The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (July 2008)

Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ("being on death row"), even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists. After individuals are found guilty of an offense and sentenced to death, they remain on death row during appeal and habeas corpus procedures, and if those are unsuccessful, until execution. Due to the complex, expensive, and time-consuming appeals procedures mandated in some jurisdictions, e.g. the United States, before an execution can be carried out, prisoners may wait years before execution; the time between sentencing and execution has increased relatively steadily between 1977 and 2010, including a 22% jump between 1989 and 1990 and a similar jump between 2008 and 2009. In 2010, a death row inmate waited an average of 178 months (or close to 15 years) between sentencing and execution. ^[1] Nearly a quarter of deaths on death row in the U.S. are due to natural causes.^[2]

Opponents of capital punishment claim that a prisoner's isolation and uncertainty over his or her fate constitute a form of mental cruelty and that especially long-time death row inmates are liable to become mentally ill, if they are not already. This is referred to as the death row phenomenon. In extreme cases some inmates may attempt suicide.

In the United Kingdom, the convicted were given one appeal of their sentence. If that appeal was found to involve an important point of law it was taken up to the House of Lords and at that point the sentence was changed to life in prison.^[3] In some Caribbean countries which still authorize execution, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the ultimate court of appeals. It has upheld appeals by prisoners who have spent several years under sentence of death, stating that it does not desire to see the death row phenomenon emerge in countries under its jurisdiction. Haiti continued^{[citation needed]} the conventional 'reprieved if not executed within 90 days' process adopted by Britain before its abolition (Haiti later abolished the death penalty in 1987).^[4]

United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute houses the male death row prisoners sentenced by the U.S. federal government

San Quentin State Prison houses the male death row prisoners sentenced by the U.S. state of California

Allan B. Polunsky Unit houses the male death row prisoners sentenced by the U.S. state of Texas

Louisiana State Penitentiary, which houses the male death row prisoners sentenced by the State of Louisiana

The Mississippi State Penitentiary, which houses male death row prisoners sentenced by the State of Mississippi

Oklahoma State Penitentiary, which houses male death row prisoners sentenced by the state of Oklahoma

There were approximately 3,189 people on death row in the United States as of Jan 1, 2012 (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf). Since 1977, the states of Texas (464), Virginia (108) and Oklahoma (94) have executed the most death row inmates. ^[5] As of 2010, California (683), Florida (390), Texas (330) and Pennsylvania (218) housed more than half of all inmates pending on death row. As of 2008, the longest-serving prisoner on death row in the U.S.A. who has been executed was Jack Alderman who served over 33 years. He was executed in 2008.^[6] However, Alderman only holds the distinction of being the longest-serving executed inmate so far. A Florida inmate, Gary Alvord, arrived on Florida's death row before Alderman arrived on Georgia's death row and, on 9 April 2009, Alvord had been on death row for exactly 35 years,^[7] longer than any other United States death row inmate. The oldest prisoner on death row in the United States was Leroy Nash, age 94, in Arizona. He died of natural causes on February 12, 2010.

Death row locations in the United States[link]

Notes: ¹Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar is the only facility in the United States Department of Defense designated to house female Level III inmates.
²Last death sentence reversed in 2007.

See also[link]

	Criminal justice portal
	Law portal

• Live from Death Row
• The Green Mile
• The Chamber
• Dead Man Walking
• Capital punishment
• List of United States death row inmates
• List of exonerated death row inmates
• Execution chamber

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Death Row Inmates Pictures." AOL News
• "The Management of Death-Sentenced Inmates: Issues, Realities, and Innovative Strategies" - Missouri Department of Corrections
• Death Row Inmates Tony Medina
• Deathrow - The last resort

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1. REDIRECT West Memphis Three

Thomas Arthur may refer to:

• Thomas Arthur (physician) (1593–c. 1666), Irish Roman Catholic physician
• Thomas Arthur (VC) (1835–1902), recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Thomas Arthur (dramatist) (died 1532), English divine and dramatist
• Tom Arthur (politician) (1883–1953), Australian politician
• Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally (1702–1766), French soldier
• Thomas Arthur (Iowa), justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
• Tom Arthur (1906–1986), Welsh international rugby union player

