producer. Since then, FDA has determined that other types of nitrosamine compounds, e.g., N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), are present at unacceptable levels in APIs from multiple API producers of valsartan and other drugs in the ARB class." In 2018, the FDA issued guidance to the industry on how to assess and control the impurities.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In August 2020, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) provided guidance to marketing authorization holders on how to avoid the presence of nitrosamine impurities in human medicines and asked them to review all chemical and biological human medicines for the possible presence of nitrosamines and to test the products at risk.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In November 2020, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the EMA aligned recommendations for limiting nitrosamine impurities in sartan medicines with recommendations it issued for other classes of medicines. The main change concerns the limits for nitrosamines, which previously applied to the active ingredients but now apply instead to the finished products (e.g. tablets). These limits, based on internationally agreed standards (ICH M7(R1)), should ensure that the excess risk of cancer from nitrosamines in any sartan medicines is below 1 in 100,000 for a person taking the medicine for lifelong treatment.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: These sartan medicines have a specific ring structure (tetrazole) whose synthesis could potentially lead to the formation of nitrosamine impurities. Other sartan medicines which do not have this ring, such as azilsartan, eprosartan and telmisartan, were not included in this review but are covered by the subsequent review of other medicines.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: In April 2021, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) warned of the risk of contamination with non-nitrosamine impurities (specifically, azido compounds) in tetrazole-containing sartans. In September 2021, the EDQM announced that investigations had revealed a novel azido contaminant which occurs only in losartan (losartan azide or losartan azido impurity) and which was found to be mutagenic on Ames testing.


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Later in 2021 and 2022, several cases of contamination with azido impurities were detected in losartan, irbesartan, and valsartan, prompting regulatory responses ranging from investigation to market withdrawals and precautionary recalls in Australia, Brazil, and Europe (including Switzerland).


title: Angiotensin II receptor blocker

text: Teva Pharmaceuticals announced that it would change its losartan manufacturing process to prevent future contamination with these impurities, and the Indian API manufacturer IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals applied for a patent on a new synthesis of losartan designed to be free of azido contaminants.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: Dark Blue is a 2002 American crime thriller film directed by Ron Shelton and written by David Ayer, based on a story written for film by crime novelist James Ellroy and takes place during the days leading up to the Rodney King trial verdict. The film stars Kurt Russell with Ving Rhames and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: Los Angeles, 1992. The film opens "in medias res" to LAPD Sergeant Eldon Perry, who is pacing in a motel room with a shotgun and pistol.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: Five days earlier, four people are killed and one wounded when two men, Darryl Orchard and Gary Sidwell, rob a convenience store in order to gain access to a safe in the office. Meanwhile, Perry defends his partner, Detective Bobby Keough, before an internal hearing concerning Keough's use of deadly force in a previous case; Keough is later exonerated. Perry and Keough later celebrate the former's impending promotion with their superior, Jack Van Meter, who is also Keough's uncle. Van Meter, a corrupt cop who often encourages his subordinates to fabricate evidence, visits Orchard and Sidwell's house later that night and takes the money stolen from the safe, admonishing them for behaving recklessly during the robbery.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: Van Meter assigns Perry and Keough to investigate the robbery, providing a false alibi for Orchard and Sidwell and telling them to pin the crime on someone else. Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Arthur Holland finds Perry's testimony at Keough's hearing suspicious, doubting that Keough killed the suspect as he was charged. His assistant, Beth Williamson, pulls files on the two men and sees that a man she has had anonymous casual sex with is Keough.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: After obtaining a search warrant with underhanded techniques, a SWAT team raids the house of the ex-cons who are to be Perry's fall guys. One of the men escapes and goes into a back alley, but is caught by Perry and Keough. Under Perry's orders, Keough reluctantly kills the innocent man and is left visibly shaken. When Perry arrives home later, he learns that his wife is leaving him. Meanwhile, Keough visits Williamson and admits to the killing, offering to testify against Perry on corruption. Seeing both Perry and the robbers as loose ends, Van Meter sets them up to kill each other just as the Los Angeles riots begin.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: Believing that Perry was sent by Van Meter to kill Orchard and Sidwell, Keough and Williamson also drive to the robbers' address. While all three eventually meet up in the alleys, Keough is killed by Orchard and Sidwell. Williamson tearfully blames Perry for what happened. Perry calls in the incident, hesitating briefly before pursuing Orchard and Sidwell. As the riots unfold, Sidwell is dragged out of his car and beaten to death while Orchard is captured by Perry. Perry then heads to his promotion ceremony, where he confesses about the corruption, implicates Van Meter, and volunteers himself to be arrested.


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Dark Blue" has an approval score of 59% based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The consensus reads, "Kurt Russell gives a good performance. Too bad there's nothing here that you haven't seen before." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: William Arnold of "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer" gave the film a positive review. "Ron Shelton's "Dark Blue" is another harrowingly cynical dirty-cop movie in the recent tradition of "Training Day" and "Narc". Yet it's so much more complex, engrossing and satisfying than those films that the comparison is not entirely fair..."


title: Dark Blue (film)

text: However, the film received a negative review from the "L.A. Weekly", ""Dark Blue" is stuffed to the gills with blithely improbable coincidence and subsidiary story line... Shelton is a likable, generous director who's made two pretty good films ("Blaze" and "Bull Durham"), but it's not at all clear he has the chops to take on an action movie, let alone the intricacies of police politics — let alone the politics of race, about which he had more imaginative things to say in "White Men Can't Jump"."


title: Brady disclosure

text: "Brady" disclosure consists of exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence that is material to the guilt or innocence or to the punishment of a defendant. The term comes from the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case "Brady v. Maryland", in which the Supreme Court ruled that suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to a defendant who has requested it violates due process.


title: Brady disclosure

text: Following "Brady", the prosecutor must disclose evidence or information that would prove the innocence of the defendant or would enable the defense to more effectively impeach the credibility of government witnesses. Evidence that would serve to reduce the defendant's sentence must also be disclosed by the prosecution. In practice this doctrine has often proved difficult to enforce. Some states have established their own laws to try to strengthen enforcement against prosecutorial misconduct in this area.


title: Brady disclosure

text: The "Brady" doctrine is a pretrial discovery rule that was established by the United States Supreme Court in "Brady v. Maryland" (1963). The rule requires that the prosecution must turn over all exculpatory evidence to the defendant in a criminal case. Exculpatory evidence is evidence that might exonerate the defendant.


title: Terry Fator

text: Terry Wayne Fator () is an American ventriloquist, impressionist, stand-up comedian, and singer. Born in Dallas, Texas, he developed an interest in ventriloquism from a young age, developing both this and a talent for singing. After initially performing with two bands, Fator eventually conducted solo performances, combining ventriloquism and singing with comedy. He gained national recognition for his talent when he won the second season of "America's Got Talent", which helped to boost his career.


title: Terry Fator

text: His success led to him receiving a five-year multi-million dollar contract to headline shows in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has used his performances and talent to help contribute to charitable causes. Fator is consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid comedians.


title: Terry Fator

text: Terry Fator was born in Dallas, Texas. Terry Fator says in his audio commentary of "Terry Fator: Live from Las Vegas (2009)" that he went to college at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The beginning of Fator's ventriloquism career dates back to when he was in fifth grade. While searching for a book for an assignment on Valentine's Day, he came across a book about ventriloquism titled, "Ventriloquism for Fun and Profit", by Paul Winchell. Fator checked out the book and started learning about ventriloquism. A few weeks later, Fator purchased a Willie Talk dummy from Sears and soon won a $25 prize for a performance at a church picnic.


title: Terry Fator

text: Fator got his first ventriloquism dummy when he was ten years old. Throughout his childhood, Fator entertained family and friends with his ventriloquism and did impersonations of singers and actors. Fator's mother saved up her money for three years and bought him his first puppet when he was 18 years old. Fator says he found he had the ability to impersonate singers by practicing ventriloquism while driving his car. "One of the reasons I learned how to sing as a ventriloquist was because I like singing in the car," Fator says. "I’d see other people singing in the car, and they looked goofy, so I’d do it without moving my lips."


title: Terry Fator

text: Fator got his start touring as the lead singer of the band "Freedom Jam" in 1987–88, produced by Young American Showcase, taking part in performances at over 200 high schools and middle schools across the United States and Canada, and averaging around three performances per school day. In mid-1988, he became the lead singer for the showband 'Texas the Band', incorporating his puppet Walter T. Airedale into his shows. The band dropped plans to sign to a major record label, when a representative from the brand asked Fator to sing in his own voice, upon noticing he sang songs by impersonating their original vocalists.


title: Terry Fator

text: After leaving the band, Fator began doing solo acts that combined comedy and ventriloquism but struggled for several years to achieve success. Alongside having to conduct events at fairs, sometimes suffering heat stroke when assigned to performing routines during hot afternoons, he suffered a setback in one performance when his show in a 1,000-seat theater was attended by only a single person . Discouraged, Fator contemplated pursuing another career but was encouraged by his family not to give up. This led to him expanding his routines to combine singing, ventriloquism and comedy, and sometimes conducting impersonation of notable singers such as Garth Brooks, Etta James, James Taylor, and Dean Martin. Despite this, he remained less than optimistic to maintain a career as a ventriloquist, let alone achieve success:


title: Terry Fator

text: "It wasn't easy trying to keep going all these years, and by the time I was in my late 30s, I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen."


title: Terry Fator

text: In 2005, he eventually included impersonations into his routines, when performing on "Friends in Low Places". This decision ultimately proved effective, winning him critical reception from the audience and raising his hopes, with Fator revamping and rewriting his routines to accommodate the elements that made his performance a hit and continued to prove a success in future. His success eventually landed him opportunities to perform at corporate functions for General Motors and AT&T, and serve as an opening act for Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Neal McCoy, and Styx.


title: Terry Fator

text: On June 19, 2007, Fator made his first national appearance on "America's Got Talent". Speaking on the experience, he said, "Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would win that show ... Essentially I auditioned because the guy that was the ventriloquist the first season got on "Late Show with David Letterman"... So I figured I'd do three episodes like he did and end up on 'David Letterman'." After winning the show, Fator actually had to turn the Letterman gig down fourteen times before his schedule was clear so he could appear. "My schedule got so packed, and it broke my heart every time I had to turn him down," Fator said.


title: Terry Fator

text: When Fator first came onstage, judge David Hasselhoff said, "Oh, no, a ventriloquist." "I was thinking, there's no way I would win," Fator says. "I gave myself zero percent [chance]." The judges, Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne, and Hasselhoff loved Fator and he eventually won the competition. Morgan told Fator "You're a great impersonator, a great singer and a great comedian." Even Simon Cowell approved. "Simon Cowell said I was one of the top two entertainers on the planet," says Fator. "And getting a compliment from Simon Cowell, well, not many people get a compliment like that."


title: Terry Fator

text: Following his win, it was announced on the show that in conjunction with winning, he was to appear at the Jubilee Theatre at Bally's Las Vegas. However, the spots were only going to be 15 minutes long, and in mutual cooperation with his management team and Bally's, the plan was dropped. Fator performed at Christian singer Larry Norman's 60th birthday party in April 2007. Later Fator flew Larry to tapings of "America's Got Talent" and also to his debut show at the Las Vegas Hilton as an honored guest.


title: Terry Fator

text: On October 14 and 15, 2007, after winning "America's Got Talent", Fator performed at the Las Vegas Hilton; both shows were sold out. He performed several more shows there in December. That month, he signed a contract for $1.5 million with the Las Vegas Hilton to do three shows a month from January 2008 to May 2008. Also in 2007, Fator became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.


title: Terry Fator

text: On March 17, 2008, Fator appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" along with "American Idol" judge and AGT creator & executive producer Simon Cowell. To the amazement of Winfrey, Cowell referred to Fator as one of the "two most talented people on the planet." Fator performed with three of his dummies; country singer Walter T. Airedale performed a Garth Brooks song and Winston the impersonating Turtle sang a Bee Gees song. Julius performed a Marvin Gaye song; Julius was a favorite when he appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". "As soon as I brought out Julius, she had this look on her face, wondering what I was about to do," Fator said. "Once I started into Marvin Gaye, she fell out of her chair." On May 13 of that year it was announced that Fator had signed a five-year, $100 million contract to perform nightly at The Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip. He replaced headliner Danny Gans and the theater was renamed the Terry Fator Theatre. Reportedly, Fator's deal was one of the largest entertainment deals in Las Vegas history.


title: Terry Fator

text: In 2009, Fator published the autobiography "Who's the Dummy Now?". On September 10, 2008, Fator reappeared as a guest on "America's Got Talent" for their Top Twenty Results Show. He brought back a larger Winston the Impersonating Turtle to sing the Marvin Gaye song "Let's Get It On". Maynard Thomkins was also brought on to sing "Viva Las Vegas". Winston was not the only puppet that was reconfigured; on an August 1, 2008 ABC News Now interview, he brought a reshaped Emma Taylor to sing "At Last". Fator has fought to be taken seriously as a ventriloquist. "There have been so few good, successful ventriloquists – Edgar Bergen in the 1940s and Paul Winchell in the 1960s were respected and successful," says Fator. "And in the 1970s, I used to watch Willie Tyler and his Lester as well as Jay Johnson and Bob. But over the years, there have been so many bad ventriloquists - and most of them doing corny shows for children - that people began to think of us as a bad joke."


