crime

When Brooklyn Had Pot Plants 'as Tall as Christmas Trees'

Max Read · 03/23/11 11:01PM

Thousands of people in Brooklyn will tell you how great Brooklyn used to be. I never took those people seriously. Until I heard how once, pot plants "as tall as Christmas trees," grew in "anonymous vacant lots" in Brooklyn.

92-Year-Old Woman Shoots Up Her Neighbor's House Over a Kiss

Brian Moylan · 03/23/11 03:02PM

92-year-old Helen Staudinger went to her neighbor's house and said she wouldn't leave without a kiss. When the man refused, she went home, got her gun, and fired at his house. That is one grandma you don't want to mess with!

The Never-Ending Saga of HitmanforHire.net

Adrian Chen · 03/23/11 11:57AM

28 year-old Marissa Mark of Jersey City was arrested today in connection with a 2006 hit she allegedly took out on her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. Her case is the latest development in the saga of Hitmanforhire.net, probably the first and last online assassination startup.

Inside Anonymous' Secret War Room

John Cook and Adrian Chen · 03/18/11 01:00PM

Dissident members of the internet hacktivist group Anonymous, tired of what they call the mob's "unpatriotic" ways, have provided law enforcement with chat logs of the group's leadership planning crimes, as well as what they say are key members' identities. They also gave them to us.

Do Not Take a Picture of This Guy's Hair

Max Read · 03/18/11 03:07AM

If you are picture-shy—as Texas resident Johnathan Washburn is—you are advised not to assault people who photograph you—as Mr. Washburn did—because then the police are required by law to take a picture of you, and give it to anyone who asks. Which is why you are loooking at a picture of Mr. Johnathan Washburn, courtesy the Austin Statesman and the Austin Police Department. (Washburn allegedly grew angry with a fellow who took a photo of his "mohawk" and demanded that the photograph be erased; the situation escalated to the point where Washburn hit the guy with his skateboard. It's unclear whether or not the offending photograph survived the assault, but Washburn's mug shot more than makes up for it.) [Austin Statesman via The Daily What]

Impressive Woman Allegedly Hides Heroin, $51.22 in Vagina

Max Read · 03/17/11 11:51PM

Police in Pennsylvania say they found "54 bags of heroin, 31 empty bags used to package heroin, 8.5 prescription pills and $51.22" inside the vagina of one Karin Mackaliunas, 27, of Scranton. If this seems to you like a rather unwise place to keep one's heroin (or one's change, for that matter), know that Ms. Mackaliunas seems to have realized the same thing after only a brief period of time; she allegedly hid her contraband while being transported to the police station after being arrested for drug possession, but by the time she arrived at headquarters, it seems she was reconsidering her path of action: