Latest news with #Narcos
NDTV
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Family Brings Dad To Pedro Pascal Lookalike Contest On Father's Day, Wins Free Burritos For A Year
A Mexican restaurant in New York hosted a fun Pedro Pascal lookalike contest, and 30 people entered. For the unversed, superstar Pedro Pascal has starred in 'Game of Thrones' and 'The Star Wars' spin-off, Narcos and 'The Mandalorian' - and has a huge fan following. The winner of this contest could take home $50 and a year's supply of burritos from the Son Del North Mexican restaurant, located on the Lower East Side. So, who won? A dad from Brooklyn, who instantly became popular on social media for his close resemblance to actor Pedro Pascal. Coincidentally, the contest was held on Father's Day, and the dad, George Gountas, was encouraged by his family to participate in this unique contest. Restaurant chef and co-owner Annisha Garcia said the inspiration for the contest came from Pascal's famous 2023 quip that there was no good Mexican food in New York. Garcia said, "And we were like, 'There is, and we are here.' " The winner's wife, Jenny Gania, shared that people started noticing her husband's likeness to the actor after he starred in 'Game of Thrones' as Prince Oberyn Martell. "Then some kids started noting it, too, so when we saw this [contest], I was like, 'It's Father's Day. You have to go. It's going to be your Father's Day treat,' " Gania told her husband, reported The New York Post. Wim Shih, co-owner of the Mexican restaurant, said the whole idea behind the contest was to bring a smile to folks during troubled times. "There's just so much sadness in the world right now, and we wanted to be a bit of sunshine today amidst all that," Shih said.
Spectator
14-06-2025
- Spectator
Lunches, kidnappings and coups: my Frederick Forsyth connection
Back in 2007, I went to war-ravaged Guinea-Bissau in west Africa to report on its rise as the continent's first narco-state. Latino cartels were using it as a staging post for shipping cocaine to Europe, bribing its rulers to turn a blind eye. So much product was being landed that local fishermen would catch stray bales of coke in their nets – a modern twist on Compton Mackenzie's novel Whisky Galore. Guinea-Bissau's new drug lords would go on to inspire a novel of their own. Back home on the Telegraph foreign desk in London a few months later, I got a call from no less a figure than Frederick Forsyth. His next novel, he told me, was going to be about the cocaine trade, set in coup-ridden west Africa: Narcos meets The Dogs of War. Could I fax him my article (he was a famous technophobe) and pass on a few contacts? Oh, and any recommendations for a hotel? Despite already pushing 70, he was still the roving correspondent that he started out as, keen to see things for himself.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
If you're still upset about Joel in The Last of Us season 2, the co-creator wants you to remember that Pedro Pascal is actually "alive" and he's "in literally everything else"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. If you've seen The Last of Us season 2, you're probably still sad about one moment in particular. In episode 2, Pedro Pascal's Joel is brutally killed by Kaitlyn Dever's Abby, just as he is in the game. It's certainly a harrowing scene, but, for those of us still upset, co-creator Craig Mazin wants you to remember one key thing. "He did a thing. Everyone lost their shit, and then I had to do that same thing, because he did the thing. I loved doing the thing, I thought it was great," Mazin said at a Variety panel of Joel's death, referring to Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann and the game's decision to kill the character off. "The big complaint that I've gotten is, 'Why did you kill Pedro Pascal?' And I keep explaining, we didn't kill him! He's a man, he's alive. He's fine. And he's in literally everything else. So I don't know what the problem is!" Mazin isn't wrong about Pascal being a busy man. He's starring as Reed Richards in this summer's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and he's also in Celine Song's Materialists. Plus, you can see him in Game of Thrones (though that one might not cheer you up…) as well as other hit shows like Narcos, and, of course, you can scratch the itch of watching Pascal take care of a young charge with The Mandalorian. In fact, he's returning as the Beskar-clad papa in The Mandalorian & Grogu, which releases next year. The Last of Us season 2 is available to stream on HBO Max now. While you wait for the show to return with The Last of Us season 3, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows of 2025 to fill out your watchlist.
ITV News
11-06-2025
- ITV News
Drug dealer brother of ex-Liverpool footballer loses appeal against 21-year sentence
A man who had a "leading role" in an international drugs plot involving his brother, a former Liverpool football prodigy, has lost an appeal against his prison sentence. Jonathan Cassidy likened himself to the infamous drug dealer El Chapo and was later jailed for more than two decades after a drug plot which saw cocaine imported from the Netherlands and used to supply users across north-west England, Birmingham and Leeds, was uncovered. Manchester Crown Court heard last year that the operation dealt with 356kg of the drug, worth around £26 million, with £10 million in cash changing hands in the space of three months. Prosecutors also said that Cassidy sent an associate a picture of the actor playing Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman in the TV programme Narcos, known as El Chapo, and joked that they shared the same birthday. Cassidy was jailed for 21 years and nine months in March last year. He was sentenced alongside his younger brother, Jamie Cassidy, a former Liverpool football prodigy who played alongside Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen in the Liverpool side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1996. The younger Cassidy received a sentence of 13 years and three months for conspiring to supply drugs and conspiring to transfer criminal property, after prosecutors said he was 'drawn in' to crime by his older brother. At an appeal hearing in London last month, his lawyers claimed that the sentencing judge gave him insufficient credit for his guilty pleas and that not enough weight was given to mitigating factors. But in a ruling published on Monday, 9 June, three senior judges dismissed the challenge. Lord Justice Fraser, sitting with Mr Justice Hilliard and Mr Justice Constable, said that they were 'not persuaded' that the sentence was 'manifestly excessive or reached after an error of principle'. They also dismissed an appeal bid brought by Cassidy's co-defendant, Nasar Ahmed, who admitted the same offences and received the same jail term. Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told Manchester Crown Court last year that Cassidy played a 'leading role' in drugs importation and the buying and selling of class A drugs while Ahmed acted as a middleman and 'facilitator', transferring vast sums of cash to buy and sell on drugs. One associate was arrested in a car in Liverpool, where police found two Asda bags for life containing £249,940. After the encrypted EncroChat network used by Cassidy and Ahmed was compromised by law enforcement agencies, Cassidy travelled to Dubai in July 2020 and inquired with estate agents about purchasing a villa with a budget of £2.3 million, including a £22,000 bed. He travelled back to the UK in October that year, but was arrested upon his return. Dismissing Jonathan Cassidy and Ahmed's appeals, Lord Justice Fraser said that both knew 'what their conduct had been and the degree to which it was unlawful'. He continued that despite defendants in other EncroChat cases being given greater credit for guilty pleas, there was 'no one single 'EncroChat discount'' that should be applied.
Daily Mirror
10-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
'El Chapo' brother of ex-Liverpool footballer thinks jail sentence was too long
A man sentenced with his ex-Liverpool FC footballer brother lost his appeal against the jail term he considered too harsh - Jonathan Cassidy likened himself to drug baron 'El Chapo' A man who likened himself to drug baron 'El Chapo' has lost an appeal against his sentence. Jonathan Cassidy played a leading role in an international drug plot which saw cocaine imported from the Netherlands and used to supply users across north-west England, Birmingham and Leeds. He ran the racket with younger brother Jamie, a former Liverpool FC footballer, and business partner Nasar Ahmed. Together, the operation dealt with 356kg of the drug, worth around £26million, with £10million in cash changing hands in the space of three months, Manchester Crown Court heard last year. In court, prosecutors said Cassidy had sent an associate a picture of the actor who played drug lord Joaquin Guzma, AKA 'El Chapo' in the Netflix TV series Narcos. He also joked they had the same birthday. Jonathan Cassidy was slapped with a sentence of 21 years and nine months in March last year. He admitted importing drugs, conspiring to supply drugs and conspiring to transfer criminal property the previous month. His lawyers lodged a claim that the sentencing judge gave him insufficient credit for his guilty pleas and that not enough weight was given to mitigating factors. But three judges dismissed the challenge in a ruling published on Monday. Lord Justice Fraser, Mr Justice Hilliard and Mr Justice Constable said they were 'not persuaded' that the sentence was 'manifestly excessive or reached after an error of principle'. They also dismissed an appeal bid brought by Cassidy's co-defendant, Nasar Ahmed, who admitted the same offences and received the same jail term. Cassidy played a 'leading role' in drugs importation and the buying and selling of class A drugs while Ahmed acted as a middleman and 'facilitator', transferring vast sums of cash to buy and sell on drugs, prosecutor Richard Wright KC told Manchester Crown Court. After the encrypted EncroChat network used by Cassidy and Ahmed was compromised by law enforcement agencies - Cassidy used the name 'WhiskyWasp' - Cassidy travelled to Dubai in July 2020 and inquired with estate agents about purchasing a villa with a budget of £2.3million, including a £22,000 bed. He travelled back to the UK in October that year, but was arrested upon his return. The EncroChat data showed Cassidy had imported cocaine for the first time in early March 2020. This was a whopping 194kg of the drugs and was imported into the country in blocks embossed with snowmen, Liverpool Echo reports. Cassidy was sentenced alongside his younger brother, Jamie Cassidy, a former Liverpool football prodigy who played alongside Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen in the Liverpool side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1996. Jamie Cassidy received a sentence of 13 years and three months for conspiring to supply drugs and conspiring to transfer criminal property, after prosecutors said he was 'drawn in' to crime by his older brother. Speaking after their initial sentencing in February last year, detective constable Marc Walby from Greater Manchester Police's serious organised crime group said: "Jonathan Cassidy and his colleagues got far too comfortable with their encrypted phones and began bragging about their personal lives, but this just confirmed what we already knew about them. Ironically, it was this bravado and these messages which have landed them in jail for a long time." Dismissing Jonathan Cassidy and Ahmed's appeals, Lord Justice Fraser said that both knew 'what their conduct had been and the degree to which it was unlawful'. He continued that despite defendants in other EncroChat cases being given greater credit for guilty pleas, there was 'no one single 'EncroChat discount'' that should be applied.
