Free Republic

Who is he and what killed him? Those are the questions authorities are trying to answer in connection with the death of a man clad in black leather, found with a neck collar hooked on a wrought iron fence in Greenwich Village. Thursday, the city's medical examiner's office said an autopsy failed to determine how the man died. The body was discovered at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday by a woman walking her dog on Hudson Street, police said. He was dressed in black leather, including a mask, and his face was pressed against the fence, police said. A spiked dog collar...

Only in the West Village, kids . . . The body of a man clad in a kinky black leather mask and decked out head to toe in S&M gear was hanging from a chain-link fence on Hudson Street yesterday - as many passers-by ignored it, thinking it was a Halloween display. The slightly built, fair-skinned mystery man may have been choked to death by a dog collar around his neck, it's other end strapped around a 3-foot-tall fence post, police sources said. The 40ish, tattooed man was found kneeling, braced face-first against the fence in front of 424 Hudson...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three men have been arrested on charges of performing castrations on apparently willing participants in a sadomasochistic "dungeon" in a rural house, authorities said Friday. "It's extremely bizarre," District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said in a telephone interview. "It's incredible the amount of ways that people can find to run afoul of the law." Sheriff's investigators said Richard Sciara, 61, Danny Reeves, 49, and Michael Mendez, 60, admitted performing at least eight surgeries, including castrations and testicle replacements, on six consenting clients over the past year. None of the three is licensed to practice medicine, officials said. The...

The rarefied world of investment banking was stunned yesterday by the mysterious murder of Swiss banker Edouard Stern, scion of one of Europe's richest families. The bullet-riddled body of the 50-year-old financier — known for his nasty temper and ruthless deals — was discovered inside his locked Geneva penthouse atop a super-secure building that houses a police station on the ground floor. Geneva's chief investigator Michel Graber said there were no signs of a break-in, leading police to believe he let his killers inside the building, which is equipped with security cameras throughout. French daily Le Monde said Stern's recent...

The rarefied world of investment banking was stunned yesterday by the mysterious murder of Swiss banker Edouard Stern, scion of one of Europe's richest families. The bullet-riddled body of the 50-year-old financier — known for his nasty temper and ruthless deals — was discovered inside his locked Geneva penthouse atop a super-secure building that houses a police station on the ground floor. Geneva's chief investigator Michel Graber said there were no signs of a break-in, leading police to believe he let his killers inside the building, which is equipped with security cameras throughout. Swiss authorities clamped a lid on the...