U.S. Indicts Porn Sellers, Vowing Extensive Attack

Los Angeles Times ^ | August 8, 2003 | P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer

[Desmond]

The Justice Department on Thursday charged a North Hollywood wholesaler of adult films with violating federal obscenity laws, launching the first of what it promised would be a wave of criminal cases against purveyors of pornography.

The 10-count federal grand jury indictment against Extreme Associates and its executives, Robert Zicari and Janet Romano of Northridge, raised alarm among adult entertainment companies in the San Fernando Valley, which is considered the capital of the nation's multibillion-dollar pornography industry.

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft promised upon taking office that he would crack down on the distributors of adult entertainment material such as movies, magazines and Web sites, much as his Reagan administration predecessor Edwin Meese III did in the 1980s.

Thursday's indictment came after investigators with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service set up a sting operation in Pennsylvania. From September 2002 through July 2003, the indictment says, the defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law.

Extreme Associates produces movies such as "Extreme Teen #24" and "Forced Entry — Directors Cut," which depict the fictional rapes and murders of several women, according to court documents.

The privately held company employs 15 people and has annual sales of $20 million to $49.9 million, according to the U.S. Business Directory.

Zicari and Romano are scheduled to be arraigned in Pittsburgh on Aug. 27.

If convicted, Zicari, 29, also known as Rob Black, and Romano, 26, also known as Lizzie Borden, each could face as much as 50 years in prison and a fine of $2.5 million. The company could pay a fine of as much as $5 million.

"Every time we get a Republican administration, these kinds of cases seem to perk up," said lawyer Elliot Abelson, who defended the industry in obscenity cases from the late 1970s to the mid-'80s.

[Desmond]

Assuming that no other laws are broken, I am very live-and-let-live towards these people no matter how disgusting they get. However, they do seem to have broken some laws. "[T]he defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law." Sounds like a dumb law on first blush, though.

Mostly I think, though, doesn't his office have better things to do than fight a losing battle against fringe (adult) porn makers and distributors? This all sounds retarded.

[Wolfie]

Wow, the Director's Cut of "Forced Entry" is finally out? That's great news. Now his true vision for the picture can be appreciated.

[Paleo Conservative]

"[T]he defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law." Sounds like a dumb law on first blush, though.

Perhaps you would prefer these laws be repealed so porno junk mail will fill you mailbox at home the way porno spam fills email inboxes.

[Phantom Lord]

"[T]he defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law."

If they had shipped them by UPS or FedEx would any laws have been broken? If no, then they should have used those services.

And further, what an absolute waste of tax payers money, and limited law enforcement resources this is. Leave them alone.

[Wolfie]

Mostly I think, though, doesn't his office have better things...

You can sum Ashcroft's priorities up in two words: Dopers and Boners.

[Phantom Lord]

Perhaps you would prefer these laws be repealed so porno junk mail will fill you mailbox at home the way porno spam fills email inboxes.

Ah, they won't be sending you unsolicited porno tapes. And if they wanted to send you junk mail promoting their services, as long as the mail didn't contain the offending images they could do so. Since they are not, it is clear that doing so is not a beneficial marketing strategy and you have no need to worry about your mailbox being stuffed with said items.

[Phantom Lord]

Ashcroft is the only member of the Bush admin that I agree with the wacko left on much of the time.

[dennisw]

Mostly I think, though, doesn't his office have better things to do than fight a losing battle against fringe (adult) porn makers and distributors? This all sounds retarded........


I agree. Legalize hard core, legalize heroin, methedrine and crack. Why bother prosecuting. Yipee!!!

[ventana]

And the people who think we have no claim on the Public Square as Dopes and Boneheads. V's wife.

[fortaydoos]

I am a pretty uptight conservative but shouldn't we be tracking down alqueda terrorists instead of these (sick) people?

[Paleo Conservative]

Ah, they won't be sending you unsolicited porno tapes.

What makes you think that? Unless the law is enforced, why wouldn't porno producers send out free samples on CD-ROMs or DVDs the way AOL sends out AOL 8.0 CDs?

[Wolfie]

You wanna throw a verb in there and form a sentence?

[jimt]

You can sum Ashcroft's priorities up in two words: Dopers and Boners.

Hey, it's OK to sell pardons to criminals, or nuclear secrets to the Chinese !

Ashcroft is an utter ass.

[anniegetyourgun]

I appreciate having an AG who enforces the law of the land...for a change.

[Bikers4Bush]

We've got illegals crawling all over this country thanks to businesses that pay them under the table and he's worried about porn.

Just beautiful.

[JohnGalt]

There is no moral equivalence between making millions off filth and growing a plant in your closet for recreation or pain relief.

Just my two cents.

[Wolfie]

Well you know, some people don't sleep very well knowing that somewhere, somehow, somebody is having it off.

[Paleo Conservative]

You wanna throw a verb in there and form a sentence?

There's already enough verbiage on Free Republic.

[Lunatic Fringe]

[Phantom Lord]

What makes you think that? Unless the law is enforced, why wouldn't porno producers send out free samples on CD-ROMs or DVDs the way AOL sends out AOL 8.0 CDs?

If it was an effective marketing tool, they would already be doing so.

And it is not illegal to send all prono through the mail. If it was, how would Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse, and the Adam & Eve style catalog companies get their product to customers? Last I checked, they use the USPS.

[squidly]

Just like Ed Meese's "war" on pornography, this is a complete waste of time, money, and effort. How 'bout we use some of that time, money, and effort on our southern border?

[Desmond]

"Perhaps you would prefer these laws be repealed so porno junk mail will fill you mailbox at home the way porno spam fills email inboxes."

