Extortion | featured news

A Louisiana man has been arrested and is accused of using his underage relative to lure a Texas A&M University professor into an online relationship that ended with the professor jumping to his death from a campus parking garage.

The FBI arrested the mayor of Trenton, N.J., today on corruption charges, The Times of Trenton reports. Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, his brother, Ralphiel, and convicted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, are accused of conspiring to obstruct, delay and affect interstate commerce by extortion, the Associated Press reports.

Luigi “Louie” Manocchio, the 84-year-old former boss of the Mafia in New England, was sentenced today in federal court to 5½ years in prison for extorting protection payments from strip clubs.

A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former Chicago fundraiser for President Barack Obama, to 10-1/2 years in prison for corruption and extortion.

Colorful former Gov. Edwin Edwards, 83, on Friday married a 32-year-old who wrote him during his prison sentence for bribery and extortion.

Charges against two people accused of trying to extort money from actor John Travolta, following the death of his son in the Bahamas, are dropped.

Robert "Joe" Halderman admitted he demanded $2 million in hush money last fall to keep from revealing personal information about Letterman.

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino told a jury Wednesday that a woman accused of demanding millions from him had sex with him after whispering to him and unzipping his pants in an empty Italian restaurant.

A sheriff's official says Mel Gibson has met with detectives to discuss his claims that his ex-girlfriend attempted to extort money from him. Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says the interview occurred Sunday. He says detectives only spoke to the Academy Award-winner about his claims against ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva (gree-GOR'-yeh-vuh).

THR exclusively reveals the sealed court transcript and Oksana Grigorieva's text: "You broke your agreement with me."