Category Archives: US crime

The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize

Posted on by

Lt Christopher Hasson is the product of traditions in white supremacist circles, and experts say there are ‘thousands like him’

In the early summer of 2017, US coast guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson had an idea. He had been trying to figure out an effective way of killing billions of people – “almost every last person on Earth” – but found himself coming up against the daunting logistics of such a task.

Related: America's dark underbelly: I watched the rise of white nationalism

Continue reading...

R Kelly due in court following arrest on 10 sexual abuse charges

Posted on by
  • R&B singer taken into custody in Chicago on Friday
  • Cook county state’s attorney says abuse dated back as far as 1998

The R&B star R Kelly is due in court in Chicago on Saturday, charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17.

Related: R Kelly in police custody after being charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse

Continue reading...

R Kelly in police custody after being charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse

Posted on by

Indictment filed in Illinois and seen by Guardian includes nine counts involving victims aged between 13 and 17

R Kelly is in police custody in Chicago after turning himself in at the Chicago police precinct on Friday night.

Earlier in the day, the R&B star had been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Illinois for incidents dating back as far as May 1998.

Continue reading...

El Chapo’s lawyers request new trial after report of juror misconduct

Posted on by

Allegations emerged this week that jury members followed media coverage of high profile trial, despite orders not to

Lawyers for convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán intend to petition for a new trial after a news report indicated that multiple jurors followed media coverage of the trial against the instructions of the judge in the case.

Allegations of juror misconduct came to light earlier this week in an article published by Vice News. In the piece, an anonymous juror said jurors had routinely violated the judge’s instructions to “stay away from media coverage, not doing any research on the internet or otherwise and [to not] communicate anything about the case to anyone”.

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett staged attack because he was unhappy with salary, police say

Posted on by
  • Empire actor appeared in court where bail was set to $100,000
  • Police say scratches and bruises ‘most likely self-inflicted’

The actor Jussie Smollett claimed he was attacked and beaten by two masked men shouting racist and homophobic slurs because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on the TV show Empire, Chicago police have said.

Related: Trump targets Jussie Smollett over what police say was fake attack – live updates

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett charged: actor accused of filing false report in alleged attack

Posted on by

Smollett has said two masked men abused him with racist and homophobic slurs before beating him up

The Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report when he said he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack in downtown Chicago late last month, Chicago police said on Wednesday.

The police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said prosecutors charged Smollett with felony disorderly conduct, an offense that could carry one to three years in prison and force the actor to pay for the cost of the investigation into his report of the beating. Authorities were trying to get in touch with Smollett’s attorneys to “negotiate a reasonable surrender”, Guglielmi said.

Continue reading...

Neo-Nazi in coast guard plotted attack on Democrats and journalists, say prosecutors

Posted on by

Lieutenant Christopher Hasson allegedly intended to ‘murder civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country’

A neo-Nazi serving as a lieutenant in the US coast guard has been caught plotting to attack Democratic members of Congress, including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and well-known media personalities, according to prosecutors.

Christopher Hasson intended “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country”, according to a filing to federal court in Maryland. Law enforcement officers seized 15 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his home.

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett: Chicago police still seeking follow-up interview

Posted on by
  • Actor’s lawyers angrily reject reports he may have staged attack
  • Police spokesman says trajectory of investigation ‘shifted’

Chicago police are still seeking a follow-up interview with Jussie Smollett after receiving new information that “shifted” their investigation of a reported attack on the Empire actor.

Related: Jussie Smollett attorneys dismiss reports of involvement in own 'attack'

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett: brothers arrested in alleged attack on Empire actor released

Posted on by

Chicago police say they no longer consider the brothers suspects in reported assault

Chicago police have released two Nigerian brothers arrested in connection with the alleged assault on Empire TV series actor Jussie Smollett and said they have new evidence to investigate as a result of questioning them.

“The individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,” Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Aurora shooting: sacked employee kills five in Illinois warehouse

Posted on by
  • Five officers were also wounded, police chief Ziman said
  • The shooter was shot and killed at the scene

A gunman opened fire at an Illinois manufacturing warehouse had just been fired from his job when he killed five fellow workers,authorities said.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said the assailant, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, had worked at the Henry Pratt Company for 15 years before the violence unfolded at the firm’s sprawling warehouse in Aurora, west of Chicago.

