New York Crime

Murder in San Marino

How Medicare Fraud Became the Nation's Most Lucrative Crime

It costs taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. But the feds say they're finally trying to crack down

15 Marijuana Grow Houses From L.A. To I.E. Busted In Federal Raid; 10 Arrested

Ten people were arrested yesterday and 8,000 plants were seized in a hydroponic marijuana-grow ring that spanned Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. That's a lot of weed. Authorities say one of the ringleaders, a 39-year-old "top lieutenant" fr ... More >>

Meet Emanuel Pleitez

He's the Most Amazing Person Who Won't Win the March 5 Los Angeles Mayoral Primary

Christopher Jordan Dorner, Disgraced LAPD Cop, Suspected In Irvine Murders

UPDATED BELOW with a list of dead and wounded police and other victims and comments by Chief Charlie Beck on the LAPD's accidental predawn shooting of paper delivery women at a staked-out site in the manhunt for Dorner. The search for the suspect has focused on San Diego. Cops were on the lookout t ... More >>

Larry Darnell Bishop Charged In Shocking Pasadena Murder Of Victor McClinton

When authorities in Pasadena tried to stop an SUV on Christmas day -- a fleeing vehicle that ultimately collided with a minivan, killing two family members -- the suspicion was that it might have been connected to an earlier homicide in the area. It was not. So says the L.A. County District Attorn ... More >>

Brandon Woodard Murder Was Possible Retribution For Bad Cocaine Deal, Report Says

The brazen murder of Angeleno Brandon Woodard in Manhattan earlier this month might have been payback for a major drug-deal gone sideways, the website DNAinfo.com is reporting. Citing law enforcement sources, the news organization's Murray Weiss reports that Woodard might have been a mid-level cour ... More >>

Victor McClinton Murder Preceded Death Of Two In Pasadena Chase Christmas Night

Updated at the bottom with IDs. City News Service says an FBI agent was involved in the chase. Headline has changed. First posted at 8:01 a.m. Two people were killed on Christmas night when a minivan was hit by an SUV being chased by police in Pasadena, according to reports. One report indicated t ... More >>

Ka Pasasouk: Four Suspects Arrested in Northridge Quadruple Homicide

Updated with new details at the bottom. Spelling of suspects' names has been fixed; the headline has been updated to include the ID of the homicide suspect. First posted at 4:10 p.m. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced that suspects have been arrested in connection with the horrific weekend murder of ... More >>

Fox News Suicide Video Nothing New; Shootings on Live TV Not Uncommon in L.A.

Fox News broadcast a suspect's suicide live today, setting of a firestorm of criticism, as well as viral views of the video (warning: the disturbing, graphic clip is posted after the jump). The motorist was being chased by police in the Phoenix area when he got out of a vehicle, ran away, stopped, ... More >>

Street Art Skirmish: Readers Respond to Our Story

Los Angeles' War on Street Artists

The art world sees a vibrant movement. Metro's cops see jail fodder.

Bryan Duncan, Glendale Cop, Recognized For 100 DUI Arrests in 2012

While some beat cops don't like to make DUI arrests if they can help it because they require a lot of paperwork and, sometimes, court time, there's one officer in L.A. County you don't want to run into if you've had one too many: Glendale's Bryan Duncan. He's not afraid, apparently, of the slow wh ... More >>

Lynze Martinez and Her 2 Young Kids Killed by Alleged DUI Driver on Memorial Day

Between Friday evening and 6 a.m. yesterday, CHP officers had already arrested over 250 suspected drunk drivers throughout L.A. County. But despite ramped-up DUI patrols by various traffic-enforcement agencies for Memorial Day Weekend, alleged drunk driver Jason Steward, 32, still did his damage ju ... More >>

Murder on Montana Ave.

Was LAUSD teacher Sasha Merman slain to hide Daniel Becerril's greed?

Venice Shooting Behind Whole Foods: Young Victim in Hospital, Gunman on the Loose

Cops congregate under the iconic Lincoln & Rose mural at Whole Foods. ​A shooting around sundown, in a dark back-alley near 7th and Rose -- just behind Venice's fancy Whole Foods shopping hub -- left one unidentified man with a gunshot wound to the torso. More than a dozen LAPD investigators ... More >>

Up From the Streets: A Scene From Occupy L.A.

