Extortion

Mike Thompson's FBI career involved him in cases that became Philadelphia folklore. There was Abscam, the controversial sting using agents disguised as bribe-dispensing Arab sheiks, which in 1980 ended the careers of City Council President George X. Schwartz, Councilmen Harry Jannotti and Louis Johanson, and U.S. Rep. Michael "Ozzie" Myers, a Philadelphia Democrat. There was Philadelphia's first modern police-corruption scandal, an extortion probe that by 1984 yielded 31 convictions, including Deputy Police Commissioner James J. Martin, the department's second-in-command.

SCRANTON - Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday in the corruption trial of a northeastern Pennsylvania county commissioner and his former colleague. Lackawanna County Commissioner A.J. Munchak and former Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro are charged in federal court with extortion, racketeering, and conspiracy. The two were charged as part of a larger probe targeting corruption in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. A 41-count indictment accuses them of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from companies seeking county business and extorting companies that held lucrative government contracts.

The reactions of former civil rights activist Stanley Branche and John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini to their federal extortion convictions yesterday were a bit unusual. Both men waded into the crowd of law enforcement officials surrounding prosecutors Deborah J. Rhodes and Michael Seigel to shake their adversaries' hands. Branche, 54, and Ciancaglini, 32, also shook hands with state troopers and agents who had worked the case against them. Their actions occurred after a jury of eight women and four men left the courtroom following the announcement of the verdict - guilty on all counts - after 6 1/2 hours of deliberation.

Edwin Guthman certainly is correct about one thing: The recent use of Community Legal Services in Philadelphia to blackmail and harass Fidelity Bank into "public interest" loans is a great example to be examined in the debate in Congress over Legal Services Corporation budget requests (Op-ed Page, Feb. 23). Legal Services money, which is taxed away from U.S. citizens, has long been used to finance class-action suits and to research legal harassment of innocent business firms. In the case of the recent action represented by Henry J. Sommer, a voluntary merger of two banks was threatened by a group that took advantage of authoritarian laws that require banks to "serve the convenience and needs of their communities.

In a case alleging corruption in the Philadelphia prison system, three current or former corrections officers were indicted yesterday on charges that they got cash from inmates in return for smuggling cell phones, cigarettes and marijuana behind bars. The federal indictment said the scheme enabled inmates to enjoy unmonitored phone calls and smoke cigarettes, which are banned in city prisons, or sell them at a substantial profit to other prisoners. Acting Prison Commissioner Leon A. King II said the case highlighted the very serious problem of contraband in the prisons.

Rotha Kim wanted to change his image, so he had the tattoo of a scorpion on his arm covered with one of a cobra. "We all had scorpions," said Kim, 21, in a police statement. "But we covered them up with a cobra because everyone was saying our gang was bad. " Yesterday, Kim, of 6th Street near Reed, and two other reputed members of the Scorpion gang of Cambodian refugees were convicted of extorting about $1,000 last year from a South Philadelphia Cambodian businessman. Common Pleas Judge G. Craig Lord deferred sentencing Kim; Son Pech, 25, of Greenwich Street near 5th; and Phu Chim, 20, of Earp Street near 7th, pending motions for a new trial on three counts of extortion, terroristic threats and conspiracy.

A Chinatown businessman and a retired Philadelphia police officer were indicted yesterday in connection with a scheme to extort more than $50,000 in "protection" money from local massage parlors. The federal grand jury indictment charges John Tom, 42, of the 200 block of North Ninth Street, and Richard Pagliarella, 62, of the 1800 block of Hartranft Street, with conspiracy, extortion and attempted extortion, according to U.S. Attorney Michael R. Stiles. If convicted on all counts, Tom and Pagliarella face a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail and fines of $250,000.

Three Vietnamese men accused of extorting money from a Chinese restaurant owner were convicted yesterday of extortion, conspiracy, terroristic threats and attempted theft. In a non-jury trial, Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Engel Temin found Hoi Tieu, 20, Hung Lam, 21, and Cuong Diep, 30, guilty of extorting $500 in June 1989 from Ken Hoi Chan, owner of the Joy Tsin Lau Restaurant on Race near 10th Street. Lam, Tieu and Diep are members of a loosely knit street gang that preyed mostly on other Asians, according to Assistant District Attorney Louisa Ashmead.