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Thomas Arthur"
• All pages with titles containing "Thomas Arthur"
• Arthur Thomas (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Vybz Kartel
Background information
Birth name	Adidja Palmer
Born	(1976-01-07) 7 January 1976 (age 36) Kingston, Jamaica
Origin	Portmore, Jamaica
Genres	Reggae, Dancehall, Reggae fusion
Occupations	Deejay, songwriter, entrepreneur, lyricist, producer
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Adidjaheim Records
Associated acts	Beenie Man, Aidonia, Elephant Man, Ninjaman, The Alliance, Portmore Empire, Major Lazer & Popcaan, Kano, Vanessa Bling
Website	www.vybzkartel.co.uk

Adidja Palmer (born 7 January 1976)- ^[1][2][3] better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall artist, songwriter and businessman. He has many nicknames, including: Addi, The Teacher, World Boss, Kartel, Vybz, Gaza General and Gaza Don.

Biography[link]

Adidja Palmer began his career as a teenager in 1993 with his first recording "Love Fat Woman", released on Alvin Reid's label "One Heart", using the moniker "Adi Banton", a homage to Buju Banton.^[4] Palmer was later part of the three-member group "Vybez Cartel", keeping the slightly altered name after group split up, and became a protege of Bounty Killer, for whom he claims to have written nearly 30 songs, including "Gal Clown".^[5]

Vybz Kartel rose to prominence in 2003 after a string of hits in Jamaica. The year culminated in a pre-planned on-stage clash with Ninjaman at the annual dancehall festival Sting in Kartel's hometown of Portmore. The clash turned violent when Kartel's crewmembers, as well as Kartel himself, threw punches and assaulted Ninjaman onstage.^[6] While Kartel's manager initially blamed Ninjaman for the fracas,^[6] Kartel himself quickly apologised to Ninjaman and Sting organizers for the fracas.^[7] Four days after the incident, the two artists appeared before the press to announce a settlement of their differences and to end any animosity.^[8]

He established his own label Adidjahiem/Notnice Records with his business partner and producer Ainsley "Notnice" Morris.^[9] In 2010, he released his album Pon Di Gaza 2.0 on Adidjahiem/Notnice Records in collaboration with Tads Record Inc.^[10] In Spring 2011, Vybz Kartel released an album entitled 'Kingston Story' with Brooklyn hip hop/electro producer Dre Skull.^[11]

Kartel has worked on collaborations and remixes with hip hop and R&B musicians Jay-Z, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, M.I.A, Pharrell, Kardinal Offishall, Akon, Jim Jones, Lil Wayne and Eminem.

In 2009 he had succeeded internationally with his hit song featuring a popular female Jamaican Deejay 'Spice' - "Ramping Shop" debuting on the Billboard Top 100 Singles charts,^[12] and "Dollar Sign" being in regular rotation on urban radio stations in the US.^[13] His 2010 single "Clarks" was one of his biggest international successes, remaining in the top 3 Reggae Singles gaining the most radio plays in North America for 40 weeks.^[14] "Clarks" was also featured on the TV series So You Think You Can Dance Canada,^[15] and on a CNN segment on dancehall dance.^[16] MTV's Vice Guide to Dancehall featured Kartel at his weekly dance party, Street Vybz Thursday.^[17]

After splitting with Bounty Killer-led Alliance in 2006, Kartel founded the Portmore Empire, a group of dancehall deejays and singers from his Portmore neighborhood that he signed to his newly founded Adidjahiem/Notnice Records. Members of the group as of 2011 were: Popcaan, Shawn Storm, Sheba, Gaza Indu, Tommy Lee, Singing Maxwell, Singa Blinga, Lenny Mattic. Former members include Lisa Hype,^[18] Gaza Kim,^[19] Black Ryno,^[20] Jah Vinci, Dosa Medicine and Merital Family^[21].