Luigi VenturaDito Montiel and Aqeela Sherrills at Occupy L.A.​Woodrow Coleman came all the way from Long Beach to see the Arab Spring bloom in downtown L.A. The African-American septuagenarian with deep-set brown eyes and a woolly white tangle of beard sports a well-worn baseball cap that sug ... More >>

Lost Boys

New research demolishes the stereotype of the underage sex worker — and sparks an outbreak of denial among child-sex-trafficking alarmists nationwide

Tupac and Biggie Murders: An Up-to-Date List of Characters, Given New Evidence From Ex-LAPD Detective Greg Kading

Update: "The 'Keffe D' Tapes: 10 Highlights of Confession From Gangster Who Says Sean Combs Hired Him to Kill Tupac." Of the many theories that have emerged over the last 15 years as to who was behind the drive-by killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the closest thing we've seen to an invest ... More >>

James Rosemond, Alleged Tupac Attack Orchestrator, Indicted For Interscope-Related Cocaine Ring

James Rosemond​Update: Interscope reps have responded to allegations that their L.A. offices were involved in the narcotics ring described below. Washing their hands of Rosemond, they call reports of Interscope's involvement "erroneous and completely unsupported," asserting that his alleged us ... More >>

Burglars Robbed in Venice? Two Guys Take Their IDs And Send Them Off to be Caught by Cops

Ariana Rose Taylor-StanleyThe yoga burglar.​Two would-be burglars were sent scrambling with their tails between their legs after being surprised by two men who took their IDs. The pair was eventually nabbed by cops, on top of that. Quote of the day from LAPD Sgt. Joel Sydanma: "They basica ... More >>

Diego Garcia, Alfonso Nava, L.A. Homicides No. 37, No. 38: Two Men Shot Dead in Front of Friend's Residence in Exposition Park

Los Angeles TimesDiego Garcia​By Ryan Deto Two close friends, 25-year-old Latino Diego Garcia and 26-year-old Latino Alfonso Nava, were coming home from a party in the early morning of February 13 when they were shot and killed in the 1800 block of Leighton Avenue. Both were standing outside ... More >>

William C. Rempel's New Book At the Devil's Table: 7 Astounding Revelations About Colombian Drug Lords

Robert HarmonRempel, author of the new book about the Cali Cartel called At the Devil's Table​ William C. Rempel, who for 36 years worked as an investigative reporter and editor at the L.A. Times, has written the book At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the C ... More >>

Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. Murders and ex-LA Times Reporter Chuck Philips: A Timeline

Chuck Philips, award-winning LA Times journalist, is out of a job.​Chuck Philips, once a top reporter for the Los Angeles Times, spent over a decade investigating the murders of West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur and his East Coast rival, the Notorious B.I.G. But in 2008, when it was revealed tha ... More >>

Search For a Hospital For South L.A. Gunshot Victim Ends in Death

Adam GerardA search for a hosptial ended in death.​An errant hunt for a hospital in South L.A. ended in tragedy Sunday as a shooting victim died in the back of a car as his friends tried to summon help. The man was behind the wheel with his friends in the vehicle when someone opened fire at 1 ... More >>

Rodney Alcala, SoCal's 'Dating Game' Serial Killer, Charged With 1970s Murders of Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover in New York

Rodney Alcala on the "Dating Game" in 1978​The creepiest serial killer since "American Psycho" just got a little creepier. Sixty-seven-year-old Rodney Alcala, infamous for his calm, sophisticated demeanor and cameo on the "Dating Game" -- he won, but the date never happened because was voted ... More >>

Glendale Man Who Stole From Church's Haiti Donation Box Arrested At Mother's House

Glendale Police DepartmentEnemy of the church Peter Manuel Galindro​Might as well steal a one-way ticket to hell. Glendale police have proudly announced their capture of the L.A. County Church Bandit: 52-year-old parolee Peter Manuel Galindro (he also calls himself Paul sometimes... being the ... More >>

Larry Samudio, L.A. Homicide No. 225: 38-Year-Old Man Stabbed To Death In Highland Park

Google Maps​A Latino man fatally stabbed on Saturday, Nov. 20, has been identified as 38-year-old Larry Samudio. He was part of a knife fight that took place at about 3:30 a.m. near the intersection of York Boulevard and North Avenue 56 in Highland Park.

Break-In Burglar Takes $2,000 In Coins From Manhattan Beach Wells Fargo

Way more than $2,000 in coins... but not everyone can have hustle like Scrooge​It's the season for artistic public thieving in L.A. County. First, on Oct. 27, there was the guy with the Obama mask who stuck up an El Pollo Loco branch in Duarte with a toy knife. A week or so later, there was t ... More >>

Sweeps in Los Angeles Suburbs Create Fear, say Anti-Police Brutality Activists

San Gabriel Valley TribuneWilmington raids net 41 suspects​ Probation violators received some unexpected guests on Thursday after county probation officers, along with state and federal agents, descended upon multiple locations throughout Covina, Glendale, Monrovia, Pasadena and San Gabriel, ... More >>

10 In L.A. Indicted In $163 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme Said To Be Run By Armenian-American Organized Crime Syndicate

Google MapsThe Glendale home of Davit Mirzoyan, alleged to be a West Coast ringleader of the Medicare-fraud syndicate.​Ten of 73 people indicted in a huge scheme to bilk taxpayers out of $163 million were indicted this week in Los Angeles, federal authorities said. The mostly Armenian-America ... More >>

California Death Row Countdown: Four From L.A. And Inland Empire Cleared To Die In California's $853,000 Gas Chamber This Month

​It's almost funny that they call it "corrections." Six people on the Golden State's Death Row are expected to get their breathing permanently corrected this month, with Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr. set to be the first  executed in nearly five years. Of the six who officials tell the Weekly a ... More >>

Law And Order Coming To L.A.: What Ripped-From-The-Headlines Stories Will They Tell?

