A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison",^[1] sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con".^[2] Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed "convicts". Ex-convict (or short: ex-con) is a common way of referring to a person who has been released from prison.

The legal label of "ex-convict" has much wider lifelong implications, so the person may suffer long-term handicaps and social stigma, including restricting access to certain categories of employment. In the Australian context, the Federal government generally will not employ an ex-convict, but some other state organizations may or may not have a time limit restricting employment.

Historical usage[link]

The particular use of the term "convict" in the English-speaking world was to describe the huge numbers of criminals, both male and female, who clogged British gaols in the 18th and early 19th century. Their crimes would today be regarded as petty misdemeanours (stealing small items or food), or are no longer in the criminal code (such as being in debt). Most of the punishments at this time were severe, with the death penalty applied for fairly minor crimes. However, this ultimate sentence was often commuted to a lesser one, commonly for transportation (for 7 or 14 years, or for life) to the "colonies". Thus, in the British context, the term "convict" has come to refer in particular to those criminals transported overseas.

Initially many British convicts were sent to the American colonies, such as the Province of Georgia, as cheap labour. The transportation of convicts from the United Kingdom began around 1615 and became increasingly common in the following years. Initially most people were transported to North America or the West Indies. From 1718 onwards transportation was entirely to North America. The arrangements ceased when the War of Independence meant it was no longer possible for the United Kingdom to send convicts to North America.

The British Government then looked to the newly discovered east coast of Australia to use as a penal colony. Convicts were transported to Australia in 1787, arriving in Botany Bay, then Sydney Cove, in January 1788. From the very start of European settlement convicts were used as indentured labourers in five out of the six colonies. Many were used on public works, but a significant number were "assigned" to private individuals as domestic servants, rural workers, etc. Transportation was progressively abolished from 1853, eventually ceasing altogether in 1868.

In Australia, convicts have come to be key figures of cultural mythology and historiography. Many became prominent businesspeople and respected citizens, and some prominent families in present-day Australian society can trace their origins to convict ancestors who rose above their humble origins. However, during the transportation era and for many years after, previous convicts and their descendants tended to hide their former criminal background, sometimes resulting in distorted or completely missing family history. Extensive and comprehensive records kept on every individual are now able to fill in the gaps; and, in fact, many family historians can find out more about their convict ancestors than they can about those who arrived in Australia as free settlers.

British convicts were also sent to Canada and India. France also sent convicts to French Guiana and New Caledonia. Russian criminals who were shipped to Siberia can arguably be regarded as convicts.

See also[link]

• Convicted felon
• Convict lease
• Convict assignment
• Convicts in Australia
• Penal transportation

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: convicts

Look up convict in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Convict life - State Library of NSW
• Convict Transportation Registers database
• http://crimemagazine.com/PrisonsParole/thewalls.htm

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since October 2010. It includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Tagged since October 2010. It relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Tagged since September 2008.

Griselda Blanco (born February 15, 1943) is a former drug lord for the Medellín Cartel, and was a pioneer in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Biography[link]

Blanco was born on 15 February 1943 on the north coast of Colombia, and moved to Medellín when she was three years old. In the film Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin' with the Godmother, Blanco's former lover, Charles Cosby, recounts how Griselda, at age 11, allegedly kidnapped, tried to ransom, and eventually shot a child from the upscale flatland neighborhood near her hillside slum neighborhood.^[1][2] By her preteens, she had become a pickpocket, and at the age of 14 she ran away from her physically abusive mother and resorted to prostitution for a few years in Medellín,^[1][2] until age 20. She married her first husband, Carlos Trujillo at that time, and bore him three sons: Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo.^[3][4]

In the mid-1970s, Blanco and her second husband, Alberto Bravo, emigrated to the United States, settling in Queens, New York. They established a sizable cocaine business there, and in April 1975, Blanco was indicted on federal drug conspiracy charges along with 30 of her subordinates, at that time the biggest cocaine case in history. She fled to Colombia before she could be arrested, but in the late 1970s she returned to Miami.^[1][2]