Feud with Mavado[link]

Towards the end of 2006, Vybz Kartel left The Alliance. Tensions arose following Kartel's continued association with Bounty Killer's longtime enemy, Beenie Man, including Kartel attending Beenie Man's wedding to Bounty Killer's ex-girlfriend D'Angel.^[22] Due to Kartel's defection from The Alliance and his 'parring' (fraternising) with Beenie Man, a series of songs and counteraction songs ensued - the main proponents being Kartel and Mavado.

A very public feud between Vybz Kartel and former collaborator Mavado arose towards the end of 2006, stemming from Vybz' much publicized departure from the dancehall conglomerate group The Alliance. The feud resulted in numerous diss tracks released, in which each artist dissed the other and their associates over popular dancehall rhythms.^[23] In a police-overseen press conference in March 2007, both Mavado and Vybz Kartel publicly announced an end to hostilities and apologized to fans.^[24]

However, by the summer of 2008, tensions flared with a renewal of "diss tracks" from each artist, and a lyrical clash between the two at Sting 2008 left mixed views as to the "winner".^[25][26] Most of 2009 saw a continuation of the public feud, which dominated Jamaican media and, to a certain extent, Jamaican culture, with the two artists' factions, Gaza (Kartel) and Gully (Mavado), being adopted by Jamaican youth, in some cases leading to street violence.^[27][28]

On 8 December 2009, Kartel and Mavado met with Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding in an attempt to end the feud, which had by that time fueled mob attacks in some of the inner-city neighborhoods of Kingston.^[29] The two had performed together on-stage the previous night in a sign of goodwill at the West Kingston Jamboree, a concert promoted by drug lord^[30] Christopher "Dudus" Coke.^[23] After the truce in December 2009, the two artists were scheduled to perform a unity concert March 2010 in Barbados, which was later cancelled by the prime minister of that country.^[31]

Business[link]

In 2008, Vybz Kartel launched his own liquor line Street Vybz Rum. He hosts a weekly dance party Street Vybz Thursday, at the Building, Kingston nightclub he manages with Street Vybz Rum business partner Corey Todd.^[32] The rum is officially distributed by Vybz Distillers Limited. The same year, he also released his own condom line, Daggering Condoms.^[33] Kartel's goal for 2011 is to release his own shoe line named Addi's, as well as his own line of "cake soap".^[34]

When his singles "Clarks", "Clarks 2 (Clarks Again)" and "Clarks 3 (Wear Weh Yuh Have)" featured the British shoe brand Clarks in 2010, its sales numbers and prices in Jamaica increased considerably.^[35]

Vybz Kartel has also hosted his own reality television show "Teacha's Pet" on CVM Jamaica broadcast channel, the first reality television show hosted by a dancehall artist in Jamaica. The premise of "Teacha's Pet" finds 20 women living in a Kingston house vying for the artist's affection; the show's lascivious content elicited condemnation of its sponsor, telecommunications company LIME. The show came to a halt with the artist's arrest on murder charges in September 2011.

Controversies[link]

Whitening[link]

Vybz Kartel's Skin before and after he bleached his skin

Kartel has come under controversy over perceived skin whitening, or "bleaching", leading him to claim to the use of "cake soap" to lighten his skin.^[36][37] The Blue Power Group, Jamaican manufacturer of the popular cake soap (or "blue soap"), has refuted claims it changes skin color.^[38] Kartel then stated the soap used to lighten his skin was his own brand, which he intends to release on the local market.^[34]

Airwave Ban[link]

In September 2011 the National Communications Network of Guyana banned Vybz Kartel from the airwaves—the first such action against a specific artist. His music contained "obscene lyrics" and brought "nothing positive" to the entertainment industry, said NCN spokesman Martin Goolsarran (Wednesday, Sept 21st) after a week of internal debate. He said NCN was reviewing the lyrics of other musicians and could ban them as well. In fact the government had no problem with Kartel, its Tourism Ministry inviting him to an August music festival, but he angered it and Guyanese promoters when he failed to show up.^[39]

Murder charge[link]

