title: Saga (comics)

text: The book's release was celebrated with a launch party at Los Angeles' Meltdown Comics which featured a public conversation with Vaughan's former colleague, "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof, who had hired Vaughan as a writer/producer on that series in 2007. Vaughan also promoted the book by appearing at signings at Midtown Comics in Manhattan and Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn during the week of the first issue's release.


title: Saga (comics)

text: After the publication of issue 6 in August 2012, Vaughan announced that the series would take a two-month hiatus, after which the first six-issue story arc was published in trade paperback form in October for $9.99 before the series' return in November, a practice that Vaughan and Staples would continue after each successive story arc and trade paperback publication. That same month, Vaughan and Staples promoted the series by appearing together at the 2012 New York Comic Con, their first appearance together since the series' debut. Some retailers refused to display the trade paperback because its cover (a reuse of the first issue's cover) depicts Alana breastfeeding Hazel.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In December 2014, Image published "Saga Deluxe Edition" Volume 1, a hardcover volume collecting the first 18 issues of the series, which comprise its first three story arcs. Because Vaughan sees "Saga" as a story about Hazel, he and Staples decided to have each new hardcover volume feature an original image of that character at a different stage of her life. Because the first volume covers her birth and infancy, its cover features a closeup of Hazel nursing from her mother's breast, set against the backdrop of Landfall and Wreath, which recalls the first issue's cover. Eric Stephenson warned Vaughan and Staples that some retailers and distributors would object to this cover image, thus limiting the series' audience, but after seeing Staples' rendition of the image, Stephenson decided that sales would not be a problem.


title: Saga (comics)

text: On July 25, 2018, issue #54 was published, ending the first half of the series' run on a major cliffhanger. The series then went on an extended hiatus, during which the first 54 issues would be published in a single volume called "Saga: Compendium One". In April 2019 Vaughan told "Entertainment Weekly" that the second half of the series would also last 54 issues, comprising what he called "a planned 108-issue epic."


title: Saga (comics)

text: On October 9, 2021, Vaughan and Staples announced during a panel discussion at the New York Comic Con that the series would return in January 2022 with issue #55, a double-length, 44-page issue that would retain its normal $2.99 price, and which would begin "Compendium Two" of the series. The series resumed with Chapter 55, which went on sale January 26, 2022 to positive criticial reviews.


title: Saga (comics)

text: Each issue of "Saga" is titled with a numerical Chapter, such as "Chapter 1" for the debut issue. Every six chapters comprise a story arc designated as a "Volume" and are reprinted as trade paperbacks. Every three Volumes comprise a "Book" and are collected as hardcover editions.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The opening Volume introduces the series' leads, Alana and Marko, two lovers from different worlds whose people are at war with one another. Alana comes from the technologically advanced Landfall Coalition, so named after Landfall, the largest planet in the galaxy, and Marko is from Wreath, Landfall's only satellite, whose people wield magic. Because the destruction of one of the worlds would send the other spinning out of orbit, the war was "outsourced" to other worlds. Although peace was restored on the two home worlds, the conflict spread across all the other known planets, whose native species were forced to choose a side. As Landfall and Wreath were on opposite sides, Alana and Marko met when she was assigned to guard him in a prison on the planet Cleave after he became a prisoner of war. They escaped together twelve hours after meeting. In the beginning of the series' first issue, Alana gives birth to their daughter, Hazel, who occasionally narrates the series. Their respective people are incredulous when it is suggested that they have voluntarily mated and they are pursued by both the Wreathers and the Landfallians, both because of the perceived betrayal of the two fugitives and to prevent knowledge of their pairing from spreading and damaging morale among their troops. On Landfall, Prince Robot IV is assigned by his father to capture him and comes into conflict with his counterpart from Wreath, a mercenary named The Will. The ghost of a dead girl named Izabel is bonded to Hazel and the four of them escape Cleave before being joined by Marko's parents.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In the second Volume, more is revealed about Marko's parents and his upbringing and his initial time with Alana. Marko's ex-fiancée, Gwendolyn, joins The Will's hunt as does a six-year-old sex slave, rescued by The Will and Gwendolyn, who takes the name Sophie. The family later takes refuge at the home of writer D. Oswald Heist (the author of Alana's favorite novel), where they first come into contact with Prince Robot IV.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The third Volume, beginning in August 2013, which Vaughan intended as a "big tonal shift", introduces the tabloid journalists Upsher and Doff, as they pursue their own investigation of Alana and Marko, who take refuge at the lighthouse home of author D. Oswald Heist. There, the family first comes into direct contact with, and manages to escape from, Prince Robot IV and Gwendolyn. By the end of the story, Hazel has begun to walk, and Upsher and Doff have been silenced by contract killer The Brand, The Will's sister, using a substance that will kill them if they report their findings of the family to anyone else.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The fourth Volume, which begins Book Two, establishes the family living on the planet Gardenia, with Alana acting in an underground entertainment program called the Open Circuit in which all the actors wear masks. Hazel is now speaking in simple phrases, while Prince Robot IV's son is born. A disgruntled robot janitor, Dengo, kills Prince Robot IV's wife, kidnaps his infant son and journeys to Gardenia, where he kidnaps the family. Marko and Prince Robot IV team up with Yuma to pursue them. Meanwhile, The Brand teams with Gwendolyn and Sophie to acquire an elixir to heal The Will's injuries.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The fifth Volume begins three months later. The family's rocketship has set down in a frozen region of a planet, where Dengo meets with members of The Last Revolution, a radical anti-war group, who wish to use Hazel as a pawn in their campaign against Landfall and Wreath. Meanwhile, as Marko and Prince Robot IV struggle to maintain their alliance while in pursuit of their kidnapped loved ones, Alana and Yuma both deal with the consequences of their use of the drug Fadeaway. By the end of the arc, Dengo has turned on the revolutionaries, but is himself killed by Prince Robot IV, who is united with his son. Marko and Alana are reunited, but Hazel and Klara are relegated to a Landfallian prison. The Brand, Gwendolyn and Sophie have acquired the elixir, but the Brand is killed in the process.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In the sixth Volume, Alana and Marko search for Hazel and Klara, who remain incarcerated in a detention center on Landfall. Upsher and Doff resume their investigation of the couple after hearing of The Brand's death. The journalists are confronted by The Will, who has resumed his vendetta against Prince Robot IV. Meanwhile, Prince Robot is using the name Sir Robot and is raising his rapidly growing son, Squire. New characters introduced include Hazel's sympathetic schoolteacher Noreen and a transgender female prisoner, Petrichor. The arc closes with Hazel successfully reunited with her parents and the revelation that Alana is once again pregnant.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The seventh Volume, "The War for Phang", began with issue 37 and was released on August 31, 2016. It is the beginning of Book Three of the series, and as indicated by its title, Sophie's home, the comet Phang, is the central setting. The family deals with the addition of Petrichor to the reunited family, and Alana's second pregnancy.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The eighth Volume, "The Coffin", finds the family dealing with the effects of Alana's miscarriage after the events on Phang. Vaughan stated in an interview that Petrichor would continue to play an important role in Hazel's development, and that what has happened to The Will is another subplot explored in the arc.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The first issue sold out of its first printing ahead of its March 14 release date. A second printing ordered for April 11, the same release date as issue #2, also sold out, with a third printing arriving in stores on April 25. The issue ultimately went through five printings. By August it had sold over 70,000 copies in various printings. As of 2016, the collected editions of the series outsell those of "The Walking Dead", another successful Image comic that has greater public visibility through the television series adapted from it.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The first trade paperback collection, "Saga, Vol. 1", which collects the first six issues, was published October 10, 2012, and appeared at Number 6 on the "New York Times" Graphic Books Best Seller list the week of October 29. As of August 2013, it had sold 120,000 copies.


title: Saga (comics)

text: Although issue #7 sold out, Image Comics PR & Marketing Director Jennifer deGuzman announced in a December 12, 2012 letter to retailers that it would not reprint select comics, such as that issue. DeGuzman explained the move as a result of decreasing orders on well-performing titles like "Saga", despite critical acclaim and consistently selling out at a distributor level, and pointed to orders on "Saga" #8, which decreased 4% from orders on issue #7. Rather than invest in second printings, deGuzman explained, Image would instead focus its attention on ensuring that the first printing garners the sales desired. This move displeased some retailers, which prompted Image Publisher Eric Stephenson to announce the following day that Image would indeed publish a second printing of issue #7 at a considerable discount, but cautioned that the publisher would not be able to reprint every issue of the series indefinitely, and implored retailers not to under-order the series.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The second trade paperback collection immediately appeared at the top of the "New York Times" graphic books best-seller list.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The series was met with wide critical acclaim and is one of the most celebrated American comics being published (as of October 2018). It holds an average score of 9.0 out of 10 at the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup. This score is held by both the regular series and the collected volumes.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The first issue was widely acclaimed in publications such as "Publishers Weekly", MTV, Ain't it Cool News, "Complex" magazine, Comic Book Resources, iFanboy and ComicsAlliance; they all praised Vaughan's ability to incorporate elements of different genres, establishing the vast setting and mythology, and introducing characters that engaged the reader. Multiple reviewers likened the book to a combination of sci-fi/fantasy works such as "Star Wars" and "The Lord of the Rings" and classic works of literature such as "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet" and the New Testament. AICN singled-out the use of the newborn Hazel as a lone individual to chronicle large-scale events from a past perspective, and Alex Zalben of MTV Geek remarking that he could hear a John Williams score as he read the book. Multiple reviewers also lauded Vaughan for beginning the story with Hazel's birth rather than hurting the story's pace with copious exposition of Alana and Marko's initial meeting and courtship. Todd Allen of The Beat approved of the book's unique "flavor", singling out the characters' motivations, the immersiveness of its surrealist setting, the strangeness of the story's various oddities and the timely nature of the story's political undertones. Both Alex Evans of Weekly Comic Book Review and P. S. Hayes of Geeks of Doom called the series a "classic"; Hayes also praised Image Comics for publishing such an "original" series. Also widely praised was Fiona Staples' artwork, which was characterized as "glorious", with Zalben predicting that readers would "fall head over heels in love" with it, and Greg McElhatton of Comic Book Resources positively comparing it to that of Leinil Francis Yu, specifically her use of delicate lines to frame characters with large, bold figures and Staples' mixture of the familiar and the foreign together in her character designs to create a visually cohesive universe. AICN singled out Staples' handling of grand, sweeping space shots and other genre trappings, as well as her mastery of facial expressions – which AICN felt was perfectly suited to Vaughan's subtle dialogue. Todd Allen of The Beat wrote that Staples' landscapes at times play as much a part in the story as the foreground.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The subsequent issues that made up the series' initial six-issue story arc also garnered similarly positive reviews, with three printings ordered for issue #2, and second printings ordered for issues 3 – 6. The series was included in IGN's 2012 list of "The Comics We're Thankful For This Year" and took the #1 spot in CBR's "Top 10 Comics of 2012". In August 2013, Douglas Wolk of "Time" magazine referred to the series as a "breakout hit", calling it "mischievous, vulgar and gloriously inventive."


