Crime

The New York Post reports: “Club Kid Killer” Michael Alig — the famously flamboyant party promoter who ended up busted for murder — has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment, officials said Friday. The 54-year-old former scene fixture and convict was discovered by a friend just before midnight Christmas Eve in his Washington Heights …

Nashville’s ABC News affiliate reports: A large explosion was reported in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning. The explosion happened in the area of Second Avenue and Broadway near Commerce Street occurred around 6:30 am Friday. Heavy black smoke could be seen rising above the affected area. MNPD, FBI, and ATF are investigating the explosion of an RV outside 166 2nd …

The New York Daily News reports: A couple who lied about their business in order to score a $7.2 million PPP loan in late May used the funds to buy a $3.5 million, seven-bedroom house, and several expensive cars, according the federal government. Don Cisternino and his partner, Lori Quasky, allegedly claimed their company, MagnifiCo, had an average monthly payroll …

Houston’s ABC News affiliate reports: The man accused of hitting a Houston bar employee in the head with a glass has been arrested, Houston police chief Art Acevedo tweeted Thursday. “This suspect has been apprehended and charged with assault, bodily injury,” Acevedo said. Employee Josh Vaughan had to have 10 stitches after he was attacked Monday while working the door …

Yahoo News reports: Letitia James wants Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl to drop a dime on whoever funded their pro-Donald Trump robocall schemes. The state of New York’s Attorney General’s office has subpoenaed two pro-Trump internet trolls in relation to a possible voter suppression scheme. Jacob Wohl, 22, and Jack Burkman, 58, have been subpoenaed by Attorney General Letitia James …

The Daily Dot reports: Blundering pro-Trump operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman’s legal team think the duo are on track for their case to be heard by the Supreme Court. Wohl and Burkman face felony charges for a robocall scheme authorities say targeted Black voters. Speaking in court on Monday morning, lawyer Scott Grabel and William Amadeo of Grabel & …

NBC News reports: Public health officials are warning of scammers who promise early access to the vaccine for people who hand over their Social Security Number to callers. With the initial supply of the first Covid-19 vaccines allocated to health care personnel and long-term care facilities, health and security officials have already identified phishing scams in which perpetrators impersonate health …

The Associated Press reports: A Paris court on Wednesday convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended 8-month prison sentence. Retired Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 — who was not present in court — was “shattered” by the verdict, according to his lawyer, Solange Doumic. Ventura has repeatedly …

Via press release from the Justice Department: The Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah with six counts of terrorism-related offenses arising from his activities as an operative of the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab, including conspiring to hijack aircraft in order to conduct a 9/11-style attack in the United States. Abdullah was arrested …

New Orleans’ ABC News affiliate reports: A Bossier City man who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in November was arrested Wednesday on child pornography charges. According to Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office booking records, 34-year-old Ben Gibson was booked into Bossier Max Wednesday morning on four counts of pornography involving juveniles under the age of thirteen (possession). Gibson, an active Airman at …

NBC New York reports: The general manager of a Staten Island bar that repeatedly defied public health orders to close is now under arrest for allegedly reopening again, and then striking a sheriff’s deputy while fleeing in his car. The NYC Sheriff’s Office said deputies attempted to take Daniel Presti, 34, into custody just after midnight Sunday after observing patrons …

The Washington Post reports: The global police cooperation agency Interpol said Wednesday that the distribution of coronavirus vaccines could be exploited by criminals, with “falsification, theft and illegal advertising of COVID-19 and flu vaccines” posing growing risks. “As governments are preparing to roll out vaccines, criminal organisations are planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains,” said the agency’s secretary general, …

Law & Crime reports: Nearly a month has passed since a federal judge found that civil rights groups would prove that hard-right pranksters Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman engaged in “electoral terror” in robocalls that he found reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, lawyers for the duo want the same judge to sanction a civil rights group for filing …

Via press release from still-a-felon Michael Flynn: By Almighty God’s grace and with the love and courage of my wife Lori, the strength and fortitude of our families, and the inspiration of our friends and every single patriot who circled me with their prayers, wisdom, and kindness, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. For the first …

The New York Times reports: Others seeking creative ways to forge ties to the president include Joseph Maldonado-Passage, the former Oklahoma zoo owner who is better known as Joe Exotic. His representatives have been running a carefully orchestrated campaign to try to persuade Mr. Trump to pardon Mr. Maldonado-Passage, who is one year into a 22-year sentence for trying to …

The Washington Post reports: After years of denying allegations of lax financial oversight, the National Rifle Association has made a stunning declaration in a new tax filing: Current and former executives used the nonprofit group’s money for personal benefit and enrichment. The NRA said in the filing that it continues to review the alleged abuse of funds, as the tax-exempt …

The New York Daily News reports: Lending a whole new meaning to the term “heavy breather,” a man was arrested Sunday for exhaling onto women at Trump’s Virginia golf course. Raymond Deskins, 61, was charged with misdemeanor assault after a private citizen obtained a warrant through a county magistrate, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. They were near the …

Via press release from the Justice Department: This week, Paul James Kryscuk, 35, Liam Collins, 21, Jordan Duncan, 26, and Justin Wade Hermanson, 21, were charged via a superseding indictment obtained in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Collins and Duncan are former Marines assigned previously to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. According to court documents, Collins, Kryscuk, and …

TMZ reports: Harvey Weinstein is in isolation with 101-degree temperature, and doctors believe he has COVID, TMZ has learned. Law enforcement sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ that Weinstein is “doing poorly” with various health issues, some of which point to a coronavirus infection. Harvey’s camp tells TMZ, “It should come as no surprise that Mr. Weinstein has numerous maladies …

The Washington Post reports: Hate-crime killings reached a record last year in the United States, due in large part to the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso that officials say was motivated by anti-immigrant bias, according to figures released Monday by the FBI. There were 51 hate-crime killings in 2019, the highest number since the FBI began tabulating …