Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato (born August 1, 1937) is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.

D'Amato, of Italian heritage, was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. He is a graduate of Chaminade High School, Syracuse University, and Syracuse University College of Law.

D'Amato married his first wife, Penelope, with whom he has four children, in 1960. Al and Penelope D'Amato separated in 1982 after 22 years of marriage. Al and Penelope finally divorced after a 13 year separation, their divorce becoming final in 1995. He has dated several well-known personalities, including entertainment television reporter Claudia Cohen. On July 18, 2004, he married Katuria Elizabeth Smith. They have one son, Alfonso Marcello D'Amato, born on February 5, 2008, and a daughter, Luciana Cioffari D'Amato, born on October 16, 2009.

His political career started with the Nassau County Republican Party, and he held the appointive position of Public Administrator of Nassau County, where he was responsible for managing the assets of county residents who died without wills. He was first appointed and then elected Receiver of Taxes of Hempstead, New York. He left this office to become a town supervisor in Hempstead and in 1977 he was elected presiding supervisor. He was also vice chairman of the Nassau County Board of Supervisors from 1977 to 1980.

Amato (Greek: Amathous) is a comune and town in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy.

Amato is one of the oldest towns in Calabria. It is mentioned by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who calls it "Portus Amati Fluminis" (harbour of the Amato River). It is also mentioned by the Roman Pliny the Elder in one of his books. He calls it "Sinus Lametinus" (Lametino Harbour).

It appears that the people of Amato originated from the ancient city of Lametia, on the promontory of the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia, near the mouth of the Amato River. It was one of the most thriving cities of old Calabria, which at that time was called Bruttium.

From an English publication entitled "Brief History of Amato", we learn that Amato existed many years before the foundation of Rome. From this book we also learn that at that time Amato was very industrious and had a population of about 20,000 people. Its economy was centered around the very important textile industry, with about 1300 looms at work. In fact even up to a few years ago many Amatese women had a loom and many of them were very capable weavers. Production of the silkworm was also a very popular activity.

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, television host, author, actor and photographer best known for his radio show which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. The son of a former recording and radio engineer, Stern wished to pursue a career in radio at the age of five. While at Boston University he worked at the campus station WTBU before a brief stint at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts.

He developed his on-air personality when he landed positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, WCCC in Hartford and WWWW in Detroit. In 1981, he was paired with his current newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers at WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern then moved to WNBC in New York City in 1982 to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. He re-emerged on WXRK that year, and became one of the most popular radio personalities during his 20-year tenure at the station. Stern's show is the most-fined radio program, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines to station licensees for allegedly indecent material that totaled $2.5 million. Stern has won Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award eight times, and is one of the highest-paid figures in radio.

Edward Irving "Ed" Koch ( /ˈkɒtʃ/; born December 12, 1924) is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. He also became known as a "judge" on the television judge show The People's Court from 1997 to 1999.

Koch was born in The Bronx, New York City, to a Conservative Jewish family residing in Newark, New Jersey, where his father worked at a theater. As a child he worked as a hatcheck boy in a Newark dance hall. He graduated from South Side High School in Newark in 1941. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1943 where he served as an infantryman with the 104th Infantry Division, landing in Cherbourg, France in September 1944. He earned two Battle Stars as a Combat Infantryman. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1946. Koch returned to New York City to attend City College of New York and New York University School of Law and received his law degree in 1948.

Fred Dalton Thompson (born Freddie Dalton Thompson; August 19, 1942), is an American politician, actor, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, and radio host. Thompson, a Republican, served in the United States Senate representing Tennessee from 1994 to 2003.

Thompson served as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board at the United States Department of State, was a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a Visiting Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, specializing in national security and intelligence.

As an actor, Thompson has appeared in a large number of movies and television shows. He has frequently portrayed governmental figures. In the final months of his U.S. Senate term in 2002, Thompson joined the cast of the long-running NBC television series Law & Order, playing Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch.

In May 2007 he took a break from acting in order to run for the Republican nomination for president in the 2008 election, winning 11 delegates before dropping out of the race in January 2008. In 2009 he returned to acting with a guest appearance on the ABC television series Life on Mars and in the movie Alleged, about the Scopes Trial.