title: Saga (comics)

text: Joseph McCabe of The Nerdist included the hardcover "Saga Deluxe Edition" Volume 1 in that site's Top 5 Comic Reprint Collections of 2014. That same year, Laura Sneddon of the British Science Fiction Association's journal "Vector" listed "Saga" among her list of six groundbreaking science fiction comics.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In 2013 "Saga" won the three Eisner Awards it was nominated for: Best Continuing Series, Best New Series and Best Writer. That same year, the Vol. 1 trade paperback won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. The series was also nominated for seven 2013 Harvey Awards and won six of those: Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Color, Best New Series, Best Continuing or Limited Series, and Best Single Issue or Story.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In 2014 the series won all three Eisners that it was nominated for: Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, Best Writer, and Best Continuing Series.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In 2015 the series was again nominated for the same three Eisner Awards it won the previous year and won two of them: Best Continuing Series and Best Penciller/Inker. That same year the fourth volume was awarded the Goodreads Choice Award for Graphic Novels & Comics in 2015.


title: Saga (comics)

text: On April 9, 2013, media reported that Apple Inc. had prohibited the sale of issue 12 of "Saga" through iOS, because two panels that depicted oral sex between men in a small, in-set image violated Apple's restrictions on sexual content. This resulted in criticism by artists and writers, who pointed to similarly explicit content in previous issues and in other works sold through iTunes. William Gibson and others suggested that the restriction could have occurred specifically because the drawings in question depicted gay sex. A day later, digital distributor Comixology announced that it had been that company, not Apple, who had chosen not to make the issue available based on their interpretation of Apple's rules, and that after receiving clarification from Apple, the issue would now be sold via iOS.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In 2014, the series was included on the American Library Association's list of the ten most frequently challenged books that year. It had been challenged for containing nudity and offensive language and for being "anti-family, ... sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group."


title: Saga (comics)

text: In 2015, Skybound Entertainment began taking pre-orders for an 8” tall, hand-painted Lying Cat resin statue, which retails for $75.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In February 2016, Essential Sequential began taking orders for a posable, 19-inch tall plushy Lying Cat doll that says, "Lying" when its collar is pressed, scheduled to ship that May. Later that June, Skybound announced that at the following month's San Diego Comic-Con, it would debut action figures based on the two lead characters, Alana and Marko, by McFarlane Toys. The five-inch figures are issued together in a two-pack, and are paired with a mace and a sword. The company also teamed with Yesterdays, a Southern California collectible enamel pin company, to produce Skybound's first ever pin set, which includes two pins of Lying Cat and a pin of Ghüs, also to debut at that Comic-Con. The Ghüs pin is priced at $10.00, and the Lying Cat set at $15.00, and both were limited to 1000 units each.


title: Saga (comics)

text: In October 2017, Image Comics announced the introduction of Pop! Vinyl figures of Lying Cat, Alana, Marko, Izabel, Prince Robot IV and The Will from Funko and Skybound Entertainment, available in February 2018.


title: Saga (comics)

text: Although interest has been expressed in adapting "Saga" for film or TV, Vaughan and Staples reaffirmed their desire not to do so in an August 2013 interview, with Vaughan stating that the point of "Saga" as he conceived it was "to do absolutely everything I couldn't do in a movie or a TV show. I'm really happy with it just being a comic." Vaughan has stated that they are open to the possibility, though it is not a priority for them. However, merchandise based on the series has been produced, including a line of T-shirts featuring Lying Cat, which have become visible in popular media. In "Pac-Man Fever", the April 24, 2013 episode of the American TV series "Supernatural", the character Charlie Bradbury (played by Felicia Day) is seen wearing a Lying Cat T-shirt. Day, who has referred to "Saga" as the "best comic EVER", indicated that show writer Robbie Thompson picked out the shirt.


title: Saga (comics)

text: The controversial cover of the comic's first issue was referenced in "The Meemaw Materialization", the February 4, 2016 episode of the American TV sitcom "The Big Bang Theory". In the episode, Claire (Alessandra Torresani) is reading the first trade paperback of the series (which features the same cover as its first issue), and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) observes that "not a lot of comics have a woman with wings breastfeeding a baby right on the cover." Though "The Big Bang Theory" is often criticized for its portrayal of comic book fans, according to Comic Book Resources, a Twitter search indicated reaction to the scene by fans of "Saga" readers who saw it was mostly positive.


title: Big Oil

text: Big Oil is a name used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors. The term, particularly in the United States, emphasizes their economic power and influence on politics. Big Oil is often associated with the fossil fuels lobby and also used to refer to the industry as a whole in a pejorative or derogatory manner.


title: Big Oil

text: Sources conflict on the exact makeup of Big Oil today, though the companies which are most frequently mentioned as supermajors are ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, Eni and TotalEnergies, with ConocoPhillips frequently being included as well prior to spinning off its downstream operations into Phillips 66.The phrase "Super-Major" emanated from a report published by Douglas Terreson of Morgan Stanley in February 1998. The report foretold a substantial consolidation phase of "Major" Oil companies which would result in a group of dominant "Super-Major" entities. Big Oil previously referred to seven oil companies which formed the Consortium for Iran; such "Seven Sisters" were the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (a predecessor of BP), Royal Dutch Shell, three of Chevron's predecessors (Standard Oil of California, Gulf Oil and Texaco), and two of ExxonMobil's predecessors (Jersey Standard and Standard Oil of New York).


title: Big Oil

text: The term, analogous to others such as Big Steel, and Big Tech, and Big Pharma which describe industries dominated by a few giant corporations, was popularized in print from the late 1960s. Today it is often used to refer specifically to the seven supermajors. The use of the term in the popular media often excludes the national producers and OPEC oil companies who have a much greater global role in setting prices than the supermajors. China's two state-owned oil companies, Sinopec and the China National Petroleum Corporation, as well as Saudi Aramco, had greater revenues in 2022 than any investor-owned oil company.


title: Big Oil

text: In the maritime industry, six to seven large oil companies that decide a majority of the crude oil tanker chartering business are called "Oil Majors".


title: Big Oil

text: The expression "Seven Sisters" was coined by the head of the Italian state oil company (Eni), Enrico Mattei, who sought membership for his company, but was rejected.


title: Big Oil

text: The history of the supermajors traces back to the seven oil companies which formed the "Consortium for Iran" cartel and dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. The Seven Sisters were:


title: Big Oil

text: By the 1930s, the Seven Sisters dominated oil production in the world. The companies owned nearly all rights to the oil in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf. The companies established jointly owned companies (such as the Iraq Petroleum Company) to legally tie their hands together, facilitate cooperation, and prevent cheating on one another). The companies sought to limit the supply of oil by controlling the speed at which oil fields were developed. From the 1920s to 1940s, they had agreements not to produce oil in the Middle East unless it was in coordination with one another. After the 1940s, the companies continued to collude. The discovery of massive oil fields in Saudi Arabia threatened to scuttle the cartel, as control of the oil fields by two companies could undermine existing supply management schemes. However, control of the Saudi oil production ultimately became jointly controlled by four of the seven sisters, thus making it easier to maintain coordination between the Seven Sisters.


title: Big Oil

text: According to Jeff Colgan, the Seven Sisters faced two major problems. The first revolved around coordinating the activities of the companies so that oil prices would be kept high. The second revolved around cooperation with the governments of the territories containing the oil reserves: the companies sought to minimize the taxes and royalties paid to the governments. In terms of dealing with host governments, the Seven Sisters benefitted from the willingness of British and American governments to pressure and coerce the host governments. The oil companies also slowed down production when taxes and royalties were increased by one host government while ramping up production in other territories with lower taxes and royalties, thus pressuring host governments to keep taxes and royalties low.


title: Big Oil

text: Host governments faced a number of hurdles in terms of nationalizing the oil production. First, a number of oil-producing countries did not have independence and were controlled by empires. Second, great powers had installed compliant heads of state in several oil-producing countries, making those leaders reliant on the support of the great powers and unwilling to upset them. Third, a number of oil-producing countries lacked the capital and technical expertise to run the oil production, as well as needed access to North American and European markets. Fourth, oil-producing countries feared that they would be punished by Western governments and firms if they nationalized oil production (as Mohammad Mossadegh was when he nationalized the Iranian oil industry).


