Feb. 9, birthdays for Shakira, Carole King, Joe Pesci

Brooklyn Today

February 9, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Singer Shakira celebrates her birthday today. Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 40th day of the year.

ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Flatbush Teen-Age Gang Seized, Admits 52 Crimes.”

The article focused on five teenage boys who were arrested for and admitted to committing 52 crimes, all against women, in Flatbush.

“After several hours of questioning they broke down, even going so far as to re-enact some of the crimes,” the Eagle reported. “The gang apparently had a code of honor of its own, for none of the youngsters would say a word about any of the others, detectives said.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress MIA FARROW, who was born in 1945; baseball player VLADIMIR GUERRERO, who was born in 1976; actor TOM HIDDLESTON, who was born in 1981; singer and songwriter CAROLE KING, who was born in Brooklyn in 1942; actress JUDITH LIGHT, who was born in 1949; journalist ROGER MUDD, who was born in 1928; basketball player JAMEER NELSON, who was born in 1982; actor JOE PESCI, who was born in 1943; singer and TV personality SHAKIRA, who was born in 1977; actor CHARLES SHAUGHNESSY, who was born in 1955; actress MENA SUVARI, who was born in 1979; actress JANET SUZMAN, who was born in 1939; country singer TRAVIS TRITT, who was born in 1963; author ALICE WALKER, who was born in 1944; and actress ZIYI ZHANG, who was born in 1979.

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MARDIS GRAS, THE last feast before Lent, takes place today. Although Mardi Gras (which means Fat Tuesday) is properly limited to Shrove Tuesday, it has come to be popularly applied to the preceding two weeks of celebration. It is celebrated primarily in New Orleans; Mobile, Alabama; and certain Mississippi and Florida cities. It is a state holiday in Louisiana.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.