Did You Know...?

“So?”*
Dick Cheney, vice president

You probably knew that the federal law known as RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. What you didn’t know was that Robert Blakely, a law professor at Notre Dame who write it in 1970 for the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. He named the law after Edward G. Robinson, who played a racketeer named Rico in the movie Little Caesar.

You no doubt heard the term swag as it is the goody bag (filled with coupons for expensive vacations or luxury watches, etc.) celebrities receive when they attend industry ceremonies or require from charity organizations when they make an appearance. But did you know first it was a mafia term for stolen goods? The word used today seems very apropos to how it’s used in regards to celebrity.

These tidbits are courtesy of the book “The Good Rat, A True Story” by Jimmy Breslin.

*Cheney, responding to ABC News’ White House correspondent Martha Raddatz, after she cited a recent poll showing that most Americans do not believe the Iraq War was worth fighting, as sited in Newsweek.