It can be fascinating to read a newspaper article on a subject you know something about. The spin, the omissions can be breathtaking. Take for example, The Phoenix and Kenneth Guarino. The Phoenix media group includes alt weeklies Boston Phoenix, Providence Phoenix and Portland Phoenix. It is, they say, “nationally known for its award-winning, incisive journalism.”
The Phoenix article below heralds the debut of Kenneth Guarino’s latest venture, Strongheart Pictures. After reading it, you might conclude Guarino is one of Rhode Island’s true business heroes, a pillar of the community and a boon to the nation’s culture:
Action! Strongheart roars to life (4/25/07)
If Kenny Guarino has his way, Rhode Island will become a mecca for independent film. His company, Strongheart Pictures, a management/production firm based in Cranston, opened its doors just last year, but has gotten off to a scorching start with its debut motion picture, The Education of Charlie Banks…
It’s not the first time Guarino has seen success. With more than 40 years in a variety of business endeavors, from retail and restaurants to media and real estate, Guarino is one of the state’s most visible entrepreneurs. He’s bringing that track record to the motion picture industry…
Readers of NoPornNorthampton, of course, know other things about Mr. Guarino’s track record. We supplied this comment to The Phoenix to round out the picture:
This article states, “With more than 40 years in a variety of business endeavors, from retail and restaurants to media and real estate, Guarino is one of the state’s most visible entrepreneurs.”
Gulla neglects to mention that much of Guarino’s money comes from his large pornographic empire, including Capital Video, Amazing.net and Goflix.com.
Court documents state that Guarino has been “associated with Natale Richichi, a capo in the Gambino family of La Cosa Nostra.” Over time Guarino paid Richichi at least $1,728,000 in cash to “fend off extortion attempts and to assist Guarino with other business matters where Richichi’s influence as a capo might benefit Guarino.” In 1997 Guarino pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to evade taxes. He was sentenced to sixteen months in prison, eleven of which were served in a halfway house, and fined $250,000. (For details see United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Case No. 02-1564, Capital Video Corporation; Kenneth Guarino v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, November 27, 2002.)
Amazing.net porn shops hurt the communities in which they [operate]. In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Mayor recently revoked Amazing.net’s license to operate viewing booths there. The Mayor found, “As evidenced by the testimony and exhibits in this case, the increase in the incidence of disruptive conduct in the area in which the premises are located, based on the testimony and reports of the police officers as well as the testimony and reports of a neighborhood resident, indicates that the sale of drugs, prostitution in the area around the store, together with offensive, lewd activities occurring in the various ‘viewing booths’, as well as patrons being assaulted while using the booths, create a nuisance that has caused a hindrance or obstruction in the exercise of the rights which are common to every person in the community…
“…the testimony shows repeated and persistent evidence of illegal activity and complicity and reckless disregard of Capital Video’s management over a long period of time which is sufficient to constitute a nuisance.
“Moreover, viewing the evidence as a whole, there is absolutely no basis to credit any assertions or representations that Capital Video has, can or will permanently improve the conditions of its viewing booths and the open, repeated, pervasive and notoriously lewd and lascivious behavior associated with the booths…
“Based on the evidence presented, this store caters to a group of people who are reckless about personal health and, by inference, the health of their sexual partners, and Capital Video’s blind eye to this activity encourages promiscuity on its premises. Such conduct has been recognized in other Massachusetts case law as a cause of HIV infection…”
To learn more, please see http://nopornnorthampton.org/categories/Capital%20Video%20Corporation.aspx
As we have observed earlier, Strongheart Pictures engages in its own surreal whitewashing on its website. We say Guarino is not entitled to both earn money from harmful businesses and enjoy the respect of the public.
According to one reviewer,
the theme of Charlie Banks is “Can people really change? Will society
allow them to?” We say again to Guarino, “Absolutely. Shut down
Capital Video and your other adult enterprises.”
See also:
Boston Globe Profiled Kenneth Francis Guarino in 1983
…Although he was only 28 years old [in 1977], Guarino had become the biggest purveyor of pornography in New England…
A
few things have changed for Guarino since the mid-1970s… One of his
closest associates was killed under mysterious circumstances when he
fell out of a moving car…
…Guarino has been tried and
convicted on federal charges for interstate distribution of obscene
materials (he has appealed), and he has been indicted for income-tax
evasion, as well as distribution of pornographic material involving
children…
Providence Journal Archives: Kenneth Guarino’s Mob Ties, Criminal Post, Global Empire
Guarino, a millionaire, lives in a posh waterfront home in Cranston’s Edgewood neighborhood…
Guarino’s relationship with mobsters is well-documented. In 1991, the
Journal-Bulletin reported that Guarino, Natale Richichi and Gotti met
at a Johnston restaurant with other mobsters.
The seeds of the criminal charges were planted in February 1993, when
Guarino, Natale Richichi and Cino were indicted on charges that they
conspired to bribe the president of the Las Vegas stagehands union.
The men were accused of seeking to obtain favorable treatment in a
financially troubled stage show, at the now-defunct Dunes Hotel, that
Guarino had invested in.
As part of yesterday’s plea, the government dropped those charges.
Following that indictment, prosecutors said, they captured Guarino on
federal wiretaps, offering his own contacts in the underworld to help
Richichi get fake identification so he could flee to the Dominican
Republic…
Richichi apparently considered himself more than Guarino’s protector.
The plea agreement says federal agents intercepted Richichi telling
Patriarca crime boss Francis P. “Cadillac Frank” Salemme “that
everything of Guarino’s was (Richichi’s)…”
Guarino has had past run-ins with the law. In June 1985, he pleaded
guilty to federal tax-evasion charges. He served three months in prison
and was fined $5,000.
In 1980, Guarino was arrested with 44 others in gambling raids in 12
Rhode Island communities, and charged with operating an organized-crime
gambling business. Seven years later, in 1987, he pleaded no contest to
bookmaking charges and was fined $250.
Gazette: “Porn shop part of wide network – Founder of Capital Video has faced criminal charges”
The Republican: “Porn profitable for firm’s CEO”
Rick Porras, Capital Video Executive, Would Rather You Not Know He Is a Pornographer (explicit language)
We can understand that if you’re promoting your ability to maximize
sales, you might not want it known that you were maximizing sales of
A Caning for Miss Granger
My Daughter’s Fucking Blackzilla
Hot Pho King Asians
Please Help Me Pay For College #18: Graduation Ass Of 2007
Ass 2 Mouth #11
Broken China Dolls
Mexicunts #5
Ashley Blue Aka Filthy Whore
and
Barely Legal: School Girls #3
“These sweet and oh-so-studious school girls can’t wait to have their perky titties peaky titties and most holes corrupted!“
You
might be uncomfortable with the fact that your marketing strategies
include battling municipalities for the right to put porn shops next to
homes, such that neighborhoods become festooned with used condoms and prostitution.
Considering the role of commercial sex enterprises in the spread of HIV, you might feel uneasy about the frequency with which Capital Video clerks look the other way while patrons have high-risk sex on the premises, as long as money keeps going into the video machines.
Considering the role of porn in domestic abuse and child molestation, you might not be proud of some of the magazines sold by Capital Video…
Any feelings of discomfort or embarrassment would be completely
understandable. Fortunately, there is a simple way to ease them. Quit.
Today.
An Account of the Working Conditions at Capital Video Headquarters
“Metro is a f—ing nightmare to work for…”