title: Big Oil

text: In 1951, Iran nationalized its oil industry, previously controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP), and Iranian oil was subjected to an international embargo. In an effort to bring Iranian oil production back to international markets, the U.S. State Department suggested the creation of a consortium of major oil companies, several of which were daughter corporations of John D. Rockefeller's original Standard Oil monopoly.


title: Big Oil

text: In 1959, the Seven Sisters reduced the price of oil for Venezuela and Middle Eastern producers, which provoked anger among oil-producing governments. This prompted the oil-producing governments to take the initial steps to establish OPEC. The Seven Sisters threatened the OPEC founders that they would lose market access if they went ahead with their plans.


title: Big Oil

text: The head of the Italian state oil company (Eni), Enrico Mattei, sought membership for his company, but was rejected and since then spread the expression "Seven Sisters". British writer Anthony Sampson took over the term when he wrote the book "The Seven Sisters" in 1975, to describe the oil cartel that tried its best to eliminate competitors and keep control of the world's oil resource. The term for the oil cartel was further popularized, along with a fictional logo, in "", a 1981 film about apocalyptic fuel shortages.


title: Big Oil

text: Being politically influential, vertically integrated, well organized, and able to negotiate cohesively as a cartel, the Seven Sisters were initially able to exert considerable power over Third World oil producers. Despite their market power, the Seven Sisters kept prices stable at moderate levels. This was done to not incentivize governments in both the consumer and producer countries to impose regulations on the oil industry.


title: Big Oil

text: Preceding the 1973 oil crisis, the Seven Sisters controlled around 85 per cent of the world's petroleum reserves. In the 1970s, many countries with large reserves nationalized holdings of all major oil companies. Since then, industry dominance has shifted to the OPEC cartel and state-owned oil and gas companies in emerging-market economies, such as Saudi Aramco, Gazprom (Russia), China National Petroleum Corporation, National Iranian Oil Company, PDVSA(Venezuela), Petrobras (Brazil), and Petronas (Malaysia). In 2007, the "Financial Times" called these "the new Seven Sisters". According to consulting firm PFC Energy, by 2012 only 7% of the world's known oil reserves were in countries that allowed private international companies free rein. Fully 65% were in the hands of state-owned companies.


title: Big Oil

text: The Era of the Super Major was an industry report published by Douglas Terreson of Morgan Stanley on February 13, 1998. Mr. Terreson was the top rated Integrated Oil analyst according to Institutional Investor magazine at the time and had a broad following within the global investment community. After many years of poor industry performance by the Energy sector. Mr. Terreson suggested that business models had become obsolete and that major strategic change was needed across the global Energy sector for value propositions to become competitive with the other parts of the market.


title: Big Oil

text: The premise of the report was that "a confluence of industry dynamics would conspire to produce a strategic and financial environment that was conducive to major consolidation activity in the Integrated Oil sector. Significant modifications to the strategic landscape would result, dictating competitive placement and equity market performance for years to come". The report indicated that the phase would be driven by the competitive implications of: (1) the globalization of privatized national oil companies and (2) the rising stature of specialized multinationals. Combinations were expected primarily between Major Oils which would then become "Super-Majors" which was a phrase created at Morgan Stanley in the late 1990's to denote the prototype model for success in the Integrated Oil industry as gains in globalization and scale unfolded.


title: Big Oil

text: Within 6 months of publication of "The Era of the Super-Major", BP and Amoco merged, representing the largest industrial combination on Wall Street at that time. The combined value of the stocks of those 2 companies rose significantly and that merger was followed by Exxon-Mobil, BP-Amoco-Arco, Conoco-Phillips, Chevron-Texaco-Unocal, Total, Elf Aquitaine and others. The phase represented one of the largest consolidation phases in the history of the Energy sector. Corporate performance was very positive in Energy thru 2007, underscoring the premise that the "Super-Major" thesis would create significant economic value for shareholders.


title: Big Oil

text: This process of consolidation created some of the largest global corporations as defined by the Forbes Global 2000 ranking, and as of 2007 all were within the top 25. Between 2004 and 2007 the profits of the six supermajors totaled US$494.8 billion. Many of these now-merged companies remain in the Fortune Global 500, with ExxonMobil ranking 12th, Total ranking 27th, BP ranking 35th, and Chevron ranking 37th in the 2022 edition of the list.


title: Big Oil

text: The composition of Big Oil is subject to wide debate. Nearly all accounts of Big Oil include ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, Eni and TotalEnergies. All six of these companies are vertically-integrated within the industry and operate upstream, midstream, and downstream.


title: Big Oil

text: ConocoPhillips is less frequently counted as one of the Big Oil companies due to spinning off its downstream division into Phillips 66. Additionally, ConocoPhillips in 2022 ranked lower than any of the six major Big Oil companies on the Fortune Global 500, and its revenue was superseded by Phillips 66 in 2022.


title: Big Oil

text: Valero Energy ranked higher on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 than Eni, though the company frequently touts that it is an independent refiner focused on midstream and downstream operations which does not have significant upstream activities. In the media, however, Valero is sometimes called a "Big Oil" company and grouped with the other large companies.


title: Big Oil

text: As a group, the supermajors control around 6% of global oil and gas reserves. Conversely, 88% of global oil and gas reserves are controlled by the OPEC cartel and state-owned oil companies, primarily located in the Middle East. A trend of increasing influence of the OPEC cartel, state-owned oil companies in emerging-market economies is shown and the "Financial Times" has used the label "The New Seven Sisters" to refer to a group of what it argues are the most influential national oil and gas companies based in countries outside of the OECD, namely CNPC "(China)", Gazprom "(Russia)", National Iranian Oil Company "(Iran)", Petrobras "(Brazil)", PDVSA "(Venezuela)", Petronas "(Malaysia)", and Saudi Aramco "(Saudi Arabia)".


title: Big Oil

text: Other companies not directly involved in trading oil and gas, but still supplying accessories such as drilling, fracking and refining equipment, have also been associated with Big Oil due to their political influence. In particular, Koch Industries and Wilks Masonry have actively funded lobby groups, think tanks and media outlets aligned with Big Oil.


title: Big Oil

text: In the maritime industry, a group of six companies that control the chartering of the majority of oil tankers worldwide are together referred to as "oil majors". These are: Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips. Charter parties such as "Shelltime 4" frequently mention the phrase "oil major".


title: Big Oil

text: A year-long U.S. House of Representatives investigation concluding in 2022 uncovered major efforts by Big Oil to deceive the public by creating the misimpression that these fossil fuel companies are taking steps to move away from fossil fuels as part of an energy transition toward a sustainable future while internal company documents reveal that they have no such plans. Major findings of the Committee, based on company documents, include that these companies: contradicted their public pledges to move toward energy transition while continuing to be committed primarily to long-term fossil fuel production and thus continuing to be the primary driver of global climate change; and launched advertising campaigns targeting the American public, and engaged in accounting gimmicks and delaying maneuvers, to create the false impression that they are taking major steps to reduce carbon emissions without actually taking such steps.


Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, often referred to as simply Viva la Vida, is the fourth studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released on 12 June 2008 on the Parlophone label. "Viva la vida" is a Spanish phrase that translates into English as "long live life", "live the life", or simply "live life" (lit. "the life lives"). Lyrically, the album contains references to love, life, death and war.


title: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

text: Recording sessions for the album took place from June 2007 to April 2008 and featured production by Jon Hopkins, Rik Simpson, Markus Dravs, and Brian Eno. The album was Coldplay's first to be produced by Eno, and also their first album to not be produced by long-time Coldplay producer Ken Nelson. The band forced themselves to explore new styles, as Eno required every song on the album to sound different. Development of the album delayed the release date several times. The album cover of "Viva la Vida" is the 1830 painting "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix.


text: "Viva la Vida" was both a critical and commercial success. Five songs were released in promotion of the album: "Violet Hill" and "Viva la Vida" in May 2008, "Lovers in Japan" and "Lost!" in November 2008, and "Strawberry Swing" in September 2009. "Viva la Vida" became the band's first song to reach number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It won Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards and was also nominated for Album of the Year. It was the best-selling album of 2008. By 2011, the album had sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. "Viva la Vida" was re-released on 25 November 2008 in a deluxe edition containing the original album and the "Prospekt's March" EP, which contained another hit, "Life in Technicolor II".


text: In October 2006, two weeks after bass guitarist Guy Berryman had a child, reports circulated that the band were taking a five-year hiatus. The new baby, and the fact that Coldplay had no touring or recording schedule at the time, had fans wondering if the band's new album would not be released until 2010. Dispelling such reports, Ambrosia Healy, spokesperson to Capitol Records, sent an e-mail message to MTV saying that there was no self-imposed hiatus. However, Healy clarified that Coldplay was indeed "enjoying a much-deserved break", and that there was no timetable for the follow-up to the band's third studio album, "X&Y".


text: Work on the album began in November 2006, only being interrupted by the Latin American leg of their Twisted Logic Tour in early 2007.


text: Ambient musician and English record producer Brian Eno produced the album. Coldplay moved to "The Bakery", after finishing up their Twisted Logic Tour, building a studio there. The songs written during their time at the studio are lyrically "much more abstract, much more visual than before", and musically "less straight-forward, more oblique". Additionally, lead singer Chris Martin wanted to make a vocal transition from his trademark falsetto to a lower register. This is explored in "Yes", where the main characteristic of the Velvet Underground–inspired song is the lowest vocals Chris Martin ever recorded; this was suggested by the producer Brian Eno, to make every single song sound different. The band's drummer Will Champion said in an interview for MTV: "One of the main things we tried to focus on with this record is changing vocal identities, because Chris has a very recognizable voice." Coldplay sparked an interest with Hispanic influences after having recorded in churches and in Spanish-speaking countries such as in Mexico in North America and Spain in Europe, specifically in Barcelona. However, it was stressed that the influence was not in any specific sound but a general feel to the songs taken as a whole. On their website, the band also described taking acoustic guitars and basic recording equipment to churches and experimenting with particular sounds.


text: Throughout the recording of the album, Coldplay communicated to fans through their website. "Famous Old Painters" and "Glass of Water" were written in late 2007, and they were considering both tracks for the album; however, they were not well received by the producers, though the latter was added to the finalized "Prospekt's March" extended play track listing instead. The album was delayed further, but a December 2007 post gave hints that the recording stage was nearly finished. The article was signed "Prospekt", strengthening rumours that this would be the album's title. While the band completed two more songs ("Lovers in Japan" and "Strawberry Swing"), they denied that the album was called "Prospekt". Martin revealed he had been reading many Charles Dickens novels during the recording process which may have contributed to the strong visual imagery on such tracks as "Violet Hill" and "Cemeteries of London".


text: When asked about why "Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love" had an additional song, bassist Guy Berryman explained that the band had wanted to keep the album concise with a total of ten tracks. Champion followed with, "We just preferred to have less titles and more stuff. The album as a whole has got the most on it, but it's the shortest. We wanted to make it almost impossible for you to not listen to it all in one go."


text: The Italian violinist and composer Davide Rossi collaborated with Coldplay to record strings on his acoustic and electric violin (the latter being capable of reaching notes as low as the upright bass, thus recreating a full orchestra) throughout the album. His strings are featured in six songs: "Viva la Vida" (the song in which his strings are the most used), "Violet Hill", "Life in Technicolor", "42", "Yes" and "Strawberry Swing". Some of the songs they recorded with Rossi didn't make the cut for the album but were released on the "Prospekt's March" EP.


text: On 18 July 2009, two early demos from the "Viva la Vida" recording sessions leaked onto the Internet: the previously unheard "Bloodless Revolution" and a very early version of "Viva la Vida" promotional single "Lovers in Japan". A day later another demo, called "St. Stephen", appeared online. On 20 July 2009, six more demos were leaked: "The Fall of Man", "The Man Who Swears", "The Man Who Swears II" (actually just the second half of "The Man Who Swears"), "First Steps", "Loveless" and "Goodbye and Goodnight". Three other left-off tracks were leaked later into the internet: an instrumental of "Lukas", an unreleased song given to Natalie Imbruglia; "Solid Ground (Until The Water Floats Over)", a song written and performed live in 2006; and an instrumental of "Famous Old Painters".


text: "Viva la Vida" is a rock album, which has been more specifically described as alternative rock, art rock, pop rock, indie pop and art pop, with dream pop influences. Musically, it contrasts with their previous records. The title track uses an orchestra, while "Lovers in Japan" features a tack piano. "Lost!" is influenced by tribal music, whereas "Strawberry Swing" incorporates Afropop music. Martin described "Viva la Vida" as a new direction for Coldplay: a change from their past three albums, which they have referred to as a "trilogy". He said the album featured less falsetto, as he allowed his voice's lower register to take precedence, which is particularly evident on such tracks as "Yes" and "Death and All His Friends".


text: The album contains an array of different themes such as love, war, and revolution. Unlike their previous releases, the album has a more universal approach, dealing less with personal problems and more with issues of humanity. Songs like "Life in Technicolor II" (which didn't make it to the final track list but instead was released on "Prospekt's March") and "Death and All His Friends" talk about war and politics, while "Violet Hill" has been described as the first anti-war protest song from the band. Martin stated the lyrics of "Violet Hill" were a commentary on Fox News. Other songs, such as the double track "Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love" and "Yes", are about love and desire.


text: Revolutionary themes are also an important part of the album and its promotion. Coldplay used customized French revolutionary costumes throughout the "Viva la Vida" Tour and in the videos produced for the album's singles. In an interview for the Latin American TV channel Boomerang in 2010, Martin said that a big inspiration for the record was Victor Hugo's book "Les Misérables—"which can be noted by the French revolution themes on "Viva la Vida", for example.


text: The work of the Beatles is apparently an inspiration throughout the album, starting with orchestration on the title track. The song "Violet Hill", with its distorted guitar riffs and bluesy undertones, references the Beatles' album "Abbey Road" (1969), being named after a street near Abbey Road and borrowing its rhythm from the Beatles. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, when accepting the award for Song of the Year, Will Champion joked: "I'd like to say, first of all, thank you and sorry to Sir Paul McCartney for blatantly recycling the Sgt. Pepper outfits."


text: The artwork for "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" was designed by Coldplay and Tappin Gofton; the latter designed the "X&Y" cover three years earlier. The design style for the album took months to be completed; it was initially developed from a set of large-scale sketches and paintings of expressive typography. Lyrics and song titles were boldly painted across old maps, books, copies of old paintings, newspapers and various sorts of second-hand things. The final work was photographed and some additional typography was later added by computer.


text: Almost all tracks from the album and the "Prospekt's March" EP have one or more graphic images. On the album's booklet there are nine paintings made by the band. The first is a blue map of Brazil that includes part of the lyrics from "Glass of Water" painted in white. However, the image was later reworked and used as the artwork for the "Lost!" single cover. The second painting on the booklet illustrates the song "42". The image consists of part of the song's composition written in a red background, with a black stripe covering the centre. The design for "Cemeteries of London" contains an illustration of London, the song's title and a messy violet background. A portion of the lyrics is used on the top of it. The visual design for "Reign of Love" has its lyrics drawn on a green background. In the middle of the booklet, most of the lyrics of the album are shown amidst an unrecognizable object. The artwork for "Yes" consists of a ripped heart, and a line from the song, "Lord lead me not into temptation". The painting next to the song's artwork contains lyrics from "Viva la Vida" painted in black on a blue background. The artwork for "Death and All His Friends" was made with scissors and paper. Lyrics for the song appear in the design. The last page in the booklet is simple: a Roman numeral of the number 7 painted in red and green on a yellow background. Some of the paintings were shown on a screen during the Viva la Vida Tour, or used on big balloons inside of the venues.


text: There were three covers for the album. The front cover for the standard edition is a painting by Eugène Delacroix, entitled "Liberty Leading the People", which was slightly altered for the cover by using a white paint brush to draw "VIVA LA VIDA". The "Prospekt's March Edition" cover uses the same words again, but they are bigger and painted in gold on a solid black background. The cover for the "Prospekt's March" EP included another Eugène Delacroix painting, "Battle of Poitiers", and had "Prospekt's March" drawn across the painting similarly to how "Viva la Vida" was drawn across "Liberty Leading the People" for the standard album cover. The cover used for the "Asian Tour" edition and has the word "VIVA" painted in red and black stripes against a white background; this same painting was used as the home page for the official Coldplay website for a while, and it was created by the band and painted by the drummer Will Champion on a wall at the studio called The Bakery.


text: In a "Rolling Stone" magazine interview, vocalist Chris Martin announced the album's release date and its title, "Viva la Vida", which is a Spanish phrase that translates into English as "long live life". It takes its name from a painting by Frida Kahlo, an acclaimed 20th-century Mexican artist. The album cover art is an 1830 painting by Eugène Delacroix titled "Liberty Leading the People". On 10 April 2008, a new journal entry appeared on the band's website announcing the track list and release date, as well as hinting at new tracks to be issued before the album's release. "Violet Hill" was confirmed as the first single from "Viva la Vida", with a release date of 5 May. In May 2008, Coldplay featured in an advertisement for Apple's iTunes with the song "Viva la Vida".


text: The band's official website was updated in late April to reveal the official "Viva la Vida" artwork as well as a free release of the single "Violet Hill", which became available for download for one week from 29 April 2008. The album was leaked around 5 June, so the band decided to make the album available to stream via their Myspace profile from 8:30 pm WEST on 6 June. On 25 June 2008, the band became the third band ever to perform on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", performing "42" and "Lost!". On 27 June at 7:00 am EDT, Coldplay began a live outdoor performance for the "Today Show" on the streets outside of Rockefeller Plaza, New York. The band performed on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on 30 June and on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on 17 July.


text: In August 2008, Coldplay announced they would be releasing an EP, "Prospekt's March", consisting of unreleased material from the "Viva la Vida" recording sessions. The album was re-released on 25 November 2008 in a deluxe edition, titled "Viva la Vida – Prospekt's March Edition". It contains tracks from the original album and "Prospekt's March".


text: The stage setup for the Viva la Vida Tour consisted of a stripped-down main stage and two catwalks; Coldplay also performed amongst audience members at the back of venues in a special acoustic set. Instead of a giant video screen on-stage, the band opted for six hanging giant lightbulbs that displayed images and closeups. The band started the tour playing a concert at the Paradiso in the Netherlands, on 5 June 2008, and played their first UK show of the tour at Brixton Academy eleven days later on 16 June. Free shows at Madison Square Garden on 23 June, and they ended the tour in Barcelona. The tour ended in March 2010 in Latin America and consisted of 172 concerts. The tour grossed $116,684,354 ( terms).


