Blackmail and Extortion

With this being National Consumer Protection Week, I'm receiving all sorts of tips about the latest scams and how to avoid them. This list from the Bucks County Crimes Against Older Adults Task Force includes one that's new to me......

Citing lax enforcement by the county, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation lodged a complaint Monday accusing a Los Angeles porn studio of filming unprotected sex in defiance of a new law that requires adult performers to use condoms. Measure B, which......

A SigAlert was issued for the southbound 101 Freeway in the Cahuenga Pass Tuesday morning as police investigated a body found on an off-ramp....

Los Angeles County Sheriff's are investigating a snafu that sent a dozen reputed MS-13 gang members charged by a grand jury with extorting food truck operators to the wrong courthouse and a downtown jail facility before their after-hours arraignment...

At least 20 reputed members of one of Los Angeles’ most notorious gangs have been indicted in connection with a violent extortion racket that targeted food truck operators in the Hollywood area over at least five years, according to state......

A grand jury indictment was scheduled to be unsealed Monday for about two dozen reputed members of the notorious MS-13 gang in connection with a violent extortion racket that targeted food-truck operators. The victims of the alleged organized shakedown...

A San Bernardino County school district faces legal action for alleged discrimination against gay and lesbian students, including its alleged refusal to allow girls to wear tuxedos to the upcoming prom. The Hesperia Unified School District was notified of...

After the coffee. Before going to Kickstarter to fund a new car.  The Skinny: It's still early but I'm a little disappointed the new pope hasn't checked in with me. Doesn't he want to know what's going on in Hollywood? Thursday's headlines include a...

Obviously Hamid Karzai's been smoking the sap from some of those poppies that grow so freely in Afghanistan. This guy is incredible. To accuse the United States of colluding with the Taliban just to prolong the war is beyond understanding. He's as crazy...

Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace star as two damaged souls in "Dead Man Down," a moody twist of hyper-violent vengeance and heartache where death is hand-delivered, mercy is hard to come by and love is never easy. The slow-simmering potboiler is the first...

The extraordinary abortion-themed drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" placed Cristian Mungiu in the forefront of international cinema, and the Romanian director's new film, "Beyond the Hills," likewise concerns the bond between two young women. Again...

MEXICO CITY -- A police chief in the border city of Nuevo Laredo goes missing after his brothers turn up dead. Early evening explosions in front of a government building in the capital of Tamaulipas state injure three people. In the state of Durango,...