title: Terry Fator

text: Also, on September 14, 2011, he was invited once again to perform as a guest on the finals of "America's Got Talent". This time he brought Julius, the soul singer, and performed "Ain't No Sunshine".


title: Terry Fator

text: In 2013, he voiced a character on the Disney Channel show "Mickey Mouse". On May 30 of that year, Fator celebrated his 1,000th show at The Mirage Hotel & Casino and returned to perform as a guest on "America's Got Talent" during the Top 12 results show four months later on September 11.


title: Terry Fator

text: On September 16, 2015, Fator made a guest appearance on "America's Got Talent" during the finals show, performing alongside the eventual tenth-season winner, ventriloquist Paul Zerdin. On September 20, 2017, he made another guest appearance during AGT's twelfth-season finale, performing alongside eventual winner Darci Lynne, another singing ventriloquist.


title: Terry Fator

text: In July 2007 Fator appeared in Montana to raise funds for the Kidsports Sports Complex in Kalispell and said he wanted to come back in 2008 to do another show. “We thought, we bet he wants to, but we bet he won’t have time,” said Nancy Manning of Rotary Club of Kalispell. “He made time because it’s so important to him.” All proceeds from Fator's show went towards the field.


title: Terry Fator

text: In 2008, Fator performed at the Palace Theatre in Corsicana, Texas. Proceeds benefited the Navarro Council of the Arts and the Mildred Drama Club. Fator is a native of Corsicana.


title: Terry Fator

text: On September 3, 2007, Fator made a special appearance in the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, thanking the crowd for the support. He brought back Emma Taylor to sing "At Last" and Winston the Turtle to sing "What a Wonderful World". He returned to the Telethon on September 1, 2008 and brought Julius to sing "Only You" from The Platters, Marvin Gaye's song, "Let's Get It On," and "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. Maynard Thomkins was also brought on to sing "Viva Las Vegas" to finish the show. Fator made his 3rd consecutive telethon appearance (this time via satellite from his showroom during a performance of his show) on September 6, 2009 with puppets The Fifth Beatle and Vikki The Cougar with special guests The Commodores, who joined Fator performing "Brick House".


title: Terry Fator

text: In 2010, Fator did a doodle for a charity celebrity doodle auction for Neurofibromatosis, more commonly known as NF. 100% of the profit from all the doodles went to help families with NF.


title: Terry Fator

text: All proceeds from Fator's original song "Horses in Heaven" go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.


title: Terry Fator

text: On September 1, 2009, Fator's first DVD, "Terry Fator: Live from Las Vegas" (recorded during a performance at the Mirage), was released shortly after its August 28, 2009 debut airing on CMT. The DVD includes footage not shown on the CMT broadcast.


title: Easter Offensive

text: The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive (') by North Vietnam, or the red fiery summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, the regular army of North Vietnam) against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, the regular army of South Vietnam) and the United States military between 30 March and 22 October 1972, during the Vietnam War.


title: Easter Offensive

text: This conventional invasion (the largest invasion since 300,000 Chinese troops had crossed the Yalu River into North Korea during the Korean War) was a radical departure from previous North Vietnamese offensives. The offensive was designed to achieve a decisive victory, which even if it did not lead to the collapse of South Vietnam, would greatly improve the North's negotiating position at the Paris Peace Accords.


title: Easter Offensive

text: The U.S. high command had been expecting an attack in 1972 but the size and ferocity of the assault caught the defenders off balance, because the attackers struck on three fronts simultaneously, with the bulk of the North Vietnamese army. This first attempt by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to invade the south since the Tet Offensive of 1968, became characterized by conventional infantry–armor assaults backed by heavy artillery, with both sides fielding the latest in technological advances in weapons systems.


title: Easter Offensive

text: In the I Corps Tactical Zone, North Vietnamese forces overran South Vietnamese defensive positions in a month-long battle and captured Quảng Trị city, before moving south in an attempt to seize Huế. The PAVN similarly eliminated frontier defense forces in the II Corps Tactical Zone and advanced towards the provincial capital of Kon Tum, threatening to open a way to the sea, which would have split South Vietnam in two. Northeast of Saigon, in the III Corps Tactical Zone, PAVN forces overran Lộc Ninh and advanced to assault the capital of Bình Long Province at An Lộc.