Blanco was involved in much of the drug-related violence known as the Cocaine Cowboy Wars that plagued Miami in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when cocaine supplanted marijuana.^[5] Her distribution network, which spanned the United States, brought in US$8 million per month.^[1] Blanco's violent business style brought government scrutiny to South Florida, leading to the demise of her organization and the free-wheeling, high profile Miami drug scene of those times. She is suspected of having masterminded over 200 murders during this time in Dade County.^[5]

In 1984, Blanco's willingness to use violence against her Miami competitors, or anyone who displeased her, led her rivals to make repeated attempts to kill her. She moved to California to escape the assassination attempts. On 20 February 1985, she was arrested by DEA agents in her home. Held without bail, Blanco was sentenced to more than a decade in jail. She continued to run her cocaine business while in jail. By pressuring one of her lieutenants, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office obtained sufficient evidence to indict her for three murders. However, the case collapsed, largely due to technicalities and Blanco was released from prison and deported to Colombia in 2004.^[1] Her whereabouts are unknown, but she was last seen in Bogota Airport in 2007 where a photo was taken of her.^[2]

Blanco bore her youngest son, Michael Corleone, with Dario Sepulveda. Dario left Blanco in 1983 and returned to Colombia, kidnapping Michael when he and Griselda disagreed about who would take custody. Blanco paid to have Dario assissinated in Colombia, and had her son returned to her in Miami.^[2][6][7] According to a report in Miami New Times, "Michael's father and older siblings were all killed before he reached adulthood. His mom was in prison for most of his childhood and teenage years, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother and legal guardians."^[8]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Smitten, Richard (1 November 1990). The Godmother: the true story of the hunt for the most bloodthirsty female criminal of our time. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-70193-2. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. http://replay.web.archive.org/20090207084259/http://www.richardsmitten.com/godmother.html. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 

External links[link]

• Cosby, Charles. "Charles Cosby: From Early Childhood to Cocaine and Hustlin’". Charles Cosby. Charles Cosbyat theblogunion.wordpress.com. Meeting Griselda Blanco. 

 | url = http://theblogunion.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/charles-cosby-from-early-childhood-to-cocaine-and-hustlin%E2%80%99/

• Washington Post: Drugs
• Red Orbit: Cocaine 'Godmother' Released From Prison
• Female Scarface

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

General Levy (born Paul Levy, 28 May 1971, London, England) is a British born ragga vocalist, regularly employed on studio tracks by drum and bass DJs. He is best known for the track "Incredible" which he recorded with M-Beat.

Biography[link]

General Levy's first major releases were with the independent record label, Fashion Records, who signed a distribution deal with London Records for the re-releases of the tracks he had recorded. He had earlier releases with the record producers Lloydy Crucial and Robbo Ranx, but these were mainly tracks that were hits on the underground dance scene. General Levy was ostracised by the UK jungle scene in 1994, due to comments he made relating to his collaboration with M-Beat on "Incredible".^[1] He had claimed in an interview with The Face that "I run jungle at the moment". Many^[who?] argued that certain artists were lambasted, while other artists are able to communicate their feelings without any backlash. "Incredible" was featured in the film Ali G Indahouse.

General Levy introduced and popularized the slang word "booyaka" which has been attributed to "the closest sound to a gunshot", but which Levy claims is a salutation in the jungle scene. "Booyaka" was the catch-phrase that the character Ali G adopted in the film, Ali G Indahouse. General Levy briefly collaborated with Rocco Barker of Flesh for Lulu in the band The Space Police. Levy also featured on the song "Only God Can Judge Me" by R&B singer Mark Morrison.

He collaborated with Madness singer Suggs on his 1998 album The Three Pyramids Club, on the track "Girl".

