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YEREVAN

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  Yerevan is a city that to this day gets so little exposure that even the most rehearsed travelers are in for a surprise. Even those who have not visited, say, Sydney or Tokyo can easily get even a rudimentary feel for what to see. Going into the Pink City, however, keeps one in suspense until arrival. Armenia, a tiny country, has had little time to announce itself to jetsetters, having been crushed by more powerful empires up until relatively recently in its history which can be traced as far back as the establishment of Christianity. Its ancient ruins and mountainous countryside is enough of a selling point to the curious wayfarer but, I suspect, its capital city would be a marketing challenge to any specific point of interest. This is not a slight, as Yerevan is a most beautiful city, but its atmosphere, style and culture are hard to define. I arrived at night and took a ride from the airport to the Holiday Inn via the country’s most popular rideshare Yandex Go. I saw littl...
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BUT FIRST…VIENNA

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  It started the moment I left Vienna Airport and it didn’t leave me until I returned to the airport. It was all over the city that inspired Johann Strauss and Beethoven, both indoors and out. It was an indefinable aroma, part floral, part confectionary in essence and all transporting to a time of gilded elegance. This was too strong to ignore and so I had to Google for the answer, which was that in Vienna history lives. Centuries of royal balls, masquerade parties and events at the courts of dukes and their families have left their mark on the city. The perfumes, powders and scents of palace kitchens which clouded these gatherings have become a fixture in the very walls of the old city, making their presence known in the warmer months, transporting visitors to an age gone by. Vienna is in all immediate appearance a city as elegant today as it was when the waltzes of Strauss were introduced. She is so unfailing true to her reputation, so little does she stray from her collectiv...
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THE STORY OF TYKE THE ELEPHANT: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

  The images are still vivid after more than three decades. I was only eleven but, even then, I could detect the juxtaposition of a mighty elephant adorned with brightly colored circus dressings laying dead in a parking lot in Honolulu. The horror hit me hard; an elephant had to be gunned down and a human life was lost. Her name was Tyke and her death, tragic as it was, brought about winds of change in the capture of exotic animals for entertainment. Tyke was not the first circus elephant to run amuck. Just over two years before, a 27-year-old Asian elephant named Janet went ballistic under the big top in Palm Bay, Florida while carrying six volunteer spectators (most of them children) on her back. That incident ended without human tragedy, the riders were helped down to safety before Janet was put down. Nor was this rampage on August 20, 1994, Tyke’s first outburst. Multiple times in 1993, Tyke had shown signs of pent up aggression brewing, throwing tantrums while performing i...
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SALVATORE MARANZANO: THE KILLING AND ERASING OF A MOB BOSS

  The modern Mafia was born with the assassination of Salvatore Maranzano on September 10, 1931, and yet not a single photo of Maranzano alive has surfaced. There is but one verified photo of Maranzano, after he was stabbed to death by Lucky Luciano’s gang at Maranzano’s office in New York Central Building, a bloodied corpse spread on the floor with his face mutilated beyond recognition. From this photo a face impression was recently stitched together by computer wizards but the limits of technology show. One mystery the technicians, with all their skill, could not crack is the identity of the assailants who brought Maranzano down.   This lack of record is baffling considering the pivotal role Maranzano played in the history of the Mafia, his rise to power coming at a pivotal time in its transformation. Maranzano saw opportunity playing upon the growing rift between the new generation of mobsters and the old guard but instead became its second victim and kicked off a purge o...
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THE SOVIET DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN: AN ANALYSIS

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  Entire courses in both military and civilian academies could and should be devoted to the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan as the rippling consequences for the three main nations involved continue to make waves. Ironically, the Soviet invasion and subsequent defeat at the hands of the Mujahideen and their American allies marked the end of an era that had sown bitter resentment for over thirty years. True, by the time the Red Army withdrew in 1989 the Cold War was in its dying embers, but losing this final foothold proved almost as devastating for the USSR as the loss of the Spanish-American War proved for Spain, leading to sunken national moral, economy and the coup de grace for the Soviet Union before its collapse. Perhaps, however, the United States ultimately fared worse, the abandonment of Afghanistan ushering a new era of geopolitical terrorism armed by the very weapons we left behind. But the people of Afghanistan fared worst of all, the nation left ruined by war finding itse...
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WHAT HAPPENED TO SNEHA PHILIP, THE LAST OFFICIAL VICTIM OF 9/11?

  In July of 2008 the last name was added to the official list of September 11 th victims perishing at the World Trade Center. To this day, however, there is no evidence that Sneha Philip was anywhere near the Twin Towers on that day and the case remains among the most baffling mysteries surrounding the attacks. As in most emotive cases, inconsistencies have fueled resentment among the most intimately involved. After nearly seven years of investigation, both by Ken Gallant, a private investigator hired by Philip’s husband Ron Lieberman, and, later, the NYPD, Philip’s family found solace in her name being listed among the casualties of the attack. This was the story they were hoping for, that Philip died when the towers collapsed while trying to assist the injured. This was a stark contradiction to the findings of the NYPD who uncovered a sordid secret life of substance abuse and professional misconduct in the months leading up to her disappearance. In this scenario, Sneha Philip...
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HENRYK SIWIAK: New York City's Only Murder Victim of 9/11

  New York City has only one official homicide recorded for September 11, 2001. This apparent logical puzzle actually makes sense on consideration. Authorities do not count the nearly 3,000 deaths resulting from the attacks on the World Trade Center as they argue (not unreasonably) that they misrepresent crime statistics. And yet it is because of the terrorist attacks that the murder of Henryk Siwiak has garnered so much attention. Had it occurred even a day after it would have been lost in the annals of New York City homicides. But as the only official murder victim of in the city of that fateful day, the tragic story of Henryk Siwiak endures and its coinciding with the terrorist attacks has fueled speculation. There is no doubt that on the night of September 11, 2001, Siwiak was at the wrong place at the wrong time but with robbery doubted as a motive and his lack of connections in Bedford–Stuyvesant reducing the probability of personal vendetta, the case has taken on a more ba...
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