University Daily Kansan, October 27,1983
CAMPUS AND AREA
Page 6
Reputed mobsters plead not guilty in skimming trial
By United Press International
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Reputed mob leaders Milton J. Rockman of Cleveland and John Cerone and Joseph Aupia of Chicago pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of theft from the New York-based profits from Las Vegas casinos.
Rockman, 75, a fugitive until he surrendered to federal authorities in Kansas City, Mo. Tuesday, and Carl Thomas, 51, of Las Vegas, New York. The two men, eight other men entered pleas before U.S. Magistrate Calvin K. Hamilton.
By mid-afternoon yesterday bond hearings were completed for Joseph John Aiuppa, 76, John Phillip Cerone, 69, and Angelo LaPira, 51, all of Chicago. Aiuppa's bond was set at $0,000, Cerone at $4,000 and LaPira at $100,000. All are free after meeting the bonds.
IN ALL, 15 men are charged with conspiring to skim nearly $2 million in 1978 from casinos owned by Argent Corp. An indictment naming the men alleges the stolen money was divided among them in Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee, Las Vegas and Cleveland.
Rockman was considered a fugitive after a judge unsealed a federal indictment Oct. 11. He surrendered Tuesday in Mansion's official jail at Pleasant City.
THE THREE Kansas City defendants in the case — Carl Civilella, Carl Deluna and Peter J. Tamburelo — were arraigned previously and entered pleas of not guilty. Joseph Lombardo, 54, a reputed Chicago crime figure, entered a plea of not guilty to charges stemming from the conspiracy Monday.
Another defendant, Anthony J. Spiloto, whom federal authorities described as the Chicago mob's representative in Las Vegas, is being tried this week on a murder charge in Chicago.
Chiavola Sr., a retired Chicago police officer, Civilia, reputed mob leader in Kansas City, Thomas and Deluna were the subjects of an 1820s fraud of $250,000 from the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. Tamburello was acquitted in that case.
Haitian voodoo similar to Christianity, prof says
By BRUCE F. HONOMICHL Staff Reporter
Sticking pins in dolls to hex enemies is only the underbelly of voodoo, says Bryant Freeman, Voodoo has a lighter side in which natives worship hundreds of patron saints and miracles often occur.
So, said Freeman, professor of French, if voooo sounds a lot like Christianity, it's because one man's superstition is another's religion.
"Wooodo is not far away from Catholicism," said Freeman, who was introduced to vooodo as a young instructor at Yale University. He first visited Haiti in 1938 to learn about French cultures outside of France.
Milton Tyrrell/KANSAN
While there, he rapidly learned Haitian Creole, he said. "I talked myself into taking a course for employees of the United Nations."
FREEMAN ALSO TEACHES classes in Haitian Creole at KU. He said that KU and Indiana University were the only universities in the nation that upperclass Haitian Creole
He left Haiti in love with voodoo,
which he estimates 60 to 70 percent of
the population.
"There was a Haitian who wanted to date an American lady I knew. She didn't want to go to a voodoo ceremony with just him, so she asked me along, too. it was her slick heck because you have invited to a voodoo ceremony," he said.
"It was a wonderful cultural experience."
*m interested in the people and the culture* "he said. "Voodoo is an integral part of this culture. And the culture is absolutely fascinating."
But, he insists, he does not practice voodonism.
AT A REAL VOODOO ceremony,
Freeman says, the participants will offer livestock, usually either chickens or pigs, to their patron saints. The Haitians call the saints loa. The participant joins in, and the loa, which will descend a poto mitan, a pole in the center of the room in which the ceremony is held.
A vee, a ritual design drawn on the floor near the base of the poto mitan, is made from flour and sand to invoke a certain loa, he said.
The loas often possess their subjects, he said. He remembered an instance in which Damballah, the snake spirit, had met a man at a ceremony several years ago.
“This is no fake. I know this. When one is possessed, he often perishes and trembles and shakes. One will speak in his native language. He has no recollection of what happened.
"THIS MAN WAS grossly overweight. But he was possessed by Damballah. And he suddenly climbed the potato mitan with agility and he hung from the ratters for half an hour. Some of them came out with shock and say that it is self-induced hypnotism, but one man's mind over matter is another's religion."
Bryant Freeman, professor of French, settles down at home with some common tools of voodooism. The drum, the largest of the tools, is played at voodoo ceremonies.
French is the official language of
most but most Haitians speak Haitian
Greek.
Haitian Creole is composed of the vocabulary of many African languages and has the sentence structure of French.
vooooo gained a firm hold in Haiti, he said, after the Haitian Revolution, when the Catholic Church pronounced vooooo taboo and banned its priests and
At that time, no Protestant missionaries had visited Haiti, so few other religions remained. The Catholic Church's ban lasted from 1894 to 1860.
VOODOO HAS OFTEN been opposed by Hatti's governments, he said, but has recently been promoted and used by its leaders. Francois Duvalier, a former deputy Danish minister in 1958 and used voodoo as a political tool until his death in 1971.
"His mode of dress was similar to that of the god of death, Baron Samedi. Many believed that he was a practitioner of voodo. He certainly believed in it. His son, Jean-Claude, who is now president for life, certainly believes in
Vooode arrived in Haiti, he said, when African slaves came to Haiti with them.
