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Richard Basciano
Richard Basciano (July 16, 1925 – May 1, 2017) was an American property developer active in New York City and Philadelphia.Forum Theater almost completely razed; neighbors next in line, by Alex Rudinski, Philadelphia Real Estate Blog, 1 March 2013 Basciano was born in 1925 in Baltimore, Maryland, where his father was a professional boxer. In the 1960s, Basciano began selling pornography around New York in partnership with Gambino crime family mobster Robert DiBernardo. In the 1970s and 1980s, Basciano's real estate empire was centered on the Show World Center, New York's largest and oldest sex emporium. He was dubbed the "porn king of Times Square" in press reports.The Fading Neon of Times Square's Sex Shops;Elusive, Undisputed King of Midtown Pornography May Be Forced Out of Business, by Dan Barry, New York Times, 28 October 1995 Perhaps his best-known property in Philadelphia was the Forum Theatre, an adult theatre. In early June 2013, a building controlled by Basciano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Property Developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. Real estate developers are the people and companies who coordinate all of these activities, converting ideas from paper to real property. Real estate development is different from construction or Home construction, housebuilding, although many developers also manage the construction process or engage in housebuilding. Developers buy land, finance real estate deals, build or have builders build projects, develop projects in joint ventures, and create, imagine, control, and orchestrate the process of development from beginning to end.New York Times, March 16, 1963, "Personality Boom is Loud for Louis Lesser" Developers usually take the greatest risk in the creation or renovation of real estate and receive the greatest rewards. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is the urban core of the Philadelphia metropolitan area (sometimes called the Delaware Valley), the nation's Metropolitan statistical area, seventh-largest metropolitan area and ninth-largest combined statistical area with 6.245 million residents and 7.379 million residents, respectively. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Americans, English Quakers, Quaker and advocate of Freedom of religion, religious freedom, and served as the capital of the Colonial history of the United States, colonial era Province of Pennsylvania. It then played a historic and vital role during the American Revolution and American Revolutionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-largest metropolitan area in the country at 2.84 million residents. The city is also part of the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area, which had a population of 9.97 million in 2020. Baltimore was designated as an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851. Though not located under the jurisdiction of any county in the state, it forms part of the central Maryland region together with the surrounding county that shares its name. The land that is present-day Baltimore was used as hunting ground by Paleo-Indians. In the early 1600s, the Susquehannock began to hunt there. People from the Province of Maryland established the Port of Baltimore in 1706 to support the tobacco trade with Europe and established the Town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gambino Crime Family
The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group, which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957, is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963, when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, fraud, hijacking, and fencing. The family was one of the five families that were founded in New York after the Castellammarese War of 1931. For most of the next quarter-century, it was a minor player in organized crime. Its most prominent member during this time was its underboss Albert Anasta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert DiBernardo
Robert "DiB" DiBernardo (May 31, 1937 – June 5, 1986) was an American caporegime in the Gambino crime family, who was reputed to control much of the commercial pornography in the US. During the 1984 US presidential election, publicity about DiBernardo having rented business premises from the husband of Geraldine Ferraro embroiled her in damaging media innuendo about organized crime. By some accounts, DiBernardo was the most dominant figure behind the US adult film industry in his era. He was a relatively capable businessman who did not have a reputation for involvement in violence, but his Mafia links deterred potential competitors and warded off other criminals. He became immensely influential in the US pornography business, and an associate of Reuben Sturman. Whether DiBernardo's relationship with Sturman and others was based on extortion or mutual advantage was never established. DiBernardo was seen as a phenomenal money maker, secretive, and a lone operator (unlike most M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th Streets. Times Square is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as businesses offering 24/7 service. One of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, it is also the hub of the Broadway theatre, Broadway Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Squ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
22nd And Market Building Collapse
On June 5, 2013, a building undergoing demolition collapsed onto the neighboring Salvation Army Thrift Store at the southeast corner of 22nd and Market streets in Center City Philadelphia, trapping a number of people under the rubble. The store was open and full of shoppers and staff. Seven people died and fourteen others were injured in the incident. The construction contractor, Griffin Campbell, and the building's excavator operator, Sean Benschop, were subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter and other charges. They were found guilty of manslaughter, and Campbell and Benschop received prison sentences of 15 to 30 years, and 7.5 to 15 years, respectively. Background 2138 Market Street, an unoccupied four-story building, had been under demolition by Griffin Campbell Construction for several weeks prior to the collapse. This property is owned by Richard Basciano through his development corporation, STB Investments. 2138 Market was adjacent to the one-story 2140 Marke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adult Entertainment
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related services, such as prostitution, strip clubs, host and hostess clubs, and sex-related pastimes, such as pornography, sex-oriented men's magazines, women's magazines, pornographic film, sex movies, sex toys, and Sexual fetishism, fetish or BDSM paraphernalia. Sex channels for television and Prepayment for service, pre-paid sex movies for video on demand, are part of the sex industry, as are adult movie theaters, sex shops, peep shows, and strip clubs. The sex industry employs millions of people worldwide, mainly women. These range from the Sex worker, sex worker, also called adult service provider (ASP), who provides sexual services, to a multitude of support personnel. Etymology The origins of the term ''sex industry'' are uncertain, but it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gentrified
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has been used to describe a wide array of phenomena, sometimes in a pejorative connotation. Gentrification is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the economic value of a neighborhood, but can be controversial due to changing demographic composition and potential displacement of incumbent residents. Gentrification is more likely when there is an undersupply of housing and rising home values in a metropolitan area. The gentrification process is typically the result of increasing attraction to an area by people with higher incomes spilling over from neighboring cities, towns, or neighborhoods. Further steps are increased investments in a community and the related infrastructure by real estate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
