CineVegas Begins!, Phil Spector’s Sex Life, David Carradine’s Legacy, An al-Qaida Franchise, and more…

CineVegas Begins!

Next week’s column is devoted to the 11^th annual CineVegas Film Festival held here in Las Vegas. The opening night’s movie was SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS starring Steve Buscemi. The Opening Night Party was held at PRIVÉ inside Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. Presented by Stella Artois, the exclusive 12,000 square foot South Beach-style nightclub inside Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino was the perfect venue to celebrate a film about decadence, wheelchair-bound strippers and a degenerate gambler.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died because of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Spector’s Wife Misses the Sex.

And who wouldn’t? According to an item in the New York Post’s Page Six (June 6, 2009): “Phil Spector’s a killer in bed, too. "We had sex. We were doing it all the time," his hot, blond and much younger wife, Rachelle, told the LA Times, speaking out for the first time since the Wall of Sound producer was convicted of murder and sent to prison for the next 19 years.

But it gets creepier. Rachelle, who's 28, just two years older than Spector's daughter, Nicole, gave a choke-inducing peek at the bizarre spot they chose to tie the knot: the entranceway to Spector's Alhambra, Calif., mansion, where he blew away actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

"Why wouldn't I?" she told the newspaper. "I sit in that chair all the time" -- referring to the chair next to where Clarkson was shot.”

David Carradine’s Legacy.

You hit the jackpot! You married a certified star. You walk the red carpet with him! You are the envy of your friends. And then this happens! Your 72-year old husband is found dead and naked in a Thailand closet with a rope tied around his penis and his neck.

For David Carradine, it was not his first time at the rodeo!

How humiliating for his present wife, Anne! (pictured)

The Smoking Gun has uncovered divorce papers filed by David Carradine's ex-wife Marina Anderson in 2003. Anderson was married to Carradine for four years.

Anderson accused Carradine of "deviant sexual behavior that was potentially deadly." In addition, Carradine's "deviate behavior includes an incestuous relationship with a very close family member, which permeated our marriage," she wrote. Anderson claimed both parties admitted to it.

Carradine had 5 daughters and 2 sons. In 2004 Carradine starred with his now 31-year old daughter Kansas in a film called “Last Goodbye”.

Unfortunately, a Thai newspaper did not know that Carradine was our Princess Di and they should NOT have published a photo of David Carradine nude and dead in his hotel room. The front page of the Thai Rath tabloid paper showed Carradine hanging from the support bar in a closet in his hotel room. His hands are tied above his head. Much of the body in the photo has been tiled out by the paper, but there are still explicit details of the death scene. Tattoos on the lower half of his nude body can be seen. Discoloration of the skin on the lower extremities indicate he had been dead for hours before being found.

TMZ.com has seen a new, higher resolution image of the photo but is not posting it. Other reports say Carradine was wearing a wig, fishnet stockings and an erotic photo was tapped to the wall within his sight-line. Red lingerie was folded on the bed.

A Thai newspaper also published “alledgedly” an autopsy photo of Carradine clearly showing his tattoos. Apparently, it is common in Thailand for newspapers and magazines to publish murder photos, car crashes and explicit autopsy photos. It is what the people want.

Carradine's third ex-wife, Gail Jensen, chimed in: "David was pretty strange. He would like to get tied up. He would tie himself up and I would walk in and see him and say 'Oh my God, David, you got to be kidding me — and I would (turn around and) walk out. I would leave him to his own devices. He liked to be tied up. And he could tie himself up … He spent days planning a different feature. He would go to a hardware store and buy the stuff."

However, it is being reported that a secret sect of kung fu assassins could have silenced Carradine as he delved into their shadowy activities, according to his family’s lawyer, Mark Geragos.

A New Franchise!

The headline in MSNBC.com read: “In Algeria, al-Qaida extends franchise. Deep in the Sahara Desert, along the remote southern borders of Algeria, lies an immense no man's land where militants roam.

It is here that terrorists linked with al-Qaida traffic everything from weapons and drugs to illegal migrants. They have planted at least a half-dozen cells in Europe. Last week, they announced on the Internet that they had killed a British hostage in Mali, and are still holding a Swiss hostage. (Photo of me and John in Timbuktu, Mali)

The al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is perhaps the best example of how al-Qaida is morphing and broadening its reach through loose relationships with local offshoots. The shadowy network of Algerian cells recruits Islamist radicals throughout northern and western Africa, trains them and sends them to fight in the region or Iraq, according to intelligence officials. In turn, AQIM gets al-Qaida's brand name and some corporate know-how.

Tony Darrow, Extortionist?

Is this how he got his recurring role on “The Sopranos”?  A New York friend from long, long ago, Tony Darrow, known for playing mobsters, was arrested for an attempt to extort money from a man several years ago, federal prosecutors allege.

The New York Daily News reported Darrow, who was born Anthony Borgese, has pleaded innocent to charges he attempted to extort cash from an unidentified man who owed an undisclosed amount of money to a loan shark.

Darrow was arrested at New York's LaGuardia Airport Thursday in relation to the alleged 2004 incident. Also charged were convicted extortionist Joseph "Joey Boy" Orlando and Giovanni Monteleone, an alleged associate in organized crime.

Tony is best known for playing Larry Boy Barese in "The Sopranos" and Bamboo Lounge owner Sonny Bunz in "Goodfellas" and the iconic horror movie “Street Trash”.

Regardless of his arrest on Thursday, Tony fulfilled his obligation to his fans on Saturday to appear at the East Coast edition of Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors held on June 5-7 in New York City. Tony was representing “Street Trash” and the mobster horror movie “Lynch Mob”. Also with Tony was his “Lynch Mob” co-star Paul Borghese.