"They came with nothing except what was in their hearts," he said. "They brought none of the artifacts of religion. But the practice has spread and spread. Ask the cops in New York City. They often find remnants of voodoo temples in Central Park Queens and Brooklyn are hvens of voodoo."
New York has the second largest Haitian population in the world.
HOWEVER, THE CEREMONIES are mostly for celebration, said Freeman. The real religious experience occurs when a believer enters a church or temple in the form of a religious ceremony is conducted between one or two believers and a priest
or a priestess. A priest is called a hougan and a priestess is called a mambo.
The believer pays the hougan or mambo, which, aside from the small sacrifice of livestock made at the market, is only token expected from participants.
Pigs are sacrificed at special ceremonies near the end of the year, he
"It is a cleansing exercise," he said.
"You silt the pig's throat and you mix the blood with rum and water and then you cleanse yourself with the mixture. It is all done to insure good health in the new year.
"THE RELIGION IS not that different than Christianity," he said. "It uses some of the same basic tenets. And the gods are the same as some of those in Greco-Roman mythology. Voodoo has other special gods to help him out."
come down and they get drunk and they swear sometimes. They are very human. But voodooism is embedded with mythology. A man has one wife, and so forth.
Believers, he said, open their ceremonies by worshipping the god Papa Legba who is roughly the equivalent of St. Peter.
One must be invited to a ceremony, which is held in a perisely, a small hut, and decorated with candles.
"These gods are often no different from the rest of us," he said. "They
"TOURISTS CAN GO TO a peristyle, but it's just a tourist-oriented thing, up at Mariani, very clean and organized. They take you to the vodoo ceremonies ground," he said.
He said that voodoo cermonies usually lasted far into the night. "It's hot and it's sweaty and it is smoky," he said "the hougan and the mamba always presides over this ceremony. Their eyes and their presence go right." The success of their temples depend entirely upon their presences."
Witch doctors, he said, are the darker side of voodoo. For a fee, a witch doctor, or a boko, will put a hex on one's enemy. "Sometimes," he said, "you can curse someone by taking a sample from it and sewing it into a doll that represents them. That's where sticking pins into the dolls also comes in."
ON CAMPUS
INTERNATIONAL CLUB will meet to plan a Thanksgiving party at 3:30 p.m. in the Regionalist Room of the Kansas University.
STUDENTS INTERESTED in forming a literary magazine will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Centennial Room of the Union.
GAY AND LESBIAN Services of Kansas will have a business meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Walnut Room of the Union.
JOSEPH R. PEARSON Hall Black Caucasus will feature Ronald McCurdy in "An Evening of Jazz" at 7 p.m. in the main lobby of JRP.
A LECTURE and discussion program on "The Role of Women in the Church" by Orthodox Christians on behalf of the Council in the Regionalist Room of the Union.
GERMAN CLUB will discuss the Summer Language Institute in Germany at 4 p.m. in Room 4067, Wescoe Hall.
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE College
meet at 6:30 p.m. in
Daphnipourt Chancel!
THE EPISCOPAL EUCHARIST service will be at noon in Dantorth Chapel.
BASELEH Simulations will meet at 7 p.m. in Parlor C of the Union.
CHESH, GO and Backgammon Club will meet at 7 p.m. in the Trail Room of the New York Hilton.
TOMORROW
AN ANTIHROPOLOGY pre-seminar on "Interactions of the Living and the Dead in Japanese Pre-Funeral Care" in the Javahawk Room of the Union
INTERVARSITY Christian Fellowship will feature Dick Keyes, a speaker for World View and Relationships Seminar, in an informal discussion from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Alcove B of the University.
THE EMILY Tailor Women's Resource Center will sponsor "Career Exploration for Women" a workshop, in the Regionall Room of the Union.
KU FOLK DANCE Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Military Science Building.
UNDERGRADUATE Biology Club will meet at 4 p.m. in the Sunflower Park.
AN OPEN LETTER TO CHANCELLOR BUDIG
Dear Chancellor Budiq.
While most local residents eagerly await and greatly enjoy Kansas University's home football games, there is an admittedly small group of Lawrencians who dread every such event. Many of these individuals live near that portion of 14th Street bounded by Ohio and Louisiana Streets.
For hours after virtually every home game these law-abiding citizens are forced to endure the excesses of more than a few jaunty Jayhawklets. Could you please tell both the Journal World and The University Daily Kansan why this sybaritic segment of the student body is permitted to regularly break the same laws with impunity and how you plan to bring these anarchists to heel.
Thank you,
William Dann
2702 W. 24th St. Terrace
Advertisement
Half Price for KU Students!
"if there was ever a case of love at first sound this is it!"
Newsweek
HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARTY at
Saturday night, Oct. 29 Door Prize for Best Costume Must be 21 and prove it
RONNIE'S
Old Time Rock & Roll
LIVE MUSIC Friday & Saturday
BLACK PEARL Guest appearance by
Ray Retread & The Tire Tools Cover
Ronnie's (Formerly the Clubhouse) 530 Wisconsin Lawrence, Ks.
(