Vybz Kartel being arrested in October 2011

On 29 September 2011, Kartel was arrested by police. Jamaica's Major Investigation Taskforce (MIT) charged him with murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of a firearm. The deceased was Barrington 'Bossie' Burton, a 27-year-old businessman and music promoter based in the Kingston suburb of Portmore. They first visited Kingston's Norbrook community where the DJ resides, then went to a property on Swallowfield Avenue in Kingston's Havendale area. That residence was the scene of a fire several weeks ago; a scorched computer hard-drive and several boxes were removed. They then drove to Portmore to a home purportedly owned by Kartel's mother, where a number of items were similarly confiscated. Kartel was detained for the weekend in relation to a partially burned, decomposing body found inside the Swallowfield Avenue home.^[40]

Kartel was granted bail for the Burton murder 23 March 2012 for JD$3,000,000, but currently remains jailed in connection on a second murder, of one Clive 'Lizzard' Williams.^[41]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2003: Up 2 Di Time
• 2004: More Up 2 Di Time
• 2005: J.M.T.
• 2009: Most Wanted
• 2010: Pon di Gaza 2.0
• 2011: Kingston Story

Singles[link]

Guest appearances[link]

Awards[link]

Kartel has had several collaborations with international hip hop and pop stars. He has released two albums for the UK/US based label Greensleeves Records. He was also nominated for the Source,^[43] VIBE and UK MOBO awards, although his 2004 UK MOBO award nomination was withdrawn amidst controversy over homophobic content of his lyrics.^[44]

• 2003
  • Stone Love's 30th Anniversary
    • DJ of the Year 2005

• 2008
  • CUMA (Caribbean Urban Music Awards)

• 2009
  • EME Awards^[45]
    • Male DJ of the Year
    • Lyricist/Songwriter of the Year
    • Song of the Year (Romping Shop ft. Spice)

• 2010
  • EME Awards^[46]

References[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (March 2012)

Geraldo Rivera
Rivera in September 2010
Born	Gerald Michael Riviera (1943-07-04) July 4, 1943 (age 68) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Education	J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, Journalism degree from Columbia University[1]
Occupation	Lawyer, television talk show host, news anchor and reporter, columnist for FOXNewsLatino.com
Years active	1970–present
Notable credit(s)	Geraldo at Large Geraldo
Religion	Reform Judaism[2]
Spouse	Linda Coblentz (1965–1969) Edith Vonnegut (1971–1975) Sherryl Raymond (1976–1984) C.C. Dyer (1987–2000) Erica Michelle Levy (since August 10, 2003)
Children	Gabriel Miguel (b. 2 July 1979) Cruz Grant (b. 1987) Isabella Holmes (b. 7 November 1992) Simone Cruickshank (b. 24 September 1994) Solita Liliana (b. 2 August 2005)
Relatives	Craig Rivera Cordelia Bowe Rivera Irene Rivera Hurst (professor at Hofstra University[3][4])
Website
http://www.foxnews.com/geraldo

Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Michael Riviera;^[5] July 4, 1943) is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and talk show host. Rivera hosts the newsmagazine program Geraldo at Large and appears regularly on Fox News Channel.

Early life[link]

Rivera was born at Beth Israel Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lillian (née Friedman), a waitress, and the late Cruz "Allen" Rivera (October 1, 1915 – November 1987), a restaurant worker and cab driver.^[6][7] Rivera's father was a Catholic Puerto Rican of Spanish ancestry,^[8] and his mother is of Ashkenazi Russian Jewish descent. He was raised "mostly Jewish" and had a Bar Mitzvah.^[9][10] He grew up in Brooklyn and West Babylon, New York. He has four siblings: Wilfredo, Sharon, Irene, and Craig.

Rivera is an alumnus of the University of Arizona, where he played varsity lacrosse as goalie. From September 1961 to May 1963, he attended the State University of New York Maritime College, where he was a member of the rowing team.^[11][12] He received his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1969, did postgraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania that same year.^[13]

After a brief career in law enforcement where he served the New York City Police Department as an investigator, Rivera returned to law and became a lawyer for a New York Puerto Rican activist group, the Young Lords, and attracted the attention of WABC-TV news director Al Primo when he was interviewed about the group's occupation of a East Harlem church in 1969. Primo offered Rivera a job as a reporter but was unhappy with the first name "Gerald" (he wanted something more identifiably Latin) so they agreed to go with the pronunciation used by the Puerto Rican side of Rivera's family: Geraldo.^[14] He is a member of Tau Delta Phi fraternity.

