2011

How Sleuths Cracked the Anthrax Mystery Via Genetic Fingerprints
By Daniel de Vise Washington Post Staff Writer WASHINGTON — Inside a Rockville laboratory, a team of scientists labored in round-the-clock shifts to do something many colleagues thought impossible: decode the genetic “fingerprint” of a deadly anthrax sample to help the FBI solve a case. The researchers had been swept into Amerithrax, the massive federal…

Bad Week for Ex-Baseball Stars: One Convicted and Another Charged
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com This has not been a good week for ex-baseball players. First, Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection with steroid use. And now comes ex-baseball star Lenny Dykstra. Dykstra, 48, a former outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies who lives in Encino, Calif., has been…

Ex-Fed Judge Busted in Affair With Stripper Reports to Prison
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Disgraced ex-federal Judge Jack Camp of Atlanta reported on Friday to a prison in El Reno, Ok., to begin serving his 30-day sentence, the Associated Press reported. You might recall Camp, who is married, was busted in an FBI sting after buying drugs for a stripper he was carrying on an…

Ex-NY Mob Boss Testifies that Crooked FBI Agent in 80s Tipped Off the Mafia About Arrests
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Ex-Bonanno mob boss Joseph Massino — the first N.Y. family boss to ever take the witness stand for the government — testified Thursday that a crooked FBI agent tipped off the Mafia back in the 80s that he and others were about to get arrested, the Associated Press reported. As a…

Retirement of Portland’s Top FBI Agent Could Speed Up City’s Decision to Rejoin the FBI’s JTTF
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The longstanding rift between the city of Portland, Ore., and the local FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force could get resolved quicker than expected, thanks to the pending departure by month’s end of the head of the city’s FBI office, the Portland Mercury news website reports. The city pulled Portland police out…

New Gotti Film to Star John Travolta and Joe Pesci
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com It all seems a little surreal. But it’s real. The New York Post reports that a new “biopic” film on the Gotti family — “Gotti: Three Generations” — will star John Travolta, and none other than actor Joe Pesci. Filming is set to begin in October. Pesci became legendary for his…