text: "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" received generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the album has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated, "They demonstrate a focused concentration throughout this tight album – it's only 47 minutes yet covers more ground than "X&Y" and arguably "A Rush of Blood to the Head" – that turns "Viva la Vida" into something quietly satisfying." Chris Willman of "Entertainment Weekly" magazine rated the album "A−" and called it their best album, while Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian", however, wrote a mixed review, explaining: ""Viva la Vida"s mild tinkering with the formula represents a failure of imagination: perhaps it's hard to think outside the box when the box is the size of the Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena. Equally, however, there's a genuine conviction about its contents, a huge advance both on its predecessor and their legion of imitators." Will Hermes of "Rolling Stone" magazine wrote that "Coldplay's desire to unite fans around the world with an entertainment they can all relate to is the band's strength, and a worthy goal. But on "Viva la Vida", a record that wants to make strong statements, it's also a weakness. Sometimes, to say what needs to be said, you need to risk pissing people off." "Melodic" magazine's critic Kaj Roth gave the album 4/5 and felt that "the typical Coldplay trademark is there too with beautiful atmospheric melodies that will embrace the heart". "Spin" magazine's critic Mikael Wood said in a positive review of the album, "For all of Coldplay's experimentation, though, there's no doubting that "Viva la Vida", with its sturdy melodies and universal themes – think love, war and peace – is an album meant to connect with the masses (arenas have been built for less than the climax of "Death and All His Friends"). The band's triumph lies in how exciting they make that prospect seem". IGN gave the album 9.3/10, while "Q" said: "So some habits die hard, but on every other level Viva La Vida [...] is an emphatic success [...], radical in its own measured way but easy to embrace". Robert Christgau gave it a one-star honorable mention (), saying: "Applying all his powers, Chris Martin successfully dilutes Radiohead, with — what else? Pleasant results".


text: The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards. It appeared in several Best Albums of 2008 lists, including "New York Post" (Number 1), "Rolling Stone" (Number 7), "Q" (Number 3), "Spin" (Number 9), "Entertainment Weekly" (Number 6), and "Billboard" (Number 6). Despite giving the album three stars out of five in "The Times", Pete Paphides admitted in December 2008 that he was wrong to give it this score and had in fact become his favourite album of the year. Conversely, "NME" nominated the album for Worst Album at the 2009 "NME" Awards despite reviewing it with a 8/10 grade.


text: In its first week of release, "Viva la Vida" debuted at number one in 36 countries. It would later become the best-selling album of 2008 worldwide and the best-selling of the decade in the digital download format. The album sold 125,000 copies in its first day of release in the United Kingdom and 302,074 in three days, debuting at number one. During its second week, the record sold another 198,000 copies, achieving a platinum certification. After ten days, "Viva la Vida" surpassed the mark of 500,000 copies, beating the UK first-week sales of Coldplay's third album, "X&Y". As of October 2021, it has sold 1,500,000 copies in the country.


text: It debuted with sales of 41,041 copies in Australia and has since been certified 4× platinum. In Canada, the album debuted at the top of the Canadian Albums Chart with 90,000 copies. It would remain at number one for five consecutive weeks, selling 176,000 copies within the first month and eventually being certified five-times platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. In the United States, it sold 316,000 copies during its first day and 720,000 in its first week, holding down the number-one spot for two weeks and nearly equalling "X&Y's" debut of 737,000 copies. In October 2008, the album got certified double platinum by RIAA for a shipment of over two million copies, and as of August 2011 it has sold 2.8 million copies.


text: Shawn Cooke from "Billboard" considered "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" the "last massive experimental rock album" when writing its tenth-anniversary review, mentioning how "We haven’t seen another super-popular, multi-platinum rock record with a No. 1 single really swing for the fences" ever since. It has also been branded as a transitional release, being "simultaneously the most Coldplay record, but also the most unlike anything they'd done before", as the band continued to explore new musical styles in subsequent albums. After citing them as one of his inspirations, American singer-songwriter and producer Finneas O'Connel noted that "Viva la Vida" is his favourite Coldplay record as well as one of the influences behind Billie Eilish's "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" (2019).


text: All tracks are written by Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin) except where noted.


title: Bandicoot

text: Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipelago to the east and Seram and Halmahera to the west.


title: Bandicoot

text: The bandicoot is a member of the order Peramelemorphia, and the word "bandicoot" is often used informally to refer to any peramelemorph, such as the bilby. The term originally referred to the unrelated Indian bandicoot rat from the Telugu word "pandikokku" (పందికొక్కు).


title: Bandicoot

text: Bandicoots have V-shaped faces, ending with their prominent noses similar to probosces. These noses make them, along with bilbies, similar in appearance to elephant shrews and extinct leptictids, and they are distantly related to both mammal groups. With their well-attuned snouts and sharp claws, bandicoot are fossorial diggers. They have small but fine teeth that allow them to easily chew their food.


title: Bandicoot

text: The embryos of bandicoots have a chorioallantoic placenta that connects them to the uterine wall, in addition to the choriovitelline placenta that is common to all marsupials. However, the chorioallantoic placenta is small compared to those of the Placentalia, and lacks chorionic villi.


title: Bandicoot

text: Bandicoots can reach in length, and in weight. A bandicoot has a long, pointed snout, large ears, a short body, and a long tail. Its body is covered with fur that can be brown, black, golden, white, or gray in color. Bandicoots have strong hind legs well adapted for jumping.


title: Bandicoot

text: Classification within the Peramelemorphia was previously thought to be straightforward, with two families in the order—the short-legged and mostly herbivorous bandicoots, and the longer-legged, nearly carnivorous bilbies. In recent years, however, the situation clearly has become more complex. First, the bandicoots of the New Guinean and far-northern Australian rainforests were deemed distinct from all other bandicoots and were grouped together in the separate family Peroryctidae. More recently, the bandicoot families were reunited in the Peramelidae, with the New Guinean species split into four genera in two subfamilies, Peroryctinae and Echymiperinae, while the "true bandicoots" occupy the subfamily Peramelinae. The only exception is the now-extinct pig-footed bandicoot, which has been given its own family, Chaeropodidae.


title: Bandicoot

text: The name bandicoot is an Anglicised version of a word from the Telugu language of South India which translates as 'pig-rat'. What are now called bandicoots are not found in India and bandicoot was originally applied to completely unrelated mammals—several species of large rats (rodents). Today, these species, belonging to the genera "Bandicota" and "Nesokia", are referred to as bandicoot rats.


title: Bandicoot

text: Blust reconstructs the form *mansar or *mansər 'bandicoot' for Proto-Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (i.e., the reconstructed most recent common ancestor of the Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) from related words like Oceanic Motu and Fijian , but the validity of this reconstruction is doubted by Schapper (2011). It is known as aine in the Abinomn language of Papua, Indonesia.


title: Bandicoot

text: Bandicoots have different names by the indigenous peoples of the Australia-New Guinea region. For example, the Kaurna people refer to the southern brown bandicoot as the "bung" or the "marti".


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Las Vegas is an American comedy-drama television series created by Gary Scott Thompson. It was broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003, to February 15, 2008, airing for five seasons. It focuses on a team of people working at the Montecito, a fictional hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The employees deal with various issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from casino security to restaurant management and valet parking. "Las Vegas" starred James Caan, Josh Duhamel, Nikki Cox, James Lesure, Vanessa Marcil, Molly Sims, Marsha Thomason, and eventually Tom Selleck. The series originally centered on Ed Deline (Caan), a strict ex-CIA officer who serves as the president of operations for the Montecito. Former Marine Danny McCoy (Duhamel), who is Ed's protégé, later becomes the Montecito's new president.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The pilot episode began filming in March 2003, and was produced for $5 million, making it the most expensive pilot in NBC history. Production for a full season began later that year. Much of the series filming occurred at Culver Studios in California, where a set was constructed to represent the Montecito. Some filming also occasionally took place in Las Vegas. The Mandalay Bay and Green Valley Ranch, two hotel-casinos in the Las Vegas Valley, were sometimes used to portray the Montecito.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: "Las Vegas" marked Caan's first starring role in a television series. Thomason left the series after the second season to pursue other projects, and Caan and Cox departed in 2007, after completing season four. Caan wanted to resume his film career, and Cox was let go due to budget cuts, which were needed in order to greenlight a fifth season. After Caan's departure, Selleck was added to the cast as a new character. The series originally aired on Monday nights, before being moved to Friday nights in 2006. Ratings declined following the move, and "Las Vegas" was eventually canceled on February 20, 2008, ending the series with several cliffhangers.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: "Las Vegas" is a comedy drama that focuses primarily on Danny McCoy and his boss Ed Deline. They and others work at the Montecito, a fictional hotel-casino located on the Las Vegas Strip. The employees deal with a variety of issues, such as casino security, restaurant management, and valet parking. Danny, a former U.S. Marine, initially works under the resort's head of security, Ed, a former CIA officer. Early in the first season, Ed is promoted to president of operations. Danny has on-and-off relationships with Mary, a childhood friend; and Delinda, who is Ed's daughter.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The Montecito undergoes several ownership changes during the course of the series. The resort is demolished in the season-two finale in favor of a new Montecito, which opens in the third season under the ownership of Monica Mancuso. Following the end of season four, Ed and Mary go into hiding after killing her father, who sexually abused her as a child. In the fifth season, the Montecito is purchased by A.J. Cooper, a billionaire and former Marine. Danny becomes the new president of operations, and he moves in with Delinda, who is pregnant with their first child.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Various guest stars have appeared on the show, sometimes portraying themselves. Notable guest stars have included Alec Baldwin, Little Richard, Mark McGrath, Sylvester Stallone, Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman, Norm Clarke, Jewel, Wayne Newton and Gladys Knight. Larry Manetti and Roger E. Mosley made a guest appearance in season 5 as characters named Larry and Roger, who are friends of A.J. Cooper. Selleck, Manetti, and Mosley had previously starred on "Magnum, P.I.", and their appearance together in "Las Vegas" marked their first reunion since the ending of "Magnum, P.I." in 1988.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: "Las Vegas" was created by Gary Scott Thompson, who also served as an executive producer. The idea for the series dates back to Las Vegas vacations that Thompson would take in the late 1980s. On one trip, Thompson developed a vision of a dead body laying in the desert, and then "we pan up and there's the Strip 50 yards away. That was what ended up in the pilot, that opening shot, but I couldn't ever figure out what that went to. So I had that thing in my head for 15 years." At various points, Thompson tried developing this idea into a novel or play.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: In 2002, Thompson had been working with NBC on a television pilot for a different series; although this pilot was unsuccessful, NBC officials who worked with Thompson later asked him to create a Las Vegas-based series. At the time, Thompson felt that there was a lack of "fun" and entertaining shows on television, telling NBC that there were too many procedural dramas such as "CSI" and "Law & Order". For "Las Vegas", Thompson was inspired by the city's evolving history and its megaresorts, saying, "If there are 127,000 (hotel) rooms in the city, that means I've got a potential 127,000 stories every week, because everybody's got a story, and so do all the people who live here." The show would be reminiscent of the 1970s series "Vegas". Originally known under the working title "Casino Eye", the new series would also include Scott Steindorff as producer. Initially, Don Johnson was also going to serve as an executive producer, although he ultimately had no involvement in the final project.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: James Caan was among several actors considered for the role of Ed Deline, although the producers were initially unsure that they could get Caan to sign on. Johnson was considered for the role, but turned it down. Caan was cast at the last minute, marking his first starring role in a television series. Caan later said that he took the television role due to a lack of film offers. He also said in 2005 that he had never watched the series. Caan was initially doubtful about starring in a series; he insisted that his role require effort on his part, and that the character be "multidimensional and complex." As originally written, the character would spend much of his time in a surveillance room looking at camera footage. Caan disliked this idea and considered the role limited, saying that Ed Deline should be "more elastic, so there could be some humor." Caan had the role rewritten, allowing his character to spend time outside of the surveillance room. Actress Molly Sims said about Caan, "If the writing's not good, or he doesn't like it, he's very picky, but that's what makes it good. He adds clout to our show." Caan and Sims did not get along for the first two seasons. Approximately 350 women auditioned for the role of Delinda Deline, before it eventually went to Sims.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The character of Danny McCoy was developed by Thompson to be a Las Vegas resident, like himself. He said, "It's a city of almost 2 million people. We wanted to capture not just the Strip. People live here and it's their home, and we wanted to capture that." Nikki Cox's character, Mary, was originally an escort in the pilot episode, although her title was changed to events planner for the rest of the series. According to Sims, "I believe the network felt that it would be 'unseemly' to have your protagonist's girl-next-door sweetheart and the ultimate love of his life be an escort." The part of Nessa was originally written as a 60-year-old man, although Thompson was impressed enough with Marsha Thomason's audition that he rewrote the role for her. Thomason signed a seven-year contract, but later departed the series after the second season, in order to pursue other projects.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Filming for the pilot episode began on March 17, 2003, in the Las Vegas Valley. Filming locations included the Mandalay Bay resort, the Fremont Street Experience, and a warehouse that the production crew used to build a surveillance room set. The pilot cost $5 million, making it the most expensive in NBC history. Filming lasted nearly three weeks, and the pilot was picked up shortly thereafter. Series production began in July 2003, with an eight-day shooting schedule for each hour-long episode. Each episode initially cost $2.3 million to produce, although the budget was gradually raised to $2.7 million as the series progressed.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Although most of the production occurred in California, some filming also occasionally took place in Las Vegas. Filming primarily occurred at Culver Studios in California. Steindorff said that the writers would make regular visits to Las Vegas to "immerse themselves in that world". Thompson said that during these trips, the team would ask real security guards "if it's too far-fetched if we do X, Y and Z. They say, 'Are you crazy? That happens all of the time'".