Continue reading...

Serial killer’s drawings of alleged victims released by FBI

Posted on by

Agency hopes sketches by Samuel Little, who has confessed to killing 90 women, may help solve dozens of homicides

The FBI has released sketches made by a serial killer of his alleged victims, in the hope that they may help solve dozens of unsolved homicides.

The agency released the drawings and other information on a string of cold-case homicides that investigators say Samuel Little has admitted to having carried out.

Continue reading...

El Chapo trial: Mexican drug cartel boss found guilty

Posted on by

Joaquín Guzmán, 61, could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted following three-month New York trial

The notorious cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has been found guilty of 10 counts of drug trafficking, at the end of a three-month New York trial that featured dramatic testimony of prison escapes, gruesome killings and million-dollar political payoffs.

Related: Behind the El Chapo trial: what's been left unsaid in a New York courtroom

Continue reading...

Jeffrey Epstein: US opens inquiry into light sentence for wealthy sexual abuser

Posted on by

Plea deal, involving attorney who became Trump’s labor secretary, saw financier avoid severe penalty for abusing girls

The justice department has opened an investigation into federal prosecutors’ handling of a plea deal in which a wealthy, politically connected Florida financier avoided potentially severe penalties for sexually abusing teenage girls in favor of a relatively light state conviction.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Republican senator Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, that it would examine whether professional misconduct occurred in the highly publicized case of Jeffrey Epstein. The letter cited a series of recent articles by the Miami Herald that focused new attention on how the deal came about.

Continue reading...

Rapper 21 Savage arrested by US immigration – for being British

Posted on by
  • Atlanta rapper held early on Sunday in Super Bowl city
  • Star is nominated for two awards at Grammys next week

The rapper 21 Savage was arrested in Atlanta early on Sunday morning by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).

Related: 'I'm the gay Tupac': Jussie Smollett plays first concert since alleged attack

Continue reading...

Four-year-old shoots mother in face after finding gun under mattress

Posted on by
  • Pregnant woman, 27, has ‘life-threatening’ injuries
  • New Washington state law governs unsafe gun storage

Authorities said a pregnant Washington state woman was shot in the face on Saturday by her four-year-old son, after the boy found a loaded and unsecured gun under a mattress.

The King county sheriff’s office said the 27-year-old woman, who is eight months pregnant, was taken to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Continue reading...

Witness claims El Chapo had sex with minors he called ‘vitamins’

Posted on by

Unsealed documents made public just as jury is about to start deliberations in Joaquín Guzmán’s drug-trafficking case

Unsealed documents about the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán contain claims by witnesses that he had sex with minors he called “vitamins”. The disturbing allegation comes just as a jury is about to start deliberating in the US drug-trafficking case.

Related: Betrayal, torture and a $100m bribe: what the El Chapo trial has revealed

Continue reading...

Super Bowl: 33 arrested for sex trafficking in Atlanta in run-up to game

Posted on by

Four victims have been rescued, authorities say, as more than 600 DHS officials will be in the city on Sunday for protection

Federal authorities say 33 people have been arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, on sex trafficking charges before the Super Bowl this weekend.

Related: The NFL is 70% black, so why is its TV coverage so white?

Continue reading...

Huawei indictments: sanctions busting, industrial espionage and a stolen robot

Posted on by

Indictments packed with emails and transactions allegedly showing how technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies

The twin criminal indictments against Huawei unveiled by US authorities on Monday are packed with emails and financial transactions allegedly showing how the Chinese technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies.

But the finer points of the 23 charges are less important than the overall shot they deliver across China’s bows. The US considers Huawei to be an arm of the Chinese state – and their devices to be potential spying equipment for Beijing.

Continue reading...

Huawei: US charges Chinese telecoms giant with stealing trade secrets

Posted on by
  • Grand juries indict company, affiliates and CFO on 23 charges
  • Attorney general says offending went ‘all the way to the top’

Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, was charged with a series of crimes by the US on Monday, in an escalation of hostilities between the world’s biggest economic powers.

Related: State of the Union: Pelosi invites Trump to deliver address again – live

Continue reading...