Results tagged “Los Angeles” from Crime Scene

From the DA's office:

LOS ANGELES - Imprisoned former private investigator Anthony Pellicano and the man he hired to threaten a former Los Angeles Times reporter in 2002 both pleaded no contest today to making a criminal threat.

Pellicano, 65, and Alexander Proctor, 66, entered their pleas before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William N. Sterling, said Deputy District Attorney Ron Goudy with the Organized Crime Division.

Each defendant, already serving federal prison terms on unrelated convictions, was immediately sentenced to the maximum of three years in prison. The state terms are to be served concurrently with their remaining federal prison sentences. In exchange for their no contest pleas, the conspiracy charge was dismissed against each defendant.

The pair was charged in June 2005 with conspiracy and making a criminal threat against Anita Busch, who was a reporter with the Los Angeles Times. At the time, Busch was working on an article on the relationship between actor Steven Seagal and an alleged Mafia associate.

The felony complaint said Pellicano hired Proctor on or between April 9, 2002 and June 19, 2002, to threaten Busch to "cause her to fear for her life."

Despite the mostly good news, there remain problems in some areas patrolled by the Sheriff's Department. Most notably in the communities serviced by the Industry Station, violent crime is on the rise.

coming down fast

Aug. 10, 1969, 3301 Waverly Drive, Los Feliz, Calif. It's well after midnight. There's no moon in the sky.

It's a few short miles from the Monrovia neighborhood she grew up in, but Leslie Van Houten is a long way from home.

Charles Manson, whom Van Houten believes is both Jesus and Satan, has just tied up Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.

Manson believes The Beatles are talking to him. He believes their song depicts an apocalyptic race war between blacks and whites.

He figures that by killing some straights, the war will begin in earnest and when the smoke clears, he'll reign as some sort of messiah. At least that's what he tells his followers.

Addled by LSD and an assortment of reds, bennies, dexies, mescaline, hash, opium, PCP, mushrooms and pot, Van Houten buys into the crap Charlie's been feeding her for months. She wants to please him.

"The more I took it (LSD), the more I couldn't relate to regular kinds of people," Van Houten recalled later.

Now, Van Houten stands inside the master bedroom. There's a pillowcase over Rosemary LaBianca's head. Leslie ties it taut with an electrical cord. She can't stand to hear the woman scream.

Van Houten holds Rosemary down, while accomplice Patricia Krenwinkle stabs the woman.

Leslie calls out for help. Leno's killer, Charles "Tex" Watson enters the bedroom and stabs Rosemary several more times with a bayonet. He hands the weapon to Van Houten and tells her, "Do something."

Van Houten delivers 16 more stab wounds. Then she steals the now dead woman's clothes, wipes the crime scene free of fingerprints and leaves the room.

She passes through the living room. There, Rosemary's husband Leno is already dead. Leno's head is covered with a pillowcase.

He's been stabbed with a two-tined carving fork. The word "WAR" has been sliced into his chest. The fork protrudes from his stomach. There's a knife in his throat.

"DEATH TO PIGS" dripped in blood on one of the walls.

Leslie heads to the kitchen. In Leno's blood, someone misspells "HEALTER SKELTER" on the refrigerator door.

Van Houten grabs some food from the `fridge and hitches a ride back to the Spahn Ranch in Van Nuys where she meets up with Charlie.

It's coming down fast.

By December Van Houten and the rest of Manson's family had been captured.

The county jail was a far cry from Van Houten's Monrovia roots.

Her mother, Jane, a Monrovia school teacher, once told a court that "Les" was a "feisty" girl. She sang in the church choir, was a Camp Fire Girl, took piano lessons, liked camping, and was happy with school.

At Monrovia High School, Van Houten was sophomore class princess at homecoming. She was a cheerleader.

Early in 1968, Leslie "dropped out of the straight world," her mother recalled.

After several trials (one of which resulted in the death penalty), retrials, appeals, a brief bit of freedom in 1978, and failed visits to the parole board. Leslie Van Houten remains incarcerated in the state women's prison in Corona.

The place where Van Houten will likely die is just 32 miles from where she grew up - and a world apart.

