Back when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was building its blockbuster 2009/2010 racketeering case against the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang – the one that had many of the same elements, including correctional corruption, as the current FBI-investigated racketeering case against the BGF – agents identified Austin Roberts (pictured), who goes by...
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Though Somali piracy on the high seas is on the wane, it’s been making for news and entertainment recently, with a World Bank report on its $18-billion-a-year cost to the global economy and the impending release of a new Tom Hanks movie, Captain Phillips, that retells one of the problem’s more chilling episodes. While...
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As of this morning, six of the 25 defendants have entered not-guilty pleas in the federal racketeering case unsealed April 23 against Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang conspirators who, with the help of corrupt correctional officers (COs), allegedly gained operational control of the Baltimore City Detention Center, which is run by Maryland’s embattled...
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The office of Maryland governor Martin O’Malley (D) today issued a statement detailing a seven-point plan to “enhance security and root out corruption” in Maryland’s correctional facilities, in light of last month’s Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang racketeering indictment that charged 13 Maryland correctional officers (COs) with participating in the gang’s alleged criminal...
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A 38-year-old cab driver and citizen journalist known as The Baltimore Spectator pleaded guilty to possession of a sawed-off shotgun today, receiving time served and three years probation in a closely-watched case that began last December with a live-tweeted standoff with a Baltimore SWAT team. Apollos Frank-James MacArthur, who has been held without bail...
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Two years into his new four-year contract and six years after he arrived from New York, Baltimore School Chief Andres Alonso confirmed he’s leaving the job to spend more time with his parents and teach at Harvard University. Alonso has been a controversial superintendent. He’s closed many schools and recast the teachers contract to...
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As his sister Cheyenne Ward looked on, Demetrius Smith was set free today by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams. The move came at a sentence reconsideration hearing. Smith, about five years into a 10-year sentence for assault, was re-sentenced to time served with three years of supervised probation. In February of 2011 Smith...
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Backed by the non-profit Community Law Center, six Baltimore neighborhood associations have sued a Texas-based property speculator for $8 million, saying his business model presents a nuisance that “threatens the well being of the communities.” The defendant, Scott Wizig, owns about 140 city properties, plus dozens more in Houston, where he is based. In...
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Early this evening, a two-alarm fire engulfed the building at 2720 Sisson St. in Remington containing several auto repair shops and the Open Space Baltimore gallery. One firefighter was taken to Mercy hospital with minor injuries and others were evacuated after a partial roof collapse. City Paper designer Jasmine Sarp, one of the resident...
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Fourteen articles published by City Paper between April 2009 and August 2010 provide details of Maryland’s struggles with gang-related correctional corruption during a 16-month period ending nearly three years before the latest Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang indictment named BGF leader Tavon White (pictured) and 13 correctional officers (COs) as defendants. In total,...
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The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF), though long known to be active in Maryland’s prisons and Baltimore’s streets, has suddenly become hot news, with the April 23 announcement of a federal indictment against 25 alleged members, including 13 Maryland correctional officers (COs). But the BGF had already burnished its image in the public’s mind in...
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The release this week of Vital Signs 11, the annual compilation of relevant (and sometimes not) statistics in Baltimore’s neighborhoods/census tracts brought to CP’s mind a question: How are things looking, 10 years on? The Vital Signs project has produced reports regularly through changes in leadership and address (it is now housed at the...
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Real-Life Embarassing Sex Stories Feature: Submitted by City Paper readers 2/13/2013
Murder Ink Murder Ink: Murders this Week: 5; Murders this Year: 95 By Edward Ericson Jr. 6/12/2013
Eat Pussy Like a Porn Star Charm City Porn Star: After performing in nearly 1,500 scenes with over 1,400 women and having won three AVN Awards I am more-than-qualified to speak on this matter. By Kurt Lockwood 5/29/2013
You May Now Kiss the Brides Feature: Even as other battles loom, the LGBT community stops to celebrate marriage equality at Pride 2013 By Kate Drabinski 6/12/2013
Good Cop, Bad Cop Mobtown Beat: Accused officer allegedly facilitated drug dealing on same days she busted people with drugs By Van Smith 6/12/2013Charm City Porn Star Charm City Porn Star: The sins you never had the courage to commit By Kurt Lockwood 6/5/2013