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The series premiered in September 2003, and its success prompted NBC to greenlight nine additional episodes for the season. The show went over budget in its first season, necessitating the need for an cheap episode that would keep the cast on the Montecito set in California. As a result, an episode was written in which a blackout and a murder occur simultaneously at the Montecito, keeping the characters at the resort. Thompson said, "We were not allowed to have any guest appearances. I thought, 'How do we trap them all in the casino.'" The episode received some criticism from people who doubted that a casino blackout was possible, although such an event occurred at the Bellagio resort a few months after the episode aired.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: To refresh the series, Thompson wrote in the demolition of the Montecito for the end of season two, with a new version of the resort being opened in the third season. In addition, Lara Flynn Boyle was cast as Monica Mancuso, the new owner of the Montecito, in July 2005. For the role, Boyle took inspiration from Shirley MacLaine: "I always daydreamed about being one of the Rat Pack. Shirley MacLaine could really hold her own with [Frank Sinatra and] the boys. I feel the same way — never let them see you sweat or cry."


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Early on, the Culver Studios complex had eight sets that depicted the Montecito resort, including a casino set. Other sets depicted hotel rooms, hallways, elevators, a dance club, and the Montecito's surveillance room. A coffee shop set was added for the second season. Some Montecito scenes were also filmed at the Mandalay Bay, particularly in the casino and at the resort's wave pool. Glenn Schaeffer, the president of Mandalay Resort Group, also made several appearances in early episodes. During season 1, the Green Valley Ranch, a hotel-casino in Henderson, Nevada, was also used to portray the Montecito.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: A new Montecito set was created for the third season, measuring and occupying three stories across six sound stages. The production team incorporated product placement into the set to alleviate its high cost. Among the brands featured in the third season was Aston Martin, which is shown to have a dealership at the Montecito. This was done following the opening of a Ferrari dealership at the new Wynn resort. Thompson wanted the series to feel current with the latest attractions in Las Vegas. A Wolfgang Puck restaurant was also added to the set, and Puck appeared as himself in the series.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: As of season 4, the Montecito set included 146 slot machines and 24 table games. This set went $2 million over budget, but was built in eight weeks to meet the deadline for the start of filming. Exterior shots show the Montecito at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, across the street from the Luxor resort, although the views from interior shots imply different and contradictory locations on the Strip. Ahead of the fifth season premiere, Thompson joked about the Montecito's location, "We're just going to keep moving it around, just to piss people off."


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Season 3 saw a drop in ratings, and "Las Vegas" was only renewed for 17 episodes in its next season, instead of the standard 22. The series was facing cancellation after the premiere of its fourth season. For the season finale, Thompson told NBC, "I'm gonna make this the biggest cliffhanger anyone's ever seen. And if you cancel us, you're gonna have 15 million fans pissed off at you, not me." The fate of a fifth season was contingent on budget cuts. NBC announced a fifth season in February 2007, while stating that Caan and Nikki Cox would depart the series. Caan had wanted to resume film acting; he previously had to pass on several film opportunities due to conflicts with the "Las Vegas" production schedule. Cox was let go from the production due to budget cuts. Although she was upset and surprised by the decision, she had also suggested during season 4 that it may be time for her to move on from the series. Like Cox, Caan's departure would also allow for budget cuts. The writers were caught off-guard by the cast departures, which were announced at the last minute.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Tom Selleck was cast in April 2007, as the Montecito's new owner, A.J. Cooper. "Las Vegas" marked Selleck's first main role on a television series since "Magnum, P.I." Selleck was Thompson's first choice for the role. To prepare, Selleck watched the previous season on DVD. Selleck's character would fill the void left by Caan, while a new female concierge (ultimately played by Camille Guaty) would serve as a replacement for Cox's character. Filming for the fifth season began at the end of April 2007, three months earlier than usual. Production began early to avoid a potential writers strike. Three episodes ultimately went unproduced because of the strike, leaving the season with 19 episodes.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Due to low ratings, NBC canceled the series on February 20, 2008, five days after the airing of the season 5 finale. Thompson said, "I sold my soul to get a Season 5, so I didn't have a soul left to sell. We fought an uphill battle from day one. We were the little big show that could." Thompson said that the series did not receive adequate promotion, and Caan later said that some poor episode plots helped contribute to the show's downfall.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The series ended with several cliffhangers, including the fate of Delinda Deline's unborn baby. In reaction to the cancellation, upset fans sent baby booties and dolls to NBC, demanding a proper ending. Discussions had been held about making a two-hour film to serve as a finale. In the event that a proper resolution should not be possible, Thompson had an alternate plan for Danny McCoy and Delinda Deline to cameo in an episode of "Knight Rider", carrying their newborn. Due to "Knight Rider" cancellation, however, Danny and Delinda's cameo appearance never came to fruition.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Various theme songs have been used for the opening credits, depending on where, how, or when the show has aired. In France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the UK, and other countries, the theme song is "Let It Ride" by Charlie Clouser and Jon Ingoldsby, while in other countries, such as the US and Canada, the theme song is "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley, off of the album "".


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: For American DVD releases, episodes available for viewing on NBC's website and reruns shown on the cable network E!, Clouser's song is used (with the exception of the pilot episode), most likely because the original clearances for use of the Presley song did not extend to syndication and home video sales.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: "Las Vegas" aired on NBC and premiered on September 22, 2003. It originally aired on Monday nights, but was moved to Friday nights starting on March 3, 2006. NBC had acquired the rights to air "NBC Sunday Night Football", through a contract with the National Football League (NFL). The NFL sought to distance itself from the city of Las Vegas, and a clause in the contract prohibited any mention of the city during "Sunday Night Football". This would include next-night promotion of "Las Vegas", prompting the change to Fridays.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The third season ended with several cliffhangers, and the season 4 premiere was delayed twice, eventually premiering on October 27, 2006. This was done in order to give "1 vs. 100", a popular new game show, another Friday night in the timeslot, while providing more time to promote the season premiere of "Las Vegas".


