A dead-panned lawyer, George Wolf (on the left), and his client, Frank Costello (center), forcing a faint grin, getting on the elevator after Costello walked out of the Kefauver hearing at the U.S. Courthouse in New York, on March 15, 1951.

In a 1982 incident called perhaps one of the New York underworld's most depraved hits, Mob shooters killed an innocent female bystander while gunning down two obese pornographers, father and son wiseguys suspected of stealing Colombo family proceeds from the notorious adult movie "Deep Throat". Their unintended victim, Veronica Zuraw, was a former Roman Catholic nun for the Brooklyn Diocese. The Colombos couldn't have picked a worse person to accidentally shoot in the head if they'd tried. Former Colombo soldier Salvatore "Brooklyn Sal" Miciotta finally ratted on this previously unsolved gangland hit in a documentary, which never disclosed any details about how his testimony in multiple court cases had been so discredited that a judge ruled he could never testify again. Because Miciotta's shifting narratives had gotten several goodfellas dismissed from a host of different charges, including murder, and had destroyed an honest NYPD cop's career. "I wouldn't say it would be death to call him to court, but I would think twice. Maybe three times. Maybe four," one law enforcement source once said about putting Brooklyn Sal back on the witness stand. Still, Sal nevertheless provided the only detailed account of the Deep Throat killings, most of which corroborated prior police investigation. The story begins with Colombo family porn czar Anthony "Big Tony" Peraino, who got his nickname for being over 300 pounds, and had a proud Cosa Nostra lineage. He was the son of South Brooklyn underworld boss Giuseppe Peraino, who had been a major power in the Mafia during Prohibition and whose twisted, partially paralyzed appendage allegedly earned him the nickname "The Clutching Hand." Guiseppe, born in Palermo, was shot to death in 1930 while walking down Sackett Street in Brooklyn during the opening maneuvers of the Castellammarese War. Big Tony grew up to become a made man in the Olive Oil King's Profaci family, for which he initially ran gambling operations along the Brooklyn docks and dealt in swag. The Profaci family eventually became the Colombo family, and Big Tony got a reputation as a big earner from having made a fortune in the porn business, before he was ultimately implicated in murder and arrested on obscenity charges.

Veterans Day honors all military veterans, both living and deceased, who have served in the United States Armed Forces during times of war and peace. Thank you to any of you who have served in uniform. To my fellow warriors, I say both "Hooah" and "Ho rah!"

When Christians go through rough times, such as sickness, lost loved ones, and other heartaches of life, they question if God has heard their prayers. Even though we are faithful to him, we cannot logically answer our own question of why. In Zechariah 13:9, we read why we have storms in our lives. "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God." We are told to give thanks for "all things" in Ephesians 5:20. "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Yes, even when the weight of the world presses you down, give praise and thanks to the Lord. Remember his words in Peter 5:6-7: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."