​ Chuh-Chung! New York City has always had an unfair monopoly on "Law and Order." One year at the height of the franchise's powers, there were more homicides on the various "Law and Order" series during one calendar year than actual murders committed in New York City. So, now, with Terrence H ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Makes Dubious Claim About Crime Rate

​On Friday morning, through his Twitter account, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made the dubious claim that L.A. is "still safer than it's been in 50 years." Which means we're back to 1960, when John F. Kennedy successfully ran for president, Elvis Presley was promoted to sergeant, an ... More >>

Alleged Cop Killer Admits to Avenues Gangster: "I Fucked Up"

An Avenues gangster testified in court that an alleged cop killer said he "fucked up" when he heard the news that he fatally shot Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Juan Escalante in the early morning hours of August 2, 2008. Deputy Juan Escalante​ Greg Mondragon, 15, was one of a handful of D ... More >>

Raven, Death of a Hollywood Beauty

She went from pink dresses to meth. Sex offender found guilty of her murder

Home Of L.A. Councilman LaBonge Burglarized

Councilman Tom LaBonge.​A spokeswoman for Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge confirmed to LA Weekly Tuesday a report stating that his home had been burglarized recently. According tot he Los Angeles Times, LaBonge and and his family realized their home had been burglarized Friday afterno ... More >>

Northeast L.A. Sees A Spike In Crime

LAPD Northeast Area.​As the Los Angeles Police Department struggles to maintain its staffing numbers amid a historic city budget crisis, Councilman Tom LaBonge on Tuesday pointed to a spike in crime in some of the Northeast Los Angeles communities he represents. "There has been a surge in cri ... More >>

J'Accuse: the Trial for Luis Santos' Murder

Bad suburban boys break ranks, and Esteban Nunez and pal Ryan Jett are fingered

Orange County Judge Sentences Serial Killer and Dating Game Winner Rodney Alcala to Death (UPDATED)

​ (UPDATED after jump): An Orange County judge this morning sentenced convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala to death. Judge Francisco Briseno said the former Los Angeles Times typesetter had an "abnormal interest in young girls." The judge also said Alcala's testimony in court was not credibl ... More >>

Dating Game serial killer suspect Alcala cross-examines himself over his hair

​ Could the trial of alleged "Dating Game" serial killer Rodney Alcala possibly get any stranger? Yep, it can. Alcala, who is representing himself as he faces the possible death penalty in an Orange County court, took the stand Tuesday and began asking questions of himself, in third-person, ab ... More >>

Silver Lake Death A Possible Murder Mystery

LAPD​A Silver Lake death originally believed to be a suicide is now being investigated as a possible homicide, police said. After officers were called to Manzanita Street near Sunset Boulevard about 7:11 p.m. Tuesday based on reports of a shooting, a man's body was found with a gun nearby, sa ... More >>

Herbie Gonzalez Gets Rich Over Bad Rap

L.A. County officials award $1 million to immigrant wrongly jailed for murder

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide No. 162, Boy, 4, Stabbed in Apparent Murder-Suicide

Homicide investigators are still trying to figure out why a woman apparently stabbed her four-year-old son with a kitchen knife and then slit her wrists in their Highland Park home on July 18. The two bodies were found around 9 a.m. at a home in the 300 block of Vista Place, near Garvanza Park. ... More >>

Esteban Nunez Case: Bad Little Suburban Boys

The son of Fabian Nunez, and his friends, face the music in Lu Santos’ killing

Silver Lake Anxiety Attack: The Rowena Avenue Crime Wave

The latest sign of bad economic times?

Is It Helter Skelter for Manson Girl Susan Atkins?

Susan Atkins, who is suffering from brain cancer, will be lucky to see the end of the year. In September, prison authorities quietly moved the 60-year-old Charles Manson follower (who has her own Web page) from an undisclosed hospital in Southern California to the Central California Women's Facility ... More >>

Grim Times and Crimes in Famed Melrose District

The below press release sheds light on what some have begun to call an overwrought hyper-focus on gangs by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton. As the Weekly has reported, Villaraigosa and Bratton in 2007 hyped a fake "gang crisis". It was bunk—as experts predicted, it was a ... More >>

Going Up in L.A.

Ruben Martinez hangs out with the city's Graffiti writers