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The American channel TNT purchased the rights to air reruns, beginning in 2007. E! later started airing reruns, in 2020.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: As of October 3, 2022, the digital subchannel COZI TV acquired the broadcast rights to "Las Vegas" and has been airing the show in back to back to back episodes from 11 PM - 2 AM CT/Midnight - 3 AM ET seven nights a week but as of the new acquisition, the opening and closing theme songs have been changed to generic music instead of the original Elvis Presley classic playing "Little Less Conversation" when it originally aired on NBC; this is possibly due to copyright or trademark issues in licensing said music for the program airing on COZI through the Presley Estate.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: All five seasons were released on DVD. The DVDs include extra scenes that were too sexual for network television. These scenes were shot specifically for the DVDs, as Thompson said that extra features helped DVD sales. As of early 2008, the series had sold 500,000 DVD copies in North America, with four seasons available at the time.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Alessandra Stanley of "The New York Times" reviewed the pilot episode. She was critical of Caan's acting, but wrote that the show "manages to be slick, fast-paced and engaging", concluding that it "leaves enough mysteries open to keep viewers coming back for another look". Robert Lloyd of the "Los Angeles Times" described Caan as the show's only "sign of real life", finding the other actors to be attractive but otherwise lacking: "They are not so much characters -- not yet, anyway -- as extensions of their clothes, or cleavage. You don't relate to them so much as simply stare." Lloyd considered the production values to be "extremely high" and wrote, "This may be trash, but it comes in an attractive can."


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Phil Gallo of "Variety" called the series a guilty pleasure and described the tone as "light and unforced", thanks to the actors and "some sharp editing". Reviewing the first season, DVD Talk described "Las Vegas" as a "fast-paced, slick, and attractive television series that rarely takes itself too seriously and never fails to entertain."


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: In a review for the second season, Charlie McCollum of "San Jose Mercury News"/"Contra Costa Times" called "Las Vegas" a guilty pleasure and wrote, "Flashy, often trashy and slickly produced, the drama may be fluff, but it's good, sexy fluff with James Caan on hand to provide a bit of gravitas."


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Originally, "Las Vegas" was not expected to succeed. However, it proved to be a ratings success in its first season, despite competition from "Monday Night Football", "Everybody Loves Raymond", "Joe Millionaire", "Skin", and "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance". Ratings dropped after the series moved to Friday nights in 2006, with episodes averaging less than 9 million viewers. Caan said that the move to Fridays was "like a death sentence."


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: As of early 2008, the series aired in multiple counties. It was popular among viewers in Australia, France, and Spain, but received limited viewership in Germany.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: Below is a table of "Las Vegas" seasonal rankings in the U.S. television market, based on average total viewers per episode. Each U.S. network television season starts in September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: "Las Vegas" had several crossover episodes with the NBC series "Crossing Jordan", starting in the second season. A total of eight crossover episodes were produced between the two shows.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The Montecito has appeared in several other shows — "Heroes", "Knight Rider", "Medium", "Monk", and "Passions" — when characters from those shows visited Las Vegas. Of these, only the daytime soap "Passions" included "Las Vegas" characters in cameo roles: Nikki Cox appeared as Mary Connell.


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The "Las Vegas" episode "The Story of Owe" mentions a Dunder-Mifflin convention, obliquely linking to "The Office".


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: In the episodes "Father of the Bride Redux" and ""Died in Plain Sight"", when Ed Deline travels to Morocco to find and relocate a former CIA asset, the false passport he uses is in the name of Alan Bourdillion Traherne. This is the name of the character he played in the 1966 film "El Dorado".


title: Las Vegas (TV series)

