Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A police officer in California who lied to the FBI about an extortion scheme was sentenced Monday to two-and-a-half years in federal prison. Burbank police officer Anthony Valento admitted he lied to FBI agents about dating Gayle Bassett, a victim of a crime for which he was the reporting officer. Bassett was…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Ten union members in Philadelphia are accused of starting fires, sabotaging construction sites and threatening violence when companies used non-union laborers. The Blaze.com reports that federal agents arrested 10 members of Ironworkers Local 401 and charged them with participating in a “a conspiracy to commit criminal acts of extortion, arson, destruction of…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Something had to be done in Trenton. That much was clear less than three months into Mayor Tony Mack’s administration when a government informant told the FBI that he feared the mob had taken over city hall, the Trenton Times reports. FBI Supervisor Special Agent Mike Doyle was listening into a…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A veteran ICE agent is accused of accepting bribes to help smuggle illegal immigrants into the country by claiming they were witnesses to a drug investigation, CBS Miami reports. That’s one allegation facing Special Agent Juan Martinez, who appeared in court Friday on 12 criminal counts, including extortion and bribery. Martinez also…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Ex-Congressman Rick Renzi of Arizona was sentenced Monday in Tucson to three years in prison for extortion, bribery, insurance fraud, money laundering and racketeering. His co-defendant, James Sandlin, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for his role. Renzi, 55, of Burke, Va., and Sandlin, 62, of Sherman, Texx….
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A disgraced scientist who fried a rat’s tail, placed it in his son’s french fries and tried then to extort McDonalds for $5 million was represented by Jeh Jonson, who is President Obama’s nominee for head of Homeland Security, the Daily Caller reports. Despite Johnson’s representation, Michael Zanakis was convicted of the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com We knew Johnny Carson was a comedian? But a brazen cowboy? In the mid-1970s, Carson found a live grenade with a threat demanding $250,000 in cash. If he didn’t deliver it, a note read, his family would be harmed, Showbizz 44 reports. So with the help of the FBI, Carson, who carried…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Three rabbis and seven others are accused of trying to force Orthodox Jewish men into agreeing to divorce their wives, CBS New York reports. They allegedly conspired to kidnap and use cattle prods to get the men to agree to divorce their wives. Under Jewish law, a person must obtain what’s called…
