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Maxx:
Serial killer on the loose in California, police sayStory Highlights
Los Angeles police say same person responsible for 11 slayings in California

Most victims were drug users or prostitutes, police say

Investigators connected slayings through DNA evidence

Next Article in Crime »



From Stan Wilson
CNN
    
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Los Angeles, California, police detectives are looking for a serial killer who they believe killed at least 11 people, many of them prostitutes, over a 23-year period.

Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Charlie Beck said DNA evidence and ballistics tests have convinced detectives that the same killer is connected to the slayings in Los Angeles and Inglewood.

The victims were prostitutes or drug users who were sexually assaulted and then shot and dumped in alleyways or inside dumpsters, police said.

"We have a lot of evidence and the connection between so many cases of DNA will allow us to eventually solve this," Beck said.

The most recent killing -- in January 2007 -- was tied exclusively to DNA analysis to another case after 13 years. However, detectives have not been able to identify the killer through state or federal DNA databases of convicted felons.

According to Beck, authorities are still examining over 50,000 inmates in state prison for similar crimes, but not all of them have DNA profiles.

One theory investigators are exploring about the gaps between the killings is the possibility that the killer served time in prison. Authorities are scouring files of inmates who were in prison serving time during periods of the killer's apparent inactivity.

All of the victims are young African-American females except for one black man.

The first known slaying occurred in 1985 when 29-year-old Debra Jackson was shot multiple times in the chest, police said.

Three years passed before detectives realized that the same weapon used to kill Jackson was used in seven other killings.

In 1988, a woman was sexually assaulted and shot. She survived and gave police a vague description of the suspect. However, Beck said the description was not enough for authorities to draw a composite sketch.

Those cases went cold until detectives connected three additional murders since 2002 based primarily on recently developed DNA technology.

Beck said authorities preserved fluid samples of DNA the killer left behind in earlier killings and found conclusive similarities on the body of three victims, including the most recent slaying from 2007.

Dozens of suspects that detectives previously considered were also ruled out based on DNA evidence, according to Beck.

Another theory investigators are examining is the possibility the killer may have left the state of California and committed crimes in other parts of the country.

"This is the mind of a maniac, but we have a tight victim profile and powerful evidence that has taken us across the country," Beck said. "The victims are the most vulnerable in society and we know the suspect is involved in prostitution. Eventually, we will find him."

ccp:
****Woman sues Tyler Perry for copyright infringement
       Texas – Tyler Perry went to court to face allegations that he stole material from someone else for his blockbuster film "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

Donna West is suing the actor-screenwriter for copyright infringement in U.S. District Court and wants a jury to award her family all profits made from the film.

"I can't put my play on because the stories are basically the same and nobody wants to see that again," she said.

West testified Tuesday that she developed a script titled "Fantasy of a Black Woman" based primarily on her own experiences. With her in the starring role, the play was performed in July 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center.

"The play was opened to the public. Anyone could have attended," West said.

Perry's movie, which earned some $50 million, came out in 2005. Jurors on Tuesday watched the film and listened to a reading of the script from West's play.

In her opening remarks to the jury, Perry's attorney, Veronica Lewis, said her client is an "immensely talented" individual "who has no need whatsoever" to use the materials of others.

Lewis noted that Perry had experienced considerable success before and after the film, "so why would he need to copy Ms. West's script?"

Testimony was expected to resume Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis told jurors he anticipates the case will be completed by next Tuesday.****

this is always one of the defense tactics:

"Perry's attorney, Veronica Lewis, said her client is an "immensely talented" individual "who has no need whatsoever" to use the materials of others.

Lewis noted that Perry had experienced considerable success before and after the film, "so why would he need to copy Ms. West's script?"

The truth is most likely that this guy never wrote any of his stuff and it was always lifted from somewhere else ot he couldn't come up with anything else so he found this and true to form in the entertainment industry tried to get away with doing himself.  As one in the music business told us "if you change it just enough...".

Even the biggest stars are at least in the music industry almost always there with someone elses material.  None of the ones of at least today can write their own material.  The whole thing is based on material stolen or swiped from somewhere else.

Like in the book the Hitmen it states how John Cougar Mellencamp would "kill his mother for a hit song".

Why, if he is such a genius at writing as he falsely claims why would he need to do this?  Just write a goodam hit.  He claims as does Dolly Parton, as does John Rich, as does others they have hundreds of songs.  So where are they?

Does anyone really believe Talyor Swift writes her stuff?  That little twit.

ccp:
I like the opinion of one analyst over the weekend who when asked how he could explain how such sophisticated people could be so duped his answer was they must have thought they were "in on something".  They must have thought that Madoff had some sort of inside scheme and they were able to get in on it too.  This guy was a chaiman of the Nasdaq?  Reminds me of Martha Stewart who sat on the board of the NY stock exchange while doing her inside trade.  What a joke on the state of human nature and the world.  Are there any honest people out there?   BO could never be ABe.  He already has proven his capacity to lie with the best of them.  Not blink and eye with no guilt, remorse or any of it.

***Alleged Madoff fraud has worldwide exposure
      Buzz Up Send
 AP – In this Oct. 28, 2008 file photo, customers wait at a Tokyo branch of Nomura Securities Co. Some of the … NEW YORK – The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street's biggest Ponzi schemes is growing, snaring some of the world's biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.

The alleged victims who sunk cash into veteran Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff's investment pool include real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, the foundation of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and a charity of movie director Steven Spielberg, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Among the world's biggest banking institutions, Britain's HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Man Group PLC, Spain's Grupo Santander SA, France's BNP Paribas and Japan's Nomura Holdings all reported that they had fallen victim to Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The 70-year-old Madoff (MAY-doff), well respected in the investment community after serving as chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, was arrested Thursday in what prosecutors say was a $50 billion scheme to defraud investors. Some investors claim they've been wiped out, while others are still likely to come forward.