The article doesn't say whether the videotapes and DVDs are unsolicited or if they were sold. No, I don't want them sending me unsolicited material a la AOL. However, I should be able to buy a DVD from another state.

Does anyone definitively know what the federal law states?

[Wolfie]

That's nice, but judging one as "filth" that requires prosecution concedes the playing field and allows prosecution for the other.

[verity]

Libertine Librarian Liberal Libertarian ?

[sakic]

We're facing terrorism the likes of which has never been seen before and this a**wipe Ashcroft and this a**wipe government of ours is spending time and money on stopping porno films.

Your tax dollars at work and your personal safety being disregarded.

[gdani]

"The Sopranos" (and other movies/TV) have featured fictional rapes, not to mention murders. Will Ashcroft go after them?

And - since "community standards" is one of the considerations in determining whether something is obscene or not - who's community standards are we talking about? Where the product was mailed from or where it was mailed to?

[TheBigB]

Hardcore porn is legal already.

This doesn't make any damn sense. There are thousands of video stores renting and selling hardcore porn tapes all over the US at any moment. Are they all illegal? Thousands of tapes are shipped via USPS every day. If he's prosecuting people on the grounds of the tapes being "obscene", then he'll have to have a jury watch every tape ever made to determine whether or not it is obscene. Good grief.

[JohnGalt]

And the reverse, my point, of reducing the exchange of every consumer product on the market to the same moral equivalencey is patently silly.

[gdani]

Will Ashcroft be raiding Clarence Thomas' collection?

[Wolfie]

I can't understand why the exchange of consumer goods would have any moral aspect at all.

[JohnGalt]

It speaks to the degree of evil in using resources to prevent the exchange.

[steve8714]

Yeah, I hate when my original artistic vision is blurred...like filming through Vaseline.

[Bikers4Bush]

Exactly, god forbid.

[Wolfie]

But then all you do is set yourself up for the next group's pet peeve, and their use of prosecutorial powers to try to stop it.

[af_vet_1981]

I am a pretty uptight conservative but shouldn't we be tracking down alqueda terrorists instead of these (sick) people?

Nope, we should arrest, prosecute and exile them to Saudi Arabia.

[Wolfie]

Yeah, I hate when my original artistic vision is blurred...like filming through Vaseline.

Look, its your responsibility to make sure the props don't foul the equipment.

[JohnGalt]

Slippery slope arguments are the Achilles heal of left-libertarians.


Let me ask the reverse, can a local entity (city or town) zone out the existence of a porn shop or porn production?

[FreedomAvatar]

How 'bout we use some of that time, money, and effort on our southern border?

You mean stop the influx of illegal aliens and terrorists? Heck no. That wasn't an airliner that crashed into the WTC, it was a giant penis.

[Dead Corpse]

Slippery slope? You mean a 1% income tax didn't turned into a trillion dollar wealth redistribution scheme? That the Miller decision, NFA of '34, and the CGA of '68 didn't set the stage for Brady?

Remove your head from the warm smelly place and take a look around.

[The Green Goblin]

My 80 year-old grandmother still gets strip-searched by airport security while Achmed and Ibrahim walk by unaccosted, and Asscroft is spending his time going after porn???

[Wolfie]

Yes. But they can also zone out the existence of daycare centers too.

[Phantom Lord]

Let me ask the reverse, can a local entity (city or town) zone out the existence of a porn shop or porn production?

Clearly local entities should be allowed to zone for commercial businesses as they see fit. If the citizens of the locality disagree they can vote with their feet, and vote out those who implemented the laws they dislike.

But, should a locality be allowed to determine what can and can not be delivered by the US Postal Service to residents of the town? No.

[colorado tanker]

I don't mean to defend the porno producers, but this does seem to be a waste of time, given the way the Supreme Court has applied the First Amendment in obscenity cases.

[RogueIsland]

After reading the article, it looks like it all comes down to the Feds and the same interstate commerce nonsense they use when they want to prosecute someone for selling guns/gun parts they don't like across state lines.

[Russell Scott]

Its about time the mob, who runs the porn industry, began feeling some serious heat from the feds. I agree with Mike Savage, that John Ashcroft is one of the best AG's ever. He also has a great reward waiting for him when he stands before Christ on Judgement Day.

[King Prout]

this is silly.

[JohnGalt]

Linking the income tax creep to the permisibility of selling porn tapes is a leap in logic since the rise of porns presence in the American economy grew hand in hand with the rise of government.

Making that link has served big government liberals well.

Why would do you think this would be?

I will stipulate, so we are clear, I agree that this is a waste of limited resource (prosecuting these folks.)

[JohnnyZ]

We're facing terrorism the likes of which has never been seen before and this a**wipe Ashcroft and this a**wipe government of ours is spending time and money on stopping porno films.

Geez, half the people whine and moan when Ashcroft uses the Patriot Act to protect the country from terrorism and the other half whine and moan when he does anything BUT terrorism.

If you don't like the law, blame the legislators. The AG can and should enforce the law, and not look the other way whenever he feels like it, especially when people illegally use the US mail to degrade society.

[JohnGalt]

Hold on, I don't want to get too far off track.

I am suggesting that selling porn is not the moral equivalent of selling/growing a plant and I think its foolish to make the connection.

You certainly lean right-libertarian with respect to local entities. However, why can't a community restrict what passes through the United States mail into their town? What is preventing them from doing it?

[af_vet_rr]

We've got illegals crawling all over this country thanks to businesses that pay them under the table and he's worried about porn.

I know it's different agencies and all, but they are all under the DHS - throw these reources towards doing something about the border problems or tracking down terrorists in the middle east, etc.

I'm not too worried about the Ron Jeremys of the world - I'm more worried about the people crossing our borders illegaly.