Career[link]

Early stages[link]

Rivera in the mid 1970s.

Geraldo Rivera was hired by WABC-TV in 1970 as a reporter for Eyewitness News. In 1972, he garnered national attention and won a Peabody Award^[15][16] for his report on the neglect and abuse of mentally retarded patients at Staten Island's Willowbrook State School and began to appear on ABC national programs such as 20/20 and Nightline. After John Lennon watched Rivera's report on the patients at Willowbrook, he and Rivera formed a benefit concert called "One to One" (released in 1986 as Live in New York City.) Rivera reported Lennon's murder on Nightline on December 8, 1980. Rivera also appeared in The U.S. vs. John Lennon, a movie about Lennon and Yoko Ono's lives in New York City. The movie was released in 2007.

Around this time, Rivera also began hosting ABC's Good Night America. The show featured the famous refrain from Arlo Guthrie's hit "City Of New Orleans" (written by Steve Goodman) as the theme. A 1975 episode of the program featuring Dick Gregory and Robert J. Groden showed the first national telecast of the historic Zapruder Film.

After Elvis Presley died in 1977, various media mistakenly reported that he had died from a heart attack. Rivera then investigated Presley's prescription drug records and concluded that he had died from multiple drug intake. His conclusion caused Tennessee medical authorities to later revoke the medical license of Dr. George C. Nichopoulos for overprescribing.

In October 1985, ABC's Roone Arledge refused to air a report done by Sylvia Chase, for 20/20 on the relationship between Marilyn Monroe and John and Robert Kennedy. Rivera publicly criticized Arledge's journalistic integrity, claiming that Arledge's friendship with the Kennedy family (for example, Pierre Salinger, a former Kennedy aide, worked for ABC News at the time) had caused him to spike the story; as a result, Rivera was fired. Sylvia Chase quit 20/20, although she returned to ABC News many years later. The report has never aired.

In April 1986, Rivera hosted the syndicated special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, an ill-conceived adventure where Rivera excavated what he had been told was the site of Al Capone's buried treasure trove. Rivera broadcast live as the site was excavated, fully expecting to find a store of the former gangster's wealth. The show was heavily advertised, particularly on Chicago's WGN television station. A medical examiner was brought along for the excavation in case any dead bodies were excavated. The show was on air for several hours, displacing regularly scheduled programming, as Rivera's team penetrated the vault he was sure would yield the famed loot. Ultimately, the vault was found to contain a few broken bottles. Rivera held one of these bottles aloft for the camera and excitedly stated that it had once contained "bootleg moonshine gin".

Talk shows and specials[link]

In 1987, Rivera began producing and hosting the daytime talk show Geraldo, which ran for 11 years. The show featured controversial guests and theatricality, which led to the characterization of his show as "Trash TV" by Newsweek and two United States senators.^[17] One of the early shows was titled "Men in Lace Panties and the Women Who Love Them". His nose was broken in a well-publicized brawl during a 1988 show, involving white supremacists, anti-racist skinheads, black activists, and Jewish activists.

In 1987, he hosted the first of a series of prime time special reports dealing with an alleged epidemic of Satanic ritual abuse. He stated:

"Estimates are that there are over 1 million Satanists in this country ... The majority of them are linked in a highly organized, very secretive network. From small towns to large cities, they have attracted police and FBI attention to their Satanic sexual child abuse, child pornography and grisly Satanic murders. The odds are that this is happening in your town."