"There were a lot of very sophisticated people who were duped, and that happens a great deal when you've had somebody decide to be unscrupulous," said Harvey Pitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulator in charge of monitoring investment funds like the one Madoff operated.

The extent of the potential damage prompted a leading fund manager in London to lash out at U.S. regulators for failing to detect the fraud earlier.

"I think now it is very difficult for people to invest in things that are meant to be regulated in America, because they haven fallen down in the job," Nicola Horlick, the manager of Bramdean Alternatives, which has 9 percent of its funds invested in Madoff's scheme, told the British Broadcasting Corp.

"All through the credit crunch this has been apparent," Horlick added. "This is the biggest financial scandal, probably, in the history of the markets."

Among U.S. investors, the Boston-based Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, a charity that financed trips for Jewish youth to Israel, sacked its staff after revealing that the money for its operations was invested with Madoff.

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, entrusted his family's charitable foundation to Madoff. Lautenberg's attorney, Michael Griffinger, said they weren't yet sure the extent of the foundation's losses, but that the bulk of its investments had been handled by Madoff.

Lautenberg's foundation handed out more than $765,000 to at least 100 recipients in 2006, according to the most recent listing on Guidestar, which tracks charitable organization filings.

The foundation helps support a variety of religious, educational, civic and arts organizations in New Jersey and elsewhere, and its contributions range from a gift of than $300,000 to the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey to a $2,000 donation to a children's program at the Hackensack Medical Center.

Reports from Florida to Minnesota included profiles of ordinary investors who gave Madoff their money. Some had been friends with him for decades, others were able to invest because they were a friend of a friend. They told stories of losing everything from $40,000 to an entire nest egg worth well over $1 million.

They join a list of more powerful investors that have come forward, all worried about the extent of their losses. The roster of names include former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services, among others.

The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, said Mortimer Zuckerman, the chairman of real estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff.

The Journal also said the Steven Spielberg charity, the Wunderkinder Foundation, in the past appears to have invested a significant portion of its assets with Mr. Madoff. It said the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, founded by the famed Holocaust survivor and writer, was hard hit by losses, citing two people familiar with the organization's investments.

Messages were left with the Zuckerman fund and Wunderkinder foundation. The Wiesel foundation said it was looking into the matter.

The Journal also reported potential investors and firms exposed to the alleged fraud included: Carl Shapiro, founder and former chairman of women's apparel company Kay Windsor Inc.; Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. co-founder Leonard Feinstein; Yeshiva University; EIM Group; UBS AG; Fairfield Greenwich Advisors; Tremont Capital Management; Maxam Capital Management and Ascot Partners.

Among those overseas confirming exposure on Monday, Banco Santander, the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization, said its clients have 2.33 billion euros ($3.07 billion) in exposure with Madoff, mostly through a fund called Optimal Strategic US Equity.

HSBC, Britain's largest bank, said a "small number" of its insitutional clients had exposure totaling some $1 billion in Madoff funds.

It added that it has custody clients who have invested with Madoff, but it did not believe those "custodial arrangements should be a source of exposure to the group."

Royal Bank of Scotland — Britain's second-largest bank, which is now 58 percent owned by the British government — said it could lose around 400 million euros pounds through exposure in trading and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds invested with Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Man Group, the world's largest publicly traded fund manager that reported exposure of around $360 million on Monday, said "it appears that a systematic and comprehensive fraud may have been committed, evading a range of structural controls."

Japan's Nomura Holdings said it has 27.5 billion yen ($306 million) in exposure, but added that any losses were likely to be limited compared to its capital base.

French banks foresee nearly 1 billion euros in potential losses as indirect victims of the alleged fraud.

Natixis, France's fourth largest bank, set its maximum indirect exposure at about 450 million euros. A statement by the investment bank said it made no direct investments in hedge funds managed by Madoff. However, it said that some of its clients' money was invested in funds managed by "first class custodians," which in turn entrusted those securities to Madoff's investment securities company.

Both Societe Generale and Credit Agricole said they had "negligible" exposure of below 10 million euros each. However, the euro zone's largest bank, BNP Paribas, has estimated its risk exposure to hedge funds managed by Madoff at up to 350 million euros.

In a statement Sunday, BNP Paribas said it has no investment of its own in Madoff's hedge funds, but "does have risk exposure to these funds through its trading business and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds."

Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privee indicated it had hundreds of millions of dollars in client assets invested under the management of Madoff. The Geneva bank, one of Switzerland's largest, did not disclose a total amount invested, but did say the exposure of its clients "represents less than 1 percent of the total assets under management of the bank."

UBP's announcement Monday followed weekend disclosures by Swiss banks Reichmuth & Co of Lucerne, Benedict Hentsch of Geneva and Neue Privat Bank of Zurich that they had millions of dollars worth of client assets at risk in the case.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank both declined to comment on the matter.

On Friday, representatives from major U.S. banks — Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. — declined to comment on if they had exposure to Madoff's company. Both BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said they had no exposure.

Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Co., Comerica Inc. and U.S. Bancorp did not return calls seeking comment.****

Crafty_Dog:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/26/us-murders-concentrated-in-5-percent-counties.html

DougMacG:

--- Quote from: Crafty_Dog on April 27, 2017, 01:08:36 PM ---http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/26/us-murders-concentrated-in-5-percent-counties.html

--- End quote ---

"areas with the highest gun ownership rates have low murder rates"

"counties with zero murders are the counties with by far the highest gun ownership rates"

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/09/why-own-a-gun-protection-is-now-top-reason/

Guns don't cause murder?  What do leftist, science deniers say about that?

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