GET READY GHOULS, ABC is prepping a show for next month in which you'll be able to wait breathlessly for three hours to see if a daredevil plunges to his death. The alphabet network is turning Nik Wallenda's attempted tightrope walk through the mist and wind over Niagara Falls into a prime-time TV event on June 15. As a tie-in, if Nik needs a doctor, the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" will appear. Wallenda is a seventh-generation member of the famous Wallenda daredevil family, whose history as a traveling circus troupe dates to 1780.

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - This is a city besieged by crime in all its forms: gang violence, drug cartel killings, and rampant extortion compounded by a fear of authorities. Honduras is now among the most dangerous places on Earth. No other country matches its rate of 86 slayings per 100,000 inhabitants a year, according to a 2011 United Nations Report. That is roughly 20 times the U.S. homicide rate. And it's worse in San Pedro Sula, often cited as Honduras' most violent city, with a murder rate almost double the national average.

A high school classmate of Minnesota Twins pitcher Carl Pavano threatened to reveal an alleged homosexual relationship they had and to write a book about it unless Pavano apologized to him and bought him a navy Range Rover with tan leather, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by police in Connecticut. Police in Pavano's hometown of Southington, about 18 miles southwest of Hartford, said in the affidavit that they began investigating the allegations after Pavano's sister, Michelle DeGennaro, complained in December that she had received several troublesome Facebook messages from the classmate, Christian Bedard.

A HIGH SCHOOL classmate of Minnesota Twins pitcher Carl Pavano threatened to reveal an alleged homosexual relationship they had and to write a book about it unless Pavano apologized to him and bought him a navy Range Rover SUV with tan leather, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by police in Connecticut. Police in Pavano's hometown of Southington, Conn., about 18 miles southwest of Hartford, said in the affidavit that they began investigating the allegations after Pavano's sister, Michelle DeGennaro, complained in December that she had received several troublesome Facebook messages from the classmate, Christian Bedard.

5 executives with Komen have quit DALLAS - At least five high-ranking executives with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity have resigned in the aftermath of the organization's since-reversed decision to eliminate its funding for Planned Parenthood. The departures include three officials from Komen's Dallas headquarters, as well as CEOs of affiliate groups in Oregon and New York City. Although some of the executives cited personal reasons, the resignations suggest that Komen is still in turmoil, even after restoring the money.

Don't be so sure Iran won't attack A letter Monday, "Provoking a war with Iran," asserted that "Iran is not about to attack anyone. " How does the writer know this fact? Does she have a mole in the CIA giving her this information? Are the recent bombings in India and Africa, and the arrest of five Iranians who were in possession of bomb-making material in Thailand, just a rehearsal for further attacks? Neither Israel nor the United States is engaged in saber- rattling. Quite the contrary, it has been the U.S. policy these past three years to attempt negotiations and sanctions rather then any military action.

A Glenside man accused of using a secret sex tape to try to extort money from an ex-girlfriend waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday in Exton district court. The criminal complaint filed against Omari Listenbee, 34, says he threatened to post sexually explicit videos on the Internet and on the Facebook accounts of friends of his ex-girlfriend unless she paid him $3,000. Flanked by lawyers Thomas B. Bellwoar of West Chester and Robert Levant of Philadelphia, Listenbee appeared before Magisterial District Judge John R. Bailey.

A FEDERAL judge ruled yesterday that disgraced ex-Police Inspector Daniel Castro can remain free on bail until he reports as ordered to prison Nov. 15. Federal prosecutors wanted U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III to lock up Castro immediately for allegedly threatening potential extortion victim Wilson Encarnacion and FBI informant Rony Moshe after being sentenced Oct. 4 to five years on extortion charges. Castro lashed out at both men outside the courthouse. He said he was the "victim" and displayed their photos to assembled media.

A Montgomery County man's alleged extortion plot took him far beyond the bed-and-bath store's parking lot where, police say, he expected to collect $3,000 Monday. Instead of absconding with the shakedown money, Omari Listenbee, 33, of Glenside, ended up in Exton district court, facing charges that included theft by extortion and invasion of privacy. Police said an investigation began earlier that day when Listenbee's ex-girlfriend, a 37-year-old Exton resident, reported a blackmail scheme.

A federal judge sentenced former Philadelphia police inspector Daniel Castro to five years in prison for conspiring to commit extortion, an outcome that stunned many of Castro's relatives Tuesday and caused his mother to burst into sobs. Castro, who pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to use violence to collect a $90,000 debt from former business partner Wilson Encarnacion, was defiant and bitter as he spoke to reporters outside the courthouse. "When you think about it, I was a victim," Castro said.