More credible estimates are about 10,000 adult members of religious Satanic churches, temples and grottos as well as 10,000 solitary practitioners of Satanism; Rivera's claims of ritualistic abuse, conspiracy and criminal activity remain unsubstantiated.^[18]

In 1994, he began hosting nightly discussion of the news on CNBC called Rivera Live while continuing to host Geraldo. The show was portrayed in the final episode of Seinfeld, with Rivera as himself reporting on the lengthy trial of the show's four main characters. In May 1994, he appeared on The Price Is Right.

Later, he would take his talk show in a different direction, moving it from "Trash TV" to a more subdued, serious show, and changed its name from Geraldo to The Geraldo Rivera Show. By this time, however, the show had run its course, and was cancelled in 1998.

In 1997, Rivera contracted with NBC to work as a reporter for six years for $30 million, including hosting Rivera Live on CNBC. During 1998 and 1999, he extensively covered the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Fox News to present[link]

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he accepted a pay cut and went to work for the Fox News Channel as a war correspondent in November 2001. Rivera's brother Craig accompanied him as a cameraman on assignments in Afghanistan.

In 2001, during the War in Afghanistan, Rivera was derided for a report in which he claimed to be at the scene of a friendly fire incident; it was later revealed he was actually 300 miles away. Rivera blamed a minor misunderstanding for the discrepancy.^[19]

Controversy arose in early 2003, while Rivera was traveling with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. During a Fox News broadcast, Rivera began to disclose an upcoming operation, even going so far as to draw a map in the sand for his audience. The military immediately issued a firm denunciation of his actions, saying it put the operation at risk, and nearly expelled Rivera from Iraq. Two days later, he announced that he would be reporting on the Iraq conflict from Kuwait.^[20][21]

In 2005, Rivera engaged in a feud with The New York Times over their allegations that he pushed aside a member of a rescue team in order to be filmed "assisting" a woman in a wheelchair down some steps in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The ensuing controversy caused Rivera to appear on television and demand a retraction from the Times. He further threatened to sue the paper if one was not provided.^[22]

In 2008, Rivera came out with a book called HisPanic: Why Americans fear Hispanics in the U.S..^[23] Rivera himself is part Hispanic, his father coming from Puerto Rico.

In 2007, Geraldo was involved in a dispute with fellow fox colleague Michelle Malkin, Malkin announced that she would not return to The O'Reilly Factor, claiming that Fox News had mishandled a dispute over derogatory statements made about her by Geraldo in a Boston Globe interview. Rivera, while objecting to her views on immigration, says, "Michelle Malkin is the most vile, hateful commentator I've ever met in my life. She actually believes that neighbors should start snitching out neighbors, and we should be deporting people." He added, "It's good she's in D.C., and I'm in New York. I'd spit on her if I saw her", Rivera later apologized for his comments.^[24][25]

Rivera after delivering the keynote at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 2008 Public Policy Conference

On September 12, 2008, during the Fox News coverage of Hurricane Ike, Rivera was knocked over by the storm surge debris while reporting live in Galveston near the 17 foot high sea wall.^[26]

On November 10, 2010, Oprah Winfrey invited Rivera, along with former talk show hosts Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, Ricki Lake and Montel Williams as guests on her show. This was the first time that she had fellow talkers appear together since their programs left the air.^[27]

Stephen Colbert has frequently lampooned Rivera on The Colbert Report, especially calling attention to his mustache. He has explained in interviews that Rivera was one of the inspirations for the "man with a mission" facet of Colbert's right-wing pundit character. "That's the heart of [Rivera's] persona: that he really is changing the world with every interview he does — just slowly, syllable by syllable, he is changing the great ship of human destiny with his will toward justice." Colbert's character, in turn, "thinks, 'We're gonna bust things wide open with this report,' when in fact he never has an idea of what he's talking about."^[28] Rivera has since appeared on the show.

While hosting his show on Fox News on the night of May 1, 2011, Rivera broke the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by American special forces at 10:40 p.m. EDT. When the news broke, Rivera proudly proclaimed "this is the greatest night of my career".^[29]

On October 10, 2011, Rivera was filmed by Russia Today being jeered by the Occupy Wall Street protesters at Liberty Square. The crowd chanted, "FOX News lies!" until Rivera and his camera crew left the protesters.^[30]

On January 3, 2012 Rivera began hosting a weekday radio talk show on WABC (AM) in New York.^[31] On January 30, 2012 Rivera also began hosting a weekday radio talk show on KABC (AM) in Los Angeles from 10AM to 12PM PST.^[32] He fills the 10 a.m. to noon slot between the syndicated Imus in the Morning and Rush Limbaugh programs.