By LA Weekly's count of every murder within Los Angeles city limits, we are at 168 as of yesterday when a taxi driver stabbed earlier this month died of his wounds. Compare that to last yearJuly 18th, there were 208 compared to the 162 this year as of that date. That's a 22.1% decline in murders so far. Add to that, the murder rate has declined over the last few years. The LAPD's consent decree ended last week, which in theory should let officers be more productive in some aspects, but some oppose the lifting of the decree. The ACLU contends that there are still problems within the department in regards to racial bias.

Attorney General Holder will hold a press conference at the DEA's Los Angeles field office to announce Recovery Act funds for the administration's Southwest border strategy.  The Attorney General will be joined by Timothy J. Landrum, DEA Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office; Ralph W. Partridge, DEA Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Office; and local law enforcement officials.

LOS ANGELES - Federal and local authorities in the Los Angeles area have arrested the executive director of a high-profile anti-gang nonprofit organization as part of an action against the notorious Mara Salvatrucha street gang.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says Alex Sanchez, who heads Homies Unidos, was arrested at his home in Bellflower early Wednesday on federal racketeering charges. In all, about eight people have been arrested.

The indictment names 24 members of Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, and alleges crimes including several murders, conspiracies to commit murder and narcotics offenses. Several of those named were already in custody.

Homies Unidos works to rescue kids from gangs in Los Angeles and Sanchez's native El Salvador. A message left at the organization's offices was not immediately returned

LOS ANGELES - A source close to Manny Ramirez(notes) said Thursday that the illegal substance for which the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger tested positive was not "an agent customarily used for performance enhancing."

At least not on the baseball diamond. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the substance is supposed to boost sex drive. It is not Viagra, but a substance that treats the cause rather providing a temporary boost in sexual performance, the source said.

Ramirez tested positive for the substance during spring training, then was administered a second test more recently, and it also was positive. Major League Baseball notified Ramirez of the second positive test after Wednesday night's Dodgers victory over the Washington Nationals. Ramirez admitted to having taken the substance and declined to appeal. His 50-game suspension begins today.

"The substance is not a steroid and it is not human-growth hormone," the source said.

Ramirez, the source said, acquired the substance through a prescription from a doctor in Miami for his medical condition. The source intimated that Ramirez might bring legal action against the physician.

Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez will be suspended for 50 games, according to the Los Angeles Times this morning. Ramirez reportedly tested positive for a performance enhancing drug.

Here's the Times story:

Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will be suspended 50 games starting today, The Times has learned.

The test result and suspension is expected to be announced later today.

LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball will suspend Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez for 50 games for use of performance enhancing drugs, sources told MLB.com on Thursday.

Major League Baseball has not yet made an official announcement.

Ramirez, who turns 37 on May 30, would be eligible to return July 3 if the suspension starts with Thursday night's Dodgers-Nationals game.

Ramirez -- an 12-time All-Star who immediately became the face of the Dodgers franchise upon his acquisition last summer -- is the biggest name player to be issued such a suspension under the MLB's stringent drug policy that was adopted in 2006.

According to the drug policy, a player receives a 50-game suspension for a first positive drug test, a 100-game suspension for a second positive test and a lifetime ban for a third positive test. The suspensions are without pay.

Ramirez re-signed with the Dodgers as a free agent this spring to a two-year contract that was to pay him $25 million.

Ramirez has been a key component in leading the Dodgers to the best record in baseball this year. In 27 games, he is batting .348 with six home runs and 20 RBIs. He is among league leaders in slugging and on-base percentage and has become the biggest drawing card the Dodgers have had since Fernando Valenzuela, even recently having a portion of the left-field box seats rechristened "Mannywood."

Until his April 2 arrest, John Floyd Thomas Jr was a Los Angeles insurance adjuster. Police now call him the "Southland Strangler" -- named for the geographical section of Los Angeles County where they suspect he killed at least 30 women and raped many more. Thomas is also in the frame for a spate of crimes police say were committed by the "Westside Rapist".

On first glance this suspect doesn't fit the profile of the Grim Sleeper. Reports suggest he targets much older females who live alone and are white. This is a direct opposite of the Grim Sleeper's known victims - young and black. However there are some striking similarities that are worth mentioning.

