Today in History 12/16/16

Today in History
(1773) Colonists throw British tea into Boston Harbor
Boston Tea Party, English tea chests thrown overboard in Boston Harbor by colonists, December 16, 1773. The United States, 18th century.
Members of the underground Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Indians, throw 342 chests of tea off British ships to protest “tax tyranny,” or Britain’s Tea Act of 1773, which gave the East India Company a monopoly on the American tea trade. The Boston Tea Party will bring tensions between colonists and the British to a head.

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution. The Tea Party became an iconic event of American history, and other political protests such as the Tea Party movement after 2010 explicitly refer to it.

Address: Congress Street Bridge, Boston, MA 02127
Date: Dec 16, 1773

— Source: wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
(1893) Dvořák premieres his symphony for the New World
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 2000: Photo of Anton DVORAK (Photo by PALM/RSCH /Redferns)
Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, premieres his Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall. Heavily influenced by African-American spirituals, the ‘New World Symphony’ is received with rapturous applause and will become one of the world’s most popular pieces of classical music.

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World”, Op. 95, B. 178, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular of all symphonies. In older literature and recordings, this symphony was often numbered as Symphony No. 5. Neil Armstrong took a recording of the New World Symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969.

Completed: 1893
Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Compositional form: Symphony
Key: E minor
First performance: Carnegie Hall

— Source: wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Dvořák)
(1944) The Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium
American soldiers pass an abandoned and burning German Tiger tank, which may have simply run out of gas before being wrecked, as they patrol outside La Gleize, Belgium, late Dec. 1944 or early Jan. 1945. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
In the heavily forested Ardennes region, German forces launch a surprise counterattack and push deep into the American line, creating a 50-mile wide “bulge” in the Allied front. The battle will continue for a month and will be the deadliest one for US troops in World War II.

The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front towards the end of World War II in the European theatre. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany’s armoured forces on the Western Front, and they were largely unable to replace them. German personnel, and later Luftwaffe aircraft, also sustained heavy losses.

Start date: Dec 16, 1944
End date: Jan 25, 1945

— Source: wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge
(1985) Mob boss Paul Castellano is gunned down in NYC
UNITED STATES - JUNE 16: Shooting of Paul Castellano (body on sidewalk) and Thomas Bilotti (body in street ) , at Sparks Steak house, Mon Dec. 16, 1985 46th st. and 3rd ave.. (Photo by Thomas Monaster/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
The “Howard Hughes of the Mob,” head of the Gambino crime family, is killed along with Thomas Bilotti outside a steak house on the orders of John Gotti. Gotti will assume leadership of the family, though will later be found guilty of the murders and will be sentenced to life in prison in 1992.

Costantino Paul “Big Paul” Castellano, also known as “The Howard Hughes of the Mob” and “Big Paulie”, was an American mafia boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family in New York, the nation’s largest Cosa Nostra family at the time. The unsanctioned assassination of Castellano in 1985 by John Gotti sparked years of animosity between the Gambinos and the other New York crime families.

Lived: Jun 26, 1915 – Dec 16, 1985 (age 70)
Height: 6′ 2″ (1.89 m)
Spouse: Nino Manno (m. 1937 – 1985)
Children: Joseph Castellano (Son) · Philip Castellano (Son) · Constance Castellano (Daughter) · Paul Castellano Jr. (Son)
Buried: Moravian Cemetery
Parents: Giuseppe Castellano

Highlights

  • 1926: Castellano’s sister Catherine had married one of their cousins, Carlo Gambino, in 1926; he was a future boss of the Gambino crime family.

  • 1937: In 1937 Castellano married his childhood sweetheart Nina Manno; the couple had three sons (Paul, Philip, and Joseph Castellano) and a daughter, Constance Castellano.

  • 1957: In 1957, after Anastasia’s murder and Carlo Gambino’s elevation to boss, Castellano attended the abortive Apalachin Conference in Apalachin, New York.

  • 1978: In February 1978, Castellano made an agreement between the Gambino family and the Westies, an Irish-American gang from Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.

  • 1985: The unsanctioned assassination of Castellano in 1985 by John Gotti sparked years of animosity between the Gambinos and the other New York crime families.

  • 1985: On December 2, 1985 the death of Dellacroce from lung cancer started a chain of events that 14 days later led to Castellano’s murder.

  • 1985: On December 16, 1985, Bilotti drove Castellano to the prearranged meeting at the Sparks Steak House in Midtown Manhattan.

— Source: wiki/Paul_Castellano
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