On March 23, 2012, Rivera made controversial comments regarding Trayvon Martin's hoodie and how the hoodie was connected to the shooting death of Martin.^[33] Since the comments, of which even Rivera's son Gabriel was "ashamed",^[34] the barrage of dissent against him on various websites (including Twitter) and even his own radio show has not stopped.^{[citation needed]}

He apologized for any offense that he caused with the comments. Some, however, have taken the apology as disingenuous, if even as any kind of apology whatsoever.^[35] Among those who did not accept the apology was a longtime friend of Rivera, Russell Simmons.^[36] He later apologized to Trayvon Martin's parents as well^[37].

Rivera is scheduled to head to Afghanistan for the last time in his career on April 11, 2012 (which he specifically stated on his KABC radio show)-- as he promised his wife, Erica^[38].

Personal life[link]

Rivera has been married five times and has fathered five children:

1. Linda Coblentz (1965–1969, divorced)
2. Edith Vonnegut (December 14, 1971 – 1975, divorced)
3. Sherryl Raymond (December 31, 1976 – 1984, divorced)
   son: Gabriel Miguel (born July 1979)^[39][40]
4. C.C. (Cynthia Cruickshank) Dyer (July 11, 1987 – 2000, divorced)
   daughters: Isabella Holmes (born November 7, 1992)^[41] and Simone Cruickshank (born September 24, 1994)
5. Erica Michelle Levy (since August 10, 2003)
   daughter: Solita Liliana (born August 2, 2005)^[42][43]

He also fathered Cruz Grant (born 1987) with an unnamed, Mexican-American^[44] woman.

Rivera has been a resident of Edgewater, New Jersey.^[45] He had previously resided in Middletown Township, New Jersey at 'Rough Point', a 1895 shingle-style estate.^[46]

Rivera is an active sailor. He is owner/skipper of the boat Voyager and sailed in the Marion-Bermuda race (June 2011).

Honours and awards[link]

•  Albania: On 17 May 2012 Albanian President, Bamir Topi awarded with the "Medal of Gratitude" Geraldo Rivera with citation: "With profound gratitude and esteem, personality and prominent publicist, expensive friend of the Albanians, who made his cause the American public consciousness, and beyond, monstrous crime was making the Serb military machine, in 1999, against the Kosovo Albanian civilian population, thus revealing it as ethnic cleansing and genocide ".^[47]

Author[link]

• Rivera, Geraldo (1972). Willowbrook. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-394-71844-5. 
• Rivera, Geraldo (1973). Miguel Robles—so far. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-253900-X. 
• Rivera, Geraldo (1977). A Special Kind of Courage: Profiles of young Americans. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-10501-9. 
• Rivera, Geraldo (1992). Exposing Myself. London: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-29874-7. 
• Rivera, Geraldo (2008). HisPanic: Why Americans fear Hispanics in the U. S.. New York: Celebra. ISBN 0-451-22414-0. 
• Rivera, Geraldo (2009). The Great Progression: How Hispanics will lead America to a new era of prosperity. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-22881-2. 

See also[link]

	Puerto Rico portal
	Biography portal

• List of notable Puerto Ricans

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• "Geraldo Rivera Official Statement Regarding Embedment Controversy", 4 April 2003 – Rivera tells the story of his Iraq "Map in the Sand" (archive)
• "Pentagon Says Geraldo Rivera Will Be Removed From Iraq" – The New York Times, April 1, 2003
• Geraldo Rivera's Influence on the Satanic Ritual Abuse and Recovered Memory Hoaxes – from religioustolerance.org
• Urban Legend about Geraldo Rivera's name being changed from Jerry Rivers – from snopes.com
• Geraldo Rivera at the Internet Movie Database