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America Still Loves Bank Robberies

With the recession in full swing, everybody wants some easy money. According to USA Today, bank robberies are up in major cities across the country and some authorities are citing the economic climate as a possible explanation.

But before you decide to strap up and hit your local Chase, know that the average bank robbery nets just $10,000 and can involve some pretty dire consequences (like death, for example). After the jump, get familiar with a few of the hazards by watching some of youtube’s most infamous bank robberies.

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The Godmother Controls Cocaine Cowboys II

If you haven’t caught 2006’s must-see documentary Cocaine Cowboys, you’re missing out on a wild look back at the development of Miami’s out of control drug market in the ’70s and ’80s. The untold history was so rich that each of the movie’s criminal players could probably support their own spin-off documentary. So for the sequel, the filmmakers at Rakontuer focused on one of Miami’s most ruthless villains: Griselda Blanco (a.k.a. “The Black Widow”).

Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin’ With The Godmother, which is coming to DVD on July 29, tells the story of an Oakland man named Charles Cosby who becomes a major West Coast cocaine dealer thanks to his connection with Blanco. After writing a “fan letter” to her while she’s incarcerated on the West Coast, they develop a lasting bond that results in him helming $40 million per year drug ring. Watch the trailer below.

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Brazilian Documentary Delivers A Head Shot

Before you hit the streets of Brazil to chase down your choice of hookers or black market organs, Complex recommends you watch the newly released DVD Manda Bala (Send A Bullet). We first screened the thought-provoking Brazilian documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival (where it was named the Grand Jury Prize Winner) and we loved it.

The film weaves together several people’s stories to show how government corruption has lead to an explosion of kidnappings for ransom and, in turn, caused a boom in the protection, prevention and plastic surgery industries. Why plastic surgery, you ask? Let’s just say that few things help loved ones hear demands for ransom like a severed ear. Check out the trailer after the jump.

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Castration Is Coming To America!

We really hate sex offenders as much as the next normal human being, but damn, do we have to chop off their kibbles & bits for the rest of their lives?

A new bill passed a Senate committee in Louisiana today that could give judges just that option. For first time offenders, judges would have the option to chop it off or burn it off in a chemical process called MPA (medroxyprogestrone acetate). For second time offenders, the judge would be required to turn them into a eunuch, as long as a doctor agreed. Just in case you thought this was “the easy way out,” the bill clearly states that the castration would not decrease jail sentences at all. Just an extra little bonus.

While removing someone’s sex organs would definitely deter sex crimes, is it right? What if we find out they were wrongly-convicted years down the line? The twig ‘n berries won’t grow back. This type of punishment hasn’t been legally practiced anywhere since the 19th century—unless you count the Nazis. After the break, familiarize yourself with our favorite castration-themed Ellen Page movie, Hard Candy.

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Study Says Nervous Whites Ignore Black People

In this post-Imus, post-Kramer society, white folks are more scared then ever of “saying the wrong thing” and getting Al Sharpton on their case for being racist. But rather than confronting their fears by, you know, talking to actual black people, a new study has found that whitey is more likely to just pretend they don’t exist.

The Northwestern University study called “The Threat of Appearing Prejudiced and Race-based Attentional Biases” asked 15 white students to take a simple computer test showing a black face and a white face with the same expression. The students overwhelmingly looked at the black face first, but would quickly move their attention the paleface, apparently a more comforting sight. They concluded:

Study participants indicated that they worry about inadvertently getting in trouble for somehow seeming biased. As a result, the study suggests, they behaved in a way that research shows people respond when faced with stimuli that cause them to feel threatened or anxious: they instinctively look at what is making them feel nervous and then ignore it.

In honor of everyone someday living in perfect harmony, watch Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder’s “Ebony & Ivory” after the jump.

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