JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was an American child beauty queen who was killed at age six in her family's home at 755 15th Street in Boulder,Colorado,on the night of December 25,1996. Her body was found in the house's basement about seven hours after she had been reported missing. She had sustained a broken skull,and a garrote was tied around her neck. The autopsy report stated that JonBenét's official cause of death was "asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma". Her death was ruled a homicide. The case generated worldwide public and media interest,in part because her mother Patsy Ramsey,a former beauty queen,had entered JonBenét into a series of child beauty pageants.
The Genovese crime family,also sometimes referred to as the Westside,is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. The Genovese family has generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York,including ties with the Philadelphia,Cleveland,Patriarca,and Buffalo crime families.
Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,the IRS Criminal Investigation Division,the U.S. Postal Inspection Service,the Chicago Police Department Internal Affairs Division and the Illinois State Police into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County,Illinois. The FBI named the investigation "Operation Greylord" after the curly wigs worn by British judges.
Neil M. Cohen is an American Democratic Party politician,who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1994 to 2008 where he represented the 20th Legislative District. He had also served in the Assembly from the 21st District from 1990 to 1992.
Martin H. Tankleff is an American man who was wrongly convicted of murdering his parents,Seymour and Arlene Tankleff,on September 7,1988,when he was 17 years old. After serving almost 18 years of imprisonment,his conviction was vacated and he was released from prison in 2007. He is now an attorney.
Michael Byron Nifong is a disbarred American prosecutor who formerly served as the Durham County District Attorney. He was removed from this position,disbarred,and very briefly jailed following court findings concerning his conduct in the Duke lacrosse case,primarily his conspiring with the DNA lab director to withhold exculpatory DNA evidence that could have acquitted the defendants.
Oak Beach is a small community and census-designated place located near the eastern end of Jones Beach Island,a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay of Long Island. The community is part of the village of Babylon in Suffolk County,New York,United States. The eastern part,the Oak Island Beach Association,is gated,whereas the western part is not. The Oak Beach CDP was first listed prior to the 2020 census. Prior to that the community was part of the Oak Beach–Captree census-designated place.
The Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) provides police services to 5 of the 10 Towns in Suffolk County,New York. It is one of the largest police agencies in the United States,with approximately 2500 sworn officers.
Michael John Devlin is an American criminal convicted of kidnapping and child sexual abuse of two young boys,Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. He is serving 74 life sentences plus 2,020 years at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron,Missouri. His life sentences are 30 years each;his total sentence is 4,240 years.
The Lucchese crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City,within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. Members refer to the organization as the Lucchese borgata;borgata is Mafia slang for criminal gang,which itself was derived from a Sicilian word meaning close-knit community. The members of other crime families sometimes refer to Lucchese family members as "Lukes".
Vincent Asaro was an American mobster who served as a caporegime in the Bonanno crime family. Born in Queens,a borough of New York City,he was arrested by the FBI on January 23,2014 and indicted on charges related to the 1978 Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He was found not guilty in November 2015 of the charges,and was also acquitted of all charges in the 1969 murder of Paul Katz,who owned a warehouse in which Asaro and another suspect housed stolen goods. He was also indicted in March 2017 and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Cyrus Roberts Vance Jr. is an American attorney and politician who served as the District Attorney of New York County,New York. He was previously a principal partner at the law firm of Morvillo,Abramowitz,Grand,Iason,Anello,&Bohrer,P.C. He is the son of Cyrus Vance,former Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter. Vance did not seek reelection as District Attorney in the 2021 election,and was succeeded by Alvin Bragg. He is currently a partner at Baker McKenzie.
Rufus Seth Williams is a former district attorney of the city of Philadelphia. He began his term January 4,2010. He formerly served as an assistant district attorney. Williams was the first African-American district attorney in Philadelphia and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On March 21,2017,Williams was indicted on 23 counts of bribery,extortion,and fraud. His trial began June 19,2017. He resigned and pleaded guilty to one charge on June 29,2017.
The Gilgo Beach serial killings were a series of murders spanning from the early 1990s until 2011. Many of the victims' remains were found over a period of months in 2010 and 2011 during a police search of the area along Ocean Parkway,near the remote beach town of Gilgo in Suffolk County,New York. The search was prompted by the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert,who,like many of the known victims,worked as an escort and advertised on Craigslist. The perpetrator in the case is known as the Long Island Serial Killer,the Manorville Butcher,or the Craigslist Ripper.
Lisa A. Biron is a disbarred attorney from Manchester,New Hampshire,and a convicted child molester and child pornographer. In November 2012,she was indicted on federal charges related to the sexual exploitation of her 14-year-old daughter,including taking her to Canada to have sex with a man there. She was convicted on all charges in a January 2013 trial,and was sentenced that May to 40 years in prison.
John Bittrolff is an American convicted murderer and former suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings case. In July 2014,he was charged with the murders of Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee. He was also a suspect in the murder of a third woman,Sandra Costilla,prior to the capture of alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann. Bittrolff became a suspect in the unsolved murders after his brother,Timothy Bittrolff,was partially matched to DNA found on the bodies in 2013. Timothy Bittrolff submitted the sample after violating an unrelated order of protection,in 2013.
Ralph Allan Lee Shortey is an American convicted sex offender and former politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party,he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2010,defeating several challengers in primary elections,re-elected in 2014 and served his term until 2017. During his tenure,he established a Republican consulting firm. Shortey was the state campaign chair for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
The Special Counsel investigation was a United States law enforcement and counterintelligence investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere in United States politics and any possible involvement by members of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. It was primarily focused on the 2016 presidential election.
William J. Corcoran was an American lawyer who served as District Attorney of Middlesex County,Massachusetts from 1913 to 1917. He later faced a number of criminal indictments and was convicted of one count of extortion.
James Burke is an American convicted criminal and former law enforcement officer from the state of New York.