Levy featured on many sound systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as Java and Tippatone Sound.^{[citation needed]}

Single discography[link]

• "Monkey Man" (1993) - UK #75
• "Incredible" (1994) - UK #39 †
• "Incredible" (1994) (remix) - UK #8 †
• "Shake (What Ya Mama Gave Ya)" (2004) - UK #51 ‡
• "Bring It On" (Dancehall Party Riddim) (2007) ¶

† Credited to M-Beat featuring General Levy
‡ Credited to General Levy vs Zeus featuring Bally Jagpal
¶ Credited as Ragga Meridional Crew
^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• General Levy discography at Discogs

Охуенный мужЫг!

Joseph Prince (born May 15, 1963, Singapore) is the senior pastor of New Creation Church in Singapore, one of Asia's biggest churches.^[1] He was one of the young pioneers who founded the church in 1983.^[2]

Background[link]

Joseph Prince, the son of a Sikh priest of Indian origin and a Chinese mother, ^[3]spent his primary school years in Perak, Malaysia.^[3]

Prince changed his birth name to Joseph Prince during his previous occupation as an IT consultant. ^[3]

Prince has been invited to preach at churches in Australia, London, USA, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, South Africa and Indonesia.^[4] Notably, he was invited to preach at the Grace & Favour Seminar at Hillsong Church^{[1][dead link]} Sydney and Hillsong London^[5] in 2006. In 2007 and 2008, he was invited to speak at the Hillsong Conferences in Sydney and London. In 2009, he was invited to speak, alongside Joel Osteen from Lakewood Church, at the 2 Days of Hope Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[6]

Prince's TV program "Destined to Reign" is broadcast in more than 150 countries. ^[7] His broadcast program is also streamed online through Internet and podcasts for viewers.^[8]

Prince publishes books, CDs and DVDs.^[9] In 2007, his book Destined to Reign: The Secret to Effortless Success, Wholeness and Victorious Living, which contains teachings from his ten years of preaching from 1997 to 2007, was published in Singapore ^[10] and the US. Six months after the book's US release, it was listed as one of Christian Retailing's Top 100 Books.^[11] In 2010, Prince's latest book "Unmerited Favor" was published worldwide by Charisma House.^[12]

Prince was featured in the cover story of the June 2010 issue of the Charisma (magazine), which covered his preaching and teaching ministry.^[13]

On October 29th 2011, Prince ministered in the US for the first time at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. He also preached at two more services the day after.

Questions about his church salary[link]

In 2004, Prince asked New Creation Church to stop paying him a salary. The church's council members,however, refused his request.^[14][15]

On 5 October 2008, in an interview with The Sunday Times, Prince, the executive chairman of the church council, while acknowledging that he was "well-paid", added that "money doesn't have a hold on me". He dismissed allegations that his salary was $50,000 a month, saying "It could have been $50,000 if I had not voluntarily taken all the pay cuts through the years. There was a system of payment that would actually enrich me greatly but as the church grew, I refused to accept that system of payment."^[3]

On 30 March 2009, The Straits Times reported that a check revealed that New Creation Church paid one employee between $500,001 and $550,000 in its last financial year of 2008. Singapore's Code of Governance for charities ^[16] requires all charities and non-profit organizations in Singapore to disclose top executives' salaries to the Commissioner of Charities. While the church would not confirm that the amount in question had been paid to Prince, church officials told The Straits Times that the church's policy is to "recognise and reward key contributors to the church and Senior Pastor Prince is the main pillar of our church's growth and revenue."The New Creation Church's income was reported to be $55.4 million for the financial year ending March 2008.^[17]

On 7 June 2010, The Straits Times and Channel News Asia reported that Joseph Prince has not been on the church payroll since 2009.^[14][15]

Personal life[link]

Joseph Prince is married to Wendy Prince.^[3] They have a daughter, Jessica Shayna Prince, and a son Justin David Prince^[18]

References[link]

External links[link]

• New Creation Church
• Joseph Prince Ministries
• Practice Grace