text: The "Las Vegas" tie-in novel "High Stakes Game", by Jeff Mariotte, tells the tale of what could have occurred between the season-two finale and the season-three premiere when the casino was destroyed and rebuilt and the characters briefly went their separate ways. A second novel called "Sleight of Hand", also by Mariotte, was launched in 2007.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mob or Philly Mafia, the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, or Bruno-Scarfo family is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed and based in South Philadelphia, the criminal organization primarily operates in various areas and neighborhoods in Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area (i.e. the Delaware Valley) and New Jersey, especially South Jersey. The family is notorious for its violence, due in particular to its succession of violent bosses and multiple mob wars.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: As the Bruno crime family under the 20-year reign of boss Angelo Bruno (1959–1980), the family enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity. A complex dispute involving disgruntled subordinates and territory claims by New York's Genovese crime family led to Bruno's murder in 1980. The killing marked the beginning of years of internal violence for control of the Philadelphia family, leading to a gradual decline in the family's stability.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Bruno's death led to an internal war for control of the crime family. Bruno was succeeded as boss by his loyal friend, Philip "The Chicken Man" Testa; however, within a year of Bruno's murder, Testa was also murdered, killed in a nail bomb explosion in 1981. When the dust settled from Bruno and Testa's deaths, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo emerged as boss of the crime family. During Scarfo's reign, the family was known as the Scarfo crime family. Scarfo's 10-year reign saw the family grow in power, but also become highly dysfunctional. Unlike Bruno, Scarfo was infamous for his short temper and penchant for violence. Scarfo increasingly involved the family in narcotics trafficking and demanded that all criminals pay a street tax for operating in his territory. Scarfo also did not hesitate to order people murdered over moderate disputes. The dramatic rise in violence attracted increased attention from the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and New Jersey State Police. Increased violence and law enforcement prosecutions also convinced several mobsters to cooperate with the government in order to escape death or prison. Scarfo's downfall came in 1988, when he and most of his top allies were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: With Scarfo's imprisonment, the Mafia hierarchy was convinced that Scarfo was unfit for the position of boss. Once Scarfo was deposed due to rising tensions within the family, John Stanfa was named boss of the Philadelphia family in 1991. However, a faction of young mobsters led by Joey Merlino disputed Stanfa's ascension, and by 1992 another war within the family was underway. The war ended in 1994, when Stanfa and most of his supporters were arrested by the FBI, though internecine fighting continued until 1996 and began to involve violence from outside the family until the early 2000s. Merlino subsequently took control of the family and has allegedly been running the family to varying degrees ever since. Inevitably, the Philadelphia family has been weakened over the past thirty years due to internal violence, government turncoats, and law enforcement action following the passage of the RICO Act. Despite this, the family still remains one of the most active and powerful Mafia groups in the country.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: In the early 20th century, several Italian immigrant and Italian-American South Philadelphia street gangs joined to form what would eventually become the Philadelphia crime family. Salvatore Sabella was the first leader of the group that would later bear his name. They busied themselves with bootlegging, extortion, loansharking, and illegal gambling, and it was during the Prohibition era that Sabella and his crew were recognized as members of the wider Sicilian crime syndicate of New York and Chicago. Sabella retired in late 1931.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: After Sabella's retirement, two of his top lieutenants, John Avena and Giuseppe Dovi, began a five-year war for control of the family. Avena was murdered by members of his own faction on August 17, 1936, and Joseph "Joe Bruno" Dovi became boss of the Philadelphia family.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Dovi had good connections with the Chicago Outfit and the Five Families of New York, and expanded operations to Atlantic City, South Philadelphia, and parts of South Jersey. Narcotics, illegal gambling, loansharking, and extortion activities provided the family's income, and connections to the Genovese and Gambino crime families grew throughout the 1930s and early 1940s.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: On October 22, 1946, Dovi died of natural causes at a New York City hospital, and Joseph Ida was appointed by the Commission to run the Philadelphia family and its rackets.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Joe Ida ran the family throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. Ida and the Philadelphia organization were heavily influenced by the bosses of the Five Families, especially the Genovese crime family, which sought to control the Philadelphia crime family. Vito Genovese, an underboss at the time, assumed control of what would become the Genovese crime family in 1956 after the shooting of former boss Frank Costello, who subsequently retired due to illness. As the Philadelphia family gained more power in Atlantic City and South Jersey, it was viewed merely as a Genovese faction due to the Genoveses' substantial amount of influence over the Philadelphia family at the time. After a 1956 Commission meeting, however, the crime families of Philadelphia and Detroit, headed by Joseph Zerilli, were added to The Commission, establishing the Philadelphia crime family as its own organization independent of control by New York crime families.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Ida and his underboss Dominick Olivetto were present during the infamous 1957 Apalachin Convention with roughly 100 other top mobsters. The meeting was raided by US law enforcement, and over 60 mafiosi were arrested and indicted for association with known organized crime members. Ida was named in the indictment and fled to Sicily not long after the meeting, leaving Antonio "Mr. Migs" Pollina as acting boss in Ida's absence.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: After Ida retired in 1959, and Pollina was demoted, Angelo Bruno was appointed by the Commission to run the Philadelphia family. Bruno, the first boss of Philadelphia with a seat at the Commission, was a close ally of Carlo Gambino, solidifying his position as leader of the Philadelphia Mafia. Bruno used his contacts and his own business mind to maintain respect and power among other Mafia bosses in the country. He expanded the family's profit and operations in Atlantic City, which, due in part to its location within the Philadelphia Metro Area, had naturally become known as the Philadelphia family's turf. Bruno himself avoided the intense media and law enforcement scrutiny and kept violence down. He spent almost three years in prison for refusing to testify at a 1970 hearing on organized crime in the state of New Jersey. After his release, he spent some time in Italy before returning to the United States in 1977.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Bruno had a reputation for seeking peaceful solutions to family issues instead of violence. Bruno oversaw the family's gambling syndicate and preferred more traditional operations such as labor racketeering, loan sharking, numbers games and infiltrating legitimate business. Since the late 1960s, the Philadelphia crime family used violence and intimidation to control various unions in the food and service industry such as Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. The crime family plundered the local's health and welfare funds and used its control to extort money from bars and restaurants. Family members owned or had a controlling interest in many restaurants, bars and social clubs throughout the Philadelphia/South Jersey area. During the early 1960s, the Philadelphia family was officially recognized as the Bruno family.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Bruno focused mostly on low risk crimes and gave his subordinates autonomy as long as he received a share of the profits. He was against any of his men getting involved in narcotics trafficking, fearing the long prison sentences that drug trafficking charges could bring. Many of his men disagreed with this decision, seeing the large profits that could be made. Some mobsters, like Harry Riccobene and Raymond Martorano, ran drug trafficking operations behind Bruno's back. His men were further angered because Bruno accepted money from John Gambino in order to let the Gambino crime family sell heroin on Philadelphia family turf in South Jersey.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Bruno also faced pressure from New York's Five Families to let them have a cut of the business in Atlantic City, a Philadelphia Mafia-controlled city that was at the time transitioning from a city in decline to a gambling mecca. Following its early 20th-century heyday as a respected resort town, Atlantic City had been suffering from a sharp decline in the decades prior to the 1970s. With the introduction of legalized casino gambling, Atlantic City once again became particularly desired turf for organized crime. However, Atlantic City had long been reckoned as a fief of the Philadelphia family. Under longstanding Mafia rules, the Five Families could only come into Atlantic City with the Philadelphia family's permission–something Bruno was unwilling to give.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: On October 15, 1976, Carlo Gambino died of a heart attack. With Gambino gone, Bruno lost his most important ally in the underworld. Many of Bruno's subordinates felt that they were missing out on money because of Bruno's old-fashioned and content ways. His consigliere Antonio Caponigro approached Genovese family boss Frank Tieri in order to seek the Commission's permission to kill Bruno and take over the crime family. Tieri, sensing an opportunity to take Caponigro's North Jersey gambling operation and set up operations in Atlantic City, lied to Caponigro and told him he had the Commission's support. On March 21, 1980, Bruno was shot in the back of the head while in his car in South Philadelphia by a gunman working for Caponigro. That April, Caponigro visited New York City under the assumption that he was going to be confirmed as boss. Instead, he was tortured and murdered for killing a Commission member without permission. Caponigro's co-conspirators Frank Sindone, Alfred Salerno, and John Simone were also murdered for killing a mob boss without the permission of the Commission.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Beginning with Bruno's murder in 1980, a violent struggle for power erupted within the Philadelphia Mafia. Bruno's successor, his former underboss Philip Testa, lasted just under a year as the boss of the family before he was killed by a nail bomb under his front porch on March 15, 1981. Testa's murder was orchestrated by Frank Narducci in yet another attempt to take control of the family. Afterwards, Peter Casella and Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the late Testa's underboss and consigliere respectively, were both vying to take over the family. Violence between the two factions ensued. Scarfo was close with Genovese family consigliere Louis "Bobby" Manna and approached the Genovese hierarchy with his suspicions that Narducci and Casella orchestrated Testa's murder. The Genovese family set up a meeting with Scarfo and Casella, where Casella confessed that Narducci killed Testa so that they could take over the family. Narducci was killed and Casella was banished from the Mob and fled to Florida, leaving Scarfo the major candidate for boss of the family. However, the war continued in spite of, or because of, Scarfo’s apparent nomination to boss.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Nicodemo Scarfo was a powerful Bruno crime family mobster who operated mostly in Atlantic City, New Jersey prior to his accession to boss. Atlantic City witnessed a boom in its economy when it enacted measures allowing casino gambling in the late 1970s. Scarfo was able to expand his power base by infiltrating the expanding construction and service industries in Atlantic City. Despite Atlantic City being turf of the Philadelphia Mafia, Scarfo let the Commission operate in Atlantic City under his discretion in return for their support for him as boss. Scarfo named Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino as his underboss and Frank Monte as his consigliere. Scarfo demoted Bruno's mob captains and replaced them with Phil Leonetti, Lawrence "Yogi" Merlino and Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini Sr., leading to further Mafia warring from disgruntled soldiers who were formerly well-situated under Bruno and Testa's reign but passed over by Scarfo, as well as from Philly Mafia soldiers in South Jersey who were angry that Scarfo was allowing New York gangsters to operate in Atlantic City. Scarfo eventually emerged triumphant despite considerable violent opposition and multiple murders.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: The last person to stand in Scarfo's way was the well-respected, long-time Philadelphia crime family mobster and made man, Harry Riccobene. Believing that Scarfo was an unfit and greedy boss, Riccobene refused to pay his tribute to Scarfo. While Angelo Bruno apparently never asked Riccobene for a regular or unreasonable share of his illicit profits, Scarfo demanded a typical "kick up" tribute, which angered Riccobene, as he did not view Scarfo as a legitimate or appropriate successor to the position of boss. With Scarfo off the street serving a brief prison term in Texas, the "Riccobene War" ensued between 1982 and 1984 as part of the larger First Philadelphia Mafia War in the 1980s. The Scarfo faction was able to kill three of Riccobene's men. The Riccobene faction was able to kill Scarfo's consigliere Frank Monte, while Riccobene himself survived two attempts on his life. In 1984, the two gunmen in the Monte murder, along with Riccobene's brother, were arrested and agreed to cooperate with authorities. They testified at trial that Riccobene ordered Monte's murder. Riccobene was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, ending the war.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: When Nicodemo Scarfo became Boss, he wanted to unify organized crime in the area and dreamed of running a smooth criminal empire. He soon installed a "street tax" on Philadelphia/South Jersey criminals. Although financially extorting criminals is a common Mafia racket, it was a somewhat alien practice in Philadelphia. Enforced by soldiers and associates of the family, the tax was paid by criminals working independently from the Mafia. Criminals such as drug dealers, bookmakers, loan sharks, pimps, and number runners operating in territory that Scarfo deemed his own were forced to pay his street tax weekly. Those who refused to pay the tax were usually murdered. Loan shark, drug dealer and pawn shop owner John Calabrese was killed by Joseph Ciancaglini Sr., Tommy DelGiorno, Frank Iannarella and Pat Spirito. Frankie "Flowers" D'Alfonso was brutally beaten by Salvatore Testa and Joey Pungitore for refusing to pay the street tax. He was later murdered in 1985.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: The crime family's biggest racket was the control of labor unions. During Bruno's and Scarfo's reigns, the Philadelphia crime family maintained some degree of influence over Roofers Union Local 30, Iron Workers Union Local 405, Laborers Union Local 332 and Teamsters Union Locals 107, 158, 331 and 837. The crime family used this influence to extort businesses, steal from the union treasuries and receive paychecks and benefits for little to no work.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Scarfo also got the crime family heavily involved in methamphetamine trafficking, which was the drug of choice in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area. At first, the family extorted money from local meth dealers. When Greek-American gangster Chelsais Bouras, boss of the Philadelphia Greek Mob, began intruding on the methamphetamine trade in Philadelphia and refused to pay Scarfo's street tax, Scarfo had him killed. Although the Philadelphia Greek Mob has long been a close ally and partner with the Philadelphia Italian crime family, and despite the fact that some Philadelphia Italian crime family members were themselves involved in Bouras's methamphetamine trafficking ring, the hot-headed and ruthless Nicky Scarfo decided to send a message to all local crime organizations about respecting the street tax and the primacy of the Philadelphia crime family by having Bouras killed in public. Bouras was eating dinner with his girlfriend, friends and Scarfo soldier Raymond Martorano when a hit team ambushed and killed Bouras and his girlfriend.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: The Philadelphia crime family then started controlling the meth trade in the area by supplying illicit P2P (the key meth ingredient) to meth manufacturers. By controlling the supply of P2P the Philadelphia crime family was generally able to control the methamphetamine trade in the Philadelphia/South New Jersey area. Some criminals borrowed money from Mafia members to finance meth operations (and benefited from working with the Mafia instead of being extorted by them). The crime family also had some involvement in cocaine and marijuana trafficking.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Scarfo became notorious for his ruthless, paranoid nature. Scarfo demanded complete allegiance to him and ordered people murdered over signs of disrespect, insubordination or resistance. Described by a former crime family member:


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Soon after his promotion to boss, the number of organized crime-related murders escalated in the 1980s. Philadelphia mobster turned government witness Nicholas Caramandi described Scarfo's violent nature in a 2001 interview:


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Scarfo had recently inducted member Pasquale "Pat the Cat" Spirito murdered in 1983. During the Riccobene War, Spirito switched sides and aligned himself with Scarfo, but was killed for turning down a murder contract on Riccobene's brother. But Scarfo's downfall began on September 14, 1984, when Scarfo loyalist Salvatore Testa was murdered. Despite Testa serving faithfully under Scarfo and committing several murders on his behalf, Scarfo granted his underboss Salvatore Merlino permission to kill Testa for breaking off his engagement with Merlino's daughter. After this, other members and families saw Scarfo as untrustworthy and paranoid. He also started to earn a negative reputation within his organisation, which led to members turning informant in the late 1980s.After Merlino's drinking problem got out of hand, Scarfo demoted him to soldier and promoted his nephew Phil Leonetti as his new underboss.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: In November 1988, Scarfo and 16 of his men were convicted of racketeering, 10 murders, 5 attempted murders, extortion, gambling and narcotics trafficking. Along with Scarfo, underboss Philip Leonetti, three of the family's four capos or captains, Joseph Ciancaglini, Francis Iannarella Jr. and Santo Idone, and soldiers such as Albert Pontani, Salvatore Merlino and Charles Iannece were arrested. The prosecutions were strengthened by Mafia members Tommy DelGiorno and Nicholas "Nicky Crow" Caramandi agreeing to cooperate with law enforcement and testify at trial for the government in order to escape long prison terms and Scarfo's ruthless regime. Fifteen of the defendants received prison sentences ranging from 30 to 55 years, including Scarfo.


title: Philadelphia crime family

text: Leonetti was the next defector who agreed to cooperate with the FBI after being sentenced to 45 years in prison. Many more mobsters would later be sentenced to long prison terms for crimes such as racketeering, narcotics trafficking and murder. This caused the number of Mafia members in the family to dwindle in the 1990s, with fewer new guys available to replace all those being convicted of serious crimes. By 1990, 21 members were incarcerated, 11 were under indictment and six turned government witnesses. The Pennsylvania Crime Commission reported that there were only 24 members who were free and not facing criminal charges.