Many of Thomas' victims were strangled and beaten and at least one victim was killed in a location other than her home which suggests Thomas' MO is markedly varied. The LA times is quoted as saying "On the 17 who were killed, he placed pillows or blankets over their faces." This is also a signature of the Grim Sleeper who is known to have placed items over the faces of some of his victims.

.Perhaps one of the most startling similarities is the time span and 'gaps' that separate Thomas' crimes. The first wave of slayings took place in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. There followed a decade of 'Sleep?' until 1983 when Thomas was released from prison. He committed rape and murder over the next 6 years until 1989.

"the Grim Sleeper attacks women within one mile from his home, and works to blend into the neighborhood."

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES - Police believe a 72-year-old man charged with two cold-case murders is tied to two decades-old waves of Southern California serial killings and as many as 25 victims.

DNA matching former insurance adjuster John Floyd Thomas Jr. was found at five crime scenes spanning the killing-and-rape rampages in west Los Angeles in the 1970s and Claremont in the 1980s, said LAPD Robbery-Homicide Cold Case Detective Richard Bengston.

"When all is said and done, Mr. Thomas stands to be Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer," Bengston told the Los Angeles Times.

Police planned to reveal details of the case at a Thursday news conference.

In the first wave of killings in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, a man police dubbed "The Westside Rapist" entered the homes of elderly women who lived alone, raped them and choked them until they passed out or died. The 17 who were killed were found with pillows or blankets over their faces.

A decade later and 40 miles to the east, five elderly women in Claremont were found raped and killed, also with blankets or pillows over their faces.

Despite some 20 survivors of similar attacks, detectives said they didn't solve either set of cases nor connect the two. They blamed conflicting descriptions from victims, lack of communication between agencies and a past absence of DNA technology.

LA Times map of Westside crime spree.

*LAPD press release on the jump

From the Associated Press

LOS ANGELES--A $50,000 reward was announced Wednesday for information that helps solve the 1970s murder of Howard Steindler, a flamboyant boxing manager and gym owner who helped inspire the character of Mickey in the "Rocky" movies.

Steindler was forced into his gold Cadillac Seville on March 9, 1977, a block from his Encino home. Police said the car may have been rear-ended by robbers who kidnapped him when he pulled over.

Witnesses said they saw Steindler arguing with two men who punched him several times and put him in the car.

The car was later found on the Ventura Freeway with Steindler inside. He had been beaten, robbed and smothered.

More than 1,000 people attended his funeral. Boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson delivered the eulogy.

His daughter said her 72-year-old father might have been killed while resisting the robbers.

"Maybe it went further than it should have gone because he fought back so hard," Carol Steindler Ferris of Thousand Oaks said in a telephone interview.

Steindler's jewelry, including a diamond-and-gold ring in the shape of a boxing glove, was never found. But after his death, someone mailed his car keys and wallet to his widow.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles has opened up a probe of Cardinal Roger Mahoney for his role in the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Archdiocese in recent years. Here's a portion of the story that appears on the Time's Web site this afternoon:

The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles has launched a federal grand jury investigation into Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in connection with his response to the alleged molestation of children by priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the case.

The probe, in which U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien is personally involved, is aimed at determining whether Mahony, and possibly other church leaders, committed "honest services fraud" by failing to adequately deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

A gang shooting in Los Angeles near Echo Park claimed the life of a four-year-old. Here's what the LA Times reported this a.m.:

A 4-year-old boy walking with his sister was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon south of Angelino Heights, Los Angeles police officials reported.

LAPD Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz said that at least one person opened fire on a red car driving down the street, and one of the shots apparently struck the boy in the chest. The shooting occurred in the 1200 block of Court Street about 4:25 p.m.

"Word has gotten out that a child has been killed here," Diaz said, adding that neighbors were gathered on their front porches. 

The boy was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Two years ago in the same neighborhood, a 9-year-old girl was standing in the kitchen of her home as her mother rinsed dishes, when gang members drove up to a house across the street and exchanged shots with rival gang members, police said. None of the gang members were injured. But one bullet tore through the front wall of the girl's home, passed through the living room and struck the girl in the head.

Who doesn't love a great picture of Los Angeles with snow capped mountains in the